Amish's Note: Shoot, I'm almost out of new entries from the writing contest. I should probably start up another one of those to get more material. _
For now, though, we've got another submission from Johnnieboy.
A/N: Hello, folks! Hope you enjoy what was meant to be me coming back to one of my favorite old characters and getting to re-learn how to write her out while also fleshing Mistral as a kingdom out a bit more! Akane existed for a while and has been around in the same form, aside from her age, since one of my older RWBY stories(That is sadly deleted now). A short backstory would be, her and her people lived in Mistral since before the Empire became the Empire(And with the latest twist, you can draw all the Feudal Japan vs modern Imperial Japan parellels you like, including The Last Samurai). Anyways, hope you enjoy!
'Till next time!
Title: The White Lotus
Author: Johnnieboy11
On the outskirts of the Kingdom of Mistral, tall mountains rose to form narrow valleys, through which many of the country's fresh water rivers passed. Among these ravines and cliff faces, there were secluded villages that had long escaped the industrial revolution caused by the events leading up to and during the Great War. These were local farming or fishing villages, where people lived simple, calm lives.
They also served as the perfect hiding spot for unsanctioned Huntsmen trying to escape ADVENT and perhaps join the dissidents in XCOM. After what occurred in Atlas, not so long ago, the ADVENT troops across the world had new orders delivered to them straight from a recovering miss Fall: Ensure the security of the rest of the kingdoms.
A reinforced transport vehicle moved with its escort of two ATVs through the countryside of the kingdom, driving over the unpaved dirt roads toward one such Village in the far south of the Kingdom's mountain range. Reports had come from local patrols that a team of Huntsmen from Haven had refused to register themselves at the nearest ADVENT station and attempted to escape. One officer was wounded in the exchange of fire.
The ADVENT officer, donning a local variation of the standard armor worn by the troops, sat in the far back of the reinforced transport, counting his team members. 12 in the transport, plus the driver, gunner and the four troopers on the two ATVs, adding up to 18 soldiers in total, plus the trailing sanctioned Huntsman team adding up to 22.
They had a decent contingent present, the officer thought to himself, nodding approvingly.
Around, ahead of and right behind them, the rice paddies began to fade, replaced now by the ever-growing hills that led up to the mountain. The midday sun shined brightly high above them and the forecast was clear for the day. Two soldiers exchanged small-talk on the transport, but otherwise, the team was quiet. Probably preparing themselves mentally for facing down Huntsmen, if the Officer had to hazard a guess.
As the first signs of the rocky peaks appeared ahead of the convoy, the team readied weapons. The village they were targeting was close. Its name eluded the officer for the moment, but he wouldn't need to know it. He wouldn't be back here after his mission anyways. At least hopefully.
Their stop came about 15 minutes into entering the valley between the two peaks. The rear doors opened and the team disembarked, officer in the lead. The small Mistrali village was perched on top of a hill, surrounded by rice paddies in which its people, both men and women, worked. Some looked up to witness the squad of soldiers marching toward their town. Others paid them no mind as they harvested.
The Village was small. There must've been 100 people at most within it, all of them farmers. Several simple houses with shoji as their doors surrounded a central square and in the far back, there was a multi-level mansion like those of the old lords of Mistral, during its imperial days.
A short man clad in a blue Yukata approached the squad, to which the officer raised his open hand, commanding him to stop. The man bowed respectfully to the squad and smiled "Welcome to Shirohasu village, gentlemen."
"Greetings, citizen. We're looking for a group of dissidents that escaped the capital city after an incident with one of our security squadrons. We have reason to believe they may be hiding within this village." The officer spoke bluntly, looking the man in the eye. He seemed confused.
"Ah… I am sorry, gentlemen, but I do not know of any 'dissidents' in this village." The man shook his head. "If any new people would have come, we would have known. We are a fairly tight-knit community. Perhaps they may have passed by..." And he offered, with a smile, "May I interest you gentlemen in some food?"
"No." The officer glared "If it's all the same, we will check."
And as he tried to sidestep and head toward one of the houses, the man placed a hand on his armored chest and said with a frown "I'm sorry, but we do have a deal with the capital, that they would let us live in peace."
"That deal was rescinded the moment rogue huntsmen decided to 'pass by' your village." The Officer growled, pushing his hand aside. With two hand signals, the team of 12 scattered, each taking a house, with the officer heading right for the mansion. The man tried again to stop him, but this time awoke to a rifle's butt in his stomach, that had him falling to the floor. The Officer warned him "Stay out of our way or face the consequences."
And as the soldiers entered protesting people's homes, the officer took two with him inside the mansion. The place was about as big as one would expect for a feudal mansion. It had clearly seen renovation, but not the addition of electricity. Many of the halls were lit by candles burning within lanterns that hung on the walls. The decorative pieces on the walls, at least those few the officer had even bothered to look at, included a black flag with a white lotus symbol, as well as what looked like an ancient set of Mistrali armor from days long gone.
They had opened several doors along the way, checking each room for the possible dissidents. Many of said rooms were barren or were downright spartan in that nothing but the strict necessities existed in them, including a futon for sleeping and a kotatsu table to eat at, as well as the pillows for it.
Just as the team was about to head to the top floor, they heard a beautiful voice from the interior garden of the place, humming an old song from the imperial days. Pushing the sliding shoji to the side, the three ADVENT troopers came face-to-face with a young woman clad in a black kimono, with a pattern of white lotus flowers. It fit her frame well…
She had black hair that was caught in a bun with two pins put in place to hold it, resembling those of the local courtesans in Mistral. On the side of her head, held in place by a small, almost invisible string, there was an intricately detailed porcelain white fox mask, long ears poking upward as its empty eyes stared at the two soldiers.
The young woman was kneeling, tending to the small pond in the middle of the traditional open garden and feeding the koi within it, which hid right below the canopy of actual white water lotuses. The azure-eyed beauty sat there, only turning her head to greet the three troopers sitting in the doorway.
She stood to her feet, her sandals clacking against the stone below her feet. The officer could swear he saw a glimpse of black armor on her shins, before the kimono hid them. She bowed respectfully to them, then spoke with a deadpan expression "Greetings. Welcome to Shirohasu. If I may ask, what business do you have, barging into my home?"
"… We're looking for rogue Huntsmen. Orders directly from lady Fall after the events in Atlas. You wouldn't happen to have seen any, would you?" The officer eyed the girl suspiciously, rifle at the ready. Two almost imperceptible movements of his head later and his two soldiers entered the place, flanking him and brandishing their firearms.
She looked between the three soldiers, then asked "Surely, there must be a way we can solve this without you destroying my home."
"We'll leave if you answer what we asked. Where are the Huntsmen?" He demanded, racking the bolt of his weapon.
She held his gaze as she answered "There are none here."
"Bullshit." The Officer spat. "We have the intel and the warrant to burn this whole village to the ground. The capital won't bat an eye."
"This village has had no business with the capital ever since their failures from before the Great War caused the downfall of our way of life. And we would all prefer to keep it that way… Leave. This is your only warning." She glared at all three of them. All three laughed at her warning. They noticed movement behind her. He could almost see the blood on the floor as three people huddled around a wounded girl… But before he could call them out, the girl stepped in-between him and that corridor and room.
"Look at her! Playing the tough girl!" The Officer mocked. He paused as amber flashed in the girl's eyes for a moment, before they returned to their normal shade…
Outside, one of the troopers dragged an older man by the neck out into the square, tossing him to the floor and pinning him down with his foot, before pointing his weapon at his head. He called out "Speak, damn you! Where are those damn Huntsmen?!" forcing his foot harder into the old man's back. "You would make it easier for you and us if you just told the truth."
"I swear on my life, I do not know what you're talking about!" The elderly man cried. He yelped in pain as the man pushed his boot harder down into his back…
But it all stopped as they saw their officer running out of the mansion, screaming bloody murder as he held onto the bloody stump that used to be his left arm with his right. Two small blades cut through the air and as the first struck, it burst aflame, while the second struck the man right in his achilles' tendon, both cutting it and freezing his leg in place as he started to burn alive.
A shadow landed in front of them, an ancient Mistrali sword drawn and shining a deep blue hue as one of the four Dust Gems in its dragon-shaped hilt was imbued with Aura. The figure revealed herself as the young girl that the officer, who was now thrashing on the ground, screaming for help, had tried to arrest. Her blade was covered by the frozen blood of their comrades. She walked up beside the officer and, with a swipe of her sword, there was no more screaming.
The soldiers looked at the woman with disbelief. Below the kimono resided black armor, with the white lotus outline emblazoned upon its breast plate, now stained by the blood of the other two soldiers. She glared at the soldiers as they tried to get out of their stupor. The man pinning down the civilian was first to raise his shotgun…
Too little too late, however, as the girl moved within the blink of an eye, cutting the shotgun in half with one upward strike and then slicing across the man's chest, deep into the armor. Ice crystals formed around the cut, freezing the wound and blossoming into blades of ice themselves that cut the man apart, turning him into what looked like a modern art statue.
She looked to the elderly man, then yelled "Get out of here and hide!" as she watched the other soldiers recover. Automatic fire raked her surroundings as she hid behind the frozen body of the shotgunner. She could hear the bullets ping off of the armor and ice. Her free hand went to her belt, while with her dominant, she switched out the Dust power-up of the blade to Fire.
One of the soldiers' guns clicked empty, giving her the cue as she sidestepped the ice sculpture left in her wake and threw a fan of three knives at the other assailants. One blade went into a man's throat, punching through the exposed armor joint and slamming him into the floor with harshe force as the activated Gravity Dust crystal inside did its magic.
The second knife struck the barrel of one of the goons' weapons. Ice crystals blossomed through the barrel, forcing the man to toss his malfunctioning gun aside, before he went to draw the weapon on his back. A sword-shaped device that shimmered with scarlet lightning and ended in two sharp prongs at the top, the Stun Lance proved to be quite useful in subduing Huntsmen.
Too bad the bastard rushed in.
He swiped for her chest, trying to hit her with the arcing electricity and drain her Aura. She parried, letting the lightning course through her weapon's intricate blade. The symbols drawn on it seemed to almost absorb the lightning, welcoming it. She kicked the man away, ducked under a stab from the weapon and sliced up. The blade simmered as it torched armor and skin, a wave of fire washing the body of the now-dead ADVENT trooper.
Bullets struck her Aura and armor, forcing her to run for cover. She drew two more knives from her belt and threw them. A combination of fire and wind resulted in a powerful explosion that sent one of the men to the floor thanks to the concussive blast. He was still alive and regaining his bearings as the woman worked on his still-standing comrades.
One of the soldiers found himself without a head as the girl got close to him. In the blink of an eye, the one next to him in the firing line also lost his arm to the blade, the fire Dust that heated the blade cauterizing the painful wound. She stabbed the blade into his knee, before plunging a second, smaller blade that she drew into his chest. She removed the weapon and spun to face the other attackers.
One of them staggered, firing blindly as he tried to run, when the girl went for him. She swiped under his legs with her own, before raising high the Tanto and plunging it into his stomach. She sheathed the knife after cleaning it, then pulled out more of her throwing knives and threw them…
Kunai. Dust-infused Kunai…
It took one hitting a soldier in the shoulder with enough force to slam him into the floor to have said soldier remember the names of the three ancient Mistrali weapons the girl used. The Katana, the Tanto and the Kunai throwing daggers. And they were being used by a girl clad in that same ancient armor. He had played with those things as a kid, like they were toys, but knew the stories of how professionals in the ancient days knew to use them well.
He sighed, closing his eyes and waiting for the killing blow, chuckling as he got to see a person clad in the same clothes as his heroes end his life. It came soon thereafter as the woman's blade severed his head. She took a knee, agilely dodging several more bullets coming her way as she surged forth toward the last three soldiers.
Bullets struck her Aura. She felt it going down, probably halved by the barrage of rounds that they tried to whittle her down with. She knew of the firearms, as the village was isolated, but caught the ever-rare travelling merchant to tell them the stories of the world outside the Valley…
Still, bullets did little good to the first man she plunged the tip of her sword into, from the three, slamming into him with enough force to pin him to the ground. She twisted the sword in the wound, pulled it out and stabbed behind her, right through the second man's chin.
The third stumbled, rifle clicking empty. He fell to the ground, raising his hands to try and plead to her. She ignored his pleas, finishing the weakling off with one fell swipe to the neck and turning her attention to the now-advancing ATVs and the transport, which mounted a heavy cannon at the top.
The two ATVs had made one mistake. Charging together, instead of in a staggered advance. She jumped high and out of harm's way as the two vehicles decided to play chicken with her, slamming into one another and killing both drivers and their armed occupants. Landing on her knees, she looked up at the advancing transport as its gun turret turned to meet her.
She surged forward, dodging the heavy cannon's fire to the best of her abilities and pouncing onto the vehicle itself. Imbuing the fire Dust of the blade with whatever Aura she could muster, she heated the blade enough for it to cut clean through the turret's ring and into its ammunition, disabling it and causing quite the nasty detonation inside the vehicle as she jumped away to safety.
Falling to her knees, the woman breathed, sweat beading down her forehead, falling from her chin onto the dirt in the square. She swallowed spit, looking up… Four more opponents approached. She could feel their Aura.
One had a heavy cannon as a handheld weapon, with a blunt, bludgeoning end and grips on the barrel, meaning it doubled as a sledgehammer. Another had a nodachi sword. The third had a naginata. And the fourth? She had a bow with high-explosive arrows. Huh, so they were old-school too, at least. That gave her a chance, at least…
She staggered to her feet, blood soaking her blade and the ground below her. The top half of her kimono was torn… She ripped it off and tossed it aside, revealing that the only armor she had on her arms was, in fact, on her forearms, covering thin gloves lacking all but the middle finger. Her belt still had a tonne of throwing knives ready, of all types of Dust.
She also had two tattoos… White eastern dragons, going from her shoulders down to under her armored gauntlets. The scabbards of her Katana and Tanto were also visible now, intricate details painted in white over them. Panting, the young woman spoke "So… Is this what Mistral does nowadays? Hound villages and the protectors of man? Is this how far our kingdom has fallen?"
"Oh, shut your mouth." The Huntsman with the autocannon growled. "You hermits really have no idea how the world is changing, do you?"
"Not in any way I or my people like, clearly, since Mistrali forces can now just barge into our towns…" She maintained her deadpan expression, blood dripping from her blade. "You lack the honor of our ancestors, of at least giving me a brief respite before engaging in battle again…"
"You're in our way, lady." The Naginata wielder mused. "No idea where you think you are, but this is not the feudal Empire of Mistral anymore. We ditched the 'Honor by the Sword' bullshit a while ago… Get with the times… Or actually don't. We're gonna kill you and we're gonna take those Huntsmen."
"In training… Basically children." She responded. "To… What? Become like you?"
"What's wrong with us, eh?" The bow-wielder grinned viciously.
She pulsed her blade with Aura "Disregarding treaties made a hundred years ago between Mistral and its ancient way of life, barging into a town demanding that its inhabitants surrender people who may not even be there or they will face fire and brimstone and hurting the inhabitants, among other things… Right now, however? It is the fact that you still breathe…"
She charged the surprised bow-wielder first, slashing her across the legs and the chest. The young girl felt the bow-wielder's aura dip to half-strength and saw the vicious, cocky grin vanish within seconds, replaced by fear and surprise as she doubled over, trying to parry the strikes.
The Naginata wielder came to her comrade's aid, attacking the swordmistress before them with concerted strikes that had her on the defensive. The Autocannon wielder aimed the weapon toward her and fired as she was distracted. Two High-Explosive shells sent the woman flying through the shoji of a family's house.
She grunted, holding her side, then met the gaze of a young child, huddling with his family behind the thicker wall of the house, next to the wood-burning stove. Standing to her feet, she nodded to them, then said "Rally the others and leave… As our ancestors have planned so long ago. We shall meet once I am done here."
"Lady Kuro… Are you certain?" Asked the father of the family, holding close the youngest of the two brothers, sheltering her.
"I am. I shall not risk the lives of my fellow villagers. Take the hunters in my mansion and leave for the river. I have to end this." She spoke, her voice strong, stern, authoritative… But with an air of family nodded, quickly standing up and packing as the woman went outside. She staggered, a sharp pain surging through her side. Her Aura was really low now. She worried she would have to use it.
… If she had to, to protect her people, she would. No foreigner comes into the land of the White Lotus and threatens their people without facing the blade.
Walking out of the house, blade still shining a deep scarlet, thanks to the Fire Dust heating it, she looked between the four soldiers poised to attack her. These were not the protectors of the people. Like the soldiers she had killed, these were mere thugs, here to harm those they said they would 'protect'.
"You can't beat all of ADVENT, sword girl." The leader of the group mocked. "So why don't'cha surrender peacefully?"
She was actually appalled that they'd even suggest that.
Without another word, the woman rushed, again, for the bow-toting girl of the group. She knew the girl would expect a strike in the same manner as the last one, already positioning herself to defend from it and leaving herself open elsewhere. The swordmistress took that opportunity to switch up her tactics, sliding under the defenses of the enemy, kicking her in the stomach and sending her flying.
She jumped, dodging the shells from the Autocannon/Hammer combo and the Naginata's lightning strikes, before she grabbed the bow-wielder by the throat, threw her into the ground hard and plunged her blade deep into the woman's stomach, garnering a gasp and a yelp of surprise out of her.
"No!" Yelled the Autocannon gunner "Son of a bitch, boss, she got Lana!"
"You'll pay for that, you cunt…" The Naginata wielder glared at her.
"So uncivilized…" Kuro mocked through the panting, keeping the deadpan up as the blood on her sword started to try.
"Who the fuck even are you to oppose us, kid?" Demanded the leader of the team.
"... I am Akane Kuro, daughter of the White Lotus. And you are in my hometown." She growled as beads of sweat fell from her chin. She looked for her next target now and, within a split second, she decided. The big one with the Autocannon. Three throwing knives exploded in front of the gunner, before he found himself facing several hundred small cuts that began to drain his Aura.
Kuro jumped onto the barrel of the weapon, slicing at his Aura and at his neck. He cocked his fist back and threw a haymaker that the girl barely blocked. It still nearly sent her flying off his gun, though. She gasped as she saw him turn the weapon into its intended use as a hammer, charging at her.
He slammed the blunt end of the weapon into the ground hard enough to crack it. She was barely fast enough to dodge it. Would she actually need to use it?
She sliced at the man's bulky arms, trying to get him to drop the massive weapon, her speed wavering with each strike. His Aura was going, but not as fast as the bow-girl's. She needed to keep her distance from him, strike him only when possible. She also realized, after quickly drawing her Tanto to block a strike from the Naginata.
She also heard the lead charging in behind her. She got out of the lock, turning to face the leader and dodging below his Nodachi blade, watching as the blade unfolded into a massive whip formed of smaller blades and metal wire. That was an insane weapon, compared to the other two…
She dodged, feeling her Aura go into the red as she gasped for a breath of air… She gritted her teeth…
"You gonna give up, kid?" The leader demanded, spinning the sword-whip around.
"You're outnumbered…" The Naginata soldier noted.
"And you're running outta Aura…" The big boy grinned, despite being worn down by her continuous strikes.
She planted the tip of her sword into the ground, leaning onto the weapon for support as she stood up. She removed the hair pins, letting her long, black mane of well-kept hair flow into the wind that now grew in speed. Clouds appeared above as the sky darkened and the air grew cold.
She blinked and her eyes turned from the deep, beautiful azure to sharp amber. She set the mask from the side of her head on her face as it begun to fade in, replaced by a pair of fox-like ears on top of her head, both pale white, and the tattoos representing the drawings on the mask now appearing on her face, including two triple claw-marks on her cheeks.
Her tired deadpan was replaced with a bright, dangerous fanged grin as she gazed forward. Her Aura was still weak, but she knew what this meant. They didn't. They had no idea… She spoke "I am afraid that Surrender is not what I am considering… For your sakes, I hope your auras hold."
"Cocky, eh? There's three of us still. And one of you." The Gunner quipped.
"Unfair… For you." Her cocky grin remained. "Now… Shall we?"
In the blink of an eye, the woman was in front of the Huntsman ahead, her white hair fluttering in the wind just as the first raindrop was about to hit the floor. Her blade made contact with the autocannon user's throat, his Aura flashing out as several hundred more strikes hit the man. Cuts, inches deep, just enough to drain Aura.
And the slice of his throat was the last strike.
The woman turned, blade still bloody, before striking for the Naginata-wielder. She kicked him down, kicked again, then drew her Tanto and stabbed forward, deflecting the blade off of the Naginata and vice-versa.
She slashed down, then thrust the blade into the stomach of the man. The Aura held it off, but the strike chunked a particularly large bit of it too. Akane chuckled, then said "Not so cocky now, are you?" before kicking the Naginata wielder in the face and surging toward the leader.
"What the fuck are you!?" He growled as the two entered a sword-lock.
"I told you… I am a daughter of the White Lotus… This village is my home. And you have chosen the worst home to raid, ADVENT…" She growled, before ramming her forehead into the man's jaw and slashing diagonally across his breastplate. She dropped to one knee, drew three knives and threw them toward the approaching Naginata wielder. Two were deflected, but one managed to strike, exploding in contact with the enemy's Aura and staggering him just long enough for the girl to turn her focus onto him again.
A thousand cuts, yet again. Shallow, short, but fast enough to drain the Aura at a rapid pace. She giggled maniacally as she saw she finally drew blood. The enemy's Aura was weak now. Good. Delivering a flat-footed kick with her wooden sandals, she felt her foe's nose break under the weight of the strike, before she finished it off with a clean slash across…
Blood stained the mud below as rain fell around them. The Swordmistress turned to face the angered team leader, blade dripping with the blood of his allies. She spun the weapon, then spoke "Your comrades are dead… You should never have betrayed that deal, Mistralian. Lest you found yourself alone now."
"... You'll fucking pay for this, you bitch…" Growled the Nodachi wielder. "They were good people…"
"No… No, I don't think I will." She shook her head, taking her stance. The man readied himself, eyes black as night as he glared at the girl. And as the rainfall around them intensified, both surged toward their opponent and slashed. Both ground to a halt in the other's position… And with a sick gargle, the man fell, dead.
Akane's hair turned its old color as the white mask reemerged. She moved it to the side of her hair and gasped for air, grabbing onto her side as blood seeped between her fingers, coloring a pool of rainwater crimson. She spat out the blood, then murmured "No one… Harms my people."
She gasped, hearing wet footsteps in the mud and looked up, to see one of the Huntsmen she had hosted. And another. Two of the team members.. Both were girls… In fact, if she recalled correctly, the whole team was girls… They picked her up and helped her walk back inside.
"Gods, look at her…" The leader of the team murmured "How's it feel, Akane?"
The woman, holding her wound from bleeding further as the other team-member tended to it, said "It could be much worse…"
"You're kidding, right? You're lucky it didn't cut deep enough to hit your kidney." The one tending to her spoke.
"Mmm…" She murmured "I thought I told my people to get you out of here."
"They got Gwen out. We stuck behind in case we could help with anything." She answered, smiling. "Clearly, that wasn't necessary."
"Top sword skills there, Akane." The lead gave a thumbs up, smiling awkwardly as she added "A bit brutal…"
"They were going to kill you… Why did you not head directly for your kingdom if you are from there?" Akane raised a brow. All three looked to each-other, then shrugged.
"I guess we didn't wanna get caught with our pants down in the middle of Vacuo… Especially by ADVENT." The Leader explained, taking a seat in front of the Swordmistress.
"Hmm... I see… And why Mistral?" She asked again, grunting as she felt the redhead tending to her tighten the bandage. "Why not some other kingdom? Or that island on which the Faunus reside? You'd most certainly be safer there than anywhere here." And she took back her armor and weapons just after the bandaging was finished.
"Well, Mistral seems clear-cut, compared to the others. Vale was screwed by the Fall, Atlas is with ADVENT through and through, last we heard… At least minus the Downside rebellion and… Well, Menagerie is Faunus only, isn't it?" The Leader offered her response calmly. "We didn't really think they'd try to off us the moment we walked off the boat, though…"
"Welcome to Mistral…" Quipped Akane, standing up. "Come… We should head for the River. Meet the others and have as much distance between us and the capital as possible. These ADVENT thugs will very likely be looking for their missing squadron…"
"And where do we go? Like we said…" Shrugged the third "It's all theirs…"
"Dew… There is a place." Smirked the leader.
"... Nebula, no. Our parents would kill us." Her friend shook her head.
"... You two don't mean them, right? After what happened in Atlas?" The third, a redhead, asked
"Whom may you girls be talking about?" The Swordmistress spoke. Of course, Akane wouldn't know about them. She had lived all her life, including the last few months, within the confines of this small village, blissfully unaware of the situation in the rest of the Kingdoms and hardly aware of her own.
Nebula smiled broadly… "They call themselves XCOM."
Akane still had a mission…
To her, this XCOM… The warriors of this force squaring off against the bastards that forced her and her people out of her home… They were a welcome sign that perhaps not all was wrong with the Outside. But she still had her own mission. It had just slightly changed parameters;Much like team NDGO had required her to keep them safe on their travels out of kingdom, so would other 'unsanctioned' Huntsman teams and those trying to get out…
She lived by their old Code of Honor, like her mother and her mother before her…
The White Lotus would once again act as the guide and protector for the weary, until the time came…
Vigilo Confido, XCOM. May your victory be swift and honored by all.