Chapter 33…
For the first time in quite a long time Sage was starting to feel relaxed. He tapped his foot against the carpeted floor of the safehouse he had been brought to, which was a small apartment in the residential section of Mantle. He had Honey's golden throwing knife in his hand and was idly running his gloved fingers up and down the flat of the small blade.
It had been a few hours since he was dropped off and he was left with little to do. The apartment didn't even have a holo-screen so it wasn't like he could pass the time that way.
So instead Sage forced himself to once again check over the equipment he had requested… for like the fifth time that hour. The many devices were laid out on the kitchen table and wrapped in protective cloth; each were all important in their own way.
Sage's blue eyes scanned the tabletop. There was roughly thirty feet of strong nylon rope, a lockpicking kit, a small angled camera for peeking around corners, a box of flashbang grenades, a speaker capable of emitting high frequencies…
...and the list went on. Out of the entire set of tools the most important was the small EMP device, which was powerful enough to cause a minor blackout if triggered. Sage certainly hoped things wouldn't come to that, but in the event that it did he could always use the cover of darkness to escape.
Sage's tall wolf ears angled towards the door as the thump of heavy footsteps became apparent. The faunus boy quietly turned and drew Honey's knife from his pocket, keeping it concealed behind his hip as the door knob turned.
Two pairs of blue eyes met each other as Verdant Bulwark strolled carefully into the room, his usual troupe of bodyguards absent. Sage felt himself tense up at his uncle's presence but relaxed his hold on Honey's knife, moving it out from behind his back so it could be seen.
"I hope you weren't planning on using that?" Verdant muttered in a low tone, his eyes twinkling. The hulking man shut the door gently and leaned against the wood.
"Can't be too careful…" Sage mumbled back, letting the knife clatter onto the table. "Where uh… where were you? You've been gone for a while…"
"Something came up," Verdant noncommittally answered as he slid off his tweed jacket and placed it onto the coat rack. Sage took note of how his uncle's usually clean pressed dress shirt was now wrinkled and scuffed.
"Is everything alright?" Sage asked with a gulp.
"More or less," Verdant replied. The bearded man gestured to the arm chairs that dominated the central living space of the room. "Sit…"
"Can I stand?"
"I insist…" Verdant smiled coldly. "I wish to talk…"
Sage suppressed a frown from forming and took a seat in one of the scratchy armchairs, Verdant sat down just across from him.
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Let us start by going over the plan again," Verdant muttered, playing idly with his fingers.
"Haven't we gone over it enough?"
"One more time please. I want to make sure that you know exactly what you're doing…"
"Okay," Sage clicked his tongue. "Tomorrow night at exactly twelve-thirty 'p.m' a bullhead will be dropping me onto the roof of the Atlas R&D labs…"
"Go on…"
"I will find the appropriate ventilation shaft and make my way down to the ground level where the storage site 'A4' is located. I will then make contact with an insider who will provide me the access codes to the room."
"And?"
"Once inside I will steal the crown from its case and make my way to the window on the third floor, two from the left corner of the western wall. I will then use the high frequency device to shatter the glass and enter the waiting bullhead."
"So far so good…"
"After that the bullhead will transport me and the cargo to the undisclosed location you gave me, where I will hand over the crown to you for appraisal," Sage paused for a moment, angling his blue-eyed gaze to burrow into his uncle's own. "Once that's done… I'm going to leave Atlas, you will call off the hit on Honey and my team will not be harmed either…"
Verdant was silent for a long and tense moment, which made the hair on the back of Sage's neck stand up.
"Is… there a problem with all that?" Sage asked, fighting to keep the quiver out of his voice.
Verdant huffed out a breath through his nostrils and leaned back into his armchair. "A slight problem…"
"Oh?"
"You will be conducting the heist tonight instead of tomorrow," Verdant explained, seeing his nephew's face sink.
"WHAT?" Sage demanded, yelling louder than he expected. "How the fuck do you think I can pull it off tonight? This is all too sudden!"
"There is no choice now," Verdant shook his head. "I have very good reason to believe that Ironwood is aware of the plan. We need to do this as soon as possible before he has a chance to move the crown."
"How do you know?" Sage inquired, narrowing his eyes. "Was it an insider who told you?"
Verdant regarded Sage with cool eyes and tilted his head in curiosity. "You haven't watched the news?"
"No… the holo-screen here doesn't work," Sage replied.
"I see…"
"What's going on?"
"I'm not going to lie to you, Sage," Verdant spoke quietly, seeing his nephew's face quiver. "Your team attacked the warehouse just after you left… I had to torch the entire place to destroy any evidence."
Verdant felt oddly calm as his nephew moved. Sage stood up so fast the armchair he was sitting in tipped onto its back, slamming into the carpeted ground of the apartment.
"What did you do?" Sage demanded through gritted teeth. "You didn't hurt them!? Did you?"
"Of course I hurt them," Verdant shrugged, seeing his nephew's face redden with rage. "But I did not kill them, if that's what you're so worried about."
"You- you didn't kill them?" Sage gasped out weakly, stumbling back and breathing with relief.
"No I didn't," Verdant shook his head. "I easily could have… but I knew that killing them would go against our little agreement and that you certainly wouldn't be happy. A mole in Mantle's police force informed me that both Mauve and Rust are still alive and were in custody."
"Were?" Sage blinked before his eyes widened. "Wait… Mauve and Rust? What about Asher!?"
"Calm down," Verdant waved his hand. "Asher is also fine… but I've been thinking."
"Enlighten me!" Sage hissed.
"It's just that Honey is a world away," Verdant mused, crossing one leg over the other and peering towards the window of the apartment. "I know for a fact that my agent is watching her every move… but I needed a real threat with which to properly motivate you…"
"You mean…" Sage trailed off before his face morphed into a look of rage. "Where is he? What did you do with him?"
"Your friend Asher is being entertained at the same undisclosed location you will bring the crown too," Verdant explained. "Once it has been delivered I will set him free… he is merely leverage."
"You're unbelievable!" Sage spat, stomping towards the kitchen table and slapping his palms down onto the surface.
"This is just the way things are," Verdant shrugged as he stood up to grab his jacket. "You know where to go to find the bullhead…"
"Fuck you," Sage spat back without turning to face his uncle.
Verdant chuckled as he slipped on his jacket. "What's wrong? Having cold feet?"
Sage stayed silent.
"Because remember what's at stake here…" Verdant reminded his nephew. He pulled open the door and turned to face his nephew one last time before he left. "Love makes us do crazy things…"
"Get out…"
Verdant shut the door behind him.
Up in Atlas Academy…
Rust felt very uncomfortable… and it wasn't for the first or even second time that day.
On his left stood Winter Schnee, prim and proper with her back ramrod straight and her eyes glued on the elevator doors. Despite her tall stature and her heels Rust towered over her, but her mere presence still left a prickly feeling in his neck.
On his right stood Mauve, who was as equally serious looking as Winter. Her lips were drawn into a thin line and her face betrayed no emotion. If Rust didn't know her better he would have recognized this as her natural resting face; but the blazing look of anger in her piercing amber eyes shredded that assumption.
He was standing between two powerful individuals… and was probably about to get chewed out for his team's act of vigilantism.
Yeah… Rust was uncomfortable…
In fact, he was so uncomfortable that it took him a moment to process that the elevator door had already opened up. Mauve and Winter were already two steps ahead of him by the time he realised what was going on and he scrambled to catch up. Rust came to a wobbly and uneasy halt beside Mauve, who was glaring at the back of Ironwood's chair.
The General was seated at his desk and peering out the massive window; Rust could spot the glare of his cobalt eyes reflecting in the window. The thing that really caught his attention though was the active holo-screen on Ironwood's desk, tuned to a news report that showed a smoldering warehouse…
"... the presence of live munitions in the building prevented firefighter teams from intervening the last few hours but the situation has now been deemed safe enough for action. Response teams have gained tractions against the blaze in the previous hour but are not out of the woods yet…"
"Do you know what you three have done?" Ironwood spoke cooly, spinning around to face them and standing to full height. General Ironwood's eyes burned with a fury that Rust had never seen before; the imposing military leader slammed his hand against his desks control board, silencing the news broadcast and making the holo-screen disappear.
Rust gulped and fought the urge to avert his gaze, Ironwood seemingly had a thing for dramatics…
"I gave you strict orders to not get involved in this," Ironwood seethed as he descended the steps to join them. "And you three go gallivanting off on your own… somehow stumbling onto a known hideout and then proceeding to blow half of a city block into oblivion…" Ironwood squinted down to observe Mauve and Rust's faces. "Speaking of which… how did you three find that place?"
"It was just a hunch," Mauve lied, her perfect poker face not betraying any guilt.
Ironwood inhaled a shaky breath. "The amount of evidence in that place… we could have used it against Verdant Bulwark."
"Then why didn't you?" Mauve asked with a tone full of venom, startling both the General and her teammate. "You said it was a known hideout…"
"You insolent little-" Ironwood bit his tongue. "This entire operation was about subtly… and you just blew it! The chances of us catching Bulwark and actually having evidence against him is now completely gone!"
Mauve's right eye twitched.
"What do you think will happen to Sage, who you claimed to be so concerned about!" Ironwood hissed. "Do you think Verdant won't bring this up to him? And what about Asher? I head all about the missing persons report you filed Mr. Zephyr…"
Rust felt himself wilt a little when Ironwood turned to address him. "The police needed to know…"
"I don't trust the Mantle police you idiot!" Ironwood threw up his hands. "I didn't want anyone knowing anything about this entire operation!"
"Including us!?" Mauve shot back.
"Evidently yes!" Ironwood snarled. "We are burned, do you understand the severity of your fuckup? Now I'm stuck trying to formulate a new plan to catch Verdant, protecting my interests and I have to search for your missing teammate…"
Ironwood rattled out a breath. "It should have been Sage who came to Atlas… you three have only complicated and ruined things. I brought you into the loop because I knew you would be an effective backup… but you have betrayed any trust I have placed in you…"
Ironwood turned away and stomped back up the steps to his desk, wringing his hands behind his back. "I will have you two confined to your rooms and placed under watch while I deal with the mess you have created…"
Rust couldn't feel his body, either out of shock or disbelief… or maybe both. Thankfully, he didn't have to say a word about the situation.
"WHAT!?" Mauve snarled- no, roared in indignation. "How can you say something like that!?"
Winter Schnee's face soured and she moved to restrain Mauve, laying a strong hand onto the lynx girl's shoulder. Mauve roughly shook the white haired woman off and sneered at Ironwood.
"That's quite enough Ms. Tempesta," Ironwood sighed as he rubbed his temples.
"No," Mauve hissed, taking a step forward. "You are going to listen to what I have to say!"
"And why should I?"
"Because we're all here…" Mauve argued. "And there won't be another chance…"
Ironwood was silent, he sat down at his desk and supported his head with his hands.
"How can you use the word trust so easily?" Mauve spat, making the hair on the back of Rust's neck stand up. "From the beginning this entire thing was a shitshow of secrecy and bureaucracy. You pulled us from Vale with a day's notice and stuck us on an airship filled with classified bullshit and expected us not to be curious. You made us stay in our room for a week without any contact and then sent us on a mission that was completely fabricated to test us! Then you pull Sage back into the world he was desperately trying to get away from and give us only the bare minimum to go off while he was risking his life-"
"Are you quite done!" Ironwood snapped, rising back up to full height.
"NO!" Mauve roared, once again making Rust flinch. "This will never be done! How dare you say that you put your trust in us! There has never been a single fucking shred of trust between us! You could have brought us into the loop and made us understand but you insisted on shoving us to the side as if we were soldiers under your command!"
Ironwood was completely silent, his cobalt eyes unreadable.
"You said it yourself," Mauve muttered under her breath, her face beet red with rage. "Sage is a pawn… the team is all pawns… but not you. How did you ever- in your wildest fucking dreams think that there was trust between us?"
Ironwood was still silent, Rust released a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"You're right about what happened with the warehouse," Mauve muttered again, her face relaxing. "I'm willing to accept that we fucked up… but don't pretend that you didn't drive us to do what we did today. We were terrified for Sage and wanted to know if he was ok… you ordering us to stay in our room was a bad call…"
"Thank you Ms. Tempesta," Winter Schnee spoke coolly, planting her hand back on Mauve's shoulder before snapping her gold gaze over to Rust. "Do you have anything to add Mr. Zephyr?"
"What she said," Rust gulped, jerking his thumb in Mauve's direction.
"Very well… you two will be coming with m-"
"Winter…" Ironwood's deep voice rang out, giving the specialist pause.
"General Ironwood, sir?"
Ironwood waved his hand and a look of quiet understanding spread across Winter's face. She immediately released Mauve and took a step back.
Ironwood made his way down from his desk, each heavy footstep echoing throughout the room. He stopped just a few feet in front of Mauve and locked eyes with her, not flinching at the murderous glare she was giving him.
The lynx girl seemed genuinely shocked when he stuck out a gloved hand.
"Please," Ironwood said under his breath, still not breaking eye contact.
Slowly and tentatively Mauve reached forwards and grasped his gloved hand with her own; they shared a brief shake before awkwardly pulling away.
"Why?" Rust blurted out as Ironwood held out his hand for him to shake.
"I won't pretend for a second that your team didn't just seriously impact this operation," Ironwood explained as he shook Rust's hand. "But I suppose in a way your leader is completely right. I should have treated you four like allies… not chess pieces…"
"Verdant is out there, Sage might be in trouble and my partner has been kidnapped," Mauve explained, her eyes still alight with purpose. "Rust and I have a vested personal interest in all of this… locking us in our rooms will get no one anywhere…"
"You're absolutely right," Ironwood admitted with a sigh, slipping his hands into the pockets of his uniform coat. "Perhaps we can work together to resolve all this… under one condition…"
"Which is?" Rust questioned.
"You two will follow my orders and plan," Ironwood explained. "But I will keep you two in the loop and explain everything…"
Mauve and Rust looked between each other for a moment.
"We accept," Mauve nodded. "But no more secrets…"
"No more…" Ironwood affirmed.
The tall General turned away and ascended the steps to his desk again. He tapped at the control board, directing the holo-projector to rise up in the center of the room again.
Rust and Mauve both approached the holo-projector as Ironwood moved to join them; Winter stayed close by, her sharp blue eyes watching the emitter intently.
"Let's get down to brass tacks and keep things simple," Ironwood muttered as he planted his hands on the top of the projector. "Verdant directed Sage to steal an ancient artifact from the Atlas labs…"
"An artifact?" Mauve questioned, quirking up an eyebrow. "Explain."
"It's a crown… like the one a king would wear… and it's very valuable," Ironwood explained, keeping things as vague as possible. "I have reason to believe that Sage will make the attempt soon… Verdant knows that the window of opportunity is closing fast."
"But what about the crown?" Rust questioned. "Haven't you already moved it? If you knew what he was after why keep it here?"
"That's the thing," Ironwood answered. "The window of opportunity has already closed and I have moved it to another location… I even vetted the staff in the lab to see if I could find any moles."
"Did you find any?"
"Yes," Ironwood grimaced. "The two are already in my custody…"
"So what do we do then?" Mauve frowned. "Where do we go from here? And why would Verdant still be pushing Sage into this if he knew that you knew about all this? This doesn't make any sense…"
"I believe it to be out of pure desperation," Ironwood answered as he tapped his fingers against the button prompts of the holo-projector. "He will never have another chance and needs to take it now…"
"But how are we going to catch him? How will we help Sage and Asher?"
Ironwood was silent for a long and tense moment. "Ironically… I shot down this exact suggestion when Sage brought it up to me… I am going to give Verdant exactly what he wants-"
"And then tail Sage back to him…" Mauve nodded, finishing Ironwood's thought. "That makes sense…"
"It's risky," Rust added. "But it might work…"
"Good," Ironwood responded, removing his fingers from the button prompts with a flourish. A 3-d projection of the Atlas labs layout was now hovering in mid air above the hologram emitter. "I want you two to study the layout of the labs… the original location of the crown was in room 'A4'... and that's where I will be returning it to."
"What about you?" Mauve asked, tearing her eyes away from the floating projection.
"I have to make a call… you two remember Professor Polendina, yes?" Ironwood asked, receiving two nods of affirmation. "I will ask him to come here so he can be filled in…"
Mauve and Rust stayed silent, committing the layout of the labs to memory.
