(Twenty minutes after Chapter 14)
Haiiden looked around and realized that he was lost. On his way to the central piazza, he had been poring through his thoughts the entire way, and he hadn't paid attention to which way he had gone. Since leaving the beautiful young woman alone back at the piazza, he was once again lost in his thoughts, and wandered who knew where. He sighed and turned as he tried to recognize any landmarks that he might have passed by. He considered stopping other passersby to ask how to get to the hotel that he was staying at, but he quickly realized that he didn't even remember what hotel was called, he considered asking people for directions based on a description of the hotel's exterior, but he had only seen it at night, and couldn't come up with an adequate picture of it to describe.
Finally, he remembered the Mission Manager App that had been installed in his Scroll prior to their leaving Beacon, and pulled up the tracking feature. Utilizing the app, he was able to see a map of the city, and all of his teammates' positions in relation to his. He identified the icon for Zed, and, Scroll held in front of him, he began to head toward the icon on the map.
As he made his way there, he saw Zed appear from an alley. He let out a sigh of relief and was glad to see a familiar face. He called out for Zed, which left Zed confused as he quickly turned his head to and fro as he tried to figure out where the voice was coming from. He finally noticed Haiiden when he was a few paces away as he ran towards him.
"Been looking for you," Zed told him as he approached, holding up his Scroll, which displayed the Mission Manager App as well. Although he was genuinely happy to see his friend, he didn't show it, as something was already bothering him. A smile then crept onto Haiiden's face, amused by the idea that Zed was looking for him while he was trying to find his way back.
"Really? I was trying to find my way back to the hotel, but I couldn't even remember what it looked like, let alone its name. Glad I came across you," Haiiden replied to Zed with a small shrug while they both stood for a moment.
"Did you have fun?" Zed asked as he turned to walk towards the hotel and Haiiden followed right beside him.
Haiiden walked with a raised brow, holding his breath when he didn't know how to answer. "Define 'fun.'"
"You know, maybe something that made you feel good or the feeling that coming here wasn't a big waste of time," Zed continued. This caught Haiiden off-guard a little, especially since it was Zed who volunteered the team to come.
"So is finding Torchwick a 'waste of time?'" Haiiden asked with a smirk as he tried to play at Zed's intentions. However, Zed didn't find any amusement in the question and just kept silent. Haiiden swallowed nervously when he didn't get a response, and they both walked toward the hotel silence.
They both let out a sigh of relief when they finally arrived back at the Hotel Il Palazzo. Hoping to take a quick break, as they still had some time before meeting with Lipesce, they made their way through the lobby, and towards their suite. Without warning, they heard someone call out their names from behind, and turned to see that it was Cecilia and Vaughn. Haiiden and Zed both watched as they approached with a pair of smiles when they noticed that Cecilia looked surprisingly cheerful. She seemed to almost be skipping, which made them wonder what exactly was going on.
"You seemed to have had a good time," Zed pointed out, feeling a bit leery from seeing Cecilia act in such a way. She stopped in front of the two with a big smile on her face, while Vaughn approached with a heavy bag slung over his shoulder. Haiiden reached out and took it to give Vaughn a break, which he was glad to hand over.
"Oh yeah. Remember Doctor Maynard?" she asked, her smile growing bigger when she mentioned the name. The size of her smile seemed almost inhuman, or at least alien coming from someone as stoic as Cecilia.
"The Doctor who used to care for the two of you at the orphanage?" Haiiden asked, looking at her from the corner of his eye; he twisted his body after having slung the bag over his shoulder.
"Yeah! He was here! In Mistral!" she exclaimed to them. "And he was chaperoning his boss's daughter, whom we also got to meet!"
Zed and Haiiden both began to smile at this point as they worked past their feelings of discomfort. Cecilia was always so serious and gloomy, that to see her act happy made them forget their own troubles.
"So, should we meet with Lipesce then?" Vaughn asked as he looked up at a grand clock in the lobby and noticed it was almost three in the afternoon. Everyone then turned to look the clock to confirm the time. Fifteen minutes before three: it was time to meet up with him in front of the hotel, but they noticed that no one else was there yet. They all turned to look around, thinking that if they spotted someone out of the ordinary, that it might be him. Maybe he wore normal military attire, but everyone in the lobby wore casual, civilian clothing. At this point Cecilia's smile faded as she became confused as to where this "Lipesce" might be.
"You are late," they heard, and the voice seemed to originate from behind them. They all turned quickly, but only saw a few people passing by, and one man sitting at a table, reading a paper. Although everyone had overlooked the man, Vaughn realized that he had seen him the night before and slowly approached him. At first, the man didn't look up as Vaughn approached him; as Vaughn, when they were checking in; he slowly examined the man and as he leaned in to get a closer look, he began to feel a hint of suspicion creep up inside him.
"Penumbra Lipesce?" Vaughn asked, and everyone started to approach the man to who Vaughn was talking. At first they didn't think much of him, as the man just seemed to be an ordinary traveler, but after Vaughn asked his name, he looked up at the team.
"You are late," the man repeated as he set down the paper and picked up a cup of tea to drink from; he wore dark civilian clothing, which allowed him to blend in with the people around him. No wonder they were unable to find him at first, as they couldn't distinguish him from anyone around him. As they continued to scan his features, they saw that he had dark purple hair that draped along the back of his neck, down to his shoulders. His hair was combed back, and some white hair clips were placed on the crown of his head to keep it from falling into his eyes. After he took a quick sip of his tea, he placed the cup back down onto a saucer next to four folders stacked neatly on top of each other. He took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair with his hands folded in front of him, staring at the team members for a few seconds as he scanned each one.
"Well, to be honest, we are actually quite early," Zed said with a grin, trying to make a good first impression. Cecilia and Haiiden nodded in agreement after looking back at the clock to see that only three minutes had passed.
"Well, to be honest," the man replied as he attempted to mock Zed before picking up his cup and sipping from it again, "you arrived yesterday, and I expected to see you as you arrived."
Zed's smile faded as he crossed his arms as he realized he was being mocked. Unhappy with the tone that came from the man, he felt like he was being patronized.
"We thought that someone would meet with us at the airport," Haiiden jumped in, trying to defend himself and his team. He felt put off at Lipesce's assumption, especially since they weren't given any background on their mission prior to departing, merely that they would be meeting someone from the Mistral military, and that they would be taking action against a White Fang terror cell..
"I am not your chaperone," Lipesce replied while staring down Haiiden, which forced him to turn away and left him scratching the back of his head.
"Then who are you?" Zed asked, his eyes tinting slightly orange as he began to get a little annoyed by how this man was acting.
"I am the military and governmental liaison for this mission, Penumbra Lipesce, as you may have already guessed." He stared back at Zed, noticing his eyes turning orange and sighed to himself. "Forgive my attitude, time is of the essence, and we need to deal with this threat quickly."
Zed quickly calmed down after the apology had been made, but still felt a bit sour. Lipesce again looked to each individual member and made eye contact with each one before he then pointed towards Cecilia and Vaughn.
"So let's get introductions out of the way: Cecilia and Vaughn Sceryei." He said as he pointed towards the twins. They looked back at each other, surprised that he would know who they were. Everyone assumed that he would get names, but to be able to point and just tell them their names something they hadn't expected.
"Anders 'Zed' Ignis," Lipesce said, this time pointing at Zed. Zed eyes shifted from side to side, worried about how much this man really knew about him. Haiiden knew that he was next, and silently waited for Lipesce to point at him. He eventually did point at him but he stared silently at Haiiden and took a deep breath.
"I, unfortunately, do not know YOU," Lipesce pointed at and lowered his hand as he waited for Haiiden to answer. The twin's attention diverted to Haiiden, wondering to themselves as to why he would know everyone else's names except for his. Haiiden sighed as he stared back at Lipesce in the eyes, who in turn maintained eye contact.
"His name is Haiiden," Zed said as he jumped into the conversation, putting an arm around his friend and pulling him close. "You know our names, so why don't you know his?"
For a moment Lipesce sat silently as he looked at Zed. His face not showing a hint of emotion, but rather a cold and calculated stare.
"His file was misplaced on its way here," he said. Haiiden swallowed to himself nervously at that response, and hung his head a little. Lipesce then stood up, dropping some money on the table, and picked up the folders that he had brought with him. "Now that the introductions are out of the way. We will discuss the mission back at Camp Argo."
Vaughn raised his hand slightly, then spoke. "It'll have to wait a few minutes; I have to go to our suite and retrieve a bag with some equipment and ammunition I'm going to need for the mission."
Team HAVC made their way to Mistral's central base for the area, Camp Argo, and around them were all different types of military weaponry. Armored vehicles, android weapons, as well as human and Faunus soldiers wearing white armor with large visors. To the twins, this was nothing, almost like home, and they felt slightly refreshed since they had always known the military life. The other two were walking and keeping to themselves, unsure as to how the military worked, but in all honesty, they didn't care. They reached a parked VTOL with a group of around fifty soldiers around it. These soldiers were different from the others, since their armor had different markings. Some were adorned with different symbols that each member had painted on their armor or helmets to help distinguish from one another, as well as to define themselves. Some had spades of daggers painted on their shoulders, while another had a skull painted over his raised visor.
Lipesce led HAVC to the group near the VTOL, and the soldiers turned their heads to see who was approaching. Some looked back to each other to see if anyone knew who they were. Some audibly wondered why command had brought kids to this mission.
"This is one of Mistral's Special Forces Units," Lipesce announced as he introduced the soldiers to HAVC. Most clicked their heels and saluted Lipesce, while others were still scanning the team. "And this is Team Havoc, one of the teams that the Headmaster at Beacon Academy has selected to help with this mission."
"Havoc? Nice name," said one of the soldiers in a sarcastic manner and with a slight chuckle.
"This is just a group of kids; does he realize that this isn't a field trip?" exclaimed another.
"Calm down," Lipesce ordered, motioning his hands down so as to calm the soldiers. "They are from the most prestigious Hunter academy in Vale. The Headmaster has agreed to help with any security issue that might threaten the upcoming Vytal Festival, so this is his way of helping."
Some of the soldiers then shook their heads while others shrugged, indifferent to the situation. One soldier then stepped forward and approached the twins, having noticed the military uniforms, but also the fact that it had a different color than the rest.
"A Huntsman and Huntress in training? Why are you wearing uniforms?" he asked.
"They were raised in a military orphanage, Saint Alban's, in southern Atlas, which was a very serious institution. They learned hand-to-hand combat from the age of eight. They were then adopted by one Colonel Anatolyi Sceryei the age of ten, and were trained under him both in military tactics and the Hunter Arts," Lipesce answered before Cecilia or Vaughn could. Cecilia was left a little surprised that he knew so much about them.
"How did you know that?" she asked.
"I am part of the Mistral's Military Intelligence Division; I hold an O-5 rank, a Colonel in Military Intel. It's my job to know these things," he answered, and motioned for the team to stand in front of the soldiers. When they stopped in front of the group of soldiers, a couple more VTOLs dropped down and landed, but kept their engines running.
"You know why we are here. Intelligence has found that the White Fang are preparing for a massive attack. As you may know, they are more suited for guerilla warfare, but they are getting bolder in their strategies and tactics. They have stolen some military hardware, and are likely responsible for several attacks on some outlying recon camps." With the help of a hologram from his wristwatch, Colonel Lipesce explained the situation while showing pictures to better illustrate what he was talking about, including photos of the common White Fang foot soldier as well as the military hardware that they had stolen, such as the Atlesian Paladin mech.
"Has it been determined that it was the White Fang behind the attacks on the outskirts?" asked one of the soldiers.
"Unfortunately no. Whoever it was they managed to leave nothing behind, so determining who was behind it is currently unlikely, but we have a strong belief that it was the White Fang for reasons that are currently classified. Need to know," Lipesce replied and waved off the soldier, who nodded his head and stepped back into line.
"Our target is a White Fang Lieutenant named Leo, a large cat-Faunus," Lipesce continued, and the image of a large male with a mane of golden hair- which made him oddly resembled a lion- appeared in the holo-projection. He had large muscles that bulged through his shirt, and his biceps tore through the sleeves. Upon seeing this, Zed took a step back and swallowed.
"We do have limited intel on deserters among their ranks: a couple of Lieutenants are among them, but as usual the White Fang have hidden their tracks well, and we don't know who those are," Lipesce said. "We do have reason to believe that one is a female cat-Faunus with black hair and yellow eyes last seen in Vale, and the other is a male fox-Faunus; classification, description, and current whereabouts are unknown."
"So much for the Intel Division," Zed mumbled to himself and sighed in relief.
"Our department is spread pretty thin, between peacetime cutbacks in our budget and resources, and the sudden upsurge of White Fang activity," Lipesce answered after having heard what Zed had mumbled. "We can only get so much done with what is allocated to us."
Lipesce then switched gears. "Expect heavy resistance, their numbers are growing, and their equipment gets better with each passing month," Lipesce said as he finished the briefing, with Team HAVC and the soldiers behind them nodding in acknowledgement.
"We rally for deployment in thirty. Use this time wisely to prepare," he concluded and turned away as he walked towards a group of android soldiers, which greeted him with a robotic salute as he approached.
"Thirty minutes?" Cecilia whispered to Vaughn, who had a worried expression on his face and turned to the bag that he was carrying. "Do you think we have enough time?"
"It is only enough time for a couple more mags. I have two mags already; if I had my full kit from the dorm, I could make at least four, possibly eight more, but two more will have to suffice," He said under his breath, rummaging through the bag before he finally pulled out a jar of the Dust byproduct, "Grey Goose", his cartridge loading kit, as well as a jar of red Dust and a jar white Dust. He sighed to himself as he knew that he would be forced to carry some lethal ammo with him, as well as some Sabot and High Explosive rounds for the heavy military hardware the White Fang were now using. Walking with his sister to a secluded area to get ready, he saw that Haiiden and Zed had already made their way there. Haiiden was sharpening his blade and polishing it, while Zed shadow boxed in the air, trying to get himself psyched for the mission.
Vaughn sat quietly next to Haiiden on the tarmac, and put down the kit and the jars of Dust necessary for mixing, as well as an empty one. Filling the jar halfway with the red Dust, he remembered that the red was supposed to work like gunpowder, creating the force to expel out the projectile. Then pouring a couple spoonfuls of the Grey Goose, which caused the red glow in the Dust to dim slightly. As the two ingredients mixed, the jar began to vibrate slightly, making it hum, which caught everyone else's attention. Haiiden was looking at it with slight reservation, leaning away as he expected the jar to explode in Vaughn's hands. Eventually the jar began to hum louder and louder, making everyone else back away, except for Vaughn, who just sat calmly and poured a third of the white Dust into the jar. The humming subsided, and the glow of the Dust returned, but this time it was a light pink. It slowly faded to just a sliver of pink right before it turned completely white.
Vaughn then smiled, this was a sign that the batch was successful and continued to pour a little more of the white Dust, finishing it off to give it a powerful white glow.
"How does that work?" Haiiden asked as he returned to his seat next to Vaughn after the disaster had been averted.
"This," Vaughn replied as he raised a jar of the Grey Goose in the air for Haiiden to look at. "Is what is left over after refining several varieties of Dust. What is sold is the pure form, which allows us to use magic. However, it is very volatile and requires great care when handling." He poured the white dust into a hopper at the top of his kit, then reached into his bag and pulled out a box of unloaded, rock salt-tipped cartridges, which were a translucent white on the rounded tips, and began to load thirty-six of them into cylindrical slots in the kit, business-end down. Haiiden then remembered when he first tried to use Dust when he trained with Glynda, who shook her head at him in disappointment every time he caused a premature explosion in front of her. Vaughn closed the kit and turned a crank on the kit's side, allowing the Dust mixture to pour evenly into the open ends of the cartridges, filling them almost to the brim. Instead of the Dust acting like a powder, it flowed like liquid mercury, spilling down through tubes from the hopper and into the main, transparent chamber of the kit.
"Due to how volatile it is, it also makes mixing pretty dangerous. This is where the byproduct 'Grey Goose' comes into the equation. When you mix a bit of the Grey Goose, it introduces whatever keeps the Dust from becoming active, but since it has already been refined it causes the Dust to react violently." Vaughn then opened the top again and with painstaking precision, placed the rims with the primer pins on the bottoms of the rounds, whereupon he closed the lid again, then turned the crank in the opposite direction, locking the circular rim "bottoms" into place, which signaled the completion of packing the rounds. He then opened the top of the kit again, and pulled the rounds out one at a time, as he began loading them into a pair of empty magazines he had pulled out of his bag.
"The Grey Goose negates the Dust's properties, so as a result it can rebound and explode. But introducing another form of Dust weakens the byproduct which allows it to retain the properties of the first initial Dust," Vaughn continued his little lesson and paused his loading the magazines to raise the finished product of white Dust that remained in the jar and shook it gently to illustrate his point.
"The properties from the red Dust, which works as a propulsion mechanism, remains intact, but loses some of its strength and therefore its lethality. In other words, the red Dust is mitigated by the white to lower the velocity of the rock-salt projectile so that it doesn't seriously penetrate the victim. It may break the skin, but it won't go through a target like a bullet will," Vaughn finished. Haiiden responded by nodding his head but still couldn't grasp the idea. He was not as good with Dust, so he just left it to someone who knew what he was doing. Vaughn continued to smile politely as he went back to packing up the kit, then standing and mounting his magazines on his belt, but the smile slowly faded as he realized that four full magazines of this non-lethal ammunition probably wouldn't be enough for a mission like this, which meant he might have to switch to lethal rounds during the fight.
"It's is dangerous stuff. The Schnee Company does try its best to provide a variety of high quality Dust, but the type of Dust I need can only be acquired by mixing it myself." Haiiden had just finished sharpening and polishing his blade, then looked up to see what everyone else was doing. Zed was now sitting and waiting patiently for Lipesce to rally them, while Cecilia was sitting silently with her eyes closed as she retreated into her mind, banishing any negative thoughts before the start of her mission so that she could concentrate when it started. Haiiden nodded in approval as everyone was now ready, but then turned as he saw an android staring at him. Haiiden narrowed his eyes at it as he tried to determine if it was looking at him or past him. Then he looked behind him just to make sure. Then, for a moment, a red light blinked in the top right corner of the visor and it walked away. While it retreated, Haiiden continued to stare at it, as he thought that it was strange that it would act in such a way.
"Alright, men!" HAVC heard as Colonel Lipesce called out for everyone's attention. Everyone met back at the VTOL for a final briefing and prep talk before they set out. "Command has asked that we bring in some prisoners for questioning as well as to bring back Leo in one piece at any cost. So if you can, try to leave as many alive as possible. To reiterate: Leo Moreli is NOT to be killed under any circumstances. If you must fire on him, fire to disable, not to kill."
The soldiers nodded their heads while HAVC let out a collective sigh of relief. Haiiden had never killed anyone before and was glad that he was given permission to use non-lethal tactics wherever possible.
Team HAVC, along with the group of ten soldiers that comprised the special escort squad designated Team Vale boarded one VTOL as it took off and travelled west. Along the way, further orders were given through the intercom as plans were being discussed. Teams HAVC and Vale would be the vanguard during the assault, flying over the compound and landing right on top of its headquarters building, while Team Vale would cover their way in to relieve them of anyone sneaking in from behind to stop them. In the event of Team Vale's Lieutenant and Sergeant being killed in action, Cecilia would take command of the Team. The various fire teams had been given comms so that they could communicate with each other during the mission. In addition to Fire Team Havoc and Fire Team Vale, there were teams designated "Atlas", "Vacuo", "Mantle", as well as "Grimm." All told, a force of about a hundred men went with HAVC, all battle hardened soldiers with experience in the Faunus War, as well as previous fights against the White Fang. HAVC was given free reign, allowing them to jump in and act as they saw fit. However, Ozpin had asked Lipesce to try his best to protect the team, so he had specifically allocated the ten soldiers of Team Vale to work directly with them.
As they made their way, Haiiden watched out the window as he tried to hide his feelings of trepidation. They flew over the forest as they continued to fly west, and in the distance, Haiiden saw a cloud of black smoke leaving the canopy of the forest as the sun dipped lower in the west. He narrowed his eyes to find the source of the smoke, but they flew too fast for him to get a good look.
"Smoke? Is there a fire?" Haiiden thought as they flew far enough away so that he was no longer able to see it. His thoughts were interrupted as his personal comm crackled with life as everyone made one final roll call before they arrived.
"Fire Team Atlas Six, checking in."
"Fire Team Vacuo Six, checking in."
"Fire Team Mantle Six, checking in."
"Fire Team Grimm Six, checking in."
"Fire Team Vale Six, checking in," said the Lieutenant in charge of the men in the VTOL with them. Without a word, he looked to Haiiden, then pointed his finger at him as if to say, "You're up!"
"Fire Team Havoc… I guess Havoc Six, checking in," Haiiden said after pressing the button on his earpiece and replied into the comm.
"Alright everyone, let's make this quick and painless. Get in, get Leo, and get out," Colonel Lipesce announced into the comm, which signaled the start of the mission. The sounds of gunfire could already be heard as they White Fang's anti-air began to fire upon them. Everyone swerved in their seats as the pilot made evasive maneuvers, and flak from the anti-air cannons buffeted the VTOL. Upon looking out, Haiiden could see them flying over a large compound before they hovered to a stop. Soldiers jumped out as the aircraft lowered itself down to allow them a proper exit. Team HAVC jumped out as well, running past a group of soldiers keeping cover in a circle with their backs to each other.
"Charges placed!" Said the soldier with a skull painted on his helmet, obviously the explosives specialist. "You guys ready?"
HAVC nodded in reply before Cecilia created a barrier made of ice to shield them from the blast.
"Fire in the hole!" cried Skull, and detonated.
The ground shook around them as the soldier blew a hole on top of the roof of the compound. The barrier quickly melted, and HAVC was the first to jump into the breach. As he landed, Haiiden quickly rolled forward as he dodged the attack of a White Fang soldier that was waiting for him. He then swung his sword at the legs of another soldier as he quickly got back on his feet; the strike struck the Faunus's shin guards, and tripped his enemy. As he fell forward, Haiiden brought up his knee into his opponent's head, the strike forcing him onto his back and left him unconscious as Haiiden moved to his next target. He quickly swung his blade to the left to deflect the next oncoming attack, and used the momentum of the swing to spin and bring his elbow up into his opponent's head.
From behind, Vaughn was providing cover fire with his sniper rifle, but his rate of fire was slow as he husbanded his rounds. The assault rifle had a much faster rate of fire, and could be set for fully automatic, three-round burst, or single shot, but Haiiden knew that the sniper mode had more kick, and thus more stopping power. Vaughn took time with his shots, choosing priority targets and knocked them out with one, clean shot. Cecilia was leading a group of soldiers as their Lieutenant was taken out immediately upon entering the top floor of the building. She swung her sword as it glowed with its ethereal flame; she dispatched her enemies and provided cover with her barriers for the soldiers to hide behind.
Zed jumped down onto the catwalk and immediately rushed forward with his karambit, pushing himself forward and jumping from side to side as he dodged incoming shots. When he got close enough, the soldiers tried to strike Zed with the butts of their rifles, but missed as Zed ducked under them. With a quick strike, he pushed his arm forward and sliced at a White Fang soldier's leg, cutting deeply into his flesh. The Faunus yelped in pain and tried to turn to face Zed, but the pain in his leg, coupled with the damaged muscle, kept him from moving. Thinking the threat was neutralized, Zed continued forward with a series of non-lethal attacks. Twisting another soldier's arm while ducking underneath it, he then kicked a soldier in his ribs as the Faunus came to help his comrade.
The kick immediately knocked his opponent to the ground, so Zed twisted his opponent's arm further to inflict as much pain as possible. Now Zed had control, forcing him down onto his stomach before pulling on his arm to dislocate it. After his group of soldiers was dealt with, Zed turned to see if his teammates were alright. He could see that Vaughn had joined with Haiiden, finishing up their group while Cecilia was contacting Lipesce.
"This is Havoc Four re-designating as Vale Six," She announced onto the comm. "Lieutenant Rigel and Sergeant Matthews are either critically wounded or dead. First room now cleared; no sign of Leo yet. Over."
"Roger, Vale Six. All members of Fire Team Vale, you will form up on Havoc Four – now re-designated as Vale Six, and follow her orders for the duration of this mission. Her effective rank is Acting Lieutenant, and you will treat her as such. Good Hunting. Out," Lipesce responded.
"This is my chance," Zed thought to himself as he quietly continued forward without his team. He ran through a corridor, and took out a couple of enemies who were supposed to help reinforce the upper levels of the headquarters building. The attack thus far was a success in a way, as the White Fang didn't expect such a sudden and overwhelming assault, and it seemed that their full force wasn't entirely in position. Zed grinned at the thought, making his way to a door and busting through it shoulder-first. A group of soldiers inside immediately turned to face Zed, but he had already kicked a table that was in the room at them and knocked them out. As he scanned the room, his eyes turned orange as they met with Leo's.
Leo looked at Zed with his emotions ranging from confusion to shock.
"Zed Ignis?" Leo asked and narrowed his eyes, as he thought his mind was playing tricks.
"Leo Moreli," Zed answered as he confirmed that it was him and banishing all doubt.
Leo chuckled. "What are you doing here? Why would you help the humans attack your brothers? Hell, we used to picket and protest together," Leo asked as he raised his hands and backed away from Zed, eyeing Zed's karambit nervously as he retreated against a control panel that overlooked a large storage warehouse behind him.
"We're no longer brothers, Leo. I'm here for information, but taking out this White Fang terror cell in Mistral is a bonus," Zed growled as he approached Leo with his shoulders broadened and gripped his karambit.
"You are a traitor to your own kind!" Leo growled in return, but it wasn't as intimidating as Zed's as he was still nervous while eyeing the karambit, remembering how dangerous Zed was with it.
"No. YOU are the traitor! ADAM is the traitor! You all went against what the White Fang stood for!" Zed responded as his left hand shot up and gripped Leo's throat. Despite Leo's large size, Zed was still able to lift him off the ground with the help of his Semblance. Leo looked down nervously at Zed as he put his hands over Zed's wrists.
"Now tell me: where is Torchwick?" Zed asked as he leaned in closer to Leo.
"Zed? Havoc Two, where are you?" Zed heard over the comm which caught him off guard. His eyes turning back to green as he glanced from left to right. He gritted his teeth at the interruption. "Havoc Two, this is Havoc Six, respond!"
"Shove off, Zed!" Leo roared, taking advantage of Zed's distraction and forced himself back onto the floor. Claws protruded from his fingertips and he tore into Zed's arm, allowing Leo to throw him out the window into the warehouse. Zed's back struck the window and the glass shattered as the throw was strong enough to break it. He fell to the two stories to the floor with a thud, but just as he hit it, something kicked him in the back, which forced him forward. Zed slid along the floor, but then rolled back onto his feet. His eyes turned orange again as he scanned his surroundings: nothing was there, and this left him wondering what hit him. Suddenly another attack from the back of the head made Zed stagger forward, and as he turned to face his opponent, he realized no one was there.
"Don't be a coward, Leo!" Zed yelled out in frustration and began to turn in circles to cover his sides. Then the air and ground shook as an explosion blasted the doors to the storage site wide open, and Mistral's soldiers began to pour in, joined by HAVC, as they began to take up positions and to scan the area for any more White Fang.
"Where were you Zed?" Haiiden asked as he ran up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Zed was breathing heavily at this point, not from fatigue but out of anger as well as fear, fear that his only lead to Torchwick had run away. Suddenly a large thud shook the ground repeatedly, and only got louder as something big got closer and closer. Then, suddenly, a wall broke down on the western end of the warehouse, and from the hole emerged a large bipedal mech, the Atlesian Paladin mentioned during their mission briefing.
"Command! This is Vale Two! We got a Paladin!" One of the soldiers said as he went straight for the comm upon seeing the machine.
"Must be the experimental one that was stolen!" Lipesce responded.
"You chose the wrong side, Zed," everyone heard as Leo's voice seemed to come from everywhere around them.
"Wait; he knows Zed?" Haiiden thought as he kept his gaze on the Paladin.
The Paladin then braced itself as it prepared the rocket launching device that was attached to its left arm. Everyone immediately knew what was coming and spread out as it opened fire. A couple soldiers got caught in the initial explosion, while others hid behind cover and those that didn't were protected by Cecilia's ice barrier. However, the explosion still managed to break through the ice, but not before the soldiers managed to get out of the way. Cecilia cursed to herself as there wasn't enough water in the air to produce thick enough cover. Too many fires outside from the initial attack had left the air dry.
"Wait! Zed!" everyone heard as Haiiden yelled out and ran after his friend as Zed rushed towards the Paladin; it shot a few rockets at him, making Zed come to a sudden stop, but he then kicked onto the ground to force him into an immediate and unexpected right turn. The rockets narrowly missed, and sent up debris at Haiiden, but he managed to block the small chunks from hitting his face with his gauntlet. As Zed circled to find an opening, Haiiden rushed to help his friend, and went in for the legs. He slashed at them, but his blade just scraped the metal armor, futilely.
A couple shots landed at Zed's feet which made him almost trip as he tried to dodge. He turned to see that some White Fang soldiers had come through the hole that the Paladin had made and joined in the attack.
"All Mistral Special Forces Fire Teams: let Team Havoc deal with the Paladin. Provide cover and attack the remaining White Fang!" Lipesce yelled as he also joined in the assault with a group of androids behind him. Pulling out two tonfas that he kept behind him that also doubled as pistols with long barrels, he began to fire at the White Fang foot soldiers. Cecilia noticed that the soldiers took HAVC's example of not killing their enemies, some shot the White Fang soldiers in the legs or arms to incapacitate them. However it made the Special Forces' jobs harder, as the White Fang didn't pay them the same courtesy. Some of the Special Forces were gunned down as the White Fang returned fire.
Vaughn went to switch his magazine for one labeled "Sabot", but Haiiden ran and stopped him by lowering his rifle. "Vaughn, that's Leo in there; we need him alive!" In reply, Vaughn put away the Sabot rounds and switched in a magazine labeled "HE" for "High Explosive", and began to take precise shots at any weak points he could identify on the Paladin, namely the joints. In contrast, a Sabot round would have injected a white-hot oblong piece of metal into the cockpit, and bounced around the interior, turning the occupant into Vacuo cheese. As Vaughn kept firing, he found that the Paladin simply moved around too much as it tried to stomp on Haiiden and fire at Zed. Cecilia rushed in to help, jumping and slashing her heavy claymore at the shoulder of the Paladin. The attack managed to knock off some of the titanium armor on the shoulder, and Leo noticed, turning the Paladin around as Cecilia landed back on the ground. She turned to see the torso of the Paladin swivel in her direction and saw that the large arm was coming for her. She took a deep breath and braced herself, expecting it to hit her. Then something knocked her down to the ground and she heard a large metallic bang a split second later.
She kept her eyes shut, thinking that she had been struck by the arm, but she felt no pain, just the discomfort of having being pushed out of the way and the scrape of the concrete floor against the side of her face. Then she saw Haiiden fly through the air, but managed to catch himself and land on his feet. When he tried to walk forward, he ended up falling to his knees and clutched at his stomach. That was when she realized that he had pushed her out of the way, and had taken the hit. Zed stared wide eyed as he saw his friend get slammed by the titanium fist, and how he had staggered to get up. His eyes flared bright orange and he let out a yell as he began to rush the Paladin again.
However, Vaughn had already made it to the Paladin before him as he jumped onto its leg. As he landed on it, he jumped again to dodge another attack from the mech as it tried to hit him with its arms again. To put it simply, Vaughn was too close for Leo to use the rockets or his gun without hitting himself, and Leo would have to disable the limiter in order to do so anyway, a procedure he was unlikely to be familiar with, since his training on the device was obviously limited from the way he utilized it in combat. As the arm missed, Vaughn then landed on top of its other arm and ran down to the cockpit before jumping to latch behind the Paladin. He spotted the shoulder where Cecilia had stripped the armor of and brought his gun up to fire. After a few bursts of his assault rifle, the structural integrity of the arm weakened and it slumped, the spot where Vaughn had shot was radiating some sparks.
Zed joined up with Vaughn as he then jumped on the opposite side of the torso and nodded to Vaughn. As he responded with a nod of his own, Vaughn back flipped off the Paladin and jumped away as he kept his gun trained on it. Placing his left foot on the Paladin as a brace, Zed began to pull on the unit's arm as he finally tore it off and threw it away with the help of his Aura; it landed several yards away with a loud crash, and twitched for a few seconds before laying still. The Paladin shook as Leo tried to get Zed off, the shaking threw off Cecilia's aim and made her miss her strike as she shaved off another piece of armor, but this time in an inconsequential place. As she got ready for another strike, she saw Haiiden appear from the corner of her eye. He wound his arm back and slashed at the now exposed servos on the leg. The strike severed the connections to the rest of the Paladin, making it limp as it tried to move. Taking this opportunity, Cecilia pulled back and swung at the exposed servos, the strike complimented Haiiden's and the leg collapsed and fell away from the rest of its body.
The Paladin then lost balance at the loss of its leg and fell over onto its side. Zed jumped on its cockpit, and began to punch at the hatch cover with the help of his Semblance. The world seemed to slow down around him for a moment as he remembered that he never liked his Semblance.
"I can't help it," he thought. The feeling stirred up by fighting the White Fang and the thought of finally finding Torchwick had made him angry. Most of all, seeing his friend get hurt had especially ticked him off. He began to punch downward onto the cockpit, at first his strikes just dented the metal. His hands didn't hurt as it came into contact with the titanium, or maybe he was too lost in the bloodlust to notice. Then the dents turned into a hole and Zed could see Leo covering his face as he feared that he would be struck by Zed. Zed pulled the metal sheeting out of the way to make the hole big enough and reached in grab Leo. As he took hold of the Faunus Lieutenant, he literally threw him out of his seat in the Paladin and jumped off before Leo's body had landed on the ground.
He cracked his neck to loosen himself up a bit, his eyes turning back to their normal green as he knew that he didn't need his Semblance anymore. Leo was beaten. As he approached, he saw that the Faunus was trying to crawl away and was whimpering as he did so. Zed quickly turned back to Haiiden to see that Cecilia was helping him up, wincing in pain as he got to his feet, and it made a jolt of pain shoot through his body. The Mistral soldiers were just mopping up with the last of the White Fang, and were rounding up many survivors that had surrendered. Zed then realized that he had some time with Leo before they would come for him next. He kicked Leo in his ribs to force him on his back, only to see that Leo was looking up at him and shivering in fear.
"Please don't hurt me, Zed!" Leo said with a shiver as Zed knelt down and grabbed him by the shirt. Zed looked at him with a quirked brow before a grin appeared on his face.
"Oh Leo, you were always the textbook example of 'the cowardly lion,'" Zed said as his grin grew wider, leaning in closer to Leo.
"Yes Zed, anything you say, Zed." Leo responded as he raised his hands to cover his face, expecting Zed to start beating him down as he used to before.
"Now tell me: Where. Is. Torchwick?" Zed demanded.
"I don't know!" Leo responded as he kept his face covered but looked at Zed from between his fingers. Zed's grin disappeared and his face showed a bit of disamusement as he raised his fist in the air.
"No! I swear I don't know! We get shipments from him! We have invoices! In the office!" Leo cried out as Zed brought his fist down, stopping it right before it touched Leo, as he mentioned the invoices.
"Invoices?" Zed asked.
"Yes! Maybe they will show you where he is!" Leo exclaimed with a sheepish smile, hoping that this would save him from a beating. Zed nodded at him in acknowledgement and set him down slowly but still held a grip on his shirt.
"Ok. Thanks Leo," Zed responded with a smile and brought Leo up again before punching him in the jaw. The strike knocked him out instantly. He then turned back and walked in the direction of the office. Haiiden then saw that Zed was walking towards them, and went to meet him but then stopped as Zed walked past him.
"Zed?" he asked lightly, which forced Zed to stop. Now knowing that his cover had been potentially blown, he knew he had to do whatever it took to get any info he could on Torchwick. "How did he know you?"
Zed didn't know how to respond at first, there were soldiers all around him and he feared that they would hear him.
"I promise I will explain later!" Zed said as he ran towards a staircase that led to an office.
"No. Wait!" Haiiden yelled out after him but staggered forward as another jolt of pain shot through his body. Desperately wanting to go after his friend, especially after hearing his promise and hoping that this time it wasn't false. How many times he had heard "I will explain later," and ended up with no explanation at all?
Zed made his way into the office, only to notice that soldiers from Team Mantle were already inside and searching through the room. As they worked, they threw papers around to find anything relevant to the White Fang, as well as how or where they got their equipment. They didn't seem to notice Zed walk in, however, which allowed him to sneak around to find the invoices. A lot of the papers were on the floor, which made it hard for Zed to sort through them, and he wondered if they were the invoices, but then realized that they couldn't be it if the soldiers had just thrown them away. He then noticed a few cabinets that hadn't been touched yet, and instantly knew he had to search those. He quickly opened the first couple of cabinet doors, finding nothing but cards of information as well as some papers with nothing interesting on them.
Then he opened another cabinet and something caught his attention; inside were lists of orders, as well as what came in the crates and packages delivered to the compound.
"Bingo," he whispered to himself, and quickly took them before running out of the office. As he went down the stairs, he hid the invoices in his shirt so that the Mistral soldiers wouldn't get at them. He met up with Haiiden and his teammates with a smile while holding his arms out.
"Now, tell me how he knew you," Haiiden demanded, getting annoyed at Zed's attempts to avoid the subject. With anger, he remembered how he was back at Beacon when Zed first showed signs of acting strangely.
"I said I will explain later," Zed responded with a frown; he had lied to Haiiden many times and had gotten away with it. To see that his lies had caught up with him had hurt him, but not as much as the thought that his friend would realize that he had being lied to, and for how long. Haiiden narrowed his eyes and took a few quick breaths, the stress causing his body to ache and he tried to open his mouth to speak. "As soon as we don't have eyes on us, I promise I will tell you," Zed promised.
"Good job, Team Havoc," Colonel Lipesce said as he jumped in and was either oblivious or simply didn't care that he was interrupting. "You left quite a few alive, and we caught Leo with barely a scratch on him."
Nobody in Team HAVC knew how to respond to that, as he sounded almost disappointed. Nobody in the team had ever killed anyone before except for Cecilia, and even she didn't want to do that again.
"You left more than enough people to bring in for questioning, which makes my job easier," Lipesce continued and smiled at the team. "But your job here is over."
Zed was sitting next to Haiiden, and seemed to hover over him protectively as they flew back to Mistral, eyeing anyone who got too close to him. Haiiden was avoiding trying to talk to him for now, as he was upset at Zed's attempt to avoid a conversation. However, even if he wanted to talk he would have to talk through the pain in his ribs. It was nothing too serious, no breaks or fractures, just some massive bruising, including six bruised ribs, thanks to the protection of his Aura. With some help of some opiate pain medication from unit's medic, the pain had died down to just a dull throbbing, but it had started to annoy him further, Haiiden shook the pill bottle in his hand and, checking the time on his scroll, he realized that he was due for another dose of Harucodone. Lipesce sat silently as he went over some information on his Scroll, while Cecilia was leaning against Vaughn as she slept. To keep his mind of his thoughts, Haiiden then looked out the window and watched as they flew over the expanse of the forest, but something then caught his eye. It was the same cloud of smoke that he saw on the way to the White Fang base, and a golden glow from the forest all around it, which was evident now that the sun had gone down. He turned towards the window to get a better look, with Zed and Lipesce noting this change.
"Wait. What is that?" he asked and Lipesce looked out the window to see what it was.
"I don't see anything," he replied and shrugged his shoulders.
"No, right there; see it?" He asked again and he went to knock on the door to the cockpit of the VTOL. "There's a forest fire down there. Bring us around!" Lipesce sighed, and repeated the order to the pilot.
Everyone turned in their seats as the VTOL made a one-hundred-eighty degree turn, the sudden movement made Cecilia bang her head, which forced her to wake up. She rubbed her head angrily at first, but then her mood changed as she saw Haiiden kneeling next to them as he looked out their window.
"There! Land there!" He said and pointed out the window. Lipesce inched closer to the window and narrowed his eyes before spotting the same cloud of smoke and the fire that Haiiden had seen. The pilot didn't land just yet, as Haiiden had no authority over him, but then Lipesce waved to the pilot and again repeated the order, to signal that it was okay. The VTOL slowed down as it approached the smoke, its spotlights revealing a clearing in the forest as well as a log cabin in the middle, which was engulfed in flames, as was the tree line behind it. The VTOL lowered itself, as there was just enough room for one to land and the others flew past them, headed back to Camp Argo after Lipesce ordered the remaining craft to return to base without delay. Haiiden swung the doors of the VTOL open and stepped off before it came to a complete stop.
Everyone else on Team HAVC got off as well, looking in confusion as they wondered why they had landed here. A couple of armed soldiers got off as well and kept close to Lipesce. No one else moved away from the VTOL as they looked at the cottage, everyone but Lipesce wondering why there was a home this far away from the Kingdom. As she gazed from the roof of the building and scanned her way down, Cecilia thought she recognized it, but couldn't quite remember where she had seen it. As she lowered her gaze, she noticed that Haiiden was already a few yards ahead of them as he walked towards the cabin as the left part of it collapsed into flaming ruin. Team HAVC ran to join him, leaving Lipesce behind as he watched while shaking his head.
"What is it?" Zed asked Haiiden but he seemed to have not noticed the question, stepping forward to the door of the cottage. He called out to see if anyone was trapped inside before banging on the door with his gauntlet; he could feel the heat through the armor. In front of the door were two empty and scorched kerosene cans. "This was arson," Cecilia whispered softly.
When there was no response, Haiiden then turned work his way around the cottage to the right, around the wall that was still standing. As he did so, Cecilia drew her Claymore and ran her finger along the blade, summoning a mass of blue flame unlike any that her teammates had seen before. As Zed and Vaughn watched, it began to rain over the cottage and the forest fire, a driving rain that slowly began to extinguish the flames as she watched with a satisfied smile upon her face. After a few moments, the three followed Haiiden around to the right, as he had not yet returned from his investigation of the side and back of the cabin.
"Sir?" Cecilia asked, a hint of concern in her voice as she staggered forward a little from the choking grey smoke as the wind changed direction temporarily. As they turned the corner to meet with Haiiden, they saw him standing there, and he seemed to be frozen in place. The rest of the team hesitantly walked to see what he was looking at; to their shock, they found a large, obviously male body at Haiiden's feet, charred, smoking, and sizzling in the rain and smoke, with an obvious pair of bullet holes in his forehead.
"Double-tap to the head," Cecilia said without emotion. "Execution. Very professional."
"Poor guy. To be murdered and burned like this, along with all his belongings," Vaughn said under his breath as he was unsure at first if he should say anything at all. Cecilia turned away once the fire was completely out, the black smoke having turned to white once the flames had died completely. She simply couldn't look at the corpse anymore, while Zed covered his mouth in disgust. Meanwhile, Haiiden shifted in position, feeling a bit of his soul die as he continued to look upon the corpse.
"I see you have discovered one of the Kingdom's best kept secrets," Haiiden heard from behind as Lipesce spoke. He turned to face him, only to see that Colonel Lipesce was looking down at the body with disdain, his hands behind his back.
"What do you mean: 'best kept secret'?" Vaughn asked, swallowing back his disgust as he turned away from the body to look at Lipesce.
"Excisement," Lipesce replied as he practically dared them to ask him to elaborate.
"He's not a tumor! Since when do we 'excise' civilians?!" Cecilia asked before turning to Haiiden, who stood stunned at the sight and was unable to look away.
"This is not the Kingdom of Vale, child. The rules are different here, and this is an extremely rare punishment, which is only meant for those who have done something very, very naughty. The Kingdoms and the Councils have cooperated in hiding it well by erasing all trace of this person's existence: bank accounts, personal history, birth certificate and even his name has been wiped from all electronic and printed records," Lipesce continued.
"Do you know who he was?" Haiiden asked, a slight whimper in his voice as he thought of his father.
"No," Lipesce immediately answered, as if he had expected Haiiden to ask the question.
"That's messed up. Come on, he had to have had a name," Zed responded with a raised brow, as Lipesce's answer left him confused.
"Oh. I am sure that he had a name. I just don't know it, and now, literally no one else does, either," Lipesce replied to Zed's question, which only left him more confused. This exchange caught the attention of both Vaughn and Cecilia, who still wanted to avoid looking at the body and hesitantly turned to face Lipesce.
"He is an example of what happens to those who shame the Kingdom, and I am sure the other Kingdoms have a similar punishment, whether they acknowledge it or not. For all I know, he could have just been an ordinary man, or even a hero, but in the end his name and identity was stripped from him. In death, he knows no privilege of rank, no privilege of person, or property." Lipesce continued as he turned away. "There is nothing we can do for him now, and nothing we wish to do to honor his memory; he is an un-person, and therefore never existed."
Haiiden's eyes widened as he heard what Lipesce had said, and how he simply turned his back when he was finished. His throat burned and he was on the verge of choking as he held himself back; the wind had shifted again and the smoke engulfed everyone; several soldiers coughed explosively. He cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes angrily at Lipesce as he walked away.
"What do you mean nothing? We can't just leave him here!" Haiiden yelled out, catching his team off-guard with his concern for a dead man.
"The law regarding people like him doesn't permit me to do anything. We help people, and as far as I am concerned, you need a name to even be considered a person," Lipesce replied coldly as he turned to look back at Haiiden through the corners of his eyes. Haiiden then gritted his teeth and tightened his fists while his nostrils flared. Then all of a sudden, he relaxed his hand as he had an idea. He walked past Lipesce and at first the man smiled as he thought that Haiiden was finally going back to the VTOL, but then saw Haiiden turn and made his way to a small shed next to the cottage, which had been untouched by the fire. He stopped for a moment in front of it before stepping back to kick in the door, which had a padlock on it. Only after it was wide open and hanging by the lower hinge did he step inside. His team peered from around the corner to see what had happened, only to see Haiiden emerge from the shed with a shovel and a plastic tarp in hand.
"This is a waste of time, boy," Lipesce said with a sigh and the soldiers raised their weapons at Haiiden. At first, Lipesce wondered why his soldiers reacted in such a way, but then saw how Haiiden was standing. His shoulders back, a shovel in hand, a potential weapon and his eyes were narrowed at Lipesce. No wonder the soldiers readied their weapons, his stance made Haiiden look like he was ready to fight.
Cecilia stepped up. "Team Vale, lower your weapons; as you were!" she ordered. The soldiers reluctantly obeyed their temporary commander.
"Then leave," Haiiden responded after Cecilia finished her orders, and turned to go back around the corner. This response caught Lipesce off guard for a moment, and he followed to see if Haiiden was going to do what Lipesce thought he might. He turned the corner to see Haiiden already wrapping the body in the blue plastic tarp, while Zed stood over him. He knelt down to try and help, but Haiiden was so engrossed in his task that he didn't even notice Zed's request to help.
"Leave him, or we will leave you," Lipesce growled.
"Then leave," Haiiden said again, but this time not giving him the respect of actually looking back at him. He stopped for a moment and took a deep breath as he turned to his team with a soft smile. "Go with him guys, I'll be back at Mistral eventually."
The team then looked down at him with sullen faces, with Cecilia even taking another look at the body, the tarp making it easier to look at him, but still she forced herself to look out of pity, wondering to herself what this man could have done to be abandoned by the Kingdom in such a way. She wondered if he was a good man, and why he had to die in such a lonely and miserable way. The team then silently shook their heads as they began to empathize with Haiiden, and converted to his way of thinking.
"Yes, leave," Cecilia said with a smirk on her face as she realized that Lipesce was bluffing. "Although I am curious as to how you will explain to Headmaster Ozpin how and why you left us here."
Lipesce opened his mouth as his eyes darted back between the dead body and back to Cecilia. He was too versed in the art of prevarication to stammer out an answer, but he couldn't come up with an easy lie, so he wisely chose to keep his mouth shut for the moment. He turned to the VTOL, making a signal with his hand and then the pilot turned off the engines. He then motioned for the soldiers to take positions with one climbing on to the top of the VTOL's fuselage to scout out the area.
"If I ever die before I graduate," Zed said while he watched the soldiers move into position, then looked back at the body and his face contorted as he felt disgust, "don't bury me. I don't want to think of me turning into that. Cremate me instead, leave nothing left but ashes, and scatter me in the gardens at Beacon."
Rather than feel weird or awkward at what Zed had requested, Haiiden instead felt slight amusement by it. He let out a scoff and then a chuckle as he continued to wrap up the body.
"Don't talk like that," he told Zed and shook his head.
"Yeah, well, I at least want someone to know my wishes," Zed replied. After Haiiden was done wrapping the body, he then stood up and took the shovel. About a couple yards away, he looked at the ground for a few moments before he struck the ground with the head of the shovel, and began to dig. After an hour passed, Cecilia then jumped into the hole that Haiiden had made, which was not big enough for a body just yet, and offered to take the shovel from him. Haiiden felt that this was his responsibility and politely declined his comrade's offer to help, but she shook her open palm at him, her head turned away to the side, and persisted while she refused to look him in the eye.
"Give it to me. I need to do this. We need to do this together, Captain." Haiiden looked at the shovel, and then back to Cecilia, and silently handed it over with a nod as she turned to look at him.
Another couple more hours passed by, as Haiiden and Cecilia took turns, and finally finished the grave that they had dug. Haiiden was the one who completed the task, and when he was done, he came to the edge to climb out of the open grave, only to see that Cecilia had her hand ready to receive her Captain's; Cecilia felt a newfound sense of respect for him since he was willing to lay a disappeared man to rest. After being pulled out of the hole with Cecilia's help, Haiiden then approached the body and proceeded to pick it up. The fatigue had begun to set in, and he struggled to pick up the body until Vaughn and Zed came to help, as did Cecilia. The four of them carried it gently and set it down into the hole and slowly lowered it by holding the edges of the tarp.
Another hour passed by as Haiiden and Cecilia took turns filling the hole again, while Lipesce looked on impatiently, checking his watch from time to time. After the hole was filled, HAVC stood over the mound that marked where the man was buried. All of them wondered the same thoughts as to how to mark the grave, all without saying a word. After realizing that they really had nothing else to mark it with, Haiiden brought the shovel head down so that the handle stuck out of the ground.
"I am sorry. I wished I had known who you were," he said, loud enough for even the soldiers to hear, but they didn't turn as they kept scanning the forest. Then, Haiiden turned to Lipesce and narrowed his eyes at him, as he felt a sense of profound hatred for people like him, as well as someone else in particular. "I wish I had known your name, to speak it aloud and show that there are people who still care, and remember you."
For Cecilia, this was not enough, however. As she still commanded Team Vale, which consisted of five surviving men and one woman, she called out drill instructions. "Squad, Fall In! Vaughn, Fall In!"
The soldiers formed a line in front of Cecilia, at the edge of the grave, their weapons in hand, with Vaughn at the far end. Cecilia began to walk down the line, inspecting them as she paced. "Squad, Stand to Attention!" she barked.
The soldiers stood at attention and clicked their heels together in unison, Vaughn included.
"Present, ARMS!" This time, the soldiers held their assault rifles out four inches from their chests, diagonally. Cecilia continued: "This man has no name, no identity. We do not know if he was a soldier, or what he did to warrant his punishment. We do not care. We will show respect, and we will offer military honors in any case, whether he served in the military or not. You are his honor guard, men."
A couple of soldiers broke attention and briefly looked at each other, before snapping to attention again. "Ready!" Cecilia barked again. "Aim!" Behind her, Colonel Lipesce rolled his eyes and threw up his hands in disgust.
The soldiers aimed their rifles toward the sky, above the smoldering tree line, and as she paused for a beat, she thought of her adopted father, Colonel Anatolyi Sceryei, and how he had been denied military honors and burial because of his dishonorable discharge. Even though there was no body, his children, the twins, wanted to lay a marker for him, out of respect and in fond memory, but as his estate was still tied up in probate at the time, they had no money for such honors. For some reason, Cecilia felt as though she was burying him at last, and this time, she was doing it the right way.
"Fire!" Without hesitation, the seven soldiers fired in unison. A tear silently rolled down Cecilia's cheek.
"Fire!" A second volley, and as Cecilia looked, she saw a crystalline trail on Vaughn's cheek, glistening in the light of the shattered moon, and knew that he felt exactly as she did.
"Fire!" The third and final volley rang out, and Cecilia tried not to burst into tears. As the shots finished echoing through the forest, it was suddenly quiet. Too quiet. Lost in thoughts so thick she could almost reach out and touch them, she forgot where she was and what she was doing. Suddenly, she snapped back to reality and realized that nearly five second had passed as the men stood with their rifles still aimed at the sky.
"Order, ARMS!" she called, and the men lowered their weapons in unison and placed them at their sides, with the butts against the ground and their fingers curled around the still-smoking barrels.
"Squad, DISMISSED!" Cecilia cried out, and the men began to mill about, their final duty done for the day. Vaughn came up to her, and as much as she wanted to draw him into a tender hug, her military decorum, coupled with the fact that her teammates and the soldiers of Team Vale were watching, prevented her from doing so. She settled for grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him close. As their heads butted together gently, she said in a somber tone, "I love you, Vaughn."
Vaughn pressed his forehead against hers, and placed a hand upon her shoulder in reciprocation, his cheeks wet. "I love you, sis. Thank you for that. It felt like finally burying dad."
She gave a weak smile and wiped the tears from his cheeks with her gloved fingers.
Afterwards, they all departed, each member of HAVC expressing a final salute of one kind or another to the grave of the deceased man. Everyone then got back into the VTOL and made their way back to Camp Argo. There was a final debriefing back at the base, as the last of the prisoners had already been processed and either taken to the medical wards or placed in holding cells, and everyone exchanged congratulations. Even some of the Special Forces soldiers had come to admire Team HAVC, and weren't shy in telling them so. They were impressed that a few kids had done so well and exclaimed that if all Hunters were like this, then there would soon be no need for the military. As they made their farewells, Lipesce then approached and offered to personally walk them back to the hotel to grab their belongings. After stopping by the Hotel Il Palazzo to collect their things, Lipesce then called for a limousine to drive them and their luggage to the airport. Naturally, he rode along to offer them a few words of thanks as they rode.
"It was a pleasure, Team HAVC. I hope I have the opportunity to work with you again, soon," he said as he kept a stern face about him, and almost sounded sarcastic. He still felt slightly annoyed for Haiiden making them wait just to bury a disgraced and dead man. HAVC then nodded and waved goodbye; Haiiden was just about to step forward into the landing pad before he saw someone that he recognized. With a start, he realized that it was the young woman that he had danced with earlier. She still seemed to glow, despite the fact that it was midnight now, and Haiiden wondered why she would be out so late at night.
He waved for his team to go ahead without him, as he slowly approached the young woman again. As he got closer, he noticed a soft smile and that was when he began to feel slightly guilty.
"Hey," was all he able to say.
"Hey," she replied sweetly and the voice seemed to tickle his ears a little.
"I- I would like to apologize for how I reacted earlier," he said as he turned away, feeling too guilty to look her in the eye.
"It's alright. To be honest, I don't think before I speak, so I'd like to say I'm sorry, too," she replied sweetly again, the fact that she was so nice to him despite how he reacted to her kept him from looking up. The fact that she would come over and apologize when she had done nothing wrong only worsened that feeling. He heard footsteps getting closer to him, and he looked up to see that she was standing in front of him, within arm's reach. He swallowed lightly and couldn't help but give off a smile.
"I- I never really got the chance to ask you your name," he said sheepishly and looked away as he scratched the back of his head. Only after he was done did he look back at her.
"You said you were attending Beacon Academy, correct?" she asked him as she kept eye contact with him.
"Yes?" he replied with a hint of confusion. He did tell her that before so he wondered what her point was.
"A hero in training," she said with a giggle and tilted her head at him, her blonde hair hanging down her head while some locks covered her eyes. "I'll tell you what, maybe you can make it up to me. When you become a hero, then I will tell you my name."
Haiiden rode back to Vale with a soft smile upon his face as he slept.