I know its taken me forever to post this next chapter and I apologize immensely for that, but I had major computer problems that had to wait until funding to get fixed. Then my lovely muse decided she wanted to leave me for more appropriate pursuits. Now I have a reliable means of writing, and my lovely muse back, so I'll probably be at it a lot more.

I still own nothing, except maybe the plot.

BPOV

"Why have I never seen these movies before?" Jasper asks me honestly appalled at himself.

"Maybe because you lived with a repressed dickhead?" Char answers shrugging her shoulders.

We had spent the better part of the evening introducing Jasper and Peter to he Marvel Cinematic Universe with all of Phase 1. They had seemed to be enjoying themselves and the movies, so I had felt a little bad about turning them off after the original Avengers movie was over, but we did have a meeting with my father, uncles, and major players in the Guard this morning and I didn't want to be late.

"I won't bother denyin' that considerin' Eddie was both repressed and a dickhead, but these seem right up Em's alley." Jasper responds.

"You're right." I reply remembering back to when I knew the adorable goofball that was Emmett McCarty. "They do."

"I suppose it wouldn't be that much of a stretch to say he probably has seen 'em, but no one knows about it because they'd all give him shit for it." Peter states confidently.

"Wouldn't surprise me either, now that I think about it." I respond looking over at Jasper knowingly. "The Cullen's do seem the type to think they're more 'high class' than most and watching fantasy movies would fall under the category of 'Things Cullen's Wouldn't Be Caught Un-Dead Doing'."

A small smirk graced Jasper's face and was gone so quickly that, had I not been staring, I would have missed it. "Honestly, they're a bunch of pretentious assholes and you're probably better off without them." Char replies as she pulls one of the doors to Caius' office open.

We had agreed before Jasper had arrived that we would make this meeting a bit more informal. Holding this discussion in one of the King's offices just seemed like the best idea to make Jasper and Peter more comfortable. Holding it in Caius' office just seemed ideal considering he was our version of a 5-Star General.

"Ah" I hear from inside the office "welcome, welcome." I hear Aro say arily. "I'm glad everyone could make it this morning."

"I was under the impression we didn't have much of a choice." Peter responds taking an available seat in front of Caius' large desk. Jasper chooses the seat next to Peter and relaxes in it seeming unconcerned about anything that we plan to discuss this morning.

"You didn't." Caius states calmly from behind the desk. "Aro just enjoys making you think you have a choice."

"He also loves the added unnecessary drama." Marcus adds from the corner of the room.

Aro says nothing, but gives both of his brothers a look that clearly says 'shut up! You're ruining my image!' and there's something so funny about it that I nearly laugh out loud.

"Anyway," Aro says taking control of the room again and casually leaning against the front of the desk with his back facing Caius, "Major, when you and Captain Whitlock arrived yesterday, I told you that as punishment for not following Volturi Law while you were a part of the Cullen Coven, you were to remain here to assist in the crisis the Volturi has currently found itself in. How you wish to provide that assistance is entirely up to you. All we really need from you is information about your Maker, Maria."

"Sounds simple enough." Peter responds leaning back in his chair, the picture of relaxation. "What is it you'd like to know?"

"As much information as you can give us." replies Caius simply "How she chooses her Army, when she goes out to collect victims, how she trains them, what her endgame is, how to get past her defenses, and how we can win against her."

"You don't need all of that information to best her because you can't" Jasper begins confidently "there lies your first mistake."

"How do you mean?" I ask him a little confused.

"With Maria, there's nothin' she won't do and no one that she won't sacrifice to keep the upper hand. You don't beat her. At least not in the conventional way." Jasper reiterates waving a hand in the air dismissively. "She'd give up Stefan and Vladimir without hesitation if she thought her own life would depend on it. She has no loyalties to anyone other than herself. Even those she sees as useful to her are only spared death while they are of use to her. Once that ceases to be the case, their lives are ended with no more fanfare than she would give her next meal."

"Alright, Major" Caius begins "then what do you suggest we do? We've tried everything in our power to get past her defenses and still, we have nothing to show for it."

"Seven months we've been in Romania and we haven't managed to gain any ground at all with this campaign and the Romanian's numbers seem to keep increasing! We don't know where she finds these people! It's like they keep appearing from thin air! Worse still is that we can't get within two miles of the compound where they've decided to hole up. There's also apparently a sorcerer in their ranks and even my shields can't penetrate the barrier they've put in place!" I state angrily running my fingers through my hair. I'm frustrated with the lack of movement and even more frustrated that I can't seem to get any idea about their next move.

"I understand your frustration about this, daughter" replies Caius "and as justified as your anger is, we need you calm and clear-headed in order to find the best solution."As he turns his attention back to Jasper, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed and a bit guilty for my attitude. I know he's right. My emotions do cloud my judgement and I can't think properly when I'm angry. Not many people can.

"So what do you recommend, Major?" Caius asks.

"Well, it's obvious isn't it?" Jasper asks the room. "You need somethin' unconventional. A strategy that Maria, Stephan, and Vladimir won't expect."

"Go on." Aro remarks intrigued.

"The way I see it," says Jasper inhaling and pausing before continuing in a rush "y'all only have one choice to win against the Romanians. You have to lose to 'em."

I half expected an uproar of impressive proportions and hours of arguing after a statement like that. Instead, the silence that followed was deafening. We all looked at Jasper like he'd grown a second head before Marcus, bewildered, asked "What?"

"I said you needed somethin' unconventional. Think about it for a second before you dismiss it completely." Jasper says seeming to build on his own thought as he spoke. "You said you'd been in the same position, not gainin' any ground or military advancement in seven months. The way I see it, you have two options at this point, you either continue what you're doin' in hopes that you'll eventually get somewhere, or you play the surrender card."

The rest of us in the room continued to stare at Jasper as though he had gone crazy, but he continued to talk. "Maria has never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth, her ego is far too big for that. I'm also going off of the assumption that the Romanian's have fairly decent-sized egos themselves, so they won't think that your 'surrender' may not be as straightforward as it seems."

"How do you suggest we go about this, exactly?" I ask concerned for the safety and well-being of my Guard that would be in harm's way during this plan.

"You need to schedule a meetin' with all three of 'em." Jasper says confident in his plan. "A form of 'peace talk' to keep Maria and the Romanians distracted. They would need to hear that the Kings have traveled to Romania and plan to surrender, but that you also want to discuss the terms of that surrender. Let them know that these discussions could take a while. Meanwhile, they would need to drop their defenses in order to meet with you. Think of it as a form of cease-fire if it makes you feel better. However, during that cease-fire, you need a team that is willin' to blitz the stronghold before the Romanians realize what exactly is happenin'. You also need the team that meets with Maria and the Romanian's to be prepared to hold 'em as their army is being disposed of. Aro and Caius, I would recommend that y'all go to Romania for this because it will look to them like you're serious about the surrender. Y'all also want to be there to pass judgement on the troublemakers for their crimes. You want to win this war, this is how you do it. I never said that you had to win fairly."

"I can see about ten different ways that this could go horribly wrong." Char states boldly. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I can see why this would work if we don't run into any unforeseen issues, but after what I've dealt with for the better part of a year, I'm going to assume that Maria and the Romanian's have more information than we do at all times. Therefore, I'm also going to assume that they have contingency plans for their contingency plans. How in the world are we going to make this work?"

I have to agree wholeheartedly with Char on this one. I don't know how we could manage to pull this kind of strategic maneuver without it blowing up in our faces. Personally, I like my life the way it is and I'd like to continue to live it.

"I never said it was fool-proof." Jasper says with an air of nonchalance that I wish I had right now. "It's just an idea that y'all can build on and iron out the kinks to before you put this into action. You still have several of your Guard in Romania, right?"

"Yes." I state acidly. "And I'd like to get back to them as quickly as I can."

"I get that" Jasper says trying to calm me down, "but they need to stay there and continue their assault while we make a plan that we can all agree on."

"Personally," Aro states to the room "I happen to approve of subterfuge."

"Well, if anyone would, it would most certainly be you, brother." Marcus responds. I had to agree with Marcus on this one. If anyone would approve of deceiving others to achieve his goals, it would be Aro.

"Alright, now all we need to do is expound on this plan and iron out the specifics." Caius states excitedly. "Then we may finally be rid of these Romanian dogs for good."

"Ok" Jasper says rubbing his hands together. His excitement nearly matching Caius'. "Let's get started."