Chapter 23: Dealing with it

AN: Just reminding you guys AGAIN that if you don't read From Hunted To Hunter some things may be misunderstood. I love the questions but a lot of them can be answered just by reading the fic, trust me it's a real treat.

[Bravo, Fort Amada]

Fuck what a headache from hell. Haven't felt his bad since a death stalker got ahold of me which by the way isn't exactly a day at the spa, well maybe if you exchanged the mud bath with a trash compactor and the hot massage girls with thrusting knives the size of your arm. I still get jitters thinking about it.

"What?" I ran my hand across my face surprised from the skin on skin contact, my brown hair tickling my nose. I sat straight up from the hard platform I had been laid on. Whoever had carried my heavy ass in here had my respect. The room was painted a boring white with other 'beds' disseminated through the room. A dull pain burned lightly on my arm catching my attention. The wound I had received saving Leo was properly cleaned and stitched.

I put the pieces together. I don't recognize this med bay though. 'Feet on the deck' I thought while throwing my legs around and hopping up. The world rushed passed me as my legs gave out on me. What now?!

My legs were numb but not overly so. The feeling traveled all through my body but was centered on my lower region. Great! Because walking was so boring why don't we spice it up and hobble around and let's just take the feeling away from his man's pride while we are at it. Supporting myself on the 'bed', talk about sympathy for the fuckers who die on these hard ass things, and tried again. My legs weren't happy about this shit at all, no sir these assholes were going to fight me until the end. I got far enough that I could plop my ass on the side which brought another revalation….my ass hurt.

Hooah.

"Thank you Tom" A girl's voice mechanically said. Across the room was a tv pinned up on the wall, some Vale news station was playing "Things are chaotic here as you can see. The people have given up on packing their belongings and are rushing to safety. The local police have been stalling the monster with the help of hunters and huntresses but haven't been getting anywhere it seems as the beast continues its forward. We haven't got much word from the authorities on the number of causalities so far but they commented that evacuations were going smoothly. We must ask ourselves though…." She took a dramatic pause "Where is the military?"

"Thank you Donna make sure to stay safe" The anchorman gave his false worry "The absence of military intervention is just as chilling as the thought of who could have let this happen." He said looking straight at the camera.

Put them on the frontline and see if they still feel so strongly about it.

My gear was gone. Replaced with the standard Army uniform, the patches recognizing me as Master Sergeant Sp-wow haven't worn this in a while. Whoever put here must have access to my personal storage. Vespin I thought we agreed on the south wing med bay, the one with the nurse who has bowling balls for tits.

Ok legs! Today is your day to shine! I pushed myself up again managing to stand straight up on wobbly legs. Yes I know I'm a badass or atleast I hope I am because I'm about to duke it out with the ground…again. The hard floor was death sentence to any patient dropped on it.

"You're up I see" That voice…..mother fucker "That's good, I'll need you awake to answer some questions"

"Eat shit and die" I growled

She clapped her hands together "Finally I get to see the real Bravo"

Not one to look weak, I hefted myself up back to phase one. My ass parked on the bed. I felt venerable looking someone in the face without my mask, something I could she was enjoying. Well bitch you made the mistake of giving me a wall bed. 'Enjoy the sight of my ass' I thought while turning my back to her. There were worse places to sleep.

"Wonderful manners" she observed "You know your face is a lot more plain then I imagined. I thought you'd be bald with glowing eyes or something scary like that"

"Staff Sergeant I ORDER you to return to your bunk with the rest of your team"

"Who's going to enforce this order? You?" She laughed "By the way the guys are in the mess hall, they don't seem to like taking orders from you for some reason."

Bitch. I could hear one of those damn swivel chairs roll beside the bed as I assumed she set down. "So I just want to get some of your basic information down. Nothing to hard" she flipped through what sounded like a folder "First, where are you from?"

I closed my eyes and focused on ignoring her and going to sleep. I had a lot of practice at ignoring people.

"That mask you wear is pretty scary isn't it? That's probably the reason you wear it. But the thing is I've never seen anything of the like anywhere" What are you getting at bitch? "Would be pretty hard to replace I bet"

I turned slowly to give the most intimidating glare I could muster to the medic "Staff Sergeant" I warned, that single phrase spoke volumes. Getting real tired of these assholes in Alpha. That mask was a bitch get a hold of, took it from the dead body of White Fang hunter class. It was my very first Hunter kill and probably one of the most difficult.

"My name is Peach" She smiled "Now where are you from?"

"This won't end well for you"

"Great! I need some drama in my life, been pretty uneventful lately"

She had balls, had to give her that. No actually I didn't have to give her anything. Not my name! Not my birthplace! And sure as hell not a compliment! If you wanna play than let's play!

"Patch….I'm from Patch" I really like that mask OK….

[Leon, Vale]

Robert is a good man. I will have to make sure that I thank him properly when I get back. He had graciously given me a bit of leave when I'm asked out of the blue. It would make him look bad and I was sorry for that but I couldn't stay at that place doing nothing for another minute. It was my fault. I knew something was wrong with the placement but I didn't step up. I could have prevented all of this.

The Tv's were all tuned to the same channel back at base, updates of the situation were broadcasted every five minutes but we set around doing nothing. Why couldn't we act?! Why did we have to wait for permission from those fuckers in the council?! It didn't make any since! Where we so afraid of losing this era of peace that we would watch our own citizens die while we cross our fingers and hope those old wrinkly fuckers made a decision?

The streets were ripe with attention. It had been a mess trying to get through them at the outer perimeter gates. They surrounded the entrance yelling at and screaming at the MPs on duty like it would change anything. A few even followed me for a few blocks cursing at me all the while. If only they knew that this was my fault…I just needed to see her. To feel her in my arms.

I took to walking instead of taking some form public transportation, sitting down would just make it worse. Plus with never ending line of traffic jams it seemed like the best idea.

It had been three months since the last time I stepped into my own house. We kept in contact regularly but it was never as good as the real thing. I couldn't wait see the cute way her ears drooped after we've been apart for so long. Or the way she blushes and looks away when I tease her, calling her my 'little puppy'. And damn did she have an appetite.

Speaking of which, her cooking knowledge is limited to cereal and sandwiches. Might be good to pick up some lunch, that ramen shop was open. With the goal of sating my wife's lust for food I changed direction and strolled to that old man's shop. I don't know how he isn't rich the guy runs like every business in Vale.

As I put more distance between me and the heart of Vale the masses of people whittled down to the occasional passerby. Currently I was in a faunus neighborhood that I use to go through the city faster. The people here weren't hostile here like you'd expect they would be to the human intruder. They were polite and even grateful if you gave them reason to be. I stopped under a large tree, void of any leaves this time of the year.

This is where we met. A few boys ambushing the girls playing house with water balloons. One of the said girls captured an attacker and made him play to as punishment, the role of the workaholic husband was forced on to me with the threat of cuties had I refused. I had to suffer the picking from my friends for weeks…I always went back. Back then faunus discrimination was worse than it was now and my visits to my pretend lover were stopped when my father caught wind of his son's treachery. That didn't stop me from sneaking out though.

Why did the features of someone give anyone a right to hate them? It made little sense. I guess that was just human nature though. If something's different then automatically it's inferior and worthless. I love my father but until he changed his ways I would never be able truly express it.

It gave me chills thinking what the old man would do had he find out about the marriage. If it came to blows I would not endure his wrath, I would retaliate. Blood or not his hate has eaten him alive and I will not have anything to do with it. Does that make me a horrible son? Casting out dear old dad for a woman? The real question is do I care?

"I hope you're in the mood for noodles honey."

[Bravo, Fort Amada ]

"This is rape" I deadpanned

"It's not rape"

"You want to put a foreign object into my body, its rape" She held the thermometer towards my mouth. She was losing her patience with me; we had barely got made it through my information which by the way is all we were supposed to do but no now she wanted to give me a checkup. My legs were done being lazy now that the sedative had almost fully weared off. My mask was the only thing keeping me here. "Staff Sergeant, do you think disobeying orders is a minor offense? This isn't a game nor is this fucking funny so quit smiling."

"I'm not smiling, I'm smirking"

Patience was something we were switching back and forth. Sometimes it would be her who was pissing me off or me pissing her off. Either way I'm pretty sure this going to end soon with someone snapping. Or some really hot angry sex…..a guy can hope. Her shoving the thermometer in my mouth wasn't one of my fantasies coming to life but in its own way was pretty dominatrixy. This was probably all I was going to get in the 'sexual 'department so let me have it.

Now that I actually took a good look at her she was actually pretty hot. That was saying something too, I wasn't really into redheads but it went well with the tan and I was really rocking the blue eyes.

'Professional' I reminded myself 'keep it professional' and that ass. I think I'm in love! 'That's not professional!'

BEEP

"105, you're running a fever" she observed while taking out the thermometer "And your face is all red. And you said that a checkup was 'unnecessary''" I believe you're getting the wrong idea.

"Just give me what I need so I can leave with my property" The shit you get me into mind.

"One moment" She nodded before leaving.

That girl is insufferable. Forcing somebody into these kind of situations was unacceptable. I wonder if she really did it for the people or for the self-satisfaction of helping someone. Either way I'd have to keep my guard so not end up in this situation again. I hadn't given her much information, half of it was lies, and hopefully Vespin wouldn't be too pissed when I told him I didn't know how she got the information. Wait; of course I know how she got the information. She pretty much just signed her own demotion papers and if it the court martial hearing ended badly maybe even her discharge papers.

No. I couldn't do that. To be stripped of the right to be called a Headhunter was a punishment only traitors should suffer. She had earned the title and I didn't have the right to take it from her. As long as it didn't happen again I could look over it this one time. I'm getting soft.

The door opened as the Staff Sergeant pushed it open with her bum due to her hands being filled. "Alright I have your proscriptions, don't think you will just throw them away after you leave either because I'll find you"

"Mask" I don't wish to be way from my prize trophy any longer.

The question made her flinch. Her whole body went rigid as she suddenly turned nervous "About that…..I may of threw it away" Your career is history bitch "Dust that's a scary face. I'm teasing, though I thing you're a little too dependent on that thing"

"Would you just give me the damn thing?!" I yelled while snatching the medicine. Instead of frightening her like I hope she seemed amused that she had pushed my buttons. She produced my mask from somewhere inside of her uniform and tossed it to me.

I was out the door before she could so much as breathe. A disposal can came into view as I made my way to the mess hall eager to stuff my face and go to sleep. 'Goodbye' I dropped the bag into the trash as I passed.

I'll have to stop by the bunkhouse to grab my gear later. She probably stored it in my foot locker. That bitch really likes to test me that much is for sure. I'll have to talk to Vespin about a team switch; I was already getting tired of shadowing these guys. I guess I expected too much though when I compared them to my last. Bravo team was a god send, some of the best soldiers I've ever seen. But two of them were dead now and one needed a machine to live so that's that.

Just as the woman had said Alpha team was in the mess hall socializing with other soldiers while watching the news. Didn't they know that was just going to make them feel like more shit? Some just didn't have the right mind set to be a Headhunter.

Now this day was really starting to look good. They were serving hotdogs and sauce with a sugar free cookie on the side. They were trying to raise morale around here it seems, thank you whiny people. I grabbed my tray and slid it down the path. 'Ah yeah put that hot dog sauce on there baby' I thought while watching the man slap it on without a care and splashing some all over the plate.

The mess hall unlike most was endowed with many island like circular tables, aiding the form of niches and other unnecessary things. But it also helped to stay far away from everyone. Like always my back corner table was empty. Someone had tried to join me once, a private in all likelihood had just got out of basic approached me timidly asking if he could sit with me. I was feeling elder brotherish to my new sibling that day.

I told him no.

The Army would be hard place for someone with his willpower so I helped him toughen up. I'm way to easy these guys sometimes. But enough of me being a nice guy and I'm going to savor the taste of this meal of the gods.

A bag dropped on my lap "Heya Bravo" Really? Go with Alpha he said! They would suit you well he said! Charlie would have been a much better choice than this. Maybe if I don't acknowledge it the thing might go away. "Is that a hot dog?" My plate disappeared after those words.

"What do you want from me Staff Sergeant?" I demanded "I have not meddled in any of Alpha's business so why do you insist in getting into mine"

"I'm only ensuring my charge gets the medical treatment he needs"

"I'm not your charge!" I yelled, taking my hot dog back from the thief. I would take a death stalker with my hands before I would ever go through this crap.

"Who's your friend" Great! They multiplied. Auburn invited himself to sit at MY table, taking the seat next to his teammate. I could tell he was sizing me up, thinking he was fulfilling some protective roll bestowed upon him no doubt. It would be almost laughable to pick a fight with an E-8 over some stupid woman.

"He's going to a club with me this weekend" She smiled which soon turned to a smirk "We're going to go pick up some guys"

"Oh…nevermind than…I'm gonna go" He got up eagerly, almost tripping. "I'll see you later Peach"

"…"

"Hey don't look like that, atleast he doesn't see you as a threat now."

"…"

"I even kept your 'secret identity' safe"

"…"

"And if you want to keep it secret you might want to go that club with me"

"…"

"Think on it" she said while slapping my back "Oh and I'm taking this, I'm too lazy to get a tray. Bye"

Twelve death stalkers and I'm naked. I'm armed only with a spoon and all of my limbs are missing. That would be a much more preferable scenario. At least the death stalkers can't speak.

AN: Had to give you guys a happy chapter before the next one. Don't worry I won't make you wait long, new chapter will be out Wednesday or sooner. And btw I really do love PMs but I also REALL love reviews. Yeah reviews, ya know those things that make the author feel really good on the inside?