Chapter 30: Peacekeepers, part five

[Fort Amada]

People were monsters. They had to be to invent such a thing. Staff Sergeant Peach and her squad mate Master Sergeant Thomas were using the lab available to Peach to break apart the drug known as PED, well mostly just Peach, to Thomas it was just a bunch of big words being thrown around.

"Blasted fucking idiots!" ranted Peach "Who in their right mind would willingly put this into their bodies?! Why hello their dumbass would you like to try our super serum? It'll make you incredibly strong, fast and lots of other good shit oh but it also slowly kills you or if you're unlucky then instant heart attack. OH don't be a bitch go ahead and take it, all your friends doing it!"

Thomas watched her go on slightly amused "We didn't get the memo, it was more like 'take this'" he corrected "Only after taking it for a while did we start to realize how fucked we were"

She took a deep breath in an effort to calm herself "That's no excuse, why take something just because they tell you to"

"Good soldiers follow orders" he summed up in one sentence. He remembered being a young soldier, the always present eagerness to please your superiors. They used that against you. Don't be fooled however, Thomas wasn't resentful, he was a soldier and that was that.

"My personnel opinion aside, its effective" She stated throwing one of the injectors in the air, it broke her heart to watch her friends eyes follow it intently "Very effective" Then wondering if the former shadow knew anything "What do you know about it?"

"Nothing that was told to me that's for sure" He smiled wryly "Talking with others who used I did find some similarities" Peach nodded, inquiring what he knew "You ever notice how much Bravo sleeps? That's not laziness, the after effects of taking a dose. Then there's the stages, thank Remnant that you only go through that one time"

"The stages?"

"Yes, all first time users go through them, it's your body adjusting to the new massive amounts of energy" he replied "Stage one, and by far the worse of them all, Feral. Still gives me the creeps thinking of it, in this stage there is no friend or enemy, just kill." He watched the medic's features harden "Stage two, Hyperactive. Feels like somebody just injected a horse into your body and that horse just wants to do….everything, saddle of sea biscuit. Stage three….the whines, imagine your dog dying and you can't fit into your favorite pair of jeans anymore all at the same time. And then everyone gets the crash"

"The idiocy of my race surprises me" she groaned "I'd hate to be the asshole going through that right now"

"Still the stages have nothing on the withdrawals" he cringed thinking of his own experience "Speaking of which, Bravo needs a dose. Don't look at me like that, I told you completely taking him off of it would kill him. We'll administrate half his usual and slowly lessen it to the point where it's barely any at all."

"Whenever it's time for his new supply won't he just go back to usual" she asked "Wouldn't that make everything we did for nothing?"

"Without a doubt he'll go back to taking it" Came the absolutely sure answer

The medic cursed under her breath "Let's just go get this over with. He will probably be wearing his army uniform, might make it a little bit of a bitch to find him."

"That won't be necessary" he smirked while looking at the door "He caught on faster then I imagined, give me the injector"

"No, I'll deal with him"

Thomas gave her an incredulous look "He's not in his right mind, you don't know what he's ca-"

"Get out Thomas, more people will just agitate him" She interrupted "Or do you think I'm not capable of handling myself?"

The Master Sergeant had lived a long life, so it was natural he had accumulated a lot of knowledge. This knowledge included but not limited to woman. He could see a verbal trap at ease. With that in mind he only grumbled and stood up preparing to leave "I'll be right down the hall, if he so much-"

"Get out of here" Laughed Peach as she pushed her protective brother like teammate towards the door. Thomas looked to his right spotting Bravo leaning against the wall giving him a blank stare. With the mask he couldn't intimidate the much more experienced man

"Might want to have her look at your nose while you're in there mate" Said Thomas evenly referring to their fight, his message clear, with that he walked away leaving the two of them alone.

Bravo calmly stepped into the room; an amazing feet with war going on in his head, and stopped. What order of events would get him what he wanted? He ran multiple scenarios through his drug addled mind that would end with desirable outcomes. One by one each plan didn't add up only adding fuel to his frustration. Peach was doing a similar analysis.

She observed his posture and breathing patterns and tried to read his face, watching for any sign of aggression. He exhibited none, compared to her other dealings with him he seemed far more rational. His eyes were focused on her when before he would never hold her or anyone else's gaze, almost like he wanted to believe you weren't there.

Still, even if he possessed no ill intentions the silence was making her uncomfortable. Maybe he was waiting for her to say something? If that was it then all she would do is present her terms on his dosage which would infuriate him no doubt and make the situation dangerous.

She would not have to though as he had finally figured out what to tell her, the partial truth. "Staff Sergeant, What you and the Master Sergeant have done is completely implausible, without a full injection I am not at one-hundred percent fighting capacity, putting the lives of other soldiers at needlessly at risk."

Defiantly not rational, something was seriously wrong with him. "If you had told me you were a unicorn from space sent here to convert people to believe you were a god there would have been a higher chance of me believing you rather then if you told me that you cared about the lives of other people"

"I don't….but you do" He added "That's no-" He grabbed a chair for support as his body threatened to launch everything he's ate today "That's not my reason for needing it"

"You need it because you're addicted to it"

Again he fought off the urge to puke "Yes, but that's not why I need you to give me all of it right now" What he was about to tell her would please her and the rest of this dysfunctional unit "Congratulations, I have been reassigned"

"Wha- why"

"Babysitting" he could tell her that much "I won't be seeing this place for a while. That means your little idea will just kill me. So give me my stuff and I'll be out of your hair" It was them who was in his fucking hair. When he got the call that would put massive amounts of distance between this team and him it was as if the sky opened up and some big titty angel came down to tell him he was free of all his worries and stress, emphasis on the big titties. "Let's not prolong this" added the shadow noticing her thoughtful expression.

She needed time to think. That wasn't going to be possible with him in the room. "You're absolutely right" She opened the cabinet next to her and produced a bag of Bravo's injectors. When she held her hand out he seemed hesitant to take them, it was too easy.

"I expected confrontation" As soon as the bag fell into his hand he dropped the nice guy act, reverting back to the asshole Bravo. Yet before he could say anything witty he was being pushed towards the door. "What the hell are you doing? Get off me!"

"Let's not prolong this" Repeated Peach, shutting the door in his face. She smirked listening to him curse, then under her breath "Have fun with your vitamin shots…now let's see where you're going". It wouldn't take him long to notice his scroll was missing, ten minutes at most. It was locked like she expected it to be, she knew somebody who could fix that.

[Three minutes of precious seconds later]

He was in his dorm with another of his squad mates. A pair of glasses wearing small statured man with very short ginger hair, his nametag read Biggs. "Hey Delta" Both looked over "The one with glasses"

"Hey Alpha" He called back "The one with big boobs"

"Like you would know the difference Mr. Ladies' man"

He waited for Fletcher to make a smartass remark and was saddened when nothing greeted his ears. He'd hadn't said much since they'd lost both Four and Leo. The fucking animals didn't even leave a body to bury their friend. Maybe it was for the best, he didn't think he could handle another funeral like Leo's. "What the hell do you want?"

"A favor" She explained flashing him the scroll "I was going to read my messages but I forgot my password "

"So I'm hacking a stolen scroll for somebody I don't even know on a first name basis"

"Such a downer you are. Is this why you're Mr. Ladies' man?"

With a growl he snatched it from her hand "Stand outside and watch for anybody" She gave him a sickly sweet smile and a mock salute. "Atleast our girl was quiet….Sorry" he added while glancing at Fletcher.

Pulling out his own scroll he linked the two together and got to work. The inscription was defiantly military; hundreds of different fake sub roots interlinking with one another that looked real, too easy.

"What exactly am I getting for this" He called out for the woman to come back in.

"Anything you want~" Before he could pull it back she snatched it from his hand "Is probably what you were hoping I'd say you sick bastard. Well thanks a lot!"

"…What the fuck just happened?" He asked watching leave just as fast as she had come "YO Fletcher how bout we go grab a bite to eat." He didn't even look like was paying attention, just zoned out spinning Four's machete in his and. "HEY ASSHOLE"

The angry tech expert stopped over to Fletcher, something the other man actually took notice too. "Whats up Biggs?"

He wanted hit him right in his stupid face. Why he couldn't he understand what he was doing to himself. "I said lets go grab a bite to eat you idiot" He would let him off the hook this time, next time he would hit him.

Not far from this sad scene was Peach walking along her merry way without a care in the world. Bravo's scroll was VERY interesting. It contained all sorts of things that could easily get her hung easily if a certain addict turned her in 'good thing I got his fix'. He probably tearing this place apart looking for me right now.

So he wasn't lying he really is baby-sitting, a prisoner by the name of Julia Snow at Jones penitentiary. He made it out like it was far away. Still even with the short distance she would never know when she might get pulled for a mission leaving him without anything for a long period of time, that wouldn't be, that wouldn't be good for anyone involved. The only plausible solution was to give multiple lesser quantity doses and hope he has enough sense to ration them off. This was all very stressful "No one can say I'm not a good person." She sighed before something caught her eyes. "A hanging? More like chop me into little pieces" This changed everything.

[Jones penitentiary, Yuri]

Fifty- Completely out of Character-Fifty one –Was this supposed to me funny- Fifty two- A ruse to mess with me-Fifty three-Had to be-Fifty four-This was cruel and unusual punishment- Fifty five- How many can she do?! "Why?"I asked as I was elevated again-Fifty five.

Numbers continued onward with her pushups on surprisingly stout arms. It was a weird request she had made when she came back from her hours long disappearance. 'Sit on my back' she said, me demoted to exercise equipment, someone somewhere was laughing right now.

"I need to stay fit" She said in-between breaths. Of course that explains everything. Give it up to numbers the psychotic killer who has gone completely insane and her lovely one-hundred and ten pound weight, yay lots of fun.

"You didn't take some bad drugs did you?" That or this was all a screwed up evil plan to make me question my sanity, maybe even both it wouldn't surprise me at this point. Finally the never ending mass of pushups came to an end. "Worn out?"

"No" She wasn't lying either. No shortage of breath or anything thing that would point to exhaustion. A rumor that Headhunters were more machine then flesh was beginning to sound believable. Then with a few re-arrangements I was being bench pressed.

"Yeah because this is how I wanted to spend my day" Then I realized the only thing I ever did before she came was hole myself up in here and go through magazines I had already read numerous times. No one to talk too and no friends "Do you have fiends?"

I watched as her mouth set into a thin line. Great I pissed her off, goodbye boring prison life. Eight-nine-ten-eleven- and I'm still alive. Go Yuri….sarcasm.

"If you want to talk so bad tell me what after I left?" She ordered, dropping me on the ground.

After she left? "Nothing really, I didn't even notice you were gone until I checked" I told her recounting my memory of this morning. Where did she even go?

"No, I meant Ruben" Ruben…? Of all the things she wants to talk about It has to be that place. Prison was preferable to that hell. Having your comrades turned to piles of red, wandering if the earth shaking artillery shells would hit your position, being hunted.

"Everyone shut up…." Link whispered "Did you hear that?" The only thing I could hear was my own heart. They captured the town and now we're all going to die soon. I clutched my rifle against my chest trying to feel some sense of security. The chain of command fell quickly leaving all of us to fend for ourselves and no one was making any effort to get us out of here.

Link crawled passed Zeke and through what use to be a living room to get to the wall next to the window, slow like the sloth faunus he was. He was the only one of us who was even trying to keep any order amongst our squad. The five surviving members out of ten weren't in any condition to fight myself included.

"It's clear" He told us moving the curtains and looking out into the alleyway. I let out shaky breath I didn't know I had been holding. "Yuri take position upstairs" Link ordered.

Why would he send me upstairs by myself? Can't someone else do it? I turned to voice my complaints when a shadow took form behind the curtains he was infront of. Then before any of us could say anything Link was gone…..taken by that thing.

Mia screamed causing me to almost shoot her. Everyone scrambled like mice being trapped by a cat. This how would end? Not a heroic death or dying of old age surrounded by grandchildren. No it would end with us desperately clinging to life being put down one by one.

Link was no doubt dead leaving four of us. We all had our guns raised and aimed at the window, all of but Mia who wouldn't shut up. We waited to see who would be the next to go,

With her loud mouth giving away her position it wasn't surprising when she was the next to go, a bullet impacting her forehead. She fell to the floor unceremoniously unlike how people died in games; there was no glory in this.

"You son of a bitch!" Yelled Jake throwing a grenade out the window. Not seconds later it was returned, it sailed past his face a few inches before detonating. I barely had enough time to hit the ground in the next room.

My ears rang violently and the dust kicked up from the explosion made it impossible to see. Maybe it was better that way, the others in the room were probably nothing more than red splatters on the walls. With everyone else dead that left only…..

Me .A pair bloused military boots stepped into my field of vision. I traveled their body to see their face. The skull mask. If eyes are truly windows to the soul then I might as well be looking at a grimm.

"Don't ignore me" The owner of those same very eyes remarked while pinching my nose. She wasn't any different than the day we met; only now she had no reason to kill me. That's a great starting point to any beneficial relationship.

I moved my head out of her reach "That's very hypocritical of you to say….well after you…let me live I pretty just did what you told me just in case you were watching"

"What am I the boogeyman?" I decided not to answer that question.

"I met an officer" I continued "His name was Romeo- no Ramirez, he was decent enough. Not like I expected him to roll out the red carpet for me. I was put in with some other prisoners and we were handed off to another unit. Spent some time on a military base then they shipped us here. Then not long after you got here, how did you get here?" It's a question that's plagued my mind.

No big surprise when I was once again ignored. I wanted to press it but I liked living. Her appearance was that of a human and talked like a human therefore she should be human right? Wrong her humanity was stripped from her long ago. I was in a cell with the equivalent of a 'tame' lion. No matter how many times you've fooled with it without incident there's always that chance. Add to the flame that we aren't exactly buddies, more like she tells me what to do and I obey.

'Never heard of a lion that lets its prey go' ok so maybe not the best analogy. The point is I need to stop fooling myself that I'm repaying my debt by associating myself with her when clearly she wants nothing to do with me.

"I made a mistake" she said, bringing me from my thoughts.

So I was right. She was here because of me "I'd apologize although it would sound something like this. Sorry for getting you in trouble for not killing me" I smirked

"No I got away with that one" I dumbly watched her pull herself up her bunk apparently ready to go to bed. The clock on the stand read eight-thirty, kind of early for sleep

"You're sure are friendly tonight, taking a shine to me are you?" It was clear our conversation was over.

Shaking my head I walked out of our cell next to the rail. Down below a pair of woman were acting like children. Screaming, that's how people talked to each other in here. When their words wouldn't get through they would use their fists and unless it was real bad the guards almost never stopped it.

I leaned over the rail to get a better view of the girls about to get into a scrap. The loudest one, probably the antagonizer, charged her tiny opponent. The strong picking on the weak, a story told a hundred times.

My mother once told me no one was naturally strong. That everyone had a reason become strong whether their reasons are good or bad.

The bigger girl obviously won but unknown to her she just continued a never ending cycle, the small one had a fire in her eyes no hate was a better term to use. She would, like every other cliché story, would rise up and become stronger where then she will proceed to have an epic battle with the bigger girl and by doing so teach the other a new found outlook on life. Like I said a story told hundreds of times.

…..Or they could break down right and embrace each other and make the fact they are lesbians very open, ew come on guys you have a cell for that type of thing. Oh look the guards aren't stopping it like they would if men were involved I wonder why that is, sarcasm. I should probably head to bed too then I guess. "Gnight Numbers"

As I plopped down on the bed I realized I HAVENT EVEN PLAYED THOSE GAMES YET! All this wasted time and I could be finally figuring out if Phantom really died in Shout of Obligation. I know they drowned him with Beetle and everything but you never know, he might have had a rebreather or something on him. Damn you General Poodle haven't Shampoo and Captain Cost had enough.

"Goodnight"…today was weird.

[The next day, Snow]

"When taking PED your emotions will all be intensified, especially anger. I wouldn't think you would need this kind of training but recent events have proven otherwise. If you cannot control your emotions the drug will control you" I hung my head slightly in shame as Jacinto lectured on. "Give me your hands"

I did as I was ordered. "Sir if I may, isn't that the real point of PED" He held them close and produced a key from his uniform jacket. Within a moment my hands were unbound and free to move in unrestricted movements. "Thank you sir" My gratitude wouldn't last long.

"Weak minded individuals are easily controlled by it. I don't train weak minded individuals" I didn't exactly make the best first impression. "We are infiltrators, we are masters of our emotion and because of that we can assume any persona we wish. Burying your emotion is not mastering it."

"Please explain Sir"

He pulled a folder from his infinite dark hole like jacket and placed it in front of me "Tell me if you know their faces" Pulling it closer I opened it to view multiple pictures of two woman, one in her middle ages and a teenager.

"No Sir" They didn't look familiar at all.

He gazed through me with a blank expression not giving anything way, It was impossible to read him "You're solely responsible for taking away Leo Sanchez from them"

"These are –"

"Yes the wife and daughter of Delta-Five. After a successful counter attack you felt the need to be rewarded for your effort. You became careless on a battlefield and it cost the life of one of my Headhunters,"

It's just a test. Just keep calm "Sir I accept the blame"

"That doesn't bring him back; you think if you told these women that they would care? Studies shows that the time a girl needs a father in her life most is in her teenager years. She will most likely see older men to fill this void; her grades will drop causing no small amount of stress on her already mentally unstable mother who will lean on alcohol for support. Mother becomes a useless drunk getting her fired from her job forcing them to mortgage their house, The house they shared many memories with gone. This brings out a high chance of suicide." Focus "You ruined three lives with one action"

"Yes Sir"

I couldn't gauge if my reaction pleased him or not "The air temperature in this room is low" his random statement bewildered me. He stood up from his chair and circled to my side but I didn't dare turn to look. I barely contained my surprise when he wrapped his jacket around my shoulders. What game was he playing?

The Jacket although too big had a comfortable feel to it. It had been ages since I wore mine; it was a power trip all over again. No one could dispute the fact that you were the best when you wore this, you weren't the world's greatest soldier or killer because when you wore this jacket you were death in the flesh.

I didn't notice when he took his seat again on the other side "That will be your last time wearing that jacket or any other like it. Only Headhunters get the privilege" I am a Headhunter "You no longer deserve such a privilege"

"So Sir I don't" Years of training becoming strong and dutiful service wasted. I was being accepted back as a dog not a proud Headhunter. I wouldn't be able to wear this jacket that demanded respect no matter ones background, even being a lowly orphan.

"I believe I said mastering your emotion isn't the same as burying it" He stated watching a single tear begin its decent.

I failed "I'm sorry Sir it won't happen again" Would he even take me out of this place now? All his time spent on me must seem wasted.

"You're broken" A broken weapon has no use. How did it come to this? Was it Erwin? No the problem went much farther back than that. I got too comfortable with Delta. I lost my edge and now I was going to be discarded. "I built you so it shouldn't be that hard to fix you."

Wasn't the test over already "Sir I've failed…"

"No you passed" he was making no sense "I can't fix what I don't is broken. I don't need a dysfunctional object. I never once said that emotions were useless, they guide our actions but they can also rule over us. Now, I want you go back as far as you can remember and tell me everything that has ever caused you distress"

"Why" I asked, dropping the Sir.

He laced his fingers together on the table "Vespin wants your loyalty" The whole point of PED. "I want your trust. There's a storm coming and when it hits, each other is all we are going to have."