The news came as a surprise to James. After a chat with Akagi at the café, he headed back to the office. There, he was greeted by Alexis, Blake and Marie who told him what happened. Alexis spoke on behalf of all three and explained it in a way that didn't come off as asinine or ungrateful. Once done, they said their thanks and left.
Left to ruminate on this new information, James quietly sat in his room and thought to himself. The first thing that came to his mind was that this move was not one the trio made on their own. It stank of the Resistance's influence, but that begged the question of why?
'On one hand, they could be pissed off that I have a monopoly on the heavy hitters and looked to reassert their power,' he thought. Then, he dismissed the thought as he realized that no one could be that petty. He once again told himself that no one would favor looking good over presenting a united front during war time.
Unfortunately for James, he had never met or dealt with politicians and bureaucrats.
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In a reaction that was similar to James, Alec was equally surprised at the words coming out of Alexis' mouth. Never had he imagined that they would make such a bone headed decision and knew almost instantly who actually made the decision for them. This realization prompted Alec to come with the Valkyries and head back to where the Resistance Leaders were no doubt waiting to hear the good news.
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Back in his room, James continued reflecting on this strange turn of events. Outside, Belfast was about to enter and clean the room but immediately stepped back when she saw who was inside. Typically, she'd come right in and start her work even if her master stated that he had already cleaned the room. This time though, she recognized that expression on his face. The head maid and pretty much everyone else in the fleet knew that when their leader had that look, they were to give him a wide berth.
That look meant that he was thinking or planning something. And woe to the target his thoughts were directed to.
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"I wish I could have seen the look on his face," said Byron, laughing heartily on hearing the news.
Based on their reactions, Alec understood what motivated this move. It wasn't that the trio didn't want to train with James, they had been manipulated by this lot. He could also tell that Alexis seemed like the only one torn by the decision. However, she did her best not to make it too obvious. She wanted the other two to feel like they made the right decision, even if it was the wrong one.
"Hmm, what's this?" asked Damian now noticing Alec's presence "what are you doing here?"
"I wanted to know what's the next move," said Alec "after all, its not like you to just take the Valkyries back without a long term plan in mind."
"Whatever we plan on doing is not your concern," said Ingrid, gesturing him to go away "this is a matter between us and the Valkyries."
"Well Alec is a part of our group," said Alexis, to the surprise of everyone (including Alec).
"Since when?" asked Byron, directing a narrow gaze at the girl.
"Ever since we awakened to our powers," she replied, looking down at her feet then looking to Alec. "No, even before all that when we were still our human selves."
"That's right," added "Blake "he's been our friend since day one. Wherever we go, he goes."
"I second that statement," said Marie, who rarely spoke up compared to the other two.
"Well… then that's fine," said Byron, who did not like their stance and made no attempt at hiding it.
"With the Valkyries now back in their rightful place," said Whitney as she and the rest took their seats once again "it is time to enact the next phase of our plan."
"With this, we'll ensure that the Valkyries are the strongest group in the war," said Ingrid, her eyes blazing with determination.
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Back at the base, Charles Ausburne, Fletcher, Spence, Kisaragi and Fumizuki were headed to James' office. Charles recently met the requirements for a retrofit and was promptly upgraded. Now she was eager to show off her new form to her ally of justice. The rest came along simply because they wanted to see their older brother.
As they neared his room, they saw James come out. Charles was about to call out but stopped when she noticed his face. He wore a blank expression and showed no emotions outwardly. It could be said that his thoughts were elsewhere, which explained why he did not notice the children coming to him.
The five young ones moved aside and let their elder brother pass. They knew this expression as this was the face he wore when he was deep in thought or contemplating his next move. It was the expression he reserved only for Omega and the Siren forces.
But that was the strangest thing though. As the kids recalled, there was no pressure to launch an attack against the Sirens and James had insisted on letting the girls relax as much as possible. Which begged the question, who was their older brother now moving against?
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"He's not going to go for it," stated Alec, abruptly to the group.
"Why the hell do you have to be such a downer?" asked Blake "I mean seriously, this is a great plan that works to make us the supreme force in this war."
"But you're not that," countered Alec "as I recall, the three of you couldn't hold your own against James in single combat and this is James we're talking about. He's the weakest member in the fleet."
"You're just biased towards the Azur Sky," said Damian dismissively "you've seen them in action so many times you think that they're the be all and end all."
"Don't you dare put words in my mouth," snarled Alec to Damian "I am speaking pragmatically. He's got more pressing concerns right now than to deal with this diversion."
"If I remember correctly," said Whitney, clearing her throat and casting a glowering gaze at Alec "you formally resigned from the Resistance. In fact, you made your resignation very clear with that expression."
"So what the hell are you doing back here?" she asked.
"Strictly speaking, we could have you arrested for trespassing," said Byron "of course, we're not going to do that, but you should understand your place."
Alec clenched his fist and then thought about punching Byron in the face. That stuffed shirt looked like he had never been hit in his life. Alec wondered how the others would react and if Byron or someone from the Valkyries would sense his intent and try to stop him.
But, all those thoughts were cast aside, when the doors behind him opened and through them came James, the man in question.
"Harper," cried Byron "what are you doing here?"
"I came here with a request for assistance on something of grave importance," he said.
Alec noted how James had his hands behind him and his posture looked more professional than usual. Whatever it was, it was clearly worth coming all the way here rather than have anyone else do it.
"Do you remember that incident where the Valkyries awakened to their powers?" he asked.
"Yes, I remember how I played an instrumental role in keeping you from needlessly butchering three vital war assets," said Byron.
"There's something that's been troubling me about that mission," said James, casually ignoring the remark.
"What is it?" asked Lakshmi, looking impatient.
"Alpha's presence on the island was not expected," he replied "the devices that we were transporting emitted a special radiation that you could track on the map. The Sirens could have ambushed us at anytime during the transit, but they only appeared when we were on the island."
"What are you getting at James?" asked Ingrid, who understood what he was saying but still wanted to hear him say it.
"I'm saying that the only way Alpha knew where we were and that we were doing was if someone told her about it before hand," he replied "as such, I'd like to conduct an interview with every member of the team that came on that mission. That way, I can flush out the rat."
"And what about your members?" asked Whitney "are you sure that one of them didn't sell you out?"
In that moment, Alec noticed how James clenched his fists behind his back. These idiots had no idea how loyal the girls were and were simply trying to shift the blame.
"I've already conducted a thorough interview with all of them," he said, with not a hint of anger in his voice "I can pass on the excerpts to you for further analysis if you like."
"No, you don't have to do that," said Whitney, waving off the idea "and as for your request, you can forward the interview questions to us and we'll conduct the interview."
"Don't worry your pretty little head James," said Byron in a condescending tone "we'll help you find out how Alpha knew about the black boxes."
"Thank you," said James and gave a light bow before turning around and leaving.
When the door closed behind him the others began to speak. They were talking about what came next rather than what just happened. Only Alec understood the implications and that was the reason why he was so stiff and silent.
He combed through his memories to ensure that he didn't make a mistake. During that mission, James purposely held back information from the resistance. He gave cubes generic names to turn them into McGuffins to limit information only to his fleet. Hence, the only was for anyone else outside to have known that they were called Black Boxes was if someone from the enemy told them.
Knowing what he did, Alec then darted out the room and chased after James. It didn't take long to catch up to him and when he did, Alec saw the expression on James' face. It was that of a man who had snared his prey in a simple yet cunning trap.
"James," he called out and the man stopped.
"Hello Alec," he said, turning to him "sorry about what happened in there. Given the Valkyries sudden departure, I figured there was more going on than expected. That's when I remembered our earlier conversation and decided to try my luck."
'Bullshit,' thought Alec 'there's no way in hell you were just 'trying your luck.' You and I knew that someone in there was a rat and you wanted to expose them.'
To clarify, Alec was not angry at James for what he did. He was not angry at James in the slightest. The only thing he felt towards James was total and abject fear. The reason being was that the man had managed to single out the traitor in the most simplest way possible. And the scariest part was that Byron had no clue about his blunder at all. Not in the slightest.
It made Alec evaluate James in a new light and made him recollect a statement he made in passing about the man. He was more of a fox than his wife or sisters.
"Of course, now that we've answered one question," said James, holding up two fingers "there's two more questions in its place."
"The first one is how to reveal Byron's treachery and the second one…"
"Is Byron the only traitor?" asked Alec, finishing the sentence.
"The thing about rats," said James in a smile that made Alec's blood run cold "is that if you see one, there are more hiding in the dark."
"Ah, but that's going to be my worry from now on," he said, which caught Alec off guard.
"What, what do you mean?" asked Alec.
"I get the strange feeling that you're going to be pretty busy in the next few days which is why I'll figure out how to take care of this rat or rats."
With that said James started walking and left Alec to ruminate on his thoughts. He took one more look at James before heading back to the room.
When he returned, he found that the group were still talking about how they put James in his place and tooting their own horns.
His attention was focused on Byron in particular who was the one laughing the loudest and the most.
'You have no idea, do you?' thought Alec, looking at the man and trying to hide his disdain.
"Who should take point on this mission?" asked Whitney.
"I think Adams is a good choice," said Ingrid "the man was a drill sergeant before the war and is more than capable of running rings around James."
"I'll take care of things," said Alec, causing everyone in the room to turn to him.
"Oh? Is that right?" asked Lakshmi, giving him a questioning look "you made your position clear here Alec. You're not part of the Resistance anymore."
"And you need someone who can go toe to toe with James in strategy, that's me," he said.
"And why's that?" asked Whitney.
"Because I know him better than any name you can bring up," he replied.
"Though the time was short, I have a clear and in-depth understanding of James' style of leadership. I am the only one qualified enough to take him in a battle of wits."
The group didn't seem all that sold on the idea but they all had to admit that Alec made a valid argument. As they were busy weighing their options, Alec looked to Alexis who shared the same expression of concern as he did.
Alec's decision to help was not because he wanted to help the Resistance, its because he wanted to help the Valkyries, particularly Alexis. Given what these leaders have planned, the trio needed all the help they can get.
Initially, Alec believed that he could beat James in a battle of wits. After all, the pair played several rounds of Chess, Age of Empires, and Starcraft 2 together and Alec always won those rounds. But after seeing what happened, Alec was skeptical.
The fact that no one caught on to what happened and that Byron remained completely oblivious told Alec that he had to be in top form if he planned on winning here.
(AN: I'm particularly excited by this arc.)