Caspian watched the campus of Sentinel Academy drift away beneath him as the airship ripped him away from home. He saw the window to his dorm. Madrona Hall, fourth floor. His window faced the entrance, right where the thickest branch of the old oak tree split off into three more. He had seen little but the view out the window for a month and a half. Seeing it now from the other side, so far away, felt weird.
He kept staring until the space that had been Madrona Hall was all of campus.
The Ray-Class airship's cabin was a silver, grey, and blue tunnel. Two rows of four seats each faced the front. The cabin opened in front of them, three seats lined against the walls to face each other. Caspian took refuge in the back-right corner, his bag providing all the company he needed in the seat beside him. Rowan had tried to make conversation but gave up about fifteen minutes into the ride, retiring to his seat the row ahead and slipping headphones over his ears. When he did, it came as a relief.
CRLN's huntsman shadow stood up from his seat closest to the front of the cabin. "Alright. Briefing time," he grumbled in announcement. "We got word from an 'anonymous source' that the Red Claw's scouting Frontline's primary in-kingdom distribution center tomorrow night. The distribution center is about halfway between Port Cyrreine and the City of Vale. Between it and PC, materials move on the HyperLine– a bit like the Line on campus, but it moves the better part of the speed of sound. The HyperLine to Vale isn't finished yet, so they're still primarily sending cargo ships there." He indicated Noxis, who sat with his head down, elbows on his knees across from the huntsman. "As for what exactly we can expect, I'll leave it to our anonymous source here."
Mr. Verdi sat, probably relieved to be done speaking.
"Right. Well, like he said, the distribution center is the main hub between Port Cyrreine and the City of Vale," Noxis repeated. "So of course, we're blowing it to the ground. At least doing enough damage to be a huge pain in their ass, set 'em back a year or two."
Caspian, Rowan, and Lilly all traded uneasy looks from their spots within the cabin.
"That was the plan, at least. But we need intel first, which is what's happening tomorrow night. We're just sending a few of our more trusted lackeys. Six or seven, last I heard. If we catch them here, they can't report back. That's the goal. And as for Grimm, maybe a Nevermore or two. Condor can only create 'em within about half a mile of himself, so they'd have to be small to make it over here without being seen."
"So how do we know we can trust you?" Rowan challenged.
"What the hell would I get out of this?" Noxis returned. He pointed to Mr. Verdi. "If I tried to pull something on you three, I don't think I'd do it right next to one of the highest ranked active huntsmen."
"Noxis has been cooperating with Headmaster Skye these last few weeks," Mr. Verdi added. "We don't have any reason to distrust him. No new reasons, at least. Besides, what he said is exactly why the Headmaster assigned your team to me."
A little less than an hour passed before Port Cyrreine was little more than a jagged edge on the horizon, past an ocean of trees dotted by sporadic islands of cities and settlements. Their destination lay next to the split of the River Ambrosius. The Northern split feeding in from beyond the City of Vale, and the Southern split, coming down from the Sulamen mountains to the East, came together in two different hues, mixing slowly as the water flowed on toward the ocean.
A flat, vertical structure of glass and steel stuck out from a coffin-shaped building on the South bank, reaching into the sky like a three hundred foot tall sail. Defined stripes of three distinct colors repeated all the way up; a strip of soft golden light, a face of silver steel, then a line of windows. The area around it– everything until the sheer, evergreen covered hill, was cut clear and paved over. The bleak grey platform half a mile wide held the sail-like building, a smaller warehouse connected to the HyperLink station, and two domed buildings whose function Caspian could only guess.
The cabin doors opened to the outside air. It didn't matter how much fresher it was than the air of the city. It was damp, cold, and Caspian wasn't in any mood to be out in it. He didn't care how scenic the place was. He'd rather be in his room, under a blanket, maybe scrolling through pictures of it if he got the urge. Behind him, Rowan stretched out his legs, and Lilly took in a deep breath. Inside the door to the cabin, Mr. Verdi put a hand on Noxis's shoulder.
"Make one wrong move out here, and it's your last."
He lowered his head from a blank-eyed stare at his teammates, and stepped away from Mr. Verdi's hand. "I know."
An Organd greeted the team, and after a brief overview of the facility and its layout, saw them to their room in the main building. It was a few floors up and surprisingly spacious, its North-facing wall almost entirely windowed to provide a view of the river and forest. A cluster of cots took up most of the space to the left, two rows of six that probably housed the facility's crew before they were all replaced by androids. To the right was a small kitchen that must have been stocked the day before they arrived. In the middle, plush chairs and a long white couch faced the one section of solid wall on the North face. Rowan was on the couch within about ten minutes, watching some old action movie on the Holoscreen bound to the wall.
Before the Red Claw showed up, there would be excruciatingly little to do. Caspian took the cot in the furthest corner and was happy to find that the dark grid on the floor, each cell containing a bed and a few spare feet of space, was a dust-based, soundproofed privacy screen. He sat in his simulated refuge for some time, long enough for the sky to begin to flush with the colors of sunset. And long enough for his stomach to go from 'could eat' to 'needs food as soon as reasonably possible.''
The privacy screen came down, and Caspian shifted. He hoped there was something easy enough to prepare. On his way to the other side of the room, he glanced at each of the others in his space. Pierce had gone out somewhere. It looked like Rowan was finishing up his movie. Lilly had her combat uniform hung up on one chair and sat across from it. Her eyes flashed intently between it, the sketchbook and pencil in her lap, and her Holoband, which displayed an outfit close to matching her drawing. Noxis sat at the table in the corner, about halfway through a pre-wrapped sandwich.
Caspian looked at the fridge, then over to him. The faunus's questioning eyes were on him before he finished pulling out a chair. He stared down Caspian, silent even after swallowing the bite of turkey and swiss on rye.
Caspian let out a breath. He couldn't remember ever approaching Noxis. He didn't think he ever had. And he wasn't doing so through some grand recovery; he felt no bolder than all the times Noxis had left him cowering against a wall. If anything had changed since, he hated himself even more than before. He just didn't care anymore. About what Noxis thought about him. Or anyone, for that matter. Being kind, keeping his head down and out of the way, obviously none of it was working.
"You've told me a few times now that I'm a coward. That I run from the truth, rather than tell it or hear it," Caspian began, looking into the dark eyes that questioned why he sat down before him. "And, I think you're right. I need to start being honest. With myself, and with other people. So I'll start with you."
Noxis took another bite.
"To be honest, I don't like you very much. At all, really. Even before I knew about the Red Claw stuff, you made me uncomfortable to be part of my own team. A team with Lilly, and Rowan, that would've been a dream come true if anyone else was the last member. And you were lying to us the whole time, which is pretty hypocritical."
Noxis swallowed. As he took a sip from a dented aluminum water bottle, Caspian wondered what else to say.
"Well, thanks for saving me, I guess."
"Sure," Noxis acknowledged. "And if I'm going to be honest, I don't like you much either. What's funny is I feel the same way. I'd have been happier on any other team. And I would say I'm not sure how you of all people managed to not only get into the school, but lead a team, but I know damn well. Your dad's the Headmaster. And he married into the gods-damned Schnee Dust Company. You were raised in a mansion by parents who love you, but you refuse to recognize how good you have it."
Caspian nodded absently. "Yeah. You're probably right."
Noxis wrapped the last third of his sandwich and stood, scooting the chair across the floor behind him. "I'm heading outside. If Pierce asks, tell him I went to the water."
Stark light from above washed out the maze of corrugated steel and concrete. Androids moved in all directions on carts and forklifts, zipping around like worker bees in a hive. Noxis stayed to the side, eyeing each as it passed. He continued past the chain-link gate, and the concrete beneath his boots turned to grass and stone.
On the crest of the hill beside the river, outlined in sunset, Mr. Verdi's silhouette sat on a boulder. He put his hand up to his chin for a second or two before lowering it, and a swirl of smoke drifted along the course of the river. Noxis approached him.
The pair of blackish-grey ears atop Mr. Verdi's head turned as far toward the footsteps as they allowed. "If you've come out here to try something, this is your one chance to reconsider."
Noxis came even with him, looking out at the sun setting over the wilderness. "You know, I spent a lot of time blaming you for my dad," he said. "You ditching the White Fang that night was the tipping point for him. He hasn't been the same since. And if you had given me this opportunity a year ago, I might've tried." He took in a deep breath, and looked to the sky as he let it out. "But I just don't care enough anymore. I just want to know how you got out."
Mr Verdi's eyes widened over his cigarette, and he nodded with the exhale. "Well, I'm guessing you already know I faked my own death. But honestly… I got lucky. I didn't exactly keep a low profile after deserting. If the Fang hadn't fallen apart when they did, I might not be here." He shook out a few embers before killing his cigarette entirely on his seat.
Noxis looked toward the stone he rolled under his boot. "Oh."
Mr. Verdi dismounted the boulder. "I'm headed back inside," he announced. "But as I see it right now, the choice is yours. You have the resources you need to leave it all behind. What matters now is how badly you want to."
Caspian was toward the bottom of a reheated can of soup when Mr. Verdi returned. He made brief eye contact, nodding once and resuming his meal.
"Noxis went out to the water, apparently," Rowan reported. "Don't know if you wanted to check up on him."
Pierce raised a hand as the door closed behind him. "I saw him. He's fine," he assured. He looked around the room. "This is another thing they never tell you about old-fashioned missions. You'll only be doing actual huntsman work about ten percent of the time. Other ninety percent, you're bored out of your skull."
As if on queue, his Holoband rang. Urgent pulses of vibration accompanied a flashing of crimson across his wrist. His eyebrows stitched and he poked it silent, straightening out the steel bracelet and expanding the device into a tablet. He held it up to his ear, and grunted his greetings. Each word and pacing step of the ensuing conversation hinted Team CRLN was about to be thrown into that ten percent.
"What?"
"Just now?"
"How far down the track?"
"Got it. Coming right away."
He collapsed the tablet and snapped it back onto his wrist. "A few minutes after the last train arrived, the track exploded about three miles toward PC." He strapped on a utility belt with a holstered gun at each side, dust cartridges and ammunition lined up between them. "No injuries, but it doesn't look like an accident. I'm headed over."
"Damn it!" Rowan exclaimed. "We should've known!"
"We don't know for certain it's the Red Claw…" Lilly reasoned. Not even she sounded convinced of her words.
"I'm guessing we're headed out then too?" Caspian asked, looking down to the soup he'd rather finish.
Pierce shook his head. "You three stay here for now. Suit up just in case, and find Noxis. He should still be out by the river."
Rowan only waited for the walls of Caspian's privacy barrier to come down halfway before speaking. "We should have known this was a trap!" he exclaimed, his voice coming to full volume as the wall descended. "What do you think his plan is? Get us all into one place and get rid of us so he can make a clean break? Maybe we know too much?"
"I don't know," Caspian answered. "I guess we'll find out."
"Just hope he doesn't lose his shit again," Rowan continued. "He would have killed us if Snow didn't drop in. I mean, you two don't trust him, do you?"
"I'd like to…" Lilly said.
Caspian fastned the last clasp on his greaves and let out an apathetic sigh. "Not particularly."
Outside, all was still. The organized bustle Caspian saw during the tour earlier had come to a full stop. The arm of the crane hung above idly, over abandoned forklifts and flatbed trucks. None of the androids were anywhere to be found, and every light around the facility was at full luster, blowing out every shadow with harsh white.
Caspian saw Noxis long before he could call out. He felt strange. An uncanny disquiet bubbled up along with the feeling of betrayal and a vague hope it was all a coincidence, a misunderstanding. Yet they all felt as washed out as everything under the light. But something about seeing Noxis close in cast a forceful shadow over the betrayal, and it broke through all the numbness he'd felt.
Caspian hastened the last bit of distance between the opposing forces of Team CRLN. "So much for honesty, huh?"
Noxis's disconcerted look swept across his teammates and back. "What? Why are you all suited up?"
"Don't give me that shit. You know why."
"No, I don't. What's happening?"
"I have this weird little hunch you know exactly what's happening," Caspian accused. The lights brightened. Well, that wasn't quite right. Everything had become the slightest bit hazy. He took a deep breath, only then realizing how tight his chest had become. "The track a few miles toward Port Cyrreine exploded," he explained, his voice comparably even. "Mr. Verdi went to investigate, and told us to grab you. Do you know anything? This isn't part of some trap, is it?"
"No, I swear I told you the truth," Noxis attested. He looked to be deep in thought as he muttered his next words. "Unless... oh, shit."
"What?" Caspian prompted. He'd never seen such fear fill Noxis's eyes.
Noxis shook his head, and continued past the three toward the giant sail. "You aren't the ones that were lied to. You aren't the ones in a trap!"
The first noise Caspian heard was a great whooshing sound, like a gust of wind over the treetops. Then another. And a sound he had come to know was the herald of disaster. The scream of a Nevermore. He saw its wings first; the width of an airship, silhouetted against waning twilight.
Noxis froze, both hands at his side wringing so hard his knuckles might split.
"He's here."