Chapter 60: Argus - Nevermores Come to Roost

Cover Art by Mi Chumi

Chapter Summary: In which Visha doesn't take crap from nobody.

"We must continue searching!" Selene pled, even as she couldn't find the energy to sit up straight, much less make her way to the cockpit.

Reggie didn't even turn back from scanning the thermal screens. "Selene, we can't keep doing this tonight. I can maybe squeeze another hour along the most likely route she'd take out of the area. If we do more than that, the official searchers to the north of us are going to get suspicious. And knowing what we know now, we can't afford that kind of attention. We can risk them finding you."

Selene sagged. "This is yet another sin to bear."

"Oh, give it a rest," Pete snapped. "'Oh, woe is me. Oh, I am so horrible.'"

The criticism struck home, but had the opposite impact. It made her feel even more pathetic.

Perhaps because I am…

"Pete!" Crystal objected.

"I don't fucking care," he retorted, unrepentant. "She made this bed."

"Pete, that's enough," Sophia replied through the scroll speaker.

That didn't help either. Pete's face was twisted, jaws clenched. He glared at the scroll. "And since I'm being brutally honest, you suspected something, Sophia. Didn't you? And you didn't say."

There was a long pause. "I… wasn't sure, and I didn't want to stir things up if there wasn't anything to it."

Pete laughed scornfully. "That's fine, I'm just your fucking boyfriend. And Reggie—"

"Don't draw me into your lovers pissing match, Pete," the pilot said flatly. "And if you two could hold off until we're all back at Argus, you can yell and scream as much as you want then."

"You're sleeping on the couch tonight, Pete," Sophia grumbled.

"This is—"

"Selene, seriously, Pete's right about one thing," Reggie continued in that same maddening flat tone. "Wallowing in self-pity isn't helping you, and it's pissing everyone else off."

For some reason, that filtered through without feeling like she was being beaten further. Selene blinked. "I… very well."

The silence, tense as it was, lasted a few more minutes before Sophia spoke again, more evenly. "Just a heads up that I'm working on some scripts that will notify us if Cinder uses her ID when she's getting transport. Does she have a link to your bank accounts?"

Selene nodded. "She does, a side account with some lien in it."

"Alright, what's the account number?"

Selene's brow furrowed, which caused her damaged skin to sting. "I do not know. Garek set it up."

"Gonna make me do it the hard way," Sophia grumbled. "Fine. I'll also be setting up some facial recognition snoops at major transport hubs, though that'll take time to make and propagate. Gonna take a lot of processor cycles."

"Thank you, Sophia."

"Yeah." Sophia was quiet again. "I like the kid, Selene. We all do. We'll get her back and explain things."

"Does that mean-"

"No, it doesn't. And don't push it right now," Sophia snapped through the scroll.

Selene nodded. "Yes."

After the hour had fully run out, and they had followed what they believed was the most likely course for Cinder to return to civilization, Reggie grunted and brought the Bullhead back in to Springhill. They'd had a few hits on heat signatures, during that time, but each time it had turned out to be animals, or hunters who'd cursed them for scaring off game, and in one case a pair of bandits who they'd scared the shit out of, and waved off once they'd impressed upon them the benefits of notifying them if they found a young girl, and that they should find a different line of work if they planned to stay near Argus.

Landing at their facility in Springhill, they separated into their two vehicles. Crystal and an again human-looking Selene in the one they'd driven out in, and Pete and Reggie the second.

But first Reggie cornered Crystal. "You've got a conflict of interest here."

Crystal arched an eyebrow. "Oh, Do I?"

Reggie frowned. "It looks like you do to me."

Crystal stared at him. "I work for you, Reggie and I have a personal debt to Selene for not whacking me when the fuckwits I was with attacked her. Fine, that's a conflict of interest." She thought about it for a second. "Selene wants to hire me as her personal bodyguard, through MASC. She doesn't know it yet. Verbal contract. That okay with you?"

Reggie started, then chewed on the idea. "Huh. Yeah. That's okay with me. But you follow my orders. Clear?"

"As long as they don't conflict with my job. My job is to keep her safe and alive."

"Hell, I can't argue with that. If anything happens to her…" he shuddered. "How the hell did you hold it together. That woman's voice alone…"

"A few months ago, I was hanging on for dear life in the top of a tree, surrounded by Beowolves that I'd just watched tear apart my associates. I lived in a hole for two weeks before that. My whole village was destroyed by Grimm before that. I've seen some shit, Reggie." She shuddered, "But that was still not something I ever want to do again. That's not a woman. At least not when she got pissed, she wasn't. I don't know what she is."

Her boss nodded. "Alright, we'll finish this convo back at HQ."

"I don't think so. Reggie, I'm exhausted. I don't think Selene's going to be worth anything. She's crashing already."

"I'll talk to Pete and Sophia on the drive in. Depends on whether Selene wants us to keep looking for Cinder tonight or not. I'll call you when we hit Argus gate and let you know." He turned and walked over to the car. "Selene, I'm going to ask you to turn your Scroll over to Crystal."

Selene managed to focus on him blearily. "I… see. Yes. And if Garek calls? Or my mother?"

"Crystal can answer and hand it to you. But no private conversations. Clear?"

"Yes," Selene managed. "What of Cinder?"

"No word yet. Sophia is monitoring. She'll call you if we hear something."

"And Garek?"

"Sophia's got messages queued up. He'll call when his scroll gets in range."

"Very well… I… I am sorry."

"Save it. I get the feeling you're going to be saying that a lot, and we might as well do it when everyone is in the same room," he shook his head. "You look like shit, Selene."

"I feel… used up."

"Go home. Get some sleep. Crystal's gonna hang with you for the time being."

"But Cinder," Reggie noted that she'd already asked that question once. And had already forgotten. She was not going to be useful for answering any questions.

"We'll call you if we hear anything. I promise." Selene nodded and sagged, eyes closing against her will. He turned back to Crystal, who was getting in on the driver's side. "You're right, Crystal. Get her home. We'll meet tomorrow."

. . .

Visha greeted them at door. She'd been asleep before Crystal had called and awoken her, assuming that Crystal would be bringing Cinder back late, regardless.

Her shock at learning Cinder was not there, but Selene was, only increased when she took in Selene's condition. The woman dropped her guise as soon as the door was closed, and nearly collapsed if Crystal hadn't been holding her up.

"Sel—"

"I cannot. I cannot," Selene sobbed. "Please… I… Crystal tell her."

Crystal nodded. "Come on, Visha, help me get her upstairs, and then I'll fill you in on everything."

The didn't bother with changes of clothes or a shower, though Selene could have used it, and just bundled her up on her bed. The broken woman feel asleep before they'd finished, and they took their conversation downstairs.

"Crystal, what in the darkness happened out there?!"

"Everything bad. Nothing good," Crystal began, and proceeded to relate everything that had occurred. To say that Visha was unhappy was an understatement.

"Ungrateful, pigheaded jackasses! Who do they think they are, to judge my mistress this way," her old eyes were blazing with wrath. "They don't know her!" She started pacing the room.

Crystal remembered the woman she'd met months prior when they'd first rescued Summer and, in a way, her from that prison. The woman she saw now had more fire, more spine. Apparently, her time with Raven'd had some positive impacts.

"I don't completely disagree, but I also understand. It was a shock for me, too."

"Hmph. That's because you people don't know half of what's going on in the world. You've never met Her face to face. And you didn't watch Selene grow up, see what kind of child she was. She's not… she doesn't deserve this. None of it." Her fingers twitched. "Damned Huntsmen got what they deserved."

"Whoah there! Settle the hell down, Visha. This isn't the Grimmlands, you can't go around saying shit like that."

Visha's wrinkled face pinched. "No… no it ain't," she sighed. "You thought about what She is going to do about this?"

"Haven't had time…" Crystal fell into a chair. "I'm wiped out too. I ran my ass off, and then I had to… talk to Selene's mom on the scroll… I feel like I'm about to die myself."

"Heh. Yeah She has that effect. And she's not going to react well, Crystal. Mind my words. It sounds like Selene might've talked her down a little. But that's… its not going to be good. Prepare yourself, cause She doesn't do mercy. Someone's going to pay for Selene getting hurt.

"Someone already did."

"Won't be enough to satisfy Her. I know that well." She sighed. "Where are you planning on sleeping?"

"Gonna crash on the couch, I figure."

"I'll get you some blankets, and I'll keep an eye on Selene. I'm the only one that's probably not half dead by now."

When she came back, Crystal was sagged over on the couch, but stirred when she saw her.

"Thanks."

"Young lady, I was thinking… before you pass out… there's one thing you can do that might help, if you're willing."

Crystal woke to the sound of Selene's scroll ringing next to her head.

"Fuck..." She stared at it blearily, and then answered. "Garek."

"S-, Crystal? Where's Selene? What the hell happened?"

Crystal tried to stifle a yawn. "She's okay physically, and that's a long damn story. And she's sleeping right now. Visha's upstairs with her." She rubbed her face. "She's… pretty fucked up, Garek. Emotionally. I don't think we should go waking her up right now, if that's what you're thinking."

Garek's ears folded down, and his face went slack. "What the hell happened, Crystal?

Crystal sighed and, for what felt like the dozenth time, recounted all that had occurred… she checked the time… the previous evening.

"Fucking hell," Garek swore. "Goddam Lionheart and his politicking. I should have been there!"

Crystal rolled her eyes. "You wanna blame Lionheart for this?"

Garek's shock had worn off and he was trending toward anger and looking for an outlet. "I should have been there. I would have been there!"

"Wouldn't have made a difference," Crystal said. "Ok, maybe you'd have arrived there before Cinder, and that would have gone better. But what the fuck were you going to do? Attack Huntsmen? Convince them to not attack Grimm?"

That quieted him as he thought about the implications of all that. "Fuck…" He closed his eyes and sighed. "Any word on Cinder?"

"Not a peep, yet. Sophia's apparently still up, cause my scroll kept pinging every time she sent an update. But I haven't talked to them since midnight. Pete and crew are… well, pissed doesn't do it justice."

Garek's expression was bleak. "And you?"

Crystal tilted her head. "I'm being flexible in my thinking."

"You look exhausted."

"I feel like shit. I don't know how the hell Sophia is still awake." She blinked. "Where are you? When are you getting back?"

"I told Lionheart I had a family emergency and needed to get back. I'm in the air over Mistral City at the moment. I should be there in a few hours. I'll get a cab back to the house."

"Sounds good. Sleep on the flight in if you can. Gonna be a long fucking day… today…" she sighed.

Sophia was sitting in her very expensive, very comfortable task chair in front of the bank of terminals, trying to force her aching eyes to keep focusing.

She'd been at it for hours. First had come telling Reggie to go home. Pete had refused to do so, insisting he'd stay with her. He was probably trying to make up for being an asshole earlier. She'd argued with him, and told him that she was the only one that could actually do anything at the moment. And the stubborn jackass had insisted he'd stay anyway. He was crashed out on a cot in the soundproof conference room, because apparently her constant clicking and clacking had made him nuts.

Which left her to her work. First had come setting up custom scripts and flags for Cinder. That had taken a couple hours to get it right and make sure it wouldn't set off any tripwires in the authorities or Watts.

Then she'd turned her attention to the Huntsman Team's information. She needed to know who had just… interacted… with Selene.

First the public databases on Huntsmen.

Team THUD (Thunder). Tyree, Hickory, Urchin, and Deedee. Mixture of close-range and ranged combat skills. Youngish team, a few years out of Haven. Active Contract: Investigation of possible Nevermore sighting in the forests west of Springhill. Shit. That was Blackfeather. Am I gonna have to start monitoring freaking Huntsmen contracts? She shook her head. Status: Not available for contracts.

No public reason was given, but she dug in and got past that to learn current status. Three members confirmed Killed in Action. One on long-term leave as of… today's date.

Over the net two hours, she followed the rabbit trails, and weaseled her way into systems she had no business entering.

Carefully.

She found the initial reports of the search and rescue teams that arrived on the scene.

She found the photos of what they'd found at the scene of the attack, and then when they'd followed the trail of Grimm and eliminated those.

"Oh fuck… Oh gods…" Sophia felt like throwing up at just the thumbnails. She saved the images to a local folder. "I'll… look at those later…"

And she realized that three of Team THUD's scrolls were still active. She glanced at the time. It was three in the morning, and they were moving. From the route, it looked like they were airborne and heading from Springhill toward The Spire, the Atlas base in Argus Harbor.

She took another gulp of cold coffee, cracked her fingers, and started working on the first scroll. Getting in was easy for her, getting in without leaving tracks was harder. Data rolled across her screen. Family photos. Text messages. Personal stuff. Stuff that made Tyree real. "Gods…" her hands were shaking. "Not ready for this. But it's gotta be done." She shook her head and skipped over to recent data. There were logs of calls, scroll status, Aura status, and finally… photos, video, and audio. Someone had apparently halted that collection a few hours ago. She started downloading anything recent without reviewing it.

The next one was Hickory. Of the three, he had the most data from that evening.

She tried Urchin's and it was apparently dead. She didn't know whether it was battery or destroyed, but nothing to be done about that.

Finally, Deedee's. And that one she found to be active. She was typing up some sort of text file on it even as Sophia watched, autosaving every few seconds.

Proceeding with more caution, Sophia started downloading other files from that one too.

And then her connection to the Scroll went dead.

What the fuck?

She checked Tyree's again, and felt her body go numb as all the files on the scroll from the prior day… the files that she'd just made copies of, were systemically wiped from the scroll, one by one.

"Gods damn you, fucking Watts…"

A FEW HOURS EARLIER

Watts did not appreciate being metaphorically dragged from his bed late in the evening, but it was preferable than being dragged from it literally, which based on Salem's expression had seemed a discrete possibility at the time.

Still, he was nothing if not good at his job, and upon the Queen's prompting, he availed himself of both public and private information sources to gather the information she'd demanded. Which was how he found himself, at an insultingly early hour, standing before her in the Throne Room.

Gods… I wish she slept.

"Watts, what have you discovered?"

Doctor Watts, he gritted internally. He straightened himself. "My Queen, a team of Huntsmen received a contract from a small village outside Argus, describing that a team of game hunters had found tracks they claimed to be those of a large Nevermore." He cleared his throat. "The Huntsmen appear to have investigated, and… unfortunately… were in the vicinity when Blackfeather and Selene passed overhead."

Salem's porcelain face, webbed by a network of dark dendritic threads, tightened. "And..."

"They… acted as one would expect. A battle ensued. Three of the Huntsmen were killed and one Huntress fled to notify Argus of the… existence of…" he petered off as the room darkened around him.

"They know of Selene's existence, in her true form. Is there… evidence of her guise? Is there information outside the testimony of this Huntress?" The distaste at the last word was palpable.

"Doubtless their scrolls will have some evidence of the battle."

"This cannot be." Salem stood, and drifted toward him. "You will dispose of this evidence. I care not the manner in which you do so. Wipe the data, all traces of it. If they have copied it, you will erase those as well, regardless of where they may reside."

Watts cringed inside. This attack would be high profile. Using his not-inconsiderable skills to erase the evidence of it would risk bringing attention to himself. That was not something he was happy with. He had to protect his anonymity. His non-existence. "Surely there are other means—" And that was as far as he got.

Without warning, dark, Grimm-flesh appendages rose from the floor beside and behind him, tipped with sharp talons. Talons which dug through the expensive suit and into his arms, and dragged him to his knees. And then a thicker, oily tentacle wrapped around his throat and pulled his head backward, forcing his sight upward. He gagged and choked against it, feeling his vision blurring even as Aura protected his flesh from the continued tearing of his arms.

And then his line of sight was filled with an alien face, scarlet eyes aglow with anger and power.

"This matter is not up for discussion, Doctor Watts. You serve me and my interests, and I will deliver you revenge upon Atlas, at the appropriate time. This is what you agreed to. And I will hold you to it, or I will teach you the consequences of failure to attend."

Watts felt his eyes bulging out of their sockets.

"Oh dear," Salem continued flatly. "It appears I have made you… unable to respond appropriately."

The tentacle loosened slightly, and Watts dragged breath through an abused windpipe. "Yes, My Queen…" he rasped.

"That is fortunate." She returned to her throne, and gracefully turned and lowered herself back down onto it, legs crossed and arms slipping into opposite sleeves. "As I was saying... you will remove any and all evidence of this event. And then… " Queen Salem had considered the information she had received, indirectly, from Selene. Along with the… request… that had been made to temper her response. Temperence. It was not something that came naturally to her. It was not instinctive. She could be subtle. She could be patient. She could be devious. But to… hold back… when a devastating strike would provide a more direct lesson… would bring pleasure to her soul which yearned to lash out.

This was not something that she would have even thought of.

But Selene had apparently been… persuasive.

"…and then I have one additional task for you to perform, after you have removed all digital evidence of Selene's… unfortunate encounter."

Deedee was a wreck. She knew her teammates were all dead. She'd seen Tyree die. And she'd heard Urchin scream behind her as she used her Semblance to flee. Ghost, wasn't really teleportation, or speed. It was… just something she did. It was like running, but ignoring everything between where she started, and where she needed to be. And the best part was, she didn't get tired, she just used Aura. All the years they'd worked together, she'd used it mostly to set up a good position to fire from, and then pop down to where the rest of the team were.

My team is dead.

She'd used it to flee, as Tyree had ordered her to do. As Urchin had told her to do. She'd burned through her Aura like water to get to Springhill so she could call for help. And they'd come, from Argus and The Spire. But she already knew it was too late to save her Team, even then. The looks on the face of the Argus and Atlas authorities who'd talked to her in Springhill had told her all she needed to know.

And she wasn't sure they believed her story about a humanoid Grimm. Oh, they'd put it in the alert, just in case, but the Atlesian Lieutenant kept coming back to her and asking if she was sure of what she saw. She kept repeating that the evidence would be on Tyree and Hickory's scrolls. Maybe even Urchin's. Her scroll probably had audio files of the local conversations. But Hickory was the one that always kept his scroll ready to mount into his chest harness. To make sure it got all of the action so Tyree could coach him afterward.

The Lieutenant had just nodded at her, and reassured her that they would be doing a careful analysis of the scrolls, and download any files, as soon as the initial search was done, and they got back to The Spire.

It made her feel like screaming at him. You have to do something! It's still out there! It's looking for me!

Instead, she went back to her Scroll, and continued typing out her notes. They'd stayed at Springhill until the searchers had finished, and then the Lieutenant had told her that this ship would be taking them all back to The Spire at Argus' request, so that the Atlas folks could go through everything with a fine tooth comb.

She was exhausted, but she typed away anyway. Everything she could remember. She had to get it right, even if she didn't know everything. Hadn't seen everything.

And then her Scroll just went dead.

Huh? She thought blearily.

Across from her, the Lieutenant cursed. "Dammit, I just charged my scroll back at Springhill!"

Something ugly crawled through her belly.

And then alarms began sounding from the cockpit.

"Flash screening malfunction. Switching to instrument flight," the pilot said flatly. They were trained to handle emergencies without giving away any internal stress.

The lieutenant frowned, glancing toward the cockpit to find that the automatic systems that controlled the flash screening of the cockpit had turned all of the glass nearly black. In the darkness, it made it impossible to see outside.

He turned back to see the look of terror on Deedee's face. "It's okay, miss. These men are trained to fly on instruments. Sometimes there's bad weather and visual flight isn't possible."

Deedee shook her head, light green eyes wide. No. It didn't… feel right…. No…. it was… it was that Thing… it was still trying to get her. She could feel it.

There was the sound of cursing up front, and the Lieutenant pressed the buckle on his seat, but it refused to release and sounded an alarm up front. "Stay buckled in!" the copilot yelled.

"Altitude warning," the Pilot stated, sounding more tense. What the hell?! He checked his instruments. The Bullhead was climbing instead of flying level and was losing speed rapidly as a result. Losing speed wasn't a huge issue, a Bullhead could essentially hover in place with the engines in the right position.

But the engine angle readings didn't make sense, and every other instrument told him that they were climbing rapidly, and this Bullhead was not designed for high-altitude flight. Too little air for dust combustion, which could stall the engines. And cabin pressurization wouldn't hold up either, they could end up with a catastrophic cabin integrity failure.

He punched in commands to rotate the engines, to push the Bullhead back down.

. . .

In the passenger area, Deedee felt her stomach rise up into her throat.

Why are we dropping?

In the cockpit, the pilot and copilot's senses were at war with each other. Their instruments and rational brains told them that the Bullhead was still climbing. Their guts complained that they were dropping rapidly.

Their training told them that their guts were easily misled by G-forces during maneuvering, and to trust their instruments.

. . .

To an observer outside, watching from the city walls of Argus, what they would have seen in the early hours of the morning was a Bullhead flying smoothly, high above treetop level, aiming to pass above one of the two flanking cliffs as it would soon pass over the city to likely touch down at The Spire's bullhead pad in the harbor.

Instead, it suddenly nosed down hard and without once slowing, slammed catastrophically into the rising slope of the western flanking highland. The resulting debris field charred as the remaining fire dust, spread among the wreckage, burned hot enough to destroy everything but metal, and to make even some of that melt and run down the hillside.

The distant sound of an explosion filtered through the walls of Pete's Emporium. Pete and Sophia, deep in the basement, didn't hear it.

But the emergency services Sophia was monitoring did.

Within minutes she had access to a business's live security feed that just happened to catch the tragic accident, as it was being reported. An Argesian Bullhead, pilot and copilot, carrying an Atlas forces junior officer and a Huntress were reported killed in the crash.

"Accident my ass," Sophia snarled. "Fucking Watts. Watts Watts Watts. He's…" a cold feeling swallowed her. "Watts doesn't care about this shit. He's doing it… but this is… this is Salem's 'tempered response'. Murdering the last member of that team, just because she was there. And anyone else who happened to be with her, poor bastards."

It could have been us.

It could have been Pete's Emporium and the Grimmslayers and a dozen other kids. She knew, deep down, that Salem wouldn't hold back just because there were kids here. She'd nuke the whole freaking city.

She rubbed her face, knocking her glasses askew. "Gods... I'm fucking exhausted. I'm… not thinking clearly." She glared at the screens. At the folders where she'd downloaded all the information she could before it had been… wiped from existence. She took a few minutes to trace her steps back, to make sure she hadn't left any traces that she had been in any of the Argus or Atlas systems. And then she leaned back and closed her eyes wearily.

What the hell do we do now?

"I need a drink, and to pass out," she muttered. "But first… I have to see what the fuck really happened out there."

When Pete found her the next day, long past sunrise, she was asleep under the workstation on a mound of blankets, a spare coat wadded up as a pillow, an empty bottle of whiskey and a pile of tissues next to her.

"And I thought I was the one who was gonna be stuck on the couch."

Doctor Arthur Watts had done as Salem had ordered. He had deleted the data from the scrolls, verified that none of it had been transferred to Atlesian or Argesian law enforcement systems as well.

And then he'd… eliminated the remaining witness.

It hadn't been elegant. Nor satisfying. It had been trivial.

And that was one reason why he was seething. It was a waste of his abilities. Salem could have as easily ordered a flock of Nevermore to drive the Bullhead into the ground, or sent Tyrian to steal them and cut the stupid witness's throat. But instead she'd ordered him to deal with it. Like he was some common assassin.

And she'd laid… tentacles and talons on him. He shuddered at the memory, and then raged even harder. In the years he'd served her, she had always listened to his well-considered counsel, heard him out, even if she shortsightedly dismissed his concerns afterward. She knew his value, his intellect. And yes, he'd seen her angry before today. He'd even been concerned for his own safety before.

But this time, she'd not allowed even the appearance of hesitance to her demands. And she'd never, before today, used violence on him. Dared to bend him physically to her will.

It was demeaning.

He was not some servant. He was a fine instrument, an agent, and she and he had an agreement. She didn't own him. It was an arrangement. An understanding. Dare he call it a partnership of sorts, though he recognized he was the junior partner.

At least for now.

And so he'd done as she'd bid, and reported the results, and she'd still been in her fit of rage, like a fucking supernatural toddler, and she'd dismissed him with a brusque nod and a statement of "Good. You may return to your quarters."

Where he seethed. All of this was that snotty little brat's fault. Selene this. Selene that. He was beginning to feel like Salem's fixation on her was distracting from her proclaimed objectives. Derailing her. Causing her to take risks… risks with his own safety and anonymity, that would threaten his plans. Would compromise her promise to him.

And it was all Selene's fault. The soft-hearted and naïve little half-Grimm that thought she could sow her wild oats in the wide, wide world, instead of staying at her mother's feet like a dutiful daughter. Spoiled and ignorant.

Which was why, when he deleted the data from those stupid Huntsmen's scrolls as Salem instructed, he quietly made a set of backups for himself.

One never knew when such might come in useful.

Selene felt a calloused but gentle hand on her cheek, and opened her eyes to find soft golden ones watching her with sympathy and concern.

"Garek!" She sobbed, throwing off her blanket and clinging to him. She dug her fingers into his back hard enough to make their joints strain and crack.

"Selene, I'm so sorry," he murmured against her, squeezing her tightly.

"Do not leave me. Do not leave me anymore. Please. I… I… I ruined everything. Mother. Those people. Cinder." She began sobbing, incoherent, and Garek rocked her back and forth, letting her purge her emotions in a way she hadn't seemed to be able to around Crystal and Visha.

"I'm not going to," he reassured her after she'd quieted a little. She realized with a start that it was light outside, and blinked at the light filtering past the window shades. "Yeah, I got back late, and we decided to let you sleep. Visha is almost done making everyone something to eat." He consulted the scroll he held. It was Selene's, she realized. "Your Aura's almost recovered."

Selene glanced down at her hands, illuminated by the indirect sunlight. Bone-white skin, she saw, and shuddered.

She closed her eyes and tried to change to her human appearance, and felt a warning grip on her arm.

"No. You don't need to do that. Not now. Everyone in here, in your home, knows, Selene. And you need to not exert yourself if you can help it. I said it's almost recovered, but after…. what happened to you… it's going to take time before you start doing anything fancy with your Aura again."

"I… I…" her voice failed, tears streaming.

"You don't have to say anything. Crystal told me. And Pete called. He says we're going to… have a meeting… late this afternoon to go over everything then."

She thought of everything that had happened, everything that she'd told Crystal, and realized… "I did not tell Crystal everything."

Garek blinked and his left ear flicked. "What do you mean?"

"Cinder… did not arrive afterward, as I told them. She came… earlier… she saw that one of them was going to… kill me. And she…"

Garek paled nearly as white as Selene's normal color. "Oh gods, Selene. That's why she ran." Selene nodded, throat bobbing, as she fiddled with the blanket, unable to meet his eyes. "Fuck," Garek muttered, and closed his eyes.

Deep breath. Exhale.

"Okay. Okay. I see why you… didn't tell them that. But… that's gonna complicate things when we find her. And we will find her, Selene." She raised her head as he continued. "Sophia apparently wore herself out last night setting things in motion. Pete says if Cinder uses public transport, or her ID for anything, we'll know."

"Yes. I…. we have to …. She is.. terrified of me. She saw me."

Garek's eyes narrowed. "I'm… starting to question that, based on what you said." He hugged her close. "But we can talk about that later. Let's get you cleaned up," he picked at her hair, "you've still got twigs in your hair, and your clothes are wrecked." He caressed her cheek, and she leaned into it. "I'll wash your hair for you."

The act of taking a shower together, completely without any sort of arousal or intent, was a soothing experience. Garek was here for her. He washed her back, and helped clean her hair, what of it was left, and he made regretful noises over how much of it had been singed away on her left side. "We'll have to come up with a cut that works with that," he said. "Can't have you forced to hide missing hair with your Semblance."

Only a few times did the ugly thought try to rise up that yesterday's nightmare was, in some small way, his fault for not letting her tell Cinder before, and each time she choked it down. She didn't need that. Not now. She needed Garek, his confidence. His reassurance. She had none. She was… spent.

And then dressed and went downstairs to find food ready on the table. Crystal was apparently sleeping in, having passed the baton over to Garek, and Visha was already seated, having waited for them.

"Selene, you look better," Visha's eyes flicked over her.

"Do I? I feel… mangled."

"Well, you look better than you did last night." She gave Garek a look. "Looked like one of those refugees from Kuroyuri." Selene shuddered. "Sorry. If you like, I'll have a go at your hair, after you've eaten." Selene blinked. "What? You forgotten so soon that I used to cut your hair at Evernight? And hells, I cut mine and Summer's for years. You afraid of Old Visha next to your delicate ears with a pair of shears?" Her wrinkled face made a mock frown, but her eyes were bright.

She is trying to distract me. Selene's mouth turned up at the imagery of Visha cutting Summer Rose's hair. It is working. "No. I suppose not. I would…be pleased. This is…" she ran fingers through the short, singed mass, "distracting and disturbing."

Garek and Visha both nodded, and then all three ate quietly, with little idle chatter. Visha asked Garek questions about his trip with Lionheart.

They are trying to distract me.

It is working.

Somewhat.

The terror of yesterday felt like a nightmare, now. She was home. Garek was here. Visha was here, as she had been for several weeks now. The only hole, one that she could pretend was just because the girl was… out, was Cinder. Perhaps she was at school. Or with her friends. Or at Pete's. Or even camping in the wilderness.

Alone.

Her stomach clenched, and she forced it down.

"Selene." Garek was watching her. "It's going to be okay."

"How?" Selene gasped, turning her head away. Seeing her white skin again and fighting the urge to change it. Make herself look human. Hide the evidence.

"We've made it this far, haven't we?" He poked her with a fork. "Oy!" She flinched and felt a moment of irritation at him, then frowned as she realized he was distracting her yet again. "Cinder's a tough girl. She's been through… worse. We'll find her soon. I can feel it."

Selene shook her head. "And Sophia? Reggie? Pete?"

"They'll manage," Visha said, flatly. "Don't have much choice now, do they?"

Selene frowned. "What do you say?"

The old woman considered Selene. "Well, I say that I know a certain little Grimmling, and I'll fight anyone who tries to hurt her or says she's to be cast aside because of what she is." Her expression softened. "I know you. And I'm going to have words with these Lone Huntsmen of yours."

"Visha!" Selene shook her head. "Why should they listen to you any more than me?"

"Because, young lady, Old Visha has called for backup." She looked at the time on the wall. "I'd suggest you finish your food, Selene. Day's going to be busy, and we still need to tend to that hair."

Two hours later, Selene was fully dressed and had a new hairstyle. That alone was enough to be somewhat jarring. Visha had ended up having to shave it close on the left side, then had cut the other to match and adjusted the top so that it rose and fell over the now intentionally short hair on her right. It was… strange but not horrific, and it didn't make her look like a refugee from a house fire.

And she could put on her human appearance as normal again, merely changing coloration and not actual features.

Which was good, because it was now past noon, and Crystal had emerged from hibernation, having cleaned up as well, and was looking more or less functional.

"How are we on time?" Visha asked.

Crystal checked her Scroll. "Any minute now."

Selene felt her body tense as Visha moved toward the far end of the spacious living room, standing with a slight grin. They'd told her what to expect. And yet…

No. This is how it must be. How it would have been, eventually. The timing is just being forced.

An electrical tearing noise heralded the formation of a by-now familiar portal, which roiled into existence and then expanded upward and outward to show a scene of Branwen Camp.

And then five people walked through, one by one.

Summer Rose, holding the hand of a young dark-haired girl who could only be her daughter, who's silver eyes, so much like her mother's, stared around with happy, nervous energy.

Taiyang Xaio Long, who Selene had met during the evacuation of wounded from Kuroyuri to Argus. Beside him walked a young, golden-haired girl with violet eyes that took in everything with excited awe.

And behind them, Raven Branwen. Only she was armed, though Omen remained sheathed, which was reassuring considering the expression on her face and the way her eyes locked on to Selene's. It was enough to make her knees wobbly.

Garek put out a hand to steady his lover at the same moment that Summer's voice cut through with a warning tone. "Rae…"

Raven halted, and closed her eyes, muttering. "Fu…. Da…. fine." She glared at Selene for another second, just on principle. "You and me are gonna have a talk later, Selene." She glanced back to Summer. "If necessary, I'll have Summer hold on to Omen for that. Understood?"

Selene managed a small nod. Yes. That meant… that meant that Summer had already told her some things. Possibly most things.

"Where are we?" the youngest girl asked, silver eyes taking in the living room and the sight of the city outside the now-opened curtains.

"Welcome to Argus, little lady, my name is Visha." The old woman had been closest to the portal, of course, and leaned down to greet the tyke, who looked startled for a second, then remembered manners and stuck out a hand. "But you can call me Grammy Visha if you want."

"Oh! Hi! I'm Ruby! And that's my big sister Yang! Summer's our mom! Well—" there was a low mutter from behind them, "Uh.. yeah! Summer's our mom and that's our dad, and that's... Auntie Raven?"

"Good enough," Raven said under her breath.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ruby," Crystal said, moving forward. "Yang," she gave the blonde girl a rough salute. "I'm told that you kids like video games?"

Yang's violet eyes practically glowed. "Are you kiddin'? Heck yeah!" She looked around the living room. "Got a console here?"

Crystal laughed. "Oh kids, we got better than that. We have an Emporium."

They'd had to split into two cars. Summer had insisted she get a little time in with Selene and Raven on the way, so they managed to cram Taiyang, Crystal, Visha, and the girls in Crystal's car, while Garek drove Summer, Selene, and Raven in his vehicle.

"So anyway, when Crystal and Visha told us you were in trouble, I talked to Tai, and we agreed that we'd be here for you." She gave Selene a careful look. "Visha and Crystal told me… pretty much everything, I think." She frowned, eye-patch shifting as her brows went down. "I know you, Selene. If you say you didn't have a choice, I'll believe you."

The truth was that Summer had been shocked to get a call on Selene's scroll in the middle of the night, only to find Crystal's face on the screen. The two women had previously hit it off well during the Kuroyuri operation, which helped take some of the edge off.

Until Crystal had started to explain what had happened, and what she was asking Summer to do. The picture she'd painted had made Summer physically ill. It had brought back her own feelings of helplessness and rage when she'd been at Salem's mercy.

The problem was, once she'd had some time to absorb it, she discovered that helplessness and rage was on behalf of both Selene and the team of young Huntsmen. The fact was, that could have been Team STRQ out there. And if it had been other circumstances, they'd probably have killed Selene before they realized what they had on their hands.

And then Salem would have found out.

And the consequences of that… terrified Summer.

She'd ended the first call with Crystal, and spent several hours chewing on the details with Tai, who'd awakened halfway through the call. And then she'd called Visha and talked to her. And then she'd talked to Tai some more.

And then they'd called Raven, and put Visha on that call as well. That conversation had been… tense was underselling it. There'd been at least three times that Raven had pulled out Omen and sworn she was going to port to Visha, put Omen at Selene's throat, and demand answers. And Visha had proven herself made of steel, swearing to Raven that if she tried it, she'd have to go through her first. And Summer had sworn that she'd never forgive Raven if she tried. It'd turned into a three-way screaming match once, with Summer having to go outside to avoid waking the girls.

"Maybe you believe her," Raven muttered, "but I'm still trying to decide whether you've all lost your minds. Can't believe you brought Ruby and Yang."

"Not like we're leaving the girls behind if we don't have to," Summer glowered at her friend. "And Crystal said that their friend Pete had an arcade, so we figured we'd make a family trip out of it." Raven scoffed. Summer turned back to Selene riding in the passenger seat. "And of course, we had to bring Raven into the loop eventually, so we decided now was… the right time for that, too."

"Yeah. That," Raven resumed glaring at the back of Selene's head. It made Selene feel tense and itchy.

"Rae."

"Don't you Fucking Rae me, Summer Rose. You… all of you… held this back from me all this time."

"And now we aren't. And don't pretend you didn't already have a screaming match with Visha about it as soon as I told you. There's no reason to take it out on Selene now."

Raven huffed, and shifted her glare out the window at the world in general. "Fucking half-Grimm… no, worse…. Fucking half-Salem." Selene felt it like a knife in the gut. It was both true, and not. Why should it hurt to hear it said like that?

"Raven Branwen!"

"I'm not gods-damned afraid of you, Summer, so don't use that fucking attitude with me."

Summer's tone dropped and her voice got quiet. "I don't want you afraid of me, Rae, and you know it. I want you to trust me."

Raven turned back to her. "Oh? And that goes one way? You didn't trust me."

Summer sighed. "Fair. But Rae, tell me you wouldn't have done what…" she glanced at Selene, who had paled, and then frowned. "I'm sorry Selene…. Rae, tell me you wouldn't have reacted the same way those Huntsmen did if someone had just blurted it out the first time you met her. After all that we've been through, could you have even given her the chance to try to convince you?" Raven's sour look spoke volumes. "Exactly. Which is why we waited a bit. Just a little bit. Long enough for you to see her as a person, and not a thing." Summer rubbed her own shoulder. "And even then you pack a heck of a punch."

"Shoulda fucking dodged. Old Summer woulda dodged." Raven smiled inwardly. As soon as they'd come through the portal from Patch to Branwen Camp, Raven had slugged the shit out of Summer. Yang, little golden-haired Yang, Raven's daughter by birth, had gotten pissed at her over that and had nearly challenged her to a fight.

It had been damn adorable.

"I'm still working on 'Old Summer', Rae," Summer groused. "Gimme a few more months." She poked Raven in the side.

Raven's frown slowly morphed into a flat smile. "Fine. But you and me are going to go rounds, and soon. We've got work to do on your stamina and how that," she pointed at Summer's eye-patch, "impacts your fighting style," and from there it devolved into good-natured teasing between the two.

In the front seat, Selene listened with slowly decreasing tension to the two friends. And they were friends, for all that they insulted each other and bickered. It was similar to how Pete and Sophia acted around each other.

She realized with a shock that it was very, very likely that Summer and Raven had fought over the revelation of what she was, and that Raven was… at this moment… being on her best behavior.

And Summer was on her side.

Good. Yes.

[A/N] Thanks to recent reviewers Rookie80 and Shadowstorm-Vash. Rookie, I considered having her run into Raven, but she ends up running into... someone else.

And we find ourselves one more step closer to the moment of truth. A lot going on in the chapter. In many ways, we're wrapping up a major plot arc, Selene's secret identity and how those closest to her will react to it, in the next half dozen chapters. So… Watts got dragged in to clean up Selene's mess. And he's not happy about it. Not one bit. And that too, is going to turn into a major plot arc. It seems dear Doctor Watts is learning that Salem sees only her and Selene… and everything else. And he's just another tool. And if nothing else, Watts is driven by ego and injured pride. A lot of characters are converging here, because Visha brought out the big guns. Next chapter will be The Lone Huntsmen essentially holding an informal hearing regarding what they, specifically, will do with what they've just learned. A hearing that will apparently include (ugh) video footage and character witnesses.

Sorry for the lag, with FFN glitching, I delayed upload to make sure it would take.