Chapter 37: Haven – Heart of a Lion

[A/N] ALERT! There ALSO has been a brand spanking NEW Shiny Chapter published in place of the original Chapter 2 of this story! After some consultation with several of my trusted readers, I drafted additional backstory on Selene, merged the original Chapter 2/3/4 into just Chapter 3/4, and inserted it as a new Chapter 2 so total chapter count wouldn't get screwed up. If you started reading this story before February 23, 2024, you will not have seen that content, and may want to go back and read Chapter 2 now. Hope you find it interesting!

It's been a hell of a three weeks, Garek mused.

Talking until his throat was hoarse. Meeting Kuo notables under Ursulus' watchful eye. And it included a half week in the city of Lushu on the Anima mainland, with one of Ursulus' staff helping grease the wheels there to get the final relay placed in the upper city.

Three weeks of periodic calls back to Argus to tell Selene and Cinder how much he missed them. Three weeks missing Cinder's first weeks of school, which apparently were going very well without him. It was bittersweet.

Because it was also three weeks of getting things really rolling.

They'd managed to set up the non-profit, which they'd dubbed Talon Fund, specifically dedicated to "Improve the ability of Menagerie to train the next generation of young faunus in pre-Academy Skills, for the betterment of all Remnant."

It had taken them four hours to hammer just that statement out. At the moment, Ursulus was acting as the primary sponsor back in Menagerie, but they knew who they wanted… who they needed, to be at the helm of that fundraising effort.

Leonardo Lionheart.

And he'd been radio silent for two and a half of those three weeks. No response to messages. No calls.

It had started to eat at Garek a little, but not enough to drown the excitement he'd felt as he watched things taking shape in Kuo Kuana. They'd gotten the land deeded over to the Fund, and initial contracts to have some heavy equipment and raw materials scheduled for shipment. They were literally talking about breaking ground on perimeter defensive measures and a surface-road within the month. Garek didn't expect to be there for it.

But you can damn well bet Chief Ursulus would, with a photographer and full press team on hand. The guy had a solid grip on the PR of Menagerie, and to Garek it seemed like this opportunity had de-aged the old faunus several years. He was a force of nature.

The biggest deal was that Ursulus and that Engineer of his were talking about building a new industrial-scale dock and cargo facility in an inlet a little further east toward the plateau. Which would speed up construction and benefit Kuo as a whole. But that would take a lot of money too. Garek was trying to figure out where all that was going to come from.

When he mentioned it to Pete, the jackass laughed in his face, and reminded him that Polendina was wiring them another two million lien by the end of the month. Well, wiring it was not quite accurate. Laundering it? Sophia had given Polendina a verbal report of the data she'd been digging through on her 'down time' in Kuo, and apparently Polendina was very unhappy with the findings themselves, but very happy with the fact that she'd been able to ferret out some sort of key factors. She claimed that Polendina had said he might be able to scrape up some more funds for some sort of pilot project about that. When Garek dug for details, Sophia kept waving him off saying that she'd give a full report once they were back in Argus, but it was potentially pretty big.

When she wasn't having 'down time', Sophia was meeting with her four new employees, recent graduates of the Kuo Kuana Institute of Technology, who were now responsible for managing the health of her new CCT Relays.

Reggie and Crys weren't idle the entire time either. Unlike Sophia, they'd taken full advantage of the sun and climate and gotten in some beach time. But they'd also been building contacts with Chief Ursulus' security detail. And they'd taken to hanging out with that other Huntsman/Huntress pair from the previous Grimm slaughter, and were picking their brains about the idea of mixed team tactics.

They'd almost wrapped up things in Lushu, when Lionheart had finally contacted him.

When the call came in, Garek had worked hard to keep his face and voice friendly instead of freaking out.

"Ah, young Garek! So how go your travels? Are you still in Menagerie?" Lionheart was smiling, but there were dark circles barely visible under his eyes, and his face looked drawn. His eyes had a slightly haunted quality about them.

"Headmaster! It's great to hear from you! And we're almost wrapped up. In fact, I'm in Lushu at the moment, finishing up our work improving communications with Menagerie."

That seemed to please the lion faunus. "Oh, now that is a worthy cause. And is that what your business in Menagerie was about?"

"Oh… a portion of it. I had hoped to discuss the rest with you at some point."

"Well then, it's fortunate that I caught you." Garek could see the man's momentary joy drain out of him like water through a sieve. "Would it be possible for you to stop by for visit on your way back to Argus? I think you mentioned that your fiancé and ward were staying behind this trip, correct? It's just you?"

Garek laughed. "Yep. Playing bachelor. Just me, and the Communications Consultant, and the Bullhead crew," he lied. Inside, he was getting a cold feeling. Why did Lionheart want to confirm he was alone? Well… he could go along with that and pretend Reggie and Crys were just crew.

"Fine, fine. Perhaps you'd like to stay overnight at the campus? We've got some nice guest quarters you could stay in, and you and I can have a drink and talk about your ideas, my treat this time." Lionheart smiled but it didn't fully reach his eyes. "Well, the school's treat, since they paid for the whiskey." He tapped his desk. "When do you think you can stop by? My days are rather full, but we could meet in the evening, after the students have finished dinner and returned to their dorms." He rubbed his face. "Oh they do run one ragged. That they do."

"That sounds fantastic." Garek said, his mouth dry. "I'll check with the Communications Consultant and see how fast she can wrap up, and let you know."

The whole thing felt like… like a friendly faunus farmlady offering him and Toller a home-cooked meal.

Like doing innocent net searches for Doctor Arthur Watts.

"Good. Good. Just give me some lead time, so I can make sure the rooms are ready for you."

"Will do."

Garek had wandered into the hotel bar right afterward, sat down next to Reggie, and ordered a straight vodka, rocks.

"Holy shit, Garek, what happened to you? It's not Selene and Cinder is it?"

He stared at Reggie for a second, eyes bleak. "No… no they're fine. Doing great."

"Then what happened?" Garek relayed the conversation. "That smells like last month's dead fish, Garek. There's no way you're doing this."

Garek shook his head. "We have to. This whole damn thing falls apart without Lionheart."

"We'll find another way. You said it yourself."

Garek's drink came, and he gulped it, feeling the vodka burn all the way down and make his eyes water.

"I don't know, man. I talked a big game back in Menagerie, but… I feel like I'm backed into a corner here." He laughed bitterly. "And apparently so is Lionheart, or he wouldn't be making a move now. There's something going on, and he's feeling pressure." He took another drink, and almost coughed when he inhaled some of the fumes. "Geez this stuff sucks." He coughed and set the drink down, giving Reggie a long look. "I don't think we'll get another chance, Reggie. I think I have to take this chance."

"If you go in there, it'll be a lamb to slaughter. He's going to have set something up."

"Then we'll have to do one better."

"Selene won't like this. Hell Pete will hate it. I know we've all agreed to let you approach Lionheart. That's the plan. But this…"

"I'm not telling Selene."

Reggie's eyes goggled. "Screw that, Garek." He shook his head. "You want to flip a coin between getting yourself killed or surviving and ruining your relationship?" He poked Garek in the chest. "You tell her, or by all that is holy, I'll call her myself."

Garek looked at him bleakly, then rubbed his face. "She'll try to get there, to be there with me, and it'll spook him. We can't do that."

"Then tell her. And tell her we've got a plan to keep your ass from getting killed."

"We do?"

"We will by the time we get to Haven." Reggie picked up his beer. "One way or the other, you're walking out of that office. Now, what can you tell me about Lionheart and Haven?"

The conversation with Selene had not been pleasant. It felt like she'd gone through all the stages of grief over the course of the two-hour call. In the end, she told him, pointedly, that if Lionheart hurt him, that she would personally see him torn apart by Grimm. And then begged him to come home safely. He swore he would.

He prayed he could keep that promise.

Vacuo-1, as Crys had named their only bullhead, arrived at the Haven landing pad late in the evening. It wasn't quite after curfew, but it didn't lack much. Reggie was quiet and tense, but he put the bullhead down without so much a jostle, and got out to do some basic safety checks as Garek exited, giving Sophia a nod, and walked what felt like the longest few hundred meters through the main entrance. He was wearing a thick coat against the chill winter air, and a nice fuzzy pullover cap to protect both sets of ears. It felt weird, after the sun and tropical climates of Menagerie, to be back in the chill and dark.

So very dark.

Another dozens of meters through the courtyard to the Grand Hall.

His heart was threatening to pound out of his chest. "Be fucking stupid if I die of a heart attack on his doorstep. Wouldn't that be a joke for everyone." Behind him, he heard the bullhead power up, take back to the air, and make a lazy loop around the north side of Haven before droning out of earshot.

His legs felt numb as he made it up the curving stairs and stood before the door to Lionheart's office. He knocked on the door.

"Come in." Lionheart's voice said.

Garek steeled himself, opened the door, and stepped into the lion's den.

"Ah! Huntsman Grae!"

"Please, call me Garek, Headmaster."

"Fine. Fine. Then you must call me Leo."

Garek laughed, and it sounded fake to himself, but he hoped it didn't to Lionheart. "That will be difficult, sir."

"Bah. Well, you are the one who keeps prying into my personal feelings, Garek. I don't think you can do that and call me 'sir'.

Garek sighed. "Very well, Leo. And I agree, I am prying, but with good intent."

"And what… exactly, are your intentions, Garek?" His eyes glittered. "I suspect they are not purely altruistic for my benefit." There was a slight mocking tone there.

"No, you're right. And it's twofold." Garek gestured with his left hand. "What I told you before, about your importance, especially to faunus-kind, I meant that."

"And I asked if you were recruiting me for the White Fang," Lionheart chuckled.

"And I said no. And I'm still not. But what I am doing is something big. Something that represents an incredible opportunity." He leaned forward. "Leo, we are going to build a Combat School in Kuo Kuana."

Lionheart gaped at him for a moment. This was clearly not what he had expected the conversation to be about.

"You… what?"

"We're already breaking ground. I've got the land acquired. We're building improved CCT capacity already."

"That's… admirable… Garek. But… I fail to see…"

Garek dropped the bomb. He'd considered his approach, and it was built around a series of shocking statements. He felt like he had to get Lionheart off-balance and keep him there. "And we're going to convert it into a full-fledged Huntsman Academy within the next five years."

Lionheart's mouth worked, as if he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "You can't… you can't possibly…"

"We can. And we will. And we'll need someone. Someone respected. A faunus of such stature that we can raise the funds required to build that Combat School. And then… when the conversion happens, someone with the gravitas required to serve as Headmaster. A man no one can gainsay. A man who can serve as the head of a true Huntsman Academy and no one... NO ONE can question it." Garek's left hand curved into a fist and bounced on the desktop in emphasis of each word of the last sentence.

Lionheart leaned back in his chair, breathing and staring at Garek for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, he closed his eyes, and opened them, and there was nothing but sadness in his gaze. "Gods… if you'd come to me… two years ago? Yes. Two years ago. The dreams we could have built."

"It's not too late, Leo. You can do this. We can do this."

"It's too late," Lionheart gripped the arms of his chair, and shook his head slowly in denial.

"And if I say it's not? Leo… I can tell you are under… immense pressure. And I can guess, from what we've discussed before, that you feel like you have no where else to turn. That you don't have any good choices." He took a deep breath. Here it goes. "You feel like your friends have abandoned you, don't you?"

That dangerous glitter was back in Lionheart's eyes. "Do you know something, Garek? Something that you should not?"

"You didn't answer the question."

"Nor have you."

"I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours?"

Lionheart laughed, but there was little mirth in it. "You know, I'm feeling parched. Why don't we have that drink I mentioned, and then we can continue our conversation."

Garek watched as Lionheart poured both glasses. There was a moment, a second or more, when both glasses were out of his line of sight, blocked by Lionheart's body.

And then one glass was in front of him, amber liquid glistening. He had to fight the urge to push it away. Lionheart laughed again, but humorlessly, and took a long drink of his.

"Ah Huntsman Garek. You have changed. But you come here, into my Academy. Into my private office. You begin prying into my personal affairs."

Garek leaned back. "Professor, I'm not trying to hurt you. You can tell me to leave."

"What do you want from me, Garek?"

"I've already told you that."

"The Power of Friendship?" Lionheart said the words more harshly than anything prior. "Not everyone can be saved, young Huntsman."

"Almost everyone is worth trying. Selene and I risked our own freedom to save a young human girl we had never met from a life of pain. How much would I risk to help my old Headmaster?"

Lionheart blinked. Garek lifted his glass and made as if to take a drink, and then pretended to reconsider. He felt like throwing up. Lionheart's eyes flicked to the glass only once. "You tread water over dark depths, Garek."

"And you carry burdens that you don't share with your friends." Garek snapped back.

Lionheart leaned back in his chair. His posture was relaxed, but his jaw muscles worked beneath his beard. "You remind me of myself at your age. Brave. Loyal. Idealistic." His tone wasn't complimentary, but dismissive.

"Not really," Garek replied. I'm terrified, self-interested, and trying to find any angle I can to stay alive in a very dangerous world."

That got the first authentic laugh out of Lionheart that Garek had heard the entire evening. "Gods… you have changed, Huntsman Grae. What manner of man are you now?"

"I'm what happens when you stop feeling trapped and start thinking outside the box, Headmaster Lionheart. Want to find out for yourself?"

"How about a toast first?"

"How about we wait until after you've heard what I have to say, and then we toast? I don't want to celebrate my failure to convince you." Garek chuckled but his mouth was bone dry.

Lionheart made a sour face, and then took another drink. "Fine. I'm listening. What, exactly, are you offering?"

"I suspect you've got trust issues, Leo. I can tell you that I have trust issues too. That puts us somewhat on an even footing." Lionheart scoffed a little but didn't say anything else. "And I suspect both of us have good reason. You've been… approached."

He felt the air in the room suddenly seem like it had literally thickened.

"Dangerous waters indeed."

Garek held himself still and lowered his voice. "Which one was it, Leo? Did they send you the carrot first with Hazel? Or the stick with Tyrian?"

Lionheart's fingers twitched and he nearly dropped his glass. "You know of them," he said quietly, eyes haunted.

"I've already run afoul of Watts. I know a lot about Tyrian. Hazel I know least."

"You've… run afoul… then you are not with…"

"The Dark Queen?" Garek had considered how he'd describe her carefully. Lionheart flinched at the title. "Hardly. And you already know I'm not with your friends."

Lionheart scoffed again, more openly. "Friends," he spat. "My… friends… have withheld certain truths from me. Ones that would have caused me to make very different decisions in life, had I known."

Garek was nodding. "We had guessed as much."

"How?!" Lionheart's eyes were wide, and his gaze flicked around the room as if searching for something there that would explain this. "You claim you aren't with Her, and you clearly aren't with Ozpin, or you'd have already informed him." His eyes narrowed. "Unless you intend to blackmail me."

Now it was Garek's turn to laugh more authentically. "You're twice the Huntsman I am, Leo. You're respected. I'm nobody. How the hell am I going to blackmail you and live through it? You think I want to attract Ozpin's attention?" He shook his head. "What happened to you?"

There was a long silence, then Lionheart slumped in his chair, looking at his drink instead of at Garek. "I discovered that hopes I once had, were instead hopeless. It was … a difficult blow. It… what can it all be for, if there was never any hope at all? If all I am is a playing piece in a long, long game?"

Garek nodded softly. "I understand that. More than you can imagine, Leo," he murmured. He rubbed his face with his left hand. "But you know… damn it you have to know… that Her agents can't be trusted either."

"Of course I know that!" Lionheart snapped, seeming to rebound a little. "I am not a fool." He refilled his glass, downed half of it. "I'm tired. I'm tired of looking over my shoulder, wondering where the knife will come from. I'm tired of fearing shadows. I was a skilled fighter. How do I fight when I have to sit here, and wait for the blow to come? Tonight? Tomorrow? In my sleep? When I go to the bathroom, to be found dead on a toilet?" His hand gripped his glass, knuckles whitening. Garek remained silent. "And yet, here you come before me," he gestured with the glass, slopping a little of the alcohol onto the desk, "offering me a carrot as well. But I know you, Garek. I watched you grow and learn and graduate. I read through your career. You don't have the power to offer me safety."

Garek smiled tightly. "In a sense, you're right, Leo. I don't have any real personal power. But I can influence someone who does. I can get you an assurance, a binding assurance, that should you assist us, you will be outside the grasp of Her agents."

The clock ticked for long seconds as the lion faunus' eyes searched Garek's face for the lie. "If you had that kind of power, you would put it in Ozpin's hands."

Garek shook his head. "His goals and ours don't align."

"Then are you an agent of Her after all?"

"Are you insane? I'm taking a huge risk just talking to you. Why the hell would I interfere with fucking Hazel Rainart if I was working for Her?" Garek rubbed his eyes with his left hand. He was starting to shake a little from the stress of keeping up the façade, and just hoped Lionheart couldn't tell through his own terror. "Professor, there is literally nothing we can do to you. The difference between us and Her is that we won't threaten you with anything. The difference between us and Ozpin is that we're willing to help you pull your hand out of the trap before it snaps shut."

Lionheart was breathing fast, nearly hyperventilating. Garek was pushing him, he could tell. Which way would the man fall. "I want to believe you," Lionheart whispered in his deep voice.

"Good."

"How."

How. He'd hoped to not have to explain that part. "That's more complicated. If I tell you everything, you could destroy us before we have built up the strength to bring this war to a close our way. We need you, Professor. But we won't put you at risk until we are strong enough, together, to make a decision that it is worth that risk."

Lionheart stared at him. "She can't be killed," he said in a strained voice. It seemed to take every ounce of his strength to force the words out.

"We're well aware of that," Garek drawled.

Lionheart's eyes bulged further. "How…"

"We have a source, inside her court," Garek said, neglecting to mention that it was Salem herself.

"Impossible!"

"Four Relics. Four Maidens. The Lonely Girl in the Tower. Two Brother Gods." Garek began rattling facts off, flipping up a finger of his left hand for each one. He thought Lionheart was going to have a heart attack on the spot.

"Stop! Stop! You can't just blurt out such knowledge!"

"You already know all this!" Garek hissed. "We know all this. Professor, you are going to kill yourself if you don't dial back the anxiety a little."

"You're insane," Lionheart panted. "Insane…"

"Like I told you before, we're not insane. We're terrified, self-interested, and trying to find an angle."

"It's hopeless."

"How do you know?"

"Because I asked-"

"Ozpin?"

"No!" Lionheart sighed. He leaned in so close Garek could smell the whiskey on his breath. "I asked the Relic! Fine. I admit it." He glared at Garek, as if this settled the matter.

Well fuck, that explained a lot. "What question did you ask, Leo?"

"I asked Jinn how we could kill Salem." Lionheart put his face in his hands. "I had such hopes. And Jinn… Jinn destroyed them. Right there, in front of the three of us." He raised his head, and his eyes were full of despair. "She said that we could not."

Perfect. "Pfffft… I could have told you that. A shame you had to burn a question on that little tidbit."

"Wha?" Garek was starting to feel some of his own terror drain away. Maybe it was because he finally felt like he had Leonardo on the back foot, or maybe he was just so hyped up on adrenaline that he couldn't feel it anymore. And his right hand was starting to cramp.

"She's cursed with immortality, Leo. The only thing that can kill Her is the Brothers." He watched Leonardo carefully. "Inside knowledge, like I said."

"And this inside knowledge…," for the first time, there was something approximating hope in Lionheart's tone, "what do you hope to accomplish with it?"

"To end this war without humanity being wiped out, with the highest chance of our own personal survival, and without Ozpin or Her subjected to an eternity of suffering. How does that sound?"

Lionheart barked a laugh. "Unrealistic."

"Yeah. But I've already accomplished things that I bet you never dreamed possible. I've got an ally in the Queen's own court trying to help us do exactly that."

"Are you sure they can be trusted?"

"Yes."

"Insanity."

"Pull your hand out of the trap, Professor!" Garek growled, and had the pleasure of seeing Lionheart pale slightly.

"How?" He whispered.

"All you have to do, right now, is swear to me that you won't reveal us to Ozpin, and that you'll listen to my proposals and seriously consider them, and our ally can keep the Queen's agents off your back."

"You can't promise that. You'll get us all killed."

Garek had a sudden dark inspiration and used it. "You're dead already, Leo," he hissed, and leaned into it. "She believes you're going to take her offer. She's going to use you to betray Ozpin and your own Academy, and you have to know that. Do you believe she won't take it that far? How do you think that ends? A retirement package?! Are you prepared to be Tyrian Callows' bunkmate for the rest of your life? Because that's where this ends for you. Gods…" Garek stood and started pacing, one hand in his pocket. "I'm not even asking you to do anything yet. I'm asking you to not do anything, in return for protection. If you see it doesn't work, then screw me and throw over with Her. Are threats the only thing that will work with you now? Because if so, I'm not going to threaten you, no matter how much you beg me to."

Garek glared at the older man, sitting and shaking in his leather chair as if he were having some sort of attack, and decided to press his advantage further. "I believe I will have that drink after all, Headmaster." He picked up the glass, and lifted it slowly to his mouth, screaming inside the entire time. The amber liquid crawled up the glass toward his parted lips. He saw, over the rim of the glass, Lionheart's face paling and eyes widening.

"WAIT!" Lionheart yelled hoarsely. Hands out as if to grasp the glass from him.

Garek lowered the glass slowly. "Thank you, Leo. Poison or sleep agent?"

The man collapsed again, nearly upsetting the chair he sat in. "S-Sleep agent. I… I was going to incapacitate you and turn you over to Hazel as a… sign of my reliability."

Garek considered this twist. "You have a contact number for him?"

Leonardo looked up with bloodshot eyes, all composure gone. "Yes…" he croaked. "A scroll number."

"Tell it to me."

He was not completely convinced that Lionheart wouldn't actually die of cardiac arrest, but the man somehow managed to tell him the number, and he repeated it twice, to make sure he'd gotten it right.

Several hours train ride away, in Argus, a certain Grimmling made a single scroll call.

"How did you get this—" Hazel's deep voice started evenly with a slight edge of contempt, then froze and paled slightly when the face swam into focus.

"Selene…"

"Hazel Rainart," Selene said. "I believe you know of my… arrangement with our Queen."

"I do… to what do I owe this… unexpected contact. I was told we were to leave you alone," Hazel's deep voice rumbled warily.

"Ah… and that is the rub. Unfortunately, our paths appear to have crossed, Hazel. We have been recruiting a certain… faunus Headmaster."

Hazel paled a little further. "Shit…" Then he looked panicked. "Sorry… language."

"It is fine, Hazel. I've never… been offended by your behavior. And I have heard worse." From Garek and Reggie and Pete and Sophia and… "But to business.I am officially informing you that Leonardo Lionheart is already working with us and is critical to our efforts." She gave him a stern expression. "You are free to inform the Queen of this situation. I am confident that she will not blame you."

The square-jawed man considered for a moment, and then nodded. "I'll do that… give me… an hour?"

"Of course. And I will ask that you inform Lionheart afterward. He does not know of my involvement. And that would be best, would it not? That my actions remain hidden from Ozpin's allies?"

If she had thought Hazel pale before, now he looked panicked. "No, no… that wouldn't be a good idea at all." He seemed to consider her carefully. "You've changed from the innocent thing I thought I knew, Selene."

"Necessity has caused me to mature, Hazel." She thought for a moment. "I hope you remain well. Is Watts still insufferable?"

She felt Hazel relax slightly. "As ever." Then he stiffened. "I need to make those calls. You should know the results within the hour."

Lionheart tilted his head. "Aren't you going to… do something? Call him?"

"I'm already doing something, Leo. I'm waiting for results."

Lionheart stared at Garek like he'd turned into an Ursa in his office.

"It's nice to have friends, Leo. Ain't it?" There was a ping on his scroll, and Garek reached up to his left ear, under the knitted cap, and pressed against the earpiece. "I think we're clear here, Reggie. You can disable the deadman."

"Little premature don't you think?" Reggie said through the earpiece, "But roger that," and Garek felt the small device in his right hand vibrate once. He exhaled slowly, and finally pulled his hand out of his pocket. It was shaking badly.

A hundred meters away, perched in the dark atop a landing on one of Haven's twin CCT towers, Crys eased her finger ever so slightly away from the trigger of her bolt-action rifle. In the last hour since Reggie had dropped her onto the landing, she'd gained a very intimate knowledge of the shape of Lionheart's skull through the scope of that rifle. She didn't take eyes off just yet, but she was starting to think she wouldn't be required to splatter the man's brains across his own office today. The rounds it had chambered were not exactly… subtle.

That was a good thing, right?

Reggie would be back soon to extract her. He was probably hovering nearby, still trying to figure out whether he'd rather risk Sophia trying to hold the damn thing steady or letting her man the defensive array.

Crys wouldn't have bet either way.

When Lionheart's scroll rang fifteen minutes later, they both jumped slightly. Garek laughed, massaging his right hand.

Lionheart answered it like it was venomous.

"Lionheart," Hazel said, neutrally as his face swam into view. "I've… received instructions that you are off limits. You won't be hearing from us in the future." Lionheart goggled, and Hazel continued, "It's been made clear to me that arrangement only continues for as long as you continue your current alignment. If you go back to Ozpin, all agreements are off. Is that clear?"

Lionheart sat, a boneless lump in his expensive leather chair, staring at Garek over the scroll in disbelief. Finally, he found his voice. "Clear…" he whispered. And the call ended.

"I think…," Garek said, "we should go out and have that toast now." He glared at the glass on Lionheart's desk. "My treat, again."

"Yes…" Lionheart said, unsteadily…. "I… that… would probably be best." He picked up Garek's untouched drink, unsteadily, and dropped glass and all in a nearby bin.

First… I need to go throw up somewhere, Garek thought sourly, before my stomach tries to eat its way through its own lining, as he turned his back on the Headmaster, and walked out of his office, miraculously still breathing.

Outside, atop the CCT Tower, Crys let out a long breath, and began to safe her rifle and prepare for pickup.

I prefer Grimm, she decided. A lot less stressful.

[A/N]Credit for the name and existence of "Lushu" as a city on Mistral's southern coast goes to author AManwithaB0x.

Believe it or not, I wrote this scene two months ago.

And then rewrote it again two weeks later as Garek and Selene's dynamic changed.

And again a month ago after I extracted a few bits for Garek's first meeting with Lionheart.

And again just now, so that I could leave Selene out of it completely (at least from Lionheart's perspective).

I hope you found it as enjoyable to read as I did writing it. Trying to strike the right balance between Lionheart's desperation, terror, and sheer cold-blooded desire for self-preservation against Garek's desperation, paranoia, and sheer bull-headed willingness to charge forward was… difficult. Especially since the idea that he'd walk into the lion's den after his past trauma, defenseless… well that would not have been believable.

But a Garek backed up by a deadman switch and a sniper with Grimm-Piercing explosive dust rounds, zeroed in on Lionheart's cranium? Well… that's exactly the kind of thing Reggie would cook up before allowing Garek to do something so stupid.

And Selene managed to work from the shadows. I found her interaction with Hazel to be… interesting. Didn't you?

And so… now we have the cowardly lion recruited, and if you missed it, Leo mentioned THREE people in the Chamber of Secrets™ when he got Jinn's answer. Give you a few guesses who the other two were, and how that's going to play into the story.

If you enjoyed this, please leave review! And feel free to PM me any corrections or errors (or leave those in reviews).