Three adults and one young girl sat at one of three circular tables in the tiny food court, the only ones there. Behind them was the main room of the small chartered bullhead terminal where a few people still meandered. Vending machines lined the walls of the small nook.

Cinder perched in one chair, still looking stiff and ruffled from being treated as luggage for over two hours. They had not taken time to brush her hair after removing her from the case, believing they would be back at their hotel soon.

To Cinder's left, Selene sat rigidly upright, hands folded in her lap, clearly tense and unhappy.

Helena sat between Cinder and Garek, and gave off the feeling that a Huntsman did who was trying to convince you they are just some harmless guy and totally not considering putting you down right then and there.

Garek slumped in his chair. Garek felt like throwing up. "What gave it away?" He asked tiredly. "Was the whole flight a setup?" Are we that useless at this?

The platinum-blonde Specialist snorted. "Nah. I really was visiting family. But when you got cagey about that case," She gestured to the now empty luggage nearby, "and with all the sneaking in and out of Atlas instead of using public transport, Charlie got suspicious. He asked me to hop to the back and feel things out." She gestured to Selene. "Is she really afraid of crowds? Seems to be doing okay here."

"I do have issues with crowds, though I am improving. That was not a ruse." Selene answered honestly.

"Fair. Then, while I was chatting with the two of you, I saw the case move. At least three times."

Garek sighed, and Cinder flinched. "Sorry," she murmured, "My legs were cramping." She reached under the table, probably massaging them. "I tried to be still."

"It is alright, Cinder. It was not originally intended for you to be in there that long." Selene gave the girl's shoulder a gentle squeeze, which seemed to surprise her.

Helena noted that too. "And person in suitcase just screamed human trafficking," Helena continued. Garek and Selene started at that. "But frankly, talking to you both on the flight, I didn't really buy that either, and told Charlie so. Still, he ordered… well asked, but he's my Team Lead… me to catch you up when we landed, and satisfy both of us that you aren't running a child trafficking ring."

"We-"

"I'm not talking to you at the moment," She looked at Garek, her eyes hard, but she still had a smile on her face.

We could take her, Garek thought, as Helena turned her attention to Cinder. I'm a Huntsman. She's a civilian who isn't even armed. Selene could grab Cinder and run, and I could catch up later.

Ok, not actually a civilian, he corrected himself. She's Atlas military. But still, I can take her.

Ok, she's not just Atlas military. She's an Atlas Specialist, like Broken Arrow…. Err... and she's probably got weapons on her, doesn't she? His eyes flicked to her black fatigues and numerous pockets

And she's got connections in Atlas and Argus both, so we'd be wanted for assaulting an Atlas Specialist AND probably a Mistral citizen.

Never. Fucking. Mind. And I thought we'd be clear once we got here. Shit...

Helena was still focused on Cinder, and her voice took on a softer tone. "Are these people your guardians, Cinder?"

Selene and Garek held their breath. Cinder looked carefully at Helena, tilting her head. "Yes, ma'am." Her tone was flat, blunt. Three adults blinked. The answer was not what any of them had expected.

Well, Cinder thought. Rhodes told me to obey them. And he asked them to take care of me. Doesn't that include guarding me?

Helena cleared her throat, tried again. "Alright. Where are your parents?"

"Don't know. I was an orphan."

"They adopted you?" Helena gestured to the other two adults.

"No ma'am." She looked away and then glared at the table. "Someone else did, but they hurt me," she fingered the scarring around her neck. "So I left."

Helena's expression hardened, but at least it wasn't aimed at them. "Is that why you were hidden in that suitcase?"

Cinder looked to Garek and Selene, but couldn't interpret their expressions, so she took her best shot. "Bad people were looking for me." Bad people like Madame. "They would have hurt me again if they found me. Mr. Garek and Miss Selene were hiding me from them." She glared at the table.

Helena looked at all three again. "I… alright. And do you feel safe, now? I can stay here and protect you, and we can have the police come and make sure you are taken care of."

Golden yellow eyes met brown and held them. Cinder's chin tilted up defiantly. "I don't need police to protect me, ma'am. They're doing that. I'm safe with them."

Helena frowned and leaned back. "Hmmm." She looked at the two adults. "Selene, can I have a word with you?"

Selene nodded, and stood, and they walked toward the terminal area, just out of earshot of the table.

"Did I say the right things, Mr. Garek?" Cinder asked quietly after they left. "I didn't lie. Was I supposed to lie?"

He gave her a smile. "You were perfect. Good girl."

Cinder smiled back. Good girl.

Garek watched as Helena and Selene spoke for several minutes. The conversation became more animated as it went on, until finally Selene brought out the scroll that The Lone Huntsmen had provided her, and showed something to Helena, which made Garek tense. But after that, the Specialist seemed to calm down and looked more thoughtful. Finally, Helena nodded, and they returned to the table.

"Alright. I'm satisfied. Garek, I'm not going to make any trouble for you folks. In fact," She gave a broad smile, "I have no idea who you are. Barely met you. We just happened to be three adults on a flight together back to Argus. Good enough?"

Garek let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding in. "All we could ask. Thank you."

"And you, Cinder," the young girl jumped slightly. "It was nice to meet you. I wish we could have been able to talk more. Continue to listen to these two, they seem willing to risk their necks for you."

"Yes ma'am."

Helena pulled out her scroll, and typed a quick message, turning it so that Selene to see the contents before sending. Selene nodded, and Helena looked thoughtful. "You folks still want that ride to the hotel?"

"Yes." Selene replied immediately before Garek could turn Helena down. "I am having… issues with my anxiety and wish to leave immediately. I will trust you, Helena Nikos, as you have trusted me."

The warmth in Helena's face seemed genuine. "No problem then. I've already got a rental car waiting in the lot." She held up a set of keys. "Why don't we get out of here."

The four of them walked out of the terminal, to the sound of a small military bullhead finally taking off, the sound quickly fading off to the north, and found Helena's vehicle. It had plenty of space for them and luggage, after they consolidated their smaller luggage inside the now-empty single larger case. Helena drove, and the three sat in the back, with Cinder nestled between them.

Cinder's wide eyes scanned the moonlight skyline and streets as they rode through the evening streets. It reminded her of first travelling from the orphanage to the Glass Unicorn after being adopted, over two years ago, but with a key difference.

That time, she had belonged to Madame, and the woman had been stern and cold. She remembered being very nervous but hopeful, and in awe of the beauty around her.

That hope had been crushed.

She wondered why she did not feel the same nervousness now. There was no fear. Why?

The answer was obvious. She was there, sandwiched between two adults. Her guardians. Rhodes had said they would take care of her, and two years had taught her that Rhodes was the only person she could trust. And Rhodes trusted them. And then the Helena woman had said they would protect her, too.

And they were not cold. They were not stern. She could feel herself snug between them, and she could tell they were relaxed. She felt safe for the first time in her young life. This place wasn't Atlas.

They pulled up to the hotel thirty minutes later, and Helena shook their hands. "It was a pleasure meeting you. I hope things work out."

"Thank you, Helena," Selene said with feeling.

The woman scratched at her upper arm with the other hand, suddenly hesitant. "Would… would you like to trade contact information? Maybe I could show you some sights, if you stick around long enough."

Garek was about to say no, but Selene again agreed before he could. He kept silent as the women updated scrolls and said goodbyes again, more warmly than he had expected.

Checking in, the hotel had transferred them and belongings they'd left behind before their trip to Atlas to a two bedroom suite with a small sitting area. Garek collapsed on the couch while Selene showed Cinder to what would be her bedroom. He took a moment to check his scroll. Multiple messages. Several from BA bitching at him for not consulting him before going off-plan. A group message from GNU to the entire team that Garek and Selene's scrolls had pinged at Mistral and were moving in the direction of the hotel, so everyone could stop acting like little bitches. One from Pete asking whether the lizard people had abducted them. He sent a quick group message back with an all clear and a promise to update them tomorrow morning, and closed his eyes for just a second.

He was nudged awake some time later.

"She sleeps. She was as exhausted as we were, though she hid it well." Selene said ruefully.

Garek stared blearily at her, remembered something that had nagged at him. "Selene, what the hell did you show Helena, that got her to back down?"

"I showed her an image of the letter Rhodes wrote. And I explained that Cinder was being abused, including that accursed necklace. I did not tell her Rhodes' part in the matter, other than the fact that he brought it to our attention, and reassured her that we would look after her."

"You trust her?"

"I do. We spoke for some time on the ride of her younger sister, if you remember. She reminded me of that, and said that she would do anything to protect her sibling, laws or no laws. I believe that she understands our situation, and will not cause trouble for your friend. And to be honest, she is the first woman my age that I have been able to have a conversation with, and I find myself having enjoyed the experience. I wish to see if we might become friends."

He shook his head and let her pull him to their bedroom. "Again, you amaze me. Let's pass out."

"Yes. Let us."

The bed beckoned, as did sleep. A locked bedroom door allowed Selene a welcome break from her auburn-haired and blue-eyed alter ego.

They heard Cinder puttering around outside their locked door when they awakened the next morning. Apparently two years of forced schedule was a habit hard to break.

Selene went to see if she could prevent Cinder deep cleaning the entire space, while Garek called The Lone Huntsmen and gave them a full debrief of how things had played out. It was BA's response that surprised him, considering how angry he'd seemed the night before.

"Foxtrot, eh? She took my spot on the Team." There wasn't any bitterness there. "Not her fault, and not Charlie's. Politics." He frowned, then shook his head. "The others have heard me bitch about this too many times. Call me after if you want my tale of woe. Regardless, Foxtrot… Helena… is a good egg. If she says she won't cross you, she won't. Specialists take the whole duty and honor thing very seriously." Another momentary angry expression. "Other than that, it sounds like you pulled off both the original mission, and the side quest off nicely."

"Bet that bitch at the hotel is losing her shit." Pete added happily. "We should send her a fucking fruit basket."

Garek laughed at the thought, then moved on to the other matter. "Dr. Polendina gave me some sort of direct contact number. From his letter, he appears to be acting carefully, which is good. But I'm wary of calling him using it."

Pete nodded. "How far can we pull him in? I don't want him in the LH proper, but we need his expertise. Do we get him a Secure Line?"

"It's high-risk high-reward," BA interjected. "On the one hand, if something happens to Polendina because we don't have secure communications, we and Atlas lose an incredible asset. But if he turns on us, even worse for us." BA waved his hands at their objections. "I'm not saying he would. But it's my job to think about the security aspects, and countermeasures. GNU, would Polendina be able to reverse engineer our scroll security measures?"

The woman pushed her glasses up, and tapped her lips. "If anyone could, it would be Dr. Polendina. But I'd like to believe my failsafes would detect it and react, or at least allow me to burn it first."

They talked for a few more minutes, while Garek mostly listened. Then, "Consensus?" Pete asked.

"I'm in favor." The gazelle faunus said.

"Reluctantly, no objection." BA nodded.

"Garek?"

Garek blinked. "What?"

The others on screen looked at each other. "Garek," Pete said, "You're a full member now. You get a vote. We work by consensus. If anyone objects, we do nothing."

Oh… I'm a member. Right. "What about Selene?"

"We can discuss that later. We need to know more about her first, but we won't force you to hide things from her. For now, you met Dr. Polendina. You're a member. You get a vote."

"I… I don't object. He dislikes Watts' attitude toward science and people. He came across as someone with ethics and empathy, and his letter strikes the right tone in taking this seriously. So… I don't object."

"Good enough. BA, how do we do this?"

"Garek, you trust Rhodes to act as a courier without trying to dig into things?"

Garek considered, leaning back on the pillows he'd bunched behind him. "Yeah. He'd do that for me, especially after what we just pulled off. What we did for Cinder, he's going to see that as a lifetime debt."

"Ok. Here's the plan then…"

BA Sketched out a three-way handoff. They would ship a Secure Scroll, boxed up, to Rhodes. Garek would contact Polendina, saying that as a thank you hearing out his business proposal, he was having a courier drop off a gift. They would coordinate delivery between Rhodes and Polendina. Nothing fancy, and the innocuous nature of it all would help. Once they had a secure line, things would be simpler.

"Next topic. It's not really our business, other than the risk of her overhearing something, but have you decided what you're doing with the waif?"

Garek shook his head. "Not yet. Selene will cut off my balls if I suggest leaving her in an orphanage in Argus, but once we start travelling again, things are going to get complicated." More than you guys can imagine. Garek thought about Cinder getting a firsthand view of Blackfeather, or seeing Selene's normal form, and shook his head. "For now, the goal is to give us a few weeks here, to get her a little more stable and see how she holds up, before we make any more decisions."

"One sec, okay Garek?" Pete muted the microphone, and the three conferred briefly. "Okay, I think we've covered enough for now. Can you reach out to Polendina and Rhodes and get us an address?" Garek nodded. "Good. We think," He nodded to the others, that you deserve a break for a few days. Get to know the kid like you said. After that, we'd like to invite you over, meet the crew in person. You can bring Cinder and Selene. We've got the means for Cinder to entertain herself while we meet, and if you want, Selene can sit in. We'll be talking about next steps."

That sounded… good. Yeah. He wanted to meet the team. His team.

Things were looking up.

Things sucked.

Selene had insisted he come with them. The reality was that she was nervous about venturing out without him. She believed there was the possibility she would have one of her panic attacks, and she needed him to handle Cinder and get her back to safety where she could recover if that occurred.

But clothing shopping for girls sucked.

Even if they did have company. Selene had invited Helena, who had accepted gladly.

Risk of Selene having an anxiety attack? More like broken vocal cords. The two woman chattered almost continuously, as they guided Cinder, wide-eyed, through rows of clothing and accessories, stacking a wheeled cart with outfits. It was piling up over a meter deep at this point, as they added another each time Cinder expressed the slightest verbal or visual interest in something. That part hadn't been bad.

It was the changing area.

Three hours.

Three hours he'd sat. At first he'd just perused his scroll, taken some notes, let his mind wander.

By hour two, he was sending distress messages for emergency extraction to the LH. All he got back was GNU calling him a little bitch, and Pete and BA laughing at him.

But he was glad when it was over. Cinder now had several sets of clothing and shoes, suitable for city travel, wilderness, sparring, and sleeping. All of them were outfits she had personally chosen. She seemed bewildered by the prospect of having different outfits to choose from on a daily basis. If they ended up travelling, he expected they would have to cull them or have them stored, as there was no way to carry all of it with them.

They then visited an outfitter, and let her choose a travel pack, and to her pleased shock, they ordered a custom sheath to be made for the sword Rhodes had given her. Personally, Garek thought the sword too large and heavy for her slight frame, but she might grow into it. They'd also picked out additional travel gear, including an oiled leather cloak, winter coat, and a few similar items they would need when they hit the wilderness again.

She'd expressed an interest in a bow for hunting small game, and they'd bought that too, along with some practice sticks that were closer in weight to what he thought she could handle.

Then a bookstore, where they purchased writing supplies, and a personal journal for her to use. And of course, since they were all starving by then, they had lunch.

By the end, the adults were all exhausted, and Cinder overwhelmed. Helena gave them all a ride back to the hotel, and helped them unload, and Selene surprised her with a thank you hug, causing the woman to stammer.

Back at the hotel, Cinder was stowing her newly acquired possessions in her hotel bedroom with a fierce look on her face, and Garek leaned back on the couch. Selene brought him a glass of wine. "Thanks, babe. That was… ridiculous."

"Was it? I had nothing to compare against. That was my first shopping experience as well. I was letting Helena lead."

"Crap," he said laughingly.

They sat companionably for a few minutes. "Helena provided me an update regarding her sister while we were looking at clothing for Cinder."

"Oh?"

"Unfortunately, she has been unable to dissuade their father. In fact, he had already hired a team of consultants and professional trainers to begin working with her sister."

"Didn't she say the girl…what was her name?"

"Pyrrha."

"Right, isn't she like seven years old?"

"Almost eight, it appears. And yes. It seems… ridiculous to me. But apparently among the more… competitive families here, it is not unusual."

"Too young. No kid knows what they want at that age. That's just stupid."

"I believe Helena agrees, but she is not the parent."

Garek grunted. "Way to mess up a kid for years." He nodded past the open bedroom door where Cinder was humming as she removed tags and folded new clothing immaculately. He could tell that by the end, her room would be immaculately organized. Nothing would be allowed out of place, and not necessarily because Cinder liked it that way. It was a compulsion. "One way at least…"

"We are doing well, Garek. Already she is open to expressing her own desires, rather than waiting to see what we demand of her. It will just require time with us for her to learn mistakes do not lead immediately to pain. To understand that her desires matter, as well."

"Yeah." He looked at Selene. "You want her to stay with us, I can tell. But have you thought about the logistics, Selene? Wouldn't it be better to let her stay here in Argus?"

"Do not you suggest an orphanage again. I will not abide it. And we have time to decide how to address our other issues." Selene's expression brooked no argument. He found it… attractive. "And do not leer at me. You are incorrigible."

"Can't help it. You are irresistible." He frowned. "And I'm getting soft sitting around or playing spy games. I think it's time we got back into some more demanding physical activity. How do you feel about a spar in the park."

"Spar?!" came a voice from the other room, and Garek barked a laugh. Dear gods…

"After, Cinder. I know you're busy with-" The girl was in front of him immediately, with golden-yellow eyes nearly glowing, and holding her sword in one hand, and the two practice sticks bunched in the other. He sighed. "Cinder, let the old people have a nap first, and then I promise we'll all spend the afternoon beating on each other. How does that sound? Selene?"

Selene laughed. "Lovely. Cinder?"

The girl pouted and sighed. "Okay. But I don't need a nap."

"Then you can finish putting away your stuff."

"Fine." Cinder stalked off and resumed folding and hanging clothes. A few moments later, she looked back up at them through the doorway with a guilty expression. "Sorry... I didn't mean to be…"

"It's fine Cinder. You're allowed to express it when you're upset."

The tween exhaled. "Okay. Okay. Thank you." She turned her attention back to the work, and shortly was humming again.

[A/N] And another Argus Chapter passes. We learn a little more about our fun little cabal, The Lone Huntsmen, including the fact that Broken Arrow aka BA was an early member of Team November. He predates Foxtrot, has a similar skillset, but is closer to Charlie's age. For confirmation, The Lone Huntsmen are my original creations, and I'm having a lot of fun with them. And now Garek is a full-blown member as well.

And Garek, only child that he was, gets his first taste of clothing shopping with the better sex. Poor bastard. Selene is making a friend, and Cinder is becoming a bit more assertive.