Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or its associated characters. The characters in this writing so far are all original characters, but I make no claim over the existing characters.

Chapter 7

Search and Rescue

Grayson's Perspective

The night before we left to rescue Lieutenant Amber I tried to focus on the visions that I had been having with some consistency, searching for any hint of useful information that the visions might offer. I half hoped I would dream of random things which offered no insight to our situation, if only to confirm that I was not seeing true visions, but for as long as I could remember I had never had a 'normal' dream.

As I slept through the night, no dreams of any variety presented themselves until it was almost dawn. As the first hint of light seeped into a cave I dreamed that my eyes snapped open. In my dream I stood, stretching then donning my suit of black and blue powered armor, ensuring that the helmet was sealed and my voice filer was active before continuing with my day.

I prepared breakfast, then checked on my prisoner. The monitoring systems I had built were intact and the soldiers I had assigned to guard him were still vigilant. Lieutenant Amber slept awkwardly in the small cage I had stuck him in, and the aura blocking handcuffs he wore glowed softly with a dull gray light, reassuring me that he would be unable to escape.

I left the Lieutenant's breakfast, just a simple ration bar and bottle of water, and stepped outside to enjoy my own breakfast in the crisp morning air and rising sun. As I ate, I pulled out my scroll and attached a modified charging cord that led to a modified radio pack.

I closed my eyes and focused my semblance on the antenna of the radio. I willed clarity into it, and my semblance responded by intuitively filtering out the ever present jamming from both sides, allowing me to download my stored messages in a short encrypted burst.

I had received a half dozen messages from my allies. I opened one from a young woman marked as "Yaslin". The downloaded message played and I listened.

"Gary," she said. "Look, I get it, they mean a lot to you, but we need your help too right now. I'll help you look for them, and I don't think they are gone either, but right now we need your help. We almost lost everything today, Gideon was barely able to hold off a major Atlas assault, and he can't keep doing that forever."

There was more to the message, but my dream self closed it with a sigh of frustration and opened another, this one came from someone labeled "Cole, Dipshit Extraordinaire."

"Hey, you need to get your shit together. I know you want to find LIWI I get it, but you have magical sensors up nearly everywhere in Argus and you aren't finding him. So either he's dead or he's not there anymore. Do your job and focus on the air battle. After the war I'll do everything I can to help but right now we need to get this done. If you do go through with this then I'll be there, like always, but we need you back on task before things get worse."

I watched myself close the scroll, disconnecting it from the radio pack and securing it within my black and blue armor. I took the opportunity to try and note details about the cave's entrance, but felt the vision fading as I properly awoke.

-/-

My eyes opened for a second time and I sat up inside my tent. The same morning sun that I had just seen outside the cave now streamed in through the flap of the tent I shared with a dozen other soldiers. I went through a remarkably similar routine as I awoke, stretching, donning my armor, eating breakfast, and checking for messages sent to me over the local ultra high frequency network.

The range only extended out a few miles from the center of the base, but it was strong enough to cut through the broadband jamming the enemy was broadcasting and it allowed local communications without the need for runners.

I had a few more volunteers during the night requesting to join. Word had spread fast that team SAGE needed help, and when team SAGE needed volunteers it seemed there was no shortage of supply.

I pondered what I had learned this morning. If the visions were to be believed, and that was still in doubt, then I was correct about Hyperion securing the target in a cave, and also apparently that his name was Gary, which could be important as he had thus far managed to evade identification by Atlesian intelligence. I wasn't sure if I could trust the visions, but if we found Lieutenant Amber in the same cave then I would take that as proof. What I would do with that proof had yet to be decided.

An hour later I jumped on top of the hood of one of the ground transports my volunteer force would be using. It reminded me of an open topped jeep, with armor panels around the engine compartment and drivers seat, and a high caliber machine gun mounted on a swiveling platform in the back.

I addressed the thirty soldiers whom I had accepted as volunteers. Among them I recognized Private Wilks, and standing alongside him the two soldiers who had survived mostly unscathed from team SAGE's assault on the munitions depot. I also recognized Sergeant Zim, the hand to hand instructor who had been able to give me a run for my money during training.

The rest I had pulled records for, this time with permission from Captain Stone instead of breaking into the system, and verified that they were all combat veterans.

I was initially surprised to see how many people had volunteered for a high risk mission, as well as the amount of materiel support provided to us by the base logistics center, but once I dug into their reports I saw that most of them had personally fought alongside one or more members of team SAGE.

Several eye witness accounts across years of battles with Grimm, bandits, and now Wings of Freedom troops all followed a similar theme. Captain Stone and her team consistently valued the lives of the soldiers they fought with, and many would not be here today if it were not for her team. Realistically, I was no different. Captain Stone herself had saved me and Sergeant Helmsman's squad from an enemy Huntsman, and this was our opportunity to return the favor.

-/-

"Ladies and gentlemen" I addressed the gathered crowd. "I'll keep it short." I saw a few small eye rolls from some of the junior enlisted who had heard that same claim a hundred times right before someone spoke for an hour. Regardless, I carried on.

"I appreciate you all volunteering for this assignment. We're going to split into three teams. I'll lead team one, Sergeant Zim is going to lead team two, and Staff Sergeant Hearth from the Heavy Infantry is going to lead team three."

The Atlesian Heavy Infantry were an interesting bunch. Before Atlas had started working towards android soldiers they had wanted to increase the strength and survivability of their non Huntsmen soldiers. They had designed suits of heavy armor and combined them with powered exoskeletons to create the Atlesian Exoskeletal Ground Infantry System, or AEGIS armor. As far as I understood from my limited conversation with Staff Sergeant Hearth the program had faltered recently with the redirection of funds towards fully automated robotic infantry, but the Heavy Infantry still maintained a strong culture within the Atlesian Military.

Hearth nodded stoically, her head the only part of her that was exposed in her AEGIS Model Two armor while she had the helmet clipped to a belt. Her armor was painted white with red accents marking her name and rank insignia on the chestplate. Her unit designation, the Thirty Third Heavy Infantry, was marked on her right shoulder in the same red paint. Her hair was cut short so it didn't bunch up in the back of the helmet. The armor itself reminded me of the armor I had seen Hyperion wearing, though it was clearly more ruggedized and less complex.

I shook off my momentary distraction thinking about where Hyperion had sourced his armor and resumed addressing the gathered volunteers.

"If you've worked together before then pair up, if not, wait to be assigned to one of the teams." Sergeant Zim and Staff Sergeant Hearth eyed each other, then separated themselves and started selecting soldiers for key positions in their teams.

I selected Private Wilks to be my rearguard, and Corporal Pike, one of the soldiers I had assaulted the depot with, to be point man with me. My squad had only six members, the reasoning being that since I was at least halfway to being an operative it would be smarter to spread out our combat force more evenly. This left teams two and three with twelve members each.

After the team leads had performed gear checks and confirmed that we were cleared to step off, we mounted up in our vehicles to wait for our departure window. The vehicles were open topped all terrain cars that could seat four people, plus a fifth on a mounted machine gun. The vehicle was technically called a Prodromos, though the only name I had ever heard anyone refer to it as was a Puma, presumably because the wide wheel base and sleek front hood resembled a large cat.

I sat shotgun with Pike in my driver's seat. Another soldier clambered aboard and manned the gun. The rest of my squad piled into a second vehicle and fell into a driving formation behind us.

We drove the short distance to the base entry point to wait for our armored escort, two of the modified Atlas Phalanx tank designs that I had previously incorrectly identified as an M1 Abrams when I had first awoken. As we pulled up to the gate I spotted Captain Stone nervously wringing her hands. As soon as she noticed me she squared away her posture, giving me a firm nod. I returned the nod and turned back to the task of navigating my driver through the route we would be taking.

-/-

We sped through the broken city streets as quickly as the Phalanx tanks could move. The heavy but durable tanks maintained a remarkably fast speed, crushing anything in their path flat enough that our Puma jeeps could easily navigate through their tracks. As we drove, I focused on observing our surroundings. It would be all too easy for a sniper ambush to have been set up to slow our progress. Surprisingly, our journey to the edge of the city was mostly uneventful. It was only after we reached the walls that our quick attack turned into hell on wheels.

The first indicator of trouble was when a gunshot pinged off the hood of my Puma. The round deflected up and cracked against the sloped windshield, forming a small impact point as the bulletproof glass deformed to catch it. I looked up and slightly to my right, seeing the face of a scared looking WoF trooper leaning out a window and pointing his rifle towards us. A second later our formerly orderly vehicle column erupted into chaos as three separate gunners opened fire on the WoF trooper.

A dozen other windows on buildings around us burst open and more enemies began firing on us from all sides.

"It's an ambush!" Corporal Pike shouted from the driver's seat next to me.

Concern.

"I know!" I shouted back "Just keep us on the road, I'll keep their heads down!"

I called out to the gunner in the back of my Puma, "Targets, three o'clock high! They're taking cover behind the balcony, third floor!" With a shouted acknowledgement he swiveled the high caliber machine gun and let loose a sustained burst, shredding the concrete balcony railings. The other soldiers in my formation let loose with whatever they had, and the air was filled with a steady roar of gunfire and cries of pain on both sides.

I felt the familiar energy from the belt coursing through me, heightening my senses and speeding my reactions. A shout, barely audible over the din of combat and roaring engines alerted me to danger, and I snapped my rifle to my right just in time to see an enemy rise out of cover with a recoilless rifle aimed at my vehicle. I fired off a three round burst, catching him in the neck, and had time to watch him stagger and fall as our convoy rocked and rolled past him.

Success!

At the front of the formation the two Phalanx tanks opened up with their main guns, blasting holes into any building that an enemy barrel poked out of. Every weapon in my formation was letting loose as fast as targets popped up, our speed and concentrated firepower the only thing keeping us alive as we drove right through the WoF forces.

We rocketed through chaotic city streets, rapidly approaching the point of the city wall that had been designated as our breakout point. I half stood up in my seat, the quick release harness I had tethered to my armor giving me enough room to move around without falling out. From the elevated position I could see our objective, and pointed it out to Pike. He floored the accelerator and we shot past the lead Phalanx, driving straight at the wall.

A deafening shot rang out from behind us, hurting my ears even through my noise filtering headphones as the lead Phalanx fired a 105mm gravity dust shell over our heads. The supersonic shockwave of the shell rocked our Puma on its suspension. The shot slammed into the city's main wall and blew a massive chunk of it outwards, a conveniently Puma sized hole now formed in the twenty foot high wall. Pike swerved towards it, and we practically flew through the gap to relative safety, the rest of our convoy in hot pursuit.

Freedom!

The rest of my formation joined us, the eight total Pumas splitting into their three squads as we each navigated towards our assigned cave. The Phalanx tanks turned off into a side street, maintaining their speed and charging straight back to base before they could be overrun now that they were without their infantry support.

I checked my watch, which read 1305, we only had a few minutes before Captain Stone would be entering negotiations with Hyperion's representative. I would have like to have left earlier, but something told me that the only time Hyperion would be away from guarding his prisoner would be to attend or monitor the negotiations.

My mind told me Evelynn would be fine, Hyperion didn't have a history of going back on his word. But I felt a sickly feeling in my stomach anyways worrying about what might happen to team SAGE.

-/-

Our Puma bounced over rough terrain as we climbed into the mountains, Pike navigating along dirt roads around boulders and trees that blocked our path. The other two teams split off to the west as my convoy headed south east to our designated cave. As we drove I checked on the soldiers in my vehicle.

My gunner had caught a round to the shoulder in the last dash to the wall, and I climbed into the back of the vehicle to attempt treatment.

Injury. Sadness.

I crouched down with the soldier in the back and reattached my harness, then pulled gauze from my medical kit. My belt might have been able to help, but I still hadn't figured out its limits yet, and I wanted to save its power for something more critical. It wouldn't be a good idea to get caught miles from help and effectively powerless.

I finished wrapping his shoulder, and he rolled it in its socket to test his range of motion. He was still in pain, but it looked like he would be able to fight. Satisfied, I climbed back up to the passenger seat and directed us to the cave entrance.

A few miles later we splashed through a small creek, spraying mud as we climbed the other bank, then swerved off the road and parked. Our objective was about a half mile above us on the mountain, but the road didn't lead to it. I pulled out a pair of binoculars and started examining the terrain up the mountain, searching for any indication that this was the same cave as I had seen in my vision.

The second vehicle pulled up behind us, Private Wilks in the middle of administering first aid to his own gunner. I made a mental note to ask why the gunners didn't have armor plating, then directed Corporal Pike to assist Wilks.

I finally found the entrance, and examined it through my binoculars. The mouth of the cave was lightly covered in vegetation, with a large tree right outside the entrance, partially blocking it from the east side.

I envisioned what I had seen in my dreams, trying to determine if this matched. I had been able to feel the sun on my face while in the entrance to the cave, which meant if the dreams were to be believed then this wasn't the right one.

I needed to make a judgment call, if we pursued this cave as planned we would be climbing almost a half mile up over broken terrain. That could take up to ten minutes, or I could sprint by myself, and likely arrive without backup at the entrance within two to three minutes. But if this cave wasn't correct then we would be wasting time when we should be moving to regroup and assault the real cave with one of the other teams.

Wilks jogged over, his gunner patched up as well as he could manage in the field. "What do we do sir?" he asked, breathless. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, still lost in thought. Wilks had been exhibiting uncomfortable signs of hero worship ever since I had started training with team SAGE. I decided to split the difference with the visions, I couldn't trust them enough to guarantee that this was the wrong cave, but I didn't have to waste time for no good reason.

"It's specialist, private. I work for a living." I answered Wilks. "And what you're doing is getting the team ready to move out in a hurry." I looked up at the cave, judging the best route for me to take. "I'm going up alone, then if it's the wrong cave I'm getting back here as fast as possible."

"Ok sir," He completely missed my first statement. "We'll be ready."

I nodded and jumped out of my vehicle. The belt surged power into my legs and my stride elongated as each step became more of a small leap as I dashed forwards up the mountain. There were many sections that would have taken me minutes to climb up or to scrabble along had I taken the rest of the team, but with my enhanced speed and strength I was able to bound up steep slopes like a mountain goat. Loose shale and pebbles scattered under my feet as my legs pumped pneumatically and within a few minutes I had arrived at the mouth of the cave.

Up close I could see that it definitely was not the cave from my dream, but I flicked on the flashlight mounted on my rifle and pushed forwards regardless. I quickly strode through the cave, going through multiple twists and turns before reaching the end, confirming it to be empty aside from a few small woodland critters that hissed at me in anger.

Cursing under my breath I turned to sprint my way back to the vehicles, shouting for my team to start the engines. I ran down the hill in a mad dash, starting a small avalanche of shale and dirt, and at times sinking up to my knees in the loose flowing terrain. I crossed the distance to the vehicles in half the time it took me to reach the cave, and Pike already had the Puma rolling as I arrived. I leaped up into the air to land feet first in the open topped passenger seat, rocking the vehicle heavily as Pike accelerated us back on the road towards the next cave. We sped off towards Sergeant Zim's group, and I prayed they hadn't run into heavy resistance while I had been wasting time.

-/-

We bounced and jostled our way through the mountains, pushing Pike's driving skills to the limit. As we drove our path coincided with a few anti Grimm patrols of Argus militia, one of which surprisingly seemed to be lead by a young teenage girl with bright red hair and bronze colored armor.

The militia, as well as most of the huntsmen who lived in Argus, had elected remain largely neutral in the war between Atlas and the Wings of Freedom. They had instead been focused on protecting their citizens from the effects of the war through coordinated evacuations and patrols to keep the Grimm population under control with the increase in negative emotions surrounding the war zone.

Our drive to the second cave was otherwise mostly uneventful. I leaned out of the open window panel on the passenger side to return a cautious wave to one of the militia leaders, both of us silently confirming that we had no intention of fighting each other.

Up ahead we were rapidly approaching the second cave, but hadn't seen any sign of Sergeant Zim's team other than the tracks their vehicles had left. We rounded one last switchback and finally came into sight with their convoy. Much like ours they had been forced to park at the base of a steep hill and advance on foot. Though in this case their path was blocked more by dense forest than by the natural terrain.

Pike drifted into a turn, killing the vehicle's momentum in an unnecessarily flashy power slide and pulling us to a stop right next to the lead vehicle. I was already leaping from my seat before we had fully come to a stop, charging up the side of the hill. I examined the cave entrance as I ran, noting the relatively open nature of the cave mouth as it was placed partially up a rock wall, an outcropping providing a platform at the entrance. From what I could see this fit my vision almost perfectly.

I charged ahead, not caring that the rest of my team was still scrambling to dismount. Corporal Pike assumed command in my absence to organize the troops and followed me up the hill. As I arrived at the mouth of the cave I caught sight of two members of Sergeant Zim's team. They were outside the entrance a few dozen feet from the sheer wall that lead up to the cave, evidently pulling rear guard to protect the rest of the team. I dashed past them, trusting my distinct Atlesian armor to identify me.

The path became steep as I approached the sheer rock face. The entrance a dozen feet up off the ground, and I wished silently that Captain Stone had been here, as she would have solved this problem by simply throwing us both up to the entrance. Not having that option I instead clambered up the wall, finding hand and foot holds easily enough as I worked my way up.

As I reached the top a soldier poked his head over the side of the outcropping, offering a hand for the last few feet. I accepted the hand, and he boosted me up to the top. I nodded to him, "Thanks corporal" I acknowledged his help "Where's your team lead?"

He pointed to the inside of the cave.

"He's in there sir, we found the Lieutenant, but there's some kind of problem getting him free I think."

I nodded and passed him as I entered the cave. This 'sir' problem was spreading it seemed. For now it was a minor annoyance but I didn't need anybody in my chain of command getting upset over me being addressed by the wrong rank.

I jogged lightly into the cave, noting the two dead WOF soldiers and the three wounded Atlesian soldiers just inside the entrance. It seemed there had been trouble here after all, and I regretted wasting time checking the first cave now.

-/-

Inside the cave I saw Sergeant Zim supervising two soldiers, one male and one female, who seemed to be operating a plasma torch with little success. They were trying to cut open a metal cage that held Lieutenant Amber, but were clearly having difficulties. The Lieutenant looked alright, though time spent in the small cage had clearly not been good for him, and he looked both underfed and dehydrated.

"I ask one thing of you" Sergeant Zim was speaking. "And that is to be even moderately competent." He gestured vaguely at the cage and the impotent blowtorch. "This is not what competence looks like."

The female soldier made an annoyed grunt and turned the blowtorch up to the maximum settings, but still wasn't having any luck. I approached Sergeant Zim.

"What's the issue Sergeant? We need to get going before anybody catches wise." Zim sighed deeply.

"I have no clue specialist, this torch is rated for almost any metal we have. It's like there's some sort of protective field on this cage, either that or these troopers simply do not know how to use a plasma torch." He placed heavy amount of sarcasm into the end of his statement, goading the soldiers into figuring out what the problem was to prove him wrong.

Curiosity.

I agreed with the belt, and knelt down to examine the cage, pressing a palm to the door. There was no visible locking mechanism at all, in fact it seemed like the door was sealed by the metal of the door perfectly bonding to the doorframe. As I touched the door my belt buzzed.

Familiarity.

"What do you know about it?" I whispered, still drawing a look of mild curiosity from Sergeant Zim.

Secrecy, Restriction.

At times like this I wished the belt could just speak to me, it would make it a lot easier to puzzle out his communications.

"So the restriction is secret?"

Moderation. Okay so not quite right, but not wrong either.

"A password?"

Success!

So the door was sealed by some kind of password. Not only that, but my belt clearly reacted to it, maybe they were related, somehow linked in their design.

"Can you interact with it?" I asked hopefully.

Dismissal.

"Can I interact with it?"

Consideration, Approval.

That was good news, but I still didn't know what the password was. I studied the materials, and could almost make out some sort of microscopic markings along the metal. Curious, I looked closer, but couldn't quite make out what they were supposed to be. I felt the same tingling of an idea in the back of my brain that I had experience when I had hacked into the Atlesian personnel systems, and I relaxed my mind to allow my body to follow through on its muscle memory.

I felt a tightening in the small muscles of my eyes, then suddenly a small glow enveloped the edges of my vision, and the faint markings resolved themselves into small glowing runes.

"Oh damn" I whispered. It was like a whole new world had opened up to me. The cage seemed to have a subtle glow to it, and it almost felt like if I tried hard enough I could actually make sense of the runes that were somehow both visible and invisible to me.

I reached out a hand to touch the runes, then jumped slightly as I saw the same style of runic markings engraved on the armored panel of my glove. I looked down, examining myself, and saw that the runes covered the rest of my armor and much of my equipment as well, though notably the replacement helmet I had acquired lacked any sort of runic inscription.

I skimmed through the runes on my armor and the cage, gradually realizing that they had been written and created in a familiar format. The runes were written out like lines of code in a program, including small comments inscribed with nullification runes to make those sections of runes irrelevant to the actual functioning of the power.

No, not just a vague power I realized. In my vision my dream self's allies had mentioned magic, and this certainly fit the bill. The revelation that magic was real rocked me for a moment, but it also caused a number of things to click into place for me. My belt must also be magical, it was only logical. It was able to do incredible things, even allowing me to rival an operative in a fair fight.

Sergeant Zim was berating the soldiers for their failure to open the cage, and Lieutenant Amber was trying to convince them to worry more about his aura blocking cuffs, but I ignored them and reached down to unclip the belt from around my waist. With this special sight active the belt positively radiated energy. If my armor was a flashlight then this was like the sun, drowning out any inferior source of magic. I wondered how much more powerful my belt must be, if this was it in a damaged state.

But at the same time I realized that this meant that everything I had been able to accomplish thanks to the powers wasn't me, it was the belt. I didn't have my aura unlocked, I didn't have a semblance. The belt was the only thing that made me different, but it could have given the powers to anyone. So why had it chosen me?

Now properly reeling from the implication that everything I thought I had learned about my powers was apparently wrong, I forced myself to refocus on the task at hand. I studied the rune code on the cage until I found the section where it validated a password, comparing the magical equivalent of a 'string' variable to the words that were spoken around it. The syllables were in some sort of ancient language that I barely was able to comprehend, but they formed a clear distinct phrase, not in Atlesian or Mistrali, but in English.

"Open Says Me" I spoke to the door, and it swung open.

"What did you do?" Sergeant Zim asked. "What did you just say?" I turned to him as Lieutenant Amber pushed his way out of the cage, eagerly holding his aura blocking cuffs out to the soldier currently holding the blowtorch. "I think I just figured out the password, it was built to only be opened by a specific phrase. Like some sort of arcane lock."

Zim raised an eyebrow "Arcane like magic? So you believe in fairy tales and all that nonsense now?"

I shrugged "It's open isn't it?"

Zim looked between me and the door, then back to me. "I actually cannot argue with that, specialist."

The soldiers cut through the lock on Lieutenant Amber's cuffs and he flexed and rolled his shoulders as his pale green aura reformed itself around him.

"Oh you would not believe how good it feels to be able to do that again" he remarked. "Now, we need to get my weapons and we can get out of here. I saw Hyperion take them deeper into the cave when he first captured me."

Zim and I followed him deeper into the cave, where we found a small offshoot filled with different boxes of equipment. Some of the text was written in Mistrali, but several boxes had hastily scribbled labels in English. I examined several of the boxes as the lieutenant searched the room for his weapons.

One box said "Tools" and when I opened it I was greeted with a set of masterfully hand crafted tools, I touched a finger to them, then focused on the muscles in my eyes that allowed me to see the magic. My vision tinted around the edges and I saw the runes inscribed in them. Judging by the summaries at the top of the magical code these tools were designed to enable repair and construction of magical equipment, which explained how Hyperion had managed to create the arcane cage.

I took the tools from the box and slipped them into my tactical kit, I had a feeling they would be useful.

"Aha!" Lieutenant Amber exclaimed. "Found them!" I turned to see him withdraw two weapons from a box. One was a high caliber revolver with a collapsing knife blade built into the grip. The other was a short double barreled shotgun featuring a short range flamethrower slung underneath the barrels.

My attention was drawn to a small bit of what looked like fishing line attached to the grip of his shotgun, the line seemed to lead back into the box, and was drawing tight as the Lieutenant reclaimed his weapons. "No!" I shouted, and dove at him in a desperate attempt to stop what I instinctively knew was coming next.

I was too late, my hands reaching his shoulders just as he pulled far enough to fully activate the tripwire attached to his weapon. Fire enveloped the room, surrounding and engulfing us as a massive dust bomb detonated. I watched in what felt like slow motion as Lieutenant Amber's eyes widened, and he began to shimmer in front of me, his pale green aura enveloping us both.

The flames and shockwave passed through us, leaving us unharmed as it traveled outwards through the cave. Sergeant Zim, not lucky enough to be making contact with the operative, was practically melted by the blast. The fire scorched and peeled layers of his armor away while the heat cooked him from the inside out, instantly boiling his blood and cooking his flesh to a crisp. The explosion carried outwards through the tunnel, seeking the path of least resistance as the force of the explosion cracked the walls around us and cased stalactites to break loose and crash to the ground.

In a heartbeat the explosion had passed. The Lieutenant's aura, having just reformed after being freed from the cuffs, shattered with the sound of breaking glass. With his aura fully drained from protecting us he slumped forwards in a heap, and I caught him as he lost consciousness.

The air was still superheated, and I couldn't risk breathing it in without scorching my lungs. I could already feel the my mouth and chin developing first degree burns fromt heir exposure to the air, and was grateful that the Atlesian helmet I wore covered my eyes.

I spared a regretful glance for Sergeant Zim's melted corpse, then bent down to lift the Lieutenant into a fireman's carry and carried him out of the cave while holding my breath. As I exited the cave I passed more Atlesian soldiers that had no more luck than Sergeant Zim. Almost his entire team had been in the cave, and their burnt and mangled bodies were scattered around the scorched cave from the blast.

Outside the cave a small forest fire was in the process of getting started, the burnt evergreens now beginning to catch flame for themselves properly as the rest of my squad recovered from the tremendous concussive wave that had knocked many of them to their knees. Several soldiers were shouting at each other, unable to hear properly as their hearing slowly recovered.

I looked back over my shoulder into the cave, seeing the dead bodies of ten Atlesian soldiers.

Sadness. The belt expressed itself, and I couldn't help but agree.