Author's Note: Slightly late chapter this week, but it is also the longest one to date at just over 9000 words, so I hope that makes up for it.
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or its associated characters. The characters in this writing so far are mostly original characters, but I make no claim over the existing characters.
Chapter 10
Me
I rejected Gary's offered hand, then climbed to my feet on my own. "There's nothing to talk about" I insisted, taking a step towards my belt. He reached up, placing a hand on my chest to hold me back.
"Dude, you're obviously upset about something or you wouldn't be trying to kill me down there."
"You tried to kill me first!" I shot back, angrily shoving away his hand.
"When the hell was that?" He asked, becoming frustrated himself.
"Dude it was like a week ago!" I shouted, throwing my hands out in frustration, the similarity in our speech was not lost on me. "You shot me in the neck and paralyzed me! I wouldn't even be alive if the belt and Private Wilks hadn't saved me!" He paused, trying to recall what he had been doing over the last week or so. I shuddered to think about how many people he had wounded or killed recently if he couldn't even remember doing it.
"Wait, were you in the convoy that tried to rescue Lieutenant Amber?" He asked. "Why were you even there? I thought you had been captured by Atlas!"
"Why would Atlas capture me? I'm a freaking specialist in their military!" He looked at me for a long moment, confusion evident on his face, then glanced back to where the belt was sitting in the corner, the bullet hole prominently displayed. He looked back at me.
"Okay" he started again, holding up his hands in a gesture of peace. "Genuine question. Have you been hit in the head recently?"
"Yes!" I replied in an exasperated tone. "I was shot in the head! I have freaking amnesia, no thanks to you and the other Waffles."
"Oh" he said, stunned. "Oh my God. Dude you have freaking amnesia? That explains so much. Okay, what's the last thing you remember?" I stopped trying to push past him, curious as to where he was going with this line of thinking.
"I woke up in a building, about two weeks ago. I was in the middle of a warzone with that belt," I pointed towards the corner, "And a rifle. I was pretty badly wounded, but I joined up with an Atlesian patrol. Captain Stone saved us from an ambush, and ever since then I've been fighting with team SAGE."
He slapped his forehead with enough force that I genuinely thought it might bruise. Then ran his hands over his face. Sighing deeply he looked up at me over his hands.
"So you have no clue who I am? You don't remember how you got in that Atleisan armor or wound up in Argus?"
"I've figured a bit out" I shot back angrily. "I found my personnel file, but it's clearly faked so that tells me I'm probably some kind of special forces or three letter agency. And I know that you screwed with my soul, Doctor Polendina was able to figure out that much."
His head snapped up when I mentioned the doctor. "Only Pietro? Who else knows about that?" he asked sharply.
"Nobody, he didn't seem keen on sharing his insights with the military."
He nodded, lost in thought. "I'll need a good explanation for him then, or else he'll just keep pursuing that. We can't have anyone investigating your origins. They may find something that could put them onto magic's existence." He began pacing, and I took the opportunity to position myself closer to the belt.
"Alright" he continued. "That's a problem for another time, for right now we need to leave, Cole can keep team SAGE and the rest of the response force busy chasing him for a while, but I don't want to stick around here, and the last thing we need right now is to start dropping bodies on Atlesian soil." He pointed at the belt in the corner.
"We can get LIWI fixed when I get a replacement set of the tools I lost in the cave explosion." He cocked his head at an inquisitive angle. "How has he been by the way? That damage looks pretty rough."
"LIWI?" I asked, "you mean the belt?" He nodded.
"Right, amnesia. Yes, that's LIWI. I'll tell you more about him later. Actually, now that I think about it…" he trailed off, then focused on me. "I'm gonna try something." He continued staring at me, not appearing to do anything at all. I shifted awkwardly as he stared.
"So, what's supposed to be happening?" I asked. He frowned, clearly unhappy that whatever he was doing was having no effect.
"I'm sharing memories over our soul link. Are you not getting them?" I held up a palm in response.
"Back up" I said. "Soul link?" He nodded again.
"Yeah, the working theory is that because there's only one soul for both of us it links our minds. Normally we can share memories back and forth, even in real time if we want to see through the other's eyes."
That explained why I had been seeing visions of what he was doing, he had literally been sharing his memories with me as they were formed. He strode forward, then reached up to grab my skull uncomfortably, holding my head still and locking eyes with me.
"I think it's a problem on your end." He said. "Try opening yourself up to receive them."
Normally when I saw the visions it had been while I was asleep, so, curious, I tried letting my mind wander and relax. After a minute I felt a small but almost familiar bump in the back of my mind. I focused on it, pulling at the threads within my brain. As I focused I slowly saw an image of myself. I was wearing a hospital gown with my eyes closed standing on top of a hospital. In the image I saw, my armored hands were gently holding my opposing self's head. I shot my eyes open and looked back, the double layering of my own face over itself confusing.
"Can you see it?" I spoke to myself. I nodded in response, watching my own head perform the motion. The experience was deeply confusing, and caused significant damage to my sense of self as I could feel myself dissociating heavily from my own actions.
"Good," I replied to myself. "Now, focus, and remember what I know." Visions of the past overwhelmed me, and I completely lost coherency as thousands of hours of lifetime washed over me in an instant. I vaguely felt my knees begin to wobble, then everything suddenly faded away to nothingness as one memory in particular reached out, overwhelming me
-/-
I was riding an elevator, holding a small cardboard box. I wore dark pants and a jacket with the hood pulled up. A black cloth facemask concealed most of my features, and my semblance subtly altered the color of my eyes and the way that shadows fell across my upper face to complete the disguise.
The elevator dinged, and I stepped out into an expansive office. Massive gears, like those in a clock tower, turned slowly above me as I approached the man sitting behind the desk.
He had silver hair in a chaotic style, and wore a pair of small glasses perched on his nose. He tapped away on his terminal as I approached, then took a sip from his mug and finally looked up.
"Good afternoon, mister….?" He greeted me curiously, one eyebrow raised at my unexpected entrance.
"Glade" I replied, using a code name I had cooked up while working on securing my identity. He nodded solemnly, clearly not believing that Glade was my real name.
"Well mister Glade" he smiled knowingly, "I'd rather like to know how you managed to get into my office."
I shrugged, still looking down at the assortment of components and gizmos in the box I held.
"It's not that interesting." I replied. "You should be more curious about what's in here." I shook the box, causing the bits of metal inside to jingle and clank. His eyebrow hiked itself up another quarter inch.
"I think I can decide for myself what I am interested in." He said calmly. There was no concern in his voice, just genuine curiosity.
"Fine." I replied, fishing his secretary's security badge out of a pocket and tossing it on his desk. "You guys don't change your PIN numbers, and your secretary has an overbearing mother who insists on calling her at work when she hears a juicy rumor." I cocked my head to the side. "Happy?"
He frowned, looking down at the badge, then nudged it to the side so it lined up with his display.
"No," he finally replied.
"Tough." I commented, then dropped the box on his desk and began withdrawing various components and assembling them. He frowned deeper, and I heard a soft click as he pressed a button on the underside of his desk.
"Security isn't coming." I told him, having already disabled the alarms linked to this room the day prior. "If you want me gone you can either try to throw me out yourself or you can wait and see what I'm building." I looked up, staring into his eyes. "My guess is you want to know what I'm up to, it won't take long."
He sat back and folded his hands on his desk, implying I should continue. I finished assembling the components, reaching out with my semblance to try to grasp the faint wavelengths of energy that it was emitting. I couldn't manipulate those waves like I could with light, but I could still tell if they were right or wrong.
I tweaked one of the components I had attached to my small machine, feeling the wavelengths stabilize slightly. I had assembled the device out of a series of parts I had found in the ruins of a long dead city. I leaned down and whispered into a small silver half moon disk that I had attached to a larger plate of iron.
"Rah. Tay. Lee." I whispered words in a language that predated the brother gods wiping out humanity, and the eyebrows of the man behind the desk both shot up as high as they could go for a moment before he quickly recovered his bearing. As I pronounced each syllable of the magic words I felt the hum of the half moon disk's wavelengths shift ever so slightly.
The moment I spoke the last word the machine burst to life, throwing out chaotic energies as one end of the iron plate froze over while the other half heated until it became dangerous to touch. Energy snapped between the assembled components for several seconds, then a block of ice several inches in diameter manifested itself on the desk and the device relaxed.
The components of the small magical machine began slowly returning to room temperature while I straightened up and folded my arms across my chest.
"Well?" I asked. Professor Ozpin looked down at the block of magically formed ice, then up at me.
"Very impressive I suppose" He commented, "Though of course I believe most would still prefer a more normal freezer." I shook my head.
"That's magic." I said bluntly, pointing towards the still partially active machine. "And so is that." I swiveled my finger to point towards where his cane was leaned towards the desk. It was practically bursting with barely contained energy, though with only a vague sense from my semblance to work with I couldn't fathom its purpose.
He stared at me, his brow furrowing and his face becoming set in stone as he abandoned his pretense of cluelessness. He stood up, rising to his full height and towering a full three inches over me. A massive gear above us clicked and settled into its next position, casting a shadow over his face as he loomed over his desk.
"Tell me, Mister Crow." He said quietly, revealing that he had already known my name. "What are your intentions with this information? Blackmail? Extortion? What do you want?" I pulled down my hood, then removed my cloth mask and released my semblance's disguising effect. I reached down and nudged the sloppy half built machine I had built towards him.
"I want you to teach me how this works, so I can use it to protect my friends."
"And why would I do that?" He asked pointedly.
"Because you and I both know that something worse than Grimm is out there." I replied. "And that you're out of both patience and ideas, without a Silver Eyed Warrior or a fully realized Maiden on your side you're out of options." I held my hands out to either side, drawing attention to myself. "But I'm new, I'm fresh, and if you teach me what I need to know then I can guarantee you'll be surprised with what I can come invent."
His frown deepened, he was clearly unhappy that I had been somehow spying on his private conversations. However, he actually was considering my proposal. He picked up the small device I had built, then waved a hand and a series of runes and glyphs I had never seen before burst to life all over the device. He studied it for a moment, noting how I had managed to force it to work through sheer trial and error. Finally, he looked back up at me.
"I'll teach you." He declared. "One one condition. When I call, you answer. When I need someone with your skill set, you do it." He shook his head firmly. "Huntsmen have a calling, their gifts give them a responsibility to protect the rest of humanity." He gestured towards me with the device. "This gives you more responsibility than the rest of them. I will not see such power squandered." I stuck out my hand, and we shook.
"Deal."
-/-
My eyes shot open, I wasn't Gary Crow, I was Grayson Phoenix, or at least, I was pretty sure I was. I was definitely standing on a rooftop, and the cold night air surrounded me. I blinked, trying to figure out where I was, then with a sudden rush another memory came upon me.
-/-
I was working on a large casket-like device, easily big enough to fit a fully grown man inside. The device sat in an expansive underground bunker that had been turned into a workshop filled with nearly every tool or device imaginable. One entire wall was filled with microscopes, centrifuges, spectrometers, and other scientific instruments. The opposing wall was filled with more traditional tools like wrenches, screwdrivers, welding torches, and soldering irons.
In my hands I held a series of fine tools, like those of a watchmaker. I carefully carved a rune into the side of the casket, then immediately redrew the rune in permanent marker so I could actually see it. The tools didn't actually carve anything on a physical level, so the runes I made were completely undetectable to someone incapable of actually using magic like myself. Instead, as Ozpin had explained it, the runes operated on a supernatural level, manipulating energy that already surrounded them. Some of that energy must present itself on a physical level however, as with enough focus I could coax my semblance into giving me an impression of it.
Humanity used to be intimately familiar with magic, and thus the runes were only needed to automate magical tasks. They also could only be carved into an object that had been imbued with magic by someone capable of manipulating it, so I was forced to scavenge for materials to work with from abandoned cities that hadn't been touched since the gods had wiped out humanity.
I carved the last few runes into the casket, marking them with the marker, then sat back and reviewed the blueprints for the aura transference machine I had copied while in Doctor Polendina's laboratory. If I had everything built correctly then this should work, finally. Unfortunately this was my seventh attempt at my goal, and the previous six had created horrific results. Scattered pieces of different caskets I had attempted to use littered the corners of the bunker as testament to the progress I was slowly making.
I strode over to a high-end refrigerator marked 'biohazard' and reached within to withdraw a small jar. It contained the left ventricle of my heart, extracted during surgery and then regrown using magic. The ventricle floated in a mixture of my own blood and nutrient dense paste. I placed the jar within the casket of the aura transfer machine, then stepped back. After a deep breath to steel myself I reached down to the control panel on the side and activated the first step of the cloning process.
"My brother, my friend, myself." I recited in English, activating the highly specialized regeneration spell that I had built. I had spent three full weeks infiltrating and scouring privately owned Atlesian archives for Ozpin in order to convince him to teach it to me, and Colonel Ironwood had been stepping up security to counter my activity, but it was hopefully about to be more than worth the effort.
As the regeneration spell took hold of the still living tissue within the jar, it pulsed to life and began consuming the blood and nutrient paste surrounding it to regrow the rest of the heart. The heart finished regrowing in its entirety just as the blood and paste mixture ran out, ending the spell now that there was nothing to draw from.
I donned a pair of elbow length sterilized gloves and flipped a switch on the side of the casket, allowing gallons of the mixture to flow into the basin, filling it to the brim. Once the liquid had settled I reached within it to open the jar and extract the heart, pushing it to gently rest in the top right portion of the casket.
"My brother, my friend, myself." I repeated, and the sides of the casket glowed with golden energy as the regenerating spell kicked in again. The level of the bloody mixture slowly decreased as it was consumed to grow the rest of the body around the heart. I removed the gloves, peeling the opening over the fingers and reversing the glove to keep the mixture from dripping on my equipment. For several minutes the level of the mixture slowly decreased until a face emerged. It was my own face, minus the scar I had picked up on my chin.
The runes I had carved along the casket earlier flashed to life in a repeating pattern, and the eyes of the face glowed a bright blue as they were infused with magic while still growing. I reached down and grabbed a set of heavily modified electronic defibrillators from underneath the casket, poised and waiting for the exact moment that the regeneration spell finished.
I watched with bated breath until the last rune stopped glowing, then slapped the defibrillator paddles onto the chest, one on the sternum opposite the heart, and the other underneath the left armpit to create a circuit that ran through the heart. I set a timer to activate the paddles in fifteen seconds, then quickly stepped into the second casket of the aura transfer machine and punched in the activation command.
A deep, aching, gnawing pain crept into me as a tiny portion of my soul was stripped from me. The fragment flashed a deep cherenkov blue and passed through the machine until it was deposited into the body of the clone. Just as it arrived the defibrillators pulsed on, kickstarting the heart. The clone's eyes snapped open, and he sucked in a deep breath, then flailed awkwardly as he attempted to rip the paddles off of his chest while they shocked his heart into rhythm.
I rushed out of my own casket and ripped the paddles off of him before they caused permanent damage, then examined the clone while he breathed heavily. There was a pale blue light in the back of his eyes, though it was slowly fading as their brown irises asserted themselves and the magical energy faded.
"Hello Grayson." I greeted him, "Welcome to the world."
-/-
I breathed in heavily, trying to keep my balance while the rush of memories flooded through my consciousness. I couldn't even keep track of them as they flew past me, like trying to catch leaves blowing in the wind. Even if I caught hold of one, the others would inevitably escape my grasp. I tipped backwards, and cold metal hands caught my by the shoulders and eased my fall as another memory surged to the forefront of my mind.
-/-
Grayson and I sat quietly in the classroom Ozpin had repurposed to teach us magic. Getting Ozpin to accept Grayson as anything other than an abomination of magic and science had been difficult, but I had found limited success by reminding him of my promise to bring new and useful ideas to his world. Grayson was indeed certainly new, but now it was up to him to prove himself useful.
I struggled my way through the creation of a simple defensive magical item, an amulet designed to deflect projectiles away from the user. This type of magical item was pretty common historically, as most mages wouldn't want to need to worry about defending against an arrow or spell while actively engaged in combat.
Somewhere I had messed up a rune, and I could feel through my semblance that the energy was off, but all the runes I had drawn in marker were correct. I sighed, then set aside the ruined shielding item and started over. As I worked, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Grayson had picked up my discarded project and was examining it carefully. The inner iris of his eyes pulsed with a faint sky blue light, then he pointed towards the back plate of the amulet.
"That's wrong." He remarked unhelpfully. I looked over at it, not seeing the problem. We still spoke to each other in English, our native language since we had grown up in the United States. Fate may have brought me to Remnant, but I still always felt more at ease speaking my native tongue, especially since no one on the planet outside of Grayson and our close friends, who had also come from Earth, seemed to speak it.
"Can you be more specific?" I asked. He obliged, pointing to where the runes were supposed to channel the energy of the projectile away from the bearer.
"This rune here," he replied. "You drew it inside of another rune you already finished, so the energy was overlapping and going nowhere." He reached over to his own workbench and grabbed his tools, erasing and redrawing the runes. He handed it back to me, and I confirmed that it was working correctly.
I sighed deeply, frustrated at myself for making such a simple mistake. Had I been better focused or more experienced then I would have properly marked the first rune and avoided drawing them within each other.
"Don't feel bad," he remarked, sensing my emotions both through my soul linking our minds and by simply reading my body language. "I have a bit of an unfair advantage at this, seeing as I'm basically part magic myself." I grunted and pushed my chair back from my desk, standing and stretching out.
"I should still be better at this." I finally replied bitterly. "I can sense the magic, I know that it's there, I just cannot for the life of me actually make out what's happening." I gestured to where Grayson had already completed three different projects in the time it had taken me to fail at making a single object. He had taken to magic like a duck to water, and despite my own irritation it was heartening to see that he was able to contribute to the group despite his inability to develop an aura.
At the same time, it was incredibly frustrating to see a version of myself succeed so easily at something I simply could not accomplish. Even the casket I had created him in had taken me seven iterations, each one needing to avoid the failures in either my understanding or execution that the others had fallen prey to.
"Hey," he clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Don't sweat it too much, you're still plenty good at other stuff. And besides, I can't even get into a real fight no matter how much magic we strap to me, so you'll always have that advantage."
"Shit, sorry." I said sheepishly. "I didn't mean to dump that on you." Grayson shrugged, pretending to be unaffected by my thoughts. In reality I knew perfectly well that he also somewhat resented the fact that he was without a soul. There was nothing he or I could do about it of course, but our own personal standards ingrained in us by military service on Earth demanded that we excel, and to be only mediocre at something we should be able to do was a constant source of irritation.
"I do have an idea about that." I remarked, referring to his lack of combat ability that we were both thinking about now that I had considered it. "If we produced a powerful enough artifact, something that could blend all the different spells together, then it may be strong enough to let you keep up in a huntsman fight. Ultimately I'd like to try to channel enough energy to keep up with a Maiden, though that may be too much to ask from an inanimate object, no matter how much magic it can channel."
He grinned widely at the prospect, and my mind was flooded with the positive emotions he was broadcasting to me.
"Now that sounds like a plan." He replied cheerfully. "I have a few ideas that I could run by Ozpin, we just need material that is densely imbued enough with magic to power it."
Still grinning, he turned back to his workbench, drawing up plans for the new device. I turned back to my own bench, determined to build the shielding item correctly and without help.
-/-
A cold sweat gripped me, and I writhed on the roof of the hospital as metallic hands fought to keep me still.
"Hang in there Grayson" I voice not unlike my own called out, and for a moment I was unable to determine if it was happening now or in the past.
"You're almost caught up."
-/-
"Gary" Grayson spoke into my mind, visions of marching undercover with Atlesian troops swimming through my vision as he shared his memories in real time. "I need an exit here, it's only a matter of time before I run into somebody who orders me to join up with them for another attack.
"I'm working on it" I shot back "I've got another shuttle coming in 5 minutes from now. Next opportunity you get, break away and I'll send LIWI to get you out, just hang on to your hacking kit no matter what, we need that data."
I turned to coordinate relief efforts, using my semblance to cut through my own jamming towers. I sent Hackett, our candidate for emperor of Mistral and a close friend of mine from Earth, to the front of the line to create a gap so that I could take pressure off of a battalion that was in danger of collapsing.
The monitoring systems and personnel I had in place around the area reported Hackett being blasted through the second floor of a building by a tank shell, only to come bursting back out of the ground floor to physically bend the barrel of the tank at a 45 degree angle.
His semblance, Invictus, allowed him to absorb impressive amounts of damage, and the magical equipment Grayson and I had built for him amplified his strength and size to a significant degree beyond even what a normal huntsman was capable of.
I felt a twinge of frustration as I listened to reports of tanks rolling through the streets of Argus. Logan, another friend of mine, had pushed Mistrali weapons engineers towards more practical Earth based designs, but apparently Atlas had somehow intercepted the designs and begun producing them in order to maintain their technological edge.
Satisfied that the 3rd battalion could hold their own for the time being, I refocused my efforts on navigating Bullheads through the safe zone I had established in Atlas' flak defenses. I still regretted being forced to slaughter the crews of those guns, but in wartime I couldn't let my conscience stop me from killing to protect my own.
I brought out a tablet connected to my network and focused on tracking the radar signatures of our Bullhead fleet. I detected the next one moving quickly through the safe corridor, and sent a ping to the pilot warning him of enemy MANPADs that were spotted setting up on a nearby roof. The pilot acknowledged my signal and dropped his altitude to two hundred feet above ground level, low enough that any enemy set up on the roof of one of the skyscrapers in the business district would lose his signature in the surrounding ground clutter.
In a moment my head was filled with visions as Grayson again attempted to communicate with me. Instead of a coherent thought however, I was flooded with what felt like a thousand chaotic half thought ideas.
I focused on what he was seeing, and visualized myself sprinting at full tilt down a busy street as he was caught in the crossfire between Atlas and the Wings of Freedom troops deployed in that sector. I could tell Grayson was panicking, he was pumped up on so much adrenaline that whatever idea he was trying to send me was immediately replaced with the next before he had even finished thinking about it.
"LIWI" I spoke to the magical belt underneath my battle armor. "I need you to help Grayson, make sure he makes it to the evac zone alive. I'll be fine without you for now but Grayson needs all the help he can get."
LIWI was shorthand for Life Imbued Weaver's Instrument, and was the name Grayson and I had decided upon when creating our most powerful magical artifact to date. The Instrument was magnificent, nearly everything I had ever hoped for, incredible power and almost limitless access to magic contained in a small metallic device that fit conveniently inside of a belt buckle.
While I had not been able to fulfill my original goal of creating an artifact strong enough to allow a mortal to truly compete with a trained huntsman, LIWI had still been tremendously useful in boosting my own abilities well beyond nearly anyone I had met. There had also been a surprising twist of events that I had not foreseen while designing the Instrument.
During the creation process we realized that it would be necessary to give the item some sort of intelligence in order to properly channel and direct the magic. This intelligence, childlike in its curiosity about the world and positive nature, evolved to become known as LIWI, and as our relationship developed Grayson and I began to think of him more akin to a son than a tool.
Sure thing boss.
I heard LIWI speak in my mind as he acknowledged my order to protect Grayson. His adolescent voice was magically transmitted to me through our mental bond. With a small tug of magic he teleported away, instantly reforming around Grayson's waist and began surging magic into the hapless clone, making him faster and stronger as he ran full tilt across a wide street towards the entrance to a damaged office building.
I watched, transfixed, as Grayson's head snapped to the right at a painful angle. Pain radiated from his left temple as a bullet caught him dead on the side of his head, chewing a path through his brain matter and lodging itself firmly in his skull.
I felt all of it in the instant it happened, the pain causing me to cry out in agony and drop to my knees. The visions from Grayson fluttered, fading in and out. I half saw, half felt, LIWI transform himself into his human form and attempt to carry Grayson to safety. I felt LIWI's arms hook under Grayson's shoulders, magic healing flowing into Grayson's skull in a desperate attempt to keep him alive.
Suddenly, a warm splatter of blood splashed onto the back of Grayson's head, and as Grayson's head lolled backwards I caught a glimpse of LIWI clutching at a bullet hole that had appeared in his chest. LIWI and Grayson crossed the threshold into the office building as the magical healing fluttered and failed, then I saw simply black for a moment before losing all contact.
-/-
I coughed myself awake, head pounding and heart racing. I was in the recovery position, lying on a rooftop. My stomach did flip flops and I rolled over, retching up a half digested hospital sandwich as waves of nausea traveled up and down my entire body. After a few minutes of dry heaving I eventually managed to calm my body, which had experienced tremendous psychological whiplash from living a thousand different memories in the span of what had probably only been a few minutes.
Slowly, I sorted through the different memories, trying to piece together some sense of self. I had felt myself slipping as I was inundated with Gary's experiences, and I needed to parse through them to figure out which memories were mine and which were his.
"Are you alright?" Gary asked from my right side, "that looked pretty rough, Ego death was a common issue early on in the process but I hoped you would be okay this time. I guess I shouldn't have tried to send you so much at once." With a final shudder I felt the nausea pass. I sat up, avoiding the pool of vomit I had left on the roof, and looked at him.
"You," I said shakily, "Are a tremendous asshole." He smiled and clapped me on the back.
"That's the spirit, now come on we gotta get moving before anybody figures out we're up here." I scooted closer to the belt, to LIWI as I now remembered him.
"I'm not going." I said flatly. He turned back to me, confusion evident on his face.
"What do you mean?" He demanded. "You remember now, you know who you actually are. So now that there's no confusion we can get the hell out of here and back to Mistral." I reached a hand backwards and grabbed LIWI, pulling him in and clasping him around my waist.
Familiarity, Comfort.
"No" I said, "I remember who you are, and I might remember how I was made, how I came to be, but I already knew who I was." He sighed, exasperated.
"You're Grayson Crow, you are me. If you remember who I am then you remember who you are. You're not an Atlesian Soldier, you're not from Remnant, you're from Earth."
I shook my head, "I am from Remnant, don't you remember? You built me here, everything I've ever actually done, seen, felt, or experienced, has been here. And ever since I woke up in a warzone I have been an Atlesian Soldier." I pointed a finger at him, jabbing it forward in the crisp night air to emphasise my point. "I'm not you, I'm not what you think I am, or who you want me to be."
I reached down and grasped at the holo tags around my neck, taking solace in their reassuring presence. On the face of the tags there was simple uncomplicated text. 'Specialist Grayson Phoenix, Atlesian Army'. Bold blocky letters that declared with uncaring confidence a name, a role, and a purpose.
"I am Specialist Phoenix." I declared. "In every way that matters." He looked disappointed, though a clear anger was emerging.
"Really? And how does LIWI feel about this?" He asked in an angry sarcastic tone. "Does he want to stay here with Atlas instead of coming back to our friends with me?" I reached a hand down to grip LIWI, his magical energy running reassuringly through me.
"Well LIWI? What do you think?" I asked. A small gout of flame erupted from the ground between us, forming into the shape of a middle finger pointed towards Gary.
Irritation. Betrayal.
"I think that settles it from him." I remarked.
"Seriously? This is ridiculous!" he shouted. "What part of this isn't making sense here? YOU DO NOT WORK FOR ATLAS! YOU WORK FOR ME! WE'RE A DYNAMIC FREAKING DUO!" He stepped closer to me, jabbing an angry finger into my chest.
"Do you know how long I have been searching for you? The things I've done to track you down?" He stepped closer to me, getting in my face and listing off things on his fingers.
"I have begged, borrowed, stolen, kidnapped, killed, and a dozen other messed up things over the last two weeks just to find you two and keep you safe! I haven't had a full night's sleep in over fifteen days, I have sacrificed territory and allowed Atlas to push us to our breaking point because I was too busy trying to save you. And this is the thanks I get?" He took a half step back and continued his rant.
"Please tell me, because I'm just dying to know, what gives you the right to just throw everything we've done together out the window like this? What gives you the right to abandon me, to abandon our friends when they need us?"
"You want to know what gives me the right?" I asked rhetorically. "Alright then, I'll show you." I stepped towards him, reaching up to grab the sides of his head. Inside my mind I found the bridge between our minds and poured every memory I had created since I awoke in the rubble into him.
I forced him to live out my confusion and fear as I searched for allies in a warzone. My relief at finding Sergeant Helmsman and his squad, my gratitude to Captain Stone for defending our squad, and my sadness when Helmsman and many of the others died attacking the weapon's depot.
Days shot through him as we both relived my time at the Argus base. He saw how Captain Stone defended me when the doctors wanted me locked up, and the training I did with team SAGE, how we gradually got to know each other as we fought and trained. I showed him how I found purpose, found comfort in the companionship I felt with my fellow soldiers and the welcoming presence of SAGE.
Then I forced him to experience how I lost it all in one day. I showed him Sergeant Zim being cooked alive by his trap. Made him experience my team carrying the bodies of our fallen to our vehicles for a proper burial, even knowing that it would slow us down. Then he and I watched together as he himself ambushed us, attacking Lieutenant Amber and mortally wounding me.
We watched Private Wilks fight tooth and nail to carry me to safety, how I was only alive because of his efforts and because Captain Stone charged through enemy held territory and Grimm infested forests alone. Then, finally I showed him how much effort the Atlesian medical staff had gone through not only to keep me alive, but to help me walk again. At every turn, he and his forces attacked and killed the friends I had made, but we carried on regardless, pushing aside fear and uncertainty to fight despite the danger.
Finally, I released him, and he stumbled backwards. He dry heaved for a moment, his sense of self disrupted from the blast of memories, then slowly stood and turned to face me, sadness on his face replacing the earlier anger.
"I understand what you went through," he said, "And I'm sorry for what happened, but that wasn't the true you. The true you is Grayson Crow, my friend, and the closest thing I have left to a brother." I shook my head firmly in reply.
"No," I declared forcefully. "That's who I used to be, before this happened. But that man died alone in an abandoned office trying to escape a warzone that you created. The new me is the man I have become, and I will not be dragged down by your image of me." He stared at me sadly, almost appearing to be on the verge of tears.
"If you choose to go down this path you'll make us enemies" he said. "I won't be able to keep you safe, and if you try to fight us you will lose every time." I nodded, understanding that he was probably right. I would never be able to beat him in a fight, even with LIWI's help.
"I know,'' I replied. "But I won't be doing anything that any of a thousand other soldiers wouldn't do by going against you. If it comes down to it then I'll fight you, and if I die then I'll die fighting for the people beside me." He gave me a long look.
"I hope it doesn't come to that," he said somberly. "I hope this war is over before either of us has to hurt the other, and in my heart I know you're just confused. So just know that any time you choose I'm just a memory away, and I'll always welcome you back."
I offered a hand and he shook it, a mutual understanding passing between us. He gathered his helmet and resealed his armor. He nodded to me. I nodded back, and he leapt from the rooftop, flaring his inky black cape and vanishing into the night.
-/-
I descended the stairwell of the hospital to the ground floor, checking on the guards that Thanatos, or Cole as I now knew him, had drained. They appeared stable, though many were struggling to stand as they slowly regained strength and dexterity in their limbs.
Outside I found Lieutenant Rivers being attended by EMTs in the back of an ambulance. The entire scene was saturated in police lights, and emergency responders rushed to and fro. The Lieutenant had reinjured his arm by attempting to fight before it had healed, but gave me a cheerful thumbs up with his good hand and pointed me towards where Captain Stone and Sergeant Green were in a discussion with two other operatives.
"Captain" I greeted Stone as I approached, rendering a quick salute. She returned it, then indicated to one of the operatives she was speaking with.
"This is Major Isaac Fin, leader of team FRIL. He's coordinating response, any intel you have on the intruders is welcome." I noted the disparity between Captain Stone's torn and burned formal uniform and the Major's clean and well pressed service dress. I popped him another salute, and he returned it casually.
The major was about five foot ten, a fairly average height for the Atlesian populace. He was shorter than myself and Sergeant Green, but still almost a foot taller than Captain Stone.
"Major" I greeted him, "I know they have a Bullhead transport aircraft somewhere around here, I heard them mention it as they separated. Unfortunately I don't know where. Hyperion disappeared and I don't know where he went." The Major appeared lost in thought, stroking his blond mustache as he considered possibilities. When he finally spoke, his gaze never left Captain Stone.
"A shame that you couldn't capture them, soldier. Ah, but I'm sure you did your best, don't worry. Team FRIL can take over for team SAGE from here, you just rest up and get back into fighting form!" He spoke with what I would characterize as an upper crust accent, putting his chest into his words and ensuring he had excellent enunciation.
Captain Stone turned to address me, a neutral expression on her face.
"Specialist, let's talk somewhere where we won't disturb the major while he plans what to do next." She indicated a spot next to where Lieutenant Rivers was being treated, and the three of us left the two members of Team FRIL to their discussions. Sergeant Green broke off to speak to one of the EMTs, but stayed within easy earshot of us. Once Lieutenant Rivers' Cone of Silence was firmly planted between us and team FRIL Captain Stone shot an evil glance over her shoulder at the major.
"Prick," she spat. Then she turned back to me, giving me a shove that for her was light, but for me was hard enough to knock me off balance and force me to stumble a few steps back.
"What happened back there?" She demanded. "Where did you go?"
"Sorry" I replied, "Hyperion grabbed me and took me to the roof. I got back down as soon as I could." She crossed her arms, understanding that I couldn't beat him in a fight, but still upset.
"I guess we should count ourselves lucky he let you go at all. What did he want from you anyways?" She asked. "It's one thing to insist that we hand you over when we're actively conducting operations on Mistrali territory, but to hunt you all the way to Atlas is just ridiculous!" I paused before replying, unsure of whether or not to be wholly truthful in my answer.
Caution.
LIWI urged me to avoid telling her everything I had learned. I decided to split the difference between the whole truth and a lie.
"He wanted to talk, to try and recruit me to his side." That was true enough, though I felt guilty leaving out a few key details.
"Seriously?" She asked, almost incredulous. "What did you tell him?" I shrugged, carefully concealing the turmoil of emotions I still felt regarding him.
"I told him I wouldn't join him in a hundred years." I replied simply. Lieutenant Rivers snorted with silent laughter in the back of the ambulance, having kept up with the conversation silently. He made a few signs to me with one hand, I had been working on my sign language, but could only pick up on 'good job' and 'screw that guy,' the rest I pieced together through context. I continued speaking once the Lieutenant finished.
"He actually did know me," I told Captain Stone, "And he filled in a lot of the gaps that I was missing over the last few years. Apparently he and I used to work together a lot until recently. He was pretty upset when I didn't join up with him. He agreed to leave for now, but I expect he'll try to recruit me again." Evelynn nodded.
"That makes sense, you're a useful asset. When you aren't off causing more trouble than you're worth." I smiled at her comment with more enthusiasm than I actually felt.
"Gee thanks Captain, that warms my heart."
She waved a hand dismissively.
"Don't get used to it, I'm going to need a lot more from you than 'useful' over the next few months."
"Does that mean I'll still be working with team SGE?" I asked hopefully.
"I'll do you one better" she replied, withdrawing a crumpled and crushed letter with an official Atlesian seal from her jacket pocket.
"This is your official invitation to join team SGGE, it's still going to be pronounced 'sage' but the three of us discussed it, and high command just approved you as a probationary member earlier tonight."
Sergeant Green piped up from where he had so far been leaning against the ambulance Lieutenant Rivers was being treated in.
"For the record I was pretty 50/50 against it."
Captain Stone gave him a light punch on the arm.
"Shut up Randall'' she ordered semi-cheerfully. "Eugene wasn't exactly stoked about you joining at first either." Green looked genuinely hurt at that comment, but did his duty and shut up. Stone continued addressing me.
"If you choose to accept it, then your placement on the team will come with a promotion to Sergeant, and access to the Atlesian Operative Armory, where you will be invited to design and build your own weapon tailor suited to your unique abilities." She glanced down at the rest of the letter,
"Yada yada yada, so on and so forth'' she continued, waving a hand "Basically you get some cool stuff but also acknowledge this is a voluntary assignment and if you get killed it's all your fault." She folded the letter in half and stuck it back in her pocket.
"So, what do you say, specialist?"
For the second time in the last few minutes I was shocked.
"I uh, I don't really know what to say ma'am." Doubt flooded my mind. I couldn't join a huntsman team with no aura. Even with LIWI, I was no match for any of the members of SAGE, and I definitely wouldn't be able to keep up with them if we fought other huntsmen. Captain Stone nodded wisely as I wrestled with self doubt.
"Then let me impart some wisdom." She offered. "If you want it, you say 'yes' if you don't want it, say 'no.'"
"I want it ma'am. Badly." I was surprised to hear myself say, but realistically joining SGGE was the only way for me to have a chance at beating Gary. I needed friends and allies, as well as the opportunity to take the fight to him.
"Then?" she asked. I nodded firmly.
"Then, 'yes.'" I replied. "I accept the offer to join team SGGE. Just one question, am I first or second G?"
Sergeant Green raised a hand.
"Seniority rules I'm afraid, I'm first G." I nodded, and stuck out my hand to shake with Captain Stone and Sergeant Green.
"Good enough for me," I declared. Lieutenant Rivers came out from the ambulance and we awkwardly shook around his new sling. I turned back to Captain Stone.
"Do you happen to know by chance where a set of fine tools ended up? I took them from Hyperion's hideout, but I think they went missing about the same time that my belt here did."
Evelynn nodded, withdrawing the wallet sized pack of fine engraving tools from an inner jacket pocket. Their titanium carrying case had apparently protected them during the fight.
"I've been wanting to talk with you about that, '' she said. "I took the belt and tools from the base armory the day we shipped back to Atlas. I figured they would be important to you when you woke up from surgery. But when I was carrying the belt around I could swear I felt some sort of emotions coming from it. Like it was happy I was holding onto it, and was scared anytime I put it down."
Chagrin.
I nodded.
"That doesn't surprise me, I don't know everything about him, but LIWI is pretty prone to emotional attachment from what I do remember." She gave me a deadpan expression,
"LIWI?" she asked. "It has a name?"
"He" I corrected, "And yes his name is LIWI, I just learned that earlier from Hyperion, apparently he and I were both on the project that created him." Another half truth. I tried to lie in a way that wasn't technically a lie but also would lead her to make false assumptions about my origins. She was still offering the tools, so I took them from her.
"I'm pretty sure that with these tools and some time to work I can repair him, maybe even restore him back to his former glory."
"What kind of project was this?" Evelynn asked, still concerned about the implications of the information I had shared. I sought for a way to deflect the question without revealing the existence of magic. Even though I trusted Evelynn I knew that if she found out it would only be a matter of time before she discussed it with somebody higher in the chain of command, and that would have devastating consequences for LIWI and myself.
"The extremely classified kind." I replied after a brief pause. Sergeant Green piped up again, though this time without a smart remark.
"That checks out ma'am, I got this friend over in base supply back in Argus who was telling me about this whole project Atlas high command was working on to create some sort of artificial life, really cool stuff apparently, all unofficial though of course. It wouldn't surprise me if this was some sort of offshoot of that program. After all, it seems super useful." Captain Stone sighed.
"Is there anybody you're not friends with Sergeant?" She asked with a sigh. He shrugged, "What can I say ma'am, I'm a likable kind of guy I guess."
"Fine" she decided. "I'm not going to worry about what special forces decides to keep secret, so long as it works for me and not against me. Does LIWI intend to work for me on this team?" I unbuckled him and held him out so we could both be in contact with him at the same time.
"See for yourself." She held out a hand and we both felt LIWI's response.
Affirmation, Excitement! Family!
"Good enough for me," She declared firmly. "Tomorrow I want you to report to the AOA Armory and get working on your new weapon, Eugene needs time to heal anyways so I figure we've got a few weeks to get some quality training in before we ship out."