Author's Note: Grayson and LIWI versus Gary Crow. This is one of the chapters I had in mind from the very beginning of the story, hopefully the descriptions are easy to follow for people not well versed in combat sports or martial arts.

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 25

Mirror Match

I landed in snow halfway up to my knees, then dodged out of the way as Gary broke the grapple by slapping a pair of aura blocking cuffs onto Evelynn and throwing her at me. She hit the cliff behind me hard, crying out in pain as her aura failed to protect her, then fell to the snowy forest floor. I raised my sword and charged, plowing a path through the snow as the magic coursing through me and the powered armor around me enhanced my strength and dexterity to superhuman levels.

Gary met my charge by snapping his spear up into a guard stance, deflecting my swing and striking out with the haft to catch me in the knee. The knee buckled, and his next strike caught my right arm. Numb fingers dropped my sword to the ground, and I rolled backwards out of the way of his next swing. As I came back up from the roll I reached across my body with my left hand to draw my revolver from my right thigh. I pulled the revolver free, holding it upside down due to the awkward draw angle, then brought it up to fire at Gary using my pinky finger to pull the trigger.

My first shot hit his shoulder, and his Cherenkov blue aura flashed to protect him. My next two hit his hands, knocking his spear out of his hands much the same as he had disarmed Evelynn. I went to fire again, but he closed the distance between us and engaged me in a fist fight. I brought my numb right hand up to guard as his own right slapped the revolver out of my left.

He pivoted on his left foot, bringing his right leg up into a turn kick. I stepped backwards out of his reach, so he carried through, crouching down as his right foot came down in front of us, then leaping up and towards me, whipping around in a circle as he jumped and twisting his torso to the side in midair to bring his right leg up in a second flying turn kick to chase me. I saw the second kick coming the second he crouched, as I had used it myself dozens of times when I had been him, so I stepped forwards and into it, bringing my forearms up to block and making contact with his thigh and knee where the power generated by the kick was weaker.

As he came back to the ground I grabbed his right leg with my left arm, preventing him from getting it onto the ground, then delivered an uppercut to his jaw with my right arm. His helmet snapped back, aura flashing to protect him, and he was forced to half jump half fall backwards to escape my grip on his leg. He tucked into the same backwards roll that I had just used, then came up in a wide stance, hands extended away from his body to redirect kicks, legs splayed and weight on the back foot to allow for a snap kick from the front or a power kick from the back. I dropped into a boxing stance, recognizing that the snow would slow me down too much for any complex kicks.

We advanced on each other carefully. He snapped a kick with his front left leg and I batted it down with my right arm, my wrist making firm contact with his ankle and deflecting it. Before his foot had returned to the ground he leapt up again, using his aura enhanced strength to push off the ground with his right leg and deliver another turn kick. This one caught my guard at the intended distance and I rocked to the side as all the energy was properly imparted. I kept advancing, drawing him into punching range. He brought his left leg up again for another snap kick aimed at my thigh, but I raised my knee to block with the shin guard. Metal armor clanged together, and I threw a jab, cross, jab, hook combination, striking out at his head.

His wide extended hands were improperly positioned to block punches, but his superior speed made up for it as he slapped my punches out of the air, then crouched low and delivered a punch to my ribs. The armor absorbed much of the strike, but LIWI's protective spell still flashed and failed. The energy needed to properly protect me was simply too much for the spell to maintain. He followed up with a lightning fast uppercut to my jaw that I again failed to block, then struck me twice more with a jab, cross combination. The strikes sent me reeling, and I tried to regain my balance as my brain forgot for a split second what was happening.

"LIWI" I called out, "I need you here!"

Gary pushed forwards again, driving me backwards with a front kick. I blocked the kick by knocking it to the side, but he just set the leg down immediately and used it as a brace to advance into a reverse side kick. The side kick caught me on my guard with no deflection, sending me flying as he was able to impart a tremendous amount of his aura and armor enhanced strength. I hit the ground and tumbled through the cold snow, rolling desperately to try to regain my footing. He leapt onto me, assuming the front mount position with his hips on my chest and his weight forcing me down into the ground.

His hands sought my right wrist, trying to force me into a joint lock. I reached up to try and fight him off with my left, but he brought his right knee up onto my arm to pin it. He successfully captured my right wrist and hooked it into a kimura. My shoulder screamed in agony as he twisted my arm behind my back, bringing it nearly to the breaking point, then pausing.

"You gonna tap out?" He asked breathlessly, the speakers of his helmet pitching his voice much lower than it normally was. He was exerting himself, but the tone of his voice told me that he still saw our fight as more of a game, something he was doing to humor me.

"Never!" I replied angrily, sitting up and forcing more pressure onto my shoulder. My right arm popped free of its socket and the muscle tore as we both collectively forced it to bend farther than was possible.

I screamed in pain, but the movement freed my left arm from under his leg. I brought the hand up in a palm strike as LIWI channeled a concussive blast of magic into it. I struck him in the chestplate, right below the neck, and he was launched backwards off of me to go tumbling in the snow a dozen or so feet away from me.

Be careful! LIWI called out, I can't keep healing you forever!

I sat up fully, gritting my teeth as I forced my right arm back into its socket, then let it dangle as LIWI repaired the torn muscles and ligaments. Gary and I both stood slowly, eyeing each other behind faceless helmets. The entire fight had taken less than twenty seconds, and I was already losing. My eyes shot to where my sword lay half buried in the snow, and I knew his were searching for his spear. As one, we brought our hands up and shouted the command words.

"To me, my weapon!"

The sword and spear wobbled for a moment, as if trying to make up their mind, then flew to our hands, his spear to mine, my sword to his.

"Huh," he said in a curious tone, "That's a first."

Not bothering to respond I snapped the spear up into a guard position, familiar memories of training with it as him flowing into my mind as I dropped into my stance. He meanwhile brought the sword up to block relatively awkwardly, not having any recent experience wielding one. We charged each other again, striking out at the same time. I struck high in a stab as he swung low in a slash. My strike connected, causing his aura to flash again, still frustratingly strong. I brought my left arm down as his slash came in, activating the hexagonal hardlight shield and blocking his strike. The sword bit partly into the hardlight construct as the magic edge asserted itself, but it was still stopped. I withdrew the spear, then dropped into a thrusting stance, shield held out in front of me to protect my chest and spear angled forwards to rest above the shield. I stabbed out twice, forcing him to deflect with the sword and putting him on the back foot.

I pushed forwards, the tip of my spear searching for one of the weak points in his armor. He countered by leaping up and back, flying well outside the reach of my spear with his aura infused legs as his cape whipped around him. His left wrist came up and I saw a small cylindrical weapon emerge from the armor.

"Frost Fall!"

He shouted, and a bolt of cold struck out from his wrist, hitting me in the leg. The nerves in my leg screamed like they were on fire, and it refused to move correctly as the servos locked up from the cold. I found the concealed button on his spear, transforming it back into his marksman's rifle, and sighted in on him. I depressed the trigger rapidly to unleash a flurry of shots at him. The armor piercing metal slugs bit deeply into his armor, triggering several bright flashes of his aura. He dove sideways behind a tree and out of my direct line of fire, but I continued shooting, trusting the bullets to pierce through the comparatively flimsy wood.

He re-emerged from the right side of the tree, and I sighted on him, but a split second later he also emerged from the left side, then a half dozen more of him came out from behind the tree as he created illusions to rush me down. I fired into them, but the magazine ran dry before I found the real one, and he rushed into me, stabbing me with my sword. He caught me in the right bicep, just under the armor plating, then used his free hand to rip the rifle out of my hands. He tossed the spear aside, making a V with his index and middle finger and jabbing it up into my neck.

"Spark Send." He ordered quietly, and electricity sparked between his fingers.

I felt a strong shock in my neck spreading like icy fire as every nerve ending cried out. The helmet I wore was from my original armor, and the connection between the two suits wasn't fully adequate. The electricity caused the connections between the armor and the helmet to fail, and Gary reached his hand up to hook under the helmet, ripping it off my head. Finally he delivered a front kick to my torso, sending me flying backwards to crash into the cliff next to Evelynn.

He calmly retrieved his rifle, then ejected the magazine from the weapon and loaded a fresh one, pointing it directly at me. Evelynn was still struggling to free herself from the aura handcuffs next to me. They were of a different design than the ones we had, and featured robust armor and anti tampering measures that made it exceptionally difficult to escape from them on your own. I struggled to my feet, but froze as he pivoted his rifle to point at Evelynn instead.

"I'd say 'don't move'" He said calmly, "But that would probably be redundant." I stared at him, still half way in a crouch, my shoulders heaving as I breathed deeply. LIWI's enhancing magic was surging through me, pushing me to act, and my eyes bounced around the environment searching desperately for a way to fight back without getting Evelynn killed. Gary stabbed my sword into the ground, then calmly reached up and tapped a button on the side of his helmet. The helmet's seals broke, and he pulled it off. Evelynn sucked in a breath as she saw his face, my face, looking back at her.

"Hey Evelynn." He said cheerfully, "Miss me?" Evelynn looked at me in shock, noting the exact similarities in our faces.

"You?" she asked, then shook her head, "No way" she insisted, "You do illusions all the time, this is just another one of those." Gary shook his head.

"I'm afraid not Evelynn, and besides, I work with light, not sound, do you think I could replicate his voice like this?" I stood up slightly straighter, feeling LIWI surging angrily as he searched for an outlet to his magic, and his frustrations.

"What are you doing?" I asked him, my voice dripping with icy fury.

"Well," he replied, "I just think that Evelynn here should have all the facts, don't you?" Evelynn looked up at me, her golden eyes searching for me to offer her an answer that could explain what she was seeing. I looked at her, but had nothing to offer. Gary spoke up unhelpfully, twisting the metaphorical knife.

"Grayson here is my exact clone." He informed her. "That means that everything, down to the mannerisms, memories, and decisions he makes are exactly the same as mine."

"Not everything!" I cut him off angrily, "I separated from you, I cut you off! I'm not you anymore!"

He just shrugged, nonplussed by my outburst.

"Tell her what you want, but we both know that when push comes to shove, you're still me. I mean, just look at where we are. A cave in the middle of nowhere. Do you really think it's a coincidence that both of us designed the same strategy for hiding captured huntsmen away from prying eyes?"

Evelynn stopped trying to break out of the cuffs as the revelation hit her.

"You knew where he would keep David." She said softly, "You knew how he would conduct his surveillance, what he would do if we didn't meet our end of the bargain." She looked up at me angrily, "You knew he would kill David!" She shouted at me, "That was your fault!" Gary grinned as he saw her turn on me, and my anger boiled over.

"My fault?" I shouted back, "I did everything I could! I have never given this team anything other than the best I had! I'd have gotten him out if he hadn't been dumb enough to set off that trap!"

"More like everything LIWI had," Gary interjected. "We both know you're not really a contributor. Without him you're just the ideas guy, in a real fight you're basically two steps above victim."

LIWI pulsed around my waist, causing lightning to spark between my fingers as his anger boiled over. Evelynn just looked hurt at my outburst, and I realized too late what I had said.

"Look" I said, forcing myself to be calm. "We can talk about this later, okay?" I subtly pulled my scroll off my belt with my left hand, carefully hiding it from Gary's view behind my back. I tapped the button to call Sergeant Green on the other side of the ridgeline, hoping he would be able to help. Evelynn saw the scroll, and her eyes narrowed.

"We can talk about it now, Grayson." She replied angrily.

"Well then." Gary spoke up, "Let's drop some more bombshells shall we?" He sounded far too cheerful for the man destroying my life. "First," he began. "Grayson isn't really Atlesian military, obviously. Second, the only reason his cover held up this long is because everybody from his old unit is dead, because we killed them. That was his idea by the way."

Evelynn's eyes burned with fury, and I could see her envisioning killing both Gary and myself in a dozen different ways.

"Third," Gary continued, "I can see what you're trying to do, and I already killed the call."

I looked down at my scroll in surprise to see a 'no signal' warning in the corner. I looked at Gary, who held one palm out as if he was cupping something invisible.

"I control light, remember?" He asked. "That includes scroll signals." He closed the palm, crushing the invisible signal. "So." He asked, "Where do we want to start this off?"

I looked at Evelynn, desperately searching for a way to deny what Gary was telling her.

"Look," I began, "I really didn't know any of that when you found me, I actually do have amnesia."

Gary made an aggressive sound like a buzzer on a game show.

"Incorrect, Grayson here has almost all of my memories from the last few years, because I gave them back to him on the hospital rooftop. He however, neglected to mention this I assume." He continued in a cheerful tone, "I know I'm correct because I wouldn't have mentioned it, and he's still me."

I stood straight fully and took a step towards him angrily, but he just gestured with the rifle at Evelynn, and I stopped mid stride.

"Go on." he said in a mock motivational tone, "Try again. Maybe you'll find a story she'll actually believe." I breathed deeply, then turned back to her.

"I'm not him." I insisted, "He believes this war is justified, because he wants to remove Ironwood from power. He thinks that the only way to do that is to spark a war that kills tens of thousands on both sides."

"Ding ding ding!" Gary shouted, continuing his game show host act. "Truthful statement! Partially at least. What Grayson here neglected to mention is that he helped plan this entire war out." I turned back to him, pointing with a finger so filled with rage that it shook.

"Will you shut. The FUCK! UP!" I screamed so loud I could feel my throat tearing, "I swear to GOD I will kill you!" He just smiled, and gestured for me to continue.

Evelynn looked between us, seeing the anger, and I realized I might have a way to convince her that I really was different. For all of Gary's boasting about us being the same, I was the only one who had spent time with Team SGGE. I was the only one who knew how to connect with Evelynn. I crouched down, taking hold of one of her hands.

"Alright" I said quietly, "He's got me beat here, I have to admit that. Yes, I am his clone, yes I used to be him. I don't have an aura because I don't have a soul, because he built me. But I made you a promise, I swore to you that I would help you kill him and destroy everything he ever made. Now, he and I built LIWI together, and I'll never let anything happen to LIWI, but everything else he has built, everything he has done, I will help you bring it all down. I'll help you kill him, and when everything is said and done and I'm the last mark he has made on this world... I'll help you remove that too. if you want."

She stared at me, and it felt like she was trying to see into my nonexistent soul. For a long moment I held my breath, if she rejected my help now then I would have nobody left to turn to. I'd be on my own until one side or the other hunted me down and finally captured me. Finally, she took hold of my hand back, squeezing it so hard that I thought the bones may break.

"Deal." She spat.

-/-

My left hand slipped between our hands and grabbed the cuffs. LIWI blasted a disintegration spell through my palm, and the cuffs crumbled to dust. Evelynn used her grip on my hand to pull me down as she stood up, then jumped up on the cliff wall and kicked off, using her momentum to throw me towards Gary. He opened fire on us as we moved, but LIWI shot an ice wall out of the ground, blocking a half dozen shots before they could find us.

I sailed over the wall, twisting in midair so my feet were above my head and reaching out my hand, as I shouted the command phrase for my weapon. It dug itself out of the snow and leapt to my palm. I finished my flip, landing feet first and snapping my weapon to its rifle form, then emptied the magazine towards Gary. He dodged to the side as a handful of my shots connected with him, splitting into a half dozen holograms and returning fire. A rubber bullet pinged off my armor, then another hit me in the forehead. I fell backwards as LIWI's spell failed to protect me from the full impact and my brain was rattled from the unprotected blow. I hit the snow, fighting to stay alert as my brain tried to shut itself down to protect me. I rolled sideways instinctively, not even seeing Gary slamming his taser glove into the snow where my head had been a half second before.

I got my knees underneath me and made to stand when another shot slammed into the side of my temple. I collapsed sideways, barely understanding where I was through the haze of pain and confusion that gripped me. I dimly held up a hand to protect myself, feeling another rubber bullet impact my glove, breaking my ring finger with the impact. Then the shots stopped, and I had a moment to recover as healing magic flowed through me.

I'm almost tapped out here, LIWI warned me. Make it count.

I raised my head, still disoriented, to see Gary splitting into a dozen holographic images, only to be overtaken by an avalanche of rocks as the entire ridgeline seemed to have split open and poured itself out onto him. The holograms broke and faded out, leaving only the real Gary to be crushed and surrounded by rocks. His rifle was knocked from his hand by a boulder as the tidal wave of tumbling stones buried him.

I staggered to my feet, fumbling with my magazine pouch as I desperately tried to reload. I had just barely managed to finish loading the rifle when a large section of the avalanche was bathed in green light emanating from beneath the rocks. The stones crumbled to dust, blowing away in the light breeze as Gary dragged himself out, wispy smoke emanating from the magic weapon built into the wrist of his armor as the green glow faded away.

Evelynn charged towards him, swinging her hammer as she dashed forwards, and I fired off a dozen shots to distract him and allow her to land a blow. My shots flew through my target, then the hologram winked out as he appeared just a few feet behind the captain. He raised his right arm, the magic weapon surging with renewed power as he chanted the command phrase.

"Ashes to ashes." He recited bitterly. "Dust to dust." The disintegration spell built up power within the cylinder as he chanted, and Evelynn turned too late to dodge. The beam struck her squarely in the chest, shattering her purple aura. Her armor flashed bright green and white in a swirl of energy as the defensive spell I had woven into it absorbed part of the blast, preventing her from being killed outright, then she fell backwards as the protective runes inside her armor exploded outwards from the excessive energy buildup. Gary held out his hand, recalling his rifle, then looked at me. I turned my own rifle towards him, but he casually placed two rounds into my right bicep where the sword wound was freshly healed, and my arm fell limp.

"You know, Grayson." He said in a serious tone, "She may hate me more than you right now, but now she knows about you, and soon so will everyone else. I'm willing to forget and forgive if you come back to us, will they be so kind?"

"It doesn't matter." I spat, standing up with my limp right arm dangling awkwardly. The arm screamed as some of the last of LIWI's magic slowly forced the bullets back out and repaired the damage. "What you're doing is wrong. I'll fight you whether they want me to or not."

He just shook his head sadly.

"We'll see, but that offer will still stand. Once this war is over and done, there won't even be a reason not to come back. We're the only people who will care about you."

Evelynn reached up, trying to grab his ankle to trip him, but he kicked her in the face with his armored boot. He leaned down, looming over her as she blinked in pain.

"I promised I wouldn't kill you." He told her angrily. "Don't make me change my mind."

"Promised... who?" She asked painfully, spitting out blood as her broken nose bled into her throat. Gary responded by pulling a scroll from his belt and dropping it onto her lap.

"Watch it, and you'll see." Gary replied. He looked up towards me, offering a hand outwards towards me while simultaneously leaving his rifle pointed threatening towards Evelynn at his feet.

"You're not ready to come with me yet I guess." He said sadly. "But you will be soon. I'll be there when you need me, just like always. All you have to do is ask."

He vanished, and a moment later his discarded helmet similarly disappeared. I let my rifle barrel drop as he left, finally giving in to the wounds in my arm and the intense feeling of fatigue that lingered after being filled with so much magic. I looked around, but couldn't spot him anywhere. With a sense of building doom, I trudged through the snow towards where Evelynn lay atop her avalanche. The snow was trodden and plowed in odd patterns by the fight, splashed with crimson blood in the places I had been wounded. The arrangements of red and white struck my foggy brain as somehow artistic in nature, like a splash of paint on stark white pebble garden. I climbed up the rocks to find Evelynn breathing heavily through her mouth as blood flowed from her nose around her hand. I dropped to my knees, placing a palm on her shoulder.

"Give her whatever you can spare" I told LIWI, and I felt a trickle of healing eke out from my hand. The blood stopped, and I collapsed backwards. For a long moment I stared up at the sky, too exhausted to pay attention to anything other than breathing.

Finally, I became aware of more than my immediate surroundings, realizing that the fighting on the other side of the ridge had stopped. A small beep sounded from the scroll Gary had given Evelynn, and the sound of Lieutenant David Amber's voice filled my ears, alongside Gary's unfiltered tone. My mind flashed back to the day that I had failed to rescue the young lieutenant, and the memories that had been partially shared with me in my delirious state as Private Wilks carried me to safety.

-/-

As Gary, I saw Lieutenant Amber kneeling in front of me. He had lost his weapons, and his uniform was torn along the right sleeve. His normally white Atlesian uniform, already dirtied from being worn for several days, now featured mud stains along the knees and elbows, presumably from where he had been crawling to try to escape me. Blood dripped from a gunshot wound in his gut, just below the rib cage. He was kneeling on the ground with his hand outstretched on a tree to help him keep his balance, his face a mask of pain and regret. I expected to see anger, rage even, but instead he seemed largely resigned to his fate.

I leveled my rifle at his head, but felt a small twinge in my gut as I came face to face with him. He should have been angry, either at me or the world in general. Instead, he looked closer to being disappointed, sad maybe. With a long sigh I lowered my rifle, then reached up and removed my helmet, tossing it aside. I crouched down, still well outside of his reach and confident he had no way to attack me.

"Look" I said awkwardly, "We both know you're not going home. Is there anything you want me to make sure happens? Last words or something you want delivered?"

He breathed heavily, clutching at the wound over his diaphragm, trying futilely to keep the blood inside his body.

"Yeah..." He breathed, "I need you to-" He was overcome by a coughing fit, but grit his teeth and forced the words out anyways. "I need you to tell Evelynn, Lieutenant Stone I mean, tell her that its not her fault. She's going to blame herself for this, she always does, and I don't want her guilty feelings on my conscience."

"It won't mean much coming from me." I told him flatly, but I brought out a scroll all the same to record him with. "If you have something you want to say to her, go ahead and say it. I'll make sure the video finds its way to her eventually."

"Thanks, I guess." Lieutenant Amber said awkwardly. It felt wrong for him to thank me, after all I was the one who had killed him, and if I really cared I could probably still save him. There was a precedent to set however. 'Don't try to escape from us once we've captured you, or you'll end up like the last guy.' I wrinkled my nose, displeased by the notion, but set my jaw and allowed the lieutenant to speak.

"Hey Evelynn." He began raggedly. "I know that you're not going to be in a good place when you see this, so I just want you to know that I'm sorry. I tried to protect the team you sent for me, I don't know if I succeeded, but hopefully some of them survived. It's what you would have done, so don't be upset with me for following your lead."

He paused for a long moment, staring off into the distance before startling himself back into focus. Blood loss was taking a heavy toll on him, and he would be unconscious soon.

"I uhh." He trailed off, lost in thought. "I want you, Randall, and Eugene to know that I care about you guys. I hope your safe, wherever you are."

He glanced down, watching the blood oozing out of him start to slow its pace. Anyone without aura enhanced physiology would have died long ago, but he clung on to life either out of stubbornness or a simple sense that he wasn't finished yet.

"Don't blame yourselves." He said faintly. His eyes took on a glassy look, and he slumped to the ground. "You did everything... everything you could. I'm sure of it."

He exhaled, and failed to inhale. I gave him a few moments, then cut the recording. I frowned, fighting off the feeling of an oncoming ache in my stomach, then pocketed the scroll. I didn't have time to be Gary, I had a war to fight, and a brother to rescue. Grayson was still lost out there, and now that I knew for certain that he was alive I would do anything to save him. With grim determination I replaced my helmet, feeling the lingering guilt and doubts wash away as I took on the familiar persona of Hyperion, god of light.

-/-

I blinked up at the cold winter sky as I returned to myself. The recording of Lieutenant Amber ended, and there was a moment of complete silence. Finally, Evelynn slowly stood up, looking towards where the others had been fighting. There was no telling who had won, or what the casualties had been. I reached my left hand up to her for a hand in getting back up, but she ignored it. After a long moment I clambered to my feet on my own. It was understandable that she didn't feel like helping me right now, and I didn't much feel like I deserved her help anyway.

"We need to see who survived." She said flatly, then reached down to retrieve her hammer. She swung it up onto her shoulder and set off to walk around the ridge, firmly avoiding speaking about my origins or the video of Lieutenant Amber. I followed after her, holding my right arm to my chest with my left as I waited for LIWI to purge enough excess energy to heal it properly. We walked back around to the other side of the ridge, seeing a sight that I was dreading.

The Earthborn huntsmen had left, but they had inflicted serious harm before they had gone. Eugene lay on the ground, his right arm a mangled stump at the wrist, as Randall tended to him. Randall himself looked significantly worse for wear, sporting a long bloody slash across his face and numerous cuts and tears across his uniform. Team FRIL was even worse off, with Major Fin standing morosely over the body of Captain Ripley, a massive ax wound through her gut and her left leg completely severed at the knee. Captain Hill was nowhere to be seen.

Lieutenant Lilac was surprisingly still alive, having apparently broken the curse of the Triple 'L', and was frantically reciting basic field medicine training under her breath as she applied bandages to Elm's arm. The rest of the Ace Operatives were in better shape, with most of them looking like they had managed to keep their auras unbroken during the fight.

I stumbled into camp behind Evelynn, dropping to my knees next to Eugene and taking hold of his arm from Randall. I started working, checking that the tourniquet Randall had applied was tight enough, then cleaning and bandaging the wound as LIWI shoved as much healing as he could manage into Eugene. LIWI couldn't replace missing body parts, but it was enough to stop the bleeding.

Dimly, I realized that I had started to think of Team SGGE by their first names recently, despite typically trying to force myself to use their ranks and names when in combat situations. That spoke to a level of familiarity that I was now at risk of losing once Evelynn told the rest of the team about Gary. The fact that I was being introspective instead of focusing on the task at hand was also likely an indicator that I was slipping into shock. Still, it seemed incredibly spiteful for him to reveal his face, as he had previously spent literal years trying to avoid showing it, even going so far as to wipe any record of him that ever appeared. He had abandoned literal years of work just to try to force me into a vulnerable position.

I finished my work on Eugene and slowly clambered back to my feet. He needed to be treated at a hospital for his lost hand, but I was confident he was in no danger of dying. I held a hand out to Randall, and LIWI sent a small burst of healing into him to heal the slash across his face. Fortunately, the skin closed without scarring. I stepped out of Eugene's cone of silence, leaving the two huntsmen to tend to each other as I went to inform Evelynn about Eugene's hand. I gingerly picked my way over to the captain, trying not to aggravate my injuries as LIWI slowly pieced me back together. He was running dangerously close to his limit, and had gone quiet while he focused on purging the excess energy that was built up within him.

"Captain." I addressed her, interrupting her conversation with Senior Operative Clover. "Lieutenant Rivers needs medical attention, I can't save his hand."

Evelynn turned to me, and a brief moment of anger flared in her eyes as she looked at me. I could practically see her envisioning Gary as she bored a hole through me with her stare. She rightfully blamed him for Eugene's injury, and I was catching flak for my role in it.

A second later she caught herself, and the rage was replaced with decisiveness.

"Get him loaded up on the Bullhead then, we'll fly back to Atlas General."

I shook my head and pointed to our aircraft. The one that Lieutenants Sky and Cloud had ferried us in had been ripped in half by some incredible force, and the Ace Ops aircraft had been very nearly flattened by a similar impact. Neither aircraft would ever fly again.

Evelynn paused for a moment, looking between the destroyed aircraft and Eugene's bloody stump of a hand. I could see a deep rage building within her, barely contained by her sense of responsibility. She wouldn't kill me yet, not while I was still useful to her.

Clover chose that moment to chime in with more bad news.

"We also don't have contact with Atlas High Command without them, so we can't actually call for another one. We also couldn't call out to scramble interceptors to catch them. It looks like The Pantheon knocked out the local CCT tower before they attacked."

Evelynn turned back to me, and I nearly flinched as I saw the pure hatred behind her eyes.

"Get me a Bullhead," She ordered. "I don't care what bullshit hacky thing you have to do, you've got ten minutes."

I nodded, then set off towards the wreck of the aircraft to see what systems I could patch together. I couldn't undo what had happened, all I could do was what I had been doing since I woke up. Give everyone around me my best, and hope that it was enough.