Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Blackness.

That’s the only thing that greets the man when his consciousness fades back in.

No sounds.

No smells.

Nothing.

Just the dark void of eyelids that refuse to open and the sensation of cold steel underneath him.

A single dazed thought escapes through the man’s mind.

“Where am I?”

As if on cue, heavily muffled sounds reach his ears. Despite the muffled state of the sounds, the man manages to make out what sounded like the sound of a door that hasn’t been opened in years protesting at the sudden movement, followed by what can best be described as footsteps.

Most of them fade away, followed by another protesting shriek from the door as it closes, but another set of footsteps stop around where the man assumes he currently is and are replaced by two different sounds that the man can’t as easily determine.

Desperate for some sort of clue as to what’s going on and as to where he is, the man strains his ears in an attempt to make out what these new sounds are.

While it isn’t to the degree he was hoping for, the sounds become much clearer, allowing the man to figure out what they are…

Voices.

A mix of fear and hope surge through the man’s veins as he comes to that conclusion, unable to make out what the duo are talking about and from that, parse their intentions.

But he can make out that both of the voices on either side of him sound… feminine.

The one on his left sounds to be the younger of the two, with audible relief and happiness in her voice. For what, he’s still not entirely sure.

“Not a kid, but definitely not an adult either…”

The other hovering over his right is the stranger of the two, as her voice seems to either be cloaked in a digital filter or is generated from a word synthesizer. Whichever one it is, the chirp that follows her sentences tells the man that she… it isn’t human.

The part about their voices that confuses the man, is the overwhelming sense of familiarity he gets listening to them... as if he should know who these people (well, person and robot-thing) are.

And as he chases that feeling and sifts through his memory to put faces and names to them, he comes to a horrifying realization.

There’s nothing there.

He has no memories.

“...tor?”

“Doctor, can you hear me?”

“Are you alright?”

As if sensing the man’s oncoming panic attack, the younger voice calls out to him as a small hand with bumps around each finger takes his own and holds it. The gesture and words is enough to make the man realize that the two standing by his sides aren’t here to harm him and the relief that follows gives him the strength to try to see what’s waiting for him behind the black void.

The man cracks open his eyes, only to quickly shut them again from the blinding light in the room. He attempts to raise his free arm to shield his eyes before he continues to open them, only for it to refuse to move.

In fact, his entire body refuses to move.

“Alright then… Guess I’ll worry about that later.”

Filing his near-total paralysis away for later, the man continues to open his eyes, pushing through the immense sudden discomfort as they adjust from a pitch-black environment to a well lit one.

As his eyes adjust to the light, he eventually sees a large set of circular ring lights above him, that are blocked out by a young girl and a small black drone hovering above him.

The girl; brown hair, blue eyes, honest-to-god rabbit ears, with sapphire rings on each finger and a larger one around her neck, and wearing a very dark cyan and light blue coat with ‘Rhodes Island’ written on it that seems to eat her alive, brightens up upon seeing that the man is awake, concern melting away as a relieved smile spreads across her face.

“Doctor! Thank goodness… you’re awake…”

“Long time no see… Doctor.”

The sense of familiarity is burning numbingly hot in his chest.

The man then turns his gaze to the drone.

A silver core with a glowing blue eye surrounded by two hemispheres of four very dark cyan tetrahedral pieces that make up its shell. The front half of the shell has four “spikes” where the plates meet that flow toward the back half of the shell and transition from dark cyan into blue. A large vertical light blue stripe adorns the left of its eye, with the stripe also containing the words ‘Rhodes Island’ in white text.

“Hey,”

The drone speaks with uncertainty in its voice, while its eye pulsing as its shell shifts with each word spoken.

“It's been a while hasn’t it?”

Its sentence is punctuated with the chirping that usually follows when a Ghost stops talking.

Wait…

…a Ghost?

The spark of familiarity that the man has come to expect returns…

…but it came with something else this time.

The man mentally investigates, but finds himself dragged into a memory of an ironically similar situation.

A sudden jolt brings the man back to consciousness.

“Guardian…”

He tries to open his eyes or get up, only for his eyelids and body to stubbornly refuse to move.

An exhausted groan escapes his lips.

“Guardian?”

The man hears an irritated digital huff from whatever’s trying to get his attention.

“Hey! Eyes up, Guardian!”

It’s the man’s turn to huff as he forces himself to sit up into a sitting position and open his eyes…

“Alright, alright, I’m up.”

…to find an abandoned highway full of rusted hunks of metal that used to be cars…

…oh, and an annoyed drone with a white shell staring into his soul with its (her?) single cobalt eye.

Fun.

The man puts a gloved hand up to his head to rub it and finds fabric, with something hard and metallic under it.

Probably a helmet, the man figures.

The drone sighs.

“You had me worried that it didn’t work for a second there.”

“But it did! You’re alive!”

The man did a double take at that last part.

“Waitwaitwaitwait… You’re saying I was DEAD !?”

The drone did an approximation of a shrug. (Or at least what the man thinks is a shrug, kinda hard to tell given her lack of arms.)

“Yeah, what else were you thinking?”

The man raises his finger.

“And please don’t don’t say ‘taking a nap’, we both know you took in this sight already.”

The man lowers his finger.

The man sighs, before figuring that he should at least figure out how he's even alive to begin with.

“Ok, so walk me through this, if I was dead, how did yo-”

Both the drone and a cry in the distance cut off his question.

“Save your questions, we need to get out of here and I didn’t spend this long trying to find you to immediately lose you to some Fallen Dregs of all things.”

The drone turned around, as if to check for any threats.

“I-Wha- What even are you!?” The man sputtered out after a few moments of trying to wrap his head around everything.

The drone snapped back around to face her charge, irritation visible in her eye.

“Didn’t I just-?!”

The drone huffed again.

“I’m a Ghost, and more importantly, I’m YOUR Ghost. And you’re going to be seeing a lot of shit you won’t understand.”

The drone Ghost sighed, the irritation fading from her cobalt iris.

“So, just stick with me and we’ll be able to get out of here in one piece, okay?”

The man nodded after a minute, not really knowing what else to respond with.

“Coolio, now let's go.” The Ghost said as she flew off toward the massive wall looming over the highway.

The man stood to follow, only for his Ghost to stop abruptly, as if realizing that her Guardian hadn’t moved from the spot he’s standing.

“Oh, wait.” The Ghost mutters as she turns around and flies at the man, who braces for impact…

…only for the Ghost to disappear in a flash of blue light.

“Where…?”

“There we go! Now, don’t worry, I’m still with you, just hunkered down in your… er… backpack. Basically, just so I’m not a moving target for whatever Fallen is waiting for us inside the wall.” His Ghost’s voice pipes up within his head, further confusing the man.

“So it’s fine if I’M the target then?”

“Actually, yes.” She states matter-of-factly. The man feels his irritation towards the Ghost grow.

Why does she get to hide away while he has to get shot at and die?! He doesn’t have anything to fight back with. What, does she expect him to rush them and beat them down with his fists?

A digital sigh interrupts his train of thought.

“It’s because if they manage to kill you, I’ll be able to revive you. If they manage to somehow kill me however, your next death will be your last.”

The man wants to question how the Ghost knew what he was thinking, but is completely blindsided by the bombshell she casually dropped on him.

“And before you ask, neural symbiosis. Basically means that we can communicate without actually talking to each other. It… also means I can hear your thoughts.”

“And it doesn't go both ways?”

“Nope, and I'm not even sure why.”

“Fun…” Is all the man can muster in response.

“Hey, brighten up! Chances are that we’ll find something that you can use as a weapon as we go, and even if we don’t, being a Guardian gives you a little something special to use against whatever tries to kill you.”

The man raises an eyebrow under his helmet at that last part.

“Yeah, you’ll love it when you see it. So come on, we need to get moving before we’re swarmed.” The Ghost adds in response the eyebrow.

The man finds himself spat out of the memory.

So, the drone is not only a Ghost, but is HIS Ghost…

…and he’s effectively immortal…

…with whatever the special trick that being a “Guardian” grants him.

Fun.

The man doesn’t get long to process what he remembered as he finds himself being dragged into another memory.

The Hunter zips behind cover after throwing a knife into an Acolyte that got a little too close for comfort. Reloading his hand cannon, he calls out to his partner. “Hey, Ghost! How much longer until you have that array rebooted?” He pokes his head out from cover, only to duck back in as a stray shot nearly hits his head.

The Ghost calls back from inside the Cosmodrome’s Skywatch facility as her Guardian takes out a few encroaching Thrall and Acolytes, before focusing fire on a Knight that refuses to die despite the Solar grenade thrown at it earlier. “Just a few more minutes, this thing is REALLY damn old.”

“No shit.” The Hunter replies, finally taking out the Knight with a shotgun after it got too close.“I mean, if it wasn’t it would have been raised already!”

A rift opens up in the sky as another Hive Tombship flies through it.

“More reinforcements… Fantastic.”

The Tombship drops off a trio of Knights before flying away through another rift.

And as if it couldn't get worse, the HUD in the Hunter’s helmet id'd them as higher ranked Hive.

The Guardian let out an exhausted groan as he ducked behind cover again and started reloading as the Knights fired off their Boomers at him. “Hey, any suggestions for taking out Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest? I’m kinda running low on ammo and knives here.”

“Uh…”

“So, I’m fucked?”

“I didn’t say that! I just…”

The Hunter sighed and more or less resigned himself to his fate.

“...Okay, this might be a stupid idea, given I don’t know if you’re ready for it yet…”

“...but desperate times call for desperate measures!”

The Guardian perks up at the defiance in his Ghost’s voice. “What do I need to do?”

“Channel as much Solar Light into your gun as you can…”

“...then let them taste a solar flare.”

The Hunter, ignoring the one-liner, shrugged, not really having any better ideas.

So he did what she told him, focusing as much Light as he could as the still-firing Knights steadily advanced on his position.

The Hunter knew it was ready when his hand cannon emitted an angry amber glow impatiently waiting to be unleashed…

…and he knew better than to keep it waiting.

In an act of defiance toward his would-be killers, the Gunslinger dove out of cover and thrusted his cannon into the sky, igniting a flaming Golden Gun in a brilliant burst of Solar Light.

And with three pulls of the trigger, three fans of the hammer, the Knights were quickly and remorselessly reduced to cinders.

The second the third streak of molten lead leaves the Golden Gun, the Light comprising it unceremoniously fizzled out, leaving only a scorching hot hand cannon in its place. Despite his gauntlets, the Hunter can feel the superheated cannon burning his hand and just as unceremoniously, the Hunter drops it and starts cradling his burnt hand.

The dropped hand cannon doesn’t get 1 inch above the ground before it vanishes in a flash of blue light as it's transmatted away by the Ghost that joins her Guardian’s side.

“So, it’s done?” The Hunter asks as his partner heals his burnt limb.

“Yeah…” His Ghost responds.

“...but, it won’t be much use to the Vanguard.”

The Hunter shot his partner a confused look. “Why? Is it way too old? No satellites to use?”

“Nope and nope.” The Ghost emits a digital sigh before continuing. “The second it finished rebooting, Rasputin took control and locked me out.” The Ghost answered, with the exasperation in her voice audible to her Hunter. “And I’m not convinced he’ll be willing to help us out.”

The Guardian sighed. “Well, I guess there’s not much we can do about that then.”

“Yeah, but I have to say that some pretty good shooting for your first time using a Golden Gun though, Flare.”

“Yeah, thanks…”

The Hunter takes a minute to realize what she called him.

“Wait, “Flare”?”

“Yeah, figured I should think of something other than “Guardian” to refer to you as.” The Ghost, uncharacteristically sheepish, replied. “The whole solar flare one-liner ended up giving me what I was looking for.”

“Do you like it?”

“Hmm…” The Hunter gave it a thought and…

“Yeah, it’s not like I have a better idea.”

“Thanks.”

“Anytime, Ashe.”

The Ghost takes a minute to realize what he called her.

“Tsk, touché.” A laugh’s audible in her voice.

“No objections?”

“Nah, I named you, it's only fair you name me.”

“Great. Mind calling the ship so we can head back home, Ashe?”

The roar of an old Arcadia Class jumpship overhead answers the Hunter before the Ghost does.

“Way ahead of you, Flare.”

“Hey! Earth to dumbass!”

Ashe’s irritated screech snaps the man Flare back to reality.

With a blink, the room, girl, and Ghost refocus into view.

The girl’s attention has turned from the Hunter to Ashe, giving the Ghost a disappointed yet placating stare.

“Ashe, calm down! He's probably just dazed and still needs a minute to get his bearings.”

The Ghost’s glare snaps to the rabbit.

“Don’t start, Amiya.” Ashe growls out of her vocalizer. To anyone else, that response would have been taken as something hostile, but to Flare, mainly due to having known Ashe for the better part of a decade, he can tell there’s no real heat behind that statement.

And judging by the lack of change in the rabbit girl’s - Amiya’s - expression, she can tell as well.

“Strand-for-brains here has been zoned out on a trip down memory lane for about 3 minutes now! I think he’s well past “dazed” and “needs a minute” by now.”

The Ghost turns her gaze back to her Hunter and moves closer into his face. Which allows Flare to notice a barely visible but rather shiny near-black serpentine design on her shell under its stripe consistent with what he can remember Ashe’s old shell had (well, except the old one was blue).

“Personal space much?” The Hunter throws through their link, primarily just to see if he gets a reaction out of her.

A digital snort rings out in his head as Flare notes a flicker of amusement appear in Ashe’s eye.

“Jackpot.”

“Well, if you can snark inside your own head, surely you wouldn’t mind actually saying something right?” The Ghost says with a hint of playful arrogance in her voice.

Well, with being given such an easy challenge like that, who wouldn’t take it?

“Challenge accepted, Little Light.”

With the perfect snarky response popping into his head, the Hunter lets out a small cough to clear his throat before opening his mouth and releasing his brilliant snark into the wild…

…except his throat had other ideas.

The small cough meant to clear his throat? Yeah, that combined with the words in there, spawned a whole ass coughing fit instead of whatever sarcastic remark the Hunter had prepped.

Really, he should have seen this coming, given the rest of his body is really not on board with the whole normal function idea.

But, hey, at least Ashe got out of his face, so that’s a plus.

Concern flooded Amiya’s face as she moved from where she backpedaled to back to her side of the metal coffin Flare lies in.

“Huh, don’t know how I didn't see the walls till now.”

“Guess I’ve gotten rusty.”

“Doctor! Are you alright?”

“Hm, in hindsight, I probably should have seen that coming.”

Both Flare’s and Amiya’s gazes fall on the Ghost at that comment.

“Ashe?”

“Well, he’s been sitting in this metal box for about three years now right?” Amiya nods in response, while Flare’s mind short circuits at that bombshell.

Has he really been sleeping in this thing for three years ?

Ashe sighs. “Guess I broke him with that one…”

“...but as I was saying, since he’s been out cold for three years, he-”

“He doesn’t have any strength to use?” Amiya finishes, to the Ghost’s faux annoyance.

“Precisely, which is why I have an old trick I want to use.” Ashe says before moving to hover directly above her Guardian. “Do you mind backing up a bit?”

The rabbit gives her a nod before backing up, but not before giving Flare a small smile.

“Ashe, I have several questions and you better have some damn good answers for me.”

“I know, but let’s focus on getting you back on your feet first.” The Ghost’s voice chirps inside his head. “And hey, maybe this jars some missing memories back into place.”

Flare doesn’t get the chance to ask what she means before the Ghost starts her ‘trick’. One the Hunter is intimately familiar with.

The Ghost’s core starts glowing from within her shell, before a blue orb of Light surrounding it abruptly pushes out and fragments the shell, with each half starting to rotate around as Light gathers around her core. It isn’t long until the orb starts fluctuating in size, which is followed by the shell quickly reassembling and forcing the orb of Light into the Ghost’s core.

Only moments later, the shell bursts back apart as a flash of white Light is blasted at her paralyzed Hunter and Ashe’s shell reassembles once more as the sparks of blue, healing Light traveling across Flare’s body fade away.

Having been revived and healed by his Ghost countless times over the course of a decade, Flare would recognize that rejuvenating sensation running through his veins anywhere. But despite having years worth of faith in Ashe’s healing ability, the Hunter figures it’s probably smarter to play this one on the safer side.

After all, Flare’s used to being brought back after being disintegrated, not getting a pick-me-up because he was groggy from a 3 year nap.

Taking it much slower than he’s admittedly used to, the Hunter starts by flexing a random finger just to see if he can at least control that. 

And thankfully, the digit cooperates with some coaxing. Flare then escalates to moving an entire hand, which does move, just more sluggish than the Hunter is comfortable with.

A frown forms on his face.

“Well, reflexes are shot I guess. No guns for me for a bit then.”

With a grunt of exertion, the Hunter starts pushing himself into a sitting position, but only gets about halfway before his arms begin to give out. Noticing this, Amiya offers Flare a hand to help him upright, which the Hunter gratefully takes.

“...thanks.” His voice is extremely hoarse from disuse, but at least it’ll get better with time.

“Anytime.”

It’s only then that Flare notices that he’s wearing a medical gown instead of his usual lightweight smorgasbord of metal plates, fabric, and a cloak he calls armor. And by extension, no guns or knives as well.

Which… actually makes a lot of sense when he thinks about it.

I mean really, who would stick someone in some sort of weird sleeping pod thing without prying them out of armor first? Doesn’t exactly sound comfortable to sleep in armor…

But then again, it isn’t that bad when you’re in a pinch…

…and Hunter armor is definitely more comfortable to sleep in than a Titan’s armor would be.

Hmm…

But, before Flare can get further into a mental debate with himself on the comfortable-ness of sleeping in armor, the rabbit on his left speaks up.

“I know I’ve probably been asking this a lot…”

The Hunter turns to her as she fidgets with one of her rings. After a moment and a deep breath, Amiya raises her gaze to meet his.

“Doctor… are you okay?”

A frown creeps up on Flare’s face as he averts his gaze back down to the metal coffin he’s been sitting in the entire time. She wasn’t wrong to say that she’s been asking that question a lot since he woke up, but he hasn’t exactly given her a definite answer in order to put her concerns to rest.

But at this point, Flare’s not entirely sure if he is okay.

With his memory steadily coming back since seeing Ashe roused it, he finds himself more and more frustrated that he can’t place the source of the obnoxiously familiar feeling that Amiya’s presence gives him.

So he goes digging to see what’s missing.

Starting from the top, he remembers Ashe raising him out of the grave for the first time on the outskirts of the Cosmodrome…

…especially since he just replayed that memory a few minutes ago.

From there he remembers the misadventures in the Cosmodrome and on the Moon, which eventually lead the duo to Venus, the Vex, and their first encounter with Elsie Bray, then only known as the Stranger.

He remembers everything leading up to destroying the Black Garden’s Heart, including dealing with the Awoken of the Reef, breaching the Cabal Exclusion Zone on Mars, and recruiting and befriending the Warlock and Titan that he’s proud to call his Fireteam.

He remembers Ashe’s disappointment when he mostly abandoned Gunslinger for Bladedancer… well, until she realized that Arc Light and electricity flare up nearly as much as Solar Light and fire do.

He remembers breaching and laying waste to the Vault of Glass.

He remembers leading a team to both kill Crota and to avenge all of the Guardians that died during the Great Disaster.

He remembers… okay, admittedly not much of the Wolf Rebellion, other than assassinating the Kells of various Eliksni Houses to prevent them from falling under Skolas and the House of Wolves’ banner.

He remembers his first encounter with the Taken, using Void Light for the first time and becoming a Nightstalker, and going toe to toe with the Taken King himself before eventually killing Oryx once and for all, sending his body flying into space where it would eventually end up on Titan for the Lucent Brood to find.

He remembers his first time stepping into the Cosmodrome’s Plaguelands and fighting the SIVA-enhanced Splicers of the House of Devils before eventually destroying the SIVA Replication Complex and later wiping as much of the nanites out as he can.

He remembers the onset of the Red War, how humanity was forced to evacuate the Last City as the Red Legion took over, the horrible feeling of the Light being torn away as the Traveler was suppressed by that massive cage, being personally kicked down to the streets from a height that really should have been his final death by Ghaul, and those weeks of exhausting levels of vigilance as he and Ashe got as far away from the City as they could while fighting off Cabal patrols and House of Dusk ambushes before he finally collapsed…

…but he also remembered how it ended, starting from heading to a Shard of the Traveler nestled in the European Dead Zone, reconnecting to the Light, losing Bladedancer to Arcstrider, slowly but surely reassembling the Vanguard, rallying Guardians and civilians alike to take back the City, and personally seeing to Ghaul’s death, followed by the reawakening of the Traveler after decades of slumber.

He remembers the misadventures on Mercury and Mars, with Mercury leading to aiding an at-the-time exiled Warlock in preventing a future where life ceases to exist coming to pass, and Mars leading to the death of a Hive Worm God with Rasputin’s help.

He remembers the death of Cayde-6, relentlessly hunting down and executing each and every last one of the Scorned Barons before turning his sights on Cayde’s killer, Uldren Sov, and eventually reclaiming the Ace of Spades… and then went to go kill a fucking wish dragon. 

Yeah, not Flare’s favorite memories to go back to.

Where was he? Oh, yeah.

He remembers how the Hidden Swarm on the Moon erected a fortress that the Vanguard oh so creatively named the Scarlet Keep, (seriously Zavala, you couldn’t think of anything cooler to call it?) and then the discovery of the Lunar Pyramid, which was creating Nightmares of anyone nearby’s trauma (fighting Crota, Ghaul, and Fikrul again wasn’t exactly fun).

He remembers heading to Europa to investigate why the Darkness (later found out to either be one of the Witness’ dissenting voices or the Witness itself but at this point Flare doesn’t care) wanted him to go there, which lead to meeting Elsie again, learning how to wield Stasis (despite Ashe’s initial concerns), and beating Eramis and House Salvation at their own game.

Zavala’s perpetually disappointed stare everytime he saw the newly christened Revenant still gets him to this day.

And the whole near civil war the City found itself in after House Light moved in still pisses him off, mostly because he knew Misraaks long enough at that point to know he’s pretty chill.

He remembers the one-man investigation that Ikora tasked him with doing into how Savathun got her claws on the Light and managed to give it to her now Lucent Brood, something the Deepsight power the Hunter picked up from the Relic on Mars helped immensely with. Flare still feels stupid for not realizing how obvious the truth was. To make a long story short, she was revived by a Ghost.

Well, at least he felt a little less stupid after killing off one of the Witness’ top lieutenants.

He remembers finding Neomuna on Neptune, discovering and mastering Strand, running in abject terror as a Tormentor chased after him, and the Threadrunner finally getting the chance to permanently shut Calus up.

The sight of the portal into the Pale Heart cut into Traveler wasn’t exactly a pretty one.

He then remembers entering the Pale Heart, throwing the line between Light and Dark into the ether with Prismatic, reuniting with Cayde, Ashe’s first cracks, reuniting the Vanguard, confronting the Witness face to face, leading to Ashe gaining further damage, witnessing a new Hunter Vanguard be crowned (cloaked?), and ultimately destroying the Witness, at the cost of…

of…

Flare violently shakes his head. As far as he’s concerned, those agonizingly long minutes never happened.

After all, she’s still here with him.

Alive.

After that, he remembers investigating the object (later id’d as an Echo) that crashed into Nessus and the weird activity the Vex there got up to.

The last thing he remembers is sitting in his jumpship with Ashe in Earth’s orbit following the discovery of the Conductor’s identity, waiting for the ship’s NLS Drive to warm back up before heading back to Nessus to pick up more Radiolite samples for Failsafe to analyze.

And then from there…

…it’s blank.

And yet… it doesn’t feel blank as in he wasn’t conscious when it happened or he never had the memory to begin with.

Or the kind of blank from when the Hunter first woke up in the Cosmodrome all those years ago.

It feels more like…

…someone or something stripped him of them.

A frustrated sigh escapes the Hunter’s lips as he starts staring at his own reflection in the steel, silently noting the lack of color in his eyes and hair, gray and white where there shouldn’t be.

His shoulder being lightly shaken snaps Flare back to reality, silently cursing for letting himself zone out.

“Doctor?”

The Hunter spares a quick glance at his Ghost, who slightly shifts her shell into a small half shrug.

Flare lets out another sigh.

“I…” Flare starts, only to be cut off by a sudden piercing pain in his head, which causes him to quickly bring a hand up to it as he winces in… well, pain.

“Oh, what now?”

A fragmented scene violently appears at the front of the Hunter’s mind. It's an extremely blurry scene, to the point where he can’t make out any important details, but strangely enough, he can make out that there’s the silhouette of someone in the room, but the only thing overtly defining about them was that they appeared to be short. Well, that and a pair of shapes on or around their head.

“You’re still up?” A tired voice echoes out from… somewhere. The usual sense of familiarity accompanying it gives Flare an inkling to who the figure’s supposed to be, or at least a younger version of her.

The scene sharpens slightly, as if reacting to the Hunter’s suspicions. And while he still can’t make out too much about the figure, he can tell they’re standing in a doorway, while he’s seated at a desk with a digital clock that says its… well, late and what looks like paperwork. 

“Sorry Cayde, looks like I couldn’t escape it forever.” 

A mug of what Flare assumes is coffee on the left of the desk catches his eye.

Knowing himself, that’s either his third or sixteenth cup, with the inbetween either being small or nonexistent.

The Hunter bites back a groan as he realizes why this specific memory occurred to begin with.

“I still have work I need to do.” Flare hears his own voice ring out, which confirms his suspicion, as the poorly hidden exhaustion in it tells its owner that he probably hadn’t slept in a day at best, a few weeks at worst. “And besides, I could ask you the same thing, didn’t I put you to bed about an hour ago?”

“I’m sorry… but you need sleep too. You can’t expect only coffee to help you win your battles and your work will still be there in the morning.”

The voice lets out a sigh.

“So please, get some sleep, okay?”

Flare can feel memory-him want to dive into a “passionate” speech about the “wonders” of caffeine addiction, but with a sigh, decides to relent to them. 

Definitely not because of a yawn that proves the figure right. 

Nope. 

Not at all.

“Fine, I’ll get some sleep.” His voice says as he stands. “Now, get back to bed little miss, you got a busy schedule tomorrow, remember?”

Flare doesn’t know how, given it’s a silhouette, but he can tell that they forgot about that fact before confronting him on his sleeping habits.

As they dart from the doorway, a digitized giggle rings out behind him as the memory starts to fade.

“I was starting to wonder where she was during all of that.”

Flare experimentally opens one of his eyes, trying to make sure that the second he takes in the room again he isn’t dragged into experiencing another fragmented memory.

He holds his breath as he quickly taps into Strand to check the Weave for anything of note, completely done with all of the unexpected “surprises” that have been thrown at him in rapid succession today.

Thankfully, all he can pick up at the moment are a couple of people waiting outside the door, with the Hunter figuring that they’re waiting for the two in the room with him.

Hopefully.

Flare lets out his breath.

He looks right, seeing Ashe float with her usual indifference.

Her eye says otherwise.

The concern in it is palpable.

Enough to make him worry about what he’ll see on his left.

He looks left, his steel gray eyes meeting Amiya’s concern and fear laced sapphires.

He can almost hear the question she’s asked the entire time.

“Are you alright?”

The Hunter turns back to look at the spot on the coffin that he’s practically bore a hole into, closes his eyes and takes a deep breath…

…and finally answers her.

“To be honest… I… don’t think I’m alright.”

Flare glances at Amiya, dreading to see what her reaction to what he says next will be.

The Hunter sighs before continuing.

“I don’t know how to say this, so I’ll skip sugarcoating it and just go for the jugular…”

“...I’m missing a pretty large chunk of my memories, which means I can’t…”

The Hunter’s voice becomes nearly inaudible.

“...I can’t remember you…”

And as much as Flare tried to mentally prepare for it, the look of pure despair that took over Amiya’s face was infinitely more heartbreaking than what he expected.

The Hunter turns to Ashe to get her help, only for the Ghost to shoot him a look that says ‘you did this, you figure it out genius.’

Flare’s brow furrows for a moment as he meets Ashe’s gaze, before loosening into a look of uncertainty and concern as he turns back to Amiya and it doesn’t take someone with mastery over Strand to notice that she’s starting to spiral.

And so the Hunter starts trying to snap her out of it, he tries calling out to her, snapping in range of her vision, tapping her on the shoulder, lightly shaking her shoulder, and even roughly (well, as rough as he can in his weakened state) shaking her shoulders, only for the rabbit to remain catatonic.

His frustration only ends up growing as he returns to the drawing board and can’t think of anything outside of potential harm via paracausal powers… well, until one last fairly harmless idea pops into his head.

Figuring that it's probably safer to try it then jolting her with Arc Light, yet another sigh escapes Flare as he reaches out toward Amiya again…

…and gingerly pats her on the head a few times.

Which does the trick as the rabbit slightly jumps from the contact before blinking as the Hunter retracts his arm.

“You alright? At least a little bit?”

“I…” A conflicted expression appears on her face before a more resolute one takes its place. “I’ll be alright Doctor, thank you.”

Flare lets out a breath of relief. “Glad to hear it. I should probably mention that my… predicament isn’t entirely gloom and doom. Well, at least not yet.”

Amiya gives a confused head tilt in response, clearly not seeing how there’s a silver lining to a large chunk of his memory missing.

“Ok, well for starters, you know my migraine from a few minutes ago?” He gets a quick nod in response. “Well, what happened was that a memory that could be best described as either blurry or fragmented just popped in out of nowhere and as a result, I’m thinking that-”

“That your memory isn’t entirely gone, right?” The rabbit finishes.

“Mmhm, and on top of that, I think I felt something that can really only be tampering when I looked over what I could remember.”

“So you think someone did this to you?”

“Well, that’s my theory at the moment. Whether that’s the case or not probably requires more investigating.”

“I think you did say once that using Deepsight on yourself isn’t as easy as using it to play the memories on objects, so that would line up.” Amiya states and catches Flare off guard at the same time.

“Can confirm, he did.” The Ghost in the room chirps up.

The Hunter mentally face-palms as he realizes that it’d only really make sense if she knew both the nature of and how his powers work, given she’s familiar with both him and Ashe. “Guess I don’t need to ask that question then.”

Despite muttering it under his breath, it was still loud enough for the would-be recipient of the would-be question to catch it.

“Were you going to ask how I knew?”

“Yeah, but well, kinda makes sense in hindsight.”

“Ah.”

There’s a moment of silence before Amiya speaks up again.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what was the memory about?”

“I don’t mind, as for the memory, the best I could make out was that I was doing paperwork after either a day or a few weeks of no sleep before getting nagged about my practically nonexistent sleep schedule.”

The rabbit - Cautus, another fragmented memory corrected (even if it's by technicality) - spends a minute thinking, before breaking down into a small giggling fit.

“I remember that night, you tended to pull all-nighters to get whatever paperwork you didn’t finish done frequently from what I recall.” Amiya’s amused and inadvertent confirmation of Flare suspicions elicits a grimace from the Hunter.

“Well, glad to see some things never change.” Flare remarks sarcastically. “Anything of note after you, well, caught me?”

“Well, I found you the next morning sleeping through both an alarm and Ashe ramming you in the ribs. I’m still not sure how it didn’t wake you though.”

“Sounds like something we’d do alright.” A sheepish smile finds itself on Flare’s face as he scratches the back of his head.

Amiya opens her mouth to speak again, only to be cut off by the sound of the door being violently swung open, causing the three inhabitants of the room to snap to attention. The culprit being a man with his head completely covered by a scarf, a pair of sunglasses, and a beanie. He also has a sword sheathed on his left hip, but what catches Flare’s attention the most is the very dark cyan and light blue jacket he’s wearing that is similar, but is ultimately different than the one the Cautus on his left is wearing.

The man speaks, the urgency lacing his voice audible. “Amiya, we’ve got a problem!”

“What is it?” The levity in her voice a moment ago vanished as quickly as it came.

“We just got an urgent call from Captain Dobermann, her squad ran into a group of militants that weren’t Ursus soldiers, they might be Reunion.”

Amiya’s brow furrows at the information. “I see… Did she say anything else?”

“She said to exfiltrate immediately and to avoid contact if possible.”

As the other two continued, Flare turns to Ashe before whispering her a question. “Reunion?”

“If Dobermann’s report is correct, you’ll see in a few what they’re talking about.”

“So another case of “you’re going to be seeing a lot of shit you won’t understand”?”

That earns the Hunter a glare from the Ghost before she turns back to the others, which for once, successfully shuts him up. Flare mentally shrugs before following her lead.

Amiya lets out a sigh. “What’s Reunion doing here?”

Another person wearing a very dark cyan and light blue jacket appears from the doorway, the main difference being that she appears to be a medic. “Could they be here for the Doctor?”

The Cautus opens her mouth to respond, only for Flare to beat her to the punch. “No, I don’t think that’s why.” The Hunter speaking causes everyone’s attention to snap to him, as if they forgot that either he was even there or could hear them. “I mean, if they knew I was here, we would’ve already been swarmed by now. So chances are, they’re here for some other reason.”

“I agree with the Doctor.” Amiya states. “Whatever their objective could be, we need to avoid them at all costs. Make sure the coast is clear and then let’s get out of here.”

“Roger!” “Yes, ma’am!” The other two exclaim before they exit the room.

Amiya sighs again before turning back to Flare and Ashe. “I’m sorry for putting you through this so soon Doctor, but we can’t stay here. Can you stand? We need to get you changed and moving.”

Flare puts up a hand. “Ok, firstly, slow down Amiya. Secondly, don’t apologize, it's not your fault we need to get moving before we’re found by some armed lunatics. And lastly, I think I can stand, but…” A wry smile emerges on the Hunter/Doctor’s face. “...I’m guessing I’ve just been drafted and I don’t have a say in the matter, do I?”

The quip gets a laugh out of Amiya before she gives Flare a smile of her own. “You’d be correct Doctor. Come on, we need to get you into something more practical.”

Despite the large chunk of missing memories from however long, Flare smiles to himself, knowing for a fact that he missed that laugh.

Chapter Text

“You know, when Amiya said we needed to get out of here, this wasn’t what I had in mind.” An exasperated Flare mentally says to the Ghost hiding in his non-existent backpack as he’s carried forward by the Cautus in question, with his left arm slung over her shoulder.

“Be able to walk on your own first, then you can complain.”

He rolls his eyes as the Hunter’s head turns to his right, peering through the tinted visor of his white and black-accented mask and past the white root-woven net interior and black ribbed exterior of his cloak’s hood to watch as multiple uniform masked figures dressed in white, wearing tactical vests and armed with crossbows and swords, move out of sight to the other side of the massive concrete cube the recovery team just left and were using as cover just a moment ago.

Now, the team would be moving faster, if it wasn’t for the fact that Flare’s legs really liked to casually crumple under his weight at the moment.

That was a wrinkle in the plan he, Ashe, and Amiya became painfully aware of after getting him out of the box and onto his feet, and the Hunter lasted a outstanding five fucking seconds before his legs decided not to leg anymore.

Getting him changed out of the medical gown and into something more protective was simple enough, just prop Flare up against something and have Ashe transmat the gear onto him (minus the mask, she let him put that on himself) instead of going through the struggle of physically changing him into it.

Now, getting him out of there with jello for legs was a whole different issue, so they ended up just deciding to either hold him up (like Amiya’s doing at the moment) or to just straight up carry him on their backs, at least until his legs regain enough strength for him to walk unaided.

Flare’s just really hoping that they don’t end up having him piggybacking, he doesn’t think his dignity would survive it.

Guard, the beanie-man from earlier but now armed with a crossbow of his own, catches back up with the rest of the team after ensuring that they weren’t about to be jumped by Reunion and takes point. They eventually reach a short staircase leading to a door sealed shut by a valve.

“Cover me.” Guard says as he hands his crossbow off to Medic, the… well, medic from earlier (and the winner of the Most Unimaginative Codename Ever award), “I’ll get the door open.”

“Try to do it quickly,” Amiya says, propping Flare up against a railing, “we probably don’t have long until that patrol comes back.”

In response, a “no pressure” is muttered under the swordsman’s breath.

Ashe chirps in over comms, “If it helps, I can keep watch using Flare’s radar.”

“That would help. Thanks, Ashe.”

As Amiya turns to help Medic keep watch, Flare takes the opportunity to take a look at what he’s been equipped with, while ignoring the squeaks of the valve turning.

The mask and cloak were pretty easy to figure out; the mask was a slightly redesigned version of the mask designed for the Solstice around the time of after the Scarlet Keep shitshow and a few months before Europa and Stasis, the differences from that and the one Flare’s wearing is that the colors are consistent with the Solstice mask he wore with his previous armor, just the cracks that would emit a glow of the color of whatever element he was currently channeling were missing and the visor lacked the same glow.

He’s already missing the glow horns.

As for the cloak? That’s easier, the Relativism cloak was something he picked up while wandering the Pale Heart following the Witness’ death and it quickly became a favorite of his because of its ability to mimic the abilities of some of the other specialty armor in his arsenal. And while normally, it’s shades of white and a pale blue, Flare had long since reshaded it to make it black with white accents and with a few splashes of a light blue in there for good measure.

As for what it's currently mimicking? Just the ability to make things explode when killed with electrified fists, thrown and heated/flaming knives, smoke bombs, Strand rope darts, Stasis shurikens, etc. and a small healing burst when dodging enemy fire. Pretty useful if the Hunter says so himself.

For the rest of the armor? Well, Flare pretty quickly recognized the legs and forearms as being nearly identical to the First Ascent armor that the Hunter assimilated into his armor following his first encounter with the Witness. Their differences to the original armor starting with general changes is that the color scheme was changed from shades of gray with teal accents to black and dark gray with light blue accents, the armor plates are also now white instead of silver.

For the legs, they’re mostly the same but the parts that would have integrated it with the armor’s vest are missing, so no random remains of a torso wrap on his right thigh. The arms are a bit more extensive, as all that remains is the now white bracers, elbow guards, and the armor on the back of the untouched padded gloves, the entire left bracer is visible now that the sleeves covering it are gone.

But while the original sleeves and the vest they attached to are gone, that doesn’t mean that Flare’s upper body is mostly exposed, as it’s covered by a very dark cyan and light blue coat that is near identical to the one that Amiya is wearing, the only differences being that its closed instead of being left open and it doesn’t appear to completely eat him alive.

He also has a holster and knife sheath on his right and left hips respectively. The sheath on his left holds a combat/throwing knife, while the holster, which is adorned with the Hunter emblem, on his right is the right size for hand cannons and sidearms. And in said holster lies a black and white hand cannon, with the outline of a white spade emblazoned on its black grip.

The Ace of Spades.

Flare lets out a quiet laugh at the sight of his favorite and go-to cannon. “Am I really that predictable Ashe?”

The Ghost responds with a digitized laugh of her own. “Yes. Yes, you are.”

The quiet, shrill sound of the door Guard was working on being opened catches the attention of the three, technically four, keeping watch.

“It's open, let's move.”

Amiya quickly collects Flare and Guard retrieves his crossbow before the team enters the top of a massive stairwell downwards with barred, circular holes in the walls. Having nowhere else to go and with a collective sigh, the team starts their descent, with Flare keeping one eye on his HUD’s radar and the other on the Weave the entire time in case of a potential ambush.

Upon finally reaching the end of the stairway, whose architect Flare now wants to personally murder, the team’s met with a second, larger valve door, only this one opens surprisingly quicker than the last, revealing a maintenance tunnel on the other side. Guard enters first, sweeping the tunnel for potential hostiles.

After a sweep that was a smidge too brief for Flare’s liking, even if it was backed up by his radar and the Weave, Guard stops aiming his crossbow and raises it. “All clear.”

The other three enter the room, Ashe deciding to join them and materializing as Amiya brings her Guardian past the threshold.

“Let’s rest here for a moment.” Amiya states as she’s setting Flare against the tunnel’s wall, getting an “alright” from the Hunter.

Guard sighs as he removes his hand from his radio. “Amiya.”

The Cautus’ head turns to him.

“I can’t reach Captain Dobermann.”

“I can’t either, something’s gotta be wrong.” Ashe adds on.

Amiya’s brow furrows for a moment. “She might have engaged Reunion already…” She sighs before continuing. “We’ll need to stay alert going forward.”

“I know we just stopped, but are we ready to move again?”

A quartet of nods answer their leader’s question.

“Alright.” Is the only thing she says as Amiya moves to pick Flare back up, with Ashe vanishing back into his backpack as she does. Guard interrupts her though.

“I’ll carry the Doctor, you two cover us.”

Amiya thinks it over for a second.

“Roger that.” And with that, the Cautus backs away.

Standing back up, she continues. “We have no idea where Reunion might be hiding. We have to be extra careful on our way to the rendezvous point.” Amiya then turns her head to Flare. “Doctor, I hate to ask you of this in your current condition, but if we encounter any trouble, do you mind lending us whatever you can muster?”

That question makes Flare pause for a second as he looks back at her.

The only power he’s really tried was Strand and that was just to see if there was anything to be alert of, not actually manipulating its telltale emerald threads.

And that’s only one of his Darkness powers, Deepsight can’t be used offensively what-so-ever and is already working passively, Stasis probably would work if Strand does but he hasn’t tried yet and given its the most draining of the two offensive Darkness elements he can use, Flare’s not in a hurry to test it.

As for his Light powers, Arc, Solar, and Void Light would all more or less be in the same camp: unsure and untested.

And if the Light’s out of commission, he can’t use Transcendance, which means no Hailfire Spikes and no dual element Supers.

So with a sigh, he responds. “I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises that it would be enough to help.”

Amiya gives him a reassuring smile. “That’s alright, we’ll just have to adapt to what you can use.” She returns to addressing all of them. “We should get moving.”

After a few “roger”s, Guard picks up Flare, but to the Hunter’s horror, he’s put into a piggyback. Flare groans as he feels his part of him die, much to the endless amusement of his Ghost.

The recovery team finds themselves staying low on the topmost balcony overlooking a room with a massive support column in the center and an opening on the wall opposite of them that’s full of identical Reunion grunts.

“Hey Ashe, feel like counting them all?”

“Eat shit and die.”

Medic speaks up for what’s probably the first time since they started their exfiltration, the nerves ever so present in her voice. “Reunion’s covering the rendezvous point.”

“I don’t see signs of a fight.” Guard adds on.

“Any chance we got here before Dobermann?” Flare asks.

“Not sure, I’m not picking up their pings yet.” Ashe answers.

“We can’t regroup there.” Amiya states. “Head to the backup point. We’ll search the area if we don’t find Dobermann there.”

With an unsaid agreement, Medic takes point, sliding up to the side of a doorframe and taking cover, crossbow at the ready.

However, following a twitch of one of her ears coinciding with a faint flash of red on Flare’s radar, she holds out a hand to stop them before turning to them. “I hear footsteps. Turn back!”

The red on the radar grows as Amiya starts moving to the other doorway. “Amiya, wait!”

The Hunter’s warning comes out too late as she makes it to the door and immediately recoils away from it. “Someone’s coming this way, too!”

Flare quickly looks into the Weave to pinpoint the owners of the radar pings…

…only to find one, flanked by two others, entering the doorway behind Medic. “Medic! Get away from the door!”

That warning is delivered too late as well as her head snaps back to the door, only to be met by a nondescript white mask peering back at her through it.

The Reunion grunts move to block the doorway as the one closest to Medic advances a step closer. “Who are you? What are you doing here?” He notices the crossbow and draws his blade. “Drop your weapons!” He demands as he threatens the already terrified medic with his own weapon.

“Who are you people? What are you doing here?” He repeats in response to the medic’s terrified squeals. “Start talking!”

Amiya moves to Flare side, giving him a nearly imperceivable nod before facing the grunt and putting her hands up and starts an attempt to placate the grunt. “We are not your enemy. Please calm down.”

It takes Flare a moment to realize that while she’s actually trying to calm the grunt down, the nod was his cue to start seeing what he can pull out of his ass to get them out of this in case things get hairy. 

“She’s… stalling? Huh, that’s the last thing I expected.”

“Lies right off the bat, huh?” The grunt’s words cause the Hunter to remember that he’s on the clock and needs to think fast.

“Ok, let’s see… Okay, well, Solar’s out by default, too much chance for collateral. An Arc flashbang could do the trick, but I’d need to tell the others to avert their gaze and it could draw more attention. I could turn us invisible with Void and a smoke bomb and slip away, but that would leave them in a position to alert the others…”

“Search them head to tail. We’re taking them in.” The two other grunts in the doorway start moving forward.

“...I could use Strand to string them up, but that would still leave them to be able to raise an alarm and strangling them with it could take too much time…”

“So that leaves…”

The Hunter takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, and focuses as much will and control as he can muster in his state onto himself and the environment around him.

Unbeknownst to the focusing Hunter, his visor starts glowing with an crystalline-esque indigo light with a pair of horns composed of the same glow growing out of the mask’s forehead, much to the confusion of most of them and wonder of a certain Cautus.

“Forget the lightshow, grab them!”

After a moment, Flare opens his eyes and looks at his hand, and the Revenant sees a swirl of indigo ice and frost forming in its palm.

“Heh…” The Hunter smirks for a second under his mask before replacing it with a more focused expression.

And before one of the grunts can grab Medic’s arm and yank her up, Flare brings up his arm, the indigo glow in his palm gaining a blinding intensity, before slamming his hand into the floor.

The resulting pulse of Stasis energy strips all three Reunion grunts of their entropy, freezing them solid.

“What was…?!” Guard sputtered out, definitely caught off guard (ironic) by the Reunion grunts suddenly becoming ice sculptures.

“They’re…frozen?” Medic isn’t faring much better.

“You know, Doctor.” Amiya starts as she turns to Flare, “I was kind of expecting you to use Strand or Arc instead of Stasis.”

The Hunter gives a shrug as his mask’s glow starts fading out. “Eh, figured the ol’ popsicle maker would be the safest bet, there were just too many risks with the others.”

The Cautus gives a thoughtful noise, before her attention’s stolen by two pairs of approaching footsteps.

“They froze the others?” The first of the oncoming grunts questions.

“Great… more Reunion…” Ashe states, exasperated.

“Weren’t you on radar duty?!” Flare interrogates.

“Shut.”

“What are you asking me for? Just get them already!” The second replies.

Flare sighs. “I’ll start charging another pulse.”

Only for Amiya to shut him down. “No, save your strength Doctor. I’ll handle them.”

The Cautus turns to face the encroaching grunts, black energy crackling around her fingertips.

But before either the grunts could reach them or Amiya could unleash her attack, a whip cracks against the skull of the rightmost grunt, causing them to collide with both the grunt next to them and the wall, knocking them out cold.

Standing behind where the grunts were a moment ago stands a woman with canine features - which another of Flare’s fragmented memories id’s as a Perro - brandishing a whip. She’s flanked by two others aiming crossbows in their direction, but the general very dark cyan and light blue color scheme in their outfits tells Flare that they’re on their side.

That’s when Flare noticed that his visor, via Ashe’s databanks, id’d her, confirming that she’s not hostile while also giving her identity or at least her codename:

Dobermann.

“Gee, look who’s late.”

“You beat me by a second.”

The black sparks dissipate as Amiya’s shoulders fall in relief. “Dobermann!”

The Perro gives a small nod in response. “Sorry I’m late. Is everyone okay?”

Flare gives a small nod while Amiya speaks on behalf of the other two. “Yes, we’re fine.”

Any further discussion between the two teams is prevented by shouts from below them. 

“Over there!”

“Grab ‘em!”

“Don’t let them escape!”

“There’s a lot of activity closing in on us!” Ashe chirps over comms.

“That's an understatement and a half, Ashe.” Her Hunter remarks in response.

“Looks like our friends downstairs heard the commotion.” Dobermann bitterly notes.

Her gaze turns back to the recovery team.

The Perro’s eyes flick to the three Reunion grunts, still frozen by their Stasis-induced lack of entropy, and linger there for a moment, her gaze unreadable, before returning to the team as a whole.

“I found a shortcut, come with me.”

“Roger that.” Is the last thing said as Amiya helps Flare to his feet and starts following Dobermann, with the others following after.

After a short while of evading patrols and slipping through ventilation shafts, the united team takes a moment of respite on a large ledge in a space behind a large turbine.

In other news, Flare’s legs now feel like cooperating, so he’s able to stand on his own for much more than five seconds before they give out again. As for walking, he hasn’t tried yet and he’s not convinced that Amiya’s willing to find out given their current circumstances.

“It’s lucky we managed to regroup.” Dobermann opens, her arms crossed.

Amiya gives an agreeing nod. “Yes. We rescued the Doctor, too. Now, we just need to make our way up.”

“About that…” The Perro starts. “A large number of Reunion fighters have infiltrated the underground passage.” She turns her head to look at the turbine before continuing. “They seem to be looking for something, but their objective is unclear.” Dobermann turns her head back to Amiya. “What is certain is that they already see us as enemies.”

“We have to assume they’re guarding all of the exits we planned to use. And there’s no time to look for any other ways out. We will have to fight.” The Perro finishes, before turning her gaze to Flare.

“Doctor,” The Hunter’s head snaps up and out of his thoughts to meet her gaze, his hands staying firmly in his coat’s pockets, “I’ve heard of your superior commanding skills, along with your… unique abilities.”

That last part raised an eyebrow…

Amiya moves to retrieve something out of her coat pockets, with Flare watching as Dobermann continues. “I’d like you to direct our extraction operation.”

“Originally, after Amiya’s team recovered you, we were to contact Dr. Kal’tsit to direct our extraction, but something is interfering with our outward communications, preventing us from contacting her. As a result, we’re forced to place the operation in your hands so soon.”

Flare barely notices a flicker of familiarity at the mention of “Dr. Kal’tsit”, but ultimately shrugs it off.

Amiya raises her hands, a device, about the size and shape of a pre-Golden Age smartphone, lying in them, with its display alight with a white screen, saying “PRTS: Analysis OS” with text saying to “please login” directly below it.

“Doctor, this is PRTS.”

“I’m sorry we’re pushing you so hard.” She takes a breath before continuing as Flare removes his hands from his pockets and gingerly takes the terminal. “But with you in command, I’m sure we’ll all make it above ground safely.”

“Please, Doctor.”

“Help us.”

The Hunter lifts the terminal closer to his face in one of his hands.

“Please log in.”

A flicker of a memory surfaces, but fades before he can perceive it.

Flare takes a shaky breath as he looks at all of the expectant, hopeful gazes around him.

At Guard, Medic, and Dobermann’s crossbowmen; while none of them have done anything super noteworthy yet, knowing that they’re there to lend support when needed is very much appreciated.

At Dobermann; while he hadn’t known the Perro long (to his current knowledge at least), she helped them out of a sticky situation that probably would have only gotten stickier if she hadn’t stepped in and will probably continue to do so.

And finally, at Amiya; the young girl who had been there to greet him as he woke up in that damned box and has since started haunting the Hunter’s missing memories, a girl who seems to have more faith in him in spite of his amnesia than he ever had in himself ever since his second life began all those years ago.

Flare looks back at the device in his hand, the weight of which feels like it's grown ten times.

The Ghost hovering over his shoulder the entire time remains silent, knowing that she needs to let him decide this himself.

He doesn’t know why he’s hesitating so badly. Flare usually sees a risk and dives right into it, he once ran head first into a room full of higher ranking Vex Wyverns with no grenade launcher or machine gun ammo while also being low on time to complete whatever other errand he had that day.

It took him over three hours to reduce all of the Vex combat frames to scrap metal after countless revives, all he got out of it was another unwanted weapon to scrap and a missed time window that netted him an about three week wait just for another shot at it.

But… that was just his life on the line, not the lives of six other people.

And while yes, he is the leader of a Fireteam, they’re all Guardians, whatever kills them they can just kill right back. And their strategies tend to be “kill whatever tries to kill you” with highly infrequent nuance.

They get an endless supply of second chances. The six around him don’t.

And he isn’t confident that he can keep them safe.

So, with a sigh, the arm holding the terminal falls slack against his side.

“I’m sorry. I can’t do it… Not in my current state.”

The rampant dismay on all of their faces hurts to see, but he won’t put them in even more danger if he can help it.

“What do you mean?” Dobermann questions in an interrogative tone that Flare doesn’t appreciate at all.

The Hunter lets out an annoyed sigh. “Let me give you the short version then.”

“I woke up with a significant part of my memories missing, and whether it's because of a third party or not and whether fragments come back or not, what matters is that unless those skills became muscle memory at some point or I just spontaneously get them back when I inevitably find myself in that position eventually, those commanding skills you want, I no longer have .”

The space is rendered silent as everyone is taken aback by Flare’s frustrated tirade. Not just from it being unexpected, but also that it dropped the bombshell on everyone who isn’t a Cautus that the Hunter is dealing with amnesia.

“I’m sorry Dobermann, I really am. But I’m not getting any of you killed because I’m not up to the task yet.”

The silence persists for a few moments.

“You're fucking kidding me…” Dobermann finally hisses out. “All the Oripathy research, everything, gone… This was all for nothing…!”

She takes a moment to recompose herself before turning to face Amiya, who despite the dismayed expression she had a moment ago, already exchanged it for a more resolute one. “Amiya, this situation is far outside what we planned for.”

“We need a new strategy for this operation… No, for all of Rhodes Island.”

“Amiya, are you listening?!”

The Cautus doesn’t answer, her eyes locked with Flare’s eyes, barely visible under his mask’s visor.

“We’re fine.” She finally responds, having found what she was looking for in his gaze.

No.

She already knew it was there.

She just wanted him to see that she isn’t giving up on him. Not now. Not ever.

“The Doctor will get us out of this, I know he will.”

And judging by how his eyes widen slightly, she knows he got the message.

“What about this is “fine”?” Dobermann snaps back incredulously. “Our commander is missing very crucial portions of his memory!”

“What’s missing isn’t gone.” Amiya replies calmly. “It just needs time and the right triggers to bring them back.”

She turns her head to Dobermann before continuing.

“And besides, what he does still recall could help us out of this just as-”

“I get where you’re coming from,” The Perro interrupts, closing her eyes and rubbing her forehead, “but you’re being too optimistic.”

She pauses for a moment before sighing, opening her eyes and letting her hand fall back to her side. 

“No.” What she wanted to say wasn’t worth it. “We have to work with the manpower we’ve got.”

Amiya gives a small nod before turning back to Flare.

“Doctor.” She takes a breath. “I know you aren’t willing to lead at the moment, but can you still provide us your aid?”

The Hunter’s silent for a moment, before putting his hands back into his pockets and letting out a small chuckle. “I’ve promised you that much already, haven’t I?”

The Cautus’ eyes brighten slightly. “Thank you, Doctor.”

“And don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll remember everything eventually.”

A Reunion grunt stands alone in a tight corridor, standing guard in case those intruders from earlier try to head down this way.

Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t have eyes in the back of his head as he’s quickly and quietly ambushed by one of the crossbowmen, who chokes the grunt out until he’s out cold.

The rest of the team is motioned forward and they advance through the corridor with as little noise as possible.

Flare’s found himself back on Guard’s back as the team collectively agreed that they need to get to the surface as quickly as possible before they’re cornered and Flare moving on his own could end up slowing them down.

The team moves through doors and corridors before exiting one door into a small corridor that leads into an area leading up to sunlight that resembles a roofed drainage canal. The crossbowman who’s been taking point for most of this leg of the exfiltration goes first, sweeping for any Reunion grunts lying in wait.

“All clear.” Is all he says before looking toward the ramp upwards. Dobermann moves from the opening into the tunnel shortly after the signal is given.

“I thought this place would be a no-go. Was I overthinking it?”

The crossbowman behind her lowers his weapon and looks back as the other crossbowman and Medic step out as well.

“Are we getting through to Rhodes Island?” The Perro questions as the others leave cover.

“No response. The signal’s still being jammed.” One of the crossbowmen answers.

“Yeah, and I’m not having luck tracing where the jamming is coming from.” Ashe adds on. “We’ll need to track the jammer down before we can raise the others and call for evac.”

“Copy that.”

As Guard moves to leave the opening, a tap on his shoulder from Flare stops him.

“Doctor?”

“Just wait for a moment.” Is all the Hunter says as he stares at the ramp up into daylight.

His eyes narrow under his visor. “Something isn’t right…”

Also hearing his order, Amiya stops with them as well, still watching their back for an ambush.

Unfortunately, the others didn’t hear Flare as one of the crossbowmen speaks up. “Should we move up?”

“Yes, but let’s check out the situation above ground first.” Dobermann replies. “The two of us will head outside. Everyone else, watch our six and wait for our signal.”

And the two start approaching the exit.

“Outside…?”

A disturbing thought occurs to Flare.

“Ashe, boost our signal! Fast!”

“O-okay?”

The Ghost’s response falls on deaf ears as he immediately starts feeling into the Weave again…

…to be met with the horrible understanding of every part of the trap they just walked into.

“Oh… shit.” 

The two are nearly at the exit.

With a breath and mustering all the strength he can in his disused vocal chords, he tries to call out as loud as he can…

…only for Amiya to do it for him to his confusion.

“Dobermann! Come back!”

The Perro’s head whips around at Amiya’s cry and half a second later the crossbowman in front of her is pelted with crossbow bolts and falls to the ground.

“Damn it!”

At least four Reunion grunts drop down onto the ramp in front of her with their blades drawn.

“It’s a trap!” Dobermann exclaims as her whip cracks against the ground.

She starts pulling the incapacitated and very-filled-with-arrows archer backwards with her. “We’re falling back! Cover us!”

“They’re coming from below, too!” Medic calls back.

“This way too!” Guard calls out as well, looking at where they came from. Though that entrance is quickly blocked by Stasis crystals spawned by a Glacier Grenade Flare threw out moments later. “That should hold for a while! Guard, go help out Dobermann!”

“Roger!” Guard responds as he puts Flare back on his feet before heading towards Dobermann. The Hunter draws the Ace of Spades from its resting place and checks its cylinder to ensure its loaded before flicking it back shut. He props himself against one side of the opening and starts firing down the tunnel at the grunts running up at Medic and the other crossbowman.

“Amiya! Can you give them covering fire?”

Amiya must have been dazed for a bit as after a delay she nods and takes the side of the opening opposite of Flare and starts throwing volleys of black bolts at the increasing number of grunts assailing Dobermann and Guard, with the Hunter noticing while reloading his hand cannon.

“So that’s how she fights… neat.”

“Still doesn’t explain how she knew I was going to call them back…”

During the skirmish, however, very few of the recovery team hear the comms crackle to life with a male voice calling to them through the static. “Can you… read me?”

“Flare, there’s someone trying to get through on comms!”

The Hunter stops firing for a moment. “Is that because you boosted our signal?”

Amiya must have heard him, since Flare notices her out of the corner of his eye, she stops firing as well and looks over at him.

“I’m still working on that and there’s still too much interference, so whoever it is has to be close by!”

The comms crackle again. “Ace… Come in…”

The static abruptly vanishes.

“This is Ace! Do you read me!?”

Unlike his first attempt, his call doesn’t go unnoticed by the others.

“Captain Ace?” Guard calls back. “Loud and clear!”

“We read you!” Amiya adds as she and Flare start firing again.

“Look alive. Flashbang coming out.”

“What?” Dobermann breaths out as she backpetals.

“On my signal, cover your eyes and ears.”

“Easy for you to say, you're not the one who can’t cover his ears.” Flare mutters under his breath.

He must have said it louder than intended as a chuckle rings out over the comms for a moment in response.

But only for a moment as the voice returns.

“Now!”

“Doctor, get down!” Flare hears Amiya call out and tries to turn to face her as he’s tackled to the ground by the Cautus, her hood falling over her head as she tries to protect the Hunter from the flashbang that’s just hit the ramp.

It bounces a few times before erupting into a mix of blinding light and deafening sound.

After a few moments, Flare cracks an eye open, his ears still ringing from the flashbang and his vision still full of the floor of the tunnel, with his view of it partially obscured by Amiya’s left hand and right forearm. Thankfully his radar isn’t obscured due to being part of his mask’s HUD, so he’s able to see that more friendly pings have appeared on it, with one of them moving over to where the Hunter and Cautus lie.

After reaching them, it stops moving and he feels the weight on top of him shift as Amiya’s arms move away from his visor. A pat on his cloak’s hood informs him that it's safe to get up and the two move to get back onto their feet.

After escaping Reunion’s ambush, the two teams relocate to an abandoned store of some kind with its windows shot out somewhere within the city to regroup.

Sitting below one of those windows and watching the approaching storm clouds on the horizon with Ashe sitting on his shoulder, it occurs to Flare that he never really asked where they even were.

But before he can ask his Ghost, his attention’s drawn to the injured crossbowman on the floor in front of him, who lets out another agonized cry as Medic treats him.

“Procedure complete, you’re okay now.”

Flare’s feeling pretty thankful to have a Ghost just from watching that.

“This is awful…” The Hunter’s gaze drifts over to the voice’s owner, as she’s crouched down near a group of bodies that used to be a family of three, with Guard standing close by. The sorrow and disbelief in Amiya’s voice is hard to ignore. “How could they do this to such a young girl?”

The Cautus pauses for a moment.

“I’m sorry we’re using your shop without permission.” She says, grabbing a tablecloth and pulling it over to cover them. “Please let us rest for a bit.”

“I wanted… to save you.”

Flare’s eyes linger on Amiya for a moment longer before pulling out the terminal she gave him earlier and turning to look at it.

“Please log in.”

He sighs.

“Can I really…?”

As he stares at the device sitting in his left hand, Amiya crouches down onto her knees next to him.

“Doctor.” He turns his head to face her. “You can login using your fingerprint, as long as you think you’re ready.”

“It’s our friend, and it’ll give us all the information we need.”

Flare turns back to looking at the device and stares in silence at it for a moment.

“I…”

Amiya gives him a reassuring smile.

“It’s okay, there’s no rush. Just try to remember what you can a little at a time.”

At that moment, Dobermann and Ace, a man with a beard wearing sunglasses, a headset, and tactical vest, walk back into the shop.

The even larger recovery turned exfiltration team turns to attention at the two captains’ entrance.

“Everyone listen up.” Dobermann begins. “We’ve scouted the route to the secret shortcut and it’s safe. We’re leaving in ten.”

“Rest up until then.”

Ace moves from next to Dobermann and over to Flare, Ashe, and Amiya.

“Ace.” The Cautus greets warmly.

“Hey.” Ace greets back as he reaches them.

“Thanks for getting there when you did, I don’t think we would have come out of that as intact as we did without you.” Ashe says.

“Don’t mention it. I’ve had plenty of thanks already.” The captain states as he crouches down in front of Flare and rests his arm on the one knee left upright. “It’s been a long time… Doctor.”

“Oh…”

“Oh fuck.”

It’s one thing if they’ve heard of him, it’s another if they knew him.

And while he did have warning from a flicker of familiarity, he more or less didn’t notice it since it wasn’t as intense as the feeling Amiya still gives him (though the reason why is probably just because he still doesn’t completely remember her or what she is to him yet).

But unlike with Amiya, there’s no memory fragments coming to his aid this time.

So the Hunter just stares blankly at the man, noticing that there’s no discernible animal traits that he’s left visible, unlike literally everyone else around them. And to his surprise, no memory fragments barge in out of the ether to provide Ace’s race, so that’s something.

And the next words out of Ace’s mouth hit Flare with a sledgehammer. “I hear you’ve got amnesia, or at least partially.”

“Uh…”

“Don’t worry about it. As long as you’re healthy.”

“What is it with everyone who knew me and being really fucking good at being reassuring?!”

“Funny you say that, I can think of someone you’ll have to meet sooner or later who’ll probably have to restrain herself from turning you into a coat.”

“Not helping, Ashe.”

Ace continuing snaps Flare from his conversation with Ashe. “We’ll have lots of time to talk once we’re back at Rhodes Island.”

The Hunter gives a small nod in response. He wants to ask about Rhodes Island, and a lot of things really, but he’s not even sure where to start with all of it.

A conversation between Dobermann and the injured archer where he tries to blame himself for letting his guard down (which the Perro shuts down) catches the attention of the four for a moment before Ace turns to Amiya.

“According to the report from Scout’s team, there are Reunion uprisings all over the city. Looting, riots, arson… the works. They’re going nuts out there.”

Amiya’s expression becomes frustrated at the news. “That’s only going to get them ostracized even further…”

“I’ve been meaning to ask…” Flare starts, thinking that at least knowing what their enemy is would be the best question to start with. “What exactly is Reunion? I mean, I know it's at least a militant faction that really likes white and being giant pricks to everyone they see, but what exactly makes them tick?”

Ace lets out a chuckle at the “pricks” comment. “Nice to see some things never change. Amiya, mind if you explain?”

Amiya smiles and shakes her head. “Not at all.”

She takes a breath, smile fading from her face, and begins. “As you know, the group who ambushed us are the Reunion Movement.”

“They’re a terrorist organization formed by people infected with “Oripathy”.”

“Oripathy… That’s what Dobermann was talking about a while ago, wasn’t it?”

The Cautus nods, she opens her mouth to continue…

…but the Perro in question takes over for her. “They started off just protesting the discrimination the Infected faced…”

“But they’re finally showing their true colors, huh?”

“They have to know the Ursus government isn’t going to take this lying down.” Guard says as he walks over.

“Which means they think they can win in a fight.” Ace adds. “Ursus security forces haven’t quelled the unrest yet, which means they might be right.”

“Boy, did they throw a wrench into the works…”

For a moment, no one says anything.

Until Guard speaks up. “But why act now, when there’s a Catastrophe coming?”

At that, Flare tilts his head as Dobermann walks over to the window above him.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they planned to take advantage of the commotion. They’ll get their revenge even it costs them their lives-”

Dobermann’s barely cut off by the sound of glass shattering and the yells of a Reunion grunt. “Don’t let any of the Ursus escape! They’re all cold-blooded scumbags!”

Crouching down in order to not be seen, Dobermann quickly counts how many grunts are headed in their direction as the grunt pipes up again. “It’s time for them to get a taste of our pain!”

“How many?” Ace asks the Perro.

“About twenty.” Dobermann replies. “We should avoid fighting them.”

She turns to face the rest of the exfiltration team. “The enemy’s coming from the left. Leave through the back door now.”

Amiya stands up and Ashe vanishes as Guard crouches down in front of Flare with his back to him, waiting for him to climb on. “Doctor.”

“No, no need.” Flare refuses.

“Huh?”

With a small bit of effort, Flare gets to his feet. “I can walk on my own.”

The team quickly piles out of the shop and into a courtyard, moving towards an archway. But Amiya, who’s one of the last out, ends up stopping upon seeing a mother and daughter fleeing in the other direction…

…the same direction the group of Reunion grunts are going to intersect with in few moments.

“No! Don’t go that way!” The Cautus shouts, but her warning goes unheeded.

Amiya’s shout does catch the attention of Dobermann, who snaps her head back around from the front of the pack. “What’s wrong?!”

“There’s a mother and a child heading toward Reunion! If they’re spotted, they’ll be-”

Amiya attempts to start running after them, only for Dobermann to grab her arm and pull her back. “Wait!”

“Taking so many head on will only lead to more death!” The Perro scolds.

“I know it’s dangerous, but we can’t just stand by!” The Cautus protests.

“Do you get what’s going on here, Amiya?!” Dobermann shouts while grabbing Amiya’s shoulders, the frustration in her voice mounting. “If this drags on and we sustain more casualties, we won’t be able to escape the Catastrophe!”

“ All of us will die!”

“Calm down, Dobermann.” Ace attempts to placate, but it's clear to the Hunter close to him that Dobermann’s blocked them all out.

With a sigh, Flare comes to a decision.

If Amiya wants to put so much faith in him…

…then he’ll put his faith in her.

“You’re Rhodes Island’s leader.” Dobermann’s tirade continues. “And as its leader, you need to think about what to prioritize.”

Amiya opens her mouth to retort, but the words die in her throat.

She closes it and adverts her gaze down to the walkway they’re standing on.

She grits her teeth, wanting to go save them so badly, but she also knows that Dobermann’s right, making that call could cost them valuable time and could wear thin their already sparse number.

Fortunately, someone decided to make that decision for her.

“Please log in.”

The sound of the PRTS terminal that she gave the Doctor earlier causes her to lift her head slightly, eyes widened. Her head raises further when she hears the terminal let out a confirming chirp.

“Initializing… Complete.”

“Permission: Level 8.”

“Welcome back, Doctor.”

All Amiya can do, all any of them can do at that moment is stare at the Doctor, with his right gauntlet being draped over the arm holding the terminal, in stunned silence.

“Don’t worry.” The Doctor states, his gaze meeting the shocked Cautus’. And despite the mask, she can tell he’s giving her a reassuring smile. 

A flash of blue light, that Amiya can assume was from Ashe, materializes a few drones at his feet.

“Initializing reconnaissance drones.”

The drone’s rotors suddenly whir to life as they lift into the sky, spooking the Operators in the Doctor’s immediate vicinity.

“Searching for enemies.”

“We’ll save them.”

“We can even make use of the buildings to ensure we get the drop on them.”

The Doctor’s eyes suddenly flick to a corner of his visor, causing Amiya to remember how Ashe mentioned that she was going to integrate PRTS into a corner of his mask’s HUD so he can still use it while having his hands free.

“Doctor,” Ace speaks up, uncertainty radiating off of him, “you sure you can take command?”

“Hold it.” Dobermann starts. “This is too much for you with those memories gone.”

The Doctor’s gaze snaps onto the Perro, steel gray eyes sharpening into daggers. “I’ve handled worse in worse states, Dobermann.”

“And like you said,” he continues, gaze softening as it drifts over to Amiya, “ she’s our leader, which means she has the final say on whether we do this or not.”

The Cautus stares stunned for a moment, before a determined expression appears on her face. “Doctor, please go ahead.”

The Doctor gives her a nod as Dobermann looks at her incredulously. “Amiya!”

“The Doctor suspected before we were ambushed that we were walking into a trap before using his power to confirm it.” Amiya turns to the Perro. “It was thanks to him that I was able to warn you in time.”

“What?”

“Even if he did use one of his abilities to confirm his suspicions, the Doctor’s instincts are as sharp as ever.”

Dobermann turns to look at the Doctor surprised as she wraps her head around what Amiya revealed.

“I’m sure of it.” The Cautus finishes. “The Doctor will lead us to victory.”

“Let’s do this.”

Dobermann stares at her leader for a few moments, before turning to fully face her.

“Alright.” The Perro says, still not completely convinced. “I’ll trust you for now.”

“She’s our leader.” Ace joins in. “We don’t really have a choice.”

His comment causes a snort to leave the Doctor.

“Maybe so, but I get the feeling that we’d follow her even if she wasn’t.”

“Thank you, all of you.”

With a breath, Amiya turns around and her determined expression returns as she begins to speak.

“‘Silent we shall be, should conflict be avoidable, but fight tooth and nail, should it be necessary!’”

“We are Rhodes Island… and that is our creed!”

Chapter Text

> December 23rd, Approximately 10 AM / Overcast / Chernobog, Ursus

Flare peers out from over the edge of the rooftop he’s settled down on, watching fifteen or so Reunion grunts smash up the various storefronts as the other five surround the mother and daughter that Amiya spotted a few minutes prior.

While the mother is begging them to spare them, one of the grunts keeps going on and on about how “it’s time to pay for your sins” like this random mom and her kid is somehow responsible for the suffering these asshats went through or whatever, Flare doesn’t really care at this point.

After all…

“Mission start.”

…they’re going to be taking a nice little nap on the street in a few moments.

Well, the others will “tell” them it's nap time. A certain Cautus wanted him to sit at most this one out, and given he wants to see what they can do before jumping into the frying pan himself, he’s more than willing to hold off.

“At least spare my child!”

“You wish! Like hell we’ll do that! We’ll start with the kid!”

“Hey, haven’t you killed enough already?” Another grunt asks the first as he puts his hand on the other’s shoulder

The Doctor raises an eyebrow at that. “Wait, so some of them actually still have functioning moral compasses?”

“Take your hands off of me.” The first responds annoyed.

The second doesn’t get a chance to reply back as an explosion erupts behind most of the other fifteen grunts.

Flare lets out a morbid chuckle as raises a hand up to the earpiece built into his mask, with three other grunts running over asking what happened. “Oh, they have no idea what’s about to hit them.”

“Phase 1, start us off, wouldja?”

The Hunter looks over at another rooftop to his left as a trio of Vanguards quickly rappel down from it, knocking out the three grunts directly below them on impact.

“It’s the enemy!” A grunt calls out. “Fire!”

A couple grunts fire their crossbows, but somehow fail to recognize that there’s a whole ass armored truck in the way of their bolts.

“Yeesh, do these guys even bother to think before shooting?”

“Probably not from all I’ve seen.” Ashe chimes in.

With a shrug aimed towards his hidden Ghost, he turns to the exfiltration team’s sole Caster behind him, hand still on his earpiece.

“Phase 2. Give ‘em hell, Amiya.”

The rabbit gives a nod as she stands up. At the same time, three of the grunts who fired their crossbows proceed to advance on the Vanguards’ cover. “What is it with Reunion and threes?”

“Drag them out!”

They don’t get very far before a barrage of black bolts knock the crossbows out of their hands before knocking them flat on their backs.

“What the… Up there!”

Very clearly feeling pressured, two grunts surrounding the mother and child separated them before holding them as meat shields in order to prevent Amiya from using her Arts further.

“Cease firing, or you’ll hit them too!”

Another grunt proceeds to state the obvious about how the Cautus is a kid and how her Arts are black, but the fact that it isn’t normal for Arts to be black catches Flare’s attention, though he files it away for later as their “leader” barks out an order.

“Capture them all and bring them down here!”

Oh, so that’s how they want to play it…

“Phase 3, shut ‘em up please.”

On that order, Dobermann and the two Operators with her dart out of cover and ambush the four hostiles approaching the base of the building, the grunts falling like flies as two are knocked unconscious by the Guard’s whip and the other two are tackled by the other Guards.

The Doctor notices a detachment of another group of four headed over to the armored truck, only to be effortlessly ambushed by the Vanguards lying in wait from earlier.

“Damn you…” One grunt trails off.

“Th-They’re…” Another starts.

“What’s happening? What the hell is this?!” Another cries out as he and the other three remaining grunts are pushed back to a wall by the six encroaching Operators.

“You’re no different from us!” The same grunt asserts as he holds his blade up to the girl in his arms’ neck.

“Pfft, as if.”

“Phase 4, put them out of their misery.”

Four more Operators, three Guards and Ace, rappel down from the building the remaining grunts are backing themselves toward, the three Guards quickly incapacitate three of the four, with one of them carefully setting down the dazed mother. Ace lands directly behind the last grunt before quickly throwing his arms around his throat, struggling to break free of the Defender’s chokehold for a few moments before his body falls limp.

Ace just as quickly releases his hold, letting the grunt fall, before moving to catch both the unconscious grunt and the frightened girl in each of his arms. “You’re safe now.”

“Target secured.” One of the Operators on the ground calls in.

“Copy that, good work everyone.” Flare calls back, as he taps a button on the PRTS terminal, exiting mission oversight, before putting it into his pocket.

“Mission complete.”  

It doesn’t take too long for Flare, Amiya, and the other Operators on that rooftop to return to street level and regroup with the others, who in that period have started collecting the unconscious Reunion grunts and piling them up, with some of the Medics bandaging up any injuries.

Part of Flare wants to question that part, but the rest of him figures that it's just something Rhodes Island does as a courtesy and he can respect that.

The kid Ace saved is trying to wake her now barely-conscious mother, all the while the Defender comforts her. “Don’t worry, she’ll be alright.”

Amiya’s pace picks up at the sight of them. “What’s wrong?”

“Dizziness when she tried to stand. She’ll be fine.”

“Thank goodness.”

The Cautus crouches down in front of the bear-eared girl.

“Are you hurt?”

The kid shakes her head with a mildly concerning lack of hesitancy. “Nope.”

Then again, it’s a kid, what’d you expect? They aren’t exactly known for self-preservation…

…and the irony in that thought isn’t lost on him.

“Your mommy will get better very soon.”

“Really?”

“Really!”

As Amiya continues talking to and reassuring the kid, Dobermann walks up beside Flare.

“Excellent commanding, Doctor. I apologize for being so rude before, clearly I should have judged your capabilities more objectively.”

“You’re a first-rate commander.”

“Even with those memories gone, your body retained all of its experience, huh?” Ace joins in.

The Hunter puts up his hands bashfully. “I didn’t do anything special outside of what you needed me to do.” They fall a moment later. “Though… I’m not really sure where that came from either…”

The three are snapped from their conversation before it could continue by a frightened cry that was way too close by for comfort.

Good news, mama bear is awake.

Bad news? 

She’s looking at all of them like they’re closing in predators who just found their lunch…

…despite the fact that these “predators” just saved her and her child’s lives.

“Don’t touch my girl!”

“Mama?”

The Cautus kneeling down a few feet away from them is very clearly taken aback from the turn of events, but she tries to keep composure. 

“Please listen. We can take you somewhere safe.”

The mother abruptly stands, her daughter still in her arms. Her fearful gaze is burning a hole into the rabbit’s right wrist… where Flare can make out black and red cracks running onto the back of her hand.

“You’re Infected, aren’t you?”

His heart stops the second the words reach his ears and what Dobermann said about Reunion’s original motive comes crashing back to the Doctor like a freight train.

“They started off just protesting the discrimination the Infected faced…”

“She’s also…?”

Everything is tuned out as he stares at the sidewalk next to the rabbit while his brain kicks into overdrive.

He doesn’t hear the mother’s thanks and demands to leave them alone.

He doesn’t register Amiya’s plea for them to wait or the movement of the Ursine woman walking away, pulling her daughter along with her, who waves goodbye at the Cautus.

Nor the words that she chokes out, hoping that they would hear it and find somewhere to take shelter.

He doesn’t hear the Medic’s report on the injured and their treatment.

He doesn’t even register Amiya standing up or her turning to thank him.

And he certainly doesn’t see the deeply concerned expression that appears on her face.

All he can register is the paralyzing amount of care and concern he has toward this one Cautus girl that he’s becoming more and more convinced is deeply important to him for some reason and everytime he tries to reach for that answer, all he gets is static.

And combined with the feeling that he already knew she was Infected at one point, it frustrates him immensely.

“Why can’t I just remember who she was-”

A warm, comforting presence creeps into his mind, cutting off his thoughts.

A voice follows it not long after.

“It’ll be alright, Doctor.”

“Just take a deep breath, okay?”

A voice he recognizes as her’s.

So he does what she asks, he takes a breath.

And as he reopens his eyes, they're immediately met by a very concerned Cautus’, her hands wrapped around one of his. And judging by the wisp of black escaping them, she used her Arts and just started to let it fade.

He doesn’t get time to process that as the rabbit speaks up. “Doctor, are you alright.”

He lets out a small sigh. “...Better.”

Amiya gains a small smile at that as she lets go. “That’s a start, so I’ll take it.”

“I’m sorry to ruin the moment,” Dobermann starts, causing the two to turn their heads to her, “but we should get moving before we’re found by another Reunion patrol.”

“Right, lead the way.” Flare replies.

The Perro nods before turning to Amiya.

“And Amiya, you know I’ll have to report to Dr. Kal’tsit for your action just now.”

The Cautus lowers her head. “I’m sorry, Dobermann, but-”

The Instructor cuts her off. “I understand why you did it, Amiya. If nothing else happens, I’ll overlook it, but remember that there’s risks to overusing your Arts.”

The recipient of the lecture nods her head.

“Good, now let’s move out.”

With a chorus of rogers, Rhodes Island pushes onwards…

…but none of them notice the Reunion drone watching their every move.

The team silently maneuvers through alleyways for a while before reaching the interior of a drainage canal, where they decide to take a moment before continuing onwards.

“There’s a park up ahead that leads to the central town of South Chernobog. We’ll cut through and rendezvous with Nearl and Scout’s teams. Well, assuming nothing happens.”

Ace exhales before continuing.

“We’ll go on ahead and scope things out. Wait for us here.”

Everything the Defender just said pretty much went in one ear and straight out the other, as Flare and Ashe watch a dejected Amiya stare into space.

Looks like the comforting her Arts can do are only for the recipient.

The Hunter looks at his Ghost, opening his mouth to talk, only for her to cut him off by motioning her shell towards the Cautus. He understands what she’s trying to say pretty quickly.

“If you want some answer to whatever questions you have, just go ask her.”

“Or comfort her, your pick.”

So with a small sigh, he moves closer to the rabbit, an action that doesn’t go unnoticed by her as she snaps back to reality and turns to him.

“Doctor?”

“You alright?”

Amiya nods with a sad smile. “I will be, I just need a minute.”

“Thanks for worrying about me.”

“Right back at ‘ya.”

There’s a brief moment of silence before the Doctor speaks again.

“I… I have a hunch as to why, but it’s probably better if I just ask…”

Flare takes a breath before continuing, part of him dreading the answer he’ll get.

“Why was that mother so afraid of you?”

Amiya’s silent for a moment, but she eventually speaks again.

“I think I know what your hunch is and if I’m right about it, you’d be correct… just maybe not to the extent you believe.”

She takes a breath of her own.

“We’re Infected too, most of us at least.”

“Just like Reunion is.”

“We’ve thrown its name around a few times now, but we’ve never really touched on Oripathy’s symptoms…” The Cautus starts while reaching for and pulling back her right sleeve.

Which reveals that the black and red cracks run back to what can be best described as a large, black and crimson, cancerous scab that resembles crystals on her forearm near her wrist.

“Our bodies slowly crystallize, before eventually fracturing and spraying infectious dust into the air.”

“There’s still no cure for it…”

There’s silence again as Flare takes in the gravity of what Amiya just revealed on him

“Going off your words from a moment ago,” he starts after a while of processing, “that means most of, if not everyone else here and everyone that’s part of Rhodes Island, has Oripathy?”

“Yes.”

The Doctor returns to silence for another few moments.

“I’m guessing the end results aren’t exactly why the Infected are shunned like Dobermann said.”

The Cautus nods sadly. “While there’s no recorded case of infection via physical contact, that hasn’t stopped rumors stating the contrary from spreading uncontrollably.”

“And as a result, most of the uninfected are deathly afraid to come anywhere near us or even remotely trust us.”

“Discrimination and prejudice against the Infected exists in every country,” Dobermann adds on from behind them, “but we’re especially shunned here in Ursus.”

“Using biased reporting, the Ursus government has instilled a psychological fear of Oripathy and most people here think the Infected should be exterminated and even cheer whenever they see a hunting party.”

“It’s why Reunion launched an insurrection here. To enact revenge on the ones who ostracized them.”

She sighs. “Unless somebody puts a stop to it, this cycle of hatred will probably continue.”

“Rhodes Island tries to help everyone affected by this disease, whether they’re Infected or not,” Amiya takes back over, “and to solve the problems Oripathy caused.”

“We try to protect as many as we can from the fighting, but that on its own isn’t enough.”

“We need to find a cure for Oripathy and end the conflict at its source.”

“And on that score, you’re our shining hope, Doctor.”

Flare bites his tongue, as much as he wants to voice his disbelief, it’s probably for the best that he lets the Cautus say her piece.

And besides, Ashe can probably corroborate what she says anyway, so might as well accept reality.

“Before you lost your memories, you were the leading expert on Oripathy, and you’d dedicated yourself to finding a cure.”

“If your research can lead to a true cure for Oripathy, it will put an end to everyone’s fear.”

“...But with your memory loss,” Dobermann adds on, “it’s questionable how much use you’ll be again.”

“Instructor!”

The Perro puts up a placating hand toward the upset Cautus. “Perhaps you’ll be able to regain a grasp on the theories after some reviewing, just like with your commanding skills?”

“Hm… Now that I think about it, it’s strange for a neurology doctor to also be a highly skilled tactician…”

“...but after seeing you, I can understand it somewhat.”

She sighs again before continuing.

“Just know that even if you don’t understand this now, there will come a day when you’ll know what you must do.”

Flare’s disbelief just quadrupled.

When did he have the time to go from immortal sharpshooter and/or assassin that has powers that defies causality, to a neurologist and tactician?!

Let alone an expert in disease that has literally everyone else stumped.

“Ashe, please tell me I have a comical amount of notes on this.”

“Even if you didn’t for whatever reason, I’d have it recorded in my memory, remember?”

The Hunter stares blankly at his Ghost for a moment.

He actually forgot that Ghosts pretty much archive everything they experience.

Something that has bitten him in the ass multiple times before.

“Oh… right…” Is all he can say as he looks away from her.

She’s never going to let him live this one down.

Like usual.

Thankfully, before Ashe can capitalize on Flare’s embarrassment, the comms crackle to life.

“This is Ace.”

“Situation normal here. Take the tunnel.”

“Roger.” Dobermann replies.

“Time to move.”

Amiya’s head moves to look at the sky in response. An action that isn’t unnoticed by the Perro behind her. “What’s wrong, Amiya?”

“How much time do we have left before the Catastrophe hits?”

“About three hours.”

“Come on, we need to get going.”

Dobermann moves over to join the two Operators carrying the stretcher that the injured Sniper from earlier is lying on. Flare follows them to the tunnel’s entrance as Ashe vanishes but stops at the threshold and glances back as Amiya calls to him.

“Doctor.”

“Thank you.”

He now fully turns to her.

“I haven’t really done anything that deserves any thanks, Amiya.”

“No, if it wasn’t for you, I would’ve given up on that girl and her mother.”

“You’re a Rhodes Islander, just like before.”

Her beaming was contagious.

The Doctor chuckled. “Well, you’re the expert on who I was, so I’ll  take your word for it.”

It then dawns on Flare that everyone else had gone through the tunnel already. So, no prying eyes for the potentially awkward question that’s been burning the Hunter alive since he woke up.

“...Oh, fuck it, might as well ask.”

“Hey, Amiya…” He inhales sharply. “Quick, totally not awkward question.”

“What exactly was… er… am I to you?”

The Cautus’ brow furrows in response to his question, not out of frustration, but more in contemplating on how to answer.

“I-” She sighs. “That’s a question that’s difficult to answer in a way that doesn’t completely overwhelm you.”

“So I promise you, that once we get back to Rhodes Island, I’ll tell you everything.”

“But until then, just know that you’re an extremely important person to me and you wouldn’t believe how relieved I am to know that part of you still recognises me.”

“I could probably imagine. But, just so you know, I’m going to be holding you to that promise, alright?”

“Alright.”

Amiya moves around him into the tunnel, before looking back to him with a smile.

“Okay, let’s go!”

The Hunter laughs to himself before following her into it.

“Lead the way.”

The near silence as the team slowly advances through the park is deafening.

Of course, their footsteps are still audible… well, most of them at least, Amiya’s still not sure how the Doctor’s footsteps are always completely silent. But the fact that Reunion could ambush them from the trees at any moment puts the entire team at an uncomfortable level of vigilance.

Something that doesn’t help that vigilance is the sound of a radio held by one of the Operators, that’s constantly emitting a report about how the riots are under control.

“You’ve got to hand it to them,” Ace says, “coming up with that fake news.”

“Hard to believe the Ursus Guards would get pushed into a corner, though.” Dobermann replies. “Seems the government isn’t really serious about suppressing the riots.”

“I can’t imagine Reunion’s capable of pulling strings behind the scenes…” Ace responds.

“Right, but it’s not entirely out of the question, given the situation.”

“Amiya.”

The sound of her name causes the Cautus to snap out of her thoughts.

“We can’t afford to help anyone right now.” Dobermann states, looking back at her. “I know how you feel, but our priority is getting the Doctor back to Rhodes Island.”

Her head returns to looking at the ground. “I get it… I know what you’re saying.”

“You’ve done very well, Amiya.” Ace chimes in.

“Ace.”

“All that’s left is to regroup with Nearl and Scout, and evacuate. Hopefully Reserve Teams A1 & A4 haven’t had issues securing the rendezvous point…”

“Right.”

The team’s progression is halted by the Doctor stopping abruptly, who has removed his hand from the pocket and is now resting it on the Ace of Spades’ grip.

“Doctor?”

“What’s wrong?” The Defender next to him asks.

Amiya notices why he stopped before he can say it. “There’s a haze rolling in…”

The hooded man nods. “It’s strange.”

“It’s getting thicker.”

“Enemy Arts?” Dobermann posits.

“Possibly, but I’m not seeing anything on radar or the drones yet.”

The Doctor turns his head to Ace. “Form a circle.”

“Roger.”

“All combatants, form up around the stretcher. Hurry. While visibility is still good.”

As they’re doing so, the Doctor brings the PRTS terminal out of his pocket to get a better look than what his HUD interface can give him.

“No hostile target in sight.”

“Status updated.”

“Enemy drone in sight.”

As the terminal reports the drones, Amiya’s head snaps up to the sky…

…just in time to see the scout drones get shot out of the sky.

“All friendly scout drones have been hit…”

“...and expired.”

“Oh, god dammit.” The Doctor swears under his breath.

As another drone enters sight as the smoke clears, Dobermann quickly barks out an order.

“All units, under the trees! Quick!”

The Operators barely get into cover in time as the drone divebombs them, the turret firing wildly.

“I’m willing to bet my left kidney that they fired to intimidate us.” The Doctor states from next to the Cautus, cannon finally drawn and peering from around the tree.

“So their goal was to split us up?” She asks as she peers around the tree herself.

“Probably.”

“The mist is so thick now. We can’t tell where anyone is…”

“Doctor, can you see where everyone is?”

“No, the mist is screwing with my radar, Dobermann was on the mark with her Arts guess.”

Screams from within the fog gets the duo’s attention.

“Stop! Let go!”

“Stop it!”

Recovering from the scare, Amiya raises her hand to fire her Arts in the direction of the screams, but ultimately hesitates before lowering her hand. She can’t tell what she’s aiming at and would prefer to avoid friendly fire.

“Amiya.”

The Cautus snaps her head behind her to the source of the sound. “Dobermann!”

“Ace and his team are fighting on the other side. No idea how many there are, but it doesn’t seem like a lot.”

It’s only then that Amiya notices the flare gun in the Perro’s hands.

“I’ll fire a flare to request backup.” she says as she snaps the gun shut. “We need to find out who’s manipulating this mist to regain visibility.”

We’ll work with our backup to take down the enemy, and get out of here.”

“Right-” It’s only then that Amiya notices something else, something infinitely more concerning to her.

And while she knows he can handle himself, three years of his absence with only Ashe around has made her deeply afraid of losing him again…

…and he’s already missing.

“What’s wrong?” The Perro in front of her asks.

“The Doctor’s gone.” The Cautus responds, struggling to restrain her anxiety.

“What?”

“Weren’t you together?”

Whatever rationalizations Amiya had shattered at that moment as she spots the Ace of Spades abandoned on the ground, causing only one reason for his disappearance became clear…

“Just hold on as long as you can, Doctor. We’re on our way.”

As Amiya and the others start panicking about his disappearance, Flare’s staring up at his assailant with nothing short of a bored expression.

I mean, yeah, he is pinned on his back with a knife to his throat, but he’s survived a hundred or so feet drop while Lightless with nothing more than a concussion and a substantial amount of broken bones, all of which was undone after finding his weakened Ghost.

But with his and his Ghost’s Light unsuppressed?

This is nothing more than a usual Tuesday for him.

“Don’t move.”

“One wrong move and I’ll kill you.”

Flare bites back a sarcastic remark and a laugh as Ashe hollers with laughter of her own at the red-headed nutjob’s statement.

He then notices a flare shoot off into the sky behind her.

“Looks like the others are signaling backup.”

“Looks like it, now are you going to embarrass the shit out of her or not?”

“Patience, Little Light. Just waiting for the right moment…”

Ashe starts her usual grumbling about being called “Little Light,” which her partner tunes out.

“I’m looking for someone.” The assailant says.

“Tell me everything you know.”

Flare decides to lift the restraint on his tongue.

“Do you have any idea how little ‘I’m looking for someone’ narrows it down?”

“I mean, do you really want me to recount and describe everyone I’ve met in the past ten plus years and-”

The knife is pushed into his neck harder.

“If you really need a refresher, I’m looking for a white-haired Feline. Now talk.”

The Doctor feels a flicker of recognition at that description, but nothing comes to mind.

And his willingness to cooperate has dwindled from nonexistent and into the negative.

Judging by the fact that she’s interrogating him, chances are that this white-haired Feline is Rhodes personnel and he isn’t going to rat them out to this asshole… not that he really could to begin with.

And by the scowl on his face, he’s about done with this farce.

“Fine, buuuuut…”

The Hunter flexes a finger and his assailant is snared and flung backwards into a tree by emerald threads.

He spends no time flipping off of his back and onto his feet.

“If you want that cat’s whereabouts so badly,” Flare starts as he draws his own knife out of its sheath, spinning it around before throwing it into the air and catching it in his right hand in an underhand grip, “you’re going to have to beat it out of me.”

The Reunion prick reclaims her knife with a growl and gets back onto her feet.

She quickly charges the Hunter and thrusts her blade at him, which is effortlessly sidestepped and parried by a roundhouse kick to the spine.

To her credit, she quickly peels herself off of the park floor before rushing back in, slashing wildly.

Flare evades a good chunk of them, countering where he can, but ends up blocking most of them with his own blade. The last slash she makes, however, he parries with a slash of his own causing her to stumble, which he punishes with a kick to the ribs.

She struggles back to her feet, coughing all the way, but she gets back up.

The Hunter decides to go on the offensive and starts rushing her. Realizing that she can’t beat him hand to hand, she starts throwing knives, which Flare weaves around fairly easily.

Though she does manage to catch him off guard with a knife aimed at his feet, causing him to leap to the left. But her ability to capitalize on it is compromised by the airborne Doctor throwing a fan of blazing Solar knives from his free hand, forcing her to evade.

Now realizing that she can’t attack head on at all, she grabs at her mask, takes a deep breath, and takes the mask off to spit out a thick fog aimed at destroying the Hunter’s visibility.

And for once, she actually has a leg up on Flare… for about all of three seconds.

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath of his own, giving away his control to the Weave’s threads.

Just like with Stasis earlier, his mask reacts, the visor gaining a threaded green glow and the forehead sprouting horns of the same glow.

The Threadrunner doesn’t bother opening his eyes as the Reunion member rushes at him from the smog, only to be effortlessly evaded once more, followed by a slash from his knife.

This continues a few more times before the irritated Hunter opens his eyes as she rushes again, but instead of sidestepping and slashing, he sidesteps and sweeps her legs, sending her tumbling to the ground.

She tries to get back up, only to be kicked in the stomach and onto her back.

Her second attempt is thwarted by Flare planting his foot on her chest and flicking his wrist, using Strand to dispel most of the haze around them.

Which is followed by him switching his knife back into his left hand, which allows for a flash of light that materializes his cannon back into his right hand, which he then levels at her head…

…but he ultimately stows his weapons and starts walking away, the mask’s glow fading away again.

“For your sake, I hope that was enough of an asskicking for one lifetime.”

“But just to be clear,” He says as he stops a few feet away, glaring at her and causing her to flinch, “if I find that any of my people were injured or killed…”

“...I’ll do worse to you.”

With that threat promise delivered, Flare starts walking again, only to be stopped by the sound of clapping.

With a head turn and a hand pulling his cannon back out, he sees a white haired kid(?) with a strange cane-esque thing standing in the clearing clapping.

“Bravo, bravo! What a show!”

“You see, Crownslayer? This is what happens when you go hunting in my territory without permission.”

Great, even this brat’s a lunatic.

“Also, ‘Crownslayer?’ That name sounds like one of those Titan-specific swords one of the foundries would make.”

“I think you’re referring to Crown-Splitter, but I’m pretty sure neither of us actually care.”

“And you’d be right.”

“I’d inflict a punishment of my own, but seeing how beaten you are and my own decency, I’ll pretend not to have seen anything if you leave right now.”

Crownslayer releases an irritated and pained groan as she staggers back to her feet.

Through the Weave, Flare feels that the grunts engaging the Operators have pulled back, but it also means that he notices the number of goons that the brat has brought along.

He also notices the fog start to dissipate out of the corner of his eye and from what he can see, everyone’s more or less intact.

The Doctor lets out a subdued sigh of relief, he’s glad that they’re all alright… well, mostly, but he’s not exactly in the mood to flay someone alive at the moment.

So his promise can wait for when he meets that prick again.

“Now, would you kindly leave?” The Reunion brat asks his battered comrade. “You still have some work to do, don’t you?”

The injured Reunion member doesn’t respond, instead she looks to her left, to where four Operators stand ready to inflict another, probably worse, beatdown.

“Huh. I was wondering when the cavalry would show up.”

“Step away from the Doctor!” The Cautus demands, black sparks crackling around her outstretched hand.

She either doesn’t realize that Flare was about to dip back towards them or she just doesn’t care at this point.

And he wouldn’t blame her.

“Hmph… I look forward to seeing you fail miserably.” Crownslayer spits at her comrade before staggering into the remaining mist, vanishing from sight.

The brat scoffs. “Big talk.”

“Looks like the enemy commanders don’t work well with each other.” Dobermann observes.

“Looks like it. Be ready for whatever this one tries.”

“Hello there.” The Reunion member… greets? “I know Crownslayer’s rude, but forgive her, won’t you?”

“It doesn’t look like he’s going to attack us.” Amiya states.

“We can’t be sure.” The Perro responds. “Stay on your guard.”

“Your commander is fine.” He says motioning towards the Hunter, who’s been slowly inching towards them the entire exchange, hand cannon still pointed at the Reunion commander. “He even taught her a lesson. Even so, sorry for the commotion.”

“You can go ahead, I won’t make any moves.”

Flare stops inching and fully moves towards his own comrades, but his gaze never leaves the brat for a second.

Even as Amiya barrels toward him. “Doctor!”

As the Cautus moves to him, he notices the threads of Ace’s team have made it over to them.

“We’ve regrouped… Good, we’re probably going to need it soon enough.”

“Doctor, are you all right?”

Her hand is still extended towards the commander, Arts ready, even as she reaches his side.

“Smart kid.”

“Yeah. Be ready for whatever he tries to pull, he’s far from alone.”

“Roger.”

The two back up further, enough to reach Ace as he starts speaking to Dobermann again.

“Listen. Luckily, everyone’s alive,” the Defender starts, “but some of us are wounded. Pretty badly, too.”

“Right. Once we make it through this bit, there’s a spot where we can patch up for the road ahead.” The Perro lays out.

She turns to the backpedaling Hunter. “Doctor, good to have you back.”

He lets out a humorless snort in response. “I didn’t really go anywhere.”

He turns his head to face her, with eyes still locked on the commander. “Start evacuating, Amiya and I will make sure he doesn’t try anything.”

“Great! Looks like everyone’s here.”

“Speak of the devil.”

“You jinxed it.”

“Shut it.”

“What do you want now?”

“Well, first, let me introduce myself. I would have done it sooner, but I had to smooth things out between us first.”

“My name’s Mephisto.”

“Infinitely better codename than half the shit I’ve heard today.”

“Now, let’s play a fun little game together!”

“Crapbaskets.”

“I fucking called it. You DID jinx us!”

“I knew he wasn't going to let us go that easily.” Dobermann not-so-helpfully adds. “I’ll buy us time. Move.”

“Do us all a favor and don’t get yourself killed, Instructor.” Flare spits out before turning his attention to Caster and Defender close to him. “Amiya, Ace, be ready for an ambush, his men are somewhere in here as well.”

“Roger.” All three respond as most of the Operators start moving and Dobermann stays put.

The Guard brandishes her whip as she shouts at the Reunion commander. “We don’t have time to play with kids!”

“Oh?” The Doctor doesn’t like that tone. Or the look in his eyes. “And here I was, giving you such a sincere invitation.”

“But all you can think of…”

His expression turns crazed.

“...is running away?!”

Ace abruptly skids to a stop. “Hold!”

Too many Reunion grunts than they can handle block their path out.

“I was wondering when they’d show up…” Flare quips unamused.

Most of them are wielding swords, others have rifles of some kind, and there’s a few in dark gray robes that are completely unarmed, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that they’re Casters.

“Well, Doctor, there’s your ambush.” Ace quips back bitterly.

“Relax.” Mephisto calls to the on edge would-be escapees. “I’m not going to do anything yet.”

“You see,” He starts as he walks a few steps toward the front of the line. “I’m pretty interested in you.”

“I’ve read up on your group before.”

“Rhodes Island… You’re a pharma company, but you do more than just play with test tubes.” His gaze drifts along the tensed up Operators. “You fight shoddily to avoid taking lives, and you’ve got quite the big crowd going along with that.”

“Needless to say, my interest is piqued.”

His gaze eventually reaches the front of the line, before stopping on the only member of it who is glaring at him and has a firearm.

A firearm that’s a few embers away from a full ignition.

“Especially by you, my hooded friend who got pulled out of the Sarcophagus.”

“Not only do you look kind of different from the rest of us, the abilities you possess are truly intriguing.”

“Who are you? Where are you from?”

The cannon’s temperature increases further…

…before dropping rapidly.

Flare could easily incinerate the brat effectively holding them all hostage, in fact, he wants to. But doing so could just as easily be a death sentence for everyone around him.

So while Mephisto continues to prattle on, the Doctor focuses on the Weave, quickly counting the grunts blocking their exit and counting the ones scattered in the trees, no doubt armed with ranged weapons and waiting for their boss’ signal to fire.

As he does so, a plan starts to form in his head.

If they brought flashbangs, what are the odds that they brought other kinds of grenades?

Then comes the issue of relaying his plan to the others without alerting Reunion.

“Ashe, quick question. Can my mask seal?”

“Seal? I’m assuming you’re referring to how the old ones did in environments with no breathable atmosphere?”

“What else would I be referring to? I need a mute button and I need it fast.”

“Well, then you're in luck my friend! That mask can in fact seal.”

“Coolio, do that and patch me in to the others, it’s about time we got out of here.”

Flare “tunes” back into the Mephisto Show after hashing all of that out.

And while he did miss a portion of it, he’s in no hurry to ask what he missed.

“-you hand that one over to me?”

Oh.

Oh shit.

“Mask’s sealed and you’re patched in, start yapping and do it fast. I’m not sure how much time you have before you run out of air.”

The Doctor mentally nods as Amiya angrily shuts down the commander’s suggestion.

With a breath, he starts.

“Alright, listen up!” He notices some of the Operators flinch out of the corner of his eye. “We only have enough time for me to say this once, but I’ve got a plan to get us out of here.”

“Ace, Dobermann. I need you to take the least injured among us and hold them here.”

“Amiya and I will take the most injured and get them somewhere safe before looping back to aid you. Hopefully the backup that was signaled will be something we meet up with on the way back.”

“As for how we split undetected, all of you use whatever smoke grenades you have on you to limit their visibility, I’ve also got some tricks to employ to give you some breathing room.”

He sighs.

“Diversion team, you’ll know what the signal is.”

And with that, Ashe cuts comms and unseals the Hunter’s mask.

He sighs again, all he can do about the hidden snipers at the moment is hope that the smoke dissuades them from firing.

Tuning back in a second time, it looks like the brat was setting the rules for whatever demented game he wants Rhodes Island to play.

“There’s a Catastrophe coming!” An incredulous Amiya shouts at him. “Why are you doing this? If we don’t escape Chernobog, then everyone will-”

“What are you talking about?”

The crazed expression returns.

“The Catastrophe… makes it the best time to celebrate!”

The Cautus looks taken aback for a moment before steeling herself.

“You’re sick…” she growls out.

“What are you after?” Dobermann demands.

“What am I after?” Mephisto parrots before laughing for a moment, his smile and “friendly” facade fading with it. “I’m not “after” anything.”

“You have nothing to do with our goals, so whether you die or not doesn’t actually make a difference.”

As an Operator states the obvious regarding the Reunion commander’s mental state, Flare notices Ace move a hand to cover his mouth as he talks into his headset’s mic.

“Looks like backup isn’t too far out.”

“Yeah, I’ve picked up more allied pings closing in. Now we just need to hold out.”

“Now, enough with the chit-chat.”

“My hooded friend, let me have some fun.”

“Do-”

“I’ve got a better idea…”

Flare interrupts as he snaps his fingers, and on cue, the Operators pull the pins on their smoke grenades, flooding the park with smoke.

“...go fuck yourself.”

“Run!” One of the Operators shouts as many of them scatter out of the smoke toward the exit in the confusion.

Mephisto finds this hilarious. “You’re no different than that coward, Crown-”

His comparison is cut off by an amethyst arrow streaking out of the smoke and past his cheek, directly hitting the stomach of one of his men before erupting into tethers of Void Light that quickly snare any Reunion member near it, including their commander.

“Wha-” The commander growls. “Those cheap tricks won’t buy you any time!”

Ignoring the brat’s yelling, Flare spares his radar a glance as he helps an injured Operator toward the exit, he can see that Ace and Dobermann’s team are following the plan perfectly…

…and that Reunion took the bait.

The sound of Strand threads snapping, Threadlings detonating, Void smoke bombs going off, and Arc or Solar tripmines exploding also tell the Hunter that the ones that weren’t anchored by the Shadowshot found the parting gifts he left thanks to a small army of Threadlings.

Good for them.

“Hey, Ashe, got any spare recon drones?”

“Yep, they should be airborne already. Just make sure these ones aren’t taken out, I’d rather avoid getting another lecture from Closure because of it.”

Soon enough, the PRTS interface in the bottom right of his HUD recalibrates, giving him his aerial view of the battlefield back.

He does notice the recognition of the obvious codename, but files it away. He’ll get to the bottom of all of that once they’re out of this hellhole of a city.

Though he is caught off guard by a fragmented memory of someone who resembled a vampire laughing her ass off at a prank she successfully pulled on him to his memory’s irritation.

“Oookay then…”

Flare gives his head a harsh shake before returning his focus to the task at hand.

And it’s a good thing he did, because Mephisto just caught on.

“Hostiles, six o'clock!”

Amiya looks back to verify and grits her teeth as she turns back.

“Hold on a little longer… We’re almost there.”

Though as she mutters that, a bolt of Arts hits Flare and his escortee square in their backs, knocking them to the ground.

And while he’d usually be able to shrug off an attack like that, three years in that box/sarcophagus/whatever has made that attack feel less like he got shot in the back with his shields out and more like he just got hit by a Sparrow.

Speaking of which, where the hell are his shields?

“Doctor!”

The Cautus in front of him shouts as rushes over to him before being blasted down herself moments later.

“Amiya!”

Growling, the Doctor quickly rolls onto his back (despite its protests) while drawing the Ace of Spades and starts firing, taking out the grunt standing over him before firing at the incoming grunts.

He manages to take out about five other grunts before needing to reload. Trying to do it non-lethally forces the Hunter to double-tap, which burns through the Ace’s thirteen round mag way faster than he likes.

The delay in firing caused by the reloading allows another grunt to get close enough to take a slash at him and while he does manage to finish before the blade hits, he realizes that he won’t be able to stop it in time.

He sighs. “Ashe?”

She sighs. “Standing by for resurrection, as usual.”

But the blade never hits.

In fact, the schmuck and his sword are sent flying into a group of his fellow assholes by a shield and its owner.

And to make it even better, looking at the HUD’s interface again, Flare can see that their numbers have doubled.

And the general shock and confusion of the Reunion members is making this even better.

“Sorry I’m late.” The Doctor’s savior, a golden-haired woman with equine features wearing white armor and wielding a shield and battle axe combo, apologizes. “I had to relocate civilians on my way here.”

“No, don’t be sorry.” Amiya states to Flare’s agreement.

The Kuranta looks over her shoulder at the Hunter. “You must be the Doctor.”

“Radiant Knight, Nearl, at your service.”

Her focus returns to Reunion.

“I’m here to bring you home.”

And without another word, the knight charges forward, effortlessly tossing aside goon after goon before reaching and pointing her axe’s head at their commander.

“Your men are too sloppy.”

“The Reunion forces that took over the Chernobog military strongholds worked like a well-oiled machine and were much more effective.”

“You’re just letting your rioters run rampant, hunting down and killing innocent civilians… This was all for your own sadistic pleasure, was it not?”

“Surrender!”

Mephisto says nothing to the Defender for a few moments.

But when he does respond…

…his voice is disturbingly calm.

“...Faust.”

“I want her shot through the mouth.”

In the split second she has to react, Nearl snaps to her right, throwing up her shield to barely block an Arts-infused crossbow bolt that hits her with the force of a small freight train.

It sends her skidding back a ways, but despite being blocked, the impact knocks the wind out of her and causes her to stagger somewhat.

“Sniper!” She coughs out as she tries to catch her breath while righting herself.

“What? She blocked it?!” Mephisto angrily cries in disbelief.

“That sniper… is ridiculous…” Dobermann mutters in her own disbelief.

“Nearl, you need to retreat!” Amiya shouts at the Kuranta. “You won’t be able to take much more of those!”

The Defender shakes her head. “I can't, he's too powerful. I can't afford to let him hit our squads.”

“I have to intercept his attacks!”

“Unbelievable…” The Reunion commander’s anger intensifies. “Impossible!”

“Do it again!! Blow her to pieces!”

In a fraction of a second, a second bolt of purple Arts collides with Nearl’s shield, but as it makes contact, another burst of Arts erupts from the contact point, shattering her guard.

Unfortunately for the sniper, that second bolt was enough for Flare to confirm where he’s firing from.

He initially gathers more Void Light for another Shadowshot, but instead converts it into Arc Light and condenses it into an Arc Staff, before spinning it around and chucking it like a javelin with the force of a thunderbolt at the tree the Reunion sniper’s using as a perch.

There’s a violent burst of cerulean lightning as the staff collides with the tree, not only setting it ablaze but also forcing the sniper to the ground.

“What?! How dare you... How dare you!”

“Heh, looks like I touched a nerve.”

“Nearl, the wounded have been evacuated!” Amiya calls to the knight, who’s regained her footing again.

“Roger. All units, pull out!”

“Why? Why don’t you just roll over and die?!”

Mephisto shouts at them as his goons struggle up to their feet.

…only to be yanked back to the ground by another Void Anchor.

“Nope! Time out for you!”

Flare quickly flips them off as his Dusk Bow fades before joining the rest of the Operators headed to the exit.

But because nothing can be easy, his head snaps to the source of a startled yelp to his left, to find Amiya a few feet away, moments away from getting her head chopped off.

Thinking on his feet (with some panic mixed in), the Doctor quickly throws a pair of Withering Blades at the grunt, with the first Stasis shuriken hitting the side of his head and the second hitting his leg.

Which coincidentally makes the schmuck even more unprepared for the runaway Ace that crashes shield-first into his other side.

Flare sidesteps the flung grunt and Ace gets the Cautus moving before shooting the Hunter a nod which is quickly returned.

The trio quickly join the Operators escaping to the alley across the street from the exit. Though a quick head count reveals that Nearl’s still holding the line, which is confirmed when Amiya calls to her over comms.

With a sigh, the Doctor turns around and walks out of the alley and onto the sidewalk to the confusion of some of the Operators within.

Drawing his cannon once more, his mask’s glow revives but with a blazing amber color instead. And like many times before, he thrusts the cannon into the sky, igniting a Golden Gun, before leveling it at the entrance.

Using Strand and PRTS to ensure he hits his marks while avoiding the knight, he pulls the trigger multiple times, expertly taking each one out with a single shot to the chest, severely burning them instead of the usual eruptions of Solar Light.

Noticing his covering fire, the Kuranta starts withdrawing, only for that damned sniper to take a shot at the entrance pillar she’s under, shattering it in half, but Flare simply responds by fanning the Solar cannon’s hammer, reducing it to both cinders and smaller fragments, which bounce harmlessly off the Defender’s shield.

Knowing that she’s now home free, the glow and Golden Gun extinguishes and its Gunslinger blows the Solar embers away from the barrel (despite wearing a mask), before twirling it into his holster and walking back into the alley, hands in pockets, with the Operators inside staring in awe.

As he’s walking into the alley with Amiya quickly catching up to him and hearing the sound of an explosion, which he figures one of the Operators threw, an exhausted sigh escapes his lips.

“How much more of this crap before we’re out of here?”

“There, all patched up.”

Ashe says as the Ghost’s shell shuts before moving from her Hunter’s back and up to his shoulder.

“Thanks.”

“Okay, I have to ask, shouldn’t I have had shields back there?”

Ashe emits a sigh. “The modifications Engineering made to your shield generator made it a bit too finicky to safely field.”

“Hopefully they’ve got it sorted out by the time we get back or Amiya’s going to be paying them a visit.”

“I… see.” Flare says before looking around at their surroundings.

Having successfully escaped that deathtrap of a park, the ever-growing team relocated into another building and judging by the various pieces of medical equipment strewn across the floor, it used to be a clinic of some sort.

Flare’s pocketed fist tightens.

“So not even medical facilities are safe from them…” He mutters under his breath.

“After everything so far, we should have expected this…” Ashe responds solemnly, but her partner can tell that she’s just as outraged as he is.

After all, you’ve got to be a whole ‘nother level of depraved to attack and trash a hospital.

There’s creaking on the staircase as Medic pokes her head out from the guardrail, her attention on the Cautus a few feet away from the Doctor in the corner.

Yes, Flare still thinks her codename is stupid, but at least she isn’t alone in that department anymore with the revelation that Guard is an Operator class, not just a second (now)dumb codename.

“Amiya, isn’t this clinic…?”

“Yes, it’s the Azazel Clinic.”

Amiya gazes at the Hunter for a moment, as if to tell him to follow, before starting up the stairs.

“Doctor,” she begins, “in this country, if you’re found to have Oripathy, you’re taken straight to a quarantine zone.”

“That’s why a lot of people here hide their infections and carry on with their lives.” She states as they pass a room with its floor covered in broken mugs and shattered plates.

“This is where they receive treatment in secret.”

“In other words, a back-alley clinic.”

Flare says nothing during the climb, his disgust toward Reunion growing with each word the Cautus says.

But his resolve to stop them from hurting anyone else does as well.

“Seems they might’ve had dealings with Reunion, too…” The Doctor turns around to see Ace following them up as well, with Guard in tow. “From the looks of it, they probably refused some demand and paid the price for it.”

“Didn’t they turn us down, too?” Guard asks with his rising anger audible. “Really gave us the cold shoulder too.”

“They probably did the same to Reunion.”

“If you ask me, they had it coming!”

“That’s not the entire story…” Amiya attempts to calm him.

“You were there for the negotiations, weren’t you, Amiya? That cold and arrogant attitude of theirs really ticked me off…”

“Calm down.” Ace states calmly. “That’s the way it had to be.”

“It’s hard for the Infected to trust anyone. After enduring so many hardships, who can blame them for becoming jaded and stubborn?”

“If you don’t build a wall to protect yourself,” the Cautus adds sadly as she looks into a room designed for children, “you’ll find yourself in harm’s way sooner or later.”

“That’s probably what they had in mind.”

“We wanted a place where the Infected would not be ostracized. Where they could live as human beings.”

“That’s why Rhodes Island exists.”

“There are a lot of people who still haven’t opened their hearts, but most of us Rhodes Islanders are working to overcome this barrier together.”

“Just like Rhodes Island, this clinic was probably built to give the Infected some comfort.”

“Or, at least, a warm place they could call home.”

“...You’re right.” Guard finally cools down. “They’re trying their hardest to survive, too.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think it through.”

“Don’t be.” Flare comforts. “We’re all stressed, it’d only make sense to find some sort of outlet to vent some of it.”

“Doc-”

Any further conversation is cut off by a yelp of pain from Amiya.

“Are you okay?” Guard asks.

“What happened?” Ace follows.

“I’m sorry. I think I might’ve gotten hurt in that battle just now.”

“Hey,” Nearl, who was silently listening from against a door frame, shouts down the corridor, “we need a free Medic Operator over here!”

It doesn’t take long for the group to relocate the injured Cautus into a nearby room, where they’re quickly joined by Dobermann and one of the Medics.

They have Amiya seated on a stool with the Medic crouched in front of her while the rest of them are scattered around the room; Flare leaning on the wall behind her and on her left, Nearl doing the same but on the wall across from her, Ace is also leaning but on the interior of the doorframe and on his shoulder, and Guard is just looking in from the corridor.

“Let me take your jacket.” The Perro states, despite already holding it.

“Thank you.”

“Our leader needs to take better care of herself.” She gently lectures.

“Right.” Amiya says apologetically. “I will.”

“Lift your right arm a little, please” The Medic, a blonde Perro, asks the Cautus.

The rabbit does what’s asked of her.

“Thankfully, you’re not bleeding.” He says looking at the side of her stomach, presumably where the wound is under her shirt.

“I’ll use Arts to control the inflammation.” He points a stick with an encased crystal at the end at the wound and they both start glowing green.

The Hunter next to Amiya moves his head to get a better angle. “You know, it just occurred to me that I haven’t asked what Arts even really are.”

“You mean you’ve been using the term before even knowing what it is?” Ashe asks incredulously.

Flare only gives a shrug in response.

Dobermann sighs. “Let me explain the principles behind Arts then.”

“As you’ve probably noticed by now, there’s a mineral of some kind in that tool, right? That mineral is called Originium, which is the source of our Arts’ energy.”

Flare’s eyes narrow. Dobermann’s only started explaining and he’s already made a connection he doesn’t like.

“It’s only with this conduit that those with a natural aptitude can use Arts.” The Perro continues. “The effects of the Arts depend on the user.”

“There are those who can heal, like this guy,” Ace joins in, “and those who can burn a whole town to cinders.”

“Our civilization exists only because of the industrial applications of both these abilities and Originium itself.”

“It’s thanks to Originium that we’re blessed with the lives we live.” Amiya adds.

“Huh… I might be a bit paranoid when I say this, but there’s gotta be a catch to this.” The Doctor states, having already come to the conclusion of what that catch is.

And there’s no way, in his mind, that the naming between them is purely a coincidence.

“You’ve probably already figured it out, given your track record so far.” The Cautus sighs. “But yes, there is a catch. It's that Originium is also the source of Oripathy.”

“So the crystals are…?”

“Yes. It’s Originium, too.”

“If you use the Originium inside your body as your conduit,” Amiya switches back to the Arts explanation so quickly that Flare gets whiplash, “you don’t need any tools to use Arts.”

“Oripathy can even enhance your Arts in some cases.”

“But… I’m guessing using Arts without an emitter has an effect on the user’s Oripathy that’s anything but good.”

“Yes.” Nearl speaks from the other side of the room. “It’s a double-edged sword, your Arts may become more powerful and easier to use, but it essentially uses your life force as fuel for it.”

“In other words, it hastens the user’s death.”

“It’s the price you pay for that blessing.” Ace states. “If only there was a cure for Oripathy, things wouldn’t be so tough.”

“Please tell me that wasn’t an attempt at guilt-tripping.”

Ace raises his hands in defense. “I’m just stating the facts, Doctor. And besides, I’m sure you’ve already decided to try and help.”

Flare doesn’t answer for a moment. An increasingly small part of him wants to just say that this has nothing to do with him, but the rest of him knows Ace is right.

After everything he’s been through with the Operators, he couldn’t just abandon them and live with himself afterwards.

And he’s not saying that as a Guardian, he’s saying that as one of them.

A human being.

“I guess I have…” He mutters under his breath.

There’s a moment of silence before the conversation picks back up.

“To be exact,” Dobermann begins, “this clinic didn’t try to heal. It tried to slow the progression of symptoms.”

“That’s all we can do with our technology right now.” Amiya adds.

“Well… look on the bright side.” Flare starts. “Being able to suppress it is a pretty good start to eventually getting rid of it completely.”

“I suppose it is…” The Perro admits.

“And we’re done.” The Medic speaks up before any further conversation can happen. “How do you feel?”

“I feel much better. Thank you.”

“That’s right… If only we could cure Oripathy like this…” The Cautus says as she puts her jacket back on.

“That’s why we need to bring you back to Rhodes Island at all costs, Doctor.”

Who ordered a resurgence of nigh-crippling doubt and anxiety, ‘cause Flare definitely didn’t.

“Uh, Amiya…? Do you mind not…”

He might have trailed off, but the Cautus got the message.

“Oh! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put pressure on you.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll manage.”

“Mm.”

“They’ve finished treating the wounded.” Ace reports. “Let’s get moving.”

“Doesn’t look like we can raise Scout’s team, though.”

“I see…” The rabbit replies.

“Anyway, let’s hurry to the rendezvous point.” Dobermann directs.

“Doctor.”

Flare looks back at the Kuranta still leaning against the wall. He also notices Amiya stop at the door to listen as well.

“Is something wrong?”

“Not really, just I have a friend who’s lost her memories as well.”

“This is just my opinion, but what’s important isn’t your past or the memories you’ve lost.”

“It’s your “present” and your “future.””

The Doctor is left speechless for a moment, struggling to find the words to say before settling on the most simple response.

“...Thanks, Nearl.”

“How much time do we have left based on Dobermann’s guess?”

“About forty-five minutes or so. Probably even less.”

“Fantastic...”

The swirling and ever-darkening clouds overhead only amplify the anxiety running through Flare’s veins.

He doesn’t know what happens during a Catastrophe, but he sure as hell is in no hurry to find out.

“Scout’s team isn’t here yet, huh?” Dobermann observes as she peeks around the edge of a building. Nearl’s doing the same on the adjacent sidewalk.

In fact, the square’s completely empty with not a single soul or creature in sight.

“This just screams ambush…”

And as if the universe was laughing at him, an anomaly appears on his HUD’s PRTS interface.

He quickly pulls out the terminal to confirm that it isn’t an integration issue and sure enough, it's still there.

“...fuuuuuuck.”

“It’s too quiet.” The Perro says after a minute. “Doctor, could it be a trap?”

“I’m… not seeing or picking up on anything like that, but…”

“What is it?”

“Warning: Rear side heat source detected.”

“Is it… a fire?” Amiya asks.

“It’s true that there’s a fire spreading in that area…” Dobermann confirms with a level of trepidation in her voice. “Could it be…”

“We’ll scope out the square.” Nearl states. “If anything happens, you’re our backup.”

“Understood.”

“We’ll stand by here and watch our six.” The Perro says as the Kuranta leads her squad into the square.

“Ace?”

“Did something happen here?”

“Well… No, it’s nothing.”

“It was a long time ago.” The Defender states, somewhat out of it. “One day, if I feel like it, I’ll tell you about it.”

“Alright.”

It’s then that something in the Hunter’s gut tells him to look behind them.

And then Flare feels it.

The feeling of psychic threads snapping from the sheer heat.

“We need to go.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Now!”

“Warning: Heat source detected.”

And right on cue, a spot of pure heat starts radiating throughout one of the buildings directly behind the Operators still outside of the square.

And in seconds the hotspot morphs into a molten hole within the building, moments away from erupting into a tsunami of flame.

“Evacuate! Move!” Dobermann orders in pure horror.

“All of you! Get to cover now!” Flare shouts at the team standing within the square.

And moments later, a massive stream of fire bursts out of the building as the last Operators barely get into cover in time to avoid becoming charcoal.

The heat of the flames completely charred the sides of the buildings and the street, leaving nothing but the remains and the embers smoldering on them.

“...Holy shit…”

“Th-These Arts…” Nearl stammers, horrified.

“They’re worse than the intel said!” Ace finishes.

“Not to be the bearer of bad news or anything,” Flare starts nervously, “but PRTS is showing that an entire army just appeared back there.”

“It probably doesn’t help that…”

“Warning: Heat source detected.”

“...someone with the same heat signature is approaching us as well.”

“All Operators…” Amiya starts ordering with her own trepidation. “Be on maximum alert.”

“...That person is…”

The Cautus pauses for a moment, enough for Dobermann to continue.

“The tyrant of Reunion…”

“...Talulah.” Amiya finishes.

“Secure an evac route! Doctor, please take command of-”

The rabbit is cut off by another plume of fire surging out from the gap between buildings. The stream of magma travels further than the last and hits one of the buildings in the distance, melting part of it and causing it to collapse.

The display of pure power leaves every single one of them speechless out of nothing but sheer horror…

…To the point that they barely register the rapidly increasing temperature around them before it's too late.

And at that point, it already is.

Before his mind can even fully register what’s happening, Flare’s body pulls Amiya as close to him as he can in order to shield her as the entire square detonates from the amount of heat.

The resulting blast knocks most if not all of the Operators out cold for a minute or two, so when the Doctor comes to, he finds himself on his stomach with his entire body aching from the impact and his ears ringing incessantly.

He also finds the Cautus he attempted to protect waking up as well and the way her eyes widen with terror at what’s on his other side tells him that they are especially fucked this time.

So in spite of his body’s protests, Flare starts getting back to his feet.

His ears also stop ringing, so he’s able to make out a woman, who he assumes to be the “tyrant” the others were talking about a moment ago, monologuing.

Who he promptly tunes out.

Not because he’s coming up with a plan, but purely out of being thoroughly done with Reunion’s shit.

Amiya starts getting up as well, her terrified expression being barely muted by defiance as she raises her hand to use her Arts.

In response, the woman he’s assuming is Talulah raises her own and unleashes another massive stream of flame at the Cautus, prompting the Hunter to stop getting up and to quickly Blink out of the splash zone and somewhere behind the girl.

He whips his head around toward the rabbit as the fire reaches her…

“Amiya!”

…only to be barely held back by ripples of black energy, to the mix of awe and concern of the Operators gathering behind her.

“I won’t let you!” Amiya roars as she pours more and more of her strength into her barrier. “I will… protect everyone!”

“Amiya! Stop!” Dobermann cries out.

“Dobermann! Hurry! Get everyone out of here!”

“She’s not going to last much longer! Please tell me you have SOMETHING!”

Flare’s eyes quickly flick off of the struggling Cautus and to the knife resting on his hip.

Part of him wants to question if he can even use it, but his instincts have already taken over as his hand has already started unsheathing it as he gets to his feet and starts moving towards Amiya.

An instinct that has been formed and shaped over thousands of life and death situations.

An instinct that was formed for a reason he can’t remember yet, one he’s not sure he’ll ever remember…

…but he knows for a fact that it exists purely because of the Cautus girl struggling to protect them all at the cost of herself.

And he isn't about to let that fly.

So with an inaudible breath, he spins his knife a few times, Light and Dark gathering on its blade, before catching it blade downwards and yanking it up to the side of his head…

…causing the Hunter to erupt into a burst of pinkish-red energy as he enters Transcendence.

His mask and cloak breathe to life with the same shifting energy as the cloak’s cape starts emitting trails as the roots on the hood start resembling a crown.

In one fluid motion, Flare sheaths his blade again and draws his cannon before thrusting it into the air again.

But instead of the amber glow of Solar Light, there’s instead a burst of Prismatic energy in its place, with wisps of fire and ice escaping the epicenter.

The Ace of Spades is once again replaced with a Golden Gun, however this one is partially frozen over with Stasis crystals thriving on its ever-burning barrel.

In another fluid motion, the Doctor wraps his free arm around Amiya and pulls her away, forcefully dismissing her Arts while aiming his Transcendent Golden Gun at the core of the flame…

“Doctor?!”

…and before the Arts can consume them, he pulls the trigger.

A blazing Stasis crystal is fired out of the cannon that tears effortlessly through the fire, casting the flames harmlessly aside before piercing a hole through Talulah’s hand, leaving burns and crystals at the entry and exit points.

“OPEN FIRE!”

The roar of their commander snaps the Snipers from their stupor as they start firing on the Reunion leader, who is surprisingly apathetic to getting a hole shot through her hand.

But because they can’t have nice things, the bolts are burned away effortlessly before they even reach her. Even Flare’s last two Shatterpoint rounds are deflected with more effort into her own lines to the collective confusion of the Rhodes Island Operators.

Putting that aside, Dobermann and Ace try their luck afterwards, with the Perro’s whip being set ablaze and the Defender being flung away before his hammer ever reaches her.

“Ace…” Amiya mutters before an uncharacteristic scowl emerges on her face.

“And with that,” Flare states as the Prismatic energy dissipates with the Golden Gun, nearly collapsing in the process, “I’m out of ideas.”

He sighs.

“If you want to do something potentially really stupid, Amiya, I won’t stop you.”

“You two alright?!” Dobermann asks as she reaches their side.

“But she’ll try.”

“We’re just peachy.” The Hunter remarks sarcastically.

His response earns him a glare from the now-unarmed Guard, before she asks a really good question. “Why did they stop? Is this part of their plan?”

“We don’t have time to dawdle.” Ace states over comms.

“Right.”

“All units, follow orders and evacuate! Doctor, you know the drill.”

“Roger.”

His attention turns to the PRTS interface.

“Ashe, help me out here.”

“Say less, I’ve already found a route.”

Flare doesn’t get to say anything before his Ghost chimes in on the comms.

“There should be a gap in the collapsed buildings we can escape through.”

The Doctor sighs while tapping his earpiece. “You heard the Ghost, go through that.”

He notices a bit more on the interface that Ashe didn’t mention.

“There should be a place where we can lie low near the evac zone as well.”

The rumbling in the sky tears his attention from PRTS as he looks up…

…to what can be best described as a meteor shower from hell.

A Catastrophe.

As the meteors collide with the ground and the surroundings, it becomes exceedingly clear that they really need to be getting their asses out of there.

The panicking from the Operators isn’t helping at all.

Though it is kinda warranted when some start streaking toward them.

“All units! Stay close!” Amiya shouts as she raises her arms towards the sky, her Arts creating a diamond shaped barrier above the Operators.

A few of the projectiles hit the shield and dissipate, but it becomes increasingly difficult for Flare to ignore the winces of increasing pain on the Cautus’ face as more and more hit the barrier.

He might have pulled her away from Talulah’s Arts before she could fully exhaust herself, but he definitely didn’t do it soon enough.

Forcing her Arts to dismiss could have also caused backlash…

“This is… as much as I can cover!”

The Hunter’s gaze shifts off of Amiya to follow a few meteors headed for Reunion. One is dissipated by Talulah’s flames, while another falls into their lines, taking out many of her men…

…and her apathetic stare remains even as they cry out in agony.

“She’s ignoring her allies’ pleas?” The Cautus questions weakly as her strength wanes before her Arts give out completely shortly after.

Though her collision course with the ground is interrupted by a certain Doctor that’s refused to leave her side since the first fireball was thrown.

The déjà vu is hard to ignore however.

“Amiya!” Dobermann rushes back over. “Are you all right?”

Her question falls on deaf ears as she’s already unconscious.

“She’s passed out.” Flare states. “We can’t keep fighting like this, we need to get out of here.”

“We’re past the peak, we should be able to get out before the second wave.”

He nods as he shifts Amiya into a position that’s more comfortable to carry.

“Nearl,” the Perro calls over at the Kuranta, who’s been trying to manage with a shield that’s been nearly reduced to molten steel, “you lead the way.”

“Got it.”

Though as they’re saying all of that, the Doctor barely notices a fireball hurtling towards them…

…Only for Ace to appear and block it, his shield being superheated on contact.

“I distinctly remember you being harder to catch off guard, Doctor.”

“Start falling back. I’ll cover you.”

Without another word, Flare nods as he stands back up and follows the other Operators through the opening, still carrying the unconscious Cautus in his arms with Dobermann and Ace flanking him.

Though to his confusion, while Dobermann continues past him to join most of the other Operators, Ace and some of the others never leave the opening.

“Ace? What are you-”

“I’ll hold them here. Take Amiya and get to safety.”

“I don’t-”

He sighs causing Flare to cut himself off.

“I’m sorry, Doctor. You might not ever remember me.”

“But I remember you, and I know what kind of person you are.”

“There will come a day when you and Amiya will face this cruel land together.”

“That is why... you must cherish and take care of her, Doctor. I’m counting on you.”

“If you have anything you’d like to say, keep it quick.”

Flare stays silent, not because he has nothing he wants to say, but because he doesn’t have anything he can say.

Another sigh from the Defender breaks him out of his thoughts.

“Alright then.”

“It’s been an honor to work with you one last time, Dr. Flare.”

For some reason, being called that was all it took to jar some fragments out of the void with the same stabbing feeling that the one Amiya induced had.

Fragments of a memory involving Ace and another person armed with a sniper rifle and wearing a bandana and hat making bets over some metal. Namely what its nature and use was.

Ace betted it was just scrap, while the other was betting that it was a device of some kind.

But that was about all he could make out before it faded.

Though before it completely faded from the front of his mind, it left an answer to a question that he’d completely forgotten about by now.

A Pythia. 

Serpentine features.

Snapping back to reality once more, this time much faster than with the Cautus in his arms, he finally found something to say.

But he’s running out of time if the fireball that hits the Pythia’s shield is anything to go by.

“Ace.”

The Defender turns his head as Flare’s mask transmats away in a silent agreement with his Ghost.

“It’s been an honor to work with you as well.”

Ace stares in silence for a moment before giving the Doctor a nod, which he returns as his mask does the same.

And without another word, Flare turns and runs to catch up with the others.

As he does so, the same thought runs through the two’s heads.

“Good luck and Godspeed, old friend.”

Chapter Text

> December 23rd, Time Unknown / Weather Unknown / Chernobog, Ursus

When awareness finally returns to her, she’s greeted by an overwhelming sense of numbness.

Well, that and a pair of eyelids stubbornly refusing to open.

“...Ngh…”

“What… happened…?”

Thankfully, she doesn’t have to ponder that for long as her senses and recollection start fading back in one at a time, fending off the numbness.

Her touch comes back first, allowing her to feel the arms around her legs and back holding her up. A sense of motion had also returned with it, allowing her to assume that they’re moving based off of the subtle feeling of going up and down.

Touch coming back first also alerts her to the dull aching radiating throughout her body.

“It’s probably best I don’t use my Arts like that again for a while…”

Her hearing comes back shortly after and while everything’s muffled for a bit, it clears up enough for her to pick up the sound of the others’ footsteps, except for around where she should be.

Which gives her an idea of who’s currently carrying her.

Other than that, she can also make out Dobermann and Nearl’s voices having a conversation of some kind.

“...Mmh…?”

And despite her current condition, she can still feel their dejection and exhaustion clearly.

“...that’s the case, we can’t let her hear this!”

The Perro seems to be attempting to give the Kuranta a pep talk of some kind despite the Guard being in the same frame of mind that the Defender is.

“Are they… talking about me?”

“We mustn’t burden her any further. She’s already… carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.”

She sighs, the emotion in it audible. “...We can’t… let their efforts go to waste!”

“They made the sacrifice to let us live, so we have to return the favor… by making sure Amiya and the Doctor return safely.”

“Wait… sacrifice? Who stayed behind?”

Nearl’s silent for a moment or two.

“That’s right…”

“Now isn’t the time to be dejected.” Dobermann continues, but she isn’t sure if the Instructor is trying to convince the knight or convince herself. “As the Radiant Knight, shouldn’t you always be our beacon of hope, no matter what happens?”

The Kuranta returns to silence, but out of surprise this time.

“...I’m not sure anymore. But, I will do my part.” Nearl finally states before her surprise is replaced with determination. “Everyone, regroup! Don’t let your guard down, we’re almost there!”

Dobermann’s dejection only grows, however. 

The Perro lets out a sigh. 

“Those who told me not to worry…” She starts her voice barely audible. “None of them ended up coming back.”

Now having an idea of what happened after she passed out, Amiya forces her eyes to open.

Her vision is blurry at first, but after a few blinks, the world sharpens back into focus.

And the first thing to greet her as it does so is a pair of steel gray eyes peering down at her from behind a tinted visor with worry, relief, and pure exhaustion swirling around inside of them.

“Welcome back, sleepyhead.”

“Doctor…? What happened…?”

His gear is in rough shape: The mask is littered with scratches and is stained with dirt; despite being made of a ballistic weave, his jacket is torn in multiple places and covered in pieces of debris and more dirt.

“Hopefully that new coat is finished by now.”

His cloak isn’t faring much better, but the Cautus can see the paracausal fibers comprising it slowly restore itself, so that isn’t much of a concern to her.

She’s aware that she probably isn’t in much better shape, but she’s busy being relieved that they managed to evade him needing a revive to care.

“P-please… let me down…”

She can feel and see the Doctor’s concern skyrocket, but he ultimately does what she asks.

“Are you okay?”

The Caster gives a tentative nod. “Mm, I’m fine. I can walk on my own.”

“I just… lost consciousness for a bit… but I’m okay.”

“...We managed to make it out?”

Amiya finally takes a look around and to her concern, she only sees their Medics and most of Nearl’s unit.

Dobermann and Nearl are present as well, but that leaves Ace, his unit, Dobermann’s Snipers, and Guard unaccounted for.

“Where’s Ace and the others…?”

The Doctor doesn’t answer but the sorrow he radiates tells the Cautus all she needs to know.

“He remembered him and then had to say goodbye, didn’t he?”

“...I see.” She starts, trying to mask her own sadness. “It’s okay. I’m sure Ace will be fine.”

She can feel that he wants to believe her, but he can’t.

She can’t either.

“W-We’re almost at the south exit. Once we leave Chernobog, we’ll be…”

“We’ll… be…”

It takes everything she has not to break down then and there.

“Doctor… Can I… lean on you for a bit…”

“Just… a little…”

The Doctor silently moves closer to Amiya, who immediately starts leaning into his arm and barely manages to suppress a flood of tears.

She can’t tell, but she wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t nearly as lucky.

Ashe did say that he never handled loss well, after all.

They continue like this for a while longer until they rendezvous with the two Reserve Teams at a shipyard, who look like they narrowly escaped being blown to pieces.

Their reports don’t do much to help the Cautus’ emotional state.

“Well, a still-roaming explosives specialist aside,” Dobermann addresses, “good work securing the exfiltration point.”

“We’ll stay here till the transport comes. Stay alert to our surroundings.”

The Doctor leads her over to one of the sides of the recess in the warehouse’s outer walls.

“Let’s sit down here, I think we’ve both had our fill of walking for one day.” He states before helping her down to the ground followed by him unceremoniously plopping down beside her. A small burst of blue light signals Ashe following them down as well.

The three sit there in silence, none of them really sure on what they should say.

After a while, Amiya speaks up.

“Doctor, did you remember something when you had to say goodbye to Ace?”

He stares blankly at her for a few moments. “Was it that obvious?”

“Kinda…?”

“...I’m starting to think that you can read minds or something along those lines.”

Ashe barely stifles her laughter, with a sheepish smile emerging on the Cautus’ face.

“That’s… not entirely accurate, but not too far off the mark I suppose…”

The Doctor blinks.

“You know, that’s somehow not the strangest thing I’ve ever heard. Enough encounters with Psions pretty much forces you to believe that those kinds of abilities exist.”

“So… if it’s not exactly mind reading, what is it?”

She takes a breath, not entirely sure how to explain it.

After all, she’s not at liberty to divulge the true nature of her power without the consequences rearing their head if the wrong person hears it.

Dr. Kal’stit made that very clear.

So, as much as she’d like to just tell him the full truth now, there’s too many people who could overhear.

She’ll have to settle for it all coming to light at a later date.

“I think the simplest way I can put it is that I can sense the emotions of others if they’re intense enough.”

“That… would actually kinda explain a lot really, given how many panic attacks you averted.”

“Thanks for that by the way.”

“Don’t mention it, Doctor.”

Amiya opens her mouth to ask about the memory again…

“I finally found you!”

…only for a voice that doesn’t belong to any of the Operators to interrupt her, with her own and the Doctor’s heads snapping to the source as they get to their feet while Ashe dematerializes again.

“Oh, what now?” He growls out, audibly exhausted.

“I should’ve known it wouldn’t be smooth sailing from here on out…” Dobermann groans.

The way out of the recess is blocked by four Reunion members, two with blades and two others with crossbows. In the center of their formation stands their leader, a silver-haired and red-horned Sarkaz woman with a grenade launcher held by a sling over her shoulder.

And judging on how the Reserve Teams tense up, that Sarkaz happens to be their missing explosives specialist…

The woman finds their tensed expressions amusing. “Oh, relax already, I’m not going to do anything to you yet. So why don’t we take some of the edge off and introduce ourselves to break the ice?”

“You can simply call me… W.”

“”W”...?” Amiya can’t shake the feeling that she’s seen this Sarkaz before. “Have we met before?”

W’s eyes narrow ever so slightly, which only adds fuel to the Cautus’ suspicions. “Maybe.”

“But, I didn’t come all this way expecting you to know who I am. I do know that person next to you though.”

The rabbit’s eyes narrow. “So Reunion… is going to continue fighting us?”

The Sarkaz looks offended at that… or at least she would be if her expression wasn’t so exaggerated. “Hey, hey, don’t be like that! I’ve got no love for that she-dragon, Talulah. I’m not even cut out for this goaltending business, do you have any idea how much of a pain it was to rush over here after a long day of work?”

“Get to the point already!” Dobermann irritably barks. “What do you want?!”

“What do I want? Let’s see here…” W says, putting her hand up to her chin.

“She definitely has a few screws loose…” The Doctor mutters under his breath.

“Seeing how I’ve waited oh so patiently to see that person there…” The Sarkaz starts, motioning her head toward the Doctor and causing Amiya’s anxiety to spike. “How about you hand over the Doctor?”

The duo blink, both not expecting the ending part of that question.

“You know the Doctor?” The rabbit asks in confusion.

“I sure do! I came to this hellhole just to enjoy a touching little reunion and I just happen to have a few little questions I’d like to ask Flare. So, would you be so kind as to give us some… alone time?”

The Caster can practically taste the thinly veiled hostility in her words and she isn’t the only one.

“You’re wasting your breath.” Nearl responds as Amiya feels the Arc Light crackle around the Doctor’s hand. “Amiya, let's not waste anymore time on her.”

“Ah, so your name’s Amiya.”

The Sarkaz stares at the Cautus for a few moments before shrugging.

“Eh, whatever, I can get the other thing on my checklist later, so I’ll let you all go now.” She says to the confusion of her four men, who eventually just shrug themselves. “I’ll see you around little bunny.”

Being called ‘little bunny’ allows Amiya to finally place where she’s seen that mercenary before. And the Doctor probably recognized her from that to a degree as well, judging off what she can sense from him.

Though she can’t pinpoint the source of the hint of sadness she picks up from him.

“H-Huh? Wait!” The Cautus stammers out…

…but W and her grunts are already disappearing around the corner, with the merc waving dramatically at them. “Buh bye~”

“Why is she…?”

“Hold it!” Dobermann shouts after them as she follows, but judging on how she just stops, they’ve either vanished into thin air or are too far away to tail.

“Are they really just leaving?” Nearl asks upon reaching the Perro.

“Yes… It felt like something was up, though.”

Their conversation and Amiya’s thoughts are cut off by the sound of a helicopter’s blades spinning as one of the landship’s tiltrotors flies into view before lowering itself and its ramp for the Operators to climb aboard.

The heavy silence within the tiltrotor as it ascends back into the sky is infinitely worse than the silence they were under back in the park.

Though that can be attributed to how instead of being vigilant, they’re all exhausted combined with the uncertainty of whether or not those left behind will last long enough for there to be anything left of them to bring back home.

All Flare can really do is let out a breath he’s been holding for longer than he thought as he removes his mask from his face, the soft whirring of the plates holding the back of it shut opening barely audible against the crushing silence and the spinning rotors outside of the VTOL’s hull.

Gently setting the dirtied mask down in his lap, he looks past the drooping Ghost on his shoulder and over to the Cautus next to him on his left, who’s been staring into space ever since they stepped aboard.

He can't blame her. First Ace, someone they both considered a close friend, stays behind to hold off what’s effectively a Dawnblade using Song of Flame on steroids and then that’s followed with the encounter with W that apparently gave them both more questions than answers.

At this point, any fragmented memories that appear don’t really overly phase him anymore. Sure, the overly stabby ones are annoying purely due to the migraines, but learning the proper frame of mind for Strand did worse to his mental and physical state, so it’s pretty much nothing to him at this point.

But that doesn’t mean the information itself can’t phase him anymore, as the melancholy that recognizing what the Sarkaz was brought makes him very concerned.

Was there something important that happened to the Sarkaz prior to his amnesia that involved him to some capacity?

Did he lose someone that he was close to that just so happened to be one?

Did he do something unforgivable to them and whatever part of him remembers deeply regrets it?

He simply doesn’t know.

And he hates it.

“Oh, whatever. I can figure it out lat-”

His thoughts are cut off by Amiya suddenly jolting back to reality with a start.

“What’s wrong?”

The Cautus brings a shaky hand up to her chest as her eyes widen further. “My heart… It kind of hurts a little…”

Flare, Ashe, Dobermann, and Nearl all recoil at that, all of them knowing exactly what that implies.

And they aren’t the only ones as Medic near-immediately starts breaking down.

“Medic…” Amiya turns to the weeping Feline and wraps her arms around her in an attempt to calm her. “Don’t cry… please…”

“Why?!” The cat cries to no one in particular.

The Cautus takes a breath.

“A long time ago, someone told me something…”

“”After a battle, we have to hold back the tears until we’re back home by ourselves.””

“Just breathe…”

“We’re going home…”

“...to Rhodes Island.”

The next few hours pass without much happening.

Amiya and a few other Operators moved Medic over to a corner and continued to try to console her. She isn’t sure why due to lacking arms, but Ashe decides to join them over there at some point, not that there’s much she can do given that she’s more experienced in comforting the one moron she has a mental link with than other people.

But being over here is better than just sitting around as the other Operators either just zone out or take the chance to get some shuteye instead of doing anything to pass time. Dobermann, however, decided to use the time to walk Flare through the effects Catastrophes have on the areas caught inside of one, the reason why nomadic cities were created, and even speculating on the motive behind Reunion’s attack on Chernobog, all to Nearl’s dismay as she’d rather they both get some rest instead.

Which is a sentiment the Ghost agrees with, because as much as it makes sense for her Hunter to want to try to get reacquainted with the world he found himself in, the last few hours were full of so much shit that even she’s feeling exhausted.

She can’t begin to imagine how he’s feeling right now. Hell, she can’t even really gleam what he’s thinking through their link, but at least that has a history of being spotty if all the years are anything to go by.

Of course, that’s not accounting for what the whole Tangled Shore-manhunt debacle after Cayde’s death did to it.

It still makes her uncomfortable how easily the neural symbiosis was severed during that time and the weeks it took afterwards for their link to reopen was awful. 

Not being able to properly communicate and comfort the other while they seem to be spiraling more and more into their vengeful mindset is something she never wants to experience again.

But even as she’s worried about how her partner is handling being reintroduced to the world around them, it occurs to Ashe that she’s not even sure about this.

About him.

Which is something she would have turned whoever said it’s head into a bloody smear on her shell for suggesting in the past, but knowing what he did that led him to ending up in the Sarcophagus, part of her can’t bring herself to trust him anymore.

But there’s things she’s seen him do before the Sarcophagus combined with Flare being reverted to a pre-Terra state via amnesia gives her some hope, one that’s neutered by his fragmented memories, but to her, it’s still hope.

Hope that this world’s fate is one that they can still break.

And as long as she has it, she refuses to become the same level of bitter that Kal’tsit has over the last few years. 

Even if she has doubts on whether her partner-in-crime can be trusted.

“Just gotta hope those fragments don’t screw us over in the long run, we can’t afford what she did to be in vain…”

Eventually the tiltrotor’s PA crackles to life, cutting off Ashe’s thoughts. “This is your pilot speaking. We will be landing momentarily.”

Ashe moves to look out of one of the windows, spotting their destination, before returning and talking to Amiya. “Let’s get her into one of the seats, we’re almost to the landship.”

The Cautus and the other Operators nod before helping Medic to her feet and into a seat before finding seats of their own, with the Ghost returning to her Guardian’s shoulder.

It’s only a minute or two later that the passengers of the tiltrotor feel it make contact with the top deck of the landship, followed by a short taxi before the platform it's sitting on descends into the bowels of Rhodes Island.

After a descent that feels quicker than normal, which she chalks up to just being tired, Ashe floats up and rotates around to watch the hangar come into view and with it, a large welcoming party of Operators waiting for them.

Eventually, the elevator makes it down to meet the floor and one of the Operators helps Medic back to her feet again before helping her out of the tiltrotor, with Amiya following behind them.

The Ghost watches the Cautus meet up with a trio of Operators: an attentive blonde Sarkaz, a jittery Feline wearing a headset, and a bored hat-wearing Vulpo.

Ashe probably could dig up their names from her databanks, but she’s too tired to give a shit at the moment.

So with the emission of a digital sigh, the Ghost turns back around to find most of the VTOL’s passengers have already disembarked, the exceptions being Nearl, who’s been standing for a bit already, Dobermann, who’s starting to stand up, and Flare… who’s still sitting there and not moving whatsoever.

Given the Ghost can see him breathe and is still picking up a pulse, Ashe knows he’s not dead, but this is still weird to her.

“Flare? You still alive?”

No response.

She taps the side of his hood. 

Still nothing.

She rams herself into the hood with enough force to hit his head.

There’s a murmur, but otherwise nothing.

So with a shrug of her shell, she moves to the cloak hood’s opening and turns on her flashlight directly into the eyes of the Hunter who she’s convinced has somehow fallen asleep.

And what do you know? He is.

Ashe emits a groan as she backs away. As she does so, Dobermann crouches down next to where she eventually stops.

“Is he alright?”

“Yeah, just he’s, ya’know, asleep. And he’s not waking up anytime soon.”

“Figures.” The Perro sighs before turning to the Kuranta watching from a little ways down the aisle. “Can you call for a stretcher?”

Nearl simply nods before heading over to the tiltrotor’s exit.

The Ghost sighs again as her attention returns to her Hunter, before mumbling something out under her “breath”.

“Please tell me this is the start of some better sleeping habits…”

Amiya quickly moves back to the tiltrotor and slips past Nearl to get back inside. 

The Knight had to have called for a stretcher for a good reason and if her quick math is anything to go by, there aren't many left on board who could need one.

Her train of thought is cut off as she finds Ashe and Dobermann examining the Doctor, who seems to be out cold.

Which makes her a little confused, as he was exhausted but she didn’t think to that degree and her memory of him being in similar states and still being at least somewhat active is only underlining it.

“Is the Doctor okay?”

“Out like a light.” The Perro responds. “Must’ve relaxed after we landed on Rhodes Island.”

“We really pushed the Doctor to the limit back there.” Nearl states.

“I doubt it.” Ashe starts. “Flare’s got a bit of a history being able to operate for absurd amounts of time without shuteye.”

“Even on a bad day, he’d usually still have enough fuel in the tank to run circles around the landship. I’d say it's more likely that three years of little to no activity and then being thrown into that shitshow caught up to him.”

“Hm…”

Amiya walks toward the soundly sleeping Doctor, whose mask is still sitting in his lap, before stopping next to a now-standing Dobermann.

Ashe moves over to her shoulder as a small smile shifts onto the Cautus’ face as she takes in the sight.

“Doctor… welcome home.”

“Welcome home, Dad.”

> December 24th, 1:30 PM / Clear / Rhodes Island; 98+ km from Chernobog Outskirts

“...Ugh…”

It takes a moment for Flare to claw his eyes open and when he does, he’s met by yet another unfamiliar metal ceiling.

At least this one doesn’t have ring lights and his (intact) memory isn’t in a gutter somewhere in Chernobog.

The pillow under his head and the vague feeling of contradicting familiarity helps as well.

The second thing he notices is the painful amount of ambient noise, because it sounds like he just dived into the guts of an active Cabal landtank for the umpteenth time.

And judging by the movement of what little terrain he can see from the window, he’s not wrong about the active part.

But at least listening to this ship(?) function isn’t nearly as miserable to listen to compared to the internals of all the Cabal machines he’s had to sabotage over the years, because at least there’s an attempt at suppressing the sound here. It still isn’t great, but he’ll take an attempt over nothing at this point.

His steel gray gaze then shifts to the room itself but the most he can process is the lack of cloak hood, the metal walls, and a bunch of books strewn across a nearby desk along with a pile of something before his attention is arrested by a digital voice.

One that is very much not his Ghost.

“Are you awake, Doctor?”

Flare blinks. Usually when something catches him off guard to this degree, it usually has either a hole shot through it or a knife rigged to blow thrown at it by now. But in a place that’s simultaneously alien and back-of-the-hand levels of familiar, the most he finds that he can do is glare in the voice’s direction, sigh, and quip.

“I didn’t know you could say more than just “please log in.””

“Ignoring the fact that you very much did know, I’m much more complex than just saying preset lines.”

“Yeah, yeah, keep tooting your own horn…”

He rolls his eyes as his gaze returns to the ceiling before sighing.

“Well, shelving the sarcasm and getting to the point hasn’t gotten me killed yet, sooo…”

“Where am I?”

“This is your own quarters.” PRTS says as Flare pushes himself into a sitting position, while noticing that his cloak, jacket, gauntlets, boots, and holsters were removed at some point, leaving him with the pants, some socks, and a slightly loose gray undershirt that almost consumes his entire upper body, with the exceptions of his head and hands. “Preparations on it had just ended when you arrived. Oh, and we’re on board the Rhodes Island landship.”

“I figured as much.” He replies as he examines a black and blue device strapped around his right wrist.

“You can continue to rest if you like.”

“Tempting,” The Doctor starts as he drops his arm, “but I’d rather get the lay of the land before lazing around if that makes any sense.”

“In that case, I’ll take you to Am-”

“Well, look who’s finally up!”

The AI’s cut off as Ashe abruptly bursts into existence in front of her Hunter.

The Hunter in question sighs at the Ghost’s entrance. “Hi to you too, Ashe.”

“Where were you?”

“Top deck keeping Amiya company while waiting for you to drag your lazy ass out of bed.”

An acknowledging grunt is all Flare can respond with before PRTS sounds again with a voice that the Hunter swears is annoyed despite the lack of audible emotion. “Ashe.”

“Yes?”

“Should I leave showing the Doctor around the landship on the way to Amiya to you? If there’s no objections, of course.”

“Pfft, I’ve pretty much been doing that since day one. That’s easier than a walk in the park!”

Flare silently glares daggers at her for that comment as the AI responds. “Very well, I will be on standby if either of you need anything.”

“But before that, Doctor, there is a change of clothes for you on the desk if you haven’t noticed it yet.”

The Hunter’s head moves to the right in order to see the rest of the room and, sure enough, there is a set of clothes, complete with a cleaned and repaired mask and set of gauntlets, sitting on the desk among the books. A quick curious glance downwards reveals a pair of boots in a similar condition sitting at the desk’s feet.

A thoughtful hum escapes him. “Thanks.”

“I’ll forward your thanks to the responsible parties. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

A small beep emits from the terminal on the desk as it goes into sleep mode. Whether it’s instinct, a gut feeling, or just good ol’ Hunter paranoia, Flare doubts that sleep mode can keep PRTS from listening in on whatever conversations he and his Ghost would have…

…but at this point is that really something he needs to be worried about at the moment?

Not to mention that he can’t think of any topic that he’d bring up that would require secrecy.

He suppresses yet another sigh as he slides his legs over the edge of the bed before standing up.

“So…” Flare starts as he quickly changes into the fresh copies of his current attire. “Anything I should be aware of before waltzing straight into “unknown” territory?”

“Other than keeping your weapons here, nothing really.”

“Alright.” He says as he blows a rogue bang out of his eye (which is only a partial success as the white hair falls back over the eye) and picks up the coat on the pile… and narrows his eyes as he scans it a few times before looking at his Ghost in confusion. “Am I crazy or is this coat different from the one I was wearing earlier?”

Compared to the one he wore in Chernobog, which was pretty much a carbon copy of the jacket Amiya wore, the coat he has in his hands is significantly different.

Well, colorwise it’s the same, it’s the usual Rhodes dark cyan and light blue accents. But the coat’s actual design?

For starters, this one reaches down almost to the top of his knees (give or take a few inches), though the opening reaches to about a fifth of his shins’ length. About halfway down, the coat’s split in half by a shiny black plastic strip that wraps all the way around the torso area before stopping at the opening. The place where the sleeves meet the coat is marked with light blue strips that link up with a larger section of blue at the opening that’s consistent with the old one (though the text is smaller in order to not be covered); otherwise the sleeves are more or less the same, maybe except the white rectangle being above the orange outline of a diamond that contains the R.I. text, but who really cares. The hood lost its blue trim but also has a black strip held in place by the hood for… whatever reason.

There’s also pockets.

Like a lot of pockets.

One in particular that catches Flare’s eye is the dark cyan breast pocket that would be on his right when worn, which has a white symbol that resembles a rook emblazoned on its flap, which he assumes could be Rhodes Island’s logo but he probably should ask to be safe. But the part about the pocket that caught his attention was a small white Hunter insignia placed next to the rook.

Which, yeah, it’s insignificant, but he appreciates that it’s there anyway.

“Oh yeah, I nearly forgot they were working on this…” Ashe mumbles as she hovers over to her Hunter’s shoulder. She quickly emits an approximation of clearing her throat out of her vocalizer before explaining. “To make a long story short, we initially were going to have the jacket you wore back in Chernobog be part of your getup, but then decided to revamp an older version of this coat instead and it just wasn’t finished in time.”

“Hm.”

“But hey, at least they got the shield generator stabilized and integrated it into the coat, so you’ll have shields next time we head out into the field.”

“Yeah, good to have it back.” Flare agrees as he pulls the coat on, though the talk on equipment reminds him of something around his wrist that he should address sooner rather than later.

“Hey Ashe,” He starts while pulling back the coat sleeve to reveal the odd bracelet-thing, “you mind telling me what this thing is?”

“Infection monitor, it's basically to keep tabs on your vitals and Oripathy progression.”

“And before you say anything about not having Oripathy,” The Ghost prematurely admonishes at the sight of her partner opening his mouth in either protest or questioning, “the monitors are protocol for all personnel, Infected or not.”

The Hunter closes his mouth in response before giving an unnecessarily tentative nod in understanding as he rolls down the sleeve and clicks his gauntlets into place.

Flare’s gaze then wanders the room.

Well, more accurately, attempts to.

But when the room is a steel box with no decor outside of a bed, an office chair paired with a desk that has a computer, a closet, some drawers, an electric kettle, a bunch of books, a phone/terminal in sleep mode, his mask and cloak, and a pair of holsters with their respective charges missing sitting atop it, there isn’t much to look at. Which is made worse by the fact that you could fit a full size couch in the room and still have a decent amount of space left.

Even the view outside the window lacks anything truly interesting to look at.

Even the seas of red dust on Mars had something to look at.

“Please tell me I have some decorations in storage. I feel like I’m going to have an aneurysm from how boring this room is.”

“I… think you do, it’s just been a minute since I’ve been down on the storage deck, so I’m not entirely sure.”

“You’re not just saying that because you’re too lazy to dig through your memory, right?”

The Ghost’s eye sharpens in indignation. “I’m not. There’s a fairly decent chance that they’re no longer on the landship in their original form. That or Closure sold them for shits and giggles, who knows.” Ashe finishes with a shrug before her eye abruptly loses all tension within it. So abruptly that Flare can practically taste the incoming segue. “Buuuut, we won’t know if we don’t get this tour under way, so come on!”

She says before floating over to the door and firing a beam at the control panel, opening it and turning to look back with way too much enthusiasm for her partner to have the capacity to deal with immediately after waking up. “We’ve got a landship to wander!”

And with that, the Ghost rushes into the corridor, zipping off to the left and leaving her Hunter to stare at the space she occupied a moment earlier.

His gaze lingers for a moment as he slips the PRTS terminal into a pocket before his eyes drift to the window on his right.

There may not be anything overtly eye catching out there, but he can’t help but feel comfort from the sight of it moving by.

“My present and future, huh?”

He lets out a tired sigh as he grabs his mask and moves for the door, deciding to leave his cloak and holsters behind while he slides on the mask and pulls up his coat’s hood.

“As if I hadn’t been doing that for ten years already…”

The tour itself wasn’t very eventful.

Given it was really just a tour of the various departments and major locations around the landship, Flare’s not really surprised.

Though, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t already planning to haunt Engineering and the Convalescence Garden whenever he has time.

After all, those wacky gun ideas that no one in their right mind would ever bring into reality aren’t going to put themselves together.

But despite what he expected from what was said and implied earlier, one of the first places Ashe ended up bringing him to was a space on a deck above the bridge that serves as a convergence point for all communications from the various departments on the ship and from the various branch offices across the continent.

Oh, and this Control Room is going to be his base of operations on board the landship from now on and he’s apparently one of the people aboard in charge of the Field Service Department. (Though, the latter doesn’t really surprise him after what happened in Chernobog.)

Though, there is a sizable and fairly cozy (and thankfully furnished) office next door that’s assigned to him in case his workload consists of just basic paperwork or meetings that don’t require taking up an entire meeting room, so he’s glad to have that at least.

His first course of action is probably going to end up being to get a blanket for that sofa; he’s getting the feeling that he’s going to be sleeping on that more than not.

And while he is initially surprised that he isn’t based in Medical and doing research on Oripathy like he assumed, a death glare aimed at him from behind parted blinds that snapped back into place the second he turned to look in that direction during the tour of it quickly made him glad that he’s not going to be spending that much time there.

The jaunts through Logistics and H.R. didn’t have anything Flare felt like making a mental note of, but at least the cafeteria had a tale about a food fight that happened one time made up for the slog that was the last two departments. (Even if the reason for it was stupid even by the Hunter’s “standards.”)

But hey, he at least got a cup of coffee out of it, because nothing says ‘I have a lack of healthy sleeping habits’ like coffee at two in the afternoon.

The training rooms were interesting, though that’s probably due to how it’s practically a jungle gym of varying environments that can create enemy simulations to combat along with a shooting range. But at least he has somewhere to shake off the three years worth of rust at… as long as they aren’t occupied too often.

Their trip through the hangar on the way up to the top deck was one that ended up surprising him, namely because of one of the vessels stored within it. 

“Wait, you guys got the jumpship in here?”

Sure enough, the duo’s Callisto Lancer, which looks like it thoroughly ate shit, was being suspended by cables and worked on by a skeleton crew of engineers.

“Yup. Funnily enough, it’s been such a pain in the ass to repair for Engineering that it’s more or less become a contest to see who can do the most meaningful and lasting repairs to it. Though they’re restricted to working on it when they have nothing else to work on, otherwise the landship probably would’ve fallen apart by now…”

“Really? They didn’t attempt to scrap it?”

“They did, but you put your foot down on that and they’ve been trying to help fix it ever since.”

“What about just leaving it be?”

“They did once. It didn’t even last a week.”

“Huh… Then I guess I should tell the head of Engineering that I want in on getting it up and running sometime.”

“Alright, but chances are you’ll run into her long before you find the time. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s already trying to decide what prank from her backlog to pull on you now that you’re back.”

Now knowing that he probably should be watching his back for any pranksters combined with the added benefit of a fragmented memory from earlier giving him the potential identity of his soon-to-be-assailant, the Hunter gives a tentative nod before the two start moving again.

And soon enough, they’re met with a fairly calm breeze as the steel doors of the elevator they boarded open, marking their arrival at their destination.

As they emerge from the elevator, Flare’s eyes immediately lock onto the only other living thing on this deck: a lone Cautus girl at the railing, looking over it and into the distance…

…and he can almost feel the crushing amount of responsibility on her shoulders just by looking at her.

So with yet another sigh today alone, the Doctor wills his feet to move toward her.

“Enjoying the view?” He quips once he’s close enough, removing his mask with one hand while the other remains in a pocket. Amiya was probably zoned out as she jumps slightly before turning to face the sound’s source. “Doctor. I thought you were going to rest longer.”

He shrugs in response. “Can’t stay in bed forever. Though I sure as hell wish that was something I could afford to do sometimes.”

“I know that feeling…” She replies as her gaze returns to the distance.

“How long have you been up?”

“Too long… I needed some fresh air and next thing I knew was Ashe scaring me.”

The Hunter aims a glare at his Ghost in response. “I said I’m sorry already.”

“I just… I just can’t stop thinking about what Talulah said.” The Cautus continues with a degree of exhaustion audible in her voice.

“It’s true that I might be an idealist that has nothing but empty promises, but I want to believe that I’ve chosen the right path.”

It takes Flare a moment to realize that Amiya’s referring to the monologue that he decided to ignore purely out of irritation.

And whether he listened to the tyrant’s speech or not, the Cautus continues voicing what’s troubling her.

“But… that doesn’t mean I haven’t had doubts about it.” She states as her grip on the railing tightens slightly. “I think she might’ve noticed that…”

There’s a moment of silence before she speaks again, with her voice quiet. “I’m sorry. You probably don’t know what to say, hearing this from me of all people.”

“She’s not wrong…” Is the Hunter’s prevailing thought as he diverts his gaze from her and onto the passing by barrens in front of them. But before long, the most recent words of a once-forgotten old friend come back to the forefront of his mind.

So with a breath, he begins.

“Before we had to leave, Ace told me something.”

“He said that we’ll have to stand against this cruel world one day.”

He notices Amiya turn to look at him out of the corner of his eye as he continues.

“I’ll admit I don’t entirely get what he meant yet, but I know that if you hold on to your ideals, you’ll be bound to clash with reality sooner or later.”

“But even then, he… he had faith that you’d continue on the right path in spite of whatever happens.”

“Ace…” The rabbit murmurs sadly.

The quiet returns as Flare’s words are allowed to sink in.

“You’re right.” Amiya states after a few moments. “I can’t let myself lose sight of my way so easily.”

“I might have way too many blanks to fill right now,” he starts again while turning back to her with a small smile, “but even if it takes forever to all come back, I’ll always have your back no matter what.”

Amiya returns his smile with one of her own. “Thank you, Doctor.”

“Now, we’ll have a new mission in three days, so be sure to rest up and please don’t push yourself until then, alright?”

“Will do.”

The Cautus emits an acknowledging hum as they both start to leave the deck.

…only for Amiya to abruptly stop in her tracks as she realizes something. “Oh right. I still owe you an answer to that question you asked.”

“Question?” Flare asks as his brain lights itself on fire trying to quickly hunt down what she could be referring to.

“She’s referring to the one from before the park, you moron.” Ashe answers somewhat impatiently.

“Oh, right.” He mutters while facepalming.

In hindsight, he’s not surprised he forgot, given that everything pretty much went downhill from there, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t going to beat himself up over it.

“If it helps, Doctor, I only just remembered now.”

The Hunter shrugs. “I guess. Well, if you want to do this now, you can start whenever you’re ready.”

Amiya gives a thankful nod before taking a moment to compose her thoughts. It’s a minute or two before she takes a breath and starts speaking once more, albeit slightly fidgety.

“I said that you are an extremely important person to me and while that’s still true, I don’t think I got across how important you are to me.”

She takes another anxious breath.

“Because who you are to me is my…”

“...My dad. Adoptive to be exact, but still…”

This would be the part where he spits out his coffee with comedic effect… if he still had it and didn’t finish it by the time they got to the hangar.

But saying that her statement absolutely blindsided Flare would be more than just an understatement if there were a term for that.

And yet it’s somehow the most believable thing he’s heard in the last twenty four hours that didn’t need him to be forced to believe it by the circumstances.

Of course, the stabby appearance of the relevant memory and his attention being forced to it doesn’t help.

In the typical fragmented memory fashion, a scene appears in the front of his mind. Except this time, Flare can recognize it to be somewhere within the landship, but where is a whole other question.

But from what he can gather, it appears to be someone’s room, and boy is it infinitely more cozy looking than his (currently) drab gray excuse of one. Well, at least the memory is telling him that, he can’t really make out any of the decor due to how fuzzy the shapes are… not that any of that matters as his attention is drawn to the coffee mug in his hands and a younger version of the all-too-familiar Cautus that calls the room home, who looks like she’s doodling or something. He can’t tell from the angle.

And he’s suddenly struck with knowing exactly where this is about to immediately go and he doesn’t know whether to prematurely brace for the inevitable second-hand embarrassment or lament his lack of popcorn.

But either way, his memory opens its trap.

“‘Morning, Amiya.”

The Cautus perks up and turns her head to look at him with the most precious smile he’s ever seen as he takes a sip from his mug.

Oh, this poor fool…

“Good morning, Dad!”

And without missing a beat, his head snaps to face the corridor he came from and unleashes a weapons-grade spit-take on the wall.

Even Ashe was thrown off-kilter by that, and she floats!

“Why did…” He starts as he wheels away from the poor wall that felt the accidental wrath of a career godslayer and back to face Amiya, only to  trail off as he finds her smile exchanged for a disheartened expression laced with some embarrassment.

His memory and his Ghost share a look, both of them not sure how to go about this.

“I’ll… go on ahead…” She says and without giving him a chance to respond, she’s already moving down the hall.

So with a sigh, he turns back to the room and enters it, letting the door close behind him. In a few quick but careful steps, he crosses the room, before placing his mug down on a nearby surface and sitting down next to the upset Cautus, all while making sure to give her enough space.

“What’s on your mind, Amiya?”

She doesn’t respond for a few minutes, causing the two to sit in a somewhat uncomfortable silence as his memory lets Amiya take as long as she needs.

“...I’m sorry, Doctor.” She finally says, her voice quiet. “I just… thought of Mum and Dad again.”

His memory doesn’t say anything, opting to let the Cautus continue at her own pace. But the sense of melancholy in the room gives Flare an idea on what the fate of Amiya’s parents was.

“I miss them… but, it made me think of how you’ve been taking care of me after the…”

“...I get it,” he gently states a moment or two after she trails off, “it led to you viewing me as a parental figure and that’s why you called me that?”

It takes a moment, but she eventually responds with a shy nod and a quiet hum of confirmation as her gaze remains glued to the floor.

He lets out a sigh in response. “You know I can’t replace them, right?”

She gives another nod while she plays with her dress’ hem. This nod being more subdued than the last. “I know, but I…”

She trails off again and his memory turns away, with both Flare and it knowing what she was trying to say.

…I don’t want to be left behind again.

It takes a few moments of more tense silence for him to speak again, but when he does, he sounds like he’s made his mind up. “I remember telling Savage back in Rim Billiton that I wouldn’t leave you behind. I meant it then and I still mean it now, so don’t worry about that.”

He turns to meet Amiya’s gaze. “Honestly, I don’t really think I’m cut out for it, but if you really want to call me your dad, I’ll do my best not to let you down.”

“Besides, it’s probably the best way to describe our dynamic anyways.” He mutters under his breath.

“Really?”

“Really-ack!” The second the word leaves his mouth, he is immediately tackled by the Cautus, nearly causing him to topple over.

“Thank you, Dad!”

He can’t help but chuckle at her enthusiasm, despite partially fearing that this will come back to bite him.

“...Anytime, kiddo.” He returns the hug before his eyes drift onto a clock, causing his smile to fade. “I’m sorry to cut the hug short, but we should probably catch up with Ashe before Kal’tsit and-” A burst of static that doesn’t belong obscures the second name. “-start wondering where we are.”

There’s a little bit more after that, but Flare can’t tear his attention away from the static long enough to pay attention. And as the memory fades, he can’t help but feel a little vindicated about his suspicions regarding his amnesia.

“Doctor?”

Flare blinks back to reality, finding the deck and an older Amiya, complete with the worried expression he feels like he’s seen one too many times already, focusing back into view.

“I’m fine, Amiya. Just another one of the usual.” He says while absentmindedly rubbing his forehead.

While he’s tempted to tell her about the static, he knows that there is a non-zero chance that it could be a fluke from the damage, given that the surroundings in the first fragment he got did start out fuzzy as well. But even then, the name would have just been muffled, not drowned in noise.

Any further theorizing ends up being put on hold as the Cautus draws him back to reality again.

“Oh… Was it about…?”

The Hunter just gives her a nod in response.

The Cautus takes a few moments to process that information while fiddling with the hem of her jacket.

“Looks like some things never change…”

As the moments pass, Amiya sighs before starting. “I’m sorry for putting you on the spot like this, Doctor, but it wouldn’t be right to hold you to what you said before losing your memories.”

“So if you don’t mind me asking, is the ‘current’ you fine with it?”

He’s half tempted to reply with a dark and very in poor taste quip/question, but figures it’s probably best not to emotionally test the poor girl more than she already has been.

So with a sigh of his own, he pulls from his pre-amnesia self’s playbook and hopes this doesn’t bite him in the ass later.

“To be completely honest, I’m finding it increasingly difficult to not be okay with it.”

“Sure, I only have two memories of that time, but if anything, I’m sure they’ll only grow in number as time passes.”

“And… I may not be the ‘me’ that promised you it anymore…”

He takes a breath to bury more creeping in uncertainty.

“...but I still mean every word I said then.”

“So, if you really still want it to stay how it was before my amnesia,” he says as he gives her a comforting smile while placing a hand over his heart, “then I gladly accept the honor.”

There’s a few moments of silence on the deck again as she stares stunned, but eventually…

…Amiya’s emotional dam cracks, with a few tears slipping out. Flare immediately starts to try to apologize, only to be stopped just as quickly with the air being blasted out of his lungs by a teenaged-Cautus-shaped battering ram tackling him faster than he could react with anything other than barely keeping himself from tumbling over from the impact.

“Thank you…”

Any words he has dries away as it’s the Doctor’s turn to be at a loss but is quickly put at ease by the smile on the Cautus’ face. Finally letting himself release a breath he didn’t even know he was holding, he can’t help but feel that in spite of what lingering doubts he has, this is worth it and a smile of his own forms at that thought.

“Anytime, sweetheart.”

> December 27th, 5:57 AM / Cloudy / Rhodes Island; 4 km from Lungmen Outskirts

Whatever silence existed in one of the many personnel quarters on board the Rhodes Island landship found itself abruptly torn to pieces by an alarm that the room’s main inhabitant certainly remembers not setting the night before.

Or at least, Flare doesn’t remember setting it for this early.

But whether he wanted it or not, he was torn from one of the few instances of a peaceful rest he can remember off the top of his head and back into the chaotic mess that is his usual day to day. Even if the day to day is a lot more subdued as a doctor of Rhodes Island than the day to day as a Guardian of the Last City.

And he could get up, see why there’s an alarm blaring…

Or he can grab his pillow, cover his ears, and try in vain to go back to sleep (and in the process shut out his Ghost’s attempts to get his attention).

Approximately fifteen seconds pass before the irate and half-asleep Hunter lashes out from the bed and snatches the terminal off of the desk before unlocking it and shutting it up with his fingerprint.

“Good morning, Dr.-”

“Yeah, yeah, morning to you too, now what is it?”

“Please tell me Ifrit didn’t set Medical on fire again already.” 

Flare involuntarily shudders at the thought. Who knew that trying to put out an Arts-sparked fire via Stasis only pisses it off?

Then again, it kinda makes sense when you’re actively telling the Laws of Thermodynamics to go fuck themselves.

“Thankfully, no. However, your presence has been urgently requested in the Operations Command room. Although, your reluctance to wake up is understandable.”

The Doctor stares blankly at the device for a few beats before it clicks. “...oh yeah, Amiya did say that was today…”

He lets out a sigh as he turns to his Ghost. “Ashe, can you go run interference? I’m going to need to get some coffee for this.”

Ashe shrugs her shell in response. “I’ll try, but just try to be quick about it, alright?”

Her partner gives a shallow nod and knowing that’s probably going to be the best she gets right now, Ashe promptly leaves the room.

And the moment the Ghost vanishes from the room, Flare throws off the blankets and quickly starts getting dressed into his usual outfit.

Of course, in the two days that have followed his chat with Amiya on the top deck, he’s made a few alterations to it, namely getting his hands on some basic black gloves and shoes so he doesn’t have to go everywhere with his gauntlets and boots on. And if he does need them, he can just have Ashe transmat them in along with his cloak, holsters, and weapons.

He’s also swapped out the gray top with a version that takes a predominantly white palette, with the upper third being black instead, all the while the two sections are divided by a strip of the usual shade of light blue.

He’s also just decided to ditch his mask when lurking around the landship, simply because there’s no point in keeping it on at all times. Outside the landship is a whole different can of worms, however, but that’s for fairly self-explanatory reasons. Also, given how pale he is, trying to get some sun on exposed skin to get some color back wouldn’t kill him. Not that he wasn’t pale to begin with, but three years in a glorified casket only exacerbated it to an comedic degree.

Once he’s done getting himself somewhat presentable (he isn’t touching that bedhead and nothing on any plane of existence can make him), he throws up his coat’s hood, pockets the PRTS terminal and his hands, and briskly strolls down to the cafeteria.

As he does so, he can’t help but let his mind wander back to the events of the past few days.

Immediately following the chat with and his subsequent re-adoption of Amiya, both the Cautus (somewhat hesitantly) and his Ghost end up leading him down to one of the storage rooms on a subdeck, which held a bunch of boxes to no one’s real surprise, but the part that did surprise him was the fact that the room was less storage and more of a small personal armory. The reason being that every weapon and piece of equipment he remembers having on him before his memory goes blank is sitting there waiting to be sortied once more.

Though, from what he’s gathered and later learned about how Rhodes likes to handle combat matters, there aren’t going to be many times where he can pull out the ol’ Gjallarhorn to trivialize an issue or just any of his explosive weapons for that matter. If anything, the only things here that he can see getting somewhat regular use is his Witherhoard and literally everything else. 

Well, maybe not Sunshot and Thunderlord due to potential collateral from just pulling the trigger. And Conditional Finality does cause things to explode with its Solar pellets. And Khvostov really likes ricocheting its rounds off everything, soooo…

He lets out a sigh. “I’ll worry about what weapons I can use again when I actually need something outside of Ace.”

Though, something that was really surprising to learn was Ashe telling him after the fact was the almost comical amount of time it took for the duo to figure out a suitable substitute for gunpowder in order to prevent running out of ammo, all because ‘Terra’ lacks the compounds for the typical gunpowder they’re familiar with. And then on top of that was the excruciating amount of effort it took to keep both the formula and his weapons out of the hands of a particularly gun-obsessed race.

Flare initially questioned why the bootleg gunpowder formula specifically when other guns exist, but got his answer when Ashe explained that Terran guns use Arts to function and as a result, are effectively just wands in the shape of guns that shoot bullets instead of Arts. And combined with the research he did the next day on Terra’s various nations, the last thing anyone needs right now is less restricted access to firearms.

Though, he also can’t get the image of how deeply uncomfortable Amiya looked while in that room out of his head…

Not that he can blame her, since that room is practically a monument to violence alongside the simple fact that it’s hidden within the bowels of Rhodes Island, who wouldn’t be uncomfortable?.

Shaking away his thoughts for a moment, the Doctor finally reaches the cafeteria and quickly exchanges pleasantries with the personnel on duty, collects a coffee, thanks them, and reverses course to head for where he’s needed while slipping back into his thoughts. 

Day two aboard the landship was primarily relegated to doing the aforementioned research and some digging through what personnel files he had access to, though the file digging was cut short by how much he didn’t have access to due to restricted permissions and being dragged down to Medical for a check-up, only for it to suddenly burst into flames for… whatever reason only moments after he arrived. He didn’t really catch said reason as he was too busy trying to understand why that fire looked at him like he offended it the second he threw a Duskfield Grenade at it; he was paying enough attention to learn who the culprit was though.

And he’d be lying if he said that the culprit only being a young girl didn’t simultaneously terrify and worry him. (“Okay, I know that Oripathy can amp up Arts, but whAT THE FUCK?! ”)

His worry only ended up being amplified when he realized that Ifrit’s file was one of the files with restricted access and while he probably could have asked Ashe to breach the file, performing a security breach on only his second day on board probably wouldn’t have been a good look…

He also had a run in with one of the Medical personnel that resulted in him learning through nearly losing a few milliliters of blood that Closure isn’t the only Vampire whose tricks he should be wary of.

Day three started on a more interesting note, as Flare noticed someone shadowing him via Strand on his way to his office and when he turned to check, there was no one in sight, despite the fact that he could still detect them standing right there. 

Coincidentally, remembering his tail caused him to snap back to reality long enough to notice that they were once again following him around. He briefly entertains the idea of using some Threaded Specters and some Void Light-patented invisibility to throw them off his trail, but shuts it down as they’d probably just track him back down again.

Filing his stalker away for later again and returning to his recollection, he spent his time after reaching the office trying to find the Oripathy notes his pre-amnesia self left behind and to only a small degree of surprise, he could actually make heads and tails of it.

Though, he does find it somewhat strange that the physical copies are in the Control Room of all places.

That aside, it doesn’t escape his notice that the notes have been tampered with, not to the degree that they’re completely useless, but there are parts that have been redacted or just straight up torn out.

The digital back-ups suffered the same fate and the research relevant to some of the notes have also either been completely fragmented or, like the personnel files, are restricted to a clearance he doesn’t have.

When he shoots his Ghost a concerned and very quizzical look at the state of everything, something about the confused shrug Ashe gives doesn’t give him confidence that she isn’t involved with this in some way.

And he certainly isn’t a fan of that feeling.

So with a sigh, he spends the next few hours looking over the notes and stitching back together what he can, even moving out of the Control Room and to his office for more comfort, until he eventually ended up passing out. Which is probably due to staying up much later than he probably should’ve the night before seeing what information that he could squeeze out of an unusually tight-lipped Ashe. 

But he stayed like that until Dobermann came knocking however long later, requesting him to head to the training rooms for a combat evaluation. (“Since you did express some combat ability back in Chernobog, I’d like to evaluate you to have you cleared for combat operations as an Operator.” “...How long will this take?” “About an hour. An hour thirty maximum.”)

The evaluation ended up taking almost two.

When the evaluation was going according to script, it wasn’t anything that the Ace of Spades, Ergo Sum, a small amount of paracausality, and some smart movement couldn’t overcome, even with the caveat that he had to do it nonlethally.

Well, the nonlethal condition primarily applied to human targets, the Originium slugs on the other hand weren’t nearly so lucky.

Right at the end, however, Ashe thought it’d be hilarious to hijack the evaluation and did so by nearly giving both Flare and Dobermann a heart attack by dropping a fucking simulated and enraged Tormentor on top of his head and subsequently proceeded to break into hysteric laughter as Flare was caught so off guard that the oversized eyesore managed to snatch him and started draining the life out of him until Dobermann started swinging at it with her whip despite having never seen one in her entire life.

It very quickly got sick of being swatted at and dropped the Hunter in order to chase the Perro, who smartly used the training room’s environment to evade it and its scythe. Flare then irritatedly demanded his Pro Memoria from his partner who had to take a few moments to get a grip before transmatting up the machine gun. After wrapping his hand around its grip and making sure that its loaded, the Arcstrider wasted no time throwing a Gathering Storm into the Tormentor’s back, forcing it to focus back on him and meet a hail of Strand rounds into the weak spot on its chest, eventually killing it with the aid of some more whip strikes.

When confronted by a deeply unamused Flare and a somewhat rattled Dobermann after the simulated Dread was dead, all the Ghost said in her defense was that a normal eval would have been way too easy for him and that it was too good an opportunity to pass up. (“Ashe?” “Yes?” “Go fuck yourself.” “Aw, love you too!”)

The rest of that day passed so uneventfully that Flare got so caught up trying to remember if there was anything else that he nearly ran face first into his destination’s door.

“This is the place, Doctor. Please be careful not to walk into the door next time.”

He sighs. “Duly noted.”

He takes a sip of his coffee before scanning his ID badge to open the door and enter the room.

Inside Operations Command sits a series of screens displaying a variety of data, a table with some chairs and a lamp, his adoptive daughter (something he’s probably never going to get used to thinking/saying), his Ghost, a blond and white-armored Kuranta, and a Perro who looks like she was about to consider going looking for someone if they hadn’t just walked in the room.

Amiya’s the first to acknowledge his entry and greets him from one of the two seats.

“Ah, Doctor! Good morning.”

“Morning, Amiya.”

Maybe part of him should’ve been surprised at how fast she went back to calling him “Doctor”, but she said back on the deck that what she calls him would be subject to the circumstances and despite how surprisingly on board with the adoptive parent shtick he is, he appreciates having time to get use to it too much to tell her otherwise.

“So you made it, Dr. Flare.” Dobermann says “I was starting to think that we’d need to go looking for you.”

“Sorry to keep you waiting, but this seemed important so I had to make sure I didn’t fall back asleep during it.” The Hunter states in his defense as he raises his coffee for a moment to emphasize his point.

“Hm, very well. Please take a seat, Doctor.”

Flare does what the instructor asks, taking a seat on Amiya’s left, but not before giving a greeting nod to Nearl, who returns it with one of her own from where she stands near the table.

Ashe quickly moves over from her spot above the Cautus’ other shoulder and into a spot between them. “That is by far the slowest I think I’ve ever seen you take just to get a cup of joe.”

Her partner rests his head on his hand as Dobermann starts pulling up the briefing. “Well, maybe I wasn’t exactly in a hurry to get jumped by a Tormentor again.”

Amiya stiffens slightly and interrupts the Ghost before she can defend herself again. “Wait, what did Ashe do?”

Flare opens his mouth to answer, curious to why she reacted that way, only to be beaten to the punch by the other soul who had to deal with the Ghost’s bullshit yesterday. “She interrupted a combat evaluation by creating a sim of a creature I didn't know we had on file.”

“But we have an urgent briefing to get through, so any explanations will have to wait until afterwards.” The four larger screens behind the Perro are then filled with various arrays of data related to both Chernobog and a city that he doesn’t recognize, though from the homework he’s done, he recognizes the emblem indicating it as one of Yan’s nomadic cities. “If there’s nothing else you’d like to discuss first, let’s get started.”

“As we’re all aware, during the Chernobog operation, we achieved our primary objective: the extraction of Dr. Flare.”

She lets out a sigh. “Albeit with heavy losses…”

“Nonetheless, we gained crucial information regarding Reunion, so from a strategic perspective, you could say it was a success.”

“Based on the analysis of the intel,” As she continues, the bottom left screen, which depicts a map of the continent, zooms in on a lone hexagon labeled Lungmen that is extremely close both to Ursus’ border and to Chernobog specifically, “we have determined that Lungmen in Yan has the highest chance of being Reunion’s next target.” And as the Perro finishes her sentence, the Lungmen hexagon glows red as a destination marker appears over it.

“Now, it may not be as draconian as Chernobog, but that doesn’t mean Lungmen doesn’t treat its Infected populace harshly either. To counteract it, Dr. Kal’tsit has already departed for Lungmen to enter negotiations with its leader to allow Rhodes Island to openly operate within the city.”

“However, the exact terms of the agreement haven’t been decided yet, which is why we’d like you and Amiya to depart for Lungmen as well, Doctor. We need you two-” A loud, digital ‘ahem’ interrupts her, prompting a sigh. “...And Ashe, to work with Dr. Kal’tsit to get that contract signed.”

“Once negotiations are finished, your mission is to investigate any Reunion activity within Lungmen.”

Amiya responds with an ‘understood’, while Flare just nods due to taking a sip at the moment.

Dobermann then says that she and Nearl have a different assignment before telling the seated duo and Ghost to exercise caution, to which they acknowledge.

“Then in any case, please complete your combat preparations.” The Perro’s attention then shifts fully over to the Hunter. “Doctor, once you’ve decided on squad assignments, please inform the Operators so they also have time to prepare as well. There have also been some developments last night that have warranted some combat drills I recommend you do to be safe.”

“That’s why we called for you so early.” Amiya explains. “Sorry, Doctor.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. I was going to be dragged out of bed sooner or later anyway.”

“But I gotta ask, do the drills include brushing up on Yanese?”

It’s only really then that Flare realizes that he’s more or less just switching languages left and right without noticing or even knowing which language he’s using at the moment.

“Are you really sure that’s necessary?” Ashe asks with probably the cheekiest tone he’s heard out of her in a minute.

So he turns to answer her, only to immediately turn back and grumble into his empty cup as his Ghost cackles away and Amiya attempts to comfort his sulking.

All because Ashe asked that question in Yanese.

So brushing up is practically pointless.

He can’t help but huff in annoyance.

“It’s too early for this shit.”

Chapter Text

> December 27th, 10:14 PM / Clear / Lungmen: District 5 - Inspection and Quarantine Zone, Yan

“I already hate it here.”

Maybe Flare shouldn’t have been surprised, given what Dobermann said during the briefing, but being in Lungmen for all of five seconds and already their callous treatment of the Infected puts a bad taste in his mouth.

Amiya doesn’t respond to comment, instead sadly staring at their “amazing” example of their “hospitality.”

Which happens to involve restraining some Infected Ursus and throwing one to the ground, before putting some of them at sword-point and effectively threatening them into returning to the wastes they came from.

One of the Ursus, clearly reaching a breaking point, did force his way through some of the guards, but didn’t get far before being stopped by two more with shields. That doesn’t mean he didn’t stop trying to get past them, but it quickly became an exercise in futility as the shields refused to budge.

The bypassed guards probably had a ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ moment as one of them raised their blade as a threat while ordering the man to cease.

“Stay where you are!”

Steel eyes behind a tinted visor flick over to the source of the shout to find a blue-haired Lung woman storming over to the commotion.

“She’s definitely the one in charge here.”

The Lung then grabs the Ursus by their collar before throwing them to the ground and doing the exact same fucking thing the others were doing with one of the two blades on her waist before ordering the arrest of the non-compliant Infected with any pleas they make falling on deaf ears.

“If it helps, I don’t think any of us are particularly impressed by… this.”

Flare just mentally shrugs. He can’t tear his eyes away from this trainwreck long enough to confirm if A4 (which is apparently different from Reserve Team A4, which begs the question of why they’re both designated A4) and the two Blacksteel Operators share either his thinly veiled disgust or Amiya’s saddened gaze.

Though, his attention is torn away from it by some chatter from around where this debacle got its swan song, but it’s one of the guards trying to inform the inspector of something and getting admonished for this happening on their watch.

But at least he has a name for who’s in charge of this circus.

Ch’en.

And right on que, the Lung turns to address the small crowd of Operators that witnessed that whole charade while sheathing her drawn blade, no less irritated. “I was told that the meeting with Rhodes Island was at 2200. You are fourteen minutes late, Rhodes Island can’t even be punctual, huh?”

Flare struggles to keep his already barely restrained glare from turning to a full on scowl… not that he has to, given the mask. But even Zavala wasn’t this much of a stickler for punctuality.

Though, that could be because he tended to do briefings while the fireteam was either on their way to the target location or already on site instead of face to face meetings.

Amiya steps forward with him a step or two behind. “I’m sorry. We encountered a Reunion squad on our way here.”

Whether the Lung in front of them believes it or not, that’s what happened and as a result, they lost eleven or so minutes they could’ve used for the trek over from the landship. On a different note, he’s glad he left with his combat gear instead of having to transmat it in and then immediately transmat it back out after arriving at Lungmen.

Either way, Ch’en merely replies with a ‘hmph’ before turning her attention to the Hunter. “Who might this be?”

He suppresses a sigh as he steps next to his daughter, part of him was hoping they could skip formalities and just get the negotiations over with. “I’m Dr. Flare, a consultant from Rhodes Island.”

The Cautus next to him nods. “Dr. Kal’tsit should already have informed you.”

The inspector scrutinizes him for a few moments before sighing as she raises an arm to lead them forward. “This way, then.”

And without another word, Ch’en walks off into another room in front of them where an elevator lies. As she does so, Flare lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding before whispering to Amiya. “Well, she’s intense...”

“Mhm… she’s stricter than I imagined…”

“Amiya,” the sound of Liskarm, one of the Blacksteel-affiliated Operators they brought with, speaking up causes the two to jump ever-so-slightly, “we’ll take our leave now. We need to debrief our superiors.”

“See ya, little bunny.” Franka, her coworker, adds in parting.

And as the Cautus gives a farewell of her own to them, Flare turns to A4.

“Yato, feel free to take your team back home to get some rest. If everything goes well, tomorrow’s going to be a long day.”

He says ‘home’, but another, somewhat vocal part of him still isn’t on board with referring to the landship as home, while the rest of him has fairly quickly accepted it. Ironically, it also happens to be the same part of him that’s hesitant to think of Amiya as his daughter and also happens to be a part that’s slowly learning how to shut up.

But he’d be lying if he said that he isn’t mildly disturbed with how fast he’s taking to all of this.

None the wiser to her boss’ internal conflict, the Oni gives an affirmative before taking her team, which includes one of them picking up their Caster who fell asleep standing up, and following the already departing Blacksteel personnel out of the checkpoint.

The Doctor lets out another sigh as he turns back to Amiya. “Well, you ready?”

She nods in response. “Let’s go, Doctor.”

He gives his own nod and the two enter the open dapproach the elevator where Ch’en’s been patiently waiting for them. After they get close enough, the Lung turns and nods at a guard standing next to a console, who then turns to punch in a code.

After a few moments, the elevator’s door opens and the inspector walks inside with the two Rhodes personnel close behind. And it’s just as fast that the doors close and its ascent begins after the three occupants enter. 

Though, there’s a somewhat awkward silence as the dimly lit box continues upwards, but Flare’s prevented from using the silence to review what they know with Ashe as the hue of the barely illuminated dull gray is abruptly drowned out by the collective glow of a variety of vibrantly illuminated buildings outside the elevator window, filling the space with a blue tint.

The sight leaves him, Amiya, and Ashe all speechless.

Sure, he’s seen a somewhat similar skyline in Neomuna, but Lungmen’s just feels more impressive to him.

Probably because this one’s been put together by people and not a nanite solution.