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Chapter Text

MAY ██ , 2044

“Attention, Stronghold 5-5. A Disaster Squad has been spotted around the area. Please be advis-”

The chatter from the radio was promptly drowned out with a hail of bullets as the ragtag group of… soldiers took cover from the Nusians currently firing at their position. Despite their precarious situation, they all found it in themselves to roll their eyes at the late warning from their eye in the sky.

“Do you mind?” the man in a dark uniform and a bright orange helmet asked. He nudged his head towards the radio, then turned back around to peek out of cover and fire at the men with the fearsome gatling guns still roaming about.

The older man clicked his tongue, ignoring the whizz of bullets large enough to punch a massive hole through his head as he made his way over to the radio to screech at their comrades. “Hello, Hotel-Tango? Yes, you’re a little bit…” He paused, taking in the sounds of battle around him as his teammates literally had duels to the death against the enemy gunners. “Late,” he hissed, before getting off the radio and retrieving his H15 off the ground.

With a practiced whirl of his body, he took aim, firing less than a second later at a gunner who was preoccupied with one of his own. Not even taking a moment to bask in the glory of his kill, he aimed the H15 at the other gunner and reduced his head into a fine, red mist.

Obviously, this caught the attention of the rest of the Disaster Squad, who all formed a circle with their shields facing outwards as they began to slowly close the distance. He sighed, jumping down in time to avoid a spray of shells meant for his chest as he began to formulate a plan.

“If you want to surrender, I suggest you do it now !” he hollered from behind his cover.

Unsurprisingly, all he got was a few shouts and another volley of shells from their automatic shotguns. Despite the less-than-stellar reply, he found himself smirking in anticipation for what was going to happen next.

The footsteps converging on his position halted for a few seconds. He could hear them muttering amongst each other in confusion as some one flew towards them, bouncing off of the buildings like a murderous pinball armed with knives.

The oldest soldier in 5-5 held his rifle close as he heard the ‘tink-tink’ of two little orbs falling to the ground. It didn’t take the shielders much longer to realize what it was, either.

“GRENADES!”

And the loud boom resounding through the area was his cue. Without a moment of hesitation, he stood up from his cover, firing at the now-disoriented shielders as they all struggled to their feet, trying to recover from the explosion. Not that any of them were able to do more than get on one knee, since the rest of his group took the chance to pick them off right as he fired the first shot.

One. A bullet through the brain, one that his helmet couldn’t hope to protect him from.

Two. Bisected with a katana as its owner ran past him in a frenzy.

Three. Neck broken by a rogue Nusian kicking at him while being boosted by his jetpack.

Four. Handaxe to the face, splitting his goggles in two with the rest of his head.

Five. A crowbar to the face, knocking her back to the ground and causing her to drop her purple handheld heali- Wait a fucking second.

“Stop,” he ordered, vaulting over his cover and running to the Dominian in a bright orange uniform as he looked at their de facto leader. “Is that who I think it is?” He pointed at the smaller Nusian, who was curled up on the ground and in the process of nursing her broken nose.

Their Medic glanced down at the Disaster Squad’s leader. “Yep! That’s her. We should take care of-” He caught the look that the man in the beret gave him. “You got any ideas, or like… Because we literally just killed her escorts, she’s probably going to do the same to-”

“We could take her hostage,” he bluntly suggested.

The rest of them recoiled as one. “W-what?” The Guesan blinked dumbly at him. “Sir. How the fuck are we going to get anything out of using a 17 year old brat as a bargaining chip?” He gestured towards the enemy medic, who was now glaring at them with an irritated but somewhat fearful expression. “Look at her! She’s fucking hideous-”

You’re a fucking moron , he wanted to say. Instead, he replied, “Think about it. Nusia would want one of their elite medics back, right? And she’s the best of the best they have. They wouldn’t want to lose her now, would they? What would they pick, an easy chance to send us all to an early grave, or would they want their best combat medic back first?” He glanced at her shimmering purple gear. “Besides, look at what she has. Bet that costs a fortune, and they’d want the tech back and not let us cannibalize it and send it back to the Dominion. Right?”

Their token Nusian shrugged. “I mean, the Republic can afford to lose her, and maybe even the equipment, but they might want her back just to see what she managed to learn about our little group.” He wiped the blood off of his forehead with his arm. “But I don’t know what we’d even negotiate fo-”

“YOU’RE ALL FAT PIGS!” Gaia shouted. “You’re a fucking-!” She pointed at the Guesan, who actually flinched back and gave her a disgusted look as she called him a very, very mean word, even for an enemy soldier. “And you!” The young woman turned to point at the medic that smashed her nose earlier. “You’re a fucking disgrace of a medic! I bet you don’t even fucking clean your tools before you use them on your teammates. Also, bright orange? In a fucking warzone? You’re a fucking joke, you look like a stupid fucking popsicle and I can’t believe you haven’t died already with how fucking easy you were to spot earlier!”

She snapped her head around to accost the Scout next. “YOU! You’re a fucking rebel! You’re a baaad Nusian, and you’re probably an even WORSE Dominian to these fucking subhuman FUCKS! I bet they fucking call you noob whenever you’re not looking! You fucking traitor. I hope your family gets fucking sh-”

Whatever the medic was going to say was cut off with a loud ‘WHAM!’ as the other Nusian’s leg struck her cheek, sending her sprawling… right at the feet of Stronghold 5-5’s fuming Medic, who wasted no time in raising her medigun over his head and beating her senseless with it.

“Say that again, you spoiled, racist piece of shit!” he snarled, doing a very good job of ignoring how her pained cries sounded more like pained sobs and how she was actually smiling throughout the whole thing. “You’re going to wish we’d killed you instead when I’m-”

The Guesan reluctantly stepped over, looking like he was about to join in when the Recon’s arm shot up and blocked his path. “Sir…?” He gave his superior an unsure glance. “She called me a-”

“ I know . Zip it,” he ordered, letting his arm fall once he was sure that the Guesan wasn’t going to do anything stupid. Without skipping a beat, he grabbed the enemy medic’s medigun and ripped it out of his Medic’s grasp, giving the other man a harsh, disapproving glare as he fiddled with the device and began to heal their new prisoner. “I thought you would have a little more restraint than this, but I guess I was…” The Dominian trailed off, seeing the tears streaking down Gaia’s face as she desperately tried to hide her expression beneath her hands, completely ignoring how she was being healed with her own gun. “...wrong.”

The two soldiers huffed and scowled respectively, but they didn’t do anything else as their Engineer finally went over to speak with their ‘leader’. “Orders, sir?” the man in the black, grimy boilersuit asked. He could very clearly see what had happened to the woman at their leader’s feet, and he could put two and two together and figure out what went down, but it wouldn’t do much good for him to just… bring it up.

The sniper awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, turning off the medigun as he gave the now-unconscious Gaia a glance. “See if you can make a cell that we can haul around so that we have somewhere to keep her. And make sure she won’t be dumb enough to try escaping it,” he warned.

“Noted,” the Dominian simply replied, “I’ll notify you when it’s done.” Then, he saluted and walked off, leaving them in the quiet (for now) city that used to be yet another battleground.

After a short pause, the Recon turned to address the rest of his team. “The rest of you, go take up your posts. The Nusians might try attacking while we’re still prepping things, and someone is going to have to get them to back off with the threat of losing their medic.” He hmphed. “They might just abandon her, in which case we’ll have to be able to do a fighting retreat while we get out of here.” The Dominian gestured them away. “Go.”

The Guesan, the Nusian, and the other Dominian saluted and walked away, though he certainly didn’t miss the way that the Nusian’s hands were balled into fists or the way that his shoulders shook as he stormed off. That was going to be a problem he would have to deal with later. Maybe.

Gaia was starting to stir beneath him. With a sigh, he took out a pair of zip ties and got to work restraining her, making sure that she was secure before carrying her to where he knew his Engineer went to do his work. Best to have her near the cell in case she tried to do anything.

He was just about to set her down when his charge headbutted him in the stomach, causing him to grunt and drop her on the sidewalk as he took a step back to get out of her range. “What are you doing?” he grunted, giving the young woman a tired, disapproving look as she struggled to get onto her back and glare at him.

“Fighting back, you Dominian loser!” She finally managed to roll herself onto her back, snarling at him as she caught sight of his expression. “What, too scared to hit a combat medic in zip ties?”

The Dominian gave a heavy sigh. “I’m not hitting a damn child if I don’t have to,” he muttered under his breath. He slowly made his way over to her. “Now you can either behave so that I can carry you to your cell, or I’m going to drag you kicking and screaming into your new room until you wear yourself out.” He arched his brow. “What’ll it be?”

Gaia paused, seemingly mulling over her options as she looked around. “The Republic’s gonna want me back,” she finally said. “And when they get here, you’ll be sorry.”

He shook his head. “I’ll be sorry… for giving them too much credit when they try to dispose of you for being a liability. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but your soldiers have a wonderful habit of executing surrendering combatants. What’ll they do to one of their own after she gets herself captured by the enemy?”

The medic scowled at him. “They can’t kill me,” she insisted, “I’m too costly to replace.”

The Dominian adjusted his goggles, giving her face a long, hard look. “You’re a mess, any military worth their salt would consider you fodder, if not unfit for duty entirely. You smell like weed and look like an addict, and you’ve got way heavier eyebags than someone of your station ought to have, even with the added responsibility on your shoulders.” He then clicked his tongue, grabbing her and hoisting her over his shoulder as he marched through the empty streets.

Gaia gave no reply to that, simply huffing as she jostled slightly to try and unbalance him. It didn’t work, mostly because she was far lighter than he’d expected her to be (he needed to bring that up with their Medic later).

The Engineer gave him thumbs up as he shut the cage with her inside. And that was one thing down. “Thanks,” the Recon said. “Now, we need to get our message to the Nusians and prep the area for another nasty battle if they get impatient.” He jabbed his thumb behind him. “Get to work fortifying this section of the city, I’ll write the letter myself and tell you when it’s done so that you and I can figure out how to give it to them.”

The other Dominian nodded. “Yes sir,” he replied, before eagerly getting back to work on building more of those… buildings somewhere nearby. Gaia simply grumbled to herself and turned away, tuning out the noise around her as she tried to fall asleep.

It wasn’t very easy since her cage wasn’t soundproof, but it was better than being stuck awake with her thoughts to plague her, just as they always did when she was alone and in a quiet place.

Meanwhile, the Recon in the gray beret hummed a tune to himself as he sat in an abandoned room. He ignored the things that indicated someone formerly living here as he focused on the empty piece of paper in front of him. The Dominian licked his lips, tapping the pen against the table as he thought of what to write to the Nusians.

His face scrunched up as he reluctantly began to write on the parchment. If it didn’t work, he hopefully still had someone that his team could use. If it did, well… they would buy themselves time.

Fuck it, we may as well try.

Greetings, Nusian Armed Forces

This letter has been sent to you by Staff Sergeant Lu Ten.

Surely you’ve heard of the failed assault on the city of Luo-he, which incurred massive casualties on your side but failed to get a proper number of enemy combatants for some unexplained reason.

You may have also heard about the Disaster Squad sent to flush out any resistance still hiding in the city. The Disaster Squad that failed to report back in or return long after what should’ve been the end of its mission. Well, I am now here to inform you that the Disaster Squad has been utterly, totally wiped out. They were unprepared for the foes that awaited them in the dead city, and they paid the price for it.

All of them died, except for one. You know her as Gaia, a young Medic who was given control of experimental technology to test on the fields of battle and provided a generous escort to keep her safe in the process.

I do wish I could admonish you inhuman scum for sending children to fight your battles and test your weapons of mass destruction for you, but I have other things to attend to. Long story short, we have Gaia in our captivity along with her precious equipment. If you wish to have Gaia returned to you with all of her experience and equipment intact, meet us on the outskirts of the city at 0600 hours and bring any negotiators and anyone else that may wish to see her returned to them.

Do not cross us. Do not attempt to break our word. We have slaughtered dozens of your men to defend our freedom, and we will not hesitate to do so again if you dare to take advantage of our mercy.

With regards, SSGT Lu Ten, commanding officer of Stronghold 5-5

The Nusian sneered in disgust as he finished reading the letter. “And these Dominian savages think they can order us around?” He scoffed. “The day we concede to even one of their demands is the day that Nusia falls to its lesser adversary!” he shouted.

The other Nusian rubbed at his eyes tiredly as he looked over the accompanying reports. “I fear that we do not have much of a choice in the matter. The prototype medigun that Miss Gaia has on her person is one of a kind. Each prototype is unique, and we need that technology back if we wish to replicate it.” He hummed thoughtfully as his eyes glossed over the data. “We lost almost all of our forces in that region trying to retake the city. We need the one person with experience on using that piece of tech back, and we need her back as soon as possible if we are to make any further moves against this Dominian squadron.”

“Pah!” The general harrumphed. “Nonsense! We’ll simply bombard them to death if they wish to hunker down in that city so badly. How many platforms do we have left near Luo-he? We shall grind them into dust before the week is-”

“Only one ,” the other man snapped. “The other platforms are too far away to provide any sort of accurate artillery fire, and we cannot risk Stronghold 5-5 going back on their word and simply vacating the area with their prisoner and our prototype in tow before the barrages begin.” He narrowed his eyes. “Think carefully, General. We are up against a small, elite group, not a large pack of fresh bodies that we can simply throw all of our resources at to shatter into a million pieces. We have to play it safe!”

The Nusian general scowled at him. “‘Playing it safe’ against an inferior force is-”

“-IS WHAT YOU, AS A GENERAL, ARE SUPPOSED TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT! WE NEED THAT MEDIGUN AND ITS WIELDER BACK , YOU SENILE OLD FOOL!”

“How dare you speak to a superior that way! I shall have your head for this, you insignificant f-”

The door slammed open before the two could do more than exchange verbal blows. In a second, the two Nusians whirled around to glare at the newcomer. “What!?” they both exclaimed.

A Nusian soldier hastily saluted as he prepared to give his piece. “Sirs! Special Infantry Force no. 5 is prepared to mobilize! They’re volunteering to deal with the situation in Luo-he and are asking for your permission to do so!” He paused, then looked between the General and the other Nusian. “Er, the General’s, I mean.”

The man who was arguing with the older Nusian a few seconds ago scrunched his face up as the cogs in his head began to turn. Then, his eyes lit up in realization as to why that specific group would want to go. “Wait. I don’t think it’s wise to let someone with a connection to Miss Gaia to go off and-”

“Let them do it,” the General quickly said, smiling sharply as he envisioned the massacre that would ensue. “Prepare the one operational platform near Luo-he to ferry the soldiers to the city. We’ll play along with their demands… for now.”

The soldier stared at his General, then gave the other Nusian a brief glance as he mentally repeated the orders to himself. The other Nusian was subtly shaking his head at him, giving him a warning look as his mouth curled down ever so slightly. “...Understood, General,” he finally said, saluting before hastily leaving the meeting room to the two men.

The General smiled smugly as he turned to look at the softer Nusian. “Well then, I suppose that solves the immediate issue of Luo-he. Just for this development, I forgive you for your slight against me, Colonel . But do not think that you can get away with insulting me again.” He chuckled.

The other Nusian slowly blinked as he moved to pinch the bridge of his nose in resignation. Your decisions may be the end of us all , he mentally said to himself.

Instead of voicing his concerns to the General, he simply walked out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him in defeat. I hope that young man knows what he’s getting himself into.

“Stronghold 5-5, do you copy?”

The Recon felt the texture of the radio around his fingers as he grasped it, looking up at the sky as he prepared to respond. “Loud and clear, Hotel-Tango. What is it now?”

“...first of all. Did you or did you not send a message provoking Nusia’s armed forces within the region to converge on this city? Such an act is incredibly foolish and could result in you and your subordinates being disciplined.”

He calmly fiddled with his H15, giving the receiver a casual look as he thought over his answer. “Maybe. I need to buy us as much time as possible, don’t I? Why would you feel the need to ask that, by the way?”

Lu Ten could hear the pilot on the other end take a deep, calming breath. “There is a Platform approaching your position. I think they spotted me, but they didn’t fire.” There was a pause. “A Tempest is on it, and there’s… someone in an important uniform also on it. Few soldiers, though.”

The marksman smirked.

“What did you do ?” their eye in the sky hissed, as if he could just sense the sheer smugness rolling off of him in waves despite the vast physical distance between them.

“Thank you for the warning, Hotel-Tango.” He got up, stretching his limbs as he got ready for another long day. “And just to answer your question, I have a plan, and I think it’ll pay off. Even if it doesn’t, we won’t lose the great asset the Nusians just foolishly handed to us on a silver platter.”

“...Hm.” Hotel-Tango clicked his tongue. “Good luck, Stronghold 5-5. I hope you pull this off right.” And with that, their communication came to a close.

Now that he was free to leave, the Recon sprinted over to the cage as he tapped his headset. “Everyone, get to the front of the city. And hold your fire for now, we’re getting visitors ,” he said, before coming to a stop in front of the cage that held their prisoner.

Gaia was sitting in a fetal position with her back to the man. She was either asleep or… no. Certainly not asleep, she had to have heard him approaching when he barked the orders into his headset. “Awake already, kid?” he asked.

The young woman shifted slightly, turning her head a bit to glare at him without actually looking back. “Go away,” she muttered. “You already won, so if you’re here to lord over you killing my entire team I’m going to-”

“We’re having negotiations,” he quickly explained, cutting her off as she snapped her head around to look at him with wide eyes. “You’re obviously the woman of the hour, so you have to come with us.” The Dominian opened the cage before giving her a grave look. “Don’t try escaping. I don’t want to hurt you, but I’ll do it if I have to stop my squad from putting one in your skull.”

The medic gulped, nodding tersely as she slowly walked out of the cage and stretched her restless limbs for a few seconds. She tensed up as she saw the boilersuit-wearing Dominian from yesterday walk up with a pair of cuffs in his hands. “Really? Why?” she sputtered in disbelief.

“We don’t trust you to not do anything stupid while your would-be rescuers are meeting us.” The Engineer scratched his head. “And you are our prisoner. This being a luxury that your side does not afford our men when they have them at their mercy.”

Gaia frowned, thinking back to the conspicuous lack of Dominian prisoners pouring in whenever she was helping the survivors of any battle she came across. “Fine,” she grumbled, putting her hands behind her back. “I still don’t like you though, so don’t expect me to stop ins-”

The Engineer tuned her rambling out as he cuffed her wrists, giving his superior/team leader an amused look as the teenager in their custody kept ranting about how much she despised their little group. “So,” he said, pushing the medic along as the three began to make their way to where the platform was going to come from, “what do you think their little plan is now?”

The marksman looked around, completely unconcerned with the fact that their prisoner could hear everything that they were discussing. “Oh, knowing the Nusians, they’ll probably act like they’re going to hear us out before trying to shoot us in the back while we give them the benefit of the doubt. I’m counting on it,” he replied.

The other Dominian chuckled at that. “Really? Counting on them making things take a grisly turn? Now why would you want that?” They were nearing the outskirts of the city now, and despite not seeing them, both men could tell that their comrades were nearby and converging on their location.

“I want them to sink more resources into trying to take us down.” The man in the beret gave a vicious smile as he clenched his other hand (which wasn’t on Gaia’s shoulder) into a fist. Their prisoner clammed up as he spoke, though the Engineer barely noticed as he listened to his leader. “I want them to pay the price for taking advantage of Dominian honor one more time. I want their lie to make things even worse for them, at least for a short while. They have gone unpunished for too long. I won’t let them benefit from their lack of scruples this time .

The Recon sighed, uncurling his fist as he went back to the same placid expression that he always wore. “Besides, they’re bringing one of their massive artillery platforms right to us. If things do take a turn for the worse, they’ll lose another… how much did those things cost in their currency again? 104,000 Nolics. 104,000 Nolics reduced to a piece of slag on the outskirts of this city.”

“104,000 Nolics is just how much it costs to maintain them,” their prisoner abruptly spoke up in a tired, exhausted tone. She clicked her tongue. “Per month. They’re worth way more than that if you’re taking into account how much it costs to even make them and the damage they might take on the field. But I guess that’s too hard for you Dummies to figure out, right?” Gaia snorted.

Both men were silent for a while as they escorted her closer to the rendezvous point. Then, the Dominian in the boilersuit laughed as he gave the other man an amused look. “Holy fuck, kid’s got a sense of humor. She got you there, Lu.”

The marksman gave a small smile of his own as he shrugged apathetically. “I suppose she did,” he agreed. Then, he stopped, hearing the loud, rhythmic stomps making its way towards them. “...Platform.” The man tensed up as he saw the shape that every Dominian dreaded slowly come into view. They were finally here.

The mighty steel beast in the colors of the Nusian Republic lumbered into view, its forward gun emplacements trained on the Dominians but not firing as the cannon on its back jostled with each step. Its joints screeched as it slowly came to a halt a fair distance away from the trio, before lowering itself to the ground as the smaller platform on its front rose to receive the Nusians riding it.

The Recon looked behind him, seeing the rest of Stronghold 5-5 observing on top of the buildings and preparing to intervene at a moment’s notice. He then looked back at the platform as the cage in its front lowered to the ground to let its passengers disembark. The Dominian steeled himself as the Nusians went over to meet with him.

He counted their numbers as the small group stopped in front of him. Two jetpackers stayed at the back of the group, clearly intending to take advantage of their superior mobility if things got hot. A grenadier stood closer to the front, evidently meant to stun him and his Engineer to rescue Gaia if they had an opportunity to do so. He fiddled with his H15 but made sure to keep it pointed at the side and to not place his fingers anywhere near the trigger.

That could be a problem.

Finally, a pair of gunners ( normal gunners, though their LMGs definitely weren’t any less dangerous than the miniguns from their prisoner’s former escorts) stood on both flanks of a young man wearing predominantly gray armor. The man had a gun with tesla coils where a barrel should’ve been, and his power pack had prongs on top with blue lightning dancing between each one.

The Recon squinted. “I assume you’re Tempest?” he asked the Nusian, studying his equipment as he tried to look for any weak spots he could exploit.

The Nusian glared back at him. The goggles made it hard to track his eyes, but there was no mistaking that laser-focused rage pointed at him. “Yeah, that’s… me.” He glanced at Gaia, noticeable only by the slightest tilt of his head, then looked back at the Dominian as he shifted on his feet. “You’ve got someone we need.”

He smirked. “You’re not getting her back until you hear and fulfill our demands.” The marksman’s expression turned serious. “I know you Nusians are just itching to take the easy way out and brute force this one. I’m letting you know now that this is a battle you won’t win.”

Tempest grunted. “Bold words for someone with less manpower than we do,” he muttered, but the older man could sense the unease lying beneath his words.

“You saw the reports, I believe. You know what you’re up against. For your sake, I hope you know better than to cross us.” The Recon glared back at him. “You can throw all the bodies you want at this city, but if you do that, you’ll never see the medic ever again.”

The Nusian stilled, eyes widening dangerously behind his goggles as he visibly struggled to keep a lid on his emotions. The marksman narrowed his eyes. Got you.

Tempest breathed out. “Fine. Say we hear you out on your… demands. What do you want?” He was trying so hard to put on a stone cold exterior. But the other soldier could sense it. He’d bend like a plank of wood before breaking if he just kept prodding at him.

He exchanged a glance with the Engineer beside him. Then, the marksman looked back at the Nusian infantry force. “You’ll leave this city alone for the next… few months.” A few gasps and mumbles escaped the young man’s escorts. The Dominian quickly raised his hand to silence them. “And you’ll leave the Dominians in the region alone in that same amount of time. You’ll pull back your forces and you won’t attack until… let’s say, August? That should be a generous amount of-”

“Are you fucking stupid!?” one of the gunners snapped. “You think our leadership will agree to that !? You’re just trying to buy time, but you’re not even good at it.”

He was cut off by his comrade elbowing him in the chest. “Dude. Stop it ,” he whispered to the other Nusian.

The marksman cleared his throat. “You should listen to your friend, Nusian.” The Recon tilted his head down. “You don’t decide how this negotiation plays out. You’re just meant to be guards, nothing more, nothing less.” He then nodded to Tempest. “What do you think?”

Tempest palmed his face, giving the trio an exhausted look as he let his shoulders sag. “...I’ll let the General know. In the meantime, your little merry band doesn’t get to move out or do anything unless you want to talk to us again.” He gestured to the troops behind him, and they all began to wordlessly trek back to the platform, presumably to return to a more permanent base and not be assassinated in the middle of the night by the Dominian squadron.

The Recon nodded and looked at the Engineer and their prisoner, giving both a smug smile as he too began to return to his allies to rest. “You,” a familiar voice said, causing him to stop in his tracks and whirl around to face the speaker. Tempest gave him an angry look as he clutched his weapon tightly. “I know what you’re doing. You’re making intentionally stupid demands so that they’ll lose their patience and just attack, and in the meantime you’re going to prepare the city for that inevitable showdown when we try to take our prisoner back.”

Lu Ten didn’t answer, but he did give the young man a curt nod as he flexed his fingers, running them over his rifle. The Engineer beside him gave the Nusian a calculated look as he pulled Gaia closer to their side.

Tempest grit his teeth, giving the medic a forlorn expression before focusing his anger on the two Dominians. “You better hope that I don’t find out you’re hurting her, or I will make your deaths as agonizing as possible.” He leaned in. “Is that clear, Dominian ?”

Tryhard. It’s almost cute seeing him try to be menacing. The Dominian shrugged. “We were never hurting her, anyways. It’s only been a few days, and we don’t need anything out of her.” Except as a bargaining chip. Might not be working on your higher-ups, but it’s definitely working on you.

The Nusian simply snorted, giving their prisoner one last look before turning around and stomping off after his group. They watched him walk away for a few minutes before turning around and making their way back to the city, satisfied that the Nusians wouldn’t try anything foolish after such a tense standoff.

They were greeted by the Scout, the Assault, and the Medic, all of whom looked them up and down for any sign of a scuffle. “So,” the Nusian finally muttered after being satisfied that they weren’t hurt, “how’d that go?”

“Oh, they didn’t like it.” The Engineer chuckled. “Lu Ten was definitely bullshitting them, but it would be nice if they did take those terms. Way more time for us if it worked.” He hummed to himself thoughtfully. “Say, that Nusian was pretty keen on getting you back.” The boilersuit-clad Dominian turned to look at Gaia.

The young woman blinked one eye at a time, staring at the group in confusion as she stretched her shoulders. “Wha-? What? Why are you- what do you mean by that?”

He simply turned away, trying to stifle his chuckling as he patted her on the back and went back to checking on their defenses.

Gaia watched him leave with narrowed eyes as she grunted from the contact. “Fucking prick.” She turned to glare at the group. “What are you fuckers standing there for? Are you trying to pose for a picture? I’ve already got a pretty good band name for you. The Triple Flavor Ice Cream Gang! How’s that!?”

The rogue Nusian promptly grabbed the Dominian and the Guesan’s shoulders, holding them back right as the Medic was about to take a step forward and give her a piece of his mind. “Man. No . Not worth it. Literally a child.” He gave the Dominian an unimpressed look. “C’mon, let’s just go.”

The Medic took a few calming breaths, rubbing at his face as he walked alongside the other two into another part of the city. “Disrespectful little brat,” she could hear him hiss under his breath.

“Alright,” the Recon (who she’d genuinely forgotten was with her up until now) muttered. He gently placed a hand on her wrist and began to push her forwards. “Back to your cell. I’ll get you one of our rations before you sleep.”

She rolled her eyes, but didn’t resist as she was led back to the cage she’d woken up in earlier. “Gee, thanks, dad,” Gaia snarked.

The marksman huffed, closing the door as she walked in. “I’ll be seeing you later,” he said, before turning and walking back the way they came.

Gaia sighed, sitting in a fetal position as she leaned against the bars of her cage. Hate being alone with my thoughts. But at least they- or, well, he’s treating me semi-decently.

Her face scrunched up at the thought of attending those negotiations again. Fulgur…  The 19 year old soldier wasn’t looking too good when they reunited. He was clearly trying his best to keep his composure even when she was so close, when all he had to do was say the order and they’d try to run off with her in hand…

But Stronghold 5-5 is too strong for them to beat. She sighed. God, I hope those idiots don’t kill themselves trying to rescue me… and I hope they actually play this smart .

Still, it was a little odd that Nusia apparently caved and sent a group to try and negotiate her release. There was definitely some ulterior motive, but she just didn’t know what .

Somehow, that made her feel fear on behalf of the group that took her hostage in the first place. She didn’t like that one bit, and so she tried her best to go off to sleep (she’d eat the rations in the morning).

Not even a few minutes later, Gaia was fast asleep, meaning that she wasn’t able to snark at the Engineer as he casually squeezed her rations and her bottle of water through the bars of the cage.

The lights in the meeting room hummed idly as its occupants silently stared at the Nusian standing before them. “What did you say?” the Colonel slowly asked, feeling his eye twitch as the words that he did not want to hear today were repeated to him.

“The Dominians- sorry, I meant Stronghold 5-5 is asking us to give their entire army a break, a lull in the fighting. Until August.” The young man cleared his throat, trying to ignore how wrong it felt to walk around without the weight of the contraption on his back, along with how odd it was for his arms to have nothing to support in front of him. “We won’t launch any offensives, but neither will the Dominians. They… they clearly wish to use the time to rebuild and prepare.”

The General laughed heartily, slapping his knee as he doubled over for a few seconds to gather his composure. Then, just as quickly, he sat back up, his face devoid of the amusement it had just a few seconds ago. “They want us to give them that much of a head start in exchange for one girl and her prototype?” He narrowed his eyes. “Do they take us for merciful, blithering fools? Surely they see how idiotic this plan is. They’re only delaying the inevitable! Why bother raising their hopes with a ceasefire?”

His fellow countrymen looked away, thinking to themselves on different matters as the lights took up most of the ambience. “I think,” the young soldier began, “they’re intentionally giving us nonsense demands to provoke us into fighting them. They want an excuse to leave the city and run off with the hostage in hand.” He frowned. “I don’t know how we’re going to chase them when all we have is a single platform and a handful of troops.”

The Colonel cleared his throat. “Surely, if such a plan truly is that ineffective, we can afford to acquiesce to the Dominians just this once?” He drummed his fingers on his lap as he thought it through. “It won’t give them any significant advantages, and we already know Nusia is winning from our rapid technological advancements and vastly superior population and economy. The Dominians can’t hope to find a way to turn the tides of the war in just a few months.”

He was broken out of his thoughts by a sharp, mocking laugh. “Ah, but we are already seeing their secret weapons in action!” The General paused for effect, taking in their stupefied faces as he slowly stood up. “That so-called Stronghold 5-5! They have lasted far longer than any other Dominian squadron. Nay, even their larger armies eventually caved under the Nusian onslaught. But this small group has thwarted our plans time and time again.” His face hardened. “We cannot let them rebuild and rearm. We cannot let this Stronghold 5-5 go from a small anomaly into the tip of the spear that will break through Nusia’s shield. We need to find a way to get that girl out of their clutches, and then we’ll wipe their members off the face of the Baseplate!”

The General turned to look at the soldier who had given the report. “You. You know this… Gaia’s parents, right?” The soldier could do nothing but reluctantly nod. “Splendid. We will inform them of the situation, and you will find a way to have them attend negotiations, preferably behind the safety of a computer screen, in order to… coerce the Dominians into letting her go. If they are such bleeding hearts that they will not kill a woman old enough to be a soldier, they will certainly bend upon seeing her parents ache for her and beg for her safe return.” The older man grinned evilly as he turned away from the other two Nusians. “We shall see what Dominian honor will do when faced with one of their precious moral predicaments.”

He was so lost in his thoughts and dreams of slaughtering the Dominian squadron that he didn’t see the disgust and disdain etched into the two men’s faces, nor did he see them exchange a regretful glance and a silent message as they prepared to leave the room.

Yes… we shall see how your ‘superior morals’ hold up under pressure, you prideful, imperial scum.

Tempest frowned as he slowly made his way through the halls of the base. This wasn’t good. This definitely wasn’t good. He knew better than to say it out loud, at least here, but he could see exactly what the old general was planning.

He was going to use Gaia’s predicament as an excuse to hunt down the squad. All well and good, if not for… well, one, it was a small fucking squad that couldn’t be everywhere at once ( So why waste the effort?! ) and two, they still had Gaia. In fact, it was by their mercy (a mercy he knew the Nusian army definitely hadn’t given to injured and surrendering Dominian soldiers) that she was just a prisoner and not a mutilated corpse strewn on the streets of Luo-he!

The 19 year old Nusian was fuming on the inside as he robotically got into a car and ground out the directions to the driver. He tried to keep a lid on his temper as he thanked the driver and got out of the car. He needed to be on his best behavior for this one.

Before him was a gate that guarded the way to a gaudy Nusian mansion. He forced himself to give a strained, polite smile as he rang the doorbell and waited for the reply.

Fulgur greeted the Nusian couple that came to see what a fearsome-looking Nusian soldier was doing on their doorstep. He calmly explained to them the situation, casually sidestepping their questions about what she was doing in the military and how she even lasted for so long to be deployed several times (the implied insult made him want to scream in outrage) before asking them to come down to the military base to help with negotiations.

“Ah, so now we have to help our daughter out of the situation she’s dragged herself into in her attempt at rebellion?” The affluent Nusian man made an unpleasant face. “I have to say, I’m almost impressed at how tenacious she is. Now that would’ve been all well and good when she still had an education!”

The Nusian woman beside him lightly smacked her husband’s arm as she locked the door beside her. “Come now, dear! She is still only 17. We may still be able to whip her back into shape after she leaves the military. She’ll have to, when she comes back. She’ll be too broken to serve anyways. A civilian job would be far more lucrative and far easier in comparison.”

In the front seat of the car, Fulgur fumed through it all. It was either this or die alone in a war that should’ve never happened in the first place. Unfortunately for the person he’d come to see as a sort of sister, he wouldn’t let her pick the latter option. Not if he could help it.

He wouldn’t fail another member of his family.

Thinking too far with this. I have to make sure negotiations go smoothly first…

The morning sun rose over Luo-he as Stronghold 5-5 braced themselves for another long, uneventful day. They had long since come to terms with the fact that Nusia wouldn’t attack the city or even try anything until the situation was resolved. Of course, it was odd that they would put all of their plans on hold for a single girl, but they’d decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and take what they could get out of the whole ordeal.

Lu Ten stretched his arms, casually exploring the city as he basked in the morning air, unmarred with the smoke of burning war machines and untainted by the smell of blood and dead bodies. He quite liked the peace that came with this week. It was a nice change of pace, even if he knew it wouldn’t last and even though he knew why they were going along with the farce in the first place.

Dishonorable dogs. Soon, your actions will catch up with you.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he made his way over to where their prisoner was kept to check on her. It didn’t take him long to find the cage the medic was kept in, and to his surprise, the medic was relatively more relaxed this time around, casually sitting against the bars of her prison with one leg crossed over the other in a juvenile display of nonchalance. It was almost enough to lift his spirits.

Gaia narrowed her eyes at the marksman. “Are you just going to stare happily at me or what? Just because I’m getting used to being your prisoner doesn’t mean I’m still happy about… you know, being your prisoner .” 

The Recon gave her a polite smile. “Glad to hear your sense of humor hasn’t been worn down from your experiences. I was actually just here to check on you, but since you’re willing to engage me in a conversation, I do want to ask you a few things.” He inched closer to the bars of the cell. “Were you… forced into the war? I know the Dominion, at least to you, places a… one would say ‘unhealthy’ emphasis on being prepared for war at all times, and so we have a very active military. But I have never seen a soldier as young as… you.” The man looked at the ground, letting the question hang in the air. “I have always wondered about how the Nusians do things differently from us. Perhaps this is just a mere difference in ideals, but…”

“I wasn’t forced into it,” she snapped, crossing her arms as she looked at the ceiling. “But… Well, let’s just say I wasn’t press-ganged into it by army recruiters, but I had to join because…” The young woman took a deep breath. “I had nowhere else to go. My parents and I were on pretty fucking shitty terms the last time we spoke, I was a social outcast, I-” She gnashed her teeth. “Look at me! How the fuck- how is anyone supposed to like me when I have to waste a few hours making myself look good because I naturally look hideous !?” Gaia blinked tears out of her eyes. “...fuck. Sorry. I’m just… We… we pride ourselves on social standing, on being the best, blah blah blah… and I was a child from one of those really prissy, high-class asshole families. I just… wasn’t good enough.”

The Dominian gave her a sympathetic look. “So if I’m getting this right, you ran away from home because the way you simply were made you ill-suited to a ‘normal life’ in Nusia. You had to join the military because you had to avoid going hungry, and…” He trailed off, wincing as he saw her scrub her face with a gloved hand. “Are you alright?”

Gaia gave a sarcastic smile. “Hah. Yeah. Definitely.” She gulped. “Just… fuck off, I’ve told you way more than I should’ve. If everything goes to plan, I shouldn’t have to even talk to you again. Ever.” The medic gave a long-suffering sigh. “Why bother with attachments that won’t last anyways.”

The Recon took a few steps back, reluctantly nodding. “I can’t say I don’t see the logic in that,” he muttered. “I’m sorry.” Upon seeing their prisoner look up sharply at him, he added, “I’m sorry for causing you to have such a visceral reaction. I didn’t- I should have known that it wouldn’t have been pleasant for you to recall how you came to be in this situation.”

The Nusian girl stared at him for what felt like hours as she slowly let her shoulders sag. Then, she muttered, “Sure, whatever,” rolling her eyes as she curled up into a fetal position against the bars of the cell.

With that done, the Dominian man walked away, giving her one last glance as he left her alone with her thoughts once more. What a sad, sad little girl. He sighed. Nusians are truly vile if they can accept this being imposed on those meant to be the next generation.

Then, his headset crackled to life as a voice filtered through it. “Sir? Sir! The Nusian platform’s back!” his Engineer reported through their comms. “You might want to go fetch the prisoner while I get the F.A.S.T. up and running!”

The Dominian man tapped his headset. “Noted,” he replied, as he went back the way he came. He quickly opened the cell door, ignoring the surprised look on their prisoner’s face as he beckoned her over. “Your would-be rescuers are back again, and your presence is needed. I’m sorry about-”

“Save it,” Gaia hissed, “the sooner we get this over with, the sooner I might be able to get home and buy you losers some time to do whatever the fuck in the process.”

He arched his brow. “Very well then,” the marksman replied, stepping aside to let her walk out of the cell as he closed the door behind her. “I’m going to put my trust in you for this one. We’re going to run, and you’re going to follow me, and we’re heading to a teleporter somewhere in the city. Can I trust you to-”

“Yes!” The young woman groaned in frustration. “Fine! Whatever! Let’s just go!”

Lu Ten gave an amused huff as he began to sprint towards their destination. He didn’t need to look behind him to know that the medic was right behind him, doing her best to keep up (which was actually rather easy for her, since she didn’t have as much equipment weighing her down). Then, after a few minutes, he slowly came to a halt, bending over to catch his breath as he heard Gaia do the same nearby.

“The exercise might actually be good for you,” he offhandedly muttered, standing back up to his full height as he glanced at the teleporter.

The unamused medic rolled her eyes as she walked ahead of him and put her hands behind her back. “Believe me, I’m already exhausted from you idiots not giving me anything to smoke for the past few days.” She glanced behind her, glaring at him expectantly. “Cuffs…?”

The Recon gave a grimace as he patted himself down. Oh, right. The cuffs weren’t on him. “I don’t have them.”

Gaia gave him a disbelieving look. “You idiots are so lucky that I’m not as strong as the other special units, or this entire city block is gonna be up in flames by the time you’re done restraining me.” She sighed. “So, who does?”

Right as she asked the question, another Dominian ran through the empty streets of the city towards them, giving him a frantic wave before stopping just short of crashing into the other man. “Heya, sir… I…” The Engineer stretched his hands, cracking his knuckles as he looked at their prisoner. “I’m late, aren’t I?”

“Not that late,” the other Dominian replied before gesturing to the young Nusian. “Cuff her.”

Gaia was promptly cuffed and escorted to the teleporter as it began to spin, powering on now that they were standing on it. “So who goes first?” she asked, giving the two Dominians a disinterested look as she shook her bangs out of her face.

The Engineer shrugged. “I’ll go, I can always place down my kit if they suddenly start firing at us.” And with that, he stood on the F.A.S.T. and whisked himself away to its counterpart in a flash of light.

The remaining Dominian rolled his shoulders, leading Gaia with him to the teleporter as it began to charge itself a second time. He waited patiently for a few seconds, then activated the teleporter after a short beat, sending the two of them to the outskirts of the city to meet up with the Nusians once more.

He blinked the light out of his eyes as he stepped off of the teleporter, running his thumb over his rifle as he took in the sight of the platform already waiting for them a short distance away. The Recon gave a short hum as both he and Gaia walked towards the Nusians already approaching their position.

The Engineer stood beside them, watching patiently as the same group from before stared at them warily while a few of their numbers set up a table before placing a… laptop… on it. The Dominian man blinked at the sight, but he held his tongue as it unfolded before them.

Finally, after a few moments, Tempest stood in front of the laptop, giving the two Dominians a scrutinizing look as he forced himself to stand more rigidly. “The leadership is still deliberating on your demands, but they’ve decided to continue negotiations to see what exactly it is you Dominians want out of this deal. And…” He grimaced, eyes flitting to Gaia before the young man cleared his throat and stepped to the side. The laptop powered on, and the screen showed two Nusians in civilian attire staring at the sight before them. “And they’ve decided that her family needed to be informed about the situation, since they may want to see their daughter again.”

The Engineer subtly looked behind him, seeing the normally deadpan medic go pale at the sight of who he assumed to be her parents. Aw, this is gonna be a shitshow and I’m gonna have to be in the thick of it.

He focused back on the computer screen as the figures spoke to each other on the other end of the line. Then, the Nusian woman leaned in while the man scooted back, letting his partner take the lead. “Gaia,” she began to say, “you’ve gotten yourself in quite the predicament.”

Gaia visibly worked her mouth, but no words came out as she gave the Nusian soldiers a disgusted look. “Thanks a lot,” she ground out through gritted teeth.

The woman in the laptop recoiled, somehow taking offense to the statement. “Watch your mouth, young lady. Remember who brought you into this world and helped you get so far in it to begin with,” the Nusian woman warned.

Their prisoner looked back at the laptop in complete and utter bewilderment. “Wh- mom! I wasn’t even talking to you! Why would you-”

“You shouldn’t have been talking to the soldiers when your parents are right here in front of you!” the incredibly unpleasant Nusian woman chided. “Have we not taught you basic manners?”

Gaia scowled at the laptop. Finally, the man in the background spoke up. “Don’t talk back to your mother, Gaia,” he gruffly commanded. “We’ll be having a long talk once you’re back from the war. And we’ll be sure to teach you properly this time. Maybe it’ll make up for your lack of anything resembling basic talent.”

The Engineer’s mouth hung open as he processed the words. Just what in the hell was wrong with these people?

Likewise, many of the Nusians standing around the laptop looked like they would rather be off doing something else, with even the fearsome-looking Tempest grimacing at the ground and subtly shaking his head.

He glanced towards his leader, seeing the older man narrow his eyes behind the goggles fastened to his face. The other Dominian seemed to be contemplating something.

“Now, Gaia, be a good girl and stay out of the way while we resolve things for you once again.” The complete and utter shitstain of a mother gave her daughter a polite look as if she hadn’t just dragged the poor girl through the mud right in front of everyone in the vicinity.

Gaia stared at the ground with a defeated expression as she slowly took a few steps back, trying to sink against a wall that wasn’t there as the Recon took her place. “So, now that that display was over with, what is it that you Nusians wanted to offer us?” The man gave the figures on the screen a long, hard stare.

The Engineer took the opportunity to check on their prisoner. “Hey, kid.” He gave her a sympathetic look as she snapped her head up to glare at him. “You okay?”

The young woman’s tough demeanor broke instantly, and she looked back at the city with a drained expression as she quietly replied, “...yeah. Totally.” She gave the Dominian a dismissive look. “Please stop asking.”

He quickly nodded. “If that’s what you need,” he replied, quickly getting back into place as the negotiations continued to go down.

“So let me get this straight,” Lu Ten muttered. “You want to somehow give us immunity from Nusian retaliation as long as we back out of this war and effectively leave the country we’ve served so valiantly since the war began?”

The Nusian man on the other end nodded. “Yes, and we promise to pay you and your men handsomely for giving us our daughter back. You can have estates in the Republic of Nusia, your own quiet plots of land where nobody will ever bother you. You can have your own forces there as security, your own people if you wish, you can turn it into a safe haven for Dominians after the war or a private retreat to live the rest of your days in peace and quiet.” He idly fixed his tie. “We’ll also wire you an annual payment of 650,000 Nolics for your cooperation in these trying times. I know that such an offer would be absurd to you, but this amount should be enough to secure you and your comrades a stable, secure life in the Republic when many in the military would be clamoring for your collective imprisonment or execution.”

The Recon leaned back, taking it all in as he slowly scanned his eyes at the Nusian escorts eavesdropping on the conversation. Tempest looked disgusted and was not-so-subtly pursing his lips at the laptop, and his accompanying infantry force were in disbelief at the sheer absurdity of their proposal.

He gave a curt smile to the couple, one that was as sincere as their tone was to their daughter earlier. “I must say, this is a very well thought-out plan. You’ve certainly covered your bases,” he complimented. “I’m… conflicted, actually. I’ll need to think on the matter with my comrades, but I can see the merit in your ideas.” The marksman nodded at the young soldier next to the laptop. “Thank you for your time.”

Tempest’s shoulders sagged in relief as he let one hand go of the prototype weapon in his hands to turn the laptop off. The screen blinked out, and he promptly let out a long-suffering sigh as he stared at the Dominian marksman. “Everyone,” he called out, not looking behind him as he fidgeted with his weapon, “back to the platform. We’ll need to record this.”

He waited a few more seconds to make sure that the other Nusians were out of earshot before sighing and shaking his head. “You’re not gonna take the offer, are you?” he asked, though his tone made it sound more like a sentence than a question.

The Dominian man smiled politely at him. “Why would I tell you that when you yourself admitted that you would have to record everything that happened during this negotiation?” He tilted his head. “You want Gaia back, right? But surely handing her over to those despicable excuses of human beings is-”

“I don’t trust you with-!” Tempest growled, gritting his teeth as he forced himself to stop in his tracks. “...but you’re right. I don’t like them either, but between mortal enemies and scummy Nusians, I’ll take the latter since I can at least keep an eye on them before things get… too… far…” He trailed off, staring at Gaia as she gave him a look of betrayal. “Gaia.”

“No,” she quietly said. “Don’t even fucking try.” The Nusian medic turned away. “I can’t believe you let them know even after I told you ab… Fuck it.” She muttered something under her breath, then walked over to the teleporter that they’d come to the field on. “Just take me back to my cell.”

The Engineer skipped over to her and activated the F.A.S.T. without missing a beat, sending them back to Luo-he as the marksman turned to look at a distraught Tempest. “I understand what you thought you had to do,” Lu Ten said. “I don’t condone it, but I know you thought you had no other choice.” He slowly walked over to the F.A.S.T to use it again. “For your sake, I hope you and Gaia mend your relationship after this. She needs a partner like you in her life to keep her stable.” And then he began to activate the F.A.S.T.

“Y-yeah,” Tempest mumbled, nodding automatically as he felt his shoulders loosen. “Thanks, I guess.” Then, he promptly recalled the wording of the compliment as the F.A.S.T began to work its magic. “ Wait , did you just say pa-”

The Dominian man was gone in a flash of light before he could even finish his sentence. The Nusian was left alone in the field, staring at the empty space that used to be the Dominian man’s form as he slowly processed what had just happened. “...I really need to talk faster next time,” he muttered under his breath as he began to make the trip back to the platform. He was really hoping he just misheard the other man before he left, because he did not agree with his assessment in the slightest.

Because I’m not her goddamn- why do people keep assuming that shit? He shuddered as he rode the elevator to the main body of the platform. So fucking gross…

The walk back to her cell was quieter than she could’ve asked for. Fine by her. She didn’t need anything else to deal with while processing the most recent negotiation’s events. The young Nusian woman sat down in her cell, leaning against the bars of her cage as she stared at her lap with unfocused eyes.

Damn parents having to worm their way back into her life despite being literally miles apart. Damn them for thinking they’d have her back, and damn them for wanting to put her through more hell after everything she went through under them and everything she endured just to never have to see them again. And damn Fulgur for thinking that was preferable to whatever bullshit punishment the Dominians could think of to put her through. She’d have gladly taken being a P.O.W. over this shit.

She’d seen the reports. She knew Nusia was beating the Dominion, and it was beating its ass hard . Which made it very suspicious for her when there were no reports of Dominion prisoners being taken, but okay, it was war, shit happened. But then she was taken prisoner, and she was treated decently, and these fucking gray-skinned clones were treating her better than the people she’d dealt with in boot camp or on the field, and… Fuck. Gaia gave a long-suffering sigh as she reared her head back to stare at the ceiling. Maybe the Dominion really isn’t as bad as it was made out to be, but what the hell am I supposed to do with this ‘epiphany’? I’m just one medic.

Do I even know if I’m making the right choice?

The young woman narrowed her eyes as she slowly felt her exhaustion creeping on her. I’ll… sleep on the problem… like I always…

Gaia was out like a light before she could even finish the thought.

Somewhere else in the city, two of Stronghold 5-5’s number were standing near each other as one of them fiddled with their communications equipment. “So, sir?” the Guesan asked, shifting the weight of his Dominian N2A2 onto the other hand as he glanced at their commanding officer. “How’d uhh… how’d negotiations go?”

The older man clad in Dominian gray didn’t even look away from his work as he checked on their equipment. “What do you mean by that?” he finally replied, pausing to look at the helmeted Guesan with an arched brow.

“Well, I mean…” The Guesan sighed as he shifted on his feet. “Like, do you think the Nusians took the deal, or did they try to change the terms so that it’d benefit them, or…” He shrugged, looking around the empty city instead of elaborating.

The Dominian staff sergeant stared at him for a few seconds before turning back to their radio, held together by the naive hope of survival and sheer Dominian force of will. “I’d say they actually tried giving us an even more… lucrative alternative.” He scoffed. “The prisoner’s family wanted us to give her to them in exchange for letting us live in Nusia with our own land, all the while funneling riches to us every year to keep us ‘safe’ from Nusian reprisal.” The marksman clicked his tongue at the unpleasant memory of their talks. “They’re either really confident in their influence, or they’re taking us for fools, thinking our loyalty to the Dominion can be bought.”

The Assault gulped, thinking of all the wonderful ways Nusia would find to try and make their lives miserable after the war, even if they were relatively well off compared to the rest of their people. “They think we’re going to lose,” he muttered. “Just like how Guesa eventually caved and only managed to become a puppet state.”

“Exactly,” Lu Ten growled. “They think we lack a spine ! To say nothing of how they thoughtlessly berated her and wore her down right in front of everyone. I fear our prisoner would actually be even worse off if we handed her over. The scrutiny of her peers, the disapproval of the public for letting us five into their country just to get her back, and her own miserable little family molding her into their twisted vision of perfection… it…” He took a deep breath. “All they’ve done is make sure that we won’t accept their terms, not if we can find a way to turn the tide of the war for the Dominion.”

“But sir, we’re only five people!” the Guesan protested. “Even if, and that’s a big if, if she joins us even though half of us think she’s a jerk, that’s still only six people trying to win a war against… Sir.” He gave the man a disheartened look. “There’s no way we can beat Nusia ourselves.”

“I know.” The Dominian gave a slight smile as he checked over their equipment one last time. “But we won’t win this by ourselves. Nusia is so terrible a country that its own supersoldiers would likely not mind being freed from its clutches. It’s terribly optimistic, but think about it. What if we could turn a good chunk of their forces against them?” He turned to look at the dumbfounded Guesan soldier. “Sure, they may turn against us later, but why would they when we can treat them far better than Nusia ever has?” The man glanced back at their radio. “And while we’re at it, we could capture more Nusian technology and send it back to the Dominion to reverse-engineer. We can try closing the technological gap, maybe even improve upon it while we actively steal the cogs from the Nusian war machine. They’ll run out of usable prototypes eventually.”

The Guesan relaxed as he thought it through. “That’s… Sir, I’m a blockhead, but even I know that’s pretty unlikely.” He gave a tenacious grin of his own. “Still, I’d love to help you humiliate Nusia, so I’ll go along with it!”

“Excellent,” Lu Ten cheerfully replied, quickly turning on the radio as he thought about what they would do next. “I hope you and the others rested well, because I think we’re going to fight the Nusians the next time we meet. Well, I hope it won’t come to that, and I certainly won’t let us throw the first punch, but just prepare yourself for it.” He paused, hearing the familiar crackle of static on the other end as Hotel-Tango picked up their comms.

“Yes, Stronghold 5-5? What is it?” the helicopter pilot asked. “I’m not airborne at the moment, so I might not be able to do reconnaissance immediately.”

The marksman leaned into the receiver. “Hotel-Tango, do you think you could pass on a message to Dominian high command, asking for a small force to push to Luo-he? I think something big might come up, and even if it doesn’t, we’ll need more than one helicopter to do what I’m planning.”

There was a heavy, long-suffering sigh on the other end as the Dominian pilot likely pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. Then, he finally replied, “Perhaps. I’ll try, but I’m just a helicopter pilot. What even is your plan?” There was the sound of buttons being pushed on the other end as he prepared the helicopter for mobilization. “If you tell me now, the push might actually come quicker than it would if you didn’t let me in on it.”

The de facto leader of the Dominian squadron thought it through for a few seconds. “I’m planning on capturing some heavy Nusian equipment, and I might need more than five pairs of hands to get it back to our Dominian engineers.”

There was a pause. “I’m listening,” Hotel-Tango replied. “This better be good, or you’re sitting in the banged up seat the next time you ride my heli.”

Lu Ten chuckled. “Sure, sure. So…”

The meeting room in the Nusian FOB was quiet as the Nusian general processed what he had just heard. “They offered to do what !?” he hissed, gritting his teeth at the 19 year old as the younger man took a step back and raised his hands.

“They wanted to let Stronghold 5-5 into Nusia after the war ended-”

“That wasn’t how you told it to me last time!”

Fulgur gulped, awkwardly squirming in place. “Point is, they want to safeguard the members of Stronghold 5-5, give them their own little plots of land in Nusia to do whatever and wire them Nolics every year to keep them happy.” He obviously kept out the part where they gave them the idea to basically create a mini Dominian state in those ambiguously-sized pieces of land.

The General was fuming. “How dare they! Who are they to decide to let enemies of the state, even after we conquer them, into Nusia!? I don’t care what their position may be or how important they are, they will not let these Dummy scum turn a portion of Nusia into their own paradise!”

On one hand, I can get behind this as long as Gaia doesn’t have to deal with her parents again. On the other, you are so much fucking worse than them, and your plan would probably involve blasting Luo-he to smithereens while she’s still inside. Tempest gave a nervous grin. “Sir, 650,000 Nolics a year isn’t that much for them to work with.”

“650,000-!?”

The Colonel cleared his throat. “Look, it’s either pacifying a constant thorn in our side and only dealing with them after we mop up the rest of the Dominion’s inferior forces, or letting them run off to Pinzhao with the prototype medigun in hand, and a girl who can train their soldiers to operate it. Picking the former option will effectively win us the war without needless risk.” He gave the older Nusian a knowing glare. “I understand your concerns about them sowing dissent in Nusia, but the truth of the matter is our propaganda is far too effective for them to be able to turn more than a few Nusians to their cause. We can always send Nusian Special Forces to deal with them if they become too much of a threat.”

His superior glared back at him, and yet he didn’t say a word as he thought it through. Then, the older Nusian shook his head. “Fine,” he begrudgingly replied after a few seconds of silence. “I see your point. Still , surely we’ll do more than just give this Dominian squad a free pass, right? We can’t just let them waltz into Nusia after everything.”

The Colonel nodded. “I know, but we can figure that out after we get Gaia and the prototype back.” He waved the goggled 19 year old away, giving him his cue to leave the room as the discussion drew to a close. “I’m glad you’re finally starting to see reason, General.” The Nusian man gave him a polite smile. “We’ll end this situation once and for all, and I thank you for finally cooperating after all this time.” The Colonel gave him a salute, before turning and walking out of the meeting room as well.

As soon as the other Nusian man left the room, the General let the docile look fall off his face, his rage finally resurfacing at the thought of the Dominians creating their own safe haven in his beloved Nusia. How dare those aristocrats think they can hold us at bay! He seethed to himself, stomping around the meeting room as his mind raced. I need to make those Dominian scum pay for this embarrassment! I need to… I need…

His eyes widened, and he stopped pacing around the room as the answer suddenly came to him. I need to throw a wrench into their plans to stall for time. The General grinned viciously as he looked at the radio next to the table. I know just the thing… And all it would take was a few orders and dead men.

It was too easy. And the Nusian general would have it no other way.

The Engineer woke up with a jolt, looking around as he felt the hairs on his skin stand on edge. He didn’t know why everything felt so wrong tonight, but he wasn’t liking it. Reluctantly, he got out of the bed he was resting in (he did not want to know who originally slept here before the war forced them to flee further into the Dominion) and grabbed his shotgun, pumping it as he heard something moving through the empty roads outside.

“...fuck,” the Dominian man muttered, checking the windows to make sure the streets were really empty before tapping into his comms to warn the rest of the squad. “Hey? Anyone read me? I just got woken up by something moving outside, and you might call me crazy or paranoid, but I’m pretty sure those were Nusian troops just now.”

There was no reply for a few seconds as he moved to walk out of the building he was in. Just as he reached the door, his earpiece suddenly crackled to life. “This is your friendly neighborhood Nusian. I did, in fact, see several shadows sprinting through the alleys just now.” Their Scout huffed on the other end of the line. “I think it’s pretty obvious what they’re here for. Didn’t think they’d be so dumb to try it, but hey, Nusia’s gotta be Nusia I guess.” The Nusian man clicked his tongue in obvious disappointment.

The boilersuit-wearing Dominian promptly began to sprint towards where their prisoner was in the city, his adrenaline purging the lethargy from his veins as he felt his heart race. “Where the hell are you guys!?” he quietly hissed into their private channel.

“Slow down, and cool it. We’re on our way, we just need to catch them in the act and make sure they don’t get a chance to escape.” The Recon’s calm voice filtered through the static, though it was clear that he was furious at being crossed by the Nusians right as he was starting to trust them. “In the meantime, prepare to set up a Governor at the road right before you see Gaia’s cage. With any luck, they’ll run straight into it while trying to escape.”

He calmed down somewhat as he heard the orders. “R-right,” he replied, screeching to a halt as he pulled out his kit. “I can… yeah. I can do that.” And he immediately got to work on setting the Governor up, keeping his eyes peeled for any humanoid figures hidden in the dark.

“Alright, I’m done, now what?”

The Recon looked at the Guesan and Nusian flanking him. With a nod, the two men ran in separate directions, intending to cut off any escape routes as he began to ascend one of the buildings. “ Now , you stay behind cover and wait.” His mouth curled into a sneer as he scoped into his H15. “You’ll know when we flush them out.”

He scanned the area, before his gaze immediately landed on the cage with Gaia still inside it. It seemed like the medic was still totally unaware of what was happening, considering how soundly asleep she was. Then, he caught movement in his peripheral vision. Despite the darkness hiding their silhouettes, he could still faintly see the shimmer that indicated the presence of a cloaked saboteur in his sights.

Lu Ten’s lips pursed. So that was their plan. He tapped his headset, keeping a careful eye (and barrel) on the rapidly multiplying figures in his scope as they began to approach the cage. “Heads up, they have three- no, no, five saboteurs, and…” He squinted, seeing four lightly armored Nusians sprint into his field of vision at near superhuman speeds before one of them kicked the cage’s door in with a single kick. “...four cloakers.” The marksman sighed.

“Is that it?” the Guesan mumbled. “That doesn’t sound too bad.”

Their prisoner immediately woke up from the sound of her cage being busted open, instinctively backing away from the Nusian group as one of the cloakers walked into the cell. “They’re in a rush to get in and out as quickly as possible, so they might’ve not planted any landmines in the area.” The Recon frowned, scanning the area again to make sure that was all of them. “Are you all in position?” he asked.

There was a small beat of silence, during which he took a calming breath and idly thumbed the grip of his rifle. “Yes sir,” the Guesan replied.

“Waiting for your signal,” the Nusian remarked.

“We’ve got them surrounded,” their Medic added. “They won’t be able to escape.”

The Recon smiled. “Good.” And with that, he slowly started to depress the trigger…

Gaia was just about to ask the transparent Nusian man what the logic behind their plan was when his head suddenly rematerialized and exploded into bits and pieces of skin, bone, and brain, causing her to stagger back as the rest of the group looked around in alarm. “We’ve been detected!” one of the cloakers shouted, before narrowly avoiding a hail of bullets sent her way with a well-timed duck.

“Get her out of here,” a cloaked saboteur said, sprinting around and firing ceaselessly in one direction. “Our priority is the safe extraction of the Gaia unit and her equipment!”

One of the cloakers was just about to grab her when another Nusian wielding a jetpack rammed into him, sending him flying into a building as the interloper came to a sudden stop in the middle of the group. “ Hi ,” the Scout greeted, before grabbing an invisible arm behind him and twisting as hard as he could.

“Augh!” the cloaked saboteur cried out, before being thrown onto his back by the other Nusian. Not even a split second later, bullets flew through the air, missing them both as the Scout, still hunched over, charged at another saboteur in a burst of speed.

The cloakers weren’t able to intercept in time before another one of them had his chest blown open, courtesy of the squadron’s sniper perched on top of the buildings. “Fuck it!” one of the saboteurs exclaimed, turning to sprint in a different direction. “We don’t even need the girl, just her tech!” He expertly weaved through the buildings, avoiding another storm of bullets before disappearing around a corner. For a moment, Gaia almost thought he’d made it out.

Almost .

And then she heard the sounds of an autocannon going off, and the painfully familiar sound of shells as large as her arm tearing someone to pieces, and that thought was scattered to the winds, just like the rest of him.

The 17 year old watched as the last remaining cloaker remembered her mission and ran over to her, grabbing her arm roughly and pulling her as she tried to run. “Come on, kid!” she could faintly hear her say. “Let’s just go!” The medic remained unresponsive as the older woman resorted to carrying her over her shoulder, her endoskeleton-enhanced legs doing their best to carry their combined weight as she tried to run.

Gaia was only broken out of her stupor as she saw the Scout soar through the air in the corner of her eye, zeroing in immediately on the two of them and using his jetpack to fly towards them like a murderous bee. “Wait,” the young woman mumbled.

“The hell do you mean ‘wait’!?” the cloaker snapped at her, her voice hard to discern over the din of the battle raging around them. “We are getting you out of this godforsaken city, and that! Is! Final !”

The Scout was almost on them, arms splayed out in midair in what would be a comical pose if it weren’t for the fact that he was probably about to crack her savior’s skull open with a single kick. The medic gave him a fearful look before glancing back at her rescuer. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, before headbutting her as hard as she could.

It actually hurt Gaia more than it hurt the cloaker, given how she was wearing nothing but a beanie while the other woman was wearing a helmet, but it did stagger her and cause her to drop her as she tried not to stumble. Gaia was able to see the Scout’s surprised look from her position on the ground… for all of two seconds before her would-be rescuer pulled her up by the collar of her vest.

“You fucking brat!” the other Nusian swore, blinding her with the light of her goggles. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!”

“...keeping you alive,” Gaia mumbled, craning her head to the right to look at the Scout standing a few feet away from them. Immediately realizing the predicament they were now in, the cloaker let her go and turned around, getting into a fighting stance as the Scout gave the young medic a questioning look. “ Please don’t kill them all,” she said to him.

The man shrugged, raising his fists in anticipation as he focused back on the cloaker. “We need prisoners anyways,” he replied, before throwing a lightning-quick punch at the other Nusian. The woman took a step back, being hit by the punch due to having no time to react.

Then, before he could do any more, the cloaker spun around, doing a roundhouse kick that forced the Scout to back away with a quick burst of his jetpack’s thrusters. Pressing the advantage, the Nusian woman began to throw long, sweeping kicks that forced the Scout to keep out of her effective range, lest he be sent flying from the force of an endoskeleton-enhanced foot impacting his face.

He gave an irritated huff, narrowing his eyes and giving an unimpressed look at the cloaker as she threw another ineffective kick that stopped short of reaching him. “Just give up already,” he muttered, “you’re outnumbered and you’re already lost.”

“Like hell I will, you fucking traitor!” she spat, before rushing at him in a burst of speed. Already seeing the attack coming from a mile away, the Scout simply shook his head before ducking to avoid the dropkick that would’ve sent him sprawling in a heap. Before she could fly past him, he grabbed her by the leg and slammed her to the ground, immediately following it up with a jetpack-assisted rush and a boot to the face.

“Are you done?” the man calmly asked, watching as the cloaker clutched her broken nose and tore her broken goggles off of her helmet.

With a growl, she moved to stand up… only to stop as two decloaked and disarmed saboteurs along with another cloaker were thrown to the ground next to the trio. She looked around, her eyes widening in horror as two Dominians and a Guesan appeared out of nowhere, surrounding them all and blocking all avenues of escape. “N-no!” she shouted, trying to get to her feet only to be rammed by the Scout as he flew into her with his jetpack, sending her back down.

The Guesan twirled his blood-soaked blade, sheathing it as he looked around. “Well, I didn’t expect Nusia to be so stupid, but…” He clicked his tongue. “You’re lucky we need answers.”

The Dominian in the orange uniform gave the defeated Nusians a dismissive look behind his goggles. “Don’t try anything,” he simply warned, still holding his vitabow with an arrow already nocked.

Gaia slumped in relief, content to simply sit and watch until the Scout walked over to her. “So,” he began, “why’d you stop her?”

“‘Stop her’?” the Engineer asked, looking at the two Nusians. Everyone else’s heads swiveled around to stare at them, mainly Gaia, all of them having different expressions on their faces.

Gaia gulped as she saw the furious glare etched into the female cloaker’s face. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she flatly replied, her gaze moving to the Scout in front of her.

He stared at her for a few more seconds, during which she could feel the burning gazes from all of the Nusians tasked with rescuing her, before shrugging and walking back to their new prisoners. “Alright, idiots. You know what to do. Tell us what your orders were.” The Scout adjusted his bandana, watching as the team’s captives either harrumphed or scowled at him.

“Like we’ll fucking tell you,” one of the saboteurs ground out through gritted teeth. “Our loyalty is to Nusia, not to savages who think that playing soldier is something to be proud of.”

The Medic chuckled sarcastically, slowly walking over and coming to a stop behind the man. “You Nusians don’t even take prisoners. We’re giving you a privilege that you don’t extend to our own.” He clasped his hand around his shoulder. “Our situations reversed, I know you’d see us and our families all dead.”

The Nusian turned to him with a defiant grin. “As you should be! You Dummy scum tout your citizens all having military service, as if being your wonderful Emperor’s loyal dog is some crowning achievement!” He kept up the brave face even as the Dominian slowly leaned in to stare at him. “You espouse tales of honor and servitude to the man on the throne of your kingdom, but you’re mad that your country is too weak to fight against us ‘complacent’ Nusians, despite your supposed military superiority! Your mighty Dominion is a paper tiger, unable to live up to its own propaganda, and destined to fall, according to its own ideals!”

The Dominian bared his teeth, and he seemed like he was on the verge of physically striking the saboteur when the Scout ran in and pulled him back. “Don’t,” the Nusian said to him, staring at the smug saboteur as he blocked the Medic with his arm. “He’s just a conscript. He’s regurgitating Nusian propaganda now that we’ve beaten them, it’s his only way of coping with their loss.” He watched as the smug look melted off of the saboteur’s face, replaced with an expression of disbelief and growing rage. “They’re all just pawns, remember?”

“How dare you compare us elite teams to- to pawns on a chessboa-!”

“You’re a conscript,” the Scout firmly interrupted, walking over to the other Nusian and crossing his arms. “And if not a conscript, you were probably some unfortunate Nusian forced into military service by recruiters surrounding you on all sides and promising you wealth and a stable life, provided you survived the battlefield.” He looked down at the other man as his captive glared at him hatefully. “You were all sent on a doomed mission. You would’ve never gotten Gaia or her equipment back even if we weren’t paranoid of a Nusian infiltration force crawling through the city. The best that you can do now is weather the storm, give us what we need, and we’ll let you go on your way. Whether it be to report back to your superiors or escape the war, it doesn’t matter.” The Nusian man gave him a pitying look. “We only ask that you tell us who gave you your orders.”

The saboteur leaned back, looking at the ground thoughtfully as the anger drained from his expression. Then, he looked back at the other Nusian with a flat look. “I don’t trust you to not kill us when you have what you want,” he deadpanned.

“We don’t have any reason to kill you instead of simply letting you go,” the Scout replied, glancing at the other prisoners to see their reactions. “You’re disarmed, exhausted, and you don’t pose any threat to us. We’ve taken out stronger groups than yours.”

The other saboteur spoke up. “And what do you plan on doing if we told you that our superiors would probably have us executed for our failure?” he asked.

The Medic exhaled, walking over to him as he loosened his grip on his special crossbow. “We definitely can’t take you with us, our comrades wouldn’t appreciate us bringing along every Nusian we spared, and we aren’t equipped to provide for ourselves and prisoners every time we move.” He hummed to himself. “Although, if that was the case, I suggest you simply desert and leave Nusia. Leave the war, leave anything you even suspect to have been reached by Nusia’s grasping fingers. Lay low and live the rest of your lives in freedom, even if you have to watch your back for any Nusian agents.” The man shrugged. “It’s not our problem, as harsh as it is to say.”

The Nusian man slumped over, staring at the ground as their choices were outlined to them.

There was a sort of calm that hung over the group as they all pondered their options. It seemed that the defector’s words had gotten to them, since one of the cloakers slowly stood up and raised his hands placatingly as the squad trained their weapons on him. “We were given orders to infiltrate the city and take Gaia back with her equipment, or just her equipment if we were unable to extract her.” He glanced at the 17 year old medic to gauge her reaction. Oddly disappointed, but not surprised. He then continued, adding, “We knew there were negotiations going on, so we questioned why this was happening. They refused to elaborate, all that we know is that the order came directly from someone at the top. We were told to not allow anyone else to know or hear about this on the threat of death.”

The Guesan whistled as the cloaker finished recounting his story. “Whew, so you guys really are gonna have to go on the run after this. Tough,” he remarked, giving the Nusian a slightly contemptuous look.

Ignoring the unsympathetic comment, the cloaker turned to the Scout. “If you know any places for us to run to, to escape the war after this, now would be the time to talk.” He rolled his shoulder, clearly aching from when he was sent flying into a building.

The Scout gave him a soft smile. “There are settlements not far from Luo-he, though they’re in Dominian territory. They’ll take in anyone displaced by the war, whether it be Guesans escaping the occupation of their country, or Nusians, trying to get away from the poison of their militaristic republic.” He patted him on the shoulder. “Good luck, and don’t die.”

The cloaker nodded. “Thanks,” he muttered, before walking over to his comrades and helping them on their feet as Stronghold 5-5 watched. The surviving Nusians stared at them warily, even as they broke the circle and gave them a way out.

“Quite the change in attitude,” the female cloaker grumbled under her breath, walking with the group through the empty streets of the city.

Gaia watched them all go with a look of shock on her face. She stood up, staring at the Scout as he, with the rest of his squad, watched them depart without so much as a word. Then, once they disappeared into the night, he tapped his headset and asked, “Which way are they heading, sir?”

There was a pause, during which he seemed to get a reply. “Okay, good. Would’ve been really depressing if they crawled back to Nusian lines just to be executed.” He sighed, before turning around and meeting the young medic’s gaze. “What?”

“W-why did you…” Gaia sputtered, not paying any mind to the stoic expressions the rest of the group had as they watched the interaction. “Why’d you let them go?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” The Scout walked over to her. “We got what we needed, and like I said, it would be a waste if we killed them for it.” He gave her a knowing look. “And because you’re not the only one who doesn’t wanna hurt the people just following orders, not if you can help it.”

Gaia’s eyes widened. “Y-you’re a fo-”

“Alright,” the Engineer quickly said, making his way over to her and getting between the two. “You still have to get back to your cell, even if you kind of worked against your would-be rescuers, you’re still a prisoner.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, kid. I probably won’t have to tie your hands this time, though, so just follow me.”

Before she could protest, she found herself being led back to her cage by both the Medic and the Engineer, so she decided not to press the issue as she walked inside and heard the gate close behind her. Gaia turned around, watching as the Engineer walked off to probably talk with his leader while the Medic… just stood there, staring at her with an unreadable expression. She had half a mind to insult him again, but his next words killed the defiant words on the tip of her tongue.

“You’re gonna have to pick your side soon,” he forebodingly said, before walking off in the direction of the Engineer.

Gaia was left alone in the cell, once again trapped in her own head as she slowly sat against the wall. Damn, he’s right. She grimaced. I don’t know what to do anymore, but I need to make a decision soon, or I might just be miserable for the rest of my life. The young woman sighed. Or just die for being too much of a nuisance for Nusia.

She put a hand to her nose, feeling it. He could’ve at least healed me a bit before leaving.

Fulgur stood on the open top of the platform, staring at the city in the distance as their transport slowly lumbered over to the same rendezvous point as before. He scratched his chin, frowning as he went over the briefing before they were sent back out.

The meeting went over smoothly, with the Colonel suggesting to play along with the Dominians and the General readily agreeing, no longer protesting the decision. Which was very concerning, because the General utterly despised the Dominians. Fulgur had lost friends and family to the Dominians, but even he didn’t hate them to the point of wanting every last one dead or beneath Nusia’s oppressive heel. But that man…

He shuddered. He hoped that the General was still in the process of doing whatever ungodly plan he had, and that he hadn’t done anything to sabotage the negotiations before they set out today. Just to make sure, he had discreetly scoured the platform for any kind of defect or anything that didn’t belong in it. He had double-checked and triple-checked his accompanying soldiers and the platform’s crew, and would’ve done so a fourth time if he hadn’t been getting too many odd looks and questions thrown his way.

Maybe things would be all right. Maybe he was getting riled up for no reason at all. Everything would be fine . The Dominians would hand Gaia over, they wouldn’t have an elite Dominian squadron to keep bleeding men and equipment to, and the war would end sooner than both sides anticipated. The sooner it all ended, the better, and everyone could go home, even if ‘home’ was beneath an imperialistic Republic’s heel.

Tempest sighed, getting on the elevator of the platform with his fellow soldiers as it was slowly lowered to ground level. He tried not to fidget in place, doing his best to project the image of a cold, hardened officer as he held his tesla cannon close to his chest. The gunners gave him concerned glances but otherwise didn’t comment as they walked off the platform.

They met at the same spot in the same open field outside of the city, with Gaia in the center of the group and the Engineer and the Recon on both flanks of the young medic. Tempest kept his expression neutral as he eyed the two Dominians. “So, have you come to a decision?” he asked, tilting his head. “I haven’t brought the laptop, since…” The young man caught the medic’s eye, causing him to clear his throat as he tried to find his words. “My superiors insisted that they’d done enough… negotiating and that the rest would be up to them.” He very blatantly chose to not mention them by name, knowing it was a sore spot for her.

God, please just take the deal.

The two Dominians exchanged a look. Then, the marksman stared at Gaia for a good ten seconds, during which he was sure they were talking to each other even though no words were said between them. After that, the Dominian sergeant turned to him and shook his head. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, Tempest, but I’m afraid Gaia will be staying with us.”

Fulgur’s mouth curled down as the words cut through his hopeful daydreaming. “ What ,” he flatly said, resisting the urge to grit his teeth as the Dominian stood his ground. “Why? Was the deal not good enough for you? Do you want us to let you take your equipment to Nusia, too?” he growled, his voice full of venom and biting sarcasm.

“No,” the Recon replied, not intimidated in the slightest as he gestured to his left. “Well, mostly no. It’s not good for us , but… we let our prisoner have the final say in the matter.”

Tempest gave the young medic a horrified look. “Gaia? Do you even know what you’re doing?” He held his cannon close as the soldiers around him started looking at each other. “What you’re doing is basically treason, and you don’t even know what their superiors are going to do once they see that you willingly stayed in their custody.” The 19 year old looked at her pleadingly. “Please, I’ll- look, I’m sorry, but I-”

“Fulgur, I’m not going back to my parents.” Gaia shook her head, giving the other child soldier an apologetic look. “I appreciate what you tried to do, but… I’ve just been given the opportunity to leave the wrong side of the war, and I don’t wanna go back at all if I can help it.” Her tone was one of finality and reluctant acceptance. “We just wanted to let you know since you kept things so civil for so long.”

Tempest’s shoulders slumped as he stared at her with a blank expression. Behind him, the Nusian soldiers began to mutter amongst themselves about what they heard. “‘We’?” one of the gunners repeated to his partner. “What the fuck is this kid on about?”

Sensing the rising tensions in the air, the two Dominians walked in front of Gaia, shielding her with their weapons clutched tightly as the Nusian soldiers began to slowly prepare themselves for a fight. Gaia, noticing the storm brewing around them, gave Tempest one more pleading look. “Fulgur, please don’t do anything that you’ll regret,” she quickly said.

Tempest sighed, giving the 17 year old an apologetic look. “I won’t,” he replied, “do anything I’ll regret .” And with that, he quickly raised his tesla cannon and fired a bolt at the Dominians in front of her.

The purple forcefield appearing around the trio and dissipating the bolt that would’ve killed them cemented her decision. And with the dawning realization of what side she had chosen, the fight began in earnest as bullets started flying through the air.

Chapter Text

DEPARTMENT OF THE NUSEAN CUOROS

Forward Operating Base no. 7, Northeastern Dominia

MAY 28, 2044

Operation Depigmentation has been approved by the Nusian Defense Council.

Prelude:

Special Infantry Force no. 5 failed to check in after scheduled negotiation with Dominian squadron Stronghold 5-5 on the outskirts of Luo-he.

Platform no. 125’s tracking beacon was deactivated shortly after.

All radio contact lost with both Special Infantry Force no. 5 and Platform no. 125.

All members presumed K.I.A.

Stronghold 5-5 declared hostile once again. General Reznik has decided to move a brigade’s worth of soldiers and vehicles near Luo-he to assault the Dominian position.

Colonel Cautus has been placed in command of the operation.

Approved by the Nusian Defense Council. Si nuc pace, preparat per bellam.

Objectives:

Destroy Stronghold 5-5. (Priority)

Retrieve Gaia’s equipment.

Retrieve Tempest’s equipment.

Locate the wreckage of Platform no. 125.

Relevant forces:

Superunit ‘Ares’

Special Infantry Unit ‘Achilles’

Special Infantry Unit ‘Sparta’

Special Infantry Force no. 1

131st Mechanized Infantry Battalion

77th Light Infantry Battalion

63rd Armored Battalion

Operation Depigmentation has been given the green light.

Mission timeline:

May 28, 2044 - Relevant forces gather at F.O.B. no. 7 and are briefed on their mission.

May 29, 2044 - Relevant forces depart from the F.O.B. and take the most secure path to Luo-he.

May 31, 2044 - Aerial Reconnaissance ‘Lima-Papa’ spots Dominian APCs on the way to Luo-he. They are promptly encircled and captured for information. Dominians refuse to answer any questions, and their logs have all been destroyed. Prisoners executed.

June 1, 2044 - Arrival on the outskirts of Luo-he. All forces immediately move to surround the city, setting up camps and turrets as small groups attempt to locate the missing platform. A few bodies are recovered in the fields outside the city, identified as members of Special Infantry Force no. 5. Nearby scorch marks and craters indicate that both the platform and Tempest put up a significant fight. No other bodies are recovered.

June 2, 2044 - Platforms from the 63rd Armored Battalion begin bombarding the city with artillery fire, hoping to flush Stronghold 5-5 out. Nothing happens. Meanwhile, their tanks are refueled and their crews are allowed to rest for the upcoming battle.

June 3, 2044 - Infantry companies begin to crawl into Luo-he with accompanying tanks, expecting heavy resistance. Ares and Sparta lead the push, expecting fierce fighting to break out at any moment. But the city is silent.

June 4, 2044 - An abandoned cage is located somewhere in the city. Elsewhere, there are signs that people have been living in a few of the buildings for some time now, but they are nowhere to be found. Luo-he partially occupied by Nusian soldiers, and plans are made to link up with other troops and sweep the rest of the city.

June 5, 2044 - While marching, infantry unexpectedly run into still-functioning Platformized Defense Cannons, taking heavy casualties before someone manages to radio the rest of the army. Soldiers begin to converge on the location of the defenses, believing Stronghold 5-5 to be lying in wait within the buildings. Shielders begin dismantling the PDCs.

June 6, 2044 - While searching Luo-he for signs of Dominian soldiers, the roads begin to erupt and explode beneath the Nusians. Elsewhere in the city, flammable gas begins to accumulate in the streets. Soldiers rapidly begin to move out of Luo-he as the gas ignites. Luo-he explodes, lighting up the sky and the hundreds of Nusians still trapped inside.

June 7, 2044 - Luo-he burns. The injured are treated and the rest prepare to recover the bodies once the fires go out. The mission is declared a complete failure, and a small force is sent back to the F.O.B. to corroborate the story as the rest ‘take’ the destroyed city.

June 8, 2044 - Stronghold 5-5 is reportedly spotted in the canyons near Guesan borders. Most soldiers leave Luo-he to help in the fighting, leaving behind a very small force to defend the torched ashes of the city.

MEMORANDUM FOR

TO:          Colonel Cautus

FROM:      Second Lieutenant Operor

                Temporary camp

                Luo-he, Dominion of Pinzhao

SUBJECT: After Action Report (AAR), Operation Depigmentation

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