Half-Bloods R • 1: Fallen World

C • 14 : Shrapnel in Eye, Air in Vein

Vaelan, Demi, and Elizabeth walked into the Third Commander's office. The Commander sat at a dark wood table, a tablet, phone, and plenty of papers at her side.

"Welcome back, Elite Warmages and Elite Warmage to be! It's good to see you all again," she loudly spoke. Her arms rested on her elbows with one hand moving and waving as she spoke, "Darwin told me about your recent accomplishments, and let me say that Vaelan, you truly are our greatest asset! And you two, outstanding performance keeping Christopher's damage under control. Just marvelous!"

Vaelan never knew why, but Gwindolyn was one of the few people who could unnerve him, something in the way she spoke, the way she carried herself, her movements were so fluid yet so restrained. It was odd, to say the least.

She had black undercut hair with runes shaved into the sides. She always held herself so strictly straight with thin rectangular glasses beneath her red and green left eye and blind right eye.

"Thank you, Commander," Vaelan lead, "And I believe-"

Gwindolyn quickly interjected, "That you're owed an explanation as to why I so suddenly brought you here?"

"Yes, Commander," he and the girls said in unison.

"Well, there are a few reasons," she started, "Number One is Christopher, Houston has one of the only hospitals with the tools necessary to remove his trackers and find any hidden backups. Last time it took a full five hospitals before we could find that tracker, we won't be making the same mistakes again."

That was a reason Vaelan could understand, when they first retrieved Christopher from the Order, the Order fought tooth and nail just to get him back. They kept switching the cyborg to different hospitals until they finally got him to the Manifest Magic and Research hospital in Houston where they not only found the tracker but got rid of it completely. A small battle ensued, but they were prepared for it and in the process managed to foil one of the Order's biggest plans, a bioweapon.

Gwindolyn continued, interrupting Vaelan's thoughts, "My second reason is the recent debacle with Arva. A captain turned traitor, surely she must have had accomplices."

Demi spoke next, "And you think we're the accomplices?"

"No, I think you could be accomplices. Headstrong, musclebound, Elite Warmages. No one would suspect the Archdevil of Arms or his lover, the Hellspawn Pyromancer. Nor would anyone think to suspect the amnesiac kerronasen who was tortured by the Order," she paused to catch her breath and steady herself, "But I would, though talking to me now does improve your chances of not being traitors."

"We're not traitors," Elizabeth growled, pushing past Vaelan, "You, of all people, should know that."

"Sweetheart, anyone could be a traitor, many of my friends were, and we wouldn't be having this conversation if I hadn't turned them in," Gwindolyn walked over to Elizabeth, her eyes grim compared to Elizabeth's hopeful eyes, "Anyone can be a traitor, be them family, friends, or strangers. Trust no one, hell, I don't even trust myself."

Vaelan pulled Elizabeth back, "Commander, not even I can accept that way of thinking, but I promise you, none of us are traitors."

Gwindolyn glared at him with glee in her eyes, as if she had been waiting for him to say that.

"That's not what the truth circles revealed, you're allegiance doesn't belong to the rebellion. Your allegiance is to Demi and that, my friend, is the very seed to becoming a traitor," she said closely, bits of spittle striking his face, "You may not be a traitor now, but you could be, and that's a big danger!"

Demi stepped forward to retort, but Gwindolyn quickly turned around and continued.

"That brings me to my third and final reason for bringing you all here," she puffed, calming herself as she leaned onto her desk and turned her attention between the three of them, "The girl, named Anna Haven Hill by the Order, is going to be put into our Elites program and tested for Chimeric compatibility."