Dark Deceptions

More Questions Than Answers

A/N: I will occasionay be updating the first page with every chapter with the names and codenames of characters so always look there if you forget who somebody is. Also, thanks for my first vote on this story, it means a lot to me!

Btw, the summer update SLAPS hard
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Red Panda sat on her bed, the events of yesterday replaying in her head. Delinquent had woken up, The Boi had seemingly been chosen worthy by some strange weapon, no doubt he'd use it next time he got into a match since today Flanker, Brute, Hidden Star, Rookie, Material Man, Contractor, Broadcaster, and Cthulu were in the match while everybody else took a rest from the commotion that usually was the matches.

Red Panda got up and got ready for the day, gently brushing her fluffy tail before brushing her hair, she then dressed in her familiar Red Panda onesie and slipped on her bulletproof vest before putting her boots on. She exited her room to go visit Ace Pilot who would either be watching anime, training, or messing around with somebody. Panda knew her best friend well enough to know that she'd be getting into some excitement unlike Red Panda herself.

Panda quietly hummed to herself as she exited her tiny one-bedroom apartment and went downstairs to the common area where once again, her intuition was correct. Ace pilot was currently annoying John Brick, teasing him with remarks about his skill and weapon choice. Not wanting to interrupt them, Panda left Ace Pilot to her teasing and went to a secret corner where she knew Boi would, or at least, was rumored to be at around this time to ask him about the strange knife from yesterday.

She found him all snuggled up in the secret corner with a mug of hot cocoa in his hands and she sat down in front of the entrance of Boi's corner, ready to ask him some questions. "Hi there, you mind if I come in and talk to you a bit?" The Boi took a sip of his cocoa and shifted to the side a little so Red Panda could fit inside with tons of room to spare "sure you can come in. If it gets too cold for you just tell me." Panda smiled at Boi and he gave her a warm smile back. The new kid was strange but he at least had manners unlike Hidden Star and Cthulu.

Red Panda slid into the spot next to Boi and to her surprise, it was indeed cold, very cold but Panda didn't really mind for now. Besides, she could always ask Boi for one of his many blankets if it came down to that. "So, Boi, what did you do with that strange knife that you picked up yesterday? Did you put it in your room?" Red Panda hoped that he didn't do anything strange with it "yeah, I put it in my room, also call me Brandon. It was my name before I was recruited." Red Panda was surprised that Boi- no, Brandon gave her his real name just like that, nothing was known about him, his papers were mostly empty save for some medical information. Still, she found comfort in the fact that Brandon trusted her.

"There's something strange about the knife too, Red Panda. When I picked it up, it felt like if it was made for me. I can't explain it but I feel as if whomever dropped it intended for me to grab it." Red Panda nodded, she didn't quite understand what Boi meant but she could only assume that the weapon was for something greater. "I see. Also, call me Lienna. I feel it's only fair that you know my name after you've given me yours, Brandon."

Brandon chuckled and took another sip of his hot cocoa, Lienna, huh? Such a nice name. Brandon took yet another small sip of his cocoa before responding "Well, thanks Lienna. I have something to ask you though. What do people think about me? I know it may be strange to ask seeing as I'm just a new member in everybody's eyes, but I'm curious."

Red Panda didn't know how to answer but finally, she made her mind up. Just tell him the truth, he deserves to know. "Well Brandon. People have mixed feelings about you. Some say that you're strange and creepy because you never really talk to anybody and you always go off to some place after matches. Cultist is still convinced that you're either another Vampire or a Wendigo, and the rest think you're probably more dangerous than Beret."

Brandon thought over what Lienna had told him. "People have mixed feelings about you." He didn't mean to cause any harm but people were people and rumors spread like wildfire so with that in mind, Brandon finished his cocoa before he responded to Lienna, the one person who actually sought him out despite everything she heard about him. He felt ashamed for not socializing more but there's nothing he can do now except try to socialize more to help clear the rumors.

"Thanks for speaking to me in spite of all that, Lienna. It means a lot to me." Brandon meant it. For the first time since arriving to Arsenal, he was sincere with both himself and the person he was talking to. "Oh Brandon, speaking of new recruits, some just arrived earlier today, do you want to go meet them?" "No thanks, Lienna, I like the cold here. Thanks for asking though." Panda herself wasn't up to greeting anybody and it was obvious that Brandon wasn't either because he was now laying down. "Well Brandon, you mind if I stay here too? To give you company?" Brandon looked at Lienna with mild surprise, nobody had asked him that since his brother left.

"Sure, you can stay here if you'd like. I have a laptop that we can watch movies on and some snacks if you want." Brandon took his ushanka off and placed next to a stepping stool that he used as a table and moved to the side so Lienna could lay next to him on the soft nest of pillows and blankets. She took the oppertunity to look at his hair. A dirtyish brown that Panda found attractive in a way. The two of them stayed together under the blankets while a vent blew extremely cold air on the pair. The cubbyhole had ment to be a space to store chemicals that had to be kept extremely cold. The chemicals were eventually moved to a safe place and now the cubbyhole remained unoccupied for somebody to discover.

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Red Panda stirred awake, not noticing that her hood was off, exposing her fluffy ears or that the day's matches was already over and the few injured were transported to the hospital.

Panda looked next to her, Boi, no, Brandon was peacefully sleeping next to her. Panda gave a tiny smile and scribbled a note on a piece of paper saying that she was going to be at the hospital helping Scientist, Red Panda wrote her phone number underneath too and left the note on top of Brandon's Ushanka before crawling out of the space, putting her hoodie back on her head so it covered her animal ears, and leaving to go to her other job.

It was uneventful to say the least. Broadcaster had cracked a rib and had insisted that he was fine, Panda had somehow convinced him to stay and rest for a while. Contractor had fallen in the frigid waters of the Glacier zone and had to be warmed up, otherwise, everybody else had minor scratches and bruises that went away fairly quickly due to their healing factor.

Panda thought back to her conversation with Brandon during her lunch break. His words echoed back to her. "It felt like it was made for me." Red Panda didn't know what that meant. Maybe, she was right, this was all on purpose and something big is coming. She knew that Brandon hadn't tried out the knife but maybe, if he does text her, she can convince him to use the knife in the nearby forest surrounding them and the other team hubs as they were called. Small towns with equally small shops centered around an apartment complex large enough to hold up to 400 people even though less than half of that was being used.

The break was over and Red Panda thanked chef for the food before throwing away her trash and walking back to the apartment. As soon as she returned, she went straight up to the hospital to doscharge Delinquent who looked more than happy to go. It kind of pained Red Panda for some reason but she pushed it aside and checked up on Broadcaster who was fast asleep, Communicator had left a card for him prior to Red Panda's arrival.

After she discharged most of the patients save for a sleeping Broadcaster, she went back to her room. Exhausted after a long day of work and questions with no answers, all she wanted to do was sleep. She took off her combat boots and bulletproof vest before changing into some some faded blue jeans and a t-shirt. Nothing too fancy, just stuff she used to wear back home... home. Red Panda didn't like that word. She really had no home to speak of. Well, she did but she didn't want to go back because of the fact that she was always reminded. It was times like these that she was thankful for the hectic mess that was the new Summer event.

Red Panda eventually got tired of being with her thoughts and decided to mess around on her phone, casually playing a Neko Atsume-type game before a message from an unknown number popped up "Hey, it's Brandon. Sorry that I fell asleep but anyways, I just read your note and texted you because I was wondering if you could meet me around Chef's diner tomorrow at noon. See ya!" This was Red Panda's chance. She quickly saved Brandon's number into her contacts before responding to his message. "Sure! I can make it there hopefully unless they switch me on for tomorrow's matches. Do you mind if I ask a favor of you?" She sent the text, now it was time to wait for a response.