"Alright, I need a stretcher brought onto the shuttle, right now," Chaewon said into the microphone connecting to the other space shuttles, "Any rebellion members that touched down before us, communicate with the other on the base and help get the refugees sorted out. We have enough room here and enough supplies for everyone."
"I don't need a stretcher, Chaewon, I'm fine—" Val began to say, getting ready to stand up but was quickly gently pushed back down by Nia, who glared at her.
Chaewon seemed to give her the same look, "If you didn't want people to make such a fuss over you, then you should have thought about that before you let an entire fucking building collapse on you," She scolded.
"Okay, well, it wasn't an entire building—"
Hyunwoo covered Val's mouth, "I'm shutting you up for your own good or I think Chaewon might actually lose her mind."
"Good choice," Chaewon nodded, "I need a fucking drink."
Eventually, a stretcher was brought for Val and as they moved out of the shuttle, they noticed that most of the refugees had actually been settled in well, and they had been the last to arrive.
"Oh, you stupid child, what did you do now?" The familiar stern voice only made Val smile more as she turned to see a small but stocky woman, her hair tied in a tight bun as she looked at her disapprovingly.
"Hello, Auntie Li!" She said cheerfully, waving.
Chaewon sighed and smacked the back of her head lightly, "You completely ignored her question. Auntie Li, can you and Uncle Gong take a look at her back and do whatever you can to allow her to go on the next mission? I wanted her to stay behind but…"
"I'm not staying behind," Val finished, "Also, someone should take a look at Nia, just in case."
"What is it with you children constantly getting injured?" Auntie Li asked frustrated, throwing her hands up, "Fine, fine, move the stretcher into the hospital, A'Chun will start taking a look over there," She looked at Chaewon, Elliot, and Hyunwoo meaningfully, "We need to talk."
The three realized that this was about something important and Hyunwoo turned back to Risále, "Darlin', how about you, Xander, and Kaedan go look around the base a bit, get used to it? We'll be here for a couple of days."
Risále seemed to take the hint and nodded, but paused, "Do you need Apocalypse?" She asked.
Hyunwoo shook his head, "We're fine for now, I'll let you know if things change, alright, love?" She nodded, "That's my girl, go ahead now," Risále spluttered a bit as Hyunwoo pecked her cheek.
"You are the worst," She muttered, turning away with a small smile on her face. Hyunwoo giggled, "You are a menace."
When he turned back to Chaewon and Elliot, they were looking at him with raised eyebrows, "What?"
"Nothing," Elliot mused, "You certainly know the power you hold."
"Oh, yes, I'm very aware. Now, shall we get going?"
"After you, Casanova," Chaewon stepped out of the way, gesturing for Hyunwoo to go in front of her. The three of them followed Aunti Li into the familiar white building that was being used as the headquarters of this base.
Auntie Li opened the doors to a meeting room where two other people were sitting, "Hey, Zera, Jaeyun, Roshan," Elliot said, shaking the hands of the woman and the men, "How have you two been?"
"We've been alright, nothing too intense has happened here, at least not compared to you guys," Zera responded, "Are you guys okay?
Chaewon sighed, "Define okay. We lost a lot of people back in Ryoshigarh, both members of the rebellion and citizens. And the White Lotus and Sector 2 government have basically called war on us."
"That's what we need to talk to you about," Jaeyun said, "It's not just the White Lotus and Sector 2."
Hyunwoo sat down, resting his chin on his hands, "Don't tell me…"
Roshan was the one who answered, "Sector 1 has agreed to an official alliance with Sector 2 and the White Lotus. They're hosting a ball when they sign the alliance. They're making it a public spectacle."
"That's strange…" Elliot said, his eyebrows furrowed, "You'd think that they would want to keep this on the down low. They just attacked us, they can't really be thinking that we won't strike back…"
"I think that's what they're expecting," Auntie Li said, opening up the map, "They're making it a big spectacle to almost invite us to attack them. It's probably a trap but…There's another detail."
Jaeyun slid the invitation over to Hyunwoo, Chaewon, and Elliot, "One of our members infiltrated Sector 1 and sent this back to us. The King has promised to unveil the location of the Wings of Grimmstol at the ball."
"He knows where it is?" Chaewon asked, raising an eyebrow, "From what Kaedan told us and from when we met him, the King always seemed like a figurehead and a pushover, especially when his wife was still alive."
Zera shrugged, "He definitely is, I have no doubts when it comes to that. You guys sent those coordinates that Mirabella and the other girl—"
"Risále, my girlfriend," Hyunwoo clarified.
"Oh, cool, how many is that now, two girlfriends, one boyfriend?"
"Yeah, you're right, thanks."
"Anyway," Roshan continued, "The coordinates you guys sent are in Sector 1. We haven't tried to get in yet since there are way too many guards there. Security has been really big there, probably to plan for the ball. They sent White Lotus there as guards."
Hyunwoo looked to Chaewon and Elliot, "Should we ask Kaedan? I mean, he is his father…"
Chaewon sighed, "We've met his father, Kaedan would probably be more shocked than us that the King actually did something. He was such a pushover, the fact that he knows where the Wings are and is willing to actually do something is probably more of a surprise to Kaedan."
"Ah, another thing…" Zera said, looking over at them, "There's been a lot of…turmoil in Sector 1. People are unhappy with the King doing nothing, which is why he's probably making a big spectacle out of this. But this turmoil has…Somewhat led to people calling Kaedan Hernandez the rightful King of Sector 1."
Elliot, Chaewon, and Hyunwoo looked at each other, "Maybe we should have brought Kaedan with us," Elliot murmured.
"They think he's going to come and save them. That he's going to usurp the throne and make life better for them since the King has absolutely no intentions to make the living conditions there better, even after the major collapse years ago."
Chaewon sat down, putting her head in her hands, "...I don't think Kaedan has any intentions to take the throne, not after the shit he went through being a member of the royal family."
Auntie Li put a hand on her shoulder, "None of us are expecting him to but…It wouldn't hurt to ask, right? I'll be honest with you, it would be really helpful if we had Kaedan take the throne because he could break the alliance between Sector 1 and Sector 2 and the White Lotus."
"No," Elliot said, "No, we can't do that."
It seemed Chaewon had realized as well, "The person controlling Sector 1 as of now is Julian Rowlock. We can't put Kaedan in such easy access to him, not after all the shit the little creep tried to pull on him."
Zera sighed, "We trust your judgment. If it won't work, it won't work. We just wanted you guys to know what was happening."
"...Someone should let him know, though," Hyunwoo said, "Whether he wants to do anything about it or not, he should know."
Elliot let out a breath of air, "I'll let him and Xander know later on," He said, "Has Bella made contact with you all yet?"
"She did, she only let us know that she and everyone else on the shuttle were safe and that they landed. There was still a pretty big group of people here when she contacted us, so she didn't give any details," Jaeyun said.
Hyunwoo responded, "We'll fill you in on what you need to know then," He very specifically avoided saying that he would tell them everything. Some things, they didn't need to know, "They need to find a certain object to help with our cause, it's similar to the Wings of Grimmstol. I assume that it may be the fabled Relic of the Stronghold."
"The Relic of the Stronghold?" Zera asked, "I thought that was just a legend that was being spread around."
"To be fair, we thought the Ghost Queen was a legend too," Elliot shrugged, "But she's here, walking about our people right now."
Auntie Li looked surprised, "Which one was it?"
"Risále, My girlfriend," Hyunwoo said, "She's the one hosting Apocalypse. You'll…Meet her eventually. Try not to say anything to anger her."
Roshan rolled his eyes, "We're not that stupid. Alright, so, they're looking for this object in Sector 3?"
"...Not exactly," Chaewon said, "There's something we need to track down the Relic, and that's in Sector 3. They're going to get that. Let's make contact with them soon."
There was a knock on the door, "A'Ying?" It was Uncle Gong, "We need some help with Val, her back is mostly fine but we need to put together a proper way to support it. Can you help us with the splint?"
"I'll be there in a minute, A'Chun," The elder woman called back before looking at the others in the room.
"How is Guocheng, by the way?" Jaeyun asked, "Is he doing alright?"
Elliot smiled, "You should go see for yourself. I don't think he even knows you're here," He said.
"This will certainly be a surprise."