"Ow, ow!" Nia hissed as her wound was properly bandaged, "God, that fucking stings," She muttered, clenching her teeth.
"That's what you get for leaving your back open to a literal grenade," Val called out to her as her back was fitted with the brace around her waist to support it.
"Oh, shut up, Miss 'I have such a savior complex that I'll run into a collapsing building that was also on fire and then have the building fall on my back'. That sounds real funny coming from you," Nia shot back.
"For the last fucking time, it was just part of the ceiling, not the entire building—"
Kaedan interrupted as he and Xander walked into the infirmary, "That's enough, both of you. If anything, we should be upset at you two for the stunts that you've pulled. If I see that your injuries aren't mostly healed by the time we get ready to go, neither of you is coming with us."
"But Kaedan—"
"He's right," Another man's voice called, "This isn't going to be an easy fight, and we can't send anyone that can't hold their own. If your injuries will get in the way of your ability to fight, then we can't risk sending you to your death."
"That voice…" Xander said quietly, his eyes wide as he whirled around, "Is that…Jaeyun?" He asked hesitantly.
The man grinned, "In the flesh, it's been a while, hasn't it, my friend?"
Xander blinked a couple of times, "...You're alive? I thought…I thought you died, I didn't hear from you after everything happened…"
Jaeyun sighed, "By the time you were able to contact me in a way that wouldn't alert the White Lotus, I was already part of the rebellion. To be completely honest, I didn't know if you were actually one of them or a double agent. I wasn't sure if I could still trust you, not until Chaewon and Elliot told us. Besides…If I couldn't trust you, I had a lot to lose," He gestured to the man standing next to him, "This is my boyfriend, Roshan," And then to the woman on his other side, "And this is Zera, our best friend."
"Hi," Zera waved, "We know quite a bit about you."
Xander sighed, "I'm assuming they're not great things?"
"A good mix of both, I suppose," Roshan smiled, "Your achievements as a lawyer and in helping to take down the Sector 1 White Lotus branch certainly do balance out the things you did while you were a member of the organization."
"Well," Xander shrugged, "I'm glad my reputation isn't entirely just that I was an assassin for a terrible group of people."
Jaeyun spoke up, "We didn't just come here to catch up, although we definitely should. I personally never thought I'd see the day Alexander Guocheng Liu ended up a married man, you were a menace as a kid."
"Shut up, I was not!" Xander exclaimed.
"No, no, please go on," Kaedan seemed very interested in the conversation.
"As much as he'd love to," Roshan glared at his boyfriend, "We have more important things to talk about."
Jaeyun's face became serious once again, "Yes, actually, this involves you too, uh…Prince Kaedan?"
"Just Kaedan is fine, I lost the Prince title a while back. Anyways," Kaedan laughed, leaning in towards Xander's shoulder.
"Not as far as the people of Sector 1 think," Another person called out from the entrance of the infirmary.
Kaedan's eyebrows furrowed, "What do you mean, Elliot?"
The other approached them, arms crossed, "According to these three and the information they've collected from rebellion members inside the Sector," He said, "People basically consider you the uncrowned King of the Sector since your dad is doing such a wonderful job. They're calling you the rightful King to the throne."
"Are you serious?" Kaedan's eyes were wide, "I mean…I thought I was disgraced. Didn't my father start spreading rumors about me after my mother died?"
"Yeah, they did, and they were…Far from flattering," Roshan admitted, "But let's just say, your dad is a shit king. Like, your mother may have been absolutely fucking insane but even she didn't let the citizens know about how bad the situation was and how wide the gap between those connected to the White Lotus and common citizens was. Of course, most people just think it's the gap between the rich and the poor, they don't know the rich are part of the White Lotus. At this point, everyone thinks anyone is better than your dad, so they chose you."
"Do they even know I'm alive?" Kaedan asked, still in disbelief.
Zera shrugged, "Truthfully, I think they're desperate at this point. Although we won't lie, it would be really handy for us to have control of Sector 1. It may be a broken Sector but the people are very persistent. This, of course, doesn't mean that we're expecting you to take control, it's just something we want you to consider."
Kaedan was quiet for a bit, "...I need some time to think about it," He said, "Honestly, I never really wanted to go back to being a royal, it fucking ruined my life. But…Let me think about it."
"Take all the time you need, babe," Xander said softly, rubbing Kaedan's arm, "You don't have to do it if you don't want to."
"I also want to remind you," Elliot grimaced, "That putting you in charge of Sector 1 will probably attract Julian Rowlock's attention."
"Ah, fuck."
"No," Xander said, "If it's going to bring that little bastard anywhere near Kaedan, then this shouldn't even be an option-"
Kaedan put a hand on his shoulder, "Just—Just wait for a second," He said, "Because this could put us in a really good place strategically. If we can get Mina to take charge of Sector 2…"
"Then the White Lotus loses a lot of its backing. That's genius, Kaedan," Zera said, her eyes lighting up.
"Don't get too excited," Kaedan said, crossing his arms, "I'm still not sure I want to do this, and we still need to know if Mina is okay with it. She has basically the same amount of plans as I do to be a monarch. I've never thought of being King, and I'm not sure I want to be."
Roshan nodded, "That's completely fair. We just wanted to let you know. Also, your father is making a spectacle out of the fact that Sector 2 is sealing an alliance with them. He knows where the Wings are, and is planning to hand it over to Julian as a show of goodwill."
"I'm sorry, he what?"
Jaeyun sighed, "Yeah, Elliot mentioned that you'd probably be the most surprised out of all of us."
"Yeah," Kaedan said, his voice still showing he was barely processing what he heard, "That's because I know my father. How the hell could he have possibly known the location of something that important? If anything, maybe my mother would have known…Ah."
"What is it?" Zera asked.
"He probably went through all of my mother's old things, and he was looking for something that might help him keep Sector 1 afloat. When Julian mentioned the Wings, he probably clung to that. My father was an idiot, but if there's anything he knows how to do, it's to kiss up to those with higher authority than him," Kaedan explained.
"Well, that solves that, I suppose. Do we have a plan?" Xander asked, looking at Zera, Jaeyun, Roshan, and Elliot.
Elliot shook his head, "Not yet," He said, "We're going to contact Bella's team at the base outside Sector 3 so we can reconnect with them and discuss our next few actions. If we're taking any action, it will probably be during the celebration of the alliance. That's in three days."
"Alright, then, we'll reconnect with them in a bit and talk about further action then. For now…We should probably try and relax, and calm ourselves down after what happened. If we're too tense, then this operation may not go well. And you two," Xander turned to Val and Nia, "You both need to rest if you want to go on this operation. Remember that if you do anything to strain your injuries or if they don't heal fast enough, we will stop you from going."
"Fine, fine, Dad," Nia muttered under her breath.
Val spoke up, "Where's Hyunwoo, by the way? And Chaewon?" She asked.
"Oh, yeah," Elliot smiled, "Chaewon is taking care of Xingxing right now and handling the matter of where she'll be staying while we're gone. Auntie Li and Uncle Gong would take care of her but they're going on the operation as well, so we need someone else to watch her. Hyunwoo went to look for Risále, but she wandered off on her own. He's going to fill her in on all the details."
Xander and Kaedan looked at each other, "Yeah, just leave them be for a while. Risále seemed a bit distracted earlier."
"Oh, where's Alya?" Val asked
"Hanging out with Ehan," Zera responded.
"...Am I supposed to know who this Ehan person is?"
"Oh, he's not a person, he's a snake."
"What."
Roshan smacked Zera's shoulder, "Don't worry, Ehan is a domesticated snake, he just likes to snuggle people. He's about the length of my forearm, really skinny. He won't hurt Alya. Last time I checked, they were getting along pretty well."
"You gave me a fucking heart attack," Val glared at Zera.
The older woman laughed, "Welcome back, Val."