Ironwood's Office.
"General, I have to ask, why send troops to Teyvat?" Winter questioned her superior, "My father already does that idiocy on almost a daily basis at this point." She reminded.
Ironwood in response passed two folders labeled The Hannya and The Knight to Winter, "Notice anything weird about those folders?" He asked the specialist, "...They're empty." Wionter replied, seeing that was the only notable thing.
That made Ironwood sigh, "Exactly, The Hannya is an official member of the Fatui Harbringers, while The Knight is an honorary member, and we have no information on them." He explained the issue, "So to gather information, I decided to take advantage of the... 'Jacques throwing a tantrum' situation and send some troops under guise." He explained the plan.
"I guess one more war crime under father's belt won't hurt." Winter said with a small smirk before Ironwood got a call on his scroll, "It's probably one of the troops, I'll put it on speaker, you take notes Specialist Schnee." James instructed as he answered the call and put it on speaker.
"I quit!" The soldier immediately said on the other side of the line, not giving a moment for anything to come out of Ironwood's mouth, "What- Okay! One thing at a time. Did you meet The Hannya?" Ironwood asked.
The soldier on the other side groaned, "Yes! And that's why I'm quitting!" He explained with an angered and pained tone, "...What happened?" Winter decided to cut in, wanting to write down at least something, "She broke: All of my bones! I'm in incredible pain!" The soldier lamented, "The only bones that aren't broken are the ones in my left arm, my feet and my head!" He listed.
The two in the office looked at eachother slightly horrified, "Can you describe what happened?" Ironwood requested, "Oh you want me to describe it!? She has a schyte she can somehow toss as a boomerang and tentacles harder than steel beams!" The soldier exclaimed, "I could literally see the walls she hit when missing one of us crack under just her fists!" He recounted.
"Oh my- Anything else?" Ironwood requested, "Her punches ar so violent I tought I was being turned to dust! I could see the broken and dented bones through the holes she punched through us!" The soldier recounter further, shivering at the memory.
Winter was sweating cold as she imagined the scene, even having stopped writing, "I see... I'll send someone to pick you guys up, just hang o-" Ironwood was saying, but the soldier interrupted, "GUYS AS IN PLURARL!? DON'T YOU GET IT!? I'M THE ONLY ONE STILL ALIVE!!" He yelled through the scroll, shocking Ironwood and Winter, "AND EVEN THAT IS ONLY BECAUSE I FAKED BEING DEAD!!" He continued.
"H-how is that possible?" Winter shakingly got out, "How!? You think a human can survive begin flattened by seven steel beams!?" He questioned, remembering one of his squad mates being literally flattened into the ground, "Or getting shocked by a million volts!?" He questioned furhter, remembering The Hannya somehow calling lightning from the sky, "Or maybe whatever that blender thing was!?" He finished questioning, the image of his squad being liquified in a hurricane still haunting him.
Ironwood put his hand to his forehead, taking a deep breath in, his semblance working double shift to keep him composed, "Can you tell us how she was? Like mentally?" He requested, already afraid of the answer he didn't get yet, "While she was caving someone's skull in, I heard her say 'I'll tear you apart and feed you to your kids', does that answer your question!?" The soldier demanded.
As the words settled, the soldier started panicking, "No... No! NO! STAY AWAY FROM M-" Could be heard before the line cut off, "...I'm not sure I wanna her about The Knight at this point..." Winter commented, feeling faint.
Not even the time of saying that, Ironwood's scroll ringed again, and after a bit of contemplating, he answered, "General, you need to send someone to get us, now!" The soldier on the other side shakingly begged, "OH thank the brothers you're alive..." Ironwood muttered, "What's going on with The Knight?" He asked, thinking it might not be as bad as The Hannya.
"She... She seemed like a nice normal person at first, but then she invited us to her Nation..." The soldier recounted as another soldier could be heard sobbing slightly, "What happened there?" Ironwood questioned, confused slightly by the sobbing, "She brought us to the main building where she takes decisions and invited us for dinner..." The soldier started explaining.
"...She served us pies and even brought little labels with what we thought were the ingredients like plum, cinnamon, fig and others like that..." The soldier continued, "But when we cut them, they were all meat pies..." The soldier revealed, confusing Winter, but Ironwood's eyes widened in horror, "That's when we realized that the ingredients... They were the names of the last people Jacques Schnee sent here..." The soldier finished, hyperventilating as he did.
This information did it for Winter, causing her to run out of the room for the bathroom to go puke, "...I'll send pickup, stay where you are and don't make any stupid decisions." Ironwood ordered as he hang up to call someone to go pick them, "...We might be out of our league here..." He muttered, feeling his own lunch going up his throat.