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[Chevaleresse]

Kira gave Verna a long look, though it was difficult to tell what exactly it communicated - Kira herself wasn't sure how exactly she felt about the teenager. Verna seemed very fixated on killing people. She supposed she could understand something like that. The doctor's request brought her back to focusing on the things that were relevant, though she didn't speak up immediately; Kira was busy searching her memory and hoping the blow to her head hadn't made her forget anything. A thrill of worry ran through her - would she even know? She obviously wasn't going to get a chance to journal anything that happened today.

The only outward sign of these thoughts was her gaze drifting off into empty space, before she shook her head slightly and refocused on Doc. She took a moment to slide her eyepatch back into place before continuing, concealing the unnatural-looking organ once more. "She used a Force weapon resembling a baseball bat. It appeared that she had the ability to charge herself with it as well as using it as a weapon directly." Kira glanced down slightly. "She is also a very unconventional fighter."

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Eilyth
While the news was not as terrible as Eilyth had expected, it was still worse than she'd hoped. From what she'd seen, she had thought that perhaps a shattered jaw, a few torn vertebra, and a concussion might be the extent of Patricia's injuries. If what Leah described was right though... then they had already lost a great deal of valuable time. And of fucking course Brigitte of all people was the only one who might be able to save her.
    Eilyth didn't regret her adamance in leaving the bitch behind. Not even now, knowing the unforeseeable consequences that decision had wrought. She was damn near certain that if she had to put up with her in such close operation for days on end, beneath this hellish sun and the unyielding humidity and pests, she would've already snapped. She couldn't afford to snap. Not yet. Not until she was certain she could get to all of them. Because once she started, that would be it. There would be no stopping. To even get anywhere near such preparation, she'd have to get her five mandatory over with. Just a few more months. That was all she needed before she could start putting everything into place. But not a moment before that.
    But while it was true she couldn't have afforded to jump the gun, it was also true that right now, Patricia couldn't afford to go much longer without some form of medical attention. That would inevitably mean getting Brigite involved, but.... she'd cross that bridge when they got to it. For now the most important thing was getting oxygen to her before her brain started to die.

If it hadn't started already, that is.

"Leah," Eilyth said, mentally drowning out the screeching of the Dame Supreme beneath her stoney arse "...you can help her. Even if you can't heal her. Right now we just have to get her breathing, no matter how. There has to be something in the command tent that can do it. Don't start selling yourself short; you came to back me up against the most powerful person in the known world, remember? And now she's stuck beneath me, bitching about her defeat. You've already proven yourself a better CO than any I've had in five years, and I know you have it in you to at least try and help Patricia."

[Takosher]

Eilyth

Leah shook her head. "This is beyond what I can do on basic first aid training. I've seen stuff like this in movies, but I dont think stabbing her in the throat with a pen is going to help here." Leah managed to sound afraid and calm at the same time. She must have been going into shock, Eilyth had seen it once before. Leah was exceptional at taking on the unexpected, but when she encountered something she couldn't handle she started to shut down. The first stage made her disturbingly calm as her mind tried to let her analyze what was happening in a last-ditch effort to come to terms with it. But if she didn't figure it out, then it wouldn't be long before she devolved into a useless lump of sobbing flesh.

The sound of engines cut through the air over Lily's petulant screaming. A moment later, headlights came into view. Three off-road trucks, each big enough to hold seven people, a driver, and a small supply of weapons. They were cramped as all hell, especially for Eilyth, but they got people where they needed to go. Although fear made it tempting to expect enemies, the make of vehicle and the direction they'd arrived from suggested Katrian reinforcements.

To Eilyth's simultaneous relief and dread, she spotted her sister riding in the passenger seat of the lead truck.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Eilyth
Nevermind. It'd seem Eilyth would cross that bridge now, rather than later. She had to wonder just how they had so conveniently arrived now of all times. Perhaps they had heard her initial relay when Lily first struck. Or perhaps Leah had sent a message of her own, though... from her state right now, on the verge of panic about what to do with Patricia, it seemed very unlikely she had been expecting any help this soon. The answer could wait for now though, they had far bigger problems still.
     Eilyth glanced once at the passenger seat of the lead vehicle, and once only. She was almost certain there was going to be some comment along the lines of 'I told you so' down the line for all of this. It wasn't a conversation she wanted, but one she knew would be inevitable once the situation was explained. Part of her wanted to just sit there, glowering at the back of the Dame Supreme and let Leah deal with things from here. But the rest of her recognized well when her CO was on the verge of becoming a useless mess, and she couldn't deny that she owed Patricia just as much as Leah for getting out of this alive.
    She warred with herself for a few brief seconds before finally emitting a frustrated growl. Just this once. Just this fucking once. Just for Patricia and Leah both. She could only hope she wouldn't choke on her own damn spite as she swallowed it.

"Brigitte," She called out to the medic, voice cold and unfeeling as the stone that constituted her armor "The captain has a broken arm, and Patricia's throat has been crushed, among other injuries. Might have a pulse still, but she hasn't been breathing for at least a minute or two now."

[Takosher]

Eilyth

Brigitte didn't waste any time in dismounting her truck and making a beeline for Patricia. Eilyth had told her plenty, so she didn't bother asking questions as she looked over Patricia's injuries.

"Dammit." she said as she rummaged through her supplies, "Captain, are you okay to make it back to base? I can save Patricia, but i have to do it now, and I can't work on both of you at once."

"I'm fine." Leah nodded.

Brigitte shot Eilyth a look of uncertainty. She had done her best to keep this a secret, and not even her little sister knew. In fact, the captain was the only person in the entire world she'd trusted with the whole truth. Resolving herself to what she had to do, she put down her tools.

Leah realized what was happening. "Wait, Brigitte, no!"

"I'm counting on you, Captain."

Brigitte plunged her fingers into her throat, dragging her sharp nails upwards and tearing it open all the way up to her chin. Brigitte had never been good with pain, and just using her gloves to take it from others was difficult for her. This was a step above, and the tears streaming from her eyes were evidence of how much pain she was in. She started coughing, blood splattering out of her wounds as she did.

At the same time, Patricia started coughing as well, eventually managing to heave a deep breath of air. She wasn't fully aware yet, but she was alive.

Brigitte's actions had snapped Leah free of her shock and she jumped to action shouting orders. "Carol, take care of Brigitte! Frieda, Gwyneth, Oltra, help Eilyth restrain the Dame Supreme! Heavy duty stuff, she's strong! The rest of you get the tent and gear packed, we need to get back ASAP!"

Leah didn't task anyone with helping her and her arm, but Eilyth could tell by the way she was wincing that she needed it.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Monika

Once more, Kira took the advantage, saving Monika from using up her energy for talking. So much so that her only response when looked at for her input was a simple shrug, conveying a clear message of "what else do you want me to say?". Granted, there was quite a few thoughts of the matter that Monika kept to herself, mostly out of politeness for the ladies around her.

It would be rude to Kira to say that not only was Mack unconventional and powerful, but she was barely trying in their fight, toying around with them instead of fighting seriously. It would probably shatter the self worth Kira had left if she said it. It would also be rude to Verna to voice her opinion that they wouldn't be able to take them on, even though they had voiced their own opinion on just killing the two outright. War was war, after all.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Eilyth
"What... in the actual fuck?" Eilyth looked on in stunned silence as Brigitte did something... she would've thought her sister totally incapable of. Damn near kill herself in order to save someone else. Was... was this the way she treated all serious wounds? It'd been the first time she'd heard of a healer's primary method for it being self mutilation. But the result, they could not be argued with. Patricia was breathing, and well... Brigitte was...
    You know, it didn't feel anything like Eilyth had thought it would. Here she was, looking at one of her marks very potentially saving her some trouble down the line and yet... this felt empty. No glee, no satisfaction that one keeper of the cycle was gone, only five more to go. Just... plain, soul crushing nothingness. She had felt many of horrible sensation in her twenty-one years, but this was her first time experiencing the cold sting of the jaws of oblivion.
    "Why? I should be glad about this... two birds with one stone," She wondered to herself "I know what I've wanted, I know what I've been after all these years. This is part of it. So why...why? You were a fucking coward growing up, always running and hiding whenever shit started. Always left me to fend everything off alone. So what's changed between then and now? How the hell can you stand tearing your own throat open to save someone else? And why do I feel this way watching you do it?"

The dragon maintained it's silence as three Leah had assigned to properly restrain Lily got to work. It's not like it needed to do anything specific to help in the process, besides continue sitting on the bitch until it was done. It had to ask itself though, had it ever truly hated Brigitte, now that it thought about it? It most certainly had never liked her, that was damn certain for all of it's elder sisters. But hated? To the same degree as say, Tahra, or Brienne? Cay perhaps?
...
No. It simply couldn't find the same fire and vitriol saved up especially for them when it came to her. Which probably explained well it's emptiness as it watched this sorry scene play out. Without that hate, the beast knew nothing of how to feel here. Eventually the beast tore it's gaze away, mind unable to process the strange void had filled it's heart.

Once the restraining process for Lily had been complete, and only once she was sure it would keep the bitch down, Eilyth finally got her stoney ass off the Dame Supreme. For the first time since this nightmare had began, she allowed her scales to crumble around her, vanishing in flashes of brown light as she returned to a bipedal position. She made her way towards Leah, using a stone claw to cut away a strip of fabric from the hem of her already ruined uniform. It already had gaping hole in the abdomen, she doubted having a skirt a few inches shorter than mil reg was gonna matter. It wasn't the best sling by any means, but it was still better than nothing.
    "Captain," She said, holding up the strip and eyeing Leah's arm.

[Takosher]

Monika and Kira

Verna's eyes widened a tad, the unusually subtle nature of her expression more telling than any words could be. "Hey, uh, Doc. Doesn't that sound like..." Blood rushed to Verna's cheeks and she involuntarily brought a hand up to guard her lips.

"It does." Doc answered. She probably would have sounded grim if she were capable of emoting at all. "It seems Verna was incorrect, she would not be able to kill your assailant. I suppose I don't need to ask you any more. I'll be leaving Verna to guard you, let me know if you need further treatment."

"Wait, why do I have to guard them?" Verna protested.

"Because no one else is foolish enough to fill two enemy combatants in." The briefest hint of a smirk crossed Doc's face, so fast that it was impossible to say if it was actually there, and she walked off.

"Ugh." Verna dropped to the ground, crossing both legs and arms to express how disgruntled she was. "She's gonna owe me big time if I get in trouble for this. You know she didn't ask about your operations because we already know, right? The dead chick was a spy. And now that she's dead your side can probably investigate her or something, get an excuse to start fighting again. I hate politics. If I knew someone was a spy then I would just kill her myself. All this roundabout nonsense to make an excuse to kill each other, it's stupid." She adjusted her glasses and shot Kira a glare. "You agree, right? You're screwed up too, aren't you? Like me, not the baseball chick. She's a whole other level of screwed up. I used my power on her but she attacked me anyways, literally ripped off her hand and kept going." Verna shuddered. "I dunno where you guys found her, but she needed to stay there."

Eilyth

Lily was restrained in an insulated suit and heavy chains. The suit was designed mostly for heat, but it would limit her ability to conduct electricity. The chains were very sturdy, but with Eilyth somewhat in the way, they weren't able to be wrapped around the Dame Supreme very solidly. The moment that Eilyth stood was a tense one, but the increase in expletives pouring from Lily's mouth seemed to indicate that they had her contained. For the time being.

Leah accepted the makeshift sling without missing a beat, continuing to dole out commands even as Eilyth tied up her arm. Under Leah's direction, the soldiers that Brigitte had brought along were able to quickly pack up both the tent and the wounded, and they were all on the road within a few minutes.

Brigitte was stable. She couldn't speak and her breathing was difficult, but her injuries were nowhere near as bad as Patricia's had been. She'd chosen to sit next to Eilyth, perhaps to give Eilyth a chance to ask questions if she needed to.

[Chevaleresse]

Kira turned her head towards Verna. She didn't quite return the glare, but the other girl did receive Kira's signature slightly-too-wide gaze. "How did you know?" she asked, not really caring for or expecting a response. The news about Mack was unsettling, to say the least, though it did mollify her guilt over losing to the girl slightly. It also meant she had access to a healer, or worse, some ability to heal herself. It felt unlikely, but so did an entire patrol and two holy weapon users being effortlessly dismantled by someone who seemed to be barely paying attention to what she was doing. "I don't know anything about politics. Just performing as ordered and hurting people. I'm sure they think they have a good reason." She shrugged; Kira managed to make the gesture look distinctly unnatural.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Eilyth
Tense silence dominated the air between them. For Brigitte, it wasn't really a choice on her part. For Eilyth though... well, truth be told she still struggled to find what she wanted to say, if anything. The image of her sister she'd had stuck in her head all these years was so astronomically different from the woman she'd watched mutilate herself to save someone else's life. Part of her didn't want to reconcile the differences, to decry what she'd witnessed as fraud. But the rest of her thought of Patricia, now pulled back from the brink of death, and knew that for as much friction as there was between them, denying that this outcome was the result of her sister's action was such a grossly base and petty deed that not even she could stomach it.

Like it or not, this was reality. It was time to face it.

"...Is that always how you treat the worse wounds?" Eilyth finally broke the silence, "You did it with so... little hesitation. So little concern for yourself. I can barely even imagine such a thing. But you... you did it. And you've probably done it before too, haven't you?"
    She paused for moment, gazing out at the passing Wetlands, "...If that's true, I was wrong about you. No coward could willingly do what I saw you do. I was wrong about a lot of things today. Thought that south would be a good direction to search. That was wrong. Thought I could actually solo that bitch when she got the drop on me. Definitely wrong. Thought I could bait her out and catch her off guard instead. Even more wrong. That's how Patricia got in that state. Missed my counter shot and the whole plan started falling apart...she would've died for my fuck ups, had you not came when you did."
    She trailed off from there. The next words... weren't what she ever thought she'd say. They felt foreign to her. It was like school all over again. Sitting there for twice as long as anyone else, trying to make sense of what the fuck was written in the book in front of her. This whole situation... felt like that, truth be told. Just like the words, the things she thought she already knew kept shifting, changing, morphing, colliding and combining until little of it made any sense to her anymore.

But she had forced her way through school, and she would force her way through this too. She would make things make sense. And then she would figure shit out from there. It was the one thing she knew how to do, and damn if she hadn't gotten good at it by now. So even as she struggled to peice together the right words, she didn't relent until it was done.

"Th...Thank you... for saving her."

[Takosher]

Eilyth

Brigitte's face went through a slew of emotions as Eilyth spoke. First her eyes went wide with surprise the Eilyth was saying anything at all. Her mouth then opened slightly to add its own shock. Eilyth talked about her mistakes and Brigitte's mouth shut again, twisting downward in a slight frown. Her brow furrowed in confusion at Eilyth's "thank you." And then her entire face contorted all at once, filling with rage. She scrambled to find the tools to write with, eventually coming up with notebook and pen. She wrote swiftly, every corner she turned in her lettering becoming a sharp point in response. When she was finished she practically shoved the notebook in Eilyth's face.

"I don't need your thanks." was written in oversize, angry lettering.

She pulled the notebook back down, flipped over the page, and wrote some more. This time she was a little less dramatic about the act, leaving room for her to say more.

"I'm a coward, these stupid gloves are my punishment for that. They're supposed to help me save everyone, but all they do is hurt me."

For the first time, Eilyth realized why Brigitte's nails looked the way they did. They weren't just painted to look like gems, they were gems. The crystalline part of her holy weapon. Brigitte was like Lily, her weapon was a part of her body. Brigitte, the one who hated pain the most of them all, had been given an inescapable weapon, a curse, that required pain to use.

Brigitte wrote more, "You don't get a say in my cowardice and you sure as hell don't get to thank me. You're not the judge of me." A few spots on the page were wet from fallen tears.

"I ran away from everyone else, but I tried to help you. I know it wasn't how you wanted me to help, but I tried. And you hurt me for it."

"You can't just take all that back with a thank you. You can't forgive me for being a coward. I'm not sorry."

"I'll accept my punishment and suffer for others. But it's not for your sake, never for your sake. I HATE you."

Brigitte's final message wasn't shoved into Eilyth's face, it was thrown. It didn't hurt much, not physically. It did draw the attention of anyone who wasn't already watching the exchange. Every eye in the truck was on the two sisters. The driver was even peeking back through the rear view mirror. For that one pivotal moment, Brigitte and Eilyth were the center of the universe.

Monika and Kira

Verna's glare fell away and she gave Kira an inscrutable look. It's meaning wasn't clear, Verna didn't even really know what she meant for it to mean.

Kira understood.

They weren't identical, but they were both messed up people. Even when they couldn't recognize their own feelings, they could understand each other. Verna's gaze was that of a madwoman and a killer, but Kira could see something more beneath it. A trauma. Less physical than her own, but still there.

Abruptly, Verna broke out into laughter. She fell backwards onto the ground and kicked at the air while clutching her stomach. "I had no idea, I was just guessing. You looked kind of spooky so I thought I'd have a little fun, maybe scare you. I didn't expect to be right!" She rolled forwards and crawled towards, then over, Kira. She didn't stop until their faces were practically touching. Kira could feel Verna's breath on her cheeks, her nose, her lips. Heavy and panting, the laughter had used a lot of it up. Verna's eyes were wide, crazed, and a disturbing smile had torn its way across her face.

"So what do you do? Are you a killer like me? Is it torture? Rape? I once met a woman who cooked up little girls for her lunches, are you as screwed up as her? You can tell me, I promise not to tattle if it's really bad. I'm a good girl who doesn't tattle, you know."

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Eilyth
"..." Eilyth slowly picked up the tossed notepad and looked over it. All of it. She hadn't been able to fully decipher the thing the first time, but she had gotten the gist of the sentiment up until the final page. Even once she mentally forced the dancing words to stay put long enough to peice together the rest, she still kept staring at it. All she could see...

was complete.

And utter.

Bullshit.

"Hate me? You... hate me!?" She shook her head, pupils slowly narrowing to serpentine slits, "Mother Fucker, unlike some of the harpies in this family, I never laid a god damn hand on you! What the fuck are you going on about how I hurt you!? I was too busy fighting tooth and nail just to not fucking starve to even consider doing anything to your sorry ass. Even when you fucking saw it all and still hid, I never fucking went after you. Any of the rest of them would've repaid your cowardice with what it fucking deserved, had the roles been reversed."
    She slowly began to crush the notepad, unaware of the small, ash grey scales beginning to sprout on her hand. She wanted so badly to toss everything to the wind and just... just...

But Amicus. Amicus wouldn't let her. Perhaps knowing better for her in the long run than she herself did, the dragon had slowly constricted itself tighter and tighter around her throat, eventually rendering the prospect of screaming the vitriol boiling in her heart a prospect best left unexplored. But it didn't stop it from boiling still.
   "I even put you fucking last on my list. I was damn near taking you off of it even, or at least considering it. What? Did you expect me to just... forget, when you tried to play nice afterwards? Forget the treachery? Bitch, I am a dragon, and a dragon does not fucking forget. Betrayal especially. If you thought I was bad all those times I told you to fuck off like you did back whenever trouble started, then you have no fucking idea just how much I... I..."

Why was she doing this? Why had she even tried? She knew her sisters, and she knew that this family was an absolute shit show for a reason. Nothing was going to change in the span of a single day, as if all the years meant nothing. It was hot. it was humid. She had taken multiple hits from a crazy woman who runs around battlefields in the buff and sends tanks flying like its nothing. With no immediate threat to her survival, her body demanded a break. And she'd fuckin' need it too, because chances were, the brass were going to shit bricks once all of this made its way back to them. Not in the good way either. Afterall, misfits like her weren't supposed to actually accomplish anything important on assignments like these. Especially not accidentally capturing one of the two highest ranked military officials in the whole damn Tyran Republic. She hadn't considered the full implications in the moment, but now...  they had opened a can of worms that was impossible to reseal.

And you know what? She'd rather deal with that can than with anyone from this family. Any day of the week.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and the scales forming on her hand crumbled dust, and that dust faded into brown motes of light. When next she opened her eyes, they were human again. But they were empty. As empty as her garden of fucks left to give. Amicus, seemingly sensing the relent of her rage, released its hold.

"Fine." She stated simply, "Go ahead and hate me then. You're not the first, and definitely not the last. I already know I'm a monster. But even at my worse, I was always leagues kinder than any of those harpies would've been."

She dropped the partially crushed notepad, got up, and found herself a new seat. No sooner did she plop down did she force her eyes shut, letting her body find the rest it would so desperately need in order to deal with the ungodly shouting match that was sure to commence in a few hours.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Monika

Although Monika was quite willing to let Kira have a short chat with someone new, Verna's insistence and questions forced the Major to open her eyes, shooting Verna a surprisingly stern look, "I have no idea why you would encounter someone like... that, but Kira isn't nearly that bad. The worst she's done has been following orders that led to her killing someone. We all have, at some point" she commented. She wouldn't try to deny the fact that blood was on her hands as well, but it was always either her or them, nor did she have much care for the politics that she was supposed to deal with thanks to her rank. In fact, she only made a note of the fact that the only casualty was a spy, and nothing more. She could think of it later.

[Chevaleresse]

"I only kill when I have to." Kira glanced back at Monika for a moment, leaning back to free up a bit of her own personal space. She appreciated the major's defense of her, even if it wasn't entirely true. "I just take my time when I can." She wasn't really sure why she was talking to this woman at all; maybe it was her frankness. "Like I said. I do what I'm told, and I hurt people. That's all." Kira looked down. She wasn't exactly proud of her habits, hence her efforts to restrict them to targets that she felt were acceptable. Such as that Mack. As far as she could tell, she was inarguably worse than Kira herself; Kira, after all, had not participated in what was probably the deliberate creation of an international incident that would lead to a broken ceasefire. She almost found herself smiling at the thought of what she might be able to do if she somehow managed to subdue the Force meister before she realized what was happening.

[Takosher]

Monika and Kira

Verna frowned a bit, perhaps she'd been hoping for something more interesting. No, that wasn't it, there were tears in her eyes. Her face flopped into Kira's chest as she wrapped her arms around Kira in a maneuver that was half-tackle, half-hug. Verna's glasses were pushed off her face, so Kira could feel the warmth of the girl's tears sinking through her uniform.

"Please don't hurt me." she sobbed, "I don't want it to hurt if you have to kill me."

Verna let go and backed off, sitting down a little further from Kira than she'd started. Her glasses were still crooked and she was visibly upset, punctuated by her clutching her knees to her chin. Yet just as rapidly as she'd first jumped into her manic state, she snapped out of her tears. Light shot into her eyes so fast Monika and Kira could practically hear the ding of a cartoonish lightbulb popping into existence over her head.

"I know, I can tell you my weakness, then it will be easy for you to kill me really fast. But you have to promise not to tell anyone else. I don't like tattletales."