-Alice P.O.V.-

I warily eyed the device ahead of us, contemplating our odds of slipping by it without triggering a sensor.

“How many of these are there?” I asked, thumbing the string of my bow, appreciating the vibration that traveled through it and into my other hand.

My brother, Arthur, was nestled low into the underbrush beside me, “Probably? A lot.”

It was surreal that I was currently kneeling, camouflaged in what amounted to an overgrown park near one of the most fortified camps in the city right beside my brother. I hadn’t expected to see him out here, and from what he’d been saying about the conditions of Sunvilla, I’d say that I was rather fortunate that he was still alive. My parents, sister, and another brother were all alive, too, albeit currently being held hostage by Benjamin’s faction.

“Hmm… well, it’s not like I want to put them to the test,” I sighed, looking at the half-meter diameter disc that protruded clumsily from the ground. It was a sensor for anything moving close to the city. Dual purposed to help defend against the stealthy biotics in the area as well as the people of other factions.

“I remember when you ran past Dave’s dogs when you were younger,” Arthur snickered as he looked back to me, “you had to climb a tree halfway to not get bit.”

I turned my attention to him with consternation, “you’re bringing that up now?”

He shrugged, “just reminded me of it, was all.”

“The last thing on my mind is to run through that.” I put a hand on my hip, appearing as unimpressed as possible, “and at least I made it to the tree, didn’t you chicken out halfway and run back?”

“Nah,” he chuckled nervously, seeing the amusement on the others faces, “you must be misremembering.”

“Uh-huh, I’m sure.” I rolled my eyes, “anyways, I think there’s the outer layer here and then probably more further in. I’m going to try something.”

“What are you gonna-” he started to ask when I drew and let loose an arrow, the shot unnerring after hundreds of hours of practice. The muscle memory and mechanical assistance made the entire process mundane, turning what would be an impossible draw for a human into something I could do casually. The arrow punched through the metal of the sensor cleanly, the only indication that it was no longer functioning being the absence of a small, dim red light that had been on before.

“We should move in closer before they realize it’s disabled,” I said, taking no small amount of relish in the way my brothers jaw fell open.

“Wow,” he murmured, “I forgot you’re basically a super soldier now.”

Richard chuckled from the side, “this is what you guys should be equipped with.” He then paused, “well, I guess yours would be somewhat lesser grade.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Arthur’s brow arched agitatedly at a potential insinuation the statement gave.

“We kind of get the best stuff.” I answered sheepishly, “I mean, most of it we’ve put together ourselves, but the Legion has built on it, makes it better.”

Richard nodded to me gratefully before casting a wary glance to Arthur.

“Sorry,” Arthur, “around here, you either stand up for yourself or get stepped on.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Richard waved it off, turning his attention forward. He seemed unperterbed on the outside, but I’d known him long enough to know that his desire to talk flagged then.

“We’re a part of Alpha team, we’re kind of a big deal,” I said aloud, my tone clearly joking as we made our way forward, keeping my voice down. From what we knew, people didn’t bother ranging far from Benjamin’s encampment, so we’d only really have to worry once we got much closer.

He snorted, “Whatever you say, little sister.”

“It’s true, though,” Richard commented, “the guy in the black and red armor back there is the Legion commander, Matthew, also known as The Reaper.”

One of the men behind Arthur, Gabe - I think was his name - said without humor, “he calls himself that?”

At this point, we didn’t get defensive over that response anymore, “Everyone calls him that. If it wasn’t for him, I think there’s a good chance Gilramore would be gone.”

There was a pregnant moment of silence bred from confusion and nervousness in the group. Arthur broke that silence with the question, “what do you mean by ‘gone’?”

I shot a meaningful glance to Richard. If at all possible I hoped he’d be the one to talk about that particular topic. Even after having beaten It several times, I still couldn’t bring myself to shake it from my memory. At night, when I was nervous and afraid, that dream would still come back to haunt me. From my early days in Gilramore, flitting from home to home while collecting little pictures of happiness for the shrine of my sanity, I took with me that most basic of lessons.

Sometimes, the universe spat out something that wasn’t right.

“There have been a lot of situations,” Richard began, “where our situation could have been similar, or worse, to what you guys have here. Matthew was one of the first people to get involved in the Obelisks and show people that they could push forward. He’s gotten rid of more biotics than probably anyone else in the city, and paid in everything but his life.” He paused as he said that, meeting my eyes for a hairs breadth. That particular topic was considered highly confidential, the fact that Matthew had been dead and cold for hours should have meant that he simply ceased to be. Instead, he somehow revived, leaving me grateful to still have one of my friends, but left cold by the manner in which he lived now.

For all that he was powerful, what did he sacrifice? There were moments where I watched him, moments where he seemed lost without even realizing it. When we spoke to him and I watched, painfully, as a mundane topic left him puzzled.

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The bulk of them were the little things, and with all of us, we made it a point to try to track what he did or didn’t seem to remember. We weren’t fools, we could see that when we talked about how something was, or something that had happened, the way he seemed to reach for something in his mind.

Something that wasn’t there anymore, perhaps.

I forced my imagination away from that, knowing that nothing good ended down that road. Some memories had been damaged, but what of it? Matthew was still Matthew, and he did right by us. He was still my friend, and one of the people who helped me when I needed help the most.

I’d stand by him, just as he would for me.

Richard continued the story without embellishment. It would be pretty hard to believe coming from most people, but the way that he told the story with confidence and matter-of-fact statement helped the process along.

We were left with quiet, mostly, after that. Only the trudging of our boots against concrete, or the absence thereof for myself and Richard, kept us company as they thought things over.

“So, just assuming that I believe that story,” Arthur started, then immediately backpedaled, “not to say I think you’re lying or anything.” Neither of us had taken any offense to that line of thought, “well, why is someone like that here?”

I blinked in confusion, “what do you mean? People here need help?”

I must have been looking at him like I thought he was dumb, because he followed up with, “no, I know that part. I mean, why him personally? And where’s the rest of the Legion? Wouldn’t people, I dunno, wanna keep the leader safe?”

Richard let out a sharp laugh before containing himself with an apologetic expression.

“We have another operation going right now that’s dragging Legion away. Even without that, though, I don’t think he’s the type of guy who’d be okay with others putting their lives on the line for him, or being pampered,” Richard smirked, “even if I don’t always agree with him, he puts his money where his mouth is.”

“When we discovered there was something odd going on here, he put it as a higher priority.” I said, pausing as I saw another of the sensors ahead. Another arrow let loose, followed by another disabled sensor. If they detected us, they certainly hadn’t raised an audible alarm yet.

“It probably doesn’t hurt that you’re on his team,” Arthur commented, “not saying that peripheral perks aren’t okay.”

“Those ‘peripheral perks’ you’re talking about saved your ass,” I muttered dryly.

“What was that?” He turned to me, brow quirked.

“Nothing important,” I sighed, seeing the wide grin on Richard’s face as he abstained from commenting.

“What’s his plan for all of this, then?” Gabe asked, a valid question considering the fate of Sunvilla might ultimately be in Matt’s hands.

I was about to answer him when I heard something in the distance ahead of us, the park vanishing quickly as it was replaced by buildings, another block or so and we’d be in Benjamin’s territory.

“Hold,” I whispered, putting a hand out and gesturing everyone down. I knelt then, too, followed by the rest.

Straining my ears, I realized I could barely even hear them, but something told me that there were definitely people ahead of us. Not a lot of them, and they were primarily immobile.

“Guards, I think,” I said, “I think they’re directly ahead, probably in the building ahead of us.

Richard soundless moved forward beside me, “we’ll need to secure a way out and back to our evac point. Hopefully our guess is right and your family is in one of the warehouses on this edge of town. Nobodies ever assaulted these bases for real, so I don’t think they’ll be expecting us at least.”

“It should be on this end of the camp.” Arthur confirmed, not able to see or hear where the guards were. “Not too much further, I think. Another block until the wall?”

I nodded, slinking forward with Richard on my side. For now, Arthur and his team would remain where they were, they just made too much noise.

There was a chagrined expression in Arthur’s face as I told him that. Probably, they were one of the stealthier teams from where they came from, but they just couldn’t compete with our equipment.

Crossing the street to the building without being detected was trivially easy, both of us moved quickly, fluidly, and pressed ourselves against the wall of the building. It looked like it had once been a storefront, though now the windows were shattered, and it seemed that wooden boards had been anchored together with bolts, wire, and anything else that the builders had been able to get their hands on.

‘Can’t wait to see what this wall ends up looking like up close,’ I resisted the urge to snicker. To my side, Richard moved forward towards the door, gesturing to the other side as he went. Wordlessly, I nodded, slipping to the side, carefully avoiding fragments of glass that remained. Grass concealed some of it, and I found myself hoping that I didn’t crack one of them.

As I rounded the corner, I could see the wall in the distance. To my surprise, it wasn’t to shabby, considering it was still only made of spare parts. Also to my surprise, I couldn’t see a visible watchtower down this way.

‘Sloppy,’ I shook my head, knowing that if there were a tower overlooking this approach, it’d be much harder to flank this building. Now, though, we’d have free reign and ample time to plot out our attack.

Which we didn’t use, because we very likely didn’t need it.

“Now.” I heard Richards voice in my ear, the comms coming to life as he kicked in his door. I followed a fraction of a second later, my stilted leg responding to my wishes. My back foot was pressed far back, front stilt flexing on contact with the door before it forcefully rebounded. A supporting pair of arms flexed outwards from my back, putting additional pressure on the ground as the door frame cracked apart, letting the door slam inwards.

I used the momentum to roll forward, bringing my bow up with an arrow notched.

There were three in the room here, and Richard was already bearing down on the other two. They were wholly unprepared for us, and the man I sighted only had the time to touch his gun.

He froze upon looking at me, unable to see my eyes, hidden as they were behind my helmet. I could see a rush of emotions roll through him, and felt my will to fire suddenly falter.

It was one thing to shoot a biotic, but apparently quite another to shoot a human being, even armed.

My fingers clenched on the arrow of their own volition, my body responding to the overriding voice in my head that said killing others wasn’t the answer.

The man lifted his weapon a second later, terror still in his eyes.

A dart hit him in the neck and a breath later his eyes rolled up into the back of his head, his body hitting the ground.

“Alice, you alright?” I heard Richard ask, coming up beside him.

Shaken, my gaze was still resting upon the prone body, “yeah, yeah I’m fine. Is he…?”

“No, not dead,” he shook his head, “do you not have any nonlethal arrows?”

I noticed the way he was looking at my arrow, still notched, still held in rigid attention. With a long, deep breath I forced myself to relax my arms.

“I don’t, actually,” I shook my head, “I guess I never really thought that I’d need it. Like, that I’d just… kill someone if I had too.”

There was no judgment in his gaze, just warmth, “that’s never a bad thing to find out you can’t do.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “Come on, we have to get the others.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, shaking it off, “you’re right. And thanks.”

He smirked, the look that I just couldn’t help but feel a little bit brighter upon seeing. “Anytime.”

We quickly made our way back to the others. “Path’s clear,” Richard pointed down the alleyway next to the building, “we can probably just stick to the alleyways until we get closer.”

Arthur nodded, “what are we doing about the wall?”

I knowingly looked to Richard, “that shouldn’t be an issue.”

As silently as we could with a large group, we moved forward towards the wall. My thoughts and nerves raced as I thought of all the ways this could go wrong. We were a small group, and I doubted that anyone who was kidnapped would be unguarded. At the very least, I hoped that they were alright...