As Ainslee and the rest of her family helped to comfort my sister, I called Vice-Commander Carpenter to let her know about the current situation with my sister and that we all would likely not be coming in for our morning training sessions. She was understanding, I think she may have even suspected that something like this might happen when I told my sister about the reality of her dreams. She told me that she would let our trainers know for me and encouraged me to spend the morning with Kelly, giving her the support she needed.

The Vice-Commander still wanted me to come to see her in her office after lunch though since she had something that she wanted to discuss with me. To be honest, there were a couple of things that I wanted to discuss with her as well, so I agreed to it. I had concerns about not just Kelly’s mental welfare, but Karen’s as well, and how the simulated Incursion training with Sergeant Vale might affect them if the future sessions were anything like the last one. In fact, I was a little worried about all our mental states if we kept having our worst fears rubbed in our faces like that.

We spent most of the morning keeping Kelly company and just being there for her while she tried to process things. Despite having had these dreams for months, now that she knew they were real and couldn’t dismiss them as some worst-case scenario that she had imagined, it was like there was a fresh, gaping wound on her soul. My sister was emotionally raw and hurting and I could see the shame that those memories summoned in her, even if she didn’t say it out loud, but most of all, Kelly was angry.

That was what we saw the most. There was this hot, simmering anger directed toward the Titans for what they had done to her, and that they had somehow stripped her of her free will so that she went along with it, a prisoner in her own body. She had no way of fighting them then, and now she wanted nothing more than to fight them as she couldn’t before and to make them pay for everything.

I had never seen Kelly this raw, hurting, and angry before, and, in many ways, it hurt even more than when I had first seen her in the hospital, unresponsive and catatonic. This was a fresh emotional wound though and I could only hope that it would heal with time and therapy. Kicking some Titan ass might help a little too, at least in the short term, but right now I wasn’t sure if I could count on her to make sensible decisions in combat or listen to orders if we were to fight in a simulation again, or even worse, face the Titans in person.

Personally, I thought it might be best if she could have a couple of days to be allowed to process all this and get a handle on that anger before introducing her to any situation that may tempt her to focus on that rage. While there was probably something to be said for letting out all that anger on a safe target, I wanted her to be able to focus and follow orders in combat. I also didn’t want beating up Titans, illusory or otherwise, to become some sort of emotional crutch for her.

I liked to think that, despite everything she had been through, I still knew my sister better than anyone, except maybe Mom. At least, I hoped I did. I was honestly feeling a little out of my depth here, but my sister needed me, and I was going to try to do my best to help her to heal in a way she wouldn’t come to regret later. We were still going to make the Titans pay together, I promised her that, but we needed to be smart about it and not just go in guns blazing. We would need a plan when the time came for that, and I was slowly piecing one together, one day at a time.

Unfortunately, Aunt Maya and Sammie had to leave to work at the store just before lunch, leaving the rest of us on our own. Before she left though, Aunt Maya made her rendition of Loco Moco for lunch for us, she even tried to make Sprite-sized servings for me and Poppy, though that probably wasn’t easy. It was a simple comfort food that she had grown up with in Hawaii and used to make for us when we were kids. It wasn’t all that hard to make and it was something she would make for lunch or dinner when one of her kids, or sometimes Kelly or I, needed to be cheered up.

Loco Moco was basically just a bed of rice topped with a nice juicy hamburger patty, some brown gravy, and then a nice yolky fried egg and her special blend of spices. From the sound, or even the look of it, some people might be dubious about the taste, but it was so good, and I quietly thanked her for thinking of it before she and Sammie left. This was a familiar taste of our childhood, and I thought that right now, that might be just what Kelly needed to help ground her.

Taking that as my cue, I decided that Kelly could probably use another calming afternoon of caring for and riding Moonlight. So, I once again teleported everyone to the stables at the university. After a brief dip in the pool to rehydrate, Selina came along with us as well, hoping to ride Moonlight for a bit too, and probably to distract Kelly by having my sister give her a refresher on proper horse care. After dropping everyone off at Moonlight’s stall, I told them, “I’ll be back soon, I still have to go see Vice-Commander Carpenter.”

-My Maiden, I do not like this. I should be at your side in case you need me,- Moonlight tried to convince me yet again. She was not happy with this idea and had voiced her objections before when I told her what I had planned.

“I know, Moonlight,” I replied gently, mind-to-mind. “I just think that right now, Kelly needs you far more than I do. I’ll be perfectly safe at the tower, but I need you here with the others, keeping an eye on them for me and being a calming presence for my sister. You know that I wouldn’t ask you to do this otherwise.”

-I know,- she reluctantly replied as she let loose both a hearty mental sigh and a more physical equine snort. She wasn’t happy about this, but she was willing to do it for me. -Be cautious, Lily, and return to my side immediately if anything happens to endanger you.-

“I will, but I’m not worried about that happening at the tower. Right now, I’m far more worried about Kelly’s mental state, and I believe some more time with you could be a big help to her right now,” I replied as I hugged her neck before telling everyone that I would return after my appointment.

“The Vice-Commander will see you now, Cadet-Major Pierce,” the secretary’s voice called out, rousing me from my thoughts. I was trying to get them in order for this meeting, so I knew what I needed to bring up before leaving. I wasn’t sure what the Vice-Commander wanted to talk to me about, but I did know that there were certain issues that I wanted to address before they became a problem and somebody on my team got hurt, or worse.

In response to the call, I flitted to the door that separated this reception area from the Vice-Commander’s actual office. As she did last time that I was here, the secretary held the door open for me so I could go on through. I appreciated the kind courtesy and realized that I really should get to know her name at some point, especially if I was going to be visiting this office often.

I flew over to land on the Vice-Commander’s desk beside the Fairy-sized chairs but didn’t sit yet. “Cadet-Major Pierce, reporting as requested, Ma’am.”

“At ease, Lily, and please make yourself comfortable. This meeting isn’t an official one, and it won’t be on record. In fact, nobody knows about this meeting but you, any of your team members that you told about it, and my secretary, Pauleen. I would prefer that it stay that way, for now.” That had me raise my eyebrows in surprise as I moved toward the chairs she gestured to.

“Thank you, Ma’am,” I managed to respond as I took a seat and got comfortable. “If this isn’t an official meeting, may I ask why you wanted me here?”

“It’s in regard to a matter of some significance to one of your team members,” she replied without actually answering. “First, how is your sister doing? I respect your decision to tell her everything, but it must be very difficult for her to accept the truth, now that she knows.”

I sighed and nodded. “Yeah, she’s taking it pretty hard, but she’s more angry than anything. She wants to make them pay for what they’ve done. I can totally understand that, but I’m worried about that anger clouding her judgement if I don’t handle this right.”

“Do you think that she’ll be okay to do your simulation training with Sergeant Vale tomorrow?” While she sounded concerned for Kelly’s welfare, her expression was hard to read, but I was happy that she brought that up. This was one of the topics that I wanted to address, and if this meeting wasn’t official then I was going to be brutally honest.

“No,” I stated simply, pausing to let that word hang in the silence between us for a moment before elaborating. “Even if she wasn’t reeling from what I told her this morning, I don’t think she would be ready for that any time soon. Honestly, I don’t think any of us are.”

Her face remained impassive, save for a single eyebrow rising as she asked, “What do you mean, Lily?”

“Sergeant Vale took that first session way too far,” I told her without any hesitation. My team’s mental health was at stake here; I couldn’t afford to hesitate. “He had us running those simulations for over four hours straight, and almost every damn time we were all facing our worst fears. I can understand what he wants to do by making us face our fears while getting us combat-ready, but if he continues this way, he’s just going to end up breaking some or all of us in the process instead of preparing us to fight the Titans. There has got to be a better way to train us all without traumatizing us further. We won’t be going through that again.”

To my complete disbelief and utter shock, Vice-Commander Carpenter didn’t look nearly as upset as I was expecting at my complete refusal of the training regimen. In fact, she was smiling, almost from ear to ear, as she said, “You passed, Lily. Sergeant Vale, the old grouch that he is, thought you were going to be stubborn and try to have your team tough it out, in which case you would have gotten a lecture before your team training session with him tomorrow. I had faith in you though.”

I just sat there for a moment, staring at the Angel as I tried to process what she just said. “Passed? What?”

She gave me a sympathetic and kind look. “I apologize for having to put you and your team through that, Lily. Sergeant Vale had to walk a very fine line to push you hard enough to make you all face your fears, simulation after simulation but not so far as to push you over the edge of what you could all endure. It was why he was going over how you all did after each simulation, to give you all a mental breather and something else to focus on. Did you know he’s one of our resident psychologists as well as a drill sergeant? I can assure you that your future sessions will be far less physically demanding and emotionally upsetting.”

“Why the hell would you do that?!” I snapped angrily. “What kind of test was this?! Was this just to see how far you could push us before we would break?!”

“In part, yes,” she said with a sigh. “You could be placed in an Incursion Zone at any time, Lily. We won’t be able to use our regular training methods with you because you could see action as soon as the next Incursion if it’s in an area where we can get a live feed for you to teleport through, so we would like to prepare you for that as well as we can, physically and mentally before it happens. Now that we know the limits of your resolve and mental fortitude, we can start planning a more gradual training regime for your team. This was a test for you in particular though, Lily.”

While I sat there fuming and trying to keep control of my temper, the Angel continued to explain. “Before we could put you in a situation where you might be in command in the field, we needed to be sure that you were going to be the kind of officer we want for our Incursion teams. Following orders is good, most military organizations depend on people being able to follow the orders of their superiors, but you shouldn’t blindly follow orders that are to the detriment of your team just because you were told to. A good officer needs to know when to follow orders and when to refuse an order that might do their team more harm than good. That is why you passed.”

“Why would you put us all through that, just to test my leadership skills?!” I practically growled.

“We did need to know the limits of you and your teammates as well, so we can work up to gradually pushing you past those limits rather than risking pushing you all too hard until you break. Also, it is inevitable that even in the easier training sessions, you or one of your teammates may see something that triggers you. You all need to be prepared for that possibility. So, while this was partially a test for you, it did serve a purpose for your team as well,” she patiently explained.

“As for testing you, in particular,” she continued, “Incursions are chaotic by their very nature, and anything could happen in the field. Comms don’t work in Incursion Zones either, so we can’t micromanage every team that’s out there. We have to be able to trust our officers to know their teams well enough to know what they can handle, what tactics work best for them, and where they’re going to be the most useful. In the field, you won’t just be passing down orders from above, you will have to make decisions that could make or break your team.”

I was still mad that they had tested us in that way, but I could also see the logic that she was trying to point out. As much as I hated to admit it, it made sense when looking at it that way, but that didn’t mean I had to be happy about it. “Fine,” I finally grumbled, “but these training sessions better be less intense from now on, and I’m not using Karen’s tracking implant to shock her anymore either, not unless it’s an actual life or death situation. She said it’s okay, but I think it’s only going to make her resent me in the long run and make earning her trust more difficult.”

The Vice-Commander nodded, seemingly in agreement. “I understand your reluctance, and you make a fair point. You will still be receiving general orders from your superiors, but when those orders are not specific, it will be up to you how those orders are carried out. I know that you will do what’s necessary while considering what is best for both your team and any innocent civilians. Training and experience will help to make those decisions easier for you. Now that that unpleasantness is over with, let’s get to the reason I called you here today, Lily.”

Grudgingly, I let her get away with the topic change. There wasn’t anything else that could be said about that training/test anyway and I needed to focus on something else so I could cool off. The Angel tapped her comm ring, summoning a holographic image of two people talking on a somewhat familiar city street. It looked like it might be security footage, and she asked, “Do you recognize either of these people?”

I was about to say no as I took a closer look at the holographic image floating in front of me, but then I realized that I did recognize one, the one who looked like a Satyr. I had seen and memorized his face and name very recently, in Karen’s file. “Isn’t that Alistair Davenport?” I asked, fairly certain that I was right.

“Indeed,” she agreed with a nod of her head. “In the past two years that he has been living in Amethyst Harbour, he has had three restraining orders placed against him, five complaints of stalking, and nearly a dozen suspected sexual assaults. These cases either weren’t pursued or were dropped because of lack of evidence, the victims backing off, or out-of-court settlements. He hasn’t done anything that would place him in our jurisdiction and allow the Vanguard to punish him, at least not yet.”

“Not yet?” I asked as she stressed the last word.

“My intel says that the human man he’s with is Jacob Carson, a servant with long term ties to the Davenport family. The footage shows the pair on their way to a hotel that overlooks the main entrance to Vanguard Tower, a hotel where Carson recently rented a room. We believe that the larger of the two bags that he’s carrying contains long-range surveillance equipment,” she explained.

My first thought was, “Who in their right mind would be stupid enough to try to spy on the Vanguard, and why?” The answer came to me before I could even voice it though, and I didn’t much like it. I was pretty sure that Alistair Davenport wasn’t in his right mind from what I’d seen in Karen’s file and there could only be one reason why he’d have his man watching Vanguard Tower. Just to be sure though, I asked, “You think he’s watching for Karen?”

“Yes,” she agreed with a nod. “It’s public knowledge that she’s currently in our custody until she can be moved to her dorm in the university. When I read Karen’s mind, I discovered that he made threats of a sexual nature to her, and he is not one to give up easily. If he thinks he has an opportunity, he will pursue it.”

“So, what are we going to do about it?” I asked. The last thing I wanted was for this guy to get his hands on Karen. She had been through enough already, and this guy could be a problem.

“We can’t do anything, I’m afraid. He hasn’t done anything yet, at least nothing I could prove without getting him in a hearing and reading his mind, like the one after Terry Lundburg and Karen attacked you and your friend,” she sounded disappointed, but she was hinting at something too, and I thought I could smell what she was cooking.

My suspicions were confirmed when she suddenly changed the topic. “Did you know there’s a large area of wilderness owned by the Vanguard around the perimeter of the city? It includes an area for survival training and outdoor activities along the lakeshore. If your team needs a break, maybe you might want to head there sometime. I could get you out of your regular training if you would like to take a long weekend sometime. I hear the weather is going to be nice this weekend and a camping trip could be a nice team building activity. It would be private too, just your team and a couple of Vanguard strike teams doing stealth ops training for the weekend, but you likely wouldn’t see them and I would let them know not to bother you unless you need them for some reason.”

“And what if someone else was to bother us during this trip?” I asked. This guy knew how to prepare, and he’d squeaked out of facing justice far too many times for me to think he wouldn’t come after Karen without some sort of backup and a plan to deal with the rest of us. If he read about the court case, he would probably be prepared for Ainslee and me at the very least. He wouldn’t know I could teleport though since that wasn’t common knowledge.

“Well, then it would be a good thing that there are strike teams training on site. If someone was stupid enough to say… attack one or more of you before one of those squads could arrive to help, then I would expect you all to defend yourselves however necessary until help arrived, by whatever means you deem necessary.”

I could understand what she was getting at here. If Davenport was going to attack Karen at some point, which seemed likely, it would be better if it happened at a time and place of our choosing, when we could be ready, and have backup waiting. And if he lived through this, attacking us would place him in the Vanguard’s legal jurisdiction.

This wasn’t something that I was going to accept without input from my team though, especially Karen since she would be the one most at risk as the bait. We would need to be prepared too, without looking like we were expecting an attack. If Davenport didn’t take the bait, then maybe we could all actually have some fun and do some bonding.

“A camping trip could be fun and good for team building,” I agreed as I mulled it over. “Thank you for the suggestion. I’ll ask the others and see if they want to go camping and I’ll let you know if we decide to take you up on the offer.”