Trust Issues

The dark of night covered their return back to the camps, and while they weren't in any danger of getting caught, the adrenaline rush of the day had faded, which now left the entire group in a state of exhaustion- even Evie was a little more subdued than usual.

A gentle mist had begn to appear over the path on their trek back. The cool night air had cooled the moisture, causing it to sweep downward and blanket the whole of the area with lowered visibility. If anything, that helped them get past the other instructors who were doing their regular checks on the camps, ensuring that none of the new Soldiers had done what their group had.

Of course, they technically had approval through Gustave. Even if the man hadn't actively told them to go out and look (or ordered them, as one of their Instructors,) he had admitted to turning a blind eye to such things.

That left the group willing to investigate, although Wesley realized that they'd still have to actually report back in to Gustave, although the old man hadn't asked them to, he was still curious about why the Wall hadn't seen any attention from the Government.

John paused as he was near his own group's camp, and looked back to the others as they too stopped in their movements under the cover of the fog, looking back to him. "I don't know what I'm going to do yet. About that Framework of yours," John spoke quietly, as if he didn't want anything nearby to overhear him.

"If it's any help in weighing your choice, dude, it was Major Ellen that told us to keep it a secret," Jay spoke, folding his arms over his chest as he looked to John. "So if you want to go and blab about it, that's fine, but you might end up pissing her off a bit."

"Oh yeah! That's right!" Evie spoke, moving forward toward John and reaching out her hand, pointing a finger at his chest. "So don't go talking about things or she's gonna beat you up. Somehow. I don't know what she does," Evie admitted after a moment, even with her finger still pressed up against John's sternum.

John frowned at that, glancing to the rest of them. "Do you know why she wanted to keep it a secret?" he asked simply, not beating around the bush.

"I have some theories," Wesley responded. "She didn't come out and say why, but I'd guess it's because people would be a little weirded out if they knew I could just take their Framework," the young man spoke quietly, feeling so much more stable and balanced, mentally, after he'd taken on the Time Framework from that Traitor.

At those words, John nodded, side-eyeing the others. "The fact that he can do that doesn't bother you?" he asked, once more cutting right to the point rather than trying to stall for time. Either he was in a hurry to get back before they were discovered, or he was simply done with the pretenses.

"No way!" Evie cheered, the girl grinning widely. "I think that it's really cool! How else would we beat the Beasts? Just wait until we got lucky enough for more Tier Threes? That's so lame!" the girl continued. "So now we've got a way to fight back and get better and everyone treats it like a problem!"

The girl wasn't normally so opinionated, but this seemed to really get under Evie's skin, the spritely young woman animated and pumping her fists in her excitement as she pointed to John again. "People like you!"

He blinked at Evie's outburst, but seemed mostly nonplussed as he looked to the others. "What about the rest of you? Where do you fall?"

Sasha shook her head. "I don't really see it as a problem if you want an honest answer. If it was some other jerk like your boss with it, sure then I'd have a real problem. But Wes knows what he's doing and he's not someone who's just going to go around taking Framework from other Soldiers."

John frowned at that, folding his arms over his chest, a bit on the defensive here. "He just took the Framework from that Traitor," John pointed out.

"Yeah, because he's siding with the Beasts," Wesley responded, his tone still even. The lack of aggression he'd been showing was mostly gone. "I'm going to clear all of the Beasts out and let Humanity live here again. Safely."

John frowned, before his gaze moved to Jay. "He's your brother, so I assume you don't have any problem with what he can do," John said, and Jay grinned slightly, nodding in response to that. "All right. That just leaves you," he finished, looking over toward Theodore.

If there was anyone that might actually see the problem here, John was hoping that it was going to be him. Wesley seemed to very much respect Theodore's thoughts and opinions, and so having Theodore on John's side seemed to be the angle he was going for here.

There was a long pause (as was often for Theodore) before eventually Ted slowly gave a shake of his head. "It is of... some concern. But as... Sasha said... Wesley is not... the type... to abuse this." As he finished speaking, Ted looked up toward Wesley then, a frown creasing his features. "Do not... prove me wrong."

Wesley couldn't help a slight smirk at the words. "Don't worry. I meant what I said. I don't plan on doing anything that will cause problems for anyone that's on our side. If you Traitor then you're just as bad as the Beasts. Worse, even," Wes continued.

At all of the agreement from everyone, John sighed slowly. "All right. Then, at least for now, I'll follow your lead. Unless you do something that makes me blow the whistle, I'll let you just do your own thing. Just don't make me regret this decision."

"I won't," Wesley spoke, extending his arm for a handshake. John hesitated for a moment before he took it, the pair shaking on it. "Now, are you done with all this? We need to get back before Gustave has to write us up for not being present.

"And I'm super tired!" Evie cheered.

John snorted out a small laugh, before he nodded. "All right. Then let's just do what we need to do for now, and if it comes up, it comes up. But I'm not going to tell anyone," John continued, and the group nodded before John turned away, heading back to his own camp.

As Wesley led the group back toward their own camp, Jay glanced to Wes. "So if word gets out, what's your plan?"

"I'm a twenty-fiver on paper. The Skill I have no one's seen before so I doubt anyone would believe him. I can just do a little bit of everything. If they want to test my Framework though, I'd just spread it out among you all before I go and redo the test."

Evie grinned at that, skipping slightly as she turned to face Wes. "You've thought of everything!"

"I wish," he spoke with a small laugh. "For now though, we just need to lay low. Sasha's right. Experience and training are going to help more than us going off all over the place."

"Of course I'm right," Sasha spoke, shaking her head. "I'm perfect."

Wesley rolled his eyes at that. "Yeah, we'll see how perfect you are tomorrow on four hours of sleep. Come on," he murmured as the group made their way back to their camp... and prepared to rest up for the next day.