As Cold as Stone, Don't Back Down

"Explain. Now." Shozu spoke slowly while holding a wooden polearm as they stared at Ender and Terrence in silent anger. Terrence merely chuckled nervously and kept glancing at the weapon while Ender kept thinking of ways to explain his innocence. After all, it was the brunet who made the idea, not the redhead.

"Terrence split up from me the moment you weren't around," He blurted out quickly. The other hunter looked at him in shock, never imagining his own partner would betray him like that. "I told him not to, but he didn't listen."

"You jerk, you weren't supposed to say that!" The staff sergeant yelled.

"Hey, I'm trying to save my neck by being honest. I'm not ready to die so soon you know!"

"Neither am I, but I'm not ratting you out like you did!"

"How would you rat me out if I did nothing wrong?!"

"I- urgh! Damn you!"

"Are you finished?" The lieutenant-general interrupted as they stared at their subordinates, a dark look casted over their eyes. "If you are- and don't tell me you aren't- I'll start talking now."

They glanced at Terrence and smiled evilly. "Today, I was supposed to train the rookies, get them an understanding how to fight against the cryptiens, you know?" They stabbed the ground in front of the brunet and stood in front of them again. "But, since you decided to pull this little trick, you get to do this instead."

"What?! Why me?!"

"I thought I told you already," They turned around and walked away, calling Ender as they did. "And to make this better, until you get to teach them properly, you don't get to go on another mission!" The redhead just followed quietly while the other hunter continued complaining.

After they could no longer see the sergeant, Shozu stopped in front of a small building and glanced at their companion. "You're not off the hook either, lieutenant. You didn't agree to splitting up, but you didn't try to stay with him. Therefore-" The two hunters entered the building as Shozu grabbed a small lantern and gave it to Ender. "You get to go patrol during the night for a week."

"Ah-" He sighed and took it, and nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Good," They smiled a bit and walked out, the other following suit. "Now let's go meet the Chief warrant officer 4, hm?"

"Um," The lieutenant quickened his pace to look at his superior. "Which one?"

The older hunter glanced at him again before looking ahead. "Kiranti, who else?"

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Staring at the large tower in front of him, Ender felt uncomfortable just thinking about going in there. He was never one to understand technology, and a room filled with it made him think he would lose his mind staring at a screen full of ones and zeros.

He hugged the lantern he was holding and followed the lieutenant-general inside, glancing around the multiple rooms as warrant officers moved back and forth, calling out orders to different battalions and divisions, all with a big screen at the center of it all that showed the hunters outside the city. Small lights that appeared on the screen indicated hunters leaving the city, while lights that suddenly disappeared indicated a soldier missing or dead.

Ender felt someone tap his shoulder, and he turned to see a young brunette looking at him confused. "Mind explaining why you're standing there with a lantern?"

"Uh, lieutenant-general Shozu brought me here?" To be honest he lost sight of the superior the moment he entered the building, the lights from the screen almost entrancing to him.

"Alright then, so where are they?" The woman asked and raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Right here, don't worry." Shozu piped up, standing in front of the screen as they watched hunters enter and leave the forest. "You can relax, Ki. He's not here to cause trouble."

Oh so this was Kiranti. He was expecting a woman more . . . geeky and with an aura that screamed 'I'm a nerd that knows a lot about technology!'. Maybe he spent too much time with Terrence. The warrant officer ignored him and stood beside the superior, starting up a normal conversation with them.

Ender quickly followed and tried not to bump into the others here. The white-haired soldier didn't even bother to look at him when he arrived and started asking questions. "Ender, do you recall meeting a soldier by the name of Willow?"

"Willow?" An odd name, but he wasn't familiar with it. He could hear tiny snippets of the passing officers' conversations, that name popping up again and again. Were they important? The redhead didn't recall knowing any superior with that name though.

"I don't think I need to point it out that she's missing, given how everyone here is talking about it." The lieutenant-general's eyes kept scanning that large screen as lights flickered across the board. "She's a major-general, same rank as Feris. The two of them were friends actually, but she never spoke much."

So that's why everyone was worried. A major-general was only two ranks lower than general, so if someone from that rank went missing, it was a problem indeed. "The thing is," Kiranti spoke up. "When we were first informed about it, we looked at what area her mission could have been assigned to. But she wasn't given a task to do after she completed her previous mission up there-" She grabbed a pointer and raised it to the edge of the screen, where a red circle pulsed on the screen. "Two weeks ago."

"She's been missing a week and a half, and the elders are getting angry." The chief warrant put her pointer down and looked at the two hunters. "So, we need you, Shozu, and Feris to go and scout the area, see if you can find whatever you can to help increase the chances of finding her."

Shozu nodded. "And I'm guessing that I can't bring anyone along with us?"

"Nope," She glanced at the papers given to her by the other officers. "The elders also mentioned that you two are required to go and return within the week. Should you stay out of the city longer than that, general Knox will be assigned to find you and bring you back, dead or alive."

Ender paled at the thought of having to do such a mission. He sighed in relief knowing he wouldn't be allowed to join this mission. He glanced at the white-haired soldier as they groaned and nodded again. They turned on their heel and took their leave, calling the redhead to follow once more.

"We'll be leaving in the morning then! Be sure to track our movements once we leave, Ki!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever! And you, guy with the lantern!" The lieutenant stopped and looked at her. "Don't bring that here again, we don't want the machinery malfunctioning."

"Uh, ok!" He nodded and ran off behind the older soldier. "Where to now?"

"You get to go to your squad dorm and relax," Shozu stopped and looked at the sky. "Or train your teleportation ability, I could care less. Be sure to head to the sector basement before heading out for your patrol. I need to inform Feris of the mission and check on Terrence." With that, the lieutenant-general left to their own sector.

". . . I should go to the infirmary first then."