Ace hurried along the rooftop of one of the buildings of the Danlashian garrison. He'd snuck inside the information center and snatched up a map of the facility, but now needed to find a spot where he could look over it without himself being seen. 

He ducked and rolled as the bright beam of a spotlight swept across his path from one of the lookout towers planted on the rooftop. Then he dashed over to the tower itself and flattened himself against it. He used the residual light to glance over the map before it moved too far away. 

With a nod, he changed direction and headed for the east side of the building. If he travelled in a straight line from here, he only had to pass through one patch of open field to reach the confiscation bay. 

After sliding to avoid another lookout's spotlight, he found himself right at the edge of the roof. He peered over the brink and plotted out his plan. Below, a group of newbie soldiers stood in a circle and stared down at a trio of officers holding shovels, who instructed them on how to dig a trench. 

Ace inhaled sharply and prepared to carry out his quickly-formed plan. He slipped a black ball from one of his inside coat pockets, shook it vigorously, and hurled it down into the growing trench. 

One of the soldiers jumped at the black ball's swift descent. "What was that?" he cried out, frantically glancing upwards. 

Before anybody could answer, the ball erupted into a flurry of blinding lights and vivid colors. The soldiers covered their eyes and tried to blink their vision back. 

Ace hopped down from the rooftop and rolled on impact. With special lenses covering his own eyes, he dashed over to the trench and unstrapped his machine gun from his back. He pulled the trigger, swept the stream of bullets over the soldier's heads, and released it a mere three seconds later. 

He slipped down into the hole, carelessly stepping on the unmoving bodies as he did so. Then he shot one last bullet at the ball, and the shell cracked. A viscous liquid of every imaginable color oozed out of the fractured husk. With a sigh, Ace removed the lenses and pocketed them. He glanced over at the soldiers' bodies, searching for anything worth looting. Then he spotted something imbedded in the dirt beside one man's hand. 

A silvery stone carved into the shape of a skull stared eerily up at Ace, its eyes shining a dim red, despite the complete lack of any light source. He raised an eyebrow at the strange sight. Then, as running footsteps came closer, he snatched himself back into reality. He stooped down, picked the stone out of the earth, pocketed it, and clambered out of the trench. As before, the frantic waving of flashlights failed to reveal his location as he dashed across the open terrain toward the confiscation center. 

******************** 

Several hours later, Ace looped a rope around his waist, freeing his hands to pry the second-story window open as he dangled from a fascia post on the balcony above. With some effort and several shoves of the tapered piece of metal in his hands, he'd made a gap large enough to slip his hands underneath and push it open. 

After dislodging the rope from the balcony and coiling it up again, Ace crawled through the window. He smirked and nodded as he realized he'd reached the right place. Keira slept in the bed nearest the window, her back to him, while Wendy snored in the second bed. Aaron slumbered in an improvised hammock stretched between a knot tied around Sila's metallic neck, and a supporting pillar in the middle of the expansive hotel room. 

Ace stalked across the floor to the coat rack, sighing quietly as the restful expressions on Aaron and Wendy's faces caused him to realize his own suppressed sleepiness. 

"Who the heck are you?" Keira hissed from her bed as Ace passed. 

Ace spun on his heel, a blade in his hand and a finger on his lips. "Just your favorite stealth operative." 

The darkness was too deep to see her expression, but Ace heard Keira huff, and practically felt her roll her eyes. "Did you do it?" 

"I did." 

"You're lying." 

"I'm not." 

Keira giggled as quietly as she could. "You mean to tell me that you outsmarted and outgunned an entire military base, and got the Sand Dollar out in one piece? C'mon, there's no way!" 

"There is. Called reality." Ace remarked. 

"How'd you know where we'd be, anyway?" 

"I put a tracker in my dinner jacket. Why else would I have put it on you?" 

Keira laughed. "Somehow, I was wondering if that was your version of 'putting a ring on it'." 

Ace snorted. "Wishful thinking." 

"No! I never said I approved, just—" 

"Yeah, cool." Ace said, quietly stepping over and removing his jacket. After he hung it up, he stepped back over to Keira's bed. "Mind if I sleep with you? Well...not like that," he revised with a chuckle, "but you know what I mean." 

"Well, I dunno, now you made it weird, so I'm gonna have to say no. Just slip in beside Wendy." 

"No way. I'd wake up with an organ missing, if I wake up at all." 

The airy noises coming from Keira's mouth sounded much like a laugh obstructed by her palm. "How about Aaron?" 

"What about me?" Aaron mumbled from his hammock. 

"I'm back. Sup." Ace replied. 

"Oh, cool, you got it?" 

"Yep." 

Keira coughed. "You sound so nonchalant, Aaron! Did you know all along?" 

Aaron chuckled heartily, his joviality increasing as Wendy stirred from the unrestrained noise. "Of course I did. Gotta keep you two on your toes, you know." 

Wendy groaned. "What in the bloody world is going on?" 

"You just woke up." Aaron replied. 

"Well of bloody course, duh!" Wendy exclaimed. "Why're you two up talking so late?" 

"Two?" Ace questioned. 

The blankets and sheets rustled as Wendy abruptly sat up in her bed. "What the heck, Ace? When did you get here?" 

"Just now." 

Aaron chuckled. "She thought you betrayed us and left." 

Ace shrugged. "Cool." 

Wendy leapt out of her bed, marched through the darkness, and flipped the light switch, squinting at the sudden change. "Crikey, that's bright!" 

"Why'd you turn it on, then?" Ace asked. 

"Gotta make sure you didn't bring a bloody contingent with you!" the Danlashian replied as she stormed over to the bathroom. 

Ace only glanced at Aaron, who sat in his hammock and gazed fondly at the blonde. When he noticed Ace's stare, he flashed him a cheesy grin and a thumbs-up. 

Finally, Wendy emerged, apparently satisfied. "Not this time. But I've got my bloody eye on you." she said, jabbing Ace's shoulder with her finger. 

"Got it." he answered, slipping a cigarette from his box. 

"No, not in here!" Wendy shouted, slapping it from his hand and smashing it under her foot. 

"I expect to be paid for that." 

"Well, you're not getting a single bloody crown outta me!" 

"Wendy..." Aaron said patronizingly. 

She glared up at him. "What?" 

He cleared his throat and sat up, a smirk perched on his lips. "Nothing, I just like your name." 

Wendy narrowed her eyes at Aaron and stared up at him for a second. Then she swept her gaze back over to Ace. "Your payment is living through the bloody night." 

"Harsh, but I've come to expect that from you by now." Ace remarked. "Where'm I sleeping?" 

"The bloody floor, obviously." 

Keira tossed her comforter on the floor. "You can lay on that, I guess." Then she squinted at her two blankets. After a moment's hesitation, she hurled one of those down. 

Ace nodded as he shrugged his shirt off. Keira looked away. Out of politeness or embarrassment, he was unsure. But Wendy stared at his body with a brazen face, her eyes scanning appraisingly. 

"What're all those bloody scars?" she finally asked when he turned and his back faced her. 

"They're scars." Ace retorted as he tugged his shoes off, "And they're not bloody anymore." 

Wendy snarled. "I can make them bloomin' bloody if you don't answer my question!" 

With a shrug, Ace ignored her and walked over to the light switch. He flipped it off again and headed back to his makeshift bed. Suppressing a groan, he eased himself down and clutched his thigh. She hadn't seen the fresh wound that really was bloody. 

"It's a touchy subject, I see. Got it." Wendy said as she slid back into her own bed. 

"Sleep well, everybody!" Aaron exclaimed cheerily from his hammock. 

Keira returned the same wish to her brother, while Wendy and Ace only replied with grunts. 

That settled, Ace closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Weird as he realized it would sound to verbalize, Keira's scent lingered on the bedsheets and strangely soothed him. Forgetting about Wendy and his previous fear of her emerging in the night to stab him, he slipped into a deep sleep, exhausted from his nocturnal exertions.

******************** 

A/N: Well, there you have it! That interaction between Ace, Keira, Aaron, and Wendy was way too much fun to write. I about died. 😂 

Anyway, if you enjoyed, please remember to vote and comment. 😁 

And like last time, I'm gonna move on quickly from this note to post the next chapter. So, see you there, hopefully! If not, have an awesome day.