Chapter Quote:
"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."
~Benjamin Franklin
___________________________________

Chapter 19: Cardinal

Blaze

I found Bartlett sitting at the table with the rest of my family, going over plans, facts, and more. I worried interrupting the meeting would raise suspicion, but he needed to read the report I had. It was imperative.

"Hey Bartlett, I need to speak with you," I said. Other than receiving a concerned glance from my husband, no one else seemed disturbed by my request.

"Later. We need to finish this," Bartlett responded, not even looking up at me.

"Now," I told him in a tone that suggested arguing would be inadvisable. My command gathered the attention of the rest of the table, but I ignored them, turning on my heel to go to my room, knowing Bartlett was following me. When we were both in my room, I shut the door and grabbed a report off my bed. Tossing it to him, I waited patiently for him to read it. But he just stared at me and asked, "What's this?"

"Percy's autopsy report," I replied quietly.

Bartlett's shoulders dropped. A tinge of anger was present in his voice when he said, "I already know how my son died, Blaze. I don't need a report to confirm that for me. Besides, this report wasn't supposed to be ready for weeks."

"What does the results line say?" I demanded quietly. He rolled his eyes but complied. I watched him carefully, trying to read his expression, but he showed nothing. His furrowed brows stayed the same.

"It says negative," he said, finally looking back up at me. "Are... are you saying my son's alive?"

"I'm saying it's a possibility. If the Gray Men really do have him, then they've had him for a while, and I know firsthand what they do to their captives. If they do have him, we need to get him out as soon as possible."

"How did you get the autopsy to happen sooner?"

"If you're wondering if I bribed them, which is illegal, no I did not. I simply called the medical examiner and asked how long it'd be. I think there were three other bodies ahead of ours, but once I said this was a matter of life and death for the Razgriz, and the potential fate of the world rested on the case of this autopsy report, he was pretty happy to comply."

"Why did you have it moved up? The body was burned."

I nodded. "I got suspicious. I know the Gray Men. They like to leave statements. They like for their targets to know who they've killed. If they had killed Percy, they would've left his body unburnt."

"How did they identify the body other than the dog tags though? His body was burned beyond recognition."

"Any DNA from fingerprints or hair was out of the question. All of that had been burned to ashes. But the teeth remained in good enough condition that the medical examiner was able to pull dental records. He verified the remains weren't Percy's."

"Then who did they belong to?"

"My guess is it's his RIO's. They've been searching for him for a while but are saying he's missing. The medical examiner is confirming that now, and hopefully will inform his family sooner rather than later."

Bartlett hung his head, staring down at the report, processing the fact his son might still be alive. Unless I was mistaken, I saw a tear fall from his face. I waited for him to speak, not wanting to interrupt his thoughts. I knew it was a lot to take in. It's why I chose to do it in private, just the two of us.

Finally, he asked, "Who else knows?"

"Just you and me," I replied.

"You haven't told Chopper?"

"No, I haven't. I've been putting it off trying to find the right time and way to tell him. I told you how he and I had PTSD from what we went through, and while it's gone most days, sometimes events or experiences... trigger it. Once in a while, we'll have relapses, so we'll take a last-minute vacation to get away from it all and use the methods our therapists taught us to deal with it. We always go together to make sure the other is okay."

"So that random trip you two took to last year that took you deep into the mountains, was that...?"

"Yeah. Do you remember the case about the guy being tied up while watching his girlfriend be beaten to death by their captors? It made him have nightmares that night of his experience, and sometimes those nightmares didn't always end up how real life did. Sometimes he saw me getting shot and killed, or burning to death in the building because he couldn't get to me in time. The next morning, when he told me, I knew before he did that he was relapsing. Told everyone we were taking a quick vacation to the mountains, and left it at that. Thankfully no one questioned it."

"Blaze, why do you two not tell us these things? Maybe we could help or-"

I smiled softly. "You already do, even if you don't realize it. Being around y'all helps tremendously, but unfortunately, it's not always enough. Unless you could make the memories disappear, you can't help us any more than the therapists can at this point. This is the cost of saving the world, and we would do it again in a heartbeat so no one else has to go through this."

"When was the last time you had a relapse?"

I hesitated for a moment, not wanting to admit the truth out loud because doing so made it seem real, even though it already was. "Let's just say if it weren't for the kids being in danger, I would be on a vacation right now."

Bartlett set the folder down on the table before walking over to me. I started to ask what he was doing, but to my total shock, my former captain pulled me into a hug. I didn't refrain from returning it though. I let myself relax into the embrace, feeling some of the stress melting away.

"Sometimes I forget how much you went through, and how young you were when it happened," Bartlett said.

"We all have."

"Unfortunately, we're about to go through more. Just know, whatever happens, we have your back."

"And I have yours."

Bartlett pulled away, smiling down at me. "I'm proud of you. I hope you know that."

"Thank you, Captain."

"I'm pretty sure I should be calling you that."

I grinned. "I'm going to quote you on that."

"God, I regret saying it already."

"Can't take it back now."

"I'm going to go talk to Major about this before I say anything else you can use against me. Are you going to talk to Chopper about it?"

"Yeah, I'm just worried about how he's going to take it." I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Send him in when you get out there."

Bartlett left the room, leaving me to prepare for breaking the news to Chopper. I steeled myself for the conversation, praying it wouldn't be a trigger to his PTSD like it had been to mine. One of us going through a relapse was bad enough. Both of us experiencing one would be a hindrance to the mission, one we couldn't afford.

"Hey, what's going on?" My husband queried, stepping into the room and shutting the door behind him. His blue eyes were sapphires, alerting me he was on edge. His eyes always changed color depending on his mood.

"We need to talk," I said.

"You know, even married, I still don't like those words coming out of your mouth," he remarked.

At that, I chuckled. "Don't you worry. You're stuck with me."

"Thank god for that. So what do you want to talk about? Bartlett seemed... more perturbed than usual."

I took the file from the table and handed it to him. "Read it."
___________________________________

Shiloh

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Espada Two and Strigon Two: Marcela Vasquez and Toscha Mijasik," Axel introduced. All of us, including our cousins, had gathered on the deck to meet the two aces. Next to Marcela stood a girl similar in looks. They had to be related, cousins or something... I waited impatiently for Axel to continue. Turning to the unfamiliar female, he added, "This is Gabriella Vasquez, Marcela's sister. She's a tech analyst, and Marcela thought she'd be helpful. I couldn't reach any of you, so I made an executive decision to bring her along."

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you," I said, giving them a smile that I hoped conveyed my gratefulness. "Thank you so much for coming to help us."

"The Gray Men have wreaked enough havoc on our continent," Marcela said. "I refuse to let them cause anymore."

"My life was getting boring. It's an honor to be working for the Razgriz," Gabriella added.

"Ilya told me how amazing his goddaughter was, and how he would do anything to protect her. Since he's not here, I've taken it upon myself to fulfill his wishes," Toscha said, giving me a soft smile. "Although I believe his goddaughter can handle herself just fine on her own."

"Oh, believe me, she can," Ember replied, giving me a smirk.

"Allow me to introduce you to everyone," I offered before going down the rows, listing off each person, who they were, and what they did. It took about ten minutes to get through it all since there were so many of us present now, but there didn't seem to be any hard feelings, not even between Talisman and Shamrock with Toscha. But then again, they all shared a common ground, one they cared for deeply: my mom. And through her, that care transferred to me and the rest of my family.

"Tell us exactly what your plans are," Marcela requested, although her tone suggested anything other than a straight answer would not be tolerated.

"The Gray Men are only expecting the Razgriz, Galm, and Heartbreak One. That's nine planes in total. There's nine of us. What I believe is going to happen is that they're going have two missions, both imperative for us to be present at. One of those missions will have our parents there, but I don't know which. They'll expect us to choose one mission over the other, therefore showing the Razgriz aren't in complete control and decide some lives are more important than others, which will reflect badly on their reputation," I explained.

"So what my ingenious sister came up with was to invite all of you to fly in as Razgriz and Heartbreak One," Lux continued, beaming. "They'll prepare to have enough to overwhelm at the most, six fighters, because they know they wouldn't send eight to one mission, and only one to another. We go on one mission, y'all go on another. The Gray Men are overwhelmed in both, we come out victorious, and we lock those suckers in prison."

"How long did it take for you to come up with this plan?" Toscha queried.

"We've had a lot of time on our hands, and we're good at improvising. Come on, we'll show you to your quarters," I offered. "After you're all settled in, we'll go up for a hop."

"Aren't your parents' planes on here?" Marcela asked.

"Yeah, but this carrier came equipped with some already. The crew set to work painting them black pretty much once we got on this ship," Tessa said.

"Except for Heartbreak One's," Charlotte added. "It's still black, but has his signature ace of hearts with a sword going through it instead of the Razgriz symbol."

Lux started to say something else when the loudspeaker came on, requesting our immediate presence. We shared a perplexed look before rushing to the bridge. On the radar, it showed three incoming ships- one aircraft carrier, one destroyer, and one cruiser. On top of that, there were ten aircraft flying with them. They registered as Belkan.

"They can't be friendly," Henry remarked.

"Thanks for that observation, Captain Obvious," Alec said. The brothers glared at each other.

"Legacies, go get in your planes and get ready to launch," Axel ordered. "We're about to have a fight on our hands."

"Uh, are they ready to fight three warships and highly-trained pilots?" Marcela demanded. "They haven't even graduated from the academy."

"Well, it can't be us going up there in our planes, and I don't fly other aces' planes. The Razgriz earned those planes. Their legacies have too. Besides, the kids need experience in actual battle. This is their time to earn it," Ember declared.

I stood up straighter, hoping if I looked confident and sure of myself, I'd actually feel that way. I turned on my heel, heading to the hangar as I commanded, "Razgriz, let's go."
___________________________________

Review please!