Nero followed some soldiers, his hands bound in chains in front of him. His expression had long since returned to normal. In fact, he even seemed to be in a good mood as he smirked and turned to Silas, who was behind him.
"This is not exactly how I imagined coming back from special training would be like. I was imagining more along the lines of being given a super secret mission, assembling a top notch team, enjoying all the army perks. Though at least the part where I imagined being escorted by my own team of soldiers came true."
Silas, who looked extremely worn and weak, trembled at Nero's words, and whispered, "you shouldn't talk! We're going to get into even more trouble."
"Trouble?" Nero repeated, wearing a curious smile, not even attempting to keep his voice down. "We've been drafted into the army, in wartime, to be sent into a fog and curse infested basement inside ruins that haven't seen a living creature for thousands of years. What exactly can they do to us that's more dangerous?
Send us to a cursed zone that isn't the target of invasion of every other country in the world?"
One of the soldiers escorting them could not help but let a chuckle escape, though he quickly controlled himself. The others gave him a look, but he only shrugged. Nero's nonchalance really eased the mood.
"Anyway, who was that guy? Why was he picking on you?" Nero asked, keeping his tone casual. One could not tell he was talking about a guy he thoroughly beat up just a few minutes ago.
"He… he's Bael Thomas, son of Dagon Thomas, and he's my team captain."
"Dagon Thomas? As in, commander of the eastern front Dagon Thomas?" Nero asked, surprised. Though he didn't know why it was so surprising - everyone had kids, even famous people.
"Now you know why I was telling you to stop," Silas said weakly. Dagon Thomas was a well-known military figure who had successfully held the eastern border a few years ago when a massive Stygian rift opened in the border between the two countries.
The man was considered a hero, and Nero had actually seen cartoons based on him! Who knew one day Nero would be beating up his son.
"Are you saying my father isn't impressive? The man has the courage to face my mom everyday! That's got to be worth at least two heroes. He should be cowering before me! You didn't mention why he was picking on you."
"It… it's actually pretty simple. I was assigned to his fireteam, but obviously fighting is not my speciality, and Bael hates that. He thinks anyone who isn't a good fighter is completely useless. He wants me to quit his team, but that's not really up to me. So he decided to take more creative measures to get me kicked from his team. But none of them worked.
Nobody wants me to leave his team more than myself, but for whatever reason, they're not removing me from his team!"
Nero frowned a bit.
"If he's been doing stuff like that, how has he not been punished? What about the army's discipline? How can they just ignore his actions?"
"Actually… he's been punished multiple times! But each time, his punishment is limited to some kind of physical reprimand. After that, he's right back to doing whatever he wants. I… I can't say for certain, but there are rumours that his father…"
"Is this really the palace you two should be chatting?" one of the soldiers said, interrupting Silas.
Nero was about to respond, but decided against it, and just decided to follow them silently. He hadn't missed the timing of the soldier's interruption. Clearly, slander, whether it was true or not, against a superior officer was not something that could be tolerated in the army. The soldier had saved Silas from a lot of trouble.
They were taken into separate rooms and left there for a while. Nero closed his eyes and decided to catch up on some rest while he waited. The intimidation tactic of leaving him alone with his thoughts would not work on him at all. He was too well versed in these things, and even employed them in his day to day life.
Some time later, someone finally entered the room and the sleepy Nero reluctantly opened his eyes to see sergeant Dan and Major Liam both walking in. Nero immediately stood up, considering they were his superior officers, and then was immediately stunned. The major had a black eye! How was it that he had an injury that hadn't been healed yet? Did he just get it?
"Was that really necessary?" the sergeant asked, sounding exasperated. "Deployment is just a few days away and we have our hands swamped with issues. We don't need more problems to mess things up for us."
During his training period, the major would send the sergeant to check up on Nero from time to time, so they had become somewhat familiar with one another. They'd made no secret of the fact that the reason why he was getting so much attention was that the major had a special mission planned out for him, when he was sharing his daydreams with Silas earlier, he wasn't exactly joking.
"It absolutely wasn't necessary. If Bael had maintained discipline and not bullied Silas, none of this would have happened. I recommend strong action against him!"
"Can you be serious for a minute?" Dan said, sitting in front of him. "Do you know the situation we're in? Commander Thomas has already heard the news, and since he was in the middle of a redeployment, he was actually close to Aetherpeak. He's on his way here now. If this issue blows up, it could affect a lot of plans. This could jeopardise our plans."
Nero clicked his tongue. That was an issue he didn't exactly see coming. All he could do was hope that the major could protect him and keep the situation from getting out of control. He even had fair reason to believe that the major could.
After all, despite being an inferior rank when compared to the commander, the major's background was more special. That had to carry some weight. After all, his was one of the families with a sage!
"This is victim blaming. He-"
"Nero, you dislocated his hand, gave him a hairline fracture on his clavicle, bruises on his ribs, not to mention the severe damage to the muscles in his neck," said the major, his tone not at all amused. "I assure you, he is very much a victim here. But he did also start this problem, which gives us leverage."
"So, what does that mean for us?" Nero asked. He was thoroughly involved in the majors camp, so protecting Nero was his responsibility, especially since he needed Nero for a special mission. That was also one of the reasons why Nero had been so blatant in his response. Otherwise, regardless of how angry he got, Nero would not risk his future over momentary anger.
After all, revenge could be exacted at any time.
Nero's thoughts paused as he realised he was once again thinking of revenge. This could not be a healthy mindset. Then he shrugged.
The major sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose.
"The situation has already been resolved. When the commander comes, he will meet with you and you will cooperate with his request. In case that wasn't clear, that's an order!"
Nero clicked his tongue once more. So the issue had already been taken care of using back channels?
But the fact that Nero would be forced to obey some request did not sound so great. But even Nero wasn't so arrogant as to think he could cross Commander Dagon Thomas! Maybe, given time, sure. But right now he was less than a bug compared to the man. It would be best if they buried any hatchet. But the issue was not the commander, but Bael.
Nero fully expected some kind of retaliation from the guy. Maybe the request would be a part of it. He'd have to see when the time came.
"Yes sir!" Nero said.
"Good, now that's enough of that. We've wasted a lot of time already, and because of your little stunt, we'll have to waste more time on having an interrogator check you out as well in case there's a Clear Path mark on you. So while we can, let's discuss your mission."
The major picked up a file and placed it on the table in front of Nero.
"Or rather, missions. You will have three missions when you deploy, and all of them are very time sensitive. It's best if you understand the details to the best of your abilities before hand, and prepare thoroughly."
The major flipped open the file, and right on top was a very detailed map.
"This is the first basement level under a building that we are calling a cathedral. This will be your first destination."