Great. More military work.
Cree walks through the halls feeling more than a little annoyed. After his personal interview with this 'Elder' Haegen, it was decided that he was to 'return to his roots' and serve as a soldier with three others apparently. Or as Haegen called them, the 'spies'.
He reaches the training room, stocked with walls lined with weaponry and exercise equipment. Punching bags hang from the ceiling. There's a shooting range at the furthest end of the room that it looks like Umbra is destroying while also smoking a cigarette.
He was informed about the showers and bed chambers in the basement of Fulminare, but he doesn't feel like sleeping and he hates showers enough as it is. He knows he has to take them. On occasion. But he still never likes it.
Giovanni is at one of the punching bags, just going at it. She's still wearing her sunglasses, and at this point he doubts she ever takes them off.
There's another guy here that Cree hasn't met before. He has jet black hair slicked back with an infuriating amount of hair jell. He's wearing a dark jean jacket and – as if he couldn't hate the look of this man more – a tight dark grey tank top. He's also wearing dark skinny jeans and black leather combat boots. He isn't training or anything, he's just standing with his arms crossed and his back leaned against a wall, watching the others.
Elder Haegen advised Cree to get to know the people he's going to be working with, but he decides against it and just walks through the room. Just like back in the Sunder military, he'll just show up, train and exercise, get his orders and then leave. Assuming he's getting orders.
He makes his way to the weight benches along the right wall, since that's the furthest away from everyone else. He takes off his jacket so he's just in his light grey t-shirt that he found in the room he was given. He feels strange having his arm visible freely after the bullshit in Aramora, but he already feels strange just being here. What's a little more discomfort?
He lays back and just starts lifting the weight, remembering when he used to think doing this was hard. Once upon a time, he thought he was going to die just lifting a ten-pound bar. Granted, he was a scrawny kid back then, but he supposes being here is bringing back those memories, somewhat bleeding them together.
He wonders if Conrad would be proud if he could see him now.
He hears some low chuckling but ignores it to focus just on raising and dropping the bar, repeating the process and feeling only a little strain whenever he pushes up, the action taking a little more effort each time.
"You know doing that is supposed to be for your arms, right? What's the point in working metal?" comes a man's voice that follows the previous chuckle he heard.
Cree still ignores him and brings the bar back up. He can feel his left arm straining to push harder once his annoyance starts rising.
Footsteps approach so he keeps his focus on lifting, when he suddenly feels some weight added to the bar on his left side and he hears a clink of metal hitting metal from a new ring being pushed into place at the end of the pole.
His left arm muscles tense, but still, he keeps lifting the bar and ignoring the frustrating snicker from his left.
"Damn, still going? How 'bout some more weight," the man says.
Another weight is added onto the left side of the bar and he has to limit how much force he puts into his right arm to keep it balanced. His left arm muscles burn and shake a bit, but he still manages to bring the bar all the way up, and then back down.
"You're the newbie, right? What's your name?" the man asks condescendingly.
Cree ignores him to keep his attention on not tipping the bar with his metal arm. His annoyance grows stronger but he tries to keep it down.
A hand crosses his line of sight and snaps his fingers. "Hey, you deaf or somethin'? I'm talkin' to you."
"And I don't care," Cree mumbles and lifts the bar again.
The man chuckles in a patronizing tone and another weight is added. Cree grits his teeth as he lowers the bar to his chin, then pushes it back up. His left arm starts shaking with the strain and the process of raising the bar is getting slower.
"Your name, rookie," the man demands.
Cree growls and he lowers the bar.
"Cree Tyrell."
He pushes up and another weight clinks into place, almost making him drop the bar but he manages to balance his strength across the pole.
"You showed up with that little girl and the pretty boy, yeah? That's adorable," the man snides. Cree can practically hear the smirk in his voice.
Cree grunts as he pushes up again. He keeps trying to ignore him.
The next bit of weight added isn't on the end, it's in the center of the bar, between Cree's clenched fists. The man has the bar gripped and he stands over him, showing him that he was right about that cocky-ass smirk.
"You shouldn't ignore your superiors, rookie."
Cree growls and sets the bar down, sliding forward on the bench and glaring up at him.
"My apologies. I didn't realize you were in charge. I was waiting for someone with an air of authority to show up," he spats and stands up, feeling his left arm burning from the strain that was put on it.
He turns to walk away, when his left arm is grabbed and he's turned around and shoved back against the closest wall. The man glares down at him and chuckles.
"You've got two choices, rookie. Either drop the tough-guy act and listen when I speak to you. Or I give you a one-on-one sparring session. No weapons or tools. And that includes that fancy little arm of yours. Is that clear?"
Cree rolls his eyes. "Sorry, could you speak up? I'm a little deaf in this ear after hearing all of that bullshit you just spout off."
The man snickers and lets go of his arm. He merely takes a step back before smiling and throwing his fist square into Cree's stomach. He's knocked off-balance due to still being weak from how much weight he just lifted, so he drops to his knee with a grunt.
The man kneels in front of him and pats his back. "You see? Learn your place and we'll all get along just fine, shorty."
"Lay off, Jarvis. This guy here is kind of a big deal. Yes, he is short, and yes he seems to have quite a lot of 'little-man syndrome' but Elder Haegen likes him and he is pretty badass. From what I hear, he lost his arm to a dinosaur. The worst scar you have is from a bar fight you lost against Umbra," the familiar voice and Slavic accent of Giovanni intervenes.
Jarvis scoffs and stands up, stepping away from Cree when Giovanni walks over and helps him up.
"Really, Giovanni? You may sing lies better that a damn politician, but how stupid do you think I am? A dinosaur is the best you can do?"
"Actually, that one's true," Cree says and crosses his arms. "Kinda."
Jarvis rolls his eyes and glares at Giovanni. "You gotta stop defending the little guys, Giovanni. You'll make 'em soft, and that means they're weak. Every day we sit cozy here is another day the Imperium has to mutate more people into those freaks, and we need everyone behind these walls to be prepared to fight them and win. So you should start... What's so funny?" he stops when Giovanni laughs.
"Really? Come on, Jarvis, I could eat a bowl of alphabet soup and shit a better argument than that. Are you—" she stops herself with a gasp. "Don't tell me you're going soft. Oh no, what ever will we do?! We're all going to die!" she snorts and ruffles his hair, messing up his hair jell. "Lighten up. You do not need to act like you have stick up your ass all the time. In case you haven't noticed, we are still alive. Looks like we are doing something right, no?"
Jarvis shoves her hand away and tries fixing his hair. He growls and shakes his head, turning away from both of them.
"Whatever. I'm still in charge of you all, so you'd better damn well respect that."
In the heat of the moment, none of them noticed when Umbra finished up at the shooting range and made her way over, simply to push Jarvis out of the way so she can walk past him to grab a bottle of water.
Jarvis scoffs and straightens out his jacket before walking away, back to his 'cool-guy' sulking corner.
Cree clenches his jaw and huffs, looking away from everyone. Giovanni throws an arm around his shoulders and pats him on the chest.
"Don't take it personally. He just prefers to be bossed around by strong women, but he'll never admit it. He's very traditional like that."
Cree cocks a brow and quizzically studies her. "Traditional? What do you mean?"
Giovanni chuckles and nods to Jarvis.
"You know. He's your typical straight white man who is lowkey a homophobe, but he plays it off as 'scientifically correct'. He tries to bully everyone, so the best thing to do is bully him back. It has worked for us so far."
Cree grimaces and shakes his head, looking away again. "Great..."
They hear a chuckle and turn to see Umbra leaned against a standing table behind them with her water in one hand, and a second, unopened bottle that she holds out to Cree.
"Welcome to our big, happy, dysfunctional family stocked to the brim with loaded guns and a lifetime of spite. Hope you brought wine."
Cree sighs and takes the bottle, downing some water which helps him calm down. At least only that Jarvis guy is the only real asshole here, as far as he can tell. He hopes Regan's got it easier, wherever he ended up.
Giovanni lets him go and stretches her arms back behind her head. "So, are we getting mission briefings or not?"
Umbra shrugs and cocks her head in Jarvis' direction. "Depends on whether or not skinny jeans over there is too salty to give the new guy the rundown of the plan."
"You mean Elder Haegen's big project?" Cree asks.
"Yeah, that's the one. Honestly, I'll spare you the headache of dealing with him again and give you the rundown," Giovanni says. "Pretty much, Proctor Quintus has been working on a shiny new relay dish that he's named the 'Beacon'. We're going to use it to send a continent-wide message to tell everyone about the bullshit the Imperium is doing."
"Haegen wants to start a war," Cree states.
"Yeah. A war between Eutria and The Director and her Hexes," Umbra says and takes a slow drink of water.
"Seems a little excessive," Cree mutters and also takes a drink.
Umbra brings the bottle back down, softly chuckling with a hint of spite and anger, but it's covered enough to come off as composed and regal.
"Humans like you and me get arrested for mundane things like sneaking aboard a ship, meanwhile Hexes can murder whole groups of people and the Imperium just turns a blind eye. That's excessive for you. This, what we're doing, is nothing more than a slice of justice."
They hear Jarvis snicker from his corner and they all turn and look at him with annoyed glances.
"Either you're with us or you're not, rookie. We're fighting back against the Imperium. One dead Hex at a time. We've got no patience for wavering loyalty. But then again, you're only here for your own reasons. You're just using us, after all. So why give a damn about our plight?"
Cree steps towards him and shrugs carelessly.
"I'm here, aren't I? At least I'm actually doing something, and not just standing there styling my hair, trying to act tough."
Giovanni laughs. "Uh oh, he insulted his hair."
Jarvis pushes away from the wall. "Didn't I tell you to learn your place, shorty?"
"And didn't I tell you I don't give a shit?"
Jarvis steps closer to him and gets in his face, but Cree doesn't move and just glares up at him, anticipating getting either shoved or punched.
"Alright, boys, that's enough. Jarvis, I thought I advised you to be nice to the new recruits?" a booming voice interrupts.
They all turn towards the door, just as Elder Haegen walks in with long and commanding strides. Jarvis instantly stands down, backing away from Cree to salute the large tower of a man.
"Elder Haegen, sir. Forgive me, I was merely testing to see if he was Old-World material."
Haegen pats Jarvis on the shoulder as he walks past to stand before all of them with his hands crossed behind his back and his head high. Without another word, Umbra, Jarvis, and Giovanni stand in position before him with their heads down and their hands behind their backs.
That's more like what I remember.
Cree stands beside Giovanni at the end of the row, taking the same position and awaiting orders.
"With the Beacon nearing completion, and now that Proctor Quintus has an assistant to help him get it ready, we are expecting to get the broadcast out by the end of the week. Meaning, I will need two of you to go out and secure the relay dish once it's finished. The other two are to remain here to defend Fulminare while the message is going out. Giovanni, due to having been the one to bring him here in the first place, I want you to go with Cree to secure the Beacon. Umbra, Jarvis, you two will remain here to defend the base, as well as our other newest member, Regan."
Cree lifts his head to eye him quizzically.
"Regan? Why?"
Elder Haegen sighs and looks at him, and his commanding gaze gets him to lower his head again instinctively.
"After the blood tests to make sure you both were who you claimed to be, Jewel showed me the unusual results of Regan's test. I will not go into much detail as I don't fully understand his situation, but apparently Jewel found that something in Regan's blood could make him a target for the Imperium. Therefore, he is to be guarded until his time here is done," he explains and looks to Jarvis.
"And you, Jarvis, I want you to be the one to ensure his safety. Is that clear?"
Jarvis nods sternly. "Yes, sir."
Cree tightens his jaw and his shoulders tense. Great. This asshole is going to be watching over Regan. I swear, if he gives him any of the bullshit he gave me, I will kick his fucking ass. I don't care if he's supposedly my superior.
Elder Haegen looks over them all once again. "As of this moment, we are expecting the Beacon to be ready within the next three days. So on Wednesday, expect to set out to secure the relay with the coordinates I will provide you with when the time is right. When you arrive at the site, expect to meet with Connor and Lucian Peralta, our field agents. They are not to be put in any harm, but they will be present to make sure everything is set up properly and they have assured me that the area will be clear of Hexes, so we'll have our window. For now, we wait for Quintus and Regan to finish the final preparations for the Beacon. Now go rest, all of you. There is a lot of work ahead of us that I need you all on you're a-games for. You are dismissed."
Everyone exits the room, and Cree stops to retrieve his jacket before leaving, but a hand on his shoulder halts his movement and he looks back to face Elder Haegen.
"I hope Jarvis didn't give you too hard a time."
Cree shrugs and slings his jacket over his shoulder. "Nothing I wasn't already used to back in Sunder," he says. He still feels uneasy about the fact that he had to tell this guy about his past military connections.
"I can imagine, but still. I know that you are here for your own reasons, but so long as you are here, you are one of us. I don't want you to think different because of one member giving you a hard time," Haegen says.
"I'm fine," Cree says simply, then he sighs and lowers his jacket to his side and he rolls his shoulders back. "But... are you sure it's a good idea to have him, Jarvis, watch over Regan while I'm away? I mean, why not send him and have me guard Regan? This mission seems really important, so why send the new guy to do the important job?"
The Elder chuckles and nods slowly. "You are concerned for your friend's safety. Jarvis is dedicated to our cause and to me like no other. I wouldn't task him with this if I didn't trust him to perform his job dutifully."
"It's not that..." Cree growls under his breath. "I mean... Jarvis seems kinda... 'traditional' and set in his ways... I just don't want him to... You know, give Regan a hard time. I know how sensitive he can be."
Especially with the Dark. He makes sure to keep that to himself, though.
"While you are away, Regan will be primarily working at my side to get the broadcast ready. So it is not like he will be alone with Jarvis. Also, I didn't want to bring this up in front of the others, but... You know of Regan's lineage, correct?"
Cree sighs and nods slowly. "Yeah. I do."
Haegen nods as well. "Then you know of his ties to the conglomerate. He may not be with them, but I feel it best to keep knowledge of his bloodline strictly between the people who already know. Otherwise, people like Jarvis might assume he is working for The Director. But you know as well as I that he is not. He is just scared. The Director would undoubtedly use him for her own benefit and delusions of the 'perfect future'. So his safety will not only be taken into account on the front of him being a valued member of the Old-World Coalition, but also to prevent The Director from gaining power from acquiring the Lost Descendant of Ophelia."
Cree looks down and nods again, not liking the thought of anything like that happening to Regan. He doesn't know what The Director would want to do with Regan, but he supposes it can't be anything good. He doesn't know why though, seeing as Athemar of the Dev'al Ordon treated Regan like royalty because of his bloodline. Shouldn't it be the same with The Director and the Imperium?
Whatever the case may be, he supposes it doesn't matter. No matter what, he won't allow anything to happen to Regan. He doesn't care who or what he has to fight to protect him.
"Thank you, Elder. I'll do my best to serve the Coalition and get the Beacon secured alongside Giovanni."
Elder Haegen nods sternly. "I trust that you will. Now, go on. You must be exhausted," he says and throws a quick glance to the uneven bar weight.
"Huh. That's far more than I've seen Jarvis handle," he says and flashes Cree a smile.
Cree pauses for a moment, registering that before he smiles as well and watches the massive man walk away, leaving him alone.
He sighs and throws his jacket over his shoulder again before also leaving the training room.
The next day, he woke up far earlier than he had intended. He just wasn't able to stay comfortable. Part of his mind was nagging him to take a shower, but he ignored it. He managed to somehow fall asleep, but it didn't last long. So, he stopped trying to fall back asleep and went back down to the training room to have a go at a punching bag.
He went at it for maybe an hour when he realized that it's not making him feel any better. Something is just nagging at him and he can't shake the feeling. For once, he actually tries to search his mind for the source of the problem. He isn't able to narrow down what it is specifically, but he realizes that every time his thoughts fall onto Regan is when he hits the bag harder.
Something about Regan is keeping him on-edge. He can't tell if it's on account of what Haegen said about The Director possibly having an agenda for Regan due to his bloodline, or if it's the fact that that prick Jarvis is going to be watching over Regan while Cree is off securing this 'Beacon' thing, or if it's because of how Regan has been different lately.
He hasn't seen Regan or Reela since they met Elder Haegen, but he can only assume he's been the same as he was back on the ship. Maybe giving him some space will help him sort through whatever's going on, but for Cree, the distance and having to wait are killing him.
He's not entirely blind to what's been going on with Regan lately. He may not know the whole of it, but he knows the surface thing that's going on. Regan is depressed. That much is obvious. But as far as he can tell, he just doesn't know how to deal with it, if he's even aware of it at all. He doesn't think Regan has ever gotten this way before in his life.
The worst part of all, Cree has no fucking clue how to help him. He doesn't do well when it comes to feelings. Regan was always so good at reading him like an open book. He always knew just what to say to get through to him and make him either feel better or think about what he could do to let himself feel better.
But just look at how he responded when he realized how bad Regan was getting. He yelled at him before just stomping off and leaving him alone. He should have comforted him. He should have held him and actually talked to him, but no. He had to react the way he did.
And this is exactly the reason that he's an idiot for thinking he could ever deserve someone like Regan Angevin.
He comes back into the moment when his thoughts unconsciously led him to punch the bag completely off the hook and it crashes onto the ground.
He sighs with defeat before hanging it back up and leaving the training room, grabbing a bottle of water on the way out.
What can he do to make things right with Regan? Maybe if he could figure out what it is that Regan is waiting to see to get him to see that he really isn't 'Tyrell' anymore, then maybe that would help in some way.
But this isn't about him. This is about Regan and what he's going through. Maybe he should wait to find Edith before he just ends up ruining things with Regan even more because he stupidly thought he had any chance of talking to him about his feelings.
He knows how he feels for Regan, but that has to be set aside until he figures out what to do to make him feel better.
Edith would know what to do. She could help Regan get through whatever's going on. But deep down, he scolds himself for thinking about putting this on Edith just to take the task off his own hands. After everything Regan has done for him, what the hell is wrong with him to try offloading Regan's problems onto someone else, just so he doesn't have to deal with it.
He just doesn't want to make things worse. If he knew what was causing Regan to be depressed, then maybe he'd have a better chance of making him feel better. But he has no idea where to even start. He's not like Regan. He can't just look at a situation and find all the separate pieces, picking out the small bits to put them together for the overall problem.
So what can he do?
After making it back to his room and shutting the door behind him, he decides that if he doesn't know what to do, then he'll try thinking like Regan. He isn't able to organize his thoughts and sort through them like Regan can, so he sits down on his bed, grabs a notebook that was supplied on the end table, and starts thinking.
He doesn't care if it takes all day. He's going to figure this out.
He's going to help Regan.