Episode Miles: Chapter 2: Confined

Chapter 2 of Miles' story.

            Miles’ eyes shot open, but his body was heavy.  He slowly got up, and tried to figure out where he was.  Looking around, he saw he was in a hospital bed with IV’s running into his arm.  Next to him was a small table with a pitcher of water and a small cup.  The room itself was small, not much outside of the bed, the table, and a few other necessities and medical equipment with windows and a door.  The blinds were drawn and the window was shut, so he didn’t know where he was exactly.  But the fact that he wasn’t handcuffed to the hospital bed and that he was receiving treatment at all caused him to sigh in relief.  He began thinking about his escape, but then realized he didn’t know where his sword was, and his body still hurt really bad.  He decided to just ride it out and deal with whatever was going to come.   Just then, the door opened and a young man who looked not that much older than Miles walked in carrying a clipboard and a pen.  His build didn’t match that of your typical Huntsman, but rather that of somebody you would expect to be watching sports on his couch as a career.  But he carried a mechanical bow staff on his back, and wore a suit of battle armor that was emblazoned with a golden cougar.  A rare animal across all of Remnant, as most wild animals steered clear of humans compared to the Grimm.  The armor was black with tints of gold including the animal, and had a utility belt around his waist.  The stranger himself had fairly long blonde hair and blue eyes, and had a small smile on his face.

            “When my supervisor told me what you did down there in the industrial level,” the stranger said going over his clipboard, “I was more annoyed than anything.”

            “Annoyed I beat you guys out on meeting your arrest quotas for the month?” Miles snarled at the stranger.

            “Annoyed that somehow, some random lost kid from Aequo managed to get more dirt on a White Fang hideout compared to a large Hunstman organization, then manage to ruin an attempted sting operation months in the making the same day Sienna Kahn herself was supposed to show up.”

            “How did you know I’m from Aequo?”

            “Just because you tend to keep to yourself Mr. Watson, doesn’t mean your actions have gone unnoticed.  Yes, in terms of the large-scale public media, you are still pretty anonymous.  But when you go after targets that are specific threats to the different Huntsman Alliances as well as the Kingdoms themselves?  You get people finding whatever dirt they can on you to figure out if you’re going to be a threat or not.”

            “Should I be flattered or horrified?”

            “I’d say a bit of both.  More often than not, people like you might get on the radar of smaller Huntsman organizations, but to catch the eye of the Golden Cougars Alliance?  That means something.  Keep this up, and you’ll have the top groups wanting to know what your deal is.  And if you get their attention, they probably won’t stop at just learning about where you came from.”

            “Well, so nice of you to look out for me.  Is this a warning then from some random kid who somehow found his way to join one of the largest Huntsman Alliances in all of Vacuo?”

            “Not some random kid.  The name is Rett Wise.  I’m the son of the founder of this Alliance, and your story interested me.”

            “Wow, some kid who won the lottery in Vacuo is interested in some random guy who was doing his job better than him?”

            “If I had really won the lottery with my heritage, I would have been born a Schnee.  But I’m not.  I took an interest in you because of your actions.  For three years, you have wandered the world of Remnant primarily by yourself.  All records indicate that after the fall of Aequo, three survivors were found.  Two who were initially taken in by friends of the family, but then ran off in the dead of night.  Then another, who was only discovered to be alive because of reports floating around the world and putting the pieces together.”

            “Unless you are reading it for the first time yourself, I don’t think you are looking for a refresher on my personal life.”

            “Somebody like you, somebody driven completely by vengeance, even though you have extended family of your own living in Vale.”              Miles started to glare at Rett as he poured over the information on the clipboard.

            “What does this have to do with anything?”

            “But instead of going to them for support, you stayed away” Rett said ignoring Miles’ glare.  “You have isolated yourself from everyone and everything.  Even in reports where it states you accomplished several tasks with the help of others, you would then never be seen with them again.  And all interviews gained from said former associates, said you disappeared in the dead of night without a word.”

            “So that’s it, this is some big dumb lecture from somebody who’s probably as old as I am, who has had everything laid out for him on a silver platter, trying to tell me how to do his job for him?  I found the White Fang.  I found Sienna Kahn.  I found….”

            “You found a White Fang stronghold, that like I said, was being scouted for a sting operation between us and the Vacuo police.  In all honesty, the cops wanted to lock you up.  And given your track record, they almost did.  Until……”

            “Until you took pity on me and decided to make me your pet or something?” Miles said with a snarl.

            “Perish the thought.” Rett said with a chuckle.  “You’re going to do community service under our supervision until we determine you have worked off the time.  And given the fact that you not only destroyed a part of the industrial district but allowed for the escape of a high profile target,  you owe us several months to a year of work.”

            “Excuse me, what?”

            “You will be working alongside the Golden Cougar’s Alliance here in Vacuo and help make this city a better place.”

            “And if I refuse?”

            “Then you go to jail.  And to ensure you don’t wander off, we gave you a little present for your ankle.”  Miles pulled his bedsheets back to see a tracer bracelet strapped tightly to his ankle.  He looked it over, and the only way he was getting that off was cutting off his own foot.  He groaned and collapsed back into his hospital bed.

            “Of all the stupid random….”

            “Unless you’d rather spend time in prison I suggest you keep that last part to yourself.  Your name might not be super popular amongst the side of the law, but I can guarantee the underworld and the criminal low-lifes certainly have.”  Rett chuckled as he exited the room leaving Miles to just continue to stew in everything that had just transpired.

 

 

 

Two Days Later

The Barracks for the Golden Cougar Alliance

 

 

 

            Miles was sitting in the mission briefing room with his arms crossed.  The organization was giving him his first mission of his probation.  And he was still fuming.  Rett sat down next to him with a grin on his face handing Miles a cup of coffee.

            “Ready to make the world a better place?”

            “I don’t suppose you have any tea, do you?” Miles said with a growl.

            “Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.” Rett said as he took a sip from his cup.

            “I’m wasting my time here” Miles said pinching his forehead.  “Every moment I dawdle here I miss the opportunity to get closer to finding those who destroyed my home.  I haven’t been this close in years, and you idiots are going to take that from me.”

            “Patience.  Revenge is a powerful motivator, but it has a bad tendency to burn people if you aren’t too careful.”

            “Why do you think I work alone?” Miles muttered under his breath.

            “Beg pardon?”

            “Nothing.  Forget it.”  Having said that, the door to the barracks opened and a short woman with black hair carrying a clipboard walked over to the nearby podium.  She wore black armor like almost everybody else, and wore big circular glasses.  She also had a badge that read “commander”, but nothing much else to reveal who she was.  The commander then pressed a button on the podium and a projector came to life and projected images on the wall behind her.

            “We have several reports we need to get through so I’ll keep this brief” she said pushing up her glasses.  “We have several reports of different dealings happening with the Junior Cartel in the west part of the Kingdom.  Teams Four and Five, you will be in charge of taking them down.  Team Two, you will be in charge of todays stakeout of the abandoned Dust mine north of here following up with the report of mysterious activity as reported from the Away team the other day.  Team One, you will be on normal beat patrol of Sector 13 of the Kingdom.  Dismissed.”  Everybody then started to stand up and make their way towards their different jobs.  Miles just sat there, confused, but still mostly angry.

            “So what do I do?” Miles said with a groan.

            “We are Team One,” Rett said finishing up his coffee, “so we are going on beat patrol of Sector 13.”

            “Wow.  Walking around.  Truly we are making a difference in this world.”

            “Let’s just get you to the armory and get you ready for patrol today.”  With that, Rett stood up and walked towards the door.  But Miles continued to just sit there.  Rett sighed, pulled out his scroll, and pushed a small button.  Miles suddenly felt a slight shock in his ankle bracelet and jumped up in surprise.

            “Oh come on!” he exclaimed in pain.

            “Just get over here please.”  With that, Miles finally begrudgingly got up and joined Rett.  They left the briefing room and went a few doors down to the armory.  In there, there were several weapons and armor adorned on the walls with a giant kiln in the far back where several blacksmiths were working on several different pieces of armor.  Rett walked over to one of the blacksmiths and waved at him.  The blacksmith waved back and walked over towards Miles.

            “You’re the troublemaker, right?  Well then, let’s get you situated.  You’ll need some gear to keep you safe in a fight, especially if your aura runs out.  These are all the different options we have available for a kid of your height.  We have the light armor, the heavy armor, whatever suits your preference.”

            “What about those coats you have over on that wall?” Miles pointed towards a wall of tall black trench coats.

            “Those are mostly for our stealth and ranged fighters.  Based on your file, you’re more of a melee fighter that prefers CQC.  In that regard, having armor would be better for your fighting profile.”

            “Yes, but it’s super bulky, and I prefer to move fast.  So I think I’ll take one of those coats.”

            “Are you sure?  I mean, given your skillset…” but before the blacksmith could continue, Rett stepped forward and interjected,

            “We’re just going on patrol bud.  I think the coat will work fine for him.”  The blacksmith shrugged his shoulders, quickly looked over Miles’ physical report on his Scroll again, then walked over to the wall of coats and handed Miles a coat.  Miles accepted it, and put it on, zipping it completely up.

            “Cool” Miles said with a sigh.  “Can we go now?”

            “Just stick with me” Rett said with a smile.  “We’ll protect this city from whatever dangers we face!”

            “Oh hurray….” Miles said gloomily dragging his feet.

Author's Note

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