Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As the treadmill gently ground to a stop, Twilight stretched his arms above his head and arched his back. Rehabilitation was finally over and it felt amazing to be back in the training room, getting a real work-out, after nearly three weeks out of commission.

He stepped off the treadmill and moved to the weight area, where Warriors and Four were already training. Sky, who had been running on the treadmill next to Twilight, had an equally satisfied look on his face as he moved to follow.

“Welcome back,” Warriors said with a wide smirk as the two friends approached. “Good to see you back, ready at last for some real work.”

Four huffed. “Don’t be an ass. They weren’t even supposed to be in here before today, they were just cleared for active duty this morning.”

“Let him have his moment,” Twilight laughed, “he has bragging rights after what happened.”

“Oh, worry not, he has already told me all about it,” Four said, straightening his headband, “several times. Besides, from what Wars told me himself, while he was busy retrieving that stolen Meteor Rod from the Yiga treasure room, you got Sky out of there with a wounded leg and a dislocated shoulder.”

“But that was just because Sky had already cleared all the twenty or so Yiga in the place by himself, which is how he got a concussion and two broken ribs in the first place,” Twilight easily answered. “At that point, it was just a matter of walking out, he had already done all the work.”

Sky’s face went red as his hand found the back of his neck. “I’m just glad you guys had my back after I passed out. It’s not often all three of us are assigned to a task.”

Twilight couldn’t agree more. Nearly two years prior he had been teamed up with Wars and Sky, along with Four and Legend as specialist support, under the lead of his mentor Time. Very quickly, the newly formed team had grown into a seamless unit, working together flawlessly and completing one mission after the other. While having very different personalities, they somehow fit together, complementing each other like puzzle pieces. Like family.

Warriors’ smirk morphed into a grin. “That’s what we do, isn’t it? Have our backs in the fight against the bad guys?” he declared with an overdramatic gesture.

Twilight had to laugh. Apparently in this family, Wars was the loud, obnoxious, theatrical brother. “If you want to make it that simple, I guess so.”

“Hey, it is that simple. Hyrule needs protecting, here we are. We get our orders, we go carry them out, and if we do our job then the people of Hyrule stay safe,” Warriors shrugged. “That’s what the Sheikah does.”

Twilight had nothing to say to that that hadn’t been discussed at length before. They worked together as a team precisely because they shared this firm belief that the organization they were in, the Sheikah, was a stronghold of light and justice. They wouldn’t have joined, wouldn’t work as hard as they did, wouldn’t risk as much as they did, if they didn’t believe wholeheartedly that what they did was for the good of all of Hyrule. For the good of their country and it's people.

Warriors was still talking as he moved to resume his weight lifting as Twilight and Sky moved to join. “And now it’s time for the two of you to get back in shape, we should get new orders next week.” He peeked at the machine Twilight had chosen to sit at. “Ah, I see you are slacking off on the weight lifting, Twi. What happened to all your muscles?”

Four smacked Warriors’ arm. “I thought I said not to be an ass. Dare I remind you one of his quadriceps was sliced clean through by a serrated blade not three weeks ago?”

Looking Warriors straight in the eye, Twilight reached over to adjust the weight he was lifting as high as the leg extension machine allowed, then kept lifting without breaking eye contact.

“Show-off,” Wars muttered. “Point made. Don’t pull the muscle you just healed.”

"It will take more than that for Twi to pull a muscle with his freakish strength,” Sky said. “You weren't there for the fight against usurper-wannabe Zant. you should have seen Twilight then. It was surreal, what he managed to do.”

"No,” Warriors easily answered, “but I was there when you took on Ghirhaim. You were scary, man. I didn't know you could move so fast. That’s why I pick on Twi and not you."

Four laughed. “Then that shows what an idiot you are, you pick on the one who could lift you over his head and throw you across the room?”

“Oh? Then what should I do, pick on the small guy?”

Four’s eyes gleamed, looking an odd purplish blue in the artificial lighting. “That would be an even bigger mistake. I’m not tech and weapons support specialist for nothing. The only even bigger mistake you could make would be deciding to pick on the strategic support specialist.”

Warriors huffed. “How could I even decide to pick on Legend? He never joins us when we train.”

“Why does Legend never join us, though?” Sky asked. "I've never seen him train. He is a semi-operative, after all. He should be here."

Four’s lips curved into an odd sort of smile. "The fact you don’t see him train doesn’t mean he doesn’t. Don’t believe for an instant he couldn't kill a man with a soup ladle."

That caught Twilight’s interest. “That is.. oddly specific,” he mused. “This sounds like there is an intriguing backstory.”

Warriors’ eyes lit up. “It does. Pray tell."

"Nope, my lips are sealed. Just never underestimate him,” Four answered, looking away with a secretive smile.

***

Time finished reading the orders in his hand and slowly looked up. The papers slid from his hand, fluttering down on the desk as his fingers went slack. He had been in the organization far too long to entertain the hope that this was just a bad joke, but he seriously couldn’t believe Impa would send his men, his boys, out to perform such tasks.

"Chief, with all due respect-” he paused and swallowed, trying to keep his voice even. “I think you are making a mistake. My men are young. Idealistic. They have a very strong and clear sense of right and wrong. These missions are… different. Assigning the right tasks to the right people is key in ensuring success. I don’t think these... orders are a good fit for my men,” he said cautiously.

"You’re wrong, and are approaching the issue from the wrong direction. Your men are perfect for these missions. They don’t ask too many questions, they trust the organization, and, as you clearly understand, we need things done to exact specifications here," she answered.

"I still don’t think…” Time fell silent for a second, struggling for words. “These orders are… a departure from what my team is used to dealing with. This is not a ‘stop the bad guy’ or ‘retrieve the weapon that will be otherwise used badly’ kind of thing they are accustomed to dealing with.”

Impa raised an eyebrow. "I see that as a good thing, commander. Your men need diverse experiences before they can grow in the organization. Besides, two of your operatives have just been cleared for active duty after injuries, right? These tasks are expected to be physically easy."

Time frowned. "It’s not the physical hardships I am worried about."

“Then you are worrying uselessly. What you should do is train and prepare your men so that they make it back mostly in one piece after doing what they are ordered to. And if you wish to protect them from what you perceive as the darker side of the organization, then you are doing them no favours.”

Swallowing the retorts that came to his mind, Time struggled to remain calm. He couldn’t help the edge that crept into his voice, even though he tried to control it. "Impa, we have known each other for over twenty years. I thought you trusted my judgement."

The smile that crept along Impa’s face was cold. "Oh, I do, in most things. But honestly, I think you are trying to protect those boys a little too much, and that is underestimating them, in a way. This is what the Sheikah does, and the sooner they understand just why we have to do this, the better."

“Actually”, the Chief continued, “you better have the whole picture. This is an opportunity to take your team to the next level. You have been working with this setup for… nearly two years, isn’t it?”

As Impa was waiting for an answer, Time nodded but said nothing. The Chief spoke again. “Your team has been doing excellent work, and there is a wish in the organization to push some of your men… forwards. But to do that, you know as well as I do they need to be… tested.”

Time's voice turned pleading. "Please don't. You don’t understand what this might do to them."

"You're wrong. I know exactly what this will do for them. These missions will make them grow up. They are not children any more, not by a long shot, it's high time they understood what keeping their country safe means, and just how much the Sheikah does to keep it this way. The Council feels that once they accept that, they can proceed in the organization."

This was useless. Time knew the Chief well enough to know that she would not back down from this decision. Even worse, he understood her reasoning and hated it. The Council was doing this on purpose. They were going to destroy this wonderful, close-knit team of amazing, talented, idealistic and driven individuals who loved each other like brothers to turn them into... at best, conflicted, jaded cynicists. At worst… he didn't want to think about it. He sighed wearily, rubbing the scar on the right side of his face, then pushed his chair back and stood to leave, not waiting for her dismissal. As he moved towards the door, Impa spoke again.

“I expect you here early tomorrow morning to review together how you plan to assign the tasks inside your team. These are delicate matters, I want to know in detail how you plan to carry them out.”

Time turned to glare at her. “If this blows up in your face, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Chapter Text

Time walked in and closed the door behind him. Warriors immediately saw the tension in his shoulders, the bags under his eyes, the pinched look on his face. He had trained them too well not to notice, and the commander was obviously trying to act normal. But something was definitely off today.

“What’s up, Old Man, did Malon keep you up with absurd requests?” Wars asked, in an attempt to pry while keeping the tone light. “What was it, ice cream and pickles? Strawberries in January?” 

Of course, Time wasn’t old, but Old Man was just what the team called him. He was more than their commander and coordinator, just as all the team members were more than just team members to each other. Which is why they had ended up finding out about Malon’s pregnancy very early on, even though Time tried to keep his personal life away from the organization. He just couldn’t hide something like that form them, he had taught them to be observant and use their heads, after all. Besides, trust was implicit inside their group, this information would stray no further than Time wanted it.

A reluctant smile curved the Old Man’s lips at the mention of his wife. “Nothing like that, she’s actually very reasonable in her cravings. Yesterday it was green apples, of all things.” His tone turned serious. “Enough jesting. We have new orders, we have to get to work.” He turned to where Twi and Sky were sitting. “I know the two of you have been cleared for duty, but how are you feeling?”

“Great,” Twilight easily answered. “I was good to go long before yesterday, actually.”

Sky smiled. “Same. My ribs were still bothering me last week, but now I’m good as new.” 

Time nodded, if a bit stiffly. His expression didn’t lighten, and Warriors didn’t like that. “Ok, then. We have three tasks to perform, delicate issues. We will split up into three teams to do it.” He shuffled the papers in his hands. “Warriors, you are assigned to retrieve an individual who is wanted for questioning. Four, you will work with him. We need to come up with a cover story and act it out, this person should not just go missing but be perceived to have left. Leave a trail accordingly.” He handed them a stack of papers. “You have three days to come up with a plan, then we will go over it together and work out the details.” 

Warriors and Four nodded, but didn’t look at their files yet. They knew better than to give Time anything but their undivided attention.

The Old Man turned to the rest of the group. “Twilight, Sky, you have targets for elimination. Twilight’s task is fairly straightforward, which is why he will be working alone. Legend, you will give Sky your support.” Legend, sitting in the corner as usual, sat forward and nodded, pushing his pink hair off his face as he reached for the file meant for him with his other hand. Time continued talking. “As you will see, this task comes with a number of.. specifications and limitations. We can discuss them more in detail before you come up with your plan, if you have any questions. The target has to be brought in after elimination.” Legend’s eyebrow quirked up a fraction of an inch, and Warriors knew that usually meant trouble.

“What?” he asked, tone sharp. “Does that mean we have to bring in the body?”

As their strategic specialist, Legend was the one to have the most information regarding anything they did . He usually ended up sharing everything he considered useful, though, if he thought the rest of the team needed to know. Despite appearances, he was as much a part of this close-knit group as anyone else and cared dearly for his fellow team members, but he wouldn’t have achieved the highest security clearance level of the team (excepting their commander, of course) if he didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut. Warriors knew he sat on a lot of secrets for the Sheikah.

“Yes,” Time answered simply. The team waited for a few seconds to see if the Old Man would elaborate, and when he didn’t a tense silence filled the room.

”Why?” Sky asked, sounding as disturbed as Warriors felt.

Time turned his eye on Sky. “Does it matter?”

It was Legend who answered. ”Yes. We need to know why in order to plan for the how.”

“No, you don’t,” the Old man countered. “All you need to know is reported in the file. The body must be brought as quickly as possible to the designated location, and the file carries all the instructions regarding chemicals for preservation in the meantime. Those are just a precaution, if you stick to the specified timing.”

Warriors didn’t know where to begin to process that. “This is… quite a departure from our usual tasks,” he said carefully.

He didn’t miss the way Time tensed further at that. He had been taut as a bowstring since he walked into the room, but now it was a miracle he could still keep his voice as level as he did. They knew just how carefully controlled the Old Man could be, but it seemed his control was close to slipping.

“Since you obviously noticed already something is up, I better tell you. The organization believes the group is ready to tackle tasks of a… different nature from what you are accustomed to. While this means you are given a chance to glimpse into… more inner workings of the Sheikah, it also means you have to work on less information that usual.” He seemed to take a moment to collect himself before speaking again. The sight was unnerving. “If you perform as expected, your security clearance might go up and you may be allowed more information in the future, meaning a progression in the organization.”

Warriors felt his eyebrows raise. While he knew his security clearance was far from the top levels, he had never considered that there was so much he didn’t know about the organization. He trusted the Sheikah, with more than his life, with the lives of everyone in Hyrule. With so much resting on the Sheikah, he guessed there had to be more than could be generally known, even to operatives such as himself. The implications of what Time was saying were… interesting.

The possibility of taking a more important role in the organization was appealing enough to make him push out of his mind Time’s obvious unease and discomfort.

For now.

***

Time couldn’t wait to leave the room. He knew the boys could see how tense he was, even though he was trying to hide it best he could. 

“Like I said,”, he said, standing up, “you have three days to study your files and come up with a plan. Of course you can come to me before that, to discuss ideas, options or details, but I know you boys like to work out most of your plans yourselves.”

He made to leave, but turned back to face the team. "Please keep in mind what I taught you. In tasks such as these, it is vital that you make no contact with your target until you are ready to act."

Warriors, ever the cocky one, waved a hand. "Yes, yes, we know. Our targets should see us only once, and if they don't see us even then all the better."

Time gave a stiff nod, willing his point across.

He tried to ignore the way he could see Twilight already paging through the two meager pages of the file Time had prepared for him, looking somewhere between displeased and surprised. Incredulous, even. 

The commander had spent the whole night constructing the files to hand out today, going over them with Impa in the early hours of the morning. He had agonized over just what to tell the team, considering numerous factors.

He hadn’t lied, he never lied to his boys, but he had led them to believe that the lack of information in their files was only due to their security clearance. It wasn’t, not entirely, at least, but Time didn’t want them to know anything more than what was absolutely necessary. He didn’t want them... to be put in the position to disagree with what the Sheikah wanted from them. He believed they needed… more time. They needed to be hardened to the necessity of what the Sheikah did, before they were exposed to how far the organization would stoop to achieve its ends. But the organization was forcing his hand.

Time moved towards the door. It felt like an escape. “You have your orders. You know where to find me when you are ready.”

He knew what would happen before it did.

As if on cue, as soon as he sat behind his desk in his office, there was a soft knock on his door. Time took a deep breath.

“Come in.”

He didn’t need to look up to know it was Twilight. He knew that boy like the back of his hand. Time had seen him grow up, in the organization as well as in life. He had trained Twilight from the very beginning, from the day of his recruiting seven years prior, barely 18 and ready to leave Ordon village to give his life to make Hyrule a better and safer place. The light that had shined from the very soul of the person in front of him had been blinding, and it still was. Pure, whole, untainted.

All of his boys’ souls were like that. 

“May I have a word with you?”

“Of course. Please come in and close the door.”

The operative closed the door but didn’t move to the chairs in front of the desk. “I’m sure you know why I’m here. You can’t expect me to work like this. There is little more than a name and an address on this file."

"That's all you need to know. You know the organization policies."

Twilight’s controlled facade broke just a little. "But there usually is an inkling as to why. There is nothing here, all this file says is I am being sent to kill a person who works in a family restaurant and attends classes in a community college. You must know something more. Is he dangerous?"

“You should expect no particular resistance.”

”Even worse. Why am I being sent to kill a civilian?”

Time sighed. “I know you were listening in the briefing room, and I know you understood perfectly what I said.”

The young man stiffened. “I heard. And understood. Enough to know you are hiding something from us.”

"I've never lied to you," the commander said carefully.

Twilight exhaled sharply. "No, but you have been known to withhold information. And in cases such as these, that's not much better."

Time wholeheartedly agreed, and felt dirty for that precise reason. But he wouldn’t let the young man in front of him see it. He would bear it all in silence, for Twilight and for the others.

"There are some burdens that shouldn't be yours."

The operative took a small step forward, raising a hand, palm up, to emphasize his words like he always did when he was agitated. "But the organization is asking me to take a life. I have the right to know why."

Time hated the words even before they left his mouth. True as they were, they sounded cruel and wrong. “You have killed before”.

It physically pained him to see Twilight start, and to hear the pleading in his voice when he managed to answer. “People who were trying to kill me, and were going to kill, torture and enslave many more, unless I stopped them.”

Time recognized this for what it was, and it broke his heart. This young man, like a son to him, was asking for absolution. How could Time give it, when he was the one who had sent him to perform those tasks, and was sending him now to do much worse?

“Unless the Sheikah stopped them. And you performed as ordered. As you are expected to keep doing.”

Twilight stood still as stone for a few moments before turning and leaving the office without another word.

After the door closed, Time put his head in his hands.

What had he done?

Chapter Text

"We have been going around in circles. Our best bet is still to make it look like he left, of his own free will, for a trip."

Four was sitting on a chair, leaning precariously on two legs, one hand on the table the only thing keeping him from toppling over. In his other hand he held his copy of the orders he and Warriors had received. They had been discussing their options for the better part of two hours. This task was indeed very different from anything they had faced before, but the tech specialist tried not to let this bother him as he tried to approach the issue with his usual methodical and logical reasoning.

Wars was sitting on the other side of the table, his chair turned with the backrest forward, straddling it like he would a motorbike. One arm was flung over the backrest of the chair, the other sprawled on the table. He was playing with the pencil in his left hand. Four always found it rather amusing that the operative would never use a pen when writing down plans, always pencil, in tiny shorthand on the margins of the orders, and often erased a lot of what was decided on after having committed it to memory. Sometimes Four thought he took the ‘leave as little traces as possible’ they had been taught a little too far. At least he had never chewed and swallowed the order papers. Yet.

“So the plan is we fake his departure for… somewhere. Somewhere on mainland Hyrule. We can discuss the details with the Old Man, he's the boss for a reason,” Warriors mused. “Something out of the way, though, and far. Possibly up north. Maybe Lanayru?”

Four nodded. “That sounds good. But to make this work, we have to time it right. The reservations have to be made with the right timing, stuff has to be taken from his house. Also, he has to be seen leaving. We have to leave a trace. Evidence. And the best way to do that is impersonating him, after you have already taken him away.”

Wars quirked an eyebrow. “Do you think you can pull this off?” 

The tech specialist smirked. “Oh, definitely. The eye color is close enough, our build is similar. I can use makeup to match his skin tone. He is a bit taller than me, but not enough to make this an issue, I can wear shoes that will take care of that. We have good pictures, assuming they are recent enough, and we’ll have to check on that ourselves, I can style a wig and prepare appropriate clothing. I'll make myself just the right amount of obnoxious at the airport so that people will remember me.” He paused, studying the picture carefully. “He looks awfully young. Why isn’t his age on the file?”

“We’ll get it off the old man. We need a forge of his documents with your photo on them, so we’ll have to get all his info. Of course assuming he has a valid passport, these papers don’t say. Another thing we have to verify before finalizing the plan. Otherwise, we’ll have to figure a different way to make it seem like he left. We need a plan B anyway." Warriors paused, looking back at the pages in front of him. He lifted an eyebrow. "But you’re right, he looks like a kid. Starting young in the world of espionage and government overthrow.”

“He might just look this young, it’s a great cover, take if from someone who knows. I’m nearly 24 but easily pass for a high school student. I’ve used that a lot in the past. Besides, you’re one to talk about starting young, you joined when you were.. what? 17?”

Warriors shrugged with a small smile. “16. But that’s just because the Sheikah loves to recruit in orphanages. Orphans are easier to convince, apparently." His smile grew wider. "And no annoying parents to step in being all protective.”

Four already knew Warriors’ story and knew, despite the jesting and choice of words, that Wars carried no bitterness or animosity over his fate, or towards the organization that had effectively used a child and his vulnerabilities for their ends. If anything, Wars was proud of having been noticed and selected so young. The Sheikah had become his life, his family, and he gave it everything he had and was. 

Like they all did.

That didn’t mean they had to like everything they did. Taking someone in for questioning, like in this case, meant… bad things for the person taken. Warriors seemed very aware of that as he began studying the file again.

“I hope he is older than he looks,” the operative said pensievely. “I’ve seen just glimpses of what happens in those holding centers, and…” he shuddered. “I would like to know what this guy did to deserve this, even though the Old Man said we don’t have the clearance for it. It would make me sleep easier.”

The tech specialist nodded. “I know what you mean. To be fair, we normally do get some kind of hint on why we are assigned tasks, beyond the need-to-know basis and our clearance level, but this time…” he frowned. “Nothing.”

***

Sky sat back heavily in his seat and rubbed his face roughly with a hand, then sighed and turned to Legend. “This is crazy. 'Asphyxiation preferred, poison as a second option, other means allowed as long as there is absolutely no blood spill'? Is this a joke? Since when are we this particular?”

The strategic specialist grimaced. “I’m guessing there is some powerful magic involved. This would also explain why we have to bring the body in.”

Legend also sat back in his chair, grimaced again, stood, stretched and hopped up to sit on the table. They were currently occupying one of the briefing rooms assigned to their team in the organization's main headquarters, to be sure their conversation was not overheard. As always, they regretted not being able to discuss things over coffee, in a comfortable armchair or lying on the grass in a sunny park. The need for secrecy came with the job, of course, and they had been trying to convince Time for ages to let them fit up one or two of the briefing rooms like they wanted, but apparently it was better to keep rotating rooms, which meant they couldn’t claim one for their own. So horrible metal chairs and tables it had to be.

Legend crossed his legs and propped his chin on his hand, elbow on his knee. “This guy’s blood must have some powerful and dangerous magical property. I wonder what he had to do to get that.” His eyes narrowed. “Might be dark magic, or they wouldn’t send us to take care of it. That, or they have intel about this guy wanting to use it for something big. Or both.”

He jumped off the table and huffed. Sky hid a smile behind his hand. Legend could never sit still while he was thinking, which made him hate these tiny briefing rooms with a passion more fiery than most. “That’s also strange, why didn’t we get any info on that? On the motivation? We normally have a little more to work on than this, or at least I do. I’ll have to corner the Old Man about this, I can’t do my job on these scraps of information.”

The operative huffed. "The only unusual thing about him seems to be he has no family, no friends, no associates. He lives alone, and does little more than go to his workplace. A freshly graduated doctor, just started on his specialization and who lives for his job. That seems far from threatening." Sky crossed his arms. "Also, why is the Sheikah, traditionally upholding the safety of Hyrule, even getting interested? This guy isn't even in Hyrule. He lives in Labrynna. How does this work, by the way? Does the Sheikah have jurisdiction in Labrynna?"

Legend scoffed. "Bird brain, you should know the Sheikah is a bit above and beyond jurisdiction. A lot of what we do isn't exactly legal by any definition of the word."

Sky knew his friend's attitude, and took no offense at the words. He knew what the strategist meant, just as Legend knew Sky was mostly just thinking out loud. There was nothing normal or straightforward in these orders.

Legend rubbed his chin pensievely. “It wouldn’t be the first time I had to operate outside Hyrule’s borders. But I guess you wouldn’t know the details of the whole operation in Lorule?” 

Sky looked up, surprised. The strategic specialist very seldom spoke about the missions he was sent solo on. “So that was where you went when you disappeared for three months last year? The Old Man wouldn’t say anything, Wars and Twi were worried sick but wouldn’t admit it. Four had a smug little smile when he thought we weren’t looking, but we couldn’t get anything out of him either, apart from the fact that you were alive and reasonably well.”

Legend laughed. “Yeah, the squirt was my remote tech support. I thought it bothered him having to keep all that from you guys, but apparently he enjoyed it more than he let on.”

The operative huffed. “We were just relieved to see you back, though you scared us with how pale and drawn you looked.”

The shorter boy tilted his head to the side and gave a rare, soft smile. “I remember the day I got back. I don’t think I ever saw the pretty boy that conflicted. He wanted to play it cool, but he was so transparent. He would have hugged me if I’d let him.”

“You are such a jerk. I hugged you, would it have killed you to let him do it too?”

“That’s because you’re a hugger, and I know a lost cause when I see one. There was no stopping you.”

Sky had to laugh. “At least you know how to choose your battles.”

Chapter Text

Twilight was glad no one ever used the training rooms at this time of the day. It was lunchtime, so he had the whole gym to himself, and probably would for another hour at least.

He wasn’t hungry, anyway. His thoughts were a painful, swirling mess that left little space for anything else. Physical exertion was the only way he knew to deal with this kind of thing, with a large punching bag and his bare fists.

This situation made no sense. He had been tracking his target for the better part of two days, hardly sleeping or eating, and he had seen nothing to shed any light on the task he was assigned. He had also searched through every channel he could think of to find information, but nothing of note had emerged. Twilight was painfully aware he would have to face Time the following morning, and even though he had already come up with at least six perfectly reasonable ways he could get this job done, he was still no closer to understanding it.

His target seemed like a perfectly normal civilian on the surface. He had looked up every tiny scrap of information he could find, which was awfully little. The only weird thing was this person seemed not to exist until 18 months before. Twilight only found hospital discharge papers, an obviously fake name, and stuff attaining to his current job, rented flat and college studies. 

Following him for two days had revealed nothing. He was friendly, spoke freely to the people he interacted with in his neighbourhood (which he hadn’t left the whole time Twilight had been following him, having a flat three doors down from the restaurant he worked in and three streets over from the small community college he attended), but seemed to have no family or other attachments.

The hospital papers gave little away, simply describing horrific burns (which were clearly visible on the target’s pictures contained in the file he was given) and the follow-up therapy to be carried out. Even the patient information was severely lacking. No contact information, no personal details. Twilight’s search through the police reports of the months before the date on the discharge papers had yielded nothing, no accident or fire or anything else which could explain what had happened.  

Whatever the Sheikah wanted him dead for had happened more than 18 months before, and under a different name. It drove Twilight crazy that he couldn’t find anything at all. His only viable option was to confront Time about what he had found and demand more information, but he knew that wouldn’t work. He didn’t know what else he could do.

Twilight heard soft steps and a familiar voice behind him. "Lay off that poor punching bag. I know the chains and fittings were reinforced after you broke the last one off, but if you keep that up even that won't be enough to save this one."

He turned his head a fraction to acknowledge Warriors as he put his duffel down and began his warm-up routine. 

"What has that poor punching bag done to deserve your wrath?" his friend asked in an apparently casual tone.

Twilight knew Wars well enough to know what he was doing, so he made no answer as he resumed his punching.

*** 

Warriors couldn’t just let it go. He had known Twilight for two years, and going through what they went through together, that counted for at least three times as much for normal people’s standards. He didn’t think he had ever seen his friend this upset. 

He had a sneaking suspicion he knew why.

“I take it your orders were also less than satisfying?” Warriors asked off-handedly.

That caught Twi’s attention. He paused his onslaught of punches on the poor punching bag and turned to face Wars, breathing heavily.

“‘Also’? I take that to mean your orders were rather lacking as well,” he said.

“Goddess, they are horrible,” Warriors answered, sitting on the bench against the mirrored wall. “Four has been grilling the Old Man, but we haven’t gotten anything more than we already had. We are setting out tomorrow to go see for ourselves, but I don’t know what to expect.”

Twilight looked away with the most bitter expression Wars had ever seen on him. “So you guys too, are being sent to take someone with no explanation.”

Warriors had been carefully avoiding thinking too hard about this. He trusted the organization, but he had to admit he really didn’t like having to go in blind. For more reasons than one. “My only clue is the location. That area has a strong separatist movement. But if that is it, then why is it not on the file?” He shook his head. “I hope to find something more once we get there. But what about you?”

His friend grimaced and turned back to the punching bag, resuming his onslaught. “My target is here in Castle town, but 52 hours of work have unearthed nothing, he seems like a perfectly normal civilian, except that there is no trace of him before 18 months ago. It seems wrong…” He drifted off with a particularly vicious series of punches.

Wars observed his friend carefully for a few seconds. “And how many of these 52 hours have you spent eating or sleeping?”

Twilight stopped throwing punches and turned again towards his friend. “Wars, I can’t just act like a loaded gun and go take out a random guy because my boss told me to.”

“The fact that you don’t know what that guy did or intends to do does not mean that this is not the right thing to do, that the Sheikah has no reason to do this. The organization doesn’t send people like us out lightly.”

Twilight clenched his fists and looked down. “I don’t know anymore," he said, his voice more frail than Wars had ever heard it. "Zant, Girhaim, Cia. We could see with our own eyes exactly what was wrong with them. Why we were sent out to deal with them." He looked up at Wars, fire in his eyes and voice harder. "The Yiga were planning a massacre with that Meteor Rod, I held in my hands the plans for the attack, after having retrieved them from the Yiga hideout. I knew why I had to kill those people. But now? This is a kid, Wars. He studies Ecology and Ecosystems at Castle Town's Orchard College. He works in a tiny out-of-the-way restaurant in a suburban part of town. What did he do to deserve a death sentence?"

“You said yourself he didn’t exist 18 months ago. That is pretty damn suspicious, in my book.”

“Fine, but that by itself is not enough to warrant this. Why won’t they tell us, give us a hint as they always do, something?  I... need to understand. I need to know. I can’t just blindly trust the organization like this, not when it comes to killing someone.”

Warriors felt a chill run down his spine at the change he felt in his friend’s tone and expression. “Twi, I know that look. Don't do it.”

“Don’t do what.” Twi answered. It wasn’t even a question.

Don’t dig too deep, don't break the rules, Wars wanted to say. But he couldn’t say it, not out loud, not here. “I don't know, but you're planning something.” He was aware of the pleading tone that was seeping into his voice, but he was powerless to control it. “Whatever it is, don’t do it. Talk to the Old Man, refuse the task. You know we can do that.”

There was real desperation in Twi's voice now. "But don’t you see? If I refuse it, someone else will be sent to do the job. That kid is as good as dead, and I need to know why."

Warriors had no answer for his friend. Or for himself.

***

Twilight knew what a horrible idea this was. It went against everything he had ever been taught, against every single one of the carefully crafted rules he had abided by for years. 

But he was left with no alternatives.

He crossed the quiet and dimly lit street, walked along the row of small trees lining the sidewalk and pushed open the door to the restaurant nestled in the corner. ‘The Soup Ladle’, it was called. 

A cheery voice greeted him. “Hello, and welcome to ‘The Soup Ladle’!” 

Even if he had wanted to turn back now, it was too late. He looked up to see the very face he had been staring at for over two days. Long blond hair tied back in a messy ponytail, intense blue eyes, a messy apron sporting several colorful splotches of various kinds of soup, and large, red, thick burn scars running along the left side of his face and neck and down his left arm, laid bare by the rolled back sleeves. The nametag on his apron read 'Hello, my name is Wild.'/p>

“Are you on your own? Table for one?” the young man, Wild, asked Twilight with a smile. “Sorry, your server stepped outside for a quick break, so I have to take care of you until she gets back. I'm usually hidden back in the kitchen," he added with half a wink.

"Yes, I'm alone," Twilight murmured.

Wild showed Twilight to a small table in the corner, keeping up his friendly, one-sided chatter. After having shown him the menu (the largest selection of soups Twilight had ever seen, plus a range of hearty, homey dishes of various kinds), the cook's smile turned apologetic.

"I'll leave you to choose in peace. Sorry, I get told a lot that I bother people when I talk too much."

"Oh, you’re not bothering me at all," Twilight answered quickly. "Actually, are you in a hurry to get back to the kitchen? Some of these soups have interesting names, it looks like there might be a story behind each."

Wild's smile grew more genuine. "Boy, am I glad you asked…"

Chapter Text

Pestering the commander on two separate occasions had yielded nothing more than what was already on file. Legend had even doubted at one point that the Old Man actually had the information the strategist was trying to wheedle out of him, it wasn’t usually so difficult to get stuff out of Time. Not for him, at least. 

So Legend had to turn to ye trusty olde methods, and go get information by himself. While Sky had been digging into every archive, file and scrap of document he could find, Leg had donned his black beanie (as much as he liked it, his pink hair made him stand out a little too much for reconnaissance missions) and had gone to Labrynna himself to figure out what was up with this guy.

So far, over a day and a half of following their target around had yielded next to nothing, meaning Legend had spent almost two thirds of his time sitting outside (or sneaking inside) his workplace, a third sitting outside his lodgings, and whatever little was left crossing the park between the two.

Which, now that he thought about it, was a great place for an ambush, especially considering their target worked long hours and odd shifts. A dark, empty park could be dangerous indeed. 

Of course, this still brought them no closer to figuring out just why the Sheikah was so interested in this guy’s blood.  Of course if the blood was even the issue, the strategist wasn’t even sure of that. The only hint he had was the clearly spelled out and overly repeated order on the file of not spilling even a drop of the target’s blood, especially on open ground. Which was just varying shades of weird.  

Legend straightened the dark beanie on his head as he spotted their target walking out, ready to go home for the night. Or what was left of it, considering how late it was. Time was running out for Legend as well, he didn’t think he would find anything else here. He and Sky were scheduled to talk to the Old Man again the following afternoon, so he was going to have to call it a day. He decided to follow the target home again, and then head out. 

Following someone through an empty, dark park was so easy it was amusing. Legend was too much of a veteran to let his guard down, though, so he became quickly aware that he was not the only one following the young doctor through the shadows. Another man, brawny if the darkness wasn’t misleading him, dark hood pulled up, was making his way closer and closer to the target. 

Was their target about to get mugged? The strategist hadn’t gotten to where he was without the ability to think quickly on his toes. If a guy goes missing and his wallet is found on somebody else, well… he might have to improvise and move without Sky. Of course, the whole issue of taking away the body would make things harder, but…

Legend’s thought process came to a screeching halt when he spotted the light that was glinting off a long knife in the attacker’s hand. But the file had specified the importance of the target’s blood not being spilt. Again and again. Of course, he had no idea why, but he was not willing to risk it. He had to stop this.

As he stealthily moved forward, keeping to the darker shadows, the irony of having to save the life of their target for elimination was not lost on him.

Legend had no weapons on him, he was just out on a reconnaissance mission and he was careful not to have anything on him that could get him in trouble if stopped and searched. He smiled ruefully. His bare hands would be enough for the likes of this guy.

He silently advanced till he was right behind the wannabe-attacker. The Old Man would be proud, this guy wasn’t even going to see him. Before they could get any closer to the target, Legend pounced. He slipped one hand around the attacker’s neck in a one-armed-headlock, and used the other arm to grip and twist his wrist, forcing him to drop the knife. Even though this guy was taller and broader than him, Legend had positioned himself so he had excellent leverage and could put pressure on his windpipe. He didn’t mean to kill, there was no reason to, he just needed the guy unconscious so he could carry on undisturbed.

A sudden, strong blow on the back of his head startled him into letting go of the attacker. He turned to face the new threat, but felt a second blow, just as vicious but with no beanie to take the edge off, connect with his eyebrow. He stumbled back, off balance and in pain, blood now dripping in his left eye.

Great. Two attackers. Legend reset his stance and tried to keep both men in his line of sight, but the blows had left him dazed and the dripping blood made it difficult to use his left eye. He saw the first man lean down to retrieve his knife from the ground. The other one seemed to be holding a crowbar. 

The second attacker swung his weapon again, but Legend managed to dodge. Slightly off balance from his parry, he wasn’t fast enough to completely avoid the first man who stepped forward, brandishing the long knife. He ducked, but the blade sliced through his jacket and sweater. He felt the cold sting of metal cutting his skin between his shoulder and neck. He stumbled back again, but lost his balance and fell.

How had he messed this up so badly? How had he let these guys take him by surprise like this?

“Hey! Stop! Leave him alone! I’m calling the police!”

Legend turned his head to see his target running back towards them. He heard two sets of steps quickly retreating down the path. 

He had to salvage the situation, he had to get the fuck out of there. He tried to push himself up with his arms, but a wave of intense nausea made the ground tilt beneath him.

Suddenly, two warm, firm hands gripped his shoulders, helping him gently back to the ground while supporting his head, laying him down on his back.

"Don't get up. You are injured, you received at least a blow to the head and are bleeding. Can you tell me your name?"

Damn Hylia above. How was he going to get out of this?

A gentle hand removed his beanie and pushed his hair away from his forehead, then proceeded to move his jacket aside to expose his shoulder.

"Both of these lacerations will need stitches, and we have to check for a concussion. Appropriate potions will help for that, and avoid infection." The young doctor turned to reach for something in his pocket. "I'll call the hospital, then we can…"

Legend reached out and grasped the doctor's arm. He tried focussing on the face above him, but he found he couldn't. "I can't… go to the hospital. I'm fine. I have to leave," he wheezed.

The doctor's voice turned concerned, and somehow both soft and firm. "You can't go anywhere before you have been treated. Please let me help you."

The strategist was all too aware that he wasn't thinking clearly, through the daze of dizziness and pain, but one thing he knew was he could not go to the hospital. He needed to come up with an excuse the target… the doctor would accept.

"I am not Labrynnian. I don't have documents," he mumbled. "I can't go to the hospital or the police."

The doctor's hands stopped in their examination of his wounds for a second, then began moving again, applying pressure to his knife wound to slow the blood. "I understand," he said quietly, voice kind and gentle. "I can still help you. I'm a doctor, I live just outside the park, it's not far. Let me take you to my house, I can at least suture your wounds and give you potions. Then you can stay the night so we can make sure the concussion is not severe." He slowly and gently started helping Legend up.

Was this guy for real? First he had gone unarmed to break up a fight where he could have just as easily been involved and killed, then he was willing to pick up a random stranger, who had already admitted to having some trouble with the law, injured in a knife fight in a park at night, and bring him into his house, letting him sleep there? This kind, caring, selfless man was the target the Sheikah had marked for elimination? The strategist himself had been planning how to kill him just a few minutes earlier. Legend’s head started spinning.

“Easy, I got you. We’re almost there.”

He realized he must have blacked out, or have been only partly conscious. They were leaving the park, the doctor’s arms holding Legend steady as they slowly made their way forward. Soon they were climbing the steps of a small house with dark windows.

The sign on the door said Link Zauber.

“Your name is Link?” Legend rasped out. The name on the file was different. 

The doctor gave a small smile. “Only on paper. Everyone calls me Hyrule.”

“Hyrule?” That was the name reported on the file.

He chuckled. “Even though I am Hyrulean, I spent most of my childhood in an orphanage here in Labrynna. As you know, Labrynnians aren't too fond of foreigners, hence the nickname.” He shrugged. “I guess it stuck. I’ve always liked it, though, it reminded me of where I came from.”

Soon, Legend felt gentle hands help him down on a couch, gently removing his jacket. 

"May I cut your sweater? It will be less painful than taking it off," the doctor said, hesitantly. "You can have one of mine, as a replacement."

Din and Farore, now he was giving him clothes to replace the already cut and bloodstained ones he had to get out of. This guy was unreal.

"Lie back, please. I have to clean and sew your wounds shut. The wound on your brow is thankfully not too close to the eye to have damaged it, probably, but could have given you a concussion. You have clearly sustained a second blow to the back of the head, so please tell me if you feel nauseous or drowsy or hear a ringing in your ears," the doctor said softly.

Legend was definitely nauseous, but he didn't know if it was from the concussion. He had always known the Sheikah wasn’t as pure and righteous as the rest of the team believed it to be, but he had no idea the organization would stoop as far as killing an innocent because of a purely hypothetical threat. Because he was absolutely sure, after what he had seen, that his supposed target, that Hyrule, would never hurt anyone willingly.

And if his blood was, for some reason, powerful enough to really pose a serious threat?

How bad could it be? What would be bad enough to kill an innocent for? He tried to think of the Sheikah, of how it worked, of how the council chose the objectives to pursue. Of the worst nightmare of anyone in Hyrule.

Is his blood powerful enough, for some reason, to revive Ganon before the cycle is set to begin anew? Would even that be enough to kill a man like Hyrule for?

"I'm done with your wounds. Can you open your eyes and sit up for me?" 

Legend did, but the world swayed, and he tasted bile in his throat.

"Easy, it's the concussion. Will you have a potion if I give you one?"

The more the doctor talked with his soft, kind voice, the more Legend felt his gentle and warm hands on his own head and shoulders, the more this man kept on giving, quietly and selflessly, the more horrible Legend felt. He retched.

The doctor was immediately there with a bucket, putting it down in front of Legend and then holding him steady with impossibly gentle hands. The strategist just felt worse.

"Please don't. I don't deserve your help," he moaned, surprising even himself. Those hits to the head must have been harder than he thought.

"Of course you do," the doctor answered gently. "Everybody deserves help when they need it."

Legend had been fully prepared to kill this man with his bare hands not an hour ago, and here they were, the doctor holding Legend’s hair back gently as he threw up in a bucket. In his home. Wearing his clothes. After the doctor had, asking no questions, not even insisting on a name, treated his wounds.

People like this should not exist, this was the next level of pure. Not even Twi and Sky would go so far, and they were his gold standard of naive, good and just stupidly pure even with the job they did.

Hours later, Hyrule was softly snoring on an armchair, after having checked on Legend again and again. “The symptoms of the concussion are resolving, I think it’s safe for you to sleep a little, if you can,” he’d said. “I’ll wake you in a couple of hours to check on you.” With that, he had set a small alarm clock on the coffee table and had promptly passed out.

Legend slowly and quietly got up off the threadbare couch he was currently occupying and took out a small unmarked phone. He dialed a number and waited. After a few seconds the call connected.

“Sky, we can’t do this.”

Chapter Text

Pre-mission briefings were usually carried out with the whole team, independently of which specific team members the task under discussion was assigned to, for a number of reasons. First of all, the input of the whole group was very often a welcome and extremely useful addition when finalizing a plan. Their diverse backgrounds and dispositions made them approach problems very differently, which led to efficient, original and elegant solutions when they worked all together. Another reason was that, in a group as close as theirs, everyone wanted to know what was happening to the other team members, and how they could help to keep each other safe.

On this occasion, Time had chosen to carry the briefings regarding the three sets of orders separately. The less each team member knew, the better. He knew he couldn’t keep the boys from talking among themselves, but he also knew they wouldn’t discuss details outside briefing rooms. They were far too well trained for that.

The first meeting scheduled was with Twilight, and Time hated to admit to himself that, for the first time in his life, he was nervous at the idea of confronting his young protege. Whichever way their conversation went, it would be bad news. This situation had no possible positive outcomes. He'd spent hours upon hours agonizing over what he could do to get his boys out of this situation, but once the council had issued the orders, there was no way out but forwards. Somehow. For now, his best bet was to stall, draw things out. He hoped to be able to use that bought time to figure something out, maybe if he gathered more information he could find a lever to use with Impa and the council...

His thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door of the briefing room. Twilight stepped in without waiting for an answer, and Time stifled a gasp.

The operative looked horrible. His skin was pale and waxy, his hair a mess, his clothes looked like he had slept in them and he had dark circles under his eyes. Actually, scratch that, he looked like he hadn’t slept in three days. 

Which was probably exactly what had happened.

Time tried to think of what to say, but 'what's wrong', 'are you all right' or 'what happened' all seemed like really bad ideas.

Twilight took everything out of his hands by speaking first.

"I need to know why he is being targeted by the Sheikah."

The commander sighed. "You know you don't have access to that information."

The commander had never seen, in all the years he had known his operative, such cold fury radiating from him. "Fuck clearance. Since I cannot believe the Sheikah would mark someone for elimination without a reason, I need to know that reason when even he doesn't.

A cold dread seeped through Time's chest, suddenly constricting his breathing. When he spoke, it was little more than a whisper.

"You broke the rules. You made contact." It wasn't a question.

The silence that followed Time's words was terribly loud and tense. Twilight made no answer, apart from raising his shoulders minutely and clenching his fists in a show of defiance. 

Time sucked in a breath. "You are compromised. You must refuse the task and step back."

The fierce look in the young man’s eyes was blistering. "So someone else can be sent to kill him?"

"That is none of your business, and out of your hands,” Time replied, voice cold.

Twilight’s face crumpled. “He has amnesia, Time. He doesn’t remember anything prior to 18 months ago. The Sheikah wants him dead for something he doesn’t remember." Twilight ran a hand roughly through his hair. “He only started getting brief flashbacks in the last few weeks, and even those…” Twilight’s voice drifted off, a look of dawning comprehension on his face.

Time felt despair well up inside him. Twilight was too smart, too well-trained, there was nothing the commander could do to stop his operative from connecting the dots, now. 

“Wait, is this what the Sheikah doesn’t want to happen? The organization doesn’t want him to remember? What is there in his past that’s so dangerous?” Twilight's voice was getting dangerously loud.

The commander had to stop this before it got any worse. He stepped forward and put a hand on his protege’s shoulder. “Twilight, you have to stop. There are rules for a reason. You got too involved, now you have to step back, for your own sake.”

The young operative shook Time’s hand off. “That’s not how it works, Old Man. For the past seven years I have put my life on the line for Hyrule and every single one of its citizens, and it’s not something I can just brush aside now. I am not going to step back with the certainty that that boy is going to be dead before next week. Not without a fucking good reason.”

The silence that followed Twilight’s words was deafening. The implications of what he had just heard threatened to choke Time, and became something physical in his chest that wouldn’t let him breathe.

“You don’t know what you are saying,” the commander whispered. But he could see the gears in Twilight’s head were still turning, and he was powerless to stop them.

“There are only two things the Sheikah fear this much,” Twilight began, as if to himself. “One is Ganon, the inevitable cycle that we must face time and time again. No one can stop the cycle, but unless a single individual can hasten it, that can’t be it.” Time couldn't speak as the operative continued. “The other is exposure, which is why all of us are so carefully selected and controlled. But then…” Twilight looked up, a stricken look in his eyes.

“He was one of us,” he whispered, “and he forgot. The organization fears he will remember something at the wrong moment, and expose the organization.”

Time found his voice again. “Twilight, please stop talking right now," he pleaded with a whisper.

But Twilight’s eyes hardened again. “You knew. You knew he was in the Sheikah.”

Time’s silence was damning, but he couldn’t get himself to lie.

“Did you know him? Did we?”

Time didn’t have an answer to give, nothing could make this better.

Twilight was not backing down, but his voice was starting to crack. “The burn scars. Did it happen during a mission? Please, tell me this much.”

Time realized, to his horror, that his eyes were stinging. Had his control slipped this far? He had meant to protect his boys, to think that the first one he couldn't protect was Twilight...

“Pup,” he said quietly. The younger man started at that. Time hadn’t used that nickname since Twi had become an operative, four years before.  “Please. Not here. This isn’t safe,” he whispered, then continued, more loudly. “Listen, you are obviously in no state to have this conversation. Go home, take the day off, sleep it off, and come back tomorrow, when you are sober.”

As he spoke he began subtly signing. He saw Twilight’s eyes widening, and knew he remembered what he was taught. What Time signed was very different from what he said. 

Don’t go home. Meet me at midday by the docks opposite the scrap metal warehouse.

***

“Well, that was really weird,” Wars said, zipping up his duffel bag and slinging it over his shoulder. “The Old Man was even more agitated than the other day.”

Four had to agree. There was definitely something wrong with Time. He had been horribly nervous and had struggled to get through their orders and plans, going over the same points several times. He had given them all the papers and forged documents their plan required, but he had reminded them they had the option to refuse the task, and asked them more than once if they were sure they were ready to set out. He had also insisted that they contact him  before proceeding, once they were on site and deemed themselves ready.

Four had to ask. “Do you think… he wanted us to refuse this task?”

Warriors grimaced. “I got the same impression. He might not have agreed with the higher-ups assigning these tasks to the team.” His eyebrows suddenly lifted. “Does he even have the option to refuse a task he is assigned like we do? The tasks are assigned to the team, not directly to him, are they?"

Wars had a point. “I actually don’t know,” the tech specialist answered, frowning. “Judging from how… off he has been since we got these orders, I’d guess not,” Four mused.

“Also, why was it only the three of us tucked into a tiny never used briefing room in a corridor we never came down before?” The operative asked. “We usually discuss things with the whole team, especially things as delicate as this.”

Four liked it even less than his friend did, but now they had other, more urgent matters to attend. He was forced to push the subject aside, for now, to concentrate on their task. “Let’s worry about it later. Now we need to get to Outset and figure out something more about this guy. We call that a plan, but there is much we have to find out and double check before we are ready to move.”

“At least I am now fairly positive that the Old Man doesn’t like us being in the dark, and might be a bit in the dark himself as well,” Warriors said. “He insisted on a list of things we need to check on when we get there, like the target’s living situation and schedule. He said the file was lacking in that respect, that was information that should have been there. He prepared the file, he would have put that stuff in if he had known it.”

“Unless it was his way to give us a hint where he can’t tell us outright,” Four answered. “It wouldn’t be the first time. Maybe we have been giving him shit all this time, and he really was doing all he could.” As he was speaking, the tech specialist looked over the papers and documents Time had given them.

“Link Litore.” Four paused, perplexed. “His name is Link? It said Wind Litore on his file. If this passport comes from Documentation, it surely is the name that shows up on his real passport. Or do you think we have to double check?”

“We definitely have to check, but I’ve never known Documentation to mess up a name.” Wars leaned over to look over Four’s shoulder. “Huh. That’s odd. Wind must be his preferred nickname, then, but why didn’t it say so on the file?” Warriors’ voice grew angry. “This is the kind of shit that gets operatives killed, when left out. We now have to double check everything to make sure this doesn’t change anything.”

Four’s eyes travelled down the page, and suddenly an icy feeling in his chest threatened to choke him.

“Wars,” he managed to stutter out, “the kid is fourteen.”

Chapter Text

Twilight pulled the collar of his jacket higher against the cold wind that was coming in from the ocean. He was leaning against the wall of an abandoned building, a small ruin nestled between the large warehouses that lined this stretch of water. From where he was standing, he had a good view of the docks Time had indicated as their meeting point, the infamous scrap metal warehouse just on the other side of the river.

The fact that the Old Man had given him such an out-of-the-way meeting point, and using sign, no less, suggested that they were going to discuss information that the commander was not at liberty to disclose to his operatives. Was he finally going to get some answers?

He had arrived with only a couple of minutes to spare, knowing that Time would show up exactly at the specified moment. He was oddly particular about timekeeping, especially out in the open. As if on cue, the operative spotted his commander coming around the corner.

“Do you have a phone on you, anything electronic?” Time asked in lieu of a greeting.

“You taught me better than that,” Twilight answered evenly.

The Old Man gave a small reluctant smile. His face then hardened in his ‘let’s-get-to-work’ look.

“I hadn’t registered for the room we were using, or scheduled it anywhere,” he said. “I only told you the time and place, so my hope is there was no one actively listening, but you have to assume you are always overheard in there.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “I thought we had our meetings in there so we wouldn’t be overheard.”

“Don’t sass me. You know what I mean.”

He did, and he wished he didn't. “I know making contact is a major infraction, but it’s not unheard of. There is something else here, isn’t there?” the operative asked.

“These tasks," the Old Man immediately answered. "The whole thing. Even I have not been given all the details, and that is a first. The task assigned to you is the most straightforward, and it wouldn't be the first time we have to take out one of our own for security reasons, but there generally is some foul play involved, or indication of betrayal. In this case there was none, as far as I can tell.”

Twilight stiffened at the words.

“What happened to him?”

“Some kind of training accident with a prototype, he was in the R&D Tech Unit. I never got to read the report, so I don’t know the specifics.”

“A prototype? But…” Twilight’s breath hitched as he remembered something from nearly two years before, when he had been working with his current team only for a little while. “The Guardian prototype.”

There had been much ado, at the time, about the successful completion of the first prototype of what was being called ‘the ultimate Sheikah weapon’, supposedly a powerful automaton designed with large scale attacks in mind. It was being called the Guardian. Shortly after that, the project had been hastily abandoned, and there had been rumors of a horrible accident where an operative had nearly been killed. 

He suddenly couldn’t get the words out, couldn’t breathe. “So he… Wild…” he pushed his hand through his hair roughly. “He was horribly wounded, disfigured, he lost his memory and identity and his whole life for the Sheikah, and not only was he abandoned, discarded, but now he is going to be killed because he might remember who he was?”

TIme’s face looked pained. “As good as I can understand, yes. And it does seem excessive.”

“You said my task was the most straightforward. What about the rest of the team?”

Time sighed and ran a hand through his own hair. “Their missions are even worse than yours. Wars and Four are in Outset with instructions to contact me before moving. I have no doubt that once they see with their own eyes how things stand, they will refuse to proceed.”

Twilight felt a rock settle in his stomach. “What’s the story there?”

“Supposedly, the target has some information regarding a separatist group quite influential on the island, but everything we have on that group indicates they are peaceful, and only do have the best interests of the people of Outset at heart.” Time sighed. “And that is not the worst of it. The target is fourteen.”

Twilight choked on air. “What?” 

“I am certain Warriors and Four will refuse to proceed, but that’s the point. The council should have known that, too. So why assign such a task in the first place? None of this makes sense.” 

The operative couldn’t wrap his head around any of this. “And Sky and Leg?”

“They are in Labrynna, with the same exact instructions I am now giving you. Stall for time. Legend called me on a safe number telling me he and Sky had also contacted their target and they were not going to carry out the task.”

Twilight felt his jaw drop. “When did that happen?” 

“Less than an hour ago.”

“Who is their supposed target?”

Time grimaced. “That’s the one I know least about, and would like to know most. The only information I have is that the target supposedly has powers strong enough to… modify the cycle. Bring on another one before its time.”

Twi couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This really was the worst nightmare of every single member of the Sheikah, the single event they had been created to face and avert. The return of Ganon. “Is that even possible?” he stammered.

“Apparently it is. The question is, even if it were true, would the target want to do it? Does he even know? From what I could gather, and our strategist confirmed, he seems to be not only unaware of carrying such power, but also a genuinely good person who wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“So… so…” Twilight’s thoughts felt sluggish. 

Time continued. “If that is the case, it would make much more sense to recruit him, have him on our side, help him figure out his powers. Not dispose of him.”

The two men were silent for a long moment. 

“Is this… I thought the Sheikah was different, I thought…” The young operative felt as if the ground was crumbling below his feet, as though everything he had ever believed in was a lie. “I know the organization is in place to keep Hyrule and its citizens safe, but… I thought… there were limits, lines we wouldn’t cross…”

“I don’t know,” Time admitted tiredly. “I don’t understand if the organization has always been like this and it’s only my perception of it that has evolved with time, or if the council has indeed been changing their decision making policy over the last few years.” He sighed, then gave a tiny, soft smile. “You, and Warriors, Sky, Four and Legend, made me see the organization I once knew again. Pure, idealistic, an organization that existed to protect the innocent, save lives. You boys made me want to believe again. I really did try to believe again.” His face turned bitter, and he looked down at his clenched fist. “Until this week.”

Twilight waited for the Old Man to continue.

“The orders you received… I didn’t understand. I was given weak explanations that I found only barely reasonable. Almost like surface excuses. The council has been known to overestimate threats to be on the safe side, but these really seemed like too much. I tried to refuse the tasks, but the council seemed to want these missions assigned specifically to you five.”

The operative wanted to ask about the possible meaning of that, but didn’t want to interrupt. This was the most open Time had been with him… well, ever. 

“Then I started realizing that some information on the files I was given was lacking, or worse, purposefully wrong. The names, for example. Two of the targets had different names on the file.”

“Why would that matter?”

“Because both their names are Link.”

“What?” 

“I found out about one when I got the documents that Wars and Four needed to fake his disappearance. The other…” Time grimaced. "I only found out when Legend called me. He told me.”

 Twilight tried to process all the information his commander had just given him. More than anything, he tried to understand how they were supposed to proceed now. What options did they have? His first instinct was to find a way to save the targets. They were obviously innocent, they did not deserve what the organization was doing, had done, and was going to do to them. But if the Sheikah had marked them, what could the six of them do? Take them and run? Run where? The reach of the organization was long indeed. 

Also, he corrected himself mentally, five, not six. The Old Man couldn’t run. He had a family, a wife, a baby on the way. He had a lot more to lose than the rest of them.

He dragged a hand through his hair. “What do we do now? You said we had to stall, buy time. Is there any possibility that the orders will be called off?”

The commander huffed. “I don’t know. I have been trying to think of what I haven’t attempted. I tried calling in some favours, but nothing’s worked, so far.”

“One thing at a time, then," Twilight said, quoting one of the Old Man's favourite phrases. "What do you want me to do now? Is there anything I can help the others with?”

“As of right now, you can’t do anything for the others,” Time said. “None of you are in trouble yet, so go home, for real this time, shower, sleep, eat. Come back to headquarters tomorrow morning, you will admit to having been drunk this morning, and then we will agree that you need more time to finalize your plan.”

The operative sputtered. “I… what?”

Time had the gall to laugh. “Worry not, Pup, I will not report you officially for coming in to work under the influence.” He turned serious again. “It’s just a precaution, just in case we are being watched.

“Goddess, Old Man, aren’t you being a little too paranoid?”

Time seemed to hesitate, then spoke again, a bit haltingly. “There is... one more thing you should know. Your target's real name. Wild Doe obviously is not his real name. Before he forgot, his name was Link. Link Victor.”

Twi immediately understood where Time was going with this. Hylia above, was this story going to keep on getting worse? “You mean… all our targets are named Link? But… This can’t be a coincidence.”

The commander had an unreadable look on his face. “I'm afraid not. I’m starting to believe we are all targets.”

Chapter Text

When the unmarked phone Legend had given him had started ringing at 4 in the morning, Sky had woken up faster than he ever had in his life. He didn’t know he could wake up so fast. Legend had handed him that phone before leaving for Labrynna, with the words ‘just in case, if anything goes wrong’, so the operative had hoped to never find out what it sounded like. 

To be fair, the operative had always found all the back up plans (especially the unofficial, unauthorized and unregistered ones) Legend always prepared before going anywhere a bit excessive. He had never seen the need to prepare like that when the organization always had your back, and had a way to get you out.

Right now, he was just glad the strategist planned for contingencies. He had asked very little questions and only followed Legend’s instructions, jumping in a car (registered under a false name, his friend had said), ignition key perfectly hidden under a bumper, and driven for nearly five hours straight as much above the speed limit as he dared. Sky had reached Legend a bit after 9 in the morning and had picked him up in a secluded street corner, shivering and blood-stained.

They were currently sitting in the car in an out-of-the-way empty parking lot, Legend gripping the warm drink Sky had forced him to have. 

“Are you sure you’re alright? I have potions in a bag in the trunk, a change of clothes, a blanket...” the operative said softly. 

“I’m fine. I just need to figure out what we are going to do now,” the strategist answered.

The bloodied bandage above Legend’s eye, coupled with the paleness of his skin and the way he was subtly shivering as he clutched the styrofoam cup told a different story, but Sky decided to let it go for now.

“Tell me what happened, then,” Sky urged.

“What happened is whatever powers that guy has, he has no idea. And the Sheikah is going too far,” Legend spat. The operative was surprised at the sudden vehemence in his friend’s voice.

The strategist began telling Sky what he had discovered during his nearly two days of reconnaissance, what he had learned about their target (“next to nothing, he lives for that hospital”), then about how he had had to intervene to stop their target from being attacked in the park (“Ironic, isn’t it?”) and how he hadn’t seen the second attacker, ending up injured.

“He just ran back, Sky, unarmed, and broke up a fight between guys with crowbars and knives. As far as he knew, I was as bad as them. What he didn’t know is I am worse than those petty thieves.”

Sky could only wonder at the bitterness and self-loathing he heard in Legend’s voice. He made a mental note to address this later.

The strategist went on to tell him about how the target, the doctor, had helped him and, after hearing of the excuse Legend had come up with for not being taken to the hospital, had literally carried him to his own home to patch him up.

“Believe me, this is not a man who has something to hide, or plans to hurt anyone, at all, ever. The Sheikah must know that,” he said. “So why are we here?”

The operative had absolutely no answer to give.

Legend huffed. “I take it you didn’t find anything, either.”

Sky sighed. “The only thing I found that we didn’t know or hadn’t kind of figured out is how he was orphaned. It was a house fire when he was seven, a massive one. Apparently, the fire took extremely quickly, it was devastating. His whole family died, parents, a grandmother and a young aunt, which is why he stayed in an orphanage here in Labrynna. He had no relations left to step in and take him back to Hyrule. The house was completely destroyed, the remains of his family were barely identifiable, but he somehow came out of it unscathed.”

Legend raised an eyebrow, and the operative was glad to see a bit of the usual speculative gleam back in his friend’s eyes. It had been scary to see the always sharp and snarky young man look so… dull. Withdrawn.

“That sounds like a powerful protection spell. Instinctive? Inborn? Or cast?” the strategist mused. “Now that is something we can work with. A direction to investigate in.”

“And how would you even begin to do that? This was nearly 20 years ago.”

The trademark twinkle in Legend’s eyes was unmistakable. 

“I have already made contact, though I didn’t mean to. In for a nickel…”

Sky didn’t know whether he should laugh or groan.

Suddenly Legend’s eyes turned hard. “There’s one thing I forgot to tell you. There were two reasons why I wanted to keep all this under the Sheikah radar for now. One obviously was that I made contact, though inadvertently. The other reason is that there was one crucial bit of information that I believe was written purposefully wrong in the file, and that made me suspicious.”

The operative raised an eyebrow.

“His name is Link.”

***

Outset was a beautiful place. 

Gorgeous beaches, crystalline blue water, pale smooth sand, lush palm trees, friendly people, colorful buildings and winding streets full of hidden surprises, interesting stores and sparkly fountains nestled in every corner.

He could understand why there were groups that wanted Outset to be a separate country, and not part of Hyrule. This felt nothing like Hyrule.

Before coming here, Warriors had always distantly believed being in the Sheikah meant defending Hyrule, including its integrity, but now… if these people wanted to be a different country, would feel more free and happy that way... he wasn’t so sure forcing them to be part of Hyrule was a good idea any more.

But he was getting ahead of himself. They still had no proof that they were here to gather information on a separatist movement at all. He and Four still had no clue as to why the Sheikah wanted the kid, but they meant to find out before deciding what to do.

Even to himself he was still avoiding to think ‘before refusing to do it’, but there was a voice at the back of his head that sounded annoyingly like Twilight that was getting louder and louder. There was definitely something that didn’t add up here.

And the idea of a fourteen year old in a detention center was more than he could stomach. He was still trying to put that out of his mind until he had the whole picture.

Four walked up the steps of the restaurant terrace to join Wars at the small table he was currently occupying. It was not only gorgeous, it had a perfect view of the whole street, including the front door of their target. The tech operative was wearing colorful bermuda shorts, a wonderfully clashing tie-dye T-shirt, large sunglasses and a straw sunhat. He would have looked utterly ridiculous anywhere else, but here he perfectly blended in with the tourists strolling along the streets and beaches. Warriors tilted his head in greeting.

“Did you find anything?” he asked in a low voice after his friend had taken a seat.

Four grimaced. “Damn, this is the first time I have had to break into a fucking school. I hate this. With my whole heart.”

Just the idea made the operative feel mildly sick. He tried to stick to the issue at hand. “Let’s figure out why the Sheikah would want him, and then we'll think about the next step."

The tech specialist swallowed thickly. "According to the school records, he was absent for several weeks at the beginning of last year. I crossed the dates with newspapers, police reports and whatever I could think of. It was around the time of what later became known as the Helmaroc incident. There was an intense series of monster attacks in the area, it was horrible. Children went missing, people were killed, buildings destroyed. It was so bad that there were rumors that it was the beginning of another cycle.”

Warriors gasped. “I knew about the Helmaroc incident, of course, but I had no idea it was that bad. Also, another cycle? Just under our noses?”

“It was only a weak theory,” Four admonished. “It was never proven.”

“But still, now that I think about it, why didn’t the Sheikah get involved? At least, I heard nothing about it.”

“That is… unclear. What is known is that the situation was resolved mostly by the group known as the Pirates, which then became very well-liked and well-accepted by the islanders.”

The operative nodded. “I remember the Pirates. It was at that time that their current leader, Tetra, came to power.”

“Yes,” Four confirmed. “It was apparently in large part thanks to her lead that they managed to push back the monsters. Though… rumor here on the island has it that she had someone with her, who was crucial somehow in the battle. Little more than a child.”

“That...sounds....” the operative pushed back another wave of emotion and tried to stay focused on facts. “Do you think it might be him? That could be why the Sheikah wants him.”

“If he was the… child who fought with Tetra, it could be it. A connection to the Pirates, and a major involvement in the Helmaroc incident."

“But none of this justifies putting a 14-year-old in a detention center. It would make much more sense to wait a couple more years and then recruit him,” Wars said, trying to keep his voice down while his mounting outrage caused it to raise. “Or if information is really what the Sheikah is after, then find a less… invasive way to talk to him than kidnap him from his home and throw him in a holding cell!”

“This by no means justifies this course of action, but remember the Pirates are a separatist movement, though non-belligerent. The kid was born and raised on Outset, has a strong connection with Tetra, whose unofficial title is Queen of Outset. He would hardly help or much less join a group as… Hyrulean as the Sheikah. The same organization that apparently didn’t even step in to save the island when it was facing destruction.”

“So what is it, a case of ‘if we can’t have him no one will’?” Warriors spat.

Four took his sun hat off and rubbed his forehead wearily. “I don’t know. I hate it as much as you. It makes me feel dirty just to look up information on him.”

The operative ran a hand through his hair. The voice that sounded like Twilight’s in his head was now just too loud to ignore. He was at a total loss for what to do. He would have never believed the Sheikah would… That the organization would... he sighed. “What do we do now?”

"We call the Old Man. He said to contact him before we were ready to move, I am now sure he knew we wouldn’t do this when we had gathered more information,” Four readily answered.

“But then what? I’m starting to think you were right, I don’t think he can refuse tasks. If he’d had the option to refuse this task, he would have,” Wars answered weakly.

“He has never given us reason not to trust him. I say we do exactly as he asked,” the tech specialist said. “He might have some solution for us… official or otherwise.”

Chapter Text

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

Legend had never been more sure. He turned to Sky. “You don’t have to come with me, if you don’t want to break the rules. You don’t have to.”

The operative shook his head. “I am not letting you do it alone. We are in this together.” He gave a small, soft smile. “I trust your judgement. I have bet my life on it more times than I can count, and it has never failed to pay off.”

Legend couldn’t help the warm feeling that spread through his chest at those words. But he couldn’t get distracted now, they had to stay concentrated on the task at hand.

It was evening. If the strategist had remembered the duty roster correctly, and he was pretty certain he had, Hyrule should have finished his shift at the hospital a couple of hours before. He usually stayed a bit longer, but he should have been back by now. The soft light that shined through the window seemed to confirm it.

Legend walked up the narrow steps and knocked on the door. After a long moment, he heard shuffling steps and what sounded like a yawn. The door opened, and the doctor came into view, eyes tired and hair messy. As soon as he saw Legend, his face lit up.

“It’s you! You’re fine! When I woke up and you were gone I was worried. Come in!” with that, he opened the door wider and took half a step back. His eyes then travelled to Legend’s side, and his smile wavered for a second, but stayed in place. “I take it this is a friend of yours? Are you coming in as well?”

The strategist sighed inwardly, and glanced quickly over his shoulder to Sky, as if to say See? I told you this guy is unreal.

“I don’t mean to intrude,” Sky said gently. “I can wait outside, if my presence makes you uncomfortable.”

That seemed to be enough for the young doctor. His face softened again, and he stepped back. “Not at all, please come in. I’d like to check over your friend, if he’ll let me, so we can be sure he is healing fine.”

Sweet Nayru, did this guy ever think about himself? Did he even have self-preservation? They followed the doctor into his home, where he showed them to his small living room.

“Please sit down,” Hyrule said. He then turned to Legend. “Has your concussion given you more problems? Will you let me check the sutures to make sure there is no infection?”

“I’m fine, there is no need, thank you, you already did too much for me, ” Leg answered. He then steeled himself before speaking again. “We came to talk to you, to ask you a few questions we need answers to. I’m sorry this is sudden and intrusive, and I am not sure we will be able to explain fully why we are here, but it is necessary.”

The doctor looked taken aback for a second, before sitting down on an armchair opposite the couch where Legend and Sky were sitting. He swallowed. “Ok,” he finally said. “What kind of questions?”

There was no sugarcoating this. “You said you grew up in an orphanage. How were you orphaned?”

Hyrule started and looked confused. “Why do you need to know?” he asked.

They had discussed in detail what they should tell the doctor, and the obvious choice was ‘nothing at all’, but Legend did not want to coerce information out of this kind man. He was trying to save him. “Bear with us for a few minutes. I promise I will tell you as much as I can.”

Hyrule swallowed. “My family died in a fire,” he said simply, “when I was seven.”

“Were you there?” the strategist asked.

A small nod. “I was. I managed to get out.”

Time to get real. “How?”

The doctor’s eyebrows shot up. “I beg your pardon?”

“Do you remember that day? Do you remember how you got out?”

Hyrule was starting to look nervous, now. Legend took that as a ‘yes’. He really didn’t want to force the doctor to relive what was obviously a traumatic experience, but if this was how they would find a way to save his life, so be it. 

Hyrule opened his mouth once, twice. Nothing came out.

“Let me help. You were inside the house with your family. You don’t know why the fire didn’t burn you, but it didn’t.”

The doctor turned as white as a sheet. “How could you possibly know that?” he whispered.

Ok, then, time to return some of those heaps of trust the doctor had given him. “I didn’t. But I know there are people who think you have some power, and they either want it for themselves or don’t want it to exist at all. I want to help you, but I need to know everything you can tell me. Every. Little. Thing.”

Hyrule studied Legend’s face for a long moment, then he turned to look just as carefully at Sky. “I want to believe you are really here to help me,” he began hesitatingly. “After all, if you had wanted to hurt me, you could have done it the other night in the park, or yesterday morning when I was asleep. Or you could very easily overpower me now. I also have to assume that it was no coincidence that you were in the park right behind me the other night. You were following me.”

Legend’s left hand grew warm. It was very distracting, and hadn’t happened in a long time. He rubbed at it, but didn’t take his attention off the young doctor.

“I don’t know what I can tell you that can be helpful, though. I don’t remember anything about that night except smoke, and heat, and pain.” His voice wavered slightly at the end. “I remember walking all over the house, looking for my family. The smoke was very thick, but I could still see several feet in front of me. It’s actually one of the clearest parts of the memory. The light. A golden light that seemed to be everywhere.”

The sensation on Legend’s left hand was getting distracting. He scratched at it again. Out of the corner of his eye, the strategist saw Sky rub the back of his right hand.

Wait, what?

Legend knew this sensation well, it was the triforce of courage he wielded. It occasionally made itself known with a warmth, a weight, a presence, but this didn't necessarily mean it would manifest. It would be odd for his triforce to manifest now. It had manifested on missions before, but always in combat situations. Did Sky have the potential to wield a triforce as well? He knew Time could, and also Warriors. That was a very carefully kept secret, because Wars himself didn’t know. He didn’t know that what he had experienced when he was 15, what had gotten the Sheikah interested in him in the first place, was a triforce of courage manifesting. He had saved the cook of the orphanage he lived in from a fire in the kitchen, sustaining horrible burns on his left arm. He still had the scars, for the protection the triforce offered was limited.

 But now was not the time to think about this. Legend forcefully turned his attention back to the doctor, who was still talking.

“I don’t remember finding my family. I don’t know if that means I found them dead already and the shock made me forget, or if I never actually found them. I don’t remember leaving the house, either. I just remember being in someone’s arms, outside the burning house.” He swallowed, a haunted look in his eyes. “What was left of it.”

Sky, ever the empath, reached out and grabbed Hyrule’s hand, eyes full of sorrow. The doctor gave a small pained but genuine smile. Legend thought carefully back on everything the doctor had said. Suddenly it hit him. “You spoke of a golden light.”

Hyrule nodded.

“Thick smoke, like in a fire of the kind you are describing, is very hard to see through. If you remember a golden light, I don’t think it came from the fire,” the strategist said carefully.

“Where else would it come from?” the doctor asked, confused.

“You.”

Sky gasped. “A triforce?”

Ah. So he wasn’t wrong. “I take it you have one too?” Legend asked his friend. 

Sky nodded. “Yes, but it only gives me occasional brief protection, usually in combat situations. Nothing on this scale,” he added, gesturing towards Hyrule.

"What is this triforce you speak of?" the doctor asked.

“The quickest and easiest way to explain it is magic,” the strategist began. He distantly noted, as he spoke, that he shouldn’t really be telling Hyrule all this. “A magical… ability? That is inborn in some individuals and manifests when the individual needs it. There are supposedly three pieces to it. Courage, typically offering protection in combat, wisdom, typically enhancing magic spells of the kind the sages use, and a third one I know next to nothing about. It’s the most rare of all.”

“...how… why do… these individuals...”

Legend understood what the doctor was trying to ask. “No one knows why some individuals are born with this… for a lack of a better word, ability. Though it’s not an ability in the sense it can’t be learned. However, once one has it, it is possible to learn to use it at will, after much training.”

“Why would you believe I have one?”

“Because the golden light you described feels like it, and the fact that the fire didn’t hurt you sounds like a powerful protection spell, a bit like the triforce offers.” Legend scowled. “But even a piece of the triforce would not have been enough to cast that kind of protection.”

Legend froze and processed what he had just said.

One piece would not have been enough.

Was it possible? 

One piece of the triforce not only wouldn't have saved Hyrule, but it wouldn't be enough to warrant this kind of reaction from the Sheikah. But more than one? In one individual? He knew several people inside the organization could wield triforces of wisdom. He also knew a third kind of piece supposedly existed, but he had never heard of anyone wielding it. That was another strange thing, but again not something to think about now.

The Sheikah deciding to kill Hyrule, though, seemed like… a really stupid idea. And why now? Why not sometime in the last 20 years?

There was also the not-so-small detail of his name being Link. It felt to Legend as though the name had been purposefully left out from the information they were given, because it would ring bells. There were so many awful stories and prophecies around that damned name that Legend couldn't understand how people could still call children that. Most of them ended up using nicknames to avoid it altogether. Like himself. Like Sky. Like Wars, and Time, and… the whole of their team.

Sitting there in Hyrule's living room, Legend wondered for the first time if all the members of his team had the potential to wield a piece of the triforce and he just didn't know. He also wondered how it had never struck him as odd that, as far as he knew, all the people inside the organization who shared this name were teamed together. It wasn't as common a name as their team made it look. Had they been purposefully brought together?

"What is your dominant hand?" Legend suddenly asked Hyrule.

The young doctor seemed to have given up being surprised by the apparently random questions. "My left."

"Do you remember anything odd about your left hand that night?"

Hyrule frowned, and seemed to be considering it for a moment. "I don't remember anything about it, I'm sorry."

That didn’t help much. His time in the R&D Magic Department had given him a lot of knowledge on the more… supernatural aspects the Sheikah were interested in, but as far as he knew, there was no way to force a triforce to manifest or to test for it. Which was why the department was always on the lookout for manifestations in the general population.

So they had even more hypotheses and doubts, but still no answers.

Chapter Text

Even though the sun had set hours before, the fresh breeze coming up from the ocean was still pleasant. It was amazing how Outset was so much warmer than mainland Hyrule, even though it wasn’t all that far. Four had read it had to do with very warm currents from the southeast.

Four and Warriors were still sitting at their table on the terrace over the street. They had kept ordering various food and drinks throughout the day, and at least one of them had always been sitting down, so they hadn’t been asked to leave. No one had actually looked at them twice, as if this was a perfectly normal thing to do, in a beautiful and laid-back place such as that.

Four was feeling tired, but it wasn’t the good kind of tired, like after a long day’s work. He was nervous, restless, yet still somehow bone-weary.

They had contacted Time through the usual in-mission devices, and they were still discussing in whispers the implications of everything that had been said.

“He didn’t want us to say we were officially refusing the task, he cut me off when I tried,” Wars said. “I can’t believe it took me as long as it did to catch that he had used the word ‘backpack’ three times in four sentences.”

“So you are sure that was a code word?”

“Positive. It’s a code we have used in missions before, I told you,” the operative said. “It means ‘we are being watched’. He obviously didn't want to be overhead by someone inside the Sheikah. No one else would be able to listen in, with the secure phone we were using. And I really don't like what that implies.”

Four had always worked alone when undercover, since he looked so much younger than everybody else, so he hadn’t had much chance to really use code words. “But isn’t that a sheikah code?”

“Not really. There are general indications on how to pick code words, but they depend on the situation at hand, and each team will choose different ones depending on the context. The code we use more often was initially something me and Sky started coming up with one of the first times we were undercover together, and then it was just easier to keep adding to it than learning a brand new one. It's totally unofficial and off record, I don’t think it would be recognizable to anyone but our team," Warriors mused. "I hadn’t realized the Old Man had committed it to memory, but I guess I'm not surprised."

Four frowned. “The fact that he used a code at all is… worrying. He obviously thinks something is wrong with this mission.” His frown turned into a grimace. “Besides the obvious.”

The look on Warriors’ face was almost pained. “He also used the code words for ‘wait’ and for ‘contact later’, which very probably means not using official channels, and I have no idea how he plans to do that.” He sighed. “I… don’t know what to think. Does this mean Time doesn’t trust the Sheikah? But… who can we trust if we don’t trust the organization?”

Four reached out to put his hand on the operative’s arm. “I trust Time, I trust you and the rest of the team. This is enough for now. We’ll figure it out.”

Wars reluctantly gave a small smile. “Ok. One thing at a time, like the Old Man says.” Then he looked over Four’s shoulder and his eyes hardened. “Movement.”

Four knew better than to snap his head around. He straightened slowly and casually leaned to one side without turning. 

“I see something moving in the shadows along the side of the house. At least five, possibly more,” Wars whispered as he subtly moved to stand.

“I’m not sure if the fact the kid is home alone is a relief or not,” said the tech specialist as he slowly stood and gave a show of idly stretching.

Wars pushed the chair under the table, always keeping his eyes trained on the shadows. “Considering it would be his elderly grandmother and ten-year-old sister? Definitely a relief. Quick now, they went around the house.”

The two silently but swiftly stepped over the railing and dropped on the grassy patch below. “You go round the other side and find the kid. I’ll follow after them,” Wars whispered. “There might be more, watch your back.”

“You too,” Four answered, and dove in the shadows of the long, low bush that wound around the house. He made quick work of a locked window, and was soon inside the house. Before he could decide which way to go, he heard a muffled scream and a loud thud. He ran down the short hallway to the room at the end of it, but wasn’t prepared for what he found there.

A tall man, dressed in black and with his face covered, was standing over a young boy with bronze skin and sun-bleached blond hair. The kid was holding a baseball bat as if it were a two-handed sword, and lying at his feet, clearly unconscious, was another man.

Before the tech specialist could react, the man lunged for the boy, brandishing a long curved blade. The kid dodged with a backflip, then seemed to twirl and swung around his bat so rapidly that the man didn’t even see it coming. 

Clonk.

The bat connected with the man’s head, and suddenly there were two unconscious men on the ground.

Four was so astonished he could only stare for a second. He then felt more than heard steps behind him, and turned to face two more attackers, wielding more of those curved blades. He recognized them.

Yiga weapons.

These men also had guns, though, and the kid’s bat was not going to work against those. Four dove between the legs of one, used his momentum to come up standing behind him and twisted the man's arm to make him drop his gun. As soon as the gun touched the floor, Four kicked it to the end of the hallway and then jumped on the shoulders of the attacker, using his legs to trap him in a headlock and drag him to the floor. He grabbed his other arm to stop the scythe that was aimed for his neck.

The tech specialist was painfully aware of the fourth man advancing on the kid. Before he could finish disarming his opponent, though, the boy seemed to take a page out of his book; he dropped his bat, dove between the legs of the man with a roll and disappeared down the hallway, his attacker in hot pursuit.

Four’s hold on the man’s neck was true, so after a blessedly short struggle, his opponent was unconscious on the floor. The tech specialist disentangled himself and hurried in the direction he could hear sounds of a fight.

In the living room, he found the kid on the floor, breathing heavily but apparently unhurt, while Wars wrestled with another man. The operative managed to trip his opponent, subsequently dropping him thorough the coffee table in the center of the room. A fifth man was lying in a heap in a corner.

Panting, Wars turned to the kid, and extended his hand to him. The operative seemed mostly alright, but had a shallow cut down the side of his face that was sluggishly bleeding. “I don’t know how many more of them there are. Let us help you, we can take you somewhere safe.”

The boy, Wind, looked up at the operative with a strange look on his face, halfway between admired and suspicious, but took his hand and let Wars pull him to his feet. 

“I know where we can go,” he said.

 ***

The silence that rang after Hyrule’s words seemed to stretch on. Legend was deep in thought, and Sky knew better than to interrupt him. 

Suddenly, a faint creak of wooden boards caught his attention. He immediately turned to the doctor.

“Do you live alone? Is there anyone else in the building?”

Hyrule shook his head. “No, as you saw this isn’t much of a building, little more than a prefabricated house. I’m alone here.”

“Then we might have company,” Sky said in a low voice, moving to stand from the couch. Legend immediately got to his feet and pulled the doctor up with him. Then he turned to the operative. “Do you have a weapon?”

“Not much,” Sky answered. “Here.” He pulled a short knife from his right boot and handed it to Leg hilt first in a smooth and practiced gesture. Then he slid a second, longer and more elaborate knife from a sheathe in his sleeve.

Hyrule’s breath hitched. “Who are you?” 

“Let’s get out of here and we can tell you.”

Suddenly, one of the small windows crashed and a ball of fire exploded out, the carpet and coffee table immediately catching. The living room lights went out and a dark shadow came in through the door.

Damn.

"Find another way out, I'll cover you," Sky said. He didn't wait to see what Legend would do and stepped between his friend and the incoming attacker. He lowered his stance, then threw himself at the man, headfirst, using all his weight to throw him off balance and into the second attacker behind him.

The two men fell in a heap back through the living room door, and Sky used his momentum to roll over them and come up standing in the entrance hall, raising his arm to meet the curved blade of a third attacker with his own knife. 

The size of the place they were fighting in was both a blessing and a curse. The three men obviously couldn't attack him all at once in this confined space, but Sky also wasn't free to use the range of movement he wanted.

Better take this outside.

Keeping his blade locked with his opponent's, the operative pivoted until his back was turned towards the front door. He was aware of what a risky move that was, but his options were woefully limited. He gave in slightly to the pressure the attacker was putting on his weapon and took a measured step back, then another. When his heel finally touched the doorstep, he sidestepped and threw the attacker down the narrow steps.

Sky immediately leapt over the man even as he was tumbling down, and ran around the side of the house to find Legend and Hyrule. He spotted them immediately, Hyrule with his back against the wall while Legend held back two attackers, swinging the knife Sky had given him. He dodged under the curved blade aimed at his neck as the other man aimed a gun at the doctor. Before the operative could shout out a warning, the strategist dove to the side and pushed Hyrule roughly down.

The gun shot was muffled, obviously silenced, but to Sky it was as loud as an explosion. He tackled the man to the ground and pushed his knife in the attacker's side, then rolled out of the way of the first man's blade. The operative got his feet under him and immediately sprung at his opponent, pushing him off balance and pinning him to the ground.

"Who sent you?" Sky yelled in his face.

Instead of answering, the man muttered what was obviously an incantation, snapped his fingers and disappeared from below him in a puff of red smoke.

"Yiga," the operative spat as he got up. "We have to get away, and fast."

He turned to find Legend getting up even as the doctor tried to keep him down. The way the strategist held his side and a dark stain that was already seeping from below his black jacket were self-explanatory. Behind them, tall flames were already spilling out of the smashed-in window and licking hungrily at the cheap wood of the doctor’s home.

"Yes," Legend said with an effort. "Let's get the fuck out of here.

***

Twilight rubbed his face roughly with one hand. He knew he should just let it go and get his ass back home, but he also knew he would never be able to sleep, he'd just  stare at the ceiling for hours. 

At least here he felt like he was doing something even though he clearly wasn't. 

He could see the windows of The Soup Ladle from the dark corner he was currently standing in. Wild was in there, alone, cleaning up after closing time. The least Twilight could do was make sure the kid made it home safe.

A movement across the street caught his attention. Four men, tall, broad and wearing dark hoods that covered their faces, were moving towards the restaurant, keeping to the shadows. They spread out as they got closer, one of them moving towards the corner Twilight was leaning against. He thought he knew where the man was going, and turned and ran along the side street to where he knew the back door of The Soup Ladle was.

The operative shouldered the door open and caught a glimpse, past the dark kitchen and through the large round window on the door, of Wild’s blond hair as he was cleaning tables, and of the way he didn’t turn at the sound of the door chime.

“The restaurant is closed, sorry, you’ll have to come back tomorrow!”

Twilight moved as fast as he was able to. He barged out of the kitchen and tackled the man closest to Wild to the ground. He struggled to his knees, straddling the man, and punched him in the face as hard as he could. When he didn’t immediately move, he rolled off him and came up standing between the blond cook and the rest of the men.

“Wild,” he said, “get out of here.”

But the young man appeared to be rooted to the spot, frozen in shock or something else.

Twilight slipped a long knife out of a holster hidden in his sleeve and brought his hand close to his face in guard position, blade along his forearm. The two men in front of him were holding long, curved blades.

Yiga sickels.

The operative lunged towards the closest man, swinging his knife while trying to keep an eye on the second one. Timing his movements in between dodges and swipes, he managed to duck under a particularly wide swing and sidestepped until he was behind his attacker, blocking him in a headlock and pressing on his windpipe. He swung around so he could keep Wild behind him and the third attacker where he could see him. When he felt the body in his arms go limp, he let go as he took a step back and raised his knife to block the attack of the man who was still standing. He swung his knife again, forcing the man to dodge. The black hood fell back, and Twi saw the man was wearing an ear- and mouthpiece. As the man stepped back and reset his stance, the operative heard he was speaking softly in his mouthpiece, calling for backup, saying that…

Twilight couldn’t believe what he heard. 

They had to get out of here, now.

He stepped back towards the kitchen door, grabbing Wild’s arm as he went. As he carefully watched the man in front of him, he saw his eyes flicker over his own shoulder. He realized what that meant and pushed Wild to the ground as he began turning, ready to face another attacker, but he wasn’t fast enough. 

He felt the cold touch of a wicked blade, cutting deep just to the side of his shoulder blade. He felt his breath catch at the too familiar feeling of numb cold, of blood spilling out of a wound.

The pain hit a second later. His right arm was next to useless, he had to get this over with fast. Clenching his teeth, he raised his knife and pivoted, stabbing the man behind him just below the ribs. The blade that was still embedded in his shoulder slipped free and clattered to the floor. He didn't wait to see what the other man was up to, before pulling Wild to his feet and dragging him out through the kitchen and into the dark alley.

Chapter Text

Wind was trying to play it cool, he really was, but he was very close to freaking out. 

Even though he was only 14, he was not new to fights for his life. When the Helmaroc king and his minions had attacked the island, he had seen more than his share of combat, and injuries, and… death. He knew how to handle himself in a fight, and he thought he had done a pretty good job, for a while, but…

… these were people. Hylians. Not monsters, concentrated malice with a shape, which couldn’t even really be considered alive. 

He had done what he had to in order to get out of there, but that didn’t mean that he was okay with any of this, by any definition of the word. He didn’t want to think too hard about the two men he had left unconscious on the floor of his room, right now. If they were unconscious.

And these two guys who had helped him out. Clearly trained in combat and strong. Maybe even too much so, he had to admit he didn’t know if he could trust them, yet, though they had apparently helped him with those guys back there. They were following him for now, though, and as long as they let him get to where he wanted to go, he’d be all right.

Because of course the only person he could turn to now was Tetra. She would help him find out what was going on, if she didn’t know already. She would know what to do about this… attack. She would know who those men were, and what was to be done now. 

Wind sighed. He was grateful Grandma and Aryll were visiting Grandma’s distant relatives on the mainland, and wouldn’t be back for a week. Hopefully, it would be enough.

The two men behind him were talking among themselves in hushed whispers. It was better to listen in. It would be easy because they would underestimate him anyway, everyone always did.

“It’s… almost as if the Old Man knew something like this would happen. Even though it was the Yiga, I don’t want to report the attack before clearing it with him,” the taller one was saying.

The shorter man gave a small cough and tilted his head minutely in Wind's direction. “Did you leave your backpack at the restaurant? We might have needed it.”

The taller blond stole a quick glance at the young boy, then sighed. “We’ll figure something out.”

The shorter one spoke again, his voice softer. “Are you alright? I have a potion on me.”

The other one shook his head. “I’m fine, this is all I got and it's really just a scratch.” He then turned towards Wind. “We haven’t even introduced ourselves. You can call me Wars, and this here is Four.”

So they wanted to be buddy-buddy? Fine. “I’m Wind, but since you broke into my house, I imagine you know that already.”

He knew he shouldn’t be petty, but he rather enjoyed their taken aback expressions.

They had reached Tetra’s hideout on the beach. It was looking a lot better than it had last year, as many islanders had pitched in to help rebuild it after it had been destroyed during the invasion. He knocked on the wooden door.

“Who’s there?” came a gruff voice from inside.

“Nudge, it's me. I need to see Tetra, I think I’m in trouble.”

The door opened a crack, and a huge hulking figure came into view. “Are they the trouble?”

Wind smirked. “Nah, they are with me for now.”

The door opened wider, and the huge man that was standing behind it stepped back to let them in. Wind turned to the two men and beckoned them inside. “We’ll be safe here. Now we can talk.”

They didn’t move. “We just want to know you’ll be safe. I take it these are the Pirates, and that you trust them. We need to figure out our next step as well,” the taller man, Wars, said.

Wind wasn’t expecting that. He thought he would have a hard time shaking them off. “You’re not coming in? You said so yourself, it's not safe out in the open. Besides, you owe me some answers.”

"Still, we won't be coming in, thanks. We can find you tomorrow, then we can talk," the other one, Four, said.

Wind studied them for a long moment. Young he might be, but he was observant. And these two guys really looked okay. Maybe he really would see them in the morning. He nodded, then turned and walked inside the Pirate's Den.

***

Hyrule couldn’t believe the pink-haired man was still standing. The doctor hadn’t managed to see the wound yet, but he could feel the blood that was progressively wetting the man’s clothes. 

True, he was leaning rather heavily on Hyrule’s shoulder, now. The taller man was running a few paces ahead, carefully looking in every direction, bloody knife subtly hidden out of view in the folds of his sleeve.

Who were these people? And who were the men they had just fought?

The taller man waved them into a small alley just around the corner from his… from where his house had been. Hyrule tried very hard not to think about the fire, the fire that had taken another home from him, everything he had. Again. The dread he had felt when he had seen the flames spreading in his living room.. but no. He couldn't think about this now. He could break down over this later.

“Where are we going?” he asked the tall man.

“We have a car close by,” he answered. “Then we will find a safe place to rest and figure things out.”

They reached a lonely car parked at the end of the alley. The pink-haired man moved as if to sit in the front seat. 

Oh definitely not.

Hyrule put his hand on the pink-haired man's shoulder. "I don't think so," he said sternly. "Get in the back." He turned to the other man. "Do you have any first-aid supplies, since I imagine the hospital is still out of the question?"

“Well, I am not Labrynnian, and I do not have documents,” the shorter man muttered. The doctor felt his mouth twitch and almost smiled.

The tall man pulled a bag and a heavy blanket out of the trunk. 

"There's not much. Pink potions, bandages, antiseptics, little else,” he said. “We don’t normally have a doctor with us.”

"Saline solution? A suture kit?"

"A field one, yes."

"We'll make do."

The doctor helped the wounded man into the car and helped him remove his coat and lie down on the blanket best he could in the confined space. The car started moving, but Hyrule hardly registered it as he focused on the wound. He started cleaning it with what he had, then covered it with clean bandages and applied as much pressure as he dared to slow the bleeding until he had the chance to do more. He found a small vial of potion and handed it to the pink-haired man.

"You saved my life twice, and I don't even know your name," the doctor said quietly.

The man's face, already tight with pain, briefly screwed up further, then he said "Legend. You can call me Legend." He lifted a hand to gesture in the direction of the other man. "And that is Sky."

"Well, Legend, thank you for saving my life," Hyrule murmured. The pained grimace again. The doctor continued, his voice a bit stronger. "It's little more than a grazing wound, luckily the bullet went through the flesh in your side, it doesn’t seem to have damaged anything major. You still need, at the very least, a stronger potion, for the blood loss and to prevent infection, and suturing. The bleeding is the most urgent issue at the moment. We need to do better than bandages, and to do that we can't be in a moving car."

The man, Legend, closed his eyes for a moment and seemed to consider. "The only safe place I can think of right now is in Castle Town."

"What? That will take hours, you can't travel like this for that long!"

"Not much of a choice," Legend muttered.

"We'll have to find a way to cross the border without a fuss, though," the driver, Sky, said.

"I know a road we can take," Legend answered. "Head for the mountains, we can cross back into Hyrule in Lanayru and make our way down."

Sky just nodded, and kept driving in silence. The doctor couldn't believe what he was hearing. "It will take.. what? 8 hours? You can't go that long without better treatment."

Legend had closed his eyes again. "Like I said, out of options," he muttered.

Hyrule huffed. He wanted to ask more questions, he wanted to understand, he wanted to rage and rant and demand to know who those men back at his house were, who these two young men were and why they thought they could take him away, demand to be allowed off this car, go to the police, see if something of his house could still be salvaged… he sighed wearily, and looked down at that odd young man who had faced a knife wound, a concussion and now a loaded gun, apparently to keep him safe. He closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them again he knew what Legend meant about the lack of options. Hyrule then turned to Sky.

"Do you think you can at least find a place where we can stop for a few minutes? I can't stitch him up in a moving car."

***

Wild was still trying to process what had happened, to understand what he had seen, because none of it made sense. Those black-clad men had attacked, and he had just stood there, as other images seemed to overlap with what he was seeing. Other men, in different clothes, moving the same way, but… different. Had it been...

“Where is your car?”

The strained voice at his side reminded him he wasn’t alone. This guy, whoever he was, had jumped in and… protected him. While he could just stand there. And was now dragging him along, rushing through the dark street.

He meant to answer, but all that came out was “Who are you?”

A short huff. “Later. Where is your car? Mine is in at the end of Faron Row, that’s kind of far right now.”

“How do you even know I own one?” Wild didn’t know if he was being dense on purpose, or if his brain was just not working right.

Another huff. “Please.” The voice cracked a little on the word, and something finally clicked in the cook’s brain. He turned to really look at the man beside him. His face was tense and drawn, beads of sweat making their way down his temples. His eyes were sharp and focused on the street ahead and his grip on Wild’s arm was strong, but he seemed to be slightly curling in on himself and held his right arm close to his body.

“Are you hurt?” Wild asked.

A grimace. “Yes, which is why I was hoping your car was closer. Those guys will catch up fast.”

They slowed down, Wild finally managed to register where they were. The man had led them deeper into the little alleys behind the restaurant instead of back on Deya Lane, which he assumed made sense, it was much easier to hide here. They were on the corner of Fado Way, so his car was only around another corner. He pointed. “Just down there.”

They reached Wild’s tiny beat-up Robbie, and as they got in, the cook asked “Where to? Police or hospital first?”

“We can’t. We’re both dead if we do that. Those men will find us.”

The cook turned to look at the man beside him. “....what? But... “

“Start the car, head out of town. I need to…" The man’s breathing was turning laboured. His skin was ashen and his eyes were starting to lose their sharp focus. He leaned forward slightly, shoulders hunched and trembling faintly, and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, I… need to think. For a minute.”

Wild saw the blood on the back of his jacket, then, and the long rip in the fabric. He gasped.

“You’re bleeding, we need to find help!”

The man closed his eyes. “I don’t know where to go. Of the five people I can trust, only one is even in Hyrule proper. But I didn’t want… He opened his eyes again, and there was a new kind of pain in them, now. “But it’s the only way to get you out of this. We need to find a phone.”

Chapter Text

“Aren’t you going to come to bed?”

Time turned from where he was staring out of the window deep in thought, to his wife standing in the doorway of the dark living room, light from the hallway at her back. Even in her oversized T-shirt with silly cow designs she was breathtaking.

“I’ll be there in a minute. Don’t leave the light on, I won’t need it,” he said gently. 

She tilted her head a fraction, gave a small smile and walked to him. She leaned forward and closed the distance between them with a sweet kiss. “Goodnight, then.” She turned and disappeared down the hall to their bedroom.

Time sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He hadn’t uncovered anything that would shed light on what was happening, nor had he figured out a way to have the missions called off. And his boys were still out there, buying time, trusting in him to get them out of this. He considered again how he could confront Impa in a more… neutral setting. It seemed like his best option at the moment.

The phone rang, making the commander start. Who would call at this time of the night? Not many people even had this number.

He picked up the phone from the small table beside the couch. “Hello?”

He didn’t recognize the shaky voice on the line. "H-having an unbreakable spirit is n-not about not failing, b-but getting back up after you do?"

Time's stomach dropped. Those were the words he had told an injured, barely coherent and very distressed Twilight, delirious with pain, as he was being medicated after his first mission failure. It was testament to his abilities he had even made it out alive, though gravely injured. Those words had resonated with the young operative, for some reason, and he had taken them to heart more than Time had ever realized he would.

But the voice on the phone wasn’t Twilight’s. And if he had told those words to someone, with the instructions of relaying them to him…

“Where are you?”

“On Saria Way, at the corner with Lost Woods Street,” the shaky voice answered.

“Stay where you are, I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

He quickly told a barely awake Malon he was going out, jumped in his car and made for the rendezvous point as fast as he could. His house was just out of town, where the crammed buildings gave way to green rolling fields and wooded hills. He and Malon had felt it would be a much better fit for them than an apartment in town.

As he reached the corner the voice had described, he pulled over and looked carefully around before getting out of the car.

He thought he knew the identity of the caller.

A young man with long blond hair messily falling out of his pony tail stepped out of the shadows. He looked shaken, pale and terrified, but physically unhurt. Time could only take comfort in this. He got out of his car and quickly moved towards Wild.

"Are you all right?" Time asked immediately. 

Wild nodded without saying anything.

“Please, tell me what happened and take me to him." 

The young man led him around a corner and down a narrow alley. As they walked, he told Time of four men, dressed in black and wielding long, curved knives, entering the restaurant he worked in, and of how…he had barged in and fought them and taken him away, saying he couldn’t go home. Time’s heart clenched when he realized how scared and confused Wild was, and that he didn’t even know Twilight’s name.  

He thought he recognized the curved blades the young man described, and wasn’t surprised. It was just the timing that was suspicious. Another item for the list of things that did not add up.

They reached a small gray car parked in a dark corner, and Time’s heart nearly stopped. Twilight was in the passenger seat, unconscious and white as a sheet.

The commander ignored the iron band that tightened around his chest and throat, making it hard to breathe, and immediately opened the door and felt for a pulse. His eyes slipped shut in relief when he found one, but it was fast and shallow. 

He turned to Wild. “Where..?”

“His back, the shoulder.” the young man immediately answered, cutting him off.

Time gently grasped Twilight’s shoulders, leaning him forward and pulling back his jacket. He swallowed thickly as he took in the amount of blood that had drenched the clothes underneath. 

“How long ago did this happen?”

“I-I don’t know? It might have been a-around 11?” 

Over an hour before. They had to stop the bleeding and get Twilight a potion as soon as possible, but more than anything, Twi and Wild needed to disappear until they figured this out.

“Get in the car, I know a place we can go to.”

A hand suddenly grasped his wrist. He turned to find Twilight had opened his eyes, dulled by pain and blood loss.

"Time," he moaned, "one of them used my code name. They knew my Sheikah code name."

Then he lost consciousness again.

***

Warriors was exhausted and confused. Everything in this mission felt wrong. He and Four had returned to their lodgings, managing to sleep only for a couple of hours.

They had discussed the attack and their current options at length, and were still at a loss for what to do. Should they follow Time's last commands and keep waiting, or should they try to get back somehow? They didn't want to leave Wind unprotected if the Yiga were after him, but he seemed to believe he would be safe with the Pirates. 

Then there was obviously the question of how to even leave, if they didn't want the Sheikah to know what had happened.

"So you're sure it's better for us not to report the attack?" Four had asked.

"We don't even know why the Yiga are after the boy, or if the Sheikah know they are. Best case scenario, the organization doesn't know, and reporting the attack will only force our hand, because we will be compelled to either carry out the task or admit we are stepping back," had been his reasoning.

"Worst case scenario?"

Damn, he didn't want to think about that.

So they had decided to come back to talk to Wind, hoping to gather information from the Pirates. Maybe they would know why the Yiga wanted the kid, even though Wars really didn't like that. It was already a huge breach of their orders that they had left the boy there after they had made contact, but going back? If they had wanted to go by the book, they should have reported themselves compromised and called for backup, but neither of them were ready to see the kid taken away, imprisoned and questioned.

So here they were, walking along the beach towards the Pirates' Den Wind had led them to.

Four knocked on the door, and asked the burly guard who peeked out from behind it to relay the message that they would have liked to see Wind, if he was willing. Then they sat on the beach within view of the Den, waiting.

A few minutes later, the kid walked out, dressed in a T-shirt that was obviously too large for him.

"I didn't think I'd see you again," he said.

"Yeah, we didn't know whether we should come back," Wars answered with a small smile. "Are you ok?"

Wind looked mildly offended at the question. "The Pirates are my friends, I don't know where you get this idea…"

"He only meant last night was… an ordeal," Four gently cut him off.

The kid seemed to consider that with a frown for a long moment, then waved his hand as if to push the subject away. "Whatever. There are other things I want to know. Who are you?" 

"Will you not tell us first what your… friends could tell you of this attack?" Warriors asked.

"If you want, I'll be very quick anyway. They knew absolutely nothing," Wind said with a small shrug. "They had no idea that anyone on the island would want to hurt me, and have no information on organized groups here going rogue. Even targeting me to get to them seems unlikely."

Four nodded. "Well, that confirms what we suspect, that it's a group from off the island, since I imagine your friends would know if it was otherwise."

"So you know who they are?"

The operative sighed internally. They shouldn’t even be talking to the kid, let alone tell him that. But looking into those eyes, clear, expressive, shining with determination and still so transparent, he found he couldn't get himself to lie. “We believe they are members of a terrorist group. Based in Castle Town.”

The kid huffed. “Why are they here? Why would they target me? I have nothing to do with Castle Town.”

Four rubbed his forehead. “We wish we knew. We only have vague hypotheses, none of them any good."

"That brings us back to the question of who you are, and of what you are doing on Outset," the kid retorted.

Warriors flinched. The kid was a lot sharper than he had given him credit for. He decided to go for a half-truth.

"We are part of an organization that is trying to stop the terrorist group we just told you about." It wasn't a lie. Now if the kid would just…

"So why are they on Outset?"

"We told you, we don't know. And if your friends know nothing, there probably aren't any more answers to find on this island."

“So what are you going to do? Leave Outset? Go back to Castle Town?”

“If we can figure out a way to do it discreetly, which we haven’t so far," Wars said.

The look Wind gave him was far sharper than any fourteen-year-old’s had a right to be. “No fake documents on you?”

Wars snickered. “Even those wouldn’t help us.” This was something he wasn't going to go into with Wind. He was just going to let the kid make his wrong assumptions.

And indeed the kid seemed to ponder his words for a second, then appeared to come to some conclusion and squared his shoulders.

“Let me help you.”

Warriors felt his eyebrows raise. He wanted to do what?

“Why would you help us? And how would you do that?” Four asked.

“Because I have no idea what is going on, but I want to find out, and it seems like you two are my best bet at the moment. As to the how…” the smirk on Wind’s face was older than his years. “I have a boat.”

Chapter Text

Time had woken up Malon at first light, bags already packed, and had told her to take a couple of weeks off work to go with her father to their house in the mountains.

She had known better than to dig too deep, had just looked into his eyes with her concerned, patient, penetrant, loving gaze, and had said "As long as you come back to me as soon as you can." She knew enough about his line of work not to argue when it came to her safety, and she knew he would have it his way or find another way to have it his way anyway.

They called it 'house in the mountains', but it was really little more than a shack in a very remote and scarcely inhabited area of Necluda. Completely unregistered and kept carefully secret, built and outfitted because they genuinely loved the area, the shack had actually become a backup plan years ago for the safety of Time's family. He kept it meticulously stocked and always ready, just in case.

This was such a case.

Time couldn't forget Twilight's words, the implications were terrifying. If information about the Sheikah was somehow leaking to the Yiga, none of them were safe any more. So the commander was going to make sure his family was beyond reach, then he was going to go hunting for answers. For real this time.

He said his goodbyes to Talon in the living room where a fire was already merrily crackling in the fireplace, then walked out, followed by his wife.

"I won't ask, but please, be careful and come back soon," Malon said with a worried frown.

He took her face in his hands and kissed her forehead, eyebrows and nose. "I'll come back before you know it." He went on to kiss her cheeks and cheekbones. "You won't have time to miss me, with the lovely walks you'll take around here. I'll be back before you even need to go restock." He finally kissed her mouth, slowly and lovingly. "But just in case, if it's a boy, don't you dare call him Link."

Without giving her time to answer, he got in the car, driving away without looking back.

Now was time to get to work.

***

The first feeling to return to Twilight was pain, then cold, then the smell of dust and stale air.

He slowly blinked his eyes open, to find a low, water-stained, peeling ceiling above him. He felt stiff and sore, and tried rolling to his side to look around. He was lying in a cot, covered by a couple of thin blankets. Daylight was coming in from small windows placed high on the yellowing, damp walls.

Sitting on the floor on another blanket, looking absolutely miserable with his knees drawn up and his back against the wall, was Wild.

The operative sat up quickly, and had to fight back a wave of dizziness so intense his eyesight blacked out again. Finally, ignoring the pain in his shoulder and back, he managed to turn to the young man beside him.

“How are you? Are you alright?”

Wild looked at him with an unreadable expression. 

"You're Twilight, right? He called you Twilight," Wild said, hugging his knees and looking down at dingy floor.

Twi was confused for a few seconds, before he remembered vague images from the night before. 

"Time," he gasped. "You called him, he came."

Wild shot him a sideways glance. "He didn't say his name. I guess it's a thing with you guys, huh?"

The operative finally registered the bristling tone, more than that, the venom in the young man's voice.

"Wild…"

"Yes, exactly," he snapped. "You seem to know a lot about me, even came into my restaurant to talk about soup, the other day, didn't you? That's why you looked familiar."

Twilight's thoughts were still sluggish, he struggled to catch up with what Wild was saying. His mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out.

"And then you walz in just in time to save me from armed strangers, what a coincidence. You were watching me," the blond man snarled. "How should I trust that you are any better than them, when you were stalking me, basically kidnapped me and just told me to stay put with absolutely no explanation, like a good kid, sitting all night here quietly and obediently!"

He was yelling now. "Tell me there is a good reason I didn't just leave you here and go back home, go to the police to report everything, you included, go back to see what damage there was at the restaurant and if I still have a job there."

His voice turned dangerously cold. "I have had hours to think about it, and I came to the conclusion this must be linked to who I was before, before I forgot. Which also means you know. And now you are going to tell me everything."

Twilight swallowed thickly. Wild was right, of course. He had a right to know everything the operative knew, little as it was. "I'll tell you everything I know, but let me warn you, I don't know everything. I don't have all the answers you want."

"Start talking." The edge in Wild's voice was dangerous

"The men who attacked you are members of the Yiga Clan, a group of terrorists whose main goal at the moment is unrest and instability in Hyrule." Now was not the time to go into Ganon and the cycle. "I don't know exactly why they attacked you, but I imagine it's because…" There was no way to sugarcoat this. "... because you were part of another organization, called the Sheikah, whose main goal is to oppose the Yiga and maintain peace and stability in Hyrule." Again, kind of an oversimplification, but it seemed for the best at the moment.

"I was… what?" Wild stuttered.

"I don't know any details of your function and position. All I know is you got horribly injured in a training accident nearly two years ago."

"A training accident?" 

"Again, I don't know much, only that it was due to the malfunctioning prototype of a powerful weapon."

Wild had his head in his hands now. Twilight slowly moved off the bed to sit on the floor next to him, biting back a cry as his back and shoulder flared up in pain. He didn't dare to reach out and touch Wild, not with how upset he obviously was.

"So they… I was left… abandoned… to wonder why..." 

"I'm sorry," the operative whispered.

Wild's pain became fury again, and he turned on Twilight. "You're sorry? You have no idea. No one had an explanation for what happened to me, why I just appeared there, in a coma, with partially treated burns. The most likely scenario seemed to be a heist gone wrong, so I was left to wonder what kind of person I was. And you..." His eyes narrowed. "What do you have to do with any of this? Why were you there?"

There was no easy way of saying this. "I am also a Sheikah agent."

Wild's cold fury turned to disdain. "So you have been… what, watching me? Why?"

Oh goddess, this was the worst part, wasn't it? Twilight covered his face with his hand. He couldn't look at Wild as he said this.

"I was sent to kill you."

The silence that followed the operative's words was heavy and tense. It was almost a relief, as Twi had more than half expected Wild to straight out attack him at that point. He would have let him.

The operative spoke again, leaning his head back against the wall, eyes still closed.

"But I couldn't, when I found out how things stood. I was trying to understand why the Sheikah would want to kill you, so that I could maybe help you. That's why I was outside your restaurant yesterday."

Twilight opened his eyes to find Wild staring at him with so much pain and fear in his eyes that the operative didn't dare move a muscle, lest the young man feel even more threatened by him.

"When I saw those men coming in I realized something was up, and stepped in."

The operative waited for the young man to say something, but he had put his head back in his hands.

"I am afraid I agree with you, though. Whatever the Sheikah and the Yiga want with you, it's in your past and not your present. But I would like to help you, if you'll let me."

After a long moment, Wild snickered. Twilight turned to look at him in amazement.

"Are you trying to tell me," he began slowly, "that there are two secret agent factions at war with each other and that both want me dead for something I don't even remember?" His snickering turned into outright laughter. "Talk about rotten luck." 

The operative was still trying to formulate a response when Wild's laughter died out. His face turned serious again.

"At least now I understand one thing. The flashback I got during the attack."

Twilight gasped. “A flashback? Did you remember something?”

The blond’s face twisted briefly. “Nothing much, really. Other men, moving like those. The way they were advancing towards me, the way they moved and shifted their weight on bent knees, the way they held their weapons… it was all familiar, somehow.”

The operative nodded. “You have obviously faced Yiga before.”

The two men were silent for a long moment, both deep in thought. Suddenly, Wild huffed and pushed his long bangs out of his face. 

"So wait, if you are some sort of secret agent, what are we doing in an abandoned warehouse? Why aren't you in some secret ultra-advanced hospital getting super treatment?" he asked.

Twilight sighed. "I'm afraid I kind of ignored orders and took explicitly forbidden initiative, and that is kind of a big deal to the Sheikah. There are a couple of things I better sort though before going back."

"And the big one-eyed guy?"

The operative had to smile at that description of the Old Man. "Believe it or not, he's my commander. And he probably agrees with my assessment of the situation, or he wouldn't have brought us here," he said.

"Right ray of sunshine, that guy. Hardly said anything all the time he was here. Working with him must be fun,” Wild considered. 

Twi laughed. “Don’t be fooled, he’s not as stoic as he looks. You learn to see past his gruff exterior.”

“Really? Well, all he said before he left was that he’d look for you at Louise’s.”

The operative whistled through his teeth. “Damn, that's… I thought he’d forgotten.”

“What is that, some code word?” the blond man asked, raising an eyebrow.

 “Nah, codes can be cracked.” Twilight smirked. “This is much better. It’s an inside joke.”

Chapter Text

"How is he?"

The doctor turned and gave Sky a tired smile. "Better. His temperature and pulse are back to normal, and the bandages I changed earlier are still clean." He sighed and rubbed his face roughly. "We are lucky he had a blue potion here. Those are expensive and difficult to make, and also don’t keep for long."

Sky wasn't sure it was luck. When Legend had described the safe house and given them exact instructions on how to get to it, he hadn’t believed the lengths the strategist had gone to ensure he had a place to fall back to. It bordered on paranoia. But in this case, he had to admit, Legend's paranoia had literally saved his life.

They had travelled through the night, Sky and Hyrule taking turns at the wheel as the other slept a little and monitored Legend’s condition. The strategist had been getting worse, to the point of scaring the operative and putting a concerned frown on the doctor’s face. The two small pink potions from the first aid kit had not been enough, so when the sun had come up on the Lanayru mountains, Legend’s temperature had started rising. He had been nauseous and having trouble staying awake for hours before then, probably due to blood loss, but at that point he had become outright delirious. 

By the time they carried him inside his own safe house, he was completely unresponsive.

Sky gently put his hand on Hyrule’s shoulder. “Why don’t you eat something and get some sleep? The rations I found are laid out on the table. And that couch is small but comfortable.”

The doctor gave a small nod and stood. “Thanks. But please call me right away if you need me,” he said.

After Hyrule left the tiny room, Sky knelt next to the narrow cot Legend was sleeping in and ran his hand through his friend’s hair. His skin was warm and dry, no longer dangerously hot, his hair no longer drenched with sweat. Color had returned to his face, which was also more relaxed. He now looked like he was actually asleep, and not unconscious. The operative took a minute to marvel at how young the strategist looked, when he wasn’t scowling as per his usual. Sky and Warriors, at 26, were the oldest members of their team, closely followed by Twilight at 25. Looking at his friend, the operative realized he couldn’t be older than 23 or 24. Yet they called him the veteran. He had already been through three different departments, had the highest security clearance of the team and had gone on more solo missions than any of the rest of them.

Which might explain this place. A tiny flat, tucked away in the alleys behind the harbour, but stocked with life-saving supplies. It was made up only of two small rooms and a bathroom. The living area was equipped with a table, a couch and a kitchenette, while the other room only held a bed and a small closet. The cupboards held canned rations, bottled water, various tech equipment, some weapons, first aid supplies. In the small fridge they had found four red potions and a precious blue one. The closet in the bedroom held changes of clothes for different climates as well as a couple of small empty suitcases, and in the bathroom were more first aid supplies and also hair dyes of various colors.

That final small detail had sent Sky’s mind reeling. This place was born of fear. It was not only a safe place to go to if in trouble, it was a back door. A way out. 

The operative sighed and sat in the chair the doctor had brought into the bedroom. He put his head in his hands, elbows on his knees, and asked himself for what felt like the fiftieth time what they were supposed to do now. Their breach of orders was now so severe he was worried about contacting even Time using official channels. Even if defending Hyrule from the Yiga was well within those orders, considering all the clausules about spilled blood, after having him in their power they should have killed him and taken his body back to the designated drop-off point. They had had the opportunity and hadn’t done it, but hadn’t refused the task officially. This, in the rules of the organization, was very close to treason. 

But contacting Time unofficially… that would put him in the difficult position of breaching orders himself by not reporting them. Because he was sure the Old Man wouldn’t turn them in, he knew what would happen to them if he did. But who else could they turn to? What were they to do now? Was their only option to run from the organization? But that was easier said than done...

He was pulled out of his spiralling thoughts by a soft moan.

Sky looked up to find Legend stirring. He blearily opened his eyes, looking dazed and confused. After a long moment, he looked around and his eyes finally focused on the operative.

“Hey, bird brain,” he croaked. “I take it we are both still alive.”

Sky snickered. “Hey. Glad to see you alert again,” he said softly.

Legend hummed. “I hope I didn’t say anything too embarrassing.”

“Nothing much. Though now I’d like to hear you play your precious cello,” the operative answered with a smirk.

The strategist’s hand came up to cover his eyes. "Din and Farore, then I was rambling.”

The memory of the condition Legend had been in sobered Sky up. “You were delirious, your temperature spiked and it was a while before we were able to do something about it. How do you feel?”

“Better, I guess? I take it you found what you needed when we got here.”

“We did." A pause. "Golden goddesses, Legend, what is this place?” the operative asked before he could stop himself.

His friend gave something between a smirk and a grimace. “A plan B.”

Sky ran a hand through his hair. “I take back most of the things I ever said about your plans B.” That elicited a short laugh from Legend. “But I have no idea of what we are going to do now.”

Legend closed his eyes. “I hate to quote the Old Man, but one thing at a time. First we have to see if we can round up the others, my guess is they are in situations very similar to ours.”

Sky gasped. “You think they have been attacked also?”

“That is a very good question. And the short answer is ‘I don’t know’. But I have a feeling our tasks are connected, so yes, I think it's at least possible that their targets were also attacked. And knowing Wars, Twi and Four? They definitely would get caught up in the attacks.” The strategist opened his eyes and tried to sit up with a grimace. Sky hurried to help him. “I think we were sent after these specific targets because the organization knew they were in the sights of the Yiga. Which begs the question of what the Yiga want with them. I don’t think they were there to kill our good doctor, I think they were there to kidnap him.”

Sky pondered over Legend’s words for a few seconds. As usual, information was the key, and they still had very little of that. He sighed. “So what is the next step?”

“First, we see if we can make contact with Four and Wars. Then we’ll worry about finding Twi.”

Sky knew he should never be surprised when it came to Legend, knew he should never doubt that he had a plan for everything, but he had no idea how he would accomplish this. “And how do you plan to do any of that?”

“Sending you on a pleasant walk tomorrow, of course. Koholint Square fountain, at midday, to be precise. I am hoping you will find Four there, and that he’ll have Wars with him.”

Ok, that was left field even for Legend.

“Why would Four be at Koholint’s square fountain? He’s in Outset!”

Legend’s eyes darkened. “If he’s in trouble, as we are, I hope he’ll find a way to be there. If he’s not there… then all we can do is hope he isn’t in trouble yet.”

***

Four was amazed by Wind’s skill as a sailor, his way of reading the sky, wind and sea, the ease with which he handled his boat, but especially his ability to figure out where they were going using just a map, a compass and a tiny pocket GPS of the kind Four thought had gone out of use years ago, the ones that gave only coordinates.

They had tried to argue with Wind, pointing out all the difficulties of remaining under the radar and safe. He had reasoned and argued all their points away, finding solutions where they could see none, and in the end the two agents had reluctantly agreed to the boy’s plan. They tried to reason to themselves that if the Sheikah and Yiga were both after the boy, it was safer for him to be off the radar anyway.

They had set off a couple of hours later, as soon as they had collected what they needed, and had been sailing well into the night. When the distant, flickering lights of the coast of Hyrule came into view, Wind began discussing their landing point.

"I don't know the area. Where to now?" he asked.

Warriors pondered over the boy's map carefully using a pocket flashlight. The coastline was depicted in detail, but nothing beyond. 

"Our best bet are the empty beaches to the south of Castle Town," he mused. "If we can get there still under cover of darkness, we should be able to land undetected."

"We also need a place we can leave my boat, reasonably hidden and safe."

The two of them studied the map together for a while, discussing the lay of the coast and land, currents and winds, until finally they settled for a small bay surrounded on one side by rocky cliffs, and on the other by steep hills. 

"The rocks on one side are pretty dangerous looking. How much do you trust the detail in this map?" the operative asked.

"Enough to bet my boat on it," the kid easily answered. "Let's go."

It was a nerve-wracking experience for Four. The dark water seemed to him treacherous and dangerous as the waves got higher the closer they got to shore, and Wind's small sailboat got thrashed around violently. He could just make out in the darkness the outline of jagged rocks peeking through the waves. Within minutes, however, they were safely on land, though drenched to the bone, having been forced to jump into the water when it was waist deep.

They pulled Wind's boat on shore, hiding it behind tall boulders, where they thought it would be safe both from the tide and prying eyes.

"What are we doing, now? Four, you said you had a plan," Wind panted, sliding down to catch his breath on the cold sand.

“I didn’t say I had a plan, I said I knew of something we could try, but we have to wait until midday," the tech specialist answered. "Since we'll have to go to the Castle Town Harbour area, I suggest we find a place to rest a couple of hours out here where we will be less noticeable, maybe light a small fire to dry and warm up, if we can get away with it. We can catch a bus into town in the morning.”

"What's the plan then?" Warriors asked.

"We hope to find Legend."

Four could remember that conversation with their strategist as if it had happened yesterday. It had been soon after Legend had gotten back from Lorule. The tech specialist didn’t know exactly what had happened during that mission, especially in the last couple of weeks when Legend had made no contact at all, but he did know that the strategist had come back shaken, and had taken a bit to recover. That day, Four and Legend had been outside, going to get coffee because Legend said he couldn’t stomach the one in the coffee room at headquarters. He had suddenly grabbed Four’s arm and spoken very quietly.

“Hey squirt, there’s something I want to tell you. If you are ever in trouble, of the kind where you have nowhere else to go, no one to turn to, no one to contact… come find me at Koholint Square fountain at midday. If I even have an inkling you might need me, I’ll be there.”

Four had been surprised at the intensity in the strategist’s eyes, then, let alone the strangeness of what he was even saying. But he had never forgotten his instructions.

Of course, Legend was in Labrynna, as far as he knew, and he had no idea if Sky had joined him there, but if the predicament he and Wars found themselves in was anything to go by, he knew he could take nothing for granted.

Chapter Text

Warriors didn't know the area behind the harbour very well. He knew it was a mess of little streets and dilapidated buildings, nothing like the more modern and airy streets of the downtown area he definitely preferred. Him and most of the people in Castle Town. He knew the older areas of the city, like the harbour and docks, were mostly functional, but not well maintained, so he tended to steer clear unless he had specific business there.

Koholint Square, in particular, didn’t even really deserve that name. It was a sort of junction between two small streets, paved in old worn stone and surrounded by narrow faded buildings. Even the fountain wedged in a corner wasn’t much of a fountain, just a large stone basin in the shape of some kind of fish, with a trickle of water coming out of a rusty pipe in the wall and falling into the basin. 

The strangest thing about this place, though, was that there were people about. The surrounding area had seemed deserted and almost abandoned, while Koholint Square was nearly as busy as the lovely Castle Boulevard was. It might have been the restaurant on the corner with tables outside, or the benches beside the fountain, or the way the sunlight caught on the wet and ornate stonework of the basin, or the hint of a different color in each of the small buildings that faced the square, or the fact that the place was wide enough that the soft breeze coming from the ocean seemed to gather here, fresh and salty. 

It was an oddly fascinating little corner. 

Four led them to one of the benches beside the fountain and sat down, beckoning for Warriors and Wind to do the same.

“It’s a few minutes to midday, we’ll find out soon enough if this was worth our while,” the tech specialist said as he looked carefully around the square.

The operative leaned back casually on the bench, but was discretely keeping an eye on their surroundings, particularly the people hurrying by. He scanned the square, checking and double checking for threats or oddities.

He felt Four freeze beside him. Wars sat up immediately. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked the tech specialist.

But the shorter agent had already taken off at a run. Relief ran through the operative as he spotted where Four was running to.

Sky.

The tech specialist seemed to realize he was making a scene and stopped a few feet in front of their friend, but Sky did what Four seemed not to dare and enveloped the shorter man in a tight hug. Warriors felt himself smile. He stood, and with a tilt of his head invited Wind to do the same. 

When Four and Sky joined them, the three of them all had wide, matching smiles on their faces. 

“I honestly didn’t dare hope I’d find you here,” Sky said in a low, breathless voice.

“Yeah, we didn’t have much hope either. But where is Legend? We were expecting him. How is he?” Four asked, sounding concerned.

“He’s mostly fine, but was still recovering from an injury, so I came instead. He has a safe place we can all regroup to.”

Wars really didn’t like the sound of that. “Injury?” 

“I’ll explain when we are not in the open,” Sky said glancing around nervously. “Our strategist's paranoia is starting to rub off on me.”

Sky led them through the winding streets to a small building tucked away between two larger buildings that had seen better days, and up a narrow flight of steps. Wars breathed better when he saw Legend was up and about, though obviously pale and moving slightly stiffly. He was surprised only for a second upon finding a stranger there with them, but as they had brought Wind here, he quickly realized he had no right to be. 

Introductions were made. Warriors wanted nothing better than to fill his friends in with everything they had discovered and been through, and ask about what had happened to them, but discussing confidential information in front of civilians felt… wrong. After sharing a few nervous glances with his friends who were obviously feeling his same reservations, Legend huffed.

“I think there should be no secrets here any more. We are all in this together, and Hyrule and Wind deserve not to be left in the dark. After all, we are not even sure we are in the Sheikah any more. Until we find out more, we should consider ourselves targets as much as they are. All bets are off, we are all in the same boat now.”

Warriors could hardly believe his ears. That their paranoid strategist would be the one to forgo secrecy, the one to so readily trust, to basically put his life in the hands of strangers, was unprecedented. He saw Hyrule smile warmly at Legend after he had spoken, though, and guessed there was a story behind this unexpected change.

Trusting the strategist's judgement was second nature to them all, though, after having relied on it to remain alive many times. Besides, Wind already knew way too much to justify trying to keep anything back at this point, and Warriors figured Hyrule did too. The following hour was spent filling each other in with everything that had happened, right up until they had met up again in Koholint Square.

Warriors turned to Legend. “So you had this lovely secret backup plan and you didn’t tell us? I feel mildly betrayed.”

This was said mostly in jest, so the operative was surprised to see the strategist’s face darken. 

“Don’t remind me. I wanted to, so many times, and it would have been so much easier to find and help Twilight now, if I had,” he said, a note of self-blame in his voice that Warriors really didn’t like.

“Hey,” he quickly answered, putting a hand on Legend’s shoulder. “It’s fine, we’ll find him and he’ll be perfectly alright. He’s as strong and as stubborn as the Ordonian goats he herded as a kid, he’ll figure it out, and so will we.” Legend didn’t turn to look at the operative, but his face lightened slightly. 

“I am just really glad you had this place ready in the first place,” added Warriors as he looked through the cabinets in the living room. "It’s unbelievable. It’s amazingly well stocked, I am impressed. It is a bit small for this many people, though, we'll have to work something out."

“This place is too small for you and your ego,” Legend answered in a scathing tone that fooled no one, “but your point is valid.” He brought a hand to his chin and narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “The flat next to this is empty. Well, to be fair, most of this building is empty. We can break in and use it for a little while. At least until we figure out our next step. I have been trying to listen in to Sheikah radio frequencies with the equipment I have here, to see if I can learn something new,” Legend answered, turning back to the table covered in various electronic equipment he had been fiddling with as they talked.

Wars raised an eyebrow. “All the communications are coded, and unless you have one of the physical decoder keys, I don’t know how you are going to go about that.” 

"I was in Communications for a year, I helped write the rotating coding algorithm. You think I can't crack it? I just need to manage to build a decoder to feed the algorithm into." 

Four snickered. “Now that I’m here, I’m sure we can work something out. Make some space for me.” He pulled a second chair up to the small table where the strategist’s radio equipment was laid out and sat down to work.

Sky turned to Warriors. “Any ideas on how we could find Twilight? I… am concerned. He was alone, and if Legend’s theory is correct...”

Warriors grimaced. The fact that their targets had been attacked, coupled with Legend's instincts (annoyingly often right) that their tasks were connected somehow, strongly suggested that Twilight’s target had also been attacked, and there was no doubt in Wars' mind that his friend had been caught up in it. He hated to think of Twi alone, on the run, probably with a civilian to look after.

“Well, the only thing we can do is try to imagine what he would do,” Wars said, thinking out loud. “Time’s use of our old code made me think that we have to use the knowledge our team shares, things only we know and nobody else would, or wouldn't think to use.”

Sky nodded. “Ok, then, do we know of someone, besides present company, that Twilight would trust enough to turn to?”

Wars rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “The only thing that comes to mind is his time collecting information on Zant. Remember?”

Sky’s face lit up. “Yes, the Resistance! He spent a long time working to make contact and earn their trust! He might try to find them again, if nothing else to find a safe place to lay low for a while.”

“Well, then, if memory serves, their lair was in a bar in the old area behind the Castle. Thelma’s, I think it was called.”

Sky nodded. “Well, we know where we are going tonight.”

***

The gate at this time of the day was much busier than in the early morning, when Time normally went through. When he was finally waved through by a guard he didn’t recognize, he made his way to his usual parking spot.

The commander was still debating with himself what he should do, once inside the building. Should he try to contact Impa discreetly? Should he ask for an audience with the council? It was always a nerve-wracking experience, the way the wide room was kept in the dark to hide the identity and number of the Sages present. He only knew Impa was on it, and had recognized the voice of a couple of the others, but the full details of the council members, or Sages, for that was their title, were kept purposefully secret.

Even if he got an audience, what would he say? True, he hadn’t tried appealing to the council directly, yet, but what could he say that would change the minds of those who had issued the orders in the first place, and probably had more information than him? Well, he could at least pull up what he had discovered about the real names of two of the targets, and demand a better explanation, at least of why he hadn’t been given that detail…

He mindlessly backed the car into his usual parking spot underneath the large, shady tree in an out-of-the-way corner. Ok, then, he mused, Impa first, then I can ask her for an audience with the council. As he turned the key in the ignition to turn the car off, he reached for the door handle and began climbing out before the engine had even turned silent.

His world exploded in a blue flash of light and fire.

Chapter Text

Wild eyed the large blood stain on Twilight’s shirt. “I really don’t think you can walk around in that, if you want to avoid attracting attention,” he said.

The agent hummed in response as he carefully examined his coat. “I’m afraid the coat is not much better off.” He sighed. “We have to find a store to buy some stuff.”

“You can’t walk into a store like this, I’ll go. You wait here,” Wild said. "I know where we are, there's a few stores a couple of streets down. I can go get you something."

“You can’t go out alone, it’s not safe,” Twilight answered sharply.

There he went again babying him. Wild didn’t remember his time as a super-agent or whatever, but he was pretty sure he could go down the street by himself even if he didn’t. It was really annoying, the way this guy was treating him. “I don't need you to hold my hand to cross the street," he snapped.

Twilight blushed faintly and looked down quickly. "That's not what I meant."

“I’ll be back in half an hour,” Wild said tersely, and stood to leave. 

He saw the taller man draw breath as if to say something, but then his shoulders slumped. “Please be careful,” he said softly.

The shorter man walked out the door without dignifying that with a response. 

Wild had accepted to go along with the instructions these weird guys had given him and not go back home or contact anyone, mostly because they seemed to know something about his past. This was the first real lead he had ever gotten about who he was, he wasn’t going to let it go. However, that didn’t mean he had to like the way this man was treating him, as if he was made of glass. He said he knew the organizations that were after Wild, and that they were not people to be messed with, but still. The scars on his body proved he had been through some shit, and not just the very obvious burn scars. He had often wondered about other scars he had. Some looked like old knife wounds, long and thin, others were small and round. Some were just wide discolorations of his skin, others were raised or had slight indentations.

After the attack at the restaurant, he suddenly had a much better idea of how he had gotten some of those scars. For the first time ever, he found himself kind of glad he didn't remember.

Wild sighed as he walked in a small department store he was sure would hold what he wanted. He made quick work of picking some stuff in dark and muted colors, something that wouldn’t stand out in a crowd. He figured he might as well get back as soon as possible, no point in making Twilight nervous just to prove a point. They could get whatever else they needed later together.

Wild was back well inside the promised half hour. He saw the agent's shoulders slump in relief, and that made him bristle again.

"I got you a t-shirt, sweater and jacket," he spat, not bothering to keep the venom he felt out of his voice. 

Twilight seemed to choose to ignore his tone, taking the proffered items with just a small, apologetic smile. "Thanks." He turned to put the clothes down on the cot and pulled off his bloodied and torn shirt.

Wild's breath caught.

A small portion of the agent's upper back was covered by bandages, but what was visible of the skin was covered in scars. There was a long, thick white line on one side just below the ribcage, a rounded raised pink lump on the shoulder not covered by the bandages, various pale areas that looked like they had been left by deep scrapes and, most evident of all, a large burn scar taking up almost half of his back, not as dark and thick as the ones that ran along Wild’s own skin, but close. 

Twilight turned to look at the blond man curiously, clearly having heard his soft gasp.

The front of his torso was not much better. Criss-crossing scars, some long and jagged, some thick and raised, some dark in color, others pale. 

And each one was a wound. Each one was a stab, or slash, or burn, or something that had caused pain that Twilight could remember. And he would have a new one, where he had been injured by that blade the other night. Defending him.

Wild had never met anyone with scars even remotely comparable to his, so the reality of what those scars meant, his own as well as Twilight's, had never hit him with quite the same intensity before.

The agent's face turned uneasy. "Are you alright?"

For once, the concern that radiated from the man in front of him didn’t irk Wild, it gave him a new and strange kind of pain. They shared a bond, he realized now. Maybe this… empathy, this connection, was the explanation for all of Twilight’s weird protectiveness that had so bothered him until now.

Wild shook himself mentally, hoping he didn’t look as unsettled as he felt.

"So, who is this Louise we have to go see?" he asked, grasping for a distraction from his racing thoughts.

Twilight smiled, a fond, real smile that softened his features. “Actually, Louise is a cat.”

His face must have said it all, because the agent laughed. 

“A while back I was sent to make contact with a group of people that had information the Sheikah needed,” he explained. “Their hideout was a bar, run by one of their members. She had a cat, a large, fluffy beautiful thing called Louise. I have always been good with animals, so the cat took a liking to me. My clothes always ended up being covered in cat hair when I returned to headquarters, so it became a standing joke.”

Wild didn’t bother to hide his confusion. “So… Your boss will come to look for you in a bar?” 

The agent shrugged, his mouth twisted in a slight grimace. “Not really, we’ll just exchange messages there. We can’t exactly hang around too much, especially because I used to spend quite a bit of time in there, some of the regulars might recognize me. That is really something we should try to avoid.” He smiled. “We can, however, have some of Thelma’s excellent cooking. Are you up for a very late lunch or a very early dinner?”

The bar Twilight had spoken about was quite near to the Old Castle, tucked away in a small stone-paved dark side alley. Wild would have never believed such a warm, welcoming and charming place could remain so well hidden. Or not so hidden, as it was relatively busy, especially considering it was only mid afternoon.

"Well, look who found his way here again! Come here, sweetie, let me see that handsome face of yours!" A tall and shapely woman with black braided hair, chocolate-colored skin and luminous green eyes waved them over as soon as they stepped inside the door.

“Thelma, it's good to see you. It's been too long,” Twilight said, sitting on one of the stools at the bar counter.

"And who’s fault is that?” Thelma scoffed, waving a hand. Then her face softened in a warm smile. “How have you been, handsome? I bet things have been boring and too quiet for you since your friends stopped meeting here to do their thing.” 

Twi’s answering chuckle sounded a little strained to Wild.

"Were you looking for someone?” the bartender asked. “None of your friends are here, I’m afraid. I have to say they don’t come in quite as often as before. Some are as bad as you about coming to say hello,” she said with a quick wink.

“Aw, that’s too bad,” the agent easily answered. “But actually, someone else might come here to look for me, soon, a friend of mine. You won’t know him, but if he comes and asks about me, will you tell him I am going to be looking for Kukiel, later?”

“Of course, anything for you, hon. Now, are you hungry?”

Twilight smiled widely. “Goddess, we are starving.” 

***

Hyrule walked out of the small bathroom, toweling his hair, to find the rest of the flat silent. After hours of noise and crowd, it was an odd change. He looked around, and quickly realized the kid, Wind, was asleep in the bedroom, and the shortest man, Four, if he remembered right, was snoring lightly on the couch. The two tall men were gone.

Legend was sitting at the table in front of his equipment, a huge pair of headphones crookedly positioned on his head, covering only one ear.

Where are your friends? the doctor mouthed, not wanting to make noise.

"They had an idea to try to find our missing team member, they are going to look for some acquaintances of his," Legend answered immediately, not bothering to keep his voice down.

"Do you want me to be quiet?" the doctor asked hesitatingly.

"Nah, you're fine. Actually, you'll make it less boring for me," the pink haired man said with a hint of a smile.

“So you managed to get the decoder to work?"Hyrule asked. Legend nodded. 'Is this a radio frequency used by your organization? What are you listening for, exactly?”

“Anything that may be useful," the other answered. "Our code names, since we have sort of gone missing, after all, or clues that our tasks have been reassigned and that we have more people to look out for, or other things that don't add up. Anything, really.”

“Code names?”

“Yeah. Every Sheikah agent has one. Four is Sword, Sky is Harp, Wars is Shield. A missed opportunity to call him Scarf, if you ask me, seeing how much he loves scarves.”

“What is yours?”

Legend blushed. “... that is… very confidential information.”

“You mean to say, if you told me then you’d have to kill me? I thought you had already been ordered to do that,” Hyrule said with a barely suppressed smirk.

Legend looked away, his face darkening. “How can you joke about it?” he asked, his voice low and strained. “I still feel sick when I think about it. I was going to do it, I was ready, I had a full plan in my head.”

"Hey, it's fine," Hyrule said, reaching out to put a hand on the agent’s arm. "You didn’t do it, you changed your mind. I don’t blame you for coming up with plans to do as you were ordered. If anything, I am grateful you chose to ignore your orders, that took courage.”

The agent’s face twisted as if in pain. "I am not as fast as you to forgive."

"There is nothing that needs forgiving," the doctor said with some force.

Suddenly, the agent frowned and raised one hand as if to stop Hyrule. “Hold on, they mentioned Ocarina, that’s our commander.”

The doctor held his breath as the agent slipped his headphones on properly and listened intently, eyes narrowed in concentration.

“They are saying something about a fire, but what…"

His eyes widened. He moved to kick the couch. "Hey, squirt, wake up, I need you to hear this too!"

Four was by their side in an instant, wide awake and fully alert. He stepped up to the pink-haired man and moved the headphones to the side so he could hear as well.

Hyrule could not make out the words that were being spoken through the radio, but he saw the faces of the two men in front of him turning more and more horrified. After a couple of minutes, Four let go of the headphones and dropped heavily on the couch. Legend resumed his one-eared listening, but turned to his friend.

"Please tell me I interpreted wrong?" he pleaded, a hint of desperation in his voice. "I worked out there was an explosion, an attack at headquarters.”

"They were talking about finishing securing the area. From what they were saying, I too made out there was a powerful explosion that caused a fire in the eastern side of the parking lot," Four said shakily, running a hand through his hair. “They have just finished putting out the fires.” 

Legend nodded. "They were talking about an oak tree being completely destroyed, and there is only one oak tree around headquarters."

The shorter man put his head in his hands. "Where Time parks."

"So you heard it too?" Legend asked, and Hyrule realized with a jolt his voice sounded close to breaking. Even when in pain, delirious with fever and weak from blood loss, the doctor had never heard the pink-haired man sound that upset. Whatever had happened, it scared Hyrule, if someone so strong, brave and determined was so unsettled by it. 

Four nodded without looking up. "They said there were still no traces of Ocarina, that he was still unaccounted for." 

Chapter Text

“So let me guess. This Kukiel you are looking for is dead?” 

Twilight grimaced. “Goddess, no, she is alive and happy, I hope. She should be about 8, now.” 

They had left the car along the river, and were now climbing up the small green hill that housed a small monumental funerary park called Batreaux Cemetery. The night was overcast and very dark, but a long line of quaint lamp posts lit the path they were following.

Wild raised an eyebrow. “Then why are we looking for her in a graveyard?”

The agent chuckled. “Last year, a child was reported missing. We were tasked with finding her, because she was thought to have been abducted by monsters.” His face darkened. “A lot of that was going on at the time, it was terrifying.” 

“In Castle Town?”

“All over Hyrule, actually. It was never too bad over here, in other areas it was really horrible. Anyway, it turned out Kukiel was out monster hunting, so she was lurking around this graveyard, because where else would she look for monsters?” Twilight shook his head. “She had her whole family out of their minds with fear. Her parents were so glad to find her alive and unhurt they didn’t even tell her off.”

The blond man looked at him incredulously. “Is this what secret agents do?”

The operative was a bit taken aback by that. He had been assigned a broad variety of tasks through the years, but all were ultimately meant to help Hyrule or its inhabitants in some capacity, so he had never stopped to think it weird. He tried to explain to Wild that the mission of the Sheikah was more than just fighting Yiga, that it was about the whole of Hyrule, peace and safety for its inhabitants, but the words felt stale in his mouth for the first time in his life. He had spent years believing this with his whole heart, he had been ready to die for this. But now, telling this to Wild, of all people, they sounded like empty words.

“Besides,” he concluded hesitatingly, “the working hypothesis was that Kukiel had been taken to a monster lair, and if that had been true, it would not have been an overreaction to send two agents… ”

He pushed open the rusty metal gate of the cemetery and led Wild to a small stone structure. It was a short and squat mausoleum, with an intricately carved wooden door, depicting scenes of a city in the sky. On the flat roof stood a statue of some hylianoid winged creature, with broad shoulders and a monstrous but oddly smiling face.

“When we found Kukiel, she was over here. If we stay behind this building, we can see whoever is coming but won’t be out in the open ourselves. The light from the lamp post over there will be enough to see anyone approaching.”

Twilight remained standing, peeking behind the corner of the mausoleum, while Wild sat on the ground, his back to the cold stone and his jacket snugly wrapped around his form. Both settled in to wait. 

They didn’t have to wait long.

“Something is moving in the shadows,” Twilight whispered. “But I saw two shapes. It doesn’t look like Time. Don’t make a sound.”

He couldn’t imagine who the Old Man would have with him, so he was more inclined to think it wasn’t him at all. This didn’t look good. Who else would know where to find him? He remained hidden, trying to catch a glimpse of something in the yellow light of the lamp post, but whoever it was, knew how to remain out of sight.

The shadows grew closer, and the operative still hadn’t decided what to do. He didn’t want to attack if he didn’t know who or what it was, but letting them get any closer…

“Twi?”

He would have recognized that voice in his sleep. Relief flooded through him, and he stepped around the stone structure with a wide smile.

”Sky. You have no idea what a relief it is to hear your voice.”

“Nice choice of meeting place, goat boy,” came a second voice from the shadows. “I had assumed we’d have to insist a lot more to get your friend to tell us if she'd seen you, but she seemed to be expecting us…”

“Wars! I thought you were in Outset,” he said, grasping the arms of his friends. “I am so happy to see you! But I was expecting the Old Man!”

“What? The Old Man?” asked Wars. “Why would he…”

“I’ll explain soon. Let me introduce someone, then let’s get out of here.”

***

Legend's thoughts were still spiralling when the door opened. He looked up blearily to see Wars and Sky walking in, and exhaled in relief when he realized Twilight was right behind them, together with a fourth person the strategist thought looked familiar.

But he could think about that later. His joy at seeing Twi safe and there was at odds with the dread at the news he had to share. The operative was already greeting Four warmly, then turned towards Legend.

"Goddess, Vet, am I glad to see you," he said with a wide smile. He paused at the look on his friend's face. "Legend? What's wrong?"

Legend felt the eyes of the others on him. He had to tell them, but looking into Twi's face, the words just wouldn’t come. The Old Man was more than the team commander for all of them, but it was undeniable that the connection Twilight and Time shared was on a different level. They had known each other the longest, out of everyone in their group, and their dynamic was oddly reminiscent of father and son, more than commander and operative. This made their interactions entertaining to witness, occasionally.

And also made it nearly impossible for the strategist to give him the news he had to share. He opened his mouth, but the words got stuck in his throat again.

“Leg? What happened?” Wars asked, catching on to the mood shift.

It was Four who answered.

“We got the radio working, but we intercepted bad news. Time has gone missing after an explosion at headquarters.”

The silence that followed the tech specialist’s words was loud and ringing.

Sky recovered first. ”What? When did this happen? What did you hear exactly?”

Bit by bit, Legend and Four explained all they had heard and interpreted from the communications they had overheard. They had pieced together that there had been an explosion outside the main building that had caused a fire. It had obviously taken some time to put the flames out, but they hadn’t been able to find out the exact time of the explosion.

“They were treating it as an attack, which makes sense because it seems unlikely that such a powerful explosion would be anything else. Also, the point of origin was apparently in the parking lot, next to the oak tree,” Four explained.

Twilight made a choking noise. “That’s where…”

“Where Time usually parks his car,” Legend finished for him, looking away. He couldn’t look into his friends’ face while they reached his same conclusion.

“But how… what… did you hear on the radio that the Old Man is missing?” Wars asked, trying to keep his voice even.

“They referred to him by his code name. He apparently was the only one unaccounted for.” Legend swallowed thickly and closed his eyes. “His car was completely destroyed.

If the silence earlier had been loud, the one that fell after the strategist’s words was oppressive and suffocating.

“So… did you hear anything about him being the intended target of the attack?” Sky asked, his voice wavering.

“It wasn’t discussed on the channel, but at this point… that was our conclusion as well,” Four answered quietly.

The silence lasted a long moment.

“No.”

“Twi…”

”No! He can’t be… He can’t…” Twilight’s voice broke. “No. He knew information was leaking from the Sheikah to the Yiga, he would have known to be careful, he…”

“Information leaking to the Yiga?” Warriors’ voice was suddenly sharp. “What do you mean?”

Twi ran a hand through his hair and visibly struggled to breathe. “The… Yiga that attacked me and Wild. They referred to me using my code name. I… was forced to call Time to help us after we were attacked, and I told him then, I remember telling him.”

Legend’s mind reeled with this new information. Code names were purposefully kept secret, and used only on coded radio communications, it was highly unlikely that the Yiga had found out accidentally. The strategist had to agree with Twilight, and was sure the commander would have immediately reached the same conclusion. 

Something else hit him. He gasped. “That would… explain how a bomb attack was even possible. The Yiga have an informant. Inside the Sheikah. Someone was watching Time, they knew where he parked, knew how, when to...” 

“No,” Twi said again. “You said ‘unaccounted for’, that means no…” He choked on the words. “...No remains were found. He still might have gotten away. He must have gotten away.” His voice broke again.

“But…” Sky began, “Why would he have fled the scene? Wouldn’t he have stayed to get help?”

Legend hated the spark of hope that his words were about to rekindle, especially in his own heart. “Not if he suspected a Yiga informant at headquarters.”

The strategist immediately felt all the eyes in the room on him, a trickle of hope alight in each one of them.

But it was Twilight who sprang to his feet. “I have to go look for him.”

Legend stood also. “Don’t be an idiot, you can’t just go back to headquarters now.”

“I’m not going to. Time said he’d contact me at Thelma’s bar, that’s why I thought I’d meet him, tonight. I have to go ask Thelma if she’s seen him, he might have gone there to make contact with us.” 

Legend knew his friend was not being rational, was not lucid right now, and this was how people got hurt. The strategist refused to risk losing someone else today. “Twilight, it's late. The bar will be closing soon,” he tried to reason. “We can go tomorrow. I promise, as soon as the sun comes up we’ll look for the Old Man.” 

But Twilight wasn’t listening to him. He turned to the long-haired man he had walked in with. “Wild, can I use your car?”

The strategist drew breath to speak again, but felt a hand on his shoulder. 

“You won’t talk him out of this. I’ll go with him,” Four said in his ear. “I’ll keep him safe.”

After the door closed behind the two, Legend sat back down heavily, putting his elbow on the table and leaning his head on his hand. He felt simultaneously empty and overwhelmed, he couldn’t put his thoughts in order.

Distantly, he heard the doctor approaching the newcomer. 

“My name is Hyrule. I take it you have been unwillingly dragged into all of this as well,” he said, extending his hand.

The long-haired man gave a weak chuckle. “You could say that. My name is Wild.”

Hearing his voice made something click in Legend’s brain, and he realized why his face had seemed so familiar. “No, it's not,” he heard himself say. “You’re Link. Link Victor.”

Chapter Text

Four had been surprised he had managed to talk Twilight into letting him drive. He took his eyes off the road for a second to look over at his friend. The operative had a hand fisted in his hair, his elbow resting on the window sill. His knee was bouncing nervously, but his eyes were sharp and focused, if a bit frantic. 

He looked like he was barely holding it together.

The tech specialist couldn’t blame him. He had been close to breaking down himself, when he had first realized the implications of what he'd heard on the coded radio channel. He still was.

Four couldn't help hoping that Time had managed to get away and chosen to flee and hide, but he feared it was wishful thinking. He had heard the description of the radius of the explosion and subsequent fire, and it didn't sound like something easy to walk away from. Obviously, he was not going to tell that to Twilight. Not yet, anyway.

There still was the undeniable fact that they hadn't found… Four had a hard time thinking along these lines... Time's body, or at least something of him. If he had been caught up and killed in the explosion, something would have been found, and he wouldn’t have been reported as still unaccounted for.

They had reached the ancient walls that marked the beginning of the old area around the Castle, generally referred to as 'the Citadel'. From here on, it was narrow winding stone roads.

"We should park here, continue on foot," the tech specialist suggested.

The operative nodded. As soon as they got off the car, he lifted his head. "Can you smell that? It's smoke."

Four tilted his head. "Now that you mention it, yes."

They quickly made their way through the deserted streets through the darkness, illuminated only by the occasional lamp post. It was nearly three in the morning, so they didn't expect many people around, but as they got closer to their destination, they started running into more and more people.

"Something's wrong," Twilight said. "The smell of smoke is getting stronger.”

The tech specialist had to nearly break into a run to keep up with the operative’s long and hurried strides. As they entered the small side street the bar was in, they ran into a small crowd.

“What…” Four began. 

Then he heard Twilight gasp, and he followed his line of sight.

A gaping black and charred ruin was all that was left of the building the bar had been in.

The black ground was still smoking, covered in ashes, and the little that was left of the rock walls was dripping wet. Firefighters were still prowling around, dousing with water whatever was still smoking. In the middle of it all, walking around as if in a daze, was a black-haired woman, covered in soot.

“Thelma!” the operative choked out, stepping forward.

Four grabbed his arm. "Twi, we are too conspicuous, we can't stay here."

"But she's my friend. I can’t leave her out here alone like this, her bar, her home, everything she had just burned down!” Twi responded, voice wavering.

“Twilight, please, there are too many people and we are out in the open…”

The operative ripped his arm away from Four’s grasp. “She saved my life, once. I can’t just turn around and leave.”

The tech specialist let him go, but moved so he could keep an eye on their surroundings for any trouble. There was quite a crowd, considering the hour. Not only police and firefighters, but also curious civilians who wanted to take a peek. Four watched as his friend approached the woman and hugged her tight. He was close enough to hear their hushed conversation.

"Thelma, I… I’m so sorry. Are you alright? How did this happen?”

The woman’s voice was hoarse. “I.. am not sure. I think it started in the back room, but it spread so fast. Luckily no one was in the rooms upstairs, so everyone got out more or less ok, but…” she covered her eyes with one hand. “I can’t find Louise.”

Twilight grasped her shoulder. “She’s smart, she was probably the first one out. She’ll come looking for you as soon as things quiet down,” he said. “Thelma, do you have a place to go?”

Four stopped listening as they discussed her situation, while carefully watching the crowd, to see if anyone seemed a bit too interested in Twilight and her friend.

A soft gasp from the operative caught his attention.

“You think this was done deliberately?” he asked.

"I had a spot of trouble a few months back with some men who deluded themselves into thinking they owned the town, but I thought that had been the last of them," the woman answered. "One of them even tried to carve something into my bar counter with his stupid curved knife, if you can believe it. I kicked him out. I am not that easily intimidated."

Four saw his friend stiffen. He could understand why. He, too, had caught the offhand comment about a curved blade. "What… what did they want from you?"

"Information," the woman answered with a shrug. "They wanted me to watch out for stuff and report it to them. I refused. They tried offering me rupees, as if I had helped the Resistance for gain. I have never been so insulted in my life."

Twilight was silent for a long moment, apparently at a loss for words.

“I have to go talk to the police,” said Thelma, straightening her dress. “Please keep an eye out for Louise. I hope she got away...” her voice wavered at the end.

Twilight hugged the bartender tightly again. “I wish there was something I could do,” he whispered.

They broke apart, and Thelma lifted her hand to pat the operative’s cheek. “You already did, sweetie. Now run along, and don’t worry about me. I’ll open again somewhere else, and it will be even better.” With that, she turned and walked away.

Twi’s face crumpled. Four could only watch with an aching heart as his friend put his face in his hands. But now was not the time for this. The tech specialist moved towards his friend and grasped his shoulder. "Twi, we have to go…"

“It can’t be a coincidence. Someone recognized me, it’s my fault,” Twilight murmured.

“If that’s the case, the best thing we can do is get away from here, now, and make sure we are not followed,” the tech specialist said, putting a hand on Twi’s elbow.

The operative looked down at Four with horror on his features. “Sweet Nayru, you’re right. Whoever did this might be still here, watching. And if they did it because Thelma was passing information for me...”

“They’ll know who we are.” the shorter man finished for him. “We have to be very careful, we can’t be followed back.”

Twilight turned to scan the crowd around them. “Damn it, we took Wild’s car. If this was the Yiga, we can't be seen going back to it.” A pained look crossed his features. “I’m sorry. You tried to warn me.”

Four huffed. “You just wanted to help your friend. We’ll work it out, let's worry about getting away. What about the car? Do we try to leave it?” 

The taller man nodded. “I’m afraid that’s our best alternative, even though that means we have to shake off any pursuers on foot.”

"Let's go the other way, then. Towards the river."

They slipped into the shadows and up the stone-paved alley.

***

Twilight wanted nothing better than to kick himself, repeatedly. He was just making one mistake after the other, and people around him were getting hurt because of it. It was his fault, all his fault.

But at the moment he couldn't afford to get distracted. He had now put Four at risk, and he’d be damned before he let anything happen to his friend because he’d been an idiot. He could berate himself later.

They made their way carefully and stealthily, sticking to the shadows and choosing a winding path back towards the river, occasionally nearly backtracking in an attempt to figure out if they were indeed being followed.

The bar had not been far from where the river flowed through the citadel. They made it to the embankment in a few minutes without running into trouble.

Just as Twilight thought they’d managed to get away, he heard a dark chuckle, and a man stepped out of the shadows in front of them. Two more appeared at his side. They had hoods up, but Twilight could see they were wearing masks underneath, covering up their whole faces. The weak light of the lamp posts glinted on their scythes.

The operative pulled his knife out of his sleeve, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Four do the same and turn to put his back against Twilight’s, as two more masked figures slithered towards them.

The operative didn't give them time to react and lunged forward, raising his knife. He felt the tech specialist do the same behind him. 

Twi ducked under the swing of the closest man, catching him off balance and shouldering him to the ground. He sidestepped, avoiding an attack from the second one, and pushed his knife in the man's side. He was then forced to jump back out of the way of the third attacker. 

He heard the clatter of something metal on stone, and turned his head to see Four had disarmed one of his opponents. Twilight turned his attention back on his attacker in time to block his curved blade with his own knife. He had better leverage, so he managed to twist his wrist and wrench the weapon out of his opponent's hand.

The hiss of something swishing through the air had him turn to his friend's fight again. The disarmed Yiga was now brandishing a 'No Parking' sign post, apparently freshly wrenched from its place in the ground.

The unconventional weapon's reach and weight made it difficult for the tech specialist to fight back. He was too busy dodging and ducking under the powerful swings to manage to land any hits of his own.

Twilight felt a movement behind him and dove to the side to avoid a swinging scythe. He rolled over, coming up in a crouch, then flung himself at the man, tackling him to the ground. The Yiga's head hit the stone pavement with a satisfying crack.

The operative looked up just in time to see Four stumble on an uneven flagstone. His opponent was quick to take advantage of this, and swung the sign post hard.

Time seemed to slow down around Twilight as he watched the sign hitting Four right in his temple, flinging him back with the violence of the hit. He landed roughly on the stone and didn't get up. The attacker stepped forward, lifting his sign post for another blow.  

No.

The operative didn't have time for anything besides throwing himself forwards to cover his friend.

The blow caught the side of his ribcage, violent enough to send him sprawling on the ground, completely winded, beside the unconscious Four. 

Twilight distantly realized he had dropped his knife. He rolled over and struggled to breathe as he tried to get up, dazed by the pain. He had to get Four out of here and fast. Already, he could see the two Yiga who were still standing closing in.

Twilight pushed himself to his feet with a pained grunt, and picked his friend up. As Four was so much smaller than him, the operative managed to swing the tech specialist on his back as he cautiously moved backwards towards the river, keeping the Yiga agents in his line of sight.

"Where are you going, Wolf? We have you cornered like the beast you are named after," one of them taunted.

The casual use of his code name made Twilight bristle. These men were sure he was not going to walk away from this, or they wouldn't fling it in his face like that. He hated to admit they might be right.

As he took another step back, his foot hit the low wall that ran along the river. 

He had no options left, no weapons, nothing he could use. The burning pain that coursed through his chest with every breath told him he probably had at least one broken rib, and even if he hadn't been injured, he couldn't hope to get Four out of there, if he put him down to free his hands and try to fight his way out.

He hitched his unconscious friend on his back more securely, then turned around and jumped over the wall into the dark water below.

Chapter Text

The sun was just peeking above the horizon when Impa entered Sanidin Park. The day before had been long and gruelling, and she hadn't gotten home before two in the morning. Even then, she hadn't slept more than a couple of hours and had woken up before dawn. 

A good, long run was what she needed to attempt to clear her mind. 

She ran every morning, and her runs became longer the more troubled she felt. Today was a good day to take the long way around the park. She stretched quickly, then began running in the direction of the viewpoint.

The cold air was just biting enough to make her want to push a bit harder to warm up faster. As she ran, she let her mind wander, trying to make sense of the events of the previous afternoon.

Not only was an attack at headquarters unprecedented, in all the years she had been in the Sheikah, but she couldn't understand how it had even been possible. She thought their defences were nearly impenetrable, at least to anyone without perfect knowledge of them. And secrecy had always been the golden rule in the organization. 

She had almost reached the top of the viewpoint promenade, and she was starting to warm up. Impa removed her gloves and put them in the pockets of her hoodie.

The most likely explanation was that the bomb had already been positioned in Time's car, but even that seemed impossible. The wreckage was not compatible with the bomb being inside the car. Also, If the target had been Time, why wait so long to detonate the bomb? Perhaps whoever had positioned the bomb had hoped to kill more people inside the Sheikah, and hadn't known that Time parked in a remote corner of the grounds.

She had almost reached the top of the viewpoint cliff. The view was stunning, the sun rising over Castle Town on her right and a thick line of trees on her left. 

Time. The thought of her old friend threatened to choke her with grief. No trace of him had been found, and that made no sense. Access control and camera footage confirmed he had entered the premises minutes before the explosion, so there wasn't much hope he had just left his car there. The fact nothing of him had been found was...

"I thought you said never to be predictable."

A voice from the tree line startled her, and a shape stepped out.

Impa stopped in her tracks, too stunned to immediately make an answer. For a long moment, all she could do was stare.

"Looks like I managed to surprise you, after all."

"Time!" she managed to choke out in a strangled whisper.

Impa looked over her friend, still trying to work through her shock. He was pale and had dark circles under his eyes. His hair was disheveled and uneven, a lot choppier than it had been the day before and distinctly shorter on one side. There were traces of magically healed burns on the side of his face and neck. He was wearing a dark, bulky coat with the collar turned up, so not much else of him was visible.

"How… what… how did you walk away from that?"

"Yeah, well, you were the one to teach me to always carry a red potion," he answered with a small shrug.

Impa finally realized that Time was alive, and standing right in front of her. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"Goddess, Fairy Boy, I thought you were dead," she whispered in his ear.

He returned the hug. "You and whoever tried to make it true, I hope."

"Is that why you decided to disappear?"

She felt him nod against her head. "I figured it was the safest thing to do in the moment."

Impa stepped back and looked him over. "Are you alright? Do you need a healer?"

"I'm fine, but I need to ask you a few things. What do you know about Yiga infiltration in the Sheikah?"

Impa stared at him in silence for a long moment. "Until yesterday I would have scoffed and called it impossible, but after a bomb attack at headquarters?" She shook her head. "What tangible proof do you have?"

"Besides the obvious fact that the bomb that went off yesterday was a Sheikah tech remote bomb?”

”What?”

Time raised an eyebrow. “You mean to say it wasn’t obvious on the footage of the explosion?”

Impa hesitated. “There was no footage of the explosion. Camera 16, the one in that corner of the parking lot, malfunctioned yesterday morning, a bit after 6.30.”

“The explosion happened in the early afternoon, why wasn’t it repaired?”

“Maintenance had scheduled the repairs for later in the afternoon."

Time made an impatient noise. “It was a potential security breach. Why wasn’t it addressed immediately?”

Impa ran her hand through her short silver hair. “I… don’t know. It doesn’t make sense, and I want to look into it.”

The two were silent, staring at each other for a long moment. Then Time spoke again.

"You said the camera malfunctioned around 6.30."

Impa nodded.

"I normally come in between 7 and 7.15."

The commander's words lingered in the air between them as if they were something physical. Impa couldn't believe she hadn't realized the implications of what had happened before now.

"So the bomb was not in your car, like we thought, but below it, positioned in your usual parking space. It must have been placed soon after the camera malfunctioned. And then someone was watching, and knew when your car came in," she said. "You clearly were the intended target, but you came in at a different time than expected. This precise timing of the explosion could only have been possible if…"

"...there was someone inside the Sheikah headquarters ready to detonate it," Time finished for her. His face turned into a grimace. "I have more. Twilight was involved in a Yiga attack two nights ago. He heard them use his code name."

Impa couldn't believe her ears. "What? Why don't I know about this, why wasn't it reported?"

Time hesitated and looked to the side, as he always did when he wanted to hide something from her.

"Time."

The commander huffed and closed his eyes. "Because he was protecting Link Victor. Victor was the target."

The chief rubbed her forehead wearily. "I should have known."

Time's mouth twitched as if he wanted to smile, and Impa knew he was holding back something very close to 'I told you so.' She chose to skip the subject entirely for now, there were more pressing matters at hand.

"We'll worry about Link Victor later. We have to figure out how to find whoever is working with the Yiga."

"I am afraid we have to consider an even worse scenario," Time said carefully.

"What are you talking about?" Impa asked sharply.

"These tasks my team was assigned," the commander answered. "They are… off. Too ruthless even for the most battle-hardened Sheikah."

Impa felt her stomach drop. She had found herself thinking along the same lines often in the last few months, but never with the... undertones her old friend was now implying. The mere thought was chilling.

Yiga infiltration at high levels. Yiga influence inside the Council. Corruption of the whole organization. But it all started to make far too much sense.

The chief's breath caught. Her whole life had been devoted to the Sheikah and what it stood for. To see her life's work crumble before her eyes like this…

Time's voice broke through her spiralling thoughts. "Who do you trust on the Council? Really trust?" 

***

Wars opened his eyes without having even realized closing them. He was sprawled on the small couch in Legend’s safe house, where he had been waiting for Twilight and Four to get back. The strategist and Sky were sitting at the small table, talking quietly. The headache, general heaviness and grogginess Warriors felt told him he had fallen asleep without meaning to.

He sat up woodenly. “Are they back yet? How long was I asleep for?” he asked, his voice thick with sleep.

Sky turned to look at him. “No, they aren’t back. You’ve been asleep ablout an hour and a half, it’s nearly 6.”

That woke him up. “Six in the morning and they aren’t back yet? It’s been over three hours, they should have been back by now!”

Legend grimaced. “Do you think we don’t know that, pretty boy?”

“Then what? Are we just waiting here?” he asked, a bit more roughly than he intended.

The strategist huffed, running a hand through his hair. “This is exactly what we were discussing. We were reasoning we should wait until the bar opens again, since we would have to start there.”

His tone stopped Wars in his tracks. He sounded tense, worried, and so exhausted that the bite that usually colored his tone was completely absent. He had never heard Legend sound so… normal. Scared. Vulnerable. The operative stood and joined his friends at the table, but didn’t sit down. 

“Vet?” 

The strategist lifted his head to look up at Wars. His eyes were red and bleary, his hair a mess. Wars realized he was still listening to the coded radio channel, the headphones crooked on his head. He looked dead on his feet. 

Warriors put his hand gently on Legend’s shoulder. “How long have you been awake for? Go join Wild and the doctor and try to sleep a little. I know it’s not a bed but only a pile of blankets, but you look like you were ready to pass out last night.”

The strategist huffed again. “I wouldn’t be able to sleep, anyway, until they get back.”

The operative opened his mouth to answer, when a thump just outside the door made them all spring into silent action. Wars and Sky slipped their knives from their sleeves, Legend moved to where the door would swing when opened and mentioned for Wars to take the other side of the door.

Another soft thump came from the landing outside, and a low grunt. They were all so attuned to one another, that that small sound was enough to recognize who was on the landing. Warriors immediately opened the door to find Twilight, pale, lips blue, clothes sopping wet, hair plastered to his head and dripping into his eyes, leaning heavily against the wall, with an obviously unconscious Four slung over his back.

Warriors stepped forward with a curse to support his friend. Behind him, he heard Legend’s voice.

"Sky, go wake the doctor."

Chapter Text

Noise, raised voices and commotion from behind the closed door dragged Wind slowly back to consciousness. He opened his eyes to find pale, dim, early morning light seeping from behind the panel covering the small window. He sat up, blinking slowly, still partially asleep, before the alarm and urgency in the voices filtering from behind the door registered in his mind. He jolted completely awake and jumped out of bed. 

He opened the door of the small bedroom to find more people than he expected. The doctor and the pink-haired man, Legend, were lying Four, obviously unconscious and dripping wet, down on a blanket on the floor, while hurrying to remove his clothing.

Wars was helping another tall man Wind had never seen, also drenched to the bone, to the couch. Sky and a seventh man with long hair were going through cabinets, pulling out supplies.

"He is too cold, we need to warm him up," the doctor was saying. "Legend, cut these clothes off him and cover him with a blanket. Sky, get me two red potions out of the fridge and warm them up a little, he can't have them cold in this state." 

Wind cautiously moved forward, and hissed when he saw the large and dark bruise that was peeking from below Four's headband at his temple. Hyrule gently removed the green headband and started examining the injury.

The young boy had no idea what had happened, but he felt in the way and stepped back towards the couch, to leave the men space to work. Warriors was helping the man on the couch peel his clothes off, while talking softly to him.

"You got Four back, we're taking care of him," Warriors was saying, "but I need to know if you're also hurt, and we need to warm you up."

The man seemed unable to answer, his breathing laboured and erratic. He was holding a hand gingerly to his ribs, weakly trying to help Wars slip his sopping clothes off.

"Your chest? Ok, then, we better finish getting your clothes off to check." Warriors made quick work of the clothes, after that, then wrapped a blanket gently around the man's shoulders. "No visible wounds, we’ll check for other damage in a second. For now, your temperature is way too low, I'll get you something to warm you up.

After Wars stepped away, Wind had a better view of the newcomer. He seemed to be about as tall as Warriors, but more heavily built, with more defined muscle on his frame. His wet hair made it impossible to tell the exact color, but Wind guessed it was darker than his friend's. The boy listened to his laboured breathing for a second, studying the man carefully, and wondered how he could help. The man appeared to be gasping for air, but was taking only very shallow breaths, and his ribcage...

Wind froze. The man's breathing reminded him of something. The horrible aftermath of a horrible fight during his time with the Pirates.

He'd seen that before.

The young boy stood paralyzed a moment longer, on the verge of panic. Then, his mind made up, he turned quickly and moved towards the doctor.

“Hey, I think that guy also needs your help, it looks like his ribs might be broken. I... think he has a collapsed lung.”

Hyrule turned to look at Wind.

“His breathing is really shallow and laboured, his chest looks like it’s expanding wrong, like more on one side. He is warming up, but his lips are still blue. The veins in his neck are also bulging out, and…”

The doctor seemed to feel he had said enough, for he turned to the pink-haired man. “Legend, I need you to take over. Try to give him the second potion, and watch out, if he wakes up he might start vomiting, he’ll need to be turned on his side immediately, but try not to move his neck.”

The man with the pink hair nodded and took the flask of red liquid the doctor was holding, taking his place next to Four.

Hyrule stepped over to the couch, and quickly examined the man, hands travelling down his ribcage.

"Farore have mercy, you're right, at least two of his ribs are definitely broken, probably three, they must have punctured the lung," the doctor said. “Wind, go through that green bag over there. You are looking for a large pen, with something written on it along the lines of ‘chest decompression’ or ‘needle decompression’. Don’t open it when you find it, just bring it over here." He turned to speak over his shoulder. "Legend, Sky, whoever. I need the strongest analgesics we have, we need him to breathe as deeply as possible, and he can't do that if he's in pain. Then I’ll need a red potion." 

Wind did as he was told, and quickly found the right item. He brought it to the doctor as Sky fed the injured man something from a small purple vial. Hyrule uncovered a long, thick needle and carefully inserted it between the man's ribs.

Very slowly, the man's breathing seemed to get gradually easier, as the doctor encouraged him to keep inhaling as deeply as he could. Color returned to his lips. 

Wind felt in the way again, and went to sit on the floor in a corner, back to the wall and arms resting on his bent knees. 

Where had he ended up? What was going on? He wanted answers, but he knew now was not the time to ask questions, not with two injured men who needed care. He found himself wondering if he had made the wrong choice, going with these strange people.

He didn't know how long he had been sitting there, but looked up when he felt someone slip on the floor beside him.

"Are you alright?" Hyrule asked gently. 

Wind nodded.

“I really have to thank you, I was distracted by Four and I didn't look carefully enough at Twilight. I might not have realized how serious his condition was before it was too late," the doctor said softly. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "A truly horrendous lapse in judgement, unacceptable for the doctor I should be." 

Wind could hear self-blame in his voice, but didn't know what to say. The doctor opened his eyes and turned to the young boy again.

"You zeroed in on all the symptoms of a pneumothorax," he said gently.

"I thought it was a collapsed lung?" Wind interrupted.

Hyrule nodded. "Pneumothorax is the medical term for it, specifically for the kind that Twilight had, and you recognized one off the bat. Have you seen this before?”

Wind swallowed thickly, remembering Niko, injured, slowly suffocating in front of him before Gonzo recognized what was happening and intervened. He nodded.

The doctor's eyes turned soft as he gave a small smile. "You have good eyes and a good head on your shoulders. That could have taken a turn for the worse very rapidly." He paused. "You probably saved his life."

Wind exhaled sharply. "I'm glad he'll be ok. I don't know him, but these guys… all seem like good people."

Hyrule's smile turned a bit wider. "I agree." He moved to stand. "I have to go see how they are doing. Good job, back there." 

With that, he quickly squeezed Wind's shoulder and left to check on Four and Twilight. 

The boy put his head in his hands, trying to sort through his messy thoughts. The previous two days had been so intense he hadn’t worked through them yet, and waking up to this had not helped. However, Wind wasn’t alone with his whirring thoughts for long. Wars sat down heavily and put his back to the wall beside him.

"The doctor said you probably saved my friend," he said, eyes strangely distant and partially unfocused. "His name is Twilight, by the way. Sorry you had to meet him like this."

Wind didn't know what to say. The man ran a hand through his disheveled hair and spoke again.

"These people, my whole team, but Twilight and Sky especially… they are the closest thing I have to family. They are like brothers to me. So thank you, I really owe you," he said softly, his eyes now turned on Wind and brimming with emotion.

The boy was astonished. This big, tall, competent soldier, usually self-assured and almost cocky, fast and strong in combat, treating him like an equal, thanking him so openly… but then Wind thought of Aryll, and of what he had felt when she had been abducted by monsters, and he suddenly understood. 

He reached out and put his hand on Wars’ arm.

"Aren't we all looking out for each other? Like your friend said, we are all in this together, now."

***

Four was finally sleeping peacefully. He had woken up earlier, nauseous and agitated. It had taken a while for him to return to full consciousness, and to an acceptable temperature. Sky disentangled his limbs from Four’s and got up from the bed where he had been acting as a full-body pillow to warm up his friend. The operative watched as the doctor checked over the tech specialist's vitals again, and then both went to sit on the floor next to the bed.

“With the two we gave Four and the one Twilight had, we are down to a single red potion. If this is how it’s going to be, we’ll have to restock,” he said.

“Legend said he knows where we can get our hands on more, but they will be pricey. We’ll have to work something out.” Sky sighed. “I’m starting to think Time had a point when he said we should always carry one on us, but we never really bothered, seeing we always had backup.”

The operative noted that Hyrule seemed... dejected. Sky could understand. After all, the doctor had lost his home to fire, had been forced to run for his life, to leave everything he knew, and had been taken by strangers who were basically keeping him confined without much explanation. 

"Are you alright?" Sky asked in a low voice.

Hyrule seemed surprised at the question, his eyebrows raising slightly. "I'm fine," he answered quickly.

The operative gave him a skeptical look. The doctor huffed. "I am still asking myself how I could fail your friend so badly, by hardly looking at him. I was supposed to perform triage, and I didn’t,” he said. “Thank Nayru for that kid and his sharp eyes.”

Sky bumped his shoulder against Hyrule’s. “Hey, it worked out. I am just thankful we had you and Wind here. Besides, Twilight came in on his own two legs, carrying Four. We all thought Four was the one who needed help more urgently.”

Hyrule closed his eyes. “I should have known better.”

The operative sighed. “Sweet Farore, is this a common trait to whoever is named Link? Being so unforgiving with oneself?”

The doctor looked confused. “Are you talking about Wild?”

Sky chuckled. “I was talking about myself, actually. And Legend. And… our whole team, actually, since we said there were to be no more secrets.”

Hyrule’s mouth dropped open. “All of you are named Link?”

The operative nodded. “We often forget, seeing we all use nicknames for one reason or another, but I’m starting to believe Legend when he says it can’t be a coincidence.”

Silence fell between the two, each one lost in thought. The voices of the other two operatives reached them from the main room through the open door.

“Goddess, Wars, you sound as if the Hylia river was as fast and traitorous as the Zorana! It flows wide and slow through Castle Town! Keeping out of sight and holding Four’s head above the water were the only real issues. Besides, it’s not like I had many options.”

“You dove into the water with three broken ribs! And you swam halfway down the river! By the time you made it back, both of you were suffering from hypothermia!”

Twilight answered something under his breath, but his voice was covered by Hyrule’s. “Do they always bicker like this?”

Sky chuckled. “Hylia, yes. Even though it’s usually Legend telling us off for crazy stunts, the filthy hypocrite. I guess Wars is channeling him now, since Leg has finally fallen asleep and can't do it himself.”

After it had become obvious Four and Twi would both be ok, the strategist had moved to the couch next to the injured operative and had promptly passed out. Sky and Hyrule could hear him softly snoring from their position on the bedroom floor.

"What are we going to do now?" the doctor asked.

“Well, as Legend always says, we need to know the why to plan for the how. We need to figure out what both the Yiga and the Sheikah want with you, Wind and Wild. And also…” his voice wavered. “hopefully find our commander, if he is still alive.”

There was a long pause, then Hyrule spoke again. “He means a lot to all of you.” It wasn’t a question.

Sky sighed. “As you saw, we are not exactly just colleagues.” He smiled softly. “But now that we are all here, I’m sure we can work things out. Not to keep quoting Legend, but he often says we share a brain cell and he has it most of the time. What I mean to say, is we function best when we are together. Now we can seriously get to work.”

Chapter Text

Wild hummed under his breath as he stirred the contents of the two pots on the small stove. There hadn’t been much to work with, not much more than cans of meat and various vegetables along with a bag of instant rice, and even the kitchenware had been rather lacking. He had done what he could to put together something that would at least be edible, which was more than could be really said for the rations themselves. It looked like a curry, at least.

He had liked having something to do with his hands, after being dragged around like a parcel for two days. After the first revelations from Twilight, he had met these other men, and the pink-haired one, Legend, had been able to tell him more about himself. Had known him. Before he forgot. It was kind of mind-blowing, really, to think that he was some kind of super-agent, especially because the person Legend had described had felt so foreign, so different, so separate from him. 

True, Legend said he hadn't known him well, they had just been assigned different roles on the same mission, but the cold, reserved, stoic soldier the agent had worked with felt light-years away from how Wild saw himself.

The pink-haired man had also told him something more about the training accident that had erased his memory and scarred his body. Wild shuddered. He had spent long months wanting nothing better than to know what had happened, but now, having discovered something about it, he was ok with not knowing every gory little detail.

“Fires of Din, what is that amazing smell?” 

He turned to find the tall blond man, Warriors, peeking over his shoulder curiously.

“Wild is making us lunch,” answered Twilight as he went through the cupboards looking for plates, “refused to take no for an answer.”

“And why would I?” Wild laughed. “This will already be barely tolerable after my best efforts, and you guys were going to eat it cold straight out of the can!”

Wars shrugged. “Isn’t that how you’re supposed to eat rations?” He grinned. “But I think I’ll like your way much better.”

Soon the food was as ready as it would ever be, and they had managed to find bowls and plates for everyone. They all sat where they found space. Eight of them were quite a squeeze for the main room of the flat.

The short man with the green headband, Four, if Wild remembered correctly, studied his plate carefully.  "This was made with canned stuff?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I had no spices so it tastes pretty bland.." WIld answered apologetically.

"Are you kidding? This is amazing," Hyrule said, already halfway through his plate.

“I am still going to slip out later to get us something better for tonight.” Wild turned towards Twilight, who looked like he wanted to argue. “And I am not going to accept objections from someone who ran off, got hurt in a fight and swam home with broken ribs last night,” he said, pointing his finger in the agent’s face.

Twilight grumbled under his breath while everyone else laughed. 

“Legend, you have been wearing those headphones non-stop since yesterday, your ears must be squashed flat. Let me listen for a while, take a break,” Four suddenly said, extending a hand towards the pink-haired man.

“Wearing heavy headphones while healing after a head injury and subsequent concussion? I think not,” he answered firmly.

Four adjusted his headband to cover more of the dark bruise that stood out painfully obvious on the pale skin at his temple. “Stop fussing, and hand over the headphones.”

Legend huffed but did as he was told. “I’ll take those back as soon as I’m done eating. Listen out also for his old codename, just in case,” he said, pointing casually at Wild. “It's Bluepee.”

That sounded… oddly familiar to Wild, but strange to hear. It was as if he knew that name intimately, but it felt wrong to hear it spoken out loud. As if it had been a word he knew he should look after, like a secret...

"His code name? You know his code name?" Sky asked.

“I was remote support on one of his missions once, that’s how I know him,” the man answered easily. “And of course I remembered it, I had finally found someone with a code name as ridiculous as mine,” he added in an undertone.

Warriors perked up at that. “Wait, why? what is your codename?” 

Four snickered. “What? you don’t know it?” 

“How could I? He is always off the radar even when we are on missions together, either that or he is just ‘Support’. I never had a reason to know his codename,” Wars answered.

“It’s Windfish.” 

“Squirt, shut the fuck up,” the pink-haired man almost growled.

The doctor’s face lit up. “Those are beautiful names. Both the Bluepee and the Windfish are powerful mythical creatures, positive guardian spirits!” he said. “The Bluepee is a forest sprite, associated with wilderness and freedom, while the Windfish is a protector of the sea and sky, associated with the dream world and the forces of nature.”   

Wild hadn’t known Legend for long, but the part surprised and part softly amused look on his face as he turned to look at Hyrule made his entire face change, softening all of his features. He nearly looked like another person, and much younger.

"So you know what he did in the organization?" Wars asked. "Well, that should be an advantage if we have to figure out what both the Sheikah and the Yiga want with him.

"Everybody wants me dead, I've been told," Wild grumbled. "I must have been pretty annoying."

Legend's lip quirked. "Yeah, well, join the club," he muttered. He then continued in a louder voice.  "You were part of a team whose main aim was developing and testing advanced tech weapons. We met when you were sent to test a new device. Your mission was to infiltrate a Yiga hideout, and I was assigned as support because the Yiga use a lot of offensive magic, that was my focus at the time."

Wars nodded. "So Wild must have known a lot about both Sheikah tech and Yiga tactics. They obviously want to make sure you don't remember any of that."

"Where do me and Hyrule come in all of this?" Wind asked. "We knew nothing about the Sheikah or the Yiga before two days ago."

Legend ran a hand through his hair. "That is an excellent question we have no answer to, yet, but clearly need to address. We obviously cannot go ask the Yiga, so we’ll have to obtain the information from the Sheikah. We need their files.”

"But the Sheikah keeps only physical, paper copies of the most sensitive information, the organization doesn't trust electronic devices with the really important secrets," Four interjected. "The general consensus is electronic files are too easy to steal, and too hard to guard."

"Exactly," Legend said darkly.

Warriors raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting we break into headquarters to retrieve them?"

 "I'm afraid that is precisely what I'm suggesting."

***

The long horseshoe table looked especially wide, today, as Impa carefully studied the faces of the other Sages. 

Even though the main lights were on, as the Council was meeting behind closed doors, the room was still infuriatingly dim, for some strange reason that Impa could only attribute to love of tradition and theatrics.

Time's question about who she could really trust has stayed with her the whole day. Until the moment he had asked, the answer would have been 'All of them, with my life', but suddenly she couldn't be sure and the thought was maddening.

Of course she could trust her own sister, Purah. They had always been different, and didn't see eye to eye in many things, especially when it came to how much value each sister gave to tech and knowledge compared with people, but surely Purah would never side with the Yiga. She wouldn't.

Dorian… Dorian had been a trainee with her, then they had been operatives together, had been through so much, saving each other's life more times than she could count. They had moved up in the organization together and had always been very close, at least until his wife had died in that horrible car accident. His grief had made him push everybody away, including Impa. 

But he would never side with the Yiga.

She hadn't worked much with Renado, but she knew him to be an expert of magic and ancient lore, extremely well-versed on the cycle and it's intricacies. He more than anyone would know how dangerous the Yiga could be, and would never work with them.

Ulrira was unparalleled in communications and remote support techniques, he was a kind and open-hearted man. The chief had worked with him, from time to time, and couldn't imagine him dealing with Yiga.

Owlan… he was a bit odd, true, as his strategic genius caused him to be strangely detached from the real world, sometimes. His convoluted, brilliant, occasionally outlandish and sometimes ruthless plans were renowned for never failing, so he did get a lot of leeway and was always listened to when he spoke up in council. He often had strange and not-obvious ideas which always ended up benefitting the organization, he couldn't be working with the Yiga.

And then there was their most recent addition, the Sage she knew less. Sooga had joined the council after Gaepora had died suddenly from a devastating and completely unexpected stroke. Sooga was with the Special Intervention Unit, the same as Impa herself, but as it was the largest department in the organization, it wasn’t so strange that she hadn't ever really interacted with him. She knew him to be a very strong and competent fighter, who had climbed the ranks especially thanks to his brilliant successes against the Yiga. Scourge of the Yiga Clan was his nickname inside the organization. Dorian and Ulrira had both vouched for him, after Owlan had proposed his name for the vacant seat on the Council. That, and his reputation, had been enough for Impa.

She was pulled from her thoughts by Ulrira's voice, calling them to order. As a rule, there was no leader of the Council. Ulrira had no more decision-making power than the others, the seven Sages were equals, here. It was tradition, though, that the longest standing member officiated the meetings. 

"This meeting has been called to discuss the attack on the organization that took place yesterday in the early afternoon,” Ulrira said gravely. “Let us begin by reviewing the evidence that has been collected.”

Everything they knew about the explosion was shared and discussed in detail, including damage to the premises, analysis of the wreckage and evolution of the subsequent flames. The discussion then proceeded into the examination of possible perpetrators, motives and hypotheses.

“The first suspicions will always fall on our main antagonists, the Yiga clan,” came Sooga’s booming voice. “Their objective has always been the destruction of the organization.” 

“There are too many things that do not add up though,” Owlan objected. “The Yiga have never managed to hit us inside our headquarters, and while there is always a first, there is the inescapable fact that this attack could have been devastating, but wasn’t. I feel that if the Yiga had found a way to get a bomb inside headquarters, they would have done a better job of it.”

“That is true, we have no confirmed casualties, only one MIA,” Purah answered with a small shrug. “Even the damage to the buildings was minimal, it was mostly the trees and plants of our parking lot that took a hit.”

“Isn’t that odd, though?” Dorian interjected. “Commander Time Woods has apparently disappeared into thin air. I find that suspicious.”

“What are you implying?” asked Renado, lifting an eyebrow. 

“That he might be involved in the attack.”

Purah scoffed. “That makes absolutely no sense. If we believe that the Yiga would have done a better job planning an attack with an opening such as this, Commander Woods would definitely have done better, if he had chosen to attack the organization. The explosion apparently hurt no one, damaged nothing of importance except a couple of vehicles. As much as it pains me, I am much more inclined to believe that he has been killed in the explosion and we simply have not… found evidence in the wreckage to prove it yet. Further analysis of the samples collected might give us more information.”

“I believe we have to prepare for both possibilities, though, so I say we issue orders to find Commander Woods. We need to dispatch a team to figure out what happened to him,” Owlan suggested.

“An investigation on the explosion? I thought that had been initiated already,” said Renado.

“I think Owlan meant an investigation on Commander Woods specifically,” Dorian said, "which I agree to."

Sooga lifted a hand. “I also agree, it might be wise.”

Impa couldn’t remain silent any longer. As she drew breath to speak, Purah beat her to it, her voice apparently calm and collected to an inattentive listener. The chief could hear plain as day the suppressed rage in her sister’s tone.

“To investigate what, precisely? Something to tarnish his memory and reputation? May I remind you that we still have not located his wife to let her know what happened?”

Ulrira tilted his head in Purah’s direction. “My dear Purah, an investigation is merely a question. The answers are what will be unearthed by it. If commander Woods had nothing to hide, then we will find nothing. Besides, as our current working hypothesis is that the bomb was in his car, he was either the intended victim or the perpetrator of the attack, so in both cases he is involved. If he is alive, we need him to figure out what happened. If he is not, this investigation might uncover the motivation of the attack, leading to identification of the culprit."

"And what about team Farosh?" Renado asked. "They are all on missions, if their commander was the intended target of such an attack..."

"You mean to say they are as MIA as their leader. As far as we can tell, they have not made contact in days," Owlan answered.

"They may have tried to contact commander Woods through other means, but we have no way of knowing this, or if they are involved in any way, until we find them," Ulrira said, lifting a hand, palm up.

"Then the investigation on the explosion should include a background check on commander Woods and team Farosh, as well as a search to find them," said Sooga in his booming voice.

Impa hated that all this sounded reasonable, but still made it sound like one of her best and oldest friends was a criminal and a traitor.

"I think the majority has decided. Sooga, we will leave the details of the investigations to you, if there are no objections.”

Impa could only stare in stunned, enraged and confused silence as the meeting was adjourned.

What was that about?

Chapter Text

Wars couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. “You can’t be serious,” he said in an incredulous tone. “That place is a fortress. The premises are specifically designed to be impenetrable, except for the carefully guarded access points.”

Legend scowled. “I think I know that better than you. What other suggestion do you have, then? Walk back in and ask? May I remind you we have been missing for days?”

The operative frowned. “But we were on missions, we were supposed to be off the radar. Our only contact was supposed to be Time, as support was with us on-site. And now the Old Man is missing, so let’s think this through for a second. What about one of us going back and saying their target vanished before we could make our move?”

Sky sat forward in his chair. “Hyrule’s home burned down over two days ago, that is not something that can have gone unnoticed, even if his disappearance hadn’t, so why would we be only speaking up now? And the same goes for Wild’s disappearance from the restaurant.”

“Well, what about me?” Wind asked. “My family is travelling, chances are they haven’t even noticed something is wrong, they know I’m not home a lot anyway. Tetra knows not to report me missing, so I have vanished, and no one can be sure of when, as I tend to skip school sometimes.”

Legend considered that, looking thoughtfully at the young boy. “That might work. Even if another team was dispatched to Outset, they wouldn’t find anything, except maybe signs of a struggle at your house.”

Warriors almost smiled. “So me and Four can go back to headquarters and act surprised that Time has not been answering our calls and that the rest of our team is missing. This way we can test the waters.”

The strategist grimaced. “I still don’t like that, it’s dangerous. We are going in blind, there are still too many things that don’t add up, especially the information purposefully wrong on the files we were given. We still don't know what is behind that. Besides, what are you planning to do then?"

"We try to put out hands on those files, with your remote support. At least we will be inside, which is a big problem off our shoulders," Warriors answered easily. “Also, we might be able to figure out a little more about what happened to the Old Man…”

“Guys, shut up now,” Four’s voice sharply cut off Warriors, as the tech specialist hastily placed the headphones properly on his head. They all held their breath as Four listened intently to whatever was coming through the coded radio channel. Wars saw Legend’s fingers twitch, as if he wanted to grab the headphones off Four's head.

"Well, that settles it," he said after a long moment, moving the headphones off one ear. "All members of Farosh have just been declared wanted for questioning.” 

Hyrule’s eyebrows lifted. “Farosh? Is that…”

“That’s us,” Sky answered. “Our team’s name is Farosh.”

“Was… any explanation or reason given? Any other detail?” asked Twilight. “Does this have to do with Time?”

Four shook his head, face bitter. “Nothing. Only the order for anyone encountering members of team Farosh, followed by a nice list of our code names, to detain and bring to hq.” He grimaced. “Use of force allowed.”

Warriors suddenly felt cold, his throat tight, his hands sweaty. Wanted for questioning. Use of force allowed. He had devoted his whole life to the organization, and now… he was marked like a traitor. 

It couldn’t be possible. This couldn’t be happening. He had worked, fought, lived, bled for the organization, every day of his life since he had turned 16.  Ten years, doing everything he was told, everything in his power, more than he himself thought he would be able to give, putting his very soul in everything he did. And now? All he had done was to refuse to harm an innocent, to try to protect him. And now orders had been issued that put him on the same level as the scum he had fought to eradicate from Hyrule for years. 

Numb disbelief flooded through him. Incredulity. Denial.

“No,” he heard himself say. “This can’t be possible. There must be something we are missing… They can’t…”

Legend scoffed. ”Of course there is something we are missing. Something is going on, the agenda of the Sheikah changed and we have no idea of what is happening.” He paused a moment. “Which is why we must put our hands on those files.”

***

Legend had always known he disliked small, enclosed spaces. He could relax only when he felt a breeze in his hair, sun on his skin, the smell of grass or sea or wood or wet earth in the air around him.

If nothing else, he’d even take a walk through narrow stone streets, after being shut up in that tiny hole for days.

They had made their way to the abandoned docks, and had followed Twilight and Wild to the empty warehouse where the Old Man had brought them after they had run from the Yiga. It was a remote hope, that Time had gone into hiding himself and had chosen to come here, knowing they might look for him here, but it was all they had at the moment. 

It didn’t take long to explore the place. The way Twi’s face kept turning darker and darker told the strategist that the operative had found everything exactly as he’d left it. Time had not been through here. Legend hated the way Twilight’s shoulders slumped as another fragment of hope was torn from them all.

They all moved out of the side rooms they had been exploring and back into the main chamber of the warehouse, a huge space, completely empty, and dimly lit by the portion of the roof that used to be made up of large slanted glass panels, now mostly smashed in or boarded up. They sat in a loose circle on the dusty floor in the middle of the cavernous space, to make sure they would have plenty of warning if anyone came in. The mood was somber and wary, but the strategist had no idea what to do about it, or if he even could. 

His strength had always been analyzing situations, plotting courses of action, planning, strategizing, fighting. Not people. He was no leader, and didn’t want to be. Twilight and Warriors were the two who normally took charge on the field when the Old Man wasn’t around, but at the moment both were too caught up in their own heads by worry and grief and uncertainty, having been hit the hardest among them by the disappearance of the Old Man and their fall from grace with the Sheikah, respectively.

The strategist wished he could offer comfort, make this situation better, help, but all he was good for was coming up with plans and directing people through them. 

He hoped it was going to be enough.

The strategist took a deep breath, then pulled out a map of Castle Town.

"Let’s get started,” he said. When all he got was a nod from his companions, he spoke again. “For those among us who are unaware, Sheikah HQ is a full rectangular block, made up of one large building at the front, three separate buildings in the back, and two side wings," he began, pointing on the map to where they knew the organization base was. There was obviously no trace of that on paper, only a bunch of apparently unconnected buildings housing several different and disparate enterprises. A bunch of consultant offices, a software firm, a logistics warehouse, even a gym. It was a wonderful cover. 

"The buildings have passages between one another, but not on every floor. Except for the front building, the Special Intervention Unit, that one is sealed off from the rest. The files we are looking for will be in the Archives, in the west wing. The Archives are only accessible through the Library, and the only entrance to the Library is through Magic and Documentation."

He stopped to see if anyone wanted to say anything, but was met with silence. 

“There are four entrances, one on each side, each heavily guarded,” he continued. “The inside courtyard is surprisingly large, completely enclosed and nearly as heavily guarded as the outside. If normally we cross the grounds to get from one building to the other, this is out of the question if we are trying to move undetected.” He paused again, but no one spoke up. “We have to find a way in, then move around inside the building.”

Finally, someone spoke.

"I don't think I have ever been inside the side wings, only in the SIU building and the back ones, Weapons, Logistics and Support and Equipment," Twilight said, “but I remember that trying to get around the back buildings without stepping out in the grounds was confusing, like traversing a labyrinth.”

Legend nodded. “Yes. We will need to plan our route very carefully, but first we have to decide what our access point will be.”

Warriors’ eyes, which had been dull and withdrawn since lunchtime, lit up a little with a focused gleam. “The main entrance is out of the question, then, as it is the most guarded and only leads into the SIU building and the grounds. What do you think of the other three?”

The strategist’s mouth twisted. “The east and west wing entrances are closed and locked during the night, which is when we’ll have to make our move. That leaves getting in through the warehouse, which has the advantage of being adjacent to Magic and Documentation, but even that will be tricky.”

Four stirred. “How heavily guarded is the roof?” 

Legend felt his eyebrows raise. He didn’t see where the tech specialist was going with this. “Mostly just cameras, the occasional guard doing rounds, there is no way in from the roof, only stepladders from the courtyard, and anyone going over would need to enter the grounds.”

“Well, then, I might have an alternative,” Four offered. “The Weapons Building is older than the Tech and Communications and Support and Equipment buildings to the south and west of it. The roof was reinforced and modified, and there are a few windows looking out on the roof from the top floor which were walled in from the inside instead of being replaced with the bullet-proof windows used everywhere else. We might be able to break our way in there.”

“That will make a lot of noise,” Sky cautioned. 

Warriors rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Less noise and less conspicuous than breaking through bullet-proof glass. If we have an idea of what the wall is made of, the right tools should do the trick with acceptable disturbance. It might take some time, though, so the real question is if there are cameras pointing to that area.”

“That will make the route we have to take inside the building much longer, as we will have to go through the whole Support and Equipment building as well as Logistics, but it will pay off if we get in undetected,” Legend mused. Then he got to his feet. He could think better when he was moving. 

“Tell us more about these windows and how they were walled in, Squirt.”

***

Sooga turned to look out the window to the darkened grounds. The light in his office was dim enough that he could barely make out his outline in the glass, leaving his view almost unobstructed. He could just make out the smile in his own reflection.

When he had started on his life-long mission, he hadn’t believed there would ever be an end, a climax, a moment of great triumph. He was told he would have to live his whole life in relative anonymity, never acknowledged in his great doings, but that it would all be for the good of their sacred mission, that the strategic importance of his actions would be invaluable.

A life under cover, in secret, unknown to friend and foe alike. Few, even among his brothers, knew of his real identity, so he had had to fight for his life against the companions he shared his ideals and dreams with, and guard his thoughts from those he had to fake befriending. 

But the intelligence he had gathered by climbing the ranks of the Sheikah… And more recently, the opportunities of using the organization for his own agenda...

When he had been offered this mission with the blessing of his own father, at the age of 15, all he had wanted was to be useful. There were those who said that it would never work, that any Hylian mind would break under the strain of the constant duality of believing one thing while always acting to the opposite. That he would go mad, having to kill his own brothers in order to sell his lie to their enemy, or that he would turn traitor in the end, making his own the filthy Sheikah ideals in an attempt to preserve his own sanity.

He now had the chance to prove all disbelievers wrong. He was sure he had read the signs right, he was sure another cycle was indeed upon the land of Hyrule. He was going to act, to make it possible, to make it successful, and it was going to be all his own doing. He was going to be the greatest one of them now, everybody was going to know it had been his actions, his faith, his strength and cunning that had made the new cycle successful. With both the Yiga and the Sheikah at his feet and his new Master ruling over Hyrule, his victory was going to be complete.

Chapter Text

Four sighed warily. “Wars, I understand your concerns, but I stand by what I said. Breaking into the Weapons building from the roof is the best option. Besides, we have already decided how to get there and how to break in, isn't it late to change your mind?” he asked, pulling the papers covered in notes towards him and straightening them out.

Legend, Four and Warriors were sitting at the table back in the strategist’s small hideout. Twilight was leaning against the wall, arms crossed. Sky and Wind were sitting on the small couch, while Wild was standing at the kitchen counter, obviously listening to the conversation as he stirred the contents of a large pot on the stove. Hyrule, clearly just as attentive, was busy in front of the sink, washing whatever their resident cook had used.

Warriors grimaced. “Are you very sure that wall is made of brick? The whole plan and equipment we bring hinges on that. If we can’t break in we'll be stuck out in the open, and this might end up really bad. I don’t like not being sure of what we’ll find.”

Four huffed, just a bit annoyed. Wars was very right to question everything, and the tech specialist accepted that nothing but a detailed walkthrough of his knowledge and reasoning would put the operative’s mind at ease. He began explaining again what all of them already knew, that the Weapons building was a full floor taller than the Support and Equipment building beside it. The top floor of what was now the Weapons building had been built with lovely full-length windows, which at the time, long before any of them were born, had probably afforded a gorgeous view of the wooded area that was now reduced to a reasonably sized park to the east of Headquarters. Years later, another building had been added right beside the first one, turning the full-length glass panels into balcony windows opening onto a large terrace. When the Sheikah had re-purposed the whole block of buildings, approximately 20 years before, any aesthetic taste had been left behind and most of the windows, considered a security liability, had been replaced with bullet-proof glass and vault-grade fittings. This was expensive, though, and the Organization, although clearly wealthy, was not above cost-benefit considerations. The windows that would not be missed had therefore been walled in.

“When I was in the Weapons Department, I usually spent most of my day on the top floor of the building, which was all dedicated to the labs,” the tech specialist recalled. “In case you don’t know, lab nerds love to put things up on the walls. Diagrams, charts, jokes, even just random post-its. But that wall was a pain, that's why I remember it. It was naked, coarse brick. Nothing would stick to it, no matter what we tried. Tape, ticks, nails, even glue.” He turned towards Wars. “This is why I am so sure of what that wall is made of. It was just an infuriating waste of vertical space. We ended up putting a wooden panel in front of it.”

Sky laughed, Wind giggled, even Legend looked amused. Wars’ mouth twitched, and he made a conceding gesture with one hand.

Four sighed. "The only thing I am not positive of is if the wall is as unrefined on the outside. Our initial reconnaissance observations seem to confirm it to be brick, at least apparently, and that portion of the labs got pretty cold during the winter, which suggests no other insulation or covering, but we won’t be sure until we touch it."

Legend huffed. “The Sheikah don’t do aesthetics. If it looks like brick, chances are it is brick. That’s good enough for me, I say we take our chances.”

Four’s heart lifted. If their strategist was on his side, then his reasoning was sound. He looked around to his friends, meeting only with small nods. It seemed they were all in agreement now, even Warriors.

“That’s settled, then,” he said with some finality. “Moving on, we decided the safest way to get to the roof are paragliders, and that the best compromise between height of take-off point, distance and ease of access is the tall redwood tree in Kokiri Park. Legend, do any of your contacts have appropriate gliders?”
The strategist nodded. “I know a guy who can get us paragliders and various tech equipment and another who will have potions, but we need to pay them upfront, and I’m not sure I have enough rupees." He sighed. "I might have something I can trade, though it might not be enough...” he grimaced, and reached with one hand under his shirt. He pulled out a shimmering pendant from the folds of his clothes.

It was very simple, a red lozangue-shaped sparkling stone, possibly a ruby, mounted on a golden frame, thin and delicate but intricately decorated, hanging on a slim snake chain in the same metal.

The tech specialist sucked in a breath. He didn’t know the story behind that necklace, but he knew Legend refused to take it off, at all, ever. Even when he had been asked to take it off for a disguise, even when he had been injured and had needed treatment, he had always refused to be separated from that necklace. Four could remember his pained expression at the mere idea of taking it off. It was obviously very, very, important to him, and the fact that Legend was even considering…

No.

Four was not going to let the strategist bear this weight alone. Legend had probably saved all their lives already, and if he was willing to sacrifice so much to get them out of this situation, then the tech specialist was going to do his part.

"I think I have something that might fetch the rupees we need," he said quickly, reaching for the waistband of his jeans with fumbling fingers. He pulled out his most treasured possession, gently unlatching it from his belt. He ran the pad of his thumb along the smooth stone, feeling what he always did when he held this object. A comfort, a memento, a connection to a very significant moment in his past.

Legend whistled through his teeth when he saw what Four was holding. “A complete red kinstone? I haven’t even ever seen one of those whole, before, only fragments.” he turned astonished eyes to the tech specialist. “It’s supposed to be basically solid luck, powerful protection magic, how is it possible that I never sensed you had that on you?”

Four smiled sadly. “It’s part of its power, it's undetectable.” He drew a deep breath, willing his resolve to part with this dear object to hold. When he spoke again, he was glad his voice didn’t waver. “It’s supposed to be very valuable, so it might be enough to get us what we need?”

Legend’s eyebrows moved towards his hairline. “It would, abundantly, but are you sure, Squirt? This is... “

Four shoved the red kinstone in the strategist’s hand. “Take it. Now, before I change my mind.” When the stone left his fingers, his skin felt oddly cold. He shuddered, and swallowed the lump in his throat.

“Now that the issue of how to pay for our equipment is solved, let’s move on,” the tech specialist forced out. The faster he stopped thinking about this, the better. He turned to Warriors. “So, before we decide who will do what, let’s decide who will be there in the first place.”

“I’m definitely going in, if we get caught it will be hand-to-hand combat to get us out and that is my area of expertise,” the blond operative immediately answered. “But Legend is the one who knows the location of our target, so we need him inside as well.”

Four lifted an eyebrow. “In the interest of both speed and silence, we decided to use electric jackhammers for the initial holes, followed by gas cartridges. That means we will have to put our hands on the wiring system of the roof lighting to have the power we need, that is definitely my area of expertise. Also, you said yourself I’m the only one who has handled cartridges for controlled gas explosions before, and we agreed those are the only option to break through that wall fast enough.”

Wars nodded. “A team of three still sounds reasonable.”

Twilight moved from where he was standing against the wall. “No, it doesn’t. We need someone to cover our exit point, but for a high risk operation such as this we can’t have anyone moving alone. It has to be two teams of two. I’m coming in too.”

Four recognized all of Time’s experience and wisdom in his friend’s words, but they were stretched too thin. “But what about outside backup?”

Legend seemed to agree with the tech specialist. He frowned. “Exactly, we need at least two lookouts outside the building. We need to make sure our way out remains clear, and Sky can’t be the only one outside, there is just too much he would need to pay attention to. Sentries patrolling the roof, cameras being reoriented, our exit point being discovered. And we already agreed that to be able to see everything we need to see, we need watchers in at least two different vantage points...”

Hyrule’s voice, harder than Four had ever heard it, interrupted the strategist’s.

“I think you are forgetting there are three more of us here.”

***

Hours later, after Hyrule's adrenaline surge had died down, he was starting to feel nervous about what he himself had insisted on.

After a lengthy discussion, the group had agreed that Wild, Wind and Hyrule would act as lookouts, each from a different vantage point and with different assignments. Wind and Wild had both been fast to add their voice to the doctor's, assuring the rest of the group that they were far from helpless and would be able to keep their wits about them and be useful. Legend and Warriors had been against the idea at first, and Twilight had obviously been unhappy but silent. Surprisingly, Four had been the first to back them.

You say that because you haven't seen this one fighting, he had muttered at Legend pointing a thumb at Wind. I don't fancy going up against him any time soon. The young teenager had tried not to look too pleased at those words.

But now Hyrule was starting to second guess himself. It was true that, as a doctor, he often had people's lives in his hands, and had to make fast decisions which could result in their deaths, but he was trained for that, and had still taken a long time to come to terms with the weight of that responsibility. Now he was going in unqualified and unprepared, and any mistake of his could very well spell disaster for his friends.

He sighed, rubbing his forehead wearily. The doctor knew how dangerous self-doubt could be, how paralysing in the crucial moments when decisive action was required. He was not going to back down now, not when the plan was set. They only needed supplies, and then they would make their move.

Supplies that Legend had gone to procure. Hyrule looked at his watch. The pink-haired man had been gone for hours now, but the doctor had no idea when he should start to get worried. Legend had been adamant about going alone, much to the displeasure of his team mates, and Hyrule could see how Twilight and Warriors were becoming increasingly restless the longer their friend remained absent.

Just as the last rays of daylight disappeared between the cracks of the mostly boarded up windows, the door opened with a silent whine and everyone looked up warily. Legend slipped in, looking tired but with a small satisfied smirk on his face.

“I found everything we needed,” he began without preamble. “We are going to pick everything up tonight. Tomorrow night we will be good to go.”

Chapter Text

Sky would have sighed, if he had dared to take his eyes from the night-vision binoculars he was currently looking through. As it was, he only managed a small huff.

The image was not nearly as clear or detailed as he was used to. The equipment Legend had managed to get for them was nowhere near the state-of-the-art tech they were accustomed to using with the Sheikah, but it was adequate. Barely.

Besides, no one had complained more about the low-grade appliances than the strategist himself, who had gone as far as to apologize for what they had to work with. That, coming from Legend, was unheard of.

The operative was currently monitoring the position and orientation of the cameras on top of the Support and Equipment building, checking and double checking that the way they had plotted to their entrance point was clear. Sentries shouldn’t be too much of a problem, as those tended to patrol the courtyard and only came to check the roof every hour or so. Hyrule and Wild were positioned to keep an eye on the access points the sentries used, and would give everyone warning when something moved.

The last two guards had come to do their rounds, and were currently in the process of making their way back to the stepladders leading down to the courtyard. The radio came alive in Sky’s earpiece.
“I see the second one, on the ladder going down on the east side,” Sky heard Hyrule mumble. “This side is now clear.”

“Same on the west side, the way is clear,” answered Legend’s voice.

Sky held his breath. This was the moment. He heard Warriors’ smooth baritone distorted through the radio.

“We’re moving.”

***

Twilight was far too well-trained and had done this way too many times to let a smile crack through his concentration, but he had to admit they probably would have looked kind of ridiculous to an outside observer.

Five grown men perched on the topmost branches of a massive redwood tree, dressed in black and wearing strange harnesses. He wondered if this looked odd to Wild, or if it stirred some long-forgotten memory of having done something like this before.

The operative followed Wars’ flight with attentive eyes, then saw Four take off a few seconds later, deploying his own glider. As Legend prepared to jump, Twilight almost subconsciously reached out to check the peg securing Wild’s harness to the sturdy branch they were currently perched on. The blond man swatted the operative's hand away without taking his eyes from the bulky binoculars he was holding.

“You already checked that twice. Stop worrying about me and go.” His voice tightened a little. “Be careful. Good luck.”

Twilight didn’t bother with a smile or a nod. “You too.” With that, he jumped into the darkness after Legend.

***

As soon as Four touched down, he folded and stored his paraglider and rolled behind a small casemate-like structure in a single movement. He joined Warriors, who was already peeking behind the corner, checking if everything was as they had expected it.

“Cameras unchanged. You should be in a blind spot when you move,” Sky’s voice softly informed them through their earpieces.

The tech specialist heard the muted thuds behind him that meant the last two members of their team had landed. Warriors raised a hand to signal he was moving, and stepped cautiously forward. Quickly, no movement wasted, the four men made their way along the carefully memorized out-of-sight route to what was to be their entrance point.

The small group reached their planned entry point, and Four quickly stepped in front of Warriors to examine the wall. He exhaled softly in relief when his hand met ordinary brick exactly where he expected it. His eyes met Legend's and he gave a small nod. The strategist tilted his head in acknowledgment, then got to work unfolding and setting up the brick-patterned curtain they were going to work behind. The tech specialist smiled to himself and turned to find Twilight already pulling equipment out of his backpack as Warriors kept careful watch for any trouble.

Well, this wall was not going to crumble by itself. It was time to get to work.

***

When the cartridge went off, Warriors suppressed a wince even though he was ready for it.

Admittedly, the sound wasn’t loud, a lot less than the operative had expected, even though Four had assured him the electric jackhammer would make much more noise than the controlled explosion, but adrenaline was running high and standing guard doing nothing was not helping. He was ready to move already.

After only one cartridge, a sizable section of the wall had collapsed, large enough for them to step through. Apparently Four wasn't exaggerating when he said he had enough to take down three of those walls.

Warriors stepped through first, and immediately scanned the surroundings for potential danger, finding nothing. The room they had entered was just as the tech specialist had described it, a deserted weapons lab full of machinery, oddly shaped partially finished blades and semi-assembled firearms.

So far, so good. He stepped aside to let the others in, and briefly turned to see Legend and Four adjusting the mimetic covering they had prepared, so that anyone not looking too hard would still see the wall in place.

"We're in," Legend murmured in his mouthpiece. "Me and Wars are going forward as planned."

Sky's brief acknowledgment came through the radio as Four took his position beside the ruined wall and Twilight moved with the other two towards the door.

Legend silently opened the door, cautiously peeking into the empty corridor. He motioned with his hand, signaling the direction he and Warriors had to take, then slipped through the doorway and disappeared in the darkness.

Just as Wars stepped through the door, his eyes met Twilight's. The two had done this so many times together, there was no need to talk.

Good luck, and be careful.

Twi took his position next to the door and carefully pulled it back behind Warriors, leaving it ajar to have a view of the hallway.

Wars followed the strategist to a wide staircase at the end of the corridor. As they descended the first flight of steps into the darkness below, static started coming through their earpieces.

“What’s going on?” Warriors whispered.

The sour look on Legend’s face was already an answer. “I feared this. There is too much shielding inside this building for these cheap radios.” He took a few steps back up the staircase towards their entrance point and spoke softly into the radio. “Support, Squirt, we won’t be able to hear you properly from here on. We’ll call again when we are close enough to the exit.”

Sky’s voice answered, already crackling and distorted. “Goddesspeed, we’ll be here.”

Legend turned back to the operative. "We are on our own from here on. Let’s go.”

***

Four could just barely make out Twilight's outline in the weak light that filtered through the gap they had opened in the wall. He had nowhere else to look at, as the curtain covering the collapsed wall was not see-through and he couldn’t touch it for fear of ruining the illusion it offered from the outside, so all he could do was listen intently for any sound coming from the roof or for any warning coming through the radio from his friends.

The operative, on the other hand, had his eyes glued to the crack he had left between the door and its frame, his concentration entirely on the hallway beyond.
After many long minutes of tense silence, the tech specialist saw his friend stiffen.

“I hear steps,” Twi whispered. “On the stairs. Coming closer.”

A handful of excruciating seconds later, a light came on in the corridor, the sliver of light filtering through the crack at the door falling on the operative’s tense face.

“A man came up the steps and disappeared in a room to the right,” Twilight murmured. “Tall, with broad, muscular shoulders, narrow hips, long bulky arms and a strange pair of goggles on his head.”

Four’s heart sank. He recognized the description of his old supervisor, Senior Weapons Specialist Gondo Shoppe. He had taught Four a lot about metallurgy, mechanics and ballistics, during his time in the Weapons department. “His office is two doors down, but this is his lab,” the tech specialist hissed. “The risk he’ll come in here is really high.”

Twi was silent for a few seconds. “If he comes in here I’ll have to neutralize him, unless you have a better option.”

Four felt his face twist into a grimace. “He… is my friend.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be enough to stop him from raising the alarm if he finds us, will it?”

The tech specialist thought about how much of Gondo’s life revolved around the Sheikah. As was the case for most of them, the organization was all the family he had. The fact that he was here in the dead of night, working, already spoke volumes of his dedication to the Sheikah, a cause Four knew Gondo believed in whole-heartedly.

After all, what would Four have done in Gondo’s place, if he had found an old friend who had apparently turned traitor breaking into headquarters?

He sighed quietly. “Unfortunately not. He is very strong, taking him down might not be as quick and quiet as you think.”

In the gloom, the tech specialist saw the operative incline his head in acknowledgement, then speak softly in his mouthpiece. “Sky, did you copy that? We have a potential situation.”

Four heard Sky’s soft voice in his ear. “We knew this might happen. I’m ready to move if you need me to.”

“Not yet, but be ready.”

Twilight slipped the backpack off his shoulders and took a comfortable but battle-ready stance. He didn’t extract any of the knives Four knew he had hidden in various sheaths strapped to his body, and for that he was grateful.

As he similarly got ready for hand-to-hand combat, the tech specialist hoped that his unwillingness to harm a friend more than absolutely necessary, as well as Twilight’s empathy, were not going to bite them in the ass later.

***

Wild felt his adrenaline spike as he saw the two men climbing up the step ladder he was watching.

Relax, dammit, this is exactly why you are here!

He spoke softly into his mouthpiece. "Patrol is coming back up again, same way as before, top of the warehouse. I'll lose sight of them as soon as they move to the roof of the Support building."

Sky's warm voice answered in his ear. "I see one, moving my way. It's been only 36 minutes since their last patrol, I hope this doesn't mean they won't stick to their usual route, especially if I have to intervene to help Twi and Four."

Wild swallowed thickly. Don't worry about it just yet. Stay focused.

The radio crackled for a second before Hyrule's voice became clear. "...side also, one man, roof of the Weapons Building, stepladder."

"I should be able to see him move this way to meet the other sentry in a minute, then," Sky said. "Wind, keep an eye on the third access point, straight in front of you. Usually no one comes up there, but if anyone does, they'll end up right in front of the exit point."

"On that," Wind's voice answered.

Wild wiped one sweaty hand on his trousers before readjusting his binoculars, not daring to take his eyes from the two men moving on the roof of the building before him.

He used to do this for a living? Suddenly, the detached, cold, distant person Legend had described from before the accident made much more sense. To think that recently he got stressed over exams and assignments in school. As important as those felt, at least nobody was going to die if he messed up.

He tried swallowing one more time to ease his parched throat, then spoke again. "The guard on my side is moving out of my line of sight."

"I still see him," Sky immediately answered. "He is on the usual route, for now, according to plan."

Wild didn't like that 'for now'.

Chapter Text

Legend had never been on a mission with Warriors before, at least never out on the field. The strategist had to admit the operative was competent, focused and efficient. He moved gracefully and silently, paid attention to all the right things and followed Legend's hand-signed directions to the letter. 

Even though the strategist had consciously known all of this about Warriors, having given support to him and the rest of the team many, many times through the years, he had to admit part of him was a little surprised at seeing firsthand just how good Wars was in action. It suddenly dawned on Legend that the cocky, overconfident persona the operative projected when not on the field would not have been able to be such an excellent team player as Warriors obviously was.

An act, the strategist realized. Well, he should have seen this before today. He was very well versed in fronts and acts, after all, and he really should have known better than this. 

Maybe the two of them weren't as different as Legend had always believed.

Focus, the strategist mentally shook himself. You can think about this later, when everyone is safe.

They had reached the stairwell of the Support and Equipment building, and were currently making their silent and quick way to the ground floor, where the access to the Warehouse was.

That, aside from actually getting into the Archives, was the bit Legend was most worried about. The access points between the Warehouse and the buildings to either side were located on the ground floor, leading right in the cavernous garage. They would have to cross it nearly diagonally, and if anyone was in there, any sound they made would carry and give away their presence. There were bound to be at least a couple of guards in the garage, watching over the warehouse gate.

A few tense and thankfully empty minutes later, they reached the large fire door that led into the garage. The strategist turned to face the operative. The look of focused concentration on Warriors' face slipped for a fraction of a second as his lips thinned, one eyebrow rose slightly and his head tilted to a side a few degrees. His eyes shone with worry for an instant, as he brought his index finger to his lips. 

Legend was surprised he could understand perfectly what the operative meant. Wars was clearly as worried as him about crossing the cavernous warehouse.

When had he become so adept at reading Warriors? It was almost annoying.

The strategist gave a small nod and signaled for Wars to follow him closely and stay down, then he put a hand on the door handle and cautiously pulled it open. They stepped into the garage, dimly lit but still much brighter than the staircase had been in. Legend signaled to Warriors what route he planned to take, and took off without bothering to see if the operative was following. Swiftly and silently, they made their way between parked vehicles, crouching to remain as hidden as possible and always listening for any disturbance. 

They had only one aisle of vehicles left to cross when the sound of steps reverberated in the air around them. The hefty size of the chamber and the way sound echoed off the walls made it impossible to tell if it was one person or more, and if the sound was moving closer. They stopped, crouched low with their backs to a car, listening intently. Legend saw Warriors tense and flex his knees as if to stand, a very determined look on his face Ever the action kind of guy, the strategist thought. But it was better to wait, if a guard was coming closer, taking them by surprise would be more effective. If they were moving away, there wouldn't even be a problem. Legend quickly reached out to grasp the operative's arm and gave a minute shake of the head. 

Wars immediately complied and crouched back down. Long seconds passed, the sound of steps filling the garage. Finally, the sound retreated to the far end of the warehouse and then ceased altogether. Legend exhaled, then signaled to the operative to start moving again. Seconds later, they finally closed the second fire door behind them.

"That was close," Wars whispered. "We were lucky."

Luck? Huh, maybe so. "For a second, I thought you wouldn't listen to me and would go looking for trouble," Legend grunted.

Warriors raised an eyebrow. "You talk as if I didn't always do exactly as you say when you give me support on missions."

The strategist found he had no answer to that, snarky or otherwise. It was true, of course, but knowing Warriors followed his instructions and seeing him do it were two completely different things. "Let's just go. A couple of floors above us is the entrance to the library. We are almost there."

Once again, they began cautiously moving through the darkness.

***

Twilight had always had good hearing, being able to perceive danger approaching a bit earlier than everybody else. 

He was listening intently to every little shuffle of paper and scrape of a chair that came from the crack in the door, so he knew the exact moment when the man down the hall pushed open the door of his office with a soft creaking of hinges and started walking purposefully towards them.

The operative slowly rolled his shoulders, exhaling silently as he forcefully relaxed his tense muscles and struggled to focus.

Preparing for a fight had never felt so wrong.

This wasn't some evil person preparing to endanger innocents. This was a friend of Four's, Gondo, the tech specialist had said was his name, someone doing his job to protect what he believed in, a man he would have considered an ally just days earlier.

The last feeble hope the operative had of avoiding a confrontation vanished as the shape of the approaching man became quickly larger, his shadow obscuring the light filtering through the crack at the door.

As a large hand pushed open the door and reached for the light switch, Twilight was ready. He grasped the man’s arm and twisted, pushing him forward and shoving him down as he curled his other arm around the man’s neck and caught him in a headlock, using his full weight and strength to pin him down.

The element of surprise had bought them a few precious seconds. The man struggled in the operative's grasp, lifting his head to try to see his attacker in the light now streaming in from the hallway through the open door. When his eyes fell on the tech specialist, Twilight heard Gondo gasp as he went still in his arms.

"Four?" He croaked.

Four stepped forward, arms held forward and out in a placating gesture. "Gondo, this is not how it seems."

The man tried to twist in Twilight's grasp, but the operative tightened his hold. Gondo stopped struggling again and lifted his head to glare at Four. 

"Not how it seems?" he growled. "I couldn't believe it when I heard you were wanted for questioning, but now you break into my lab and attack me..."

"We are just here to try to understand what is going on," the tech specialist tried to explain. "We were set up, and we don't even know for what yet."

"And you think I'll believe you?" Gondo asked. "Of all the people that would sell us out, I never thought it would be you."

With a surge of unexpected strength, the man shifted in Twilight's grasp, managed to bend his leg enough to plant a foot on the floor and pushed, ramming the operative's back against the wall behind them with staggering force. 

Winded and dazed, Twilight felt his arm slip from around Gondo's neck enough that the large man was able to wrench himself free and punch Twi hard in the jaw. The operative's head collided painfully with the wall behind him, and he slipped to the floor, stunned and dizzy. Gondo then stepped back, dropping in a battle stance and turning towards Four.

"But you will go no further," he spat.

***

Warriors had never been inside the library, but he expected it to be cavernous, high-ceilinged and imposing, knowing what age-old secrets and documents were stored here. Seeing the ordinary carpeted room full of modern wooden bookcases with air-tight glass doors and metal filing cabinets was a bit anticlimactic.

"This is it? I expected something a bit more… dramatic," he mused.

Legend scoffed. "There are priceless artifacts and tomes kept here, the air is filtered and kept at a very precise temperature and relative humidity by climate control machines. Dust is also lethal to ancient paper. This looks exactly as it's supposed to. Did you expect something out of a fantasy movie? Scrolls lying on rough wooden tables and a cauldron or two lying around?"

The operative blinked. His friend was right of course, he had no right to be surprised, but he still was a bit disappointed that this place was not as awe inspiring as the secrets he knew it held.

The strategist huffed and beckoned with his hand. "Come on, the restricted access archives are this way."

They quietly made their way in the darkened space to an aisle on the far side of the room, following it to the side wall where a small unmarked door was.

"Finally, here we are."

Warriors frowned at the narrow, non-descript door. "This?"

"What did you expect this time, a black gateway with the words 'Sheikah secrets here, keep out' carved on it?" Legend sneered. He then proceeded to pull two metal tools and a flashlight out of a pouch at his hip and got to work on the lock. Within minutes the door was swinging open for them.

The archive was just a small room full of metal filing cabinets, each drawer labelled with a long string of numbers. Legend fixed his flashlight to a small harness on his shoulder while Warriors took position at the door to watch out for anyone approaching. He occasionally glanced back above his shoulder to where Legend had already gotten to work, flipping through files in the cabinet drawers by the light of his flashlight, occasionally slipping a folder out to quickly page through it. After replacing a couple, he set one aside and turned to another drawer, his eyebrows furrowing as his fingers danced across the files.

"Do you know what you are looking for?"

"There is no index for the restricted archives, those who get their hands in here normally know what they want. The files are not alphabetical, but are identified with coded numbers. I know a little how the code works, so I had plans on where to start. I found Victor's file through a reference on the Guardian Project file, now I am taking educated guesses for the rest. Shut your mouth and let me work."

The operative turned his attention back to the darkened library, listening intently to any sound apart from the quiet hum of the controlled climate machines and the gentle shuffling of paper behind him. Warriors could feel the tension in his shoulders mounting as the minutes slipped by. Not being able to communicate with the rest of the team was unnerving, and the longer they were inside headquarters, the higher the probability that they or their friends would be found. it was entirely pointless to remind Legend of that, he knew, so he bit his tongue and waited. 

After another few tense minutes, he heard a pause in the shuffling noises behind him.

"Two down. I found Wind's file through a dossier on the Helmaroc incident," the strategist murmured. "Now the hardest part, our good doctor."

Suddenly, on the far side of the library, a light came on. Warriors swore under his breath and listened for the sound of anyone coming their way. He thought he heard hushed voices, possibly moving closer. 

If they were caught, they were all done for and this would all have been for nothing, plus they would put Twi and Four in danger because they had no way to warn them to leave without them. Legend needed just a few more minutes, hoping Twi and Four were still safe and holding the way out. But if Wars managed to buy them a little more time… His life would be a reasonable price to pay for the others to make it out with the info they needed to end it.

Having made up his mind, he turned to the strategist. "I think I heard something, I'll go and make sure the way is clear. Find the third file and make your way back to the exit point without waiting for me. I'll meet you at the rendezvous point."

Legend looked up, startled, many emotions going through his eyes lightning fast. Surprise, fear, denial, resolve and finally understanding. "Don't be an ass, Pretty Boy, come back here when you're done."

"Of course, if you say so," Warriors answered with a smirk and a small shrug, and disappeared into the library.

They both knew he was lying.

Chapter Text

Wind wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans, one at a time, not daring to lower his binoculars even for an instant. His eyes were glued to the step ladder he was supposed to watch, his concentration divided between what came through the radio and his task. He felt he was in way over his head, and he had to forcefully remind himself he had been in dangerous situations before and had come out of them fine.

Four and Twi were in trouble, that much was obvious. The snippets of conversation that had come through his earpiece had been terrifying, but the grunts, crashes and muted thuds he could hear now were even worse.

Hyrule, Sky and Wild had all fallen silent, clearly listening as intently as he was, trying to understand what was going on. Sky was the only one in the position to intervene, having a paraglider, but his position was not optimal, Wind knew. He was stationed on a roof just a few feet higher than that of headquarters, and his glide would have to be perfect for him to make it. Warriors had explained to him that Sky was by far the best one of them in the air, and Sky himself had said he was confident he could do it, but even the pink-haired guy had looked troubled. After discussing various possibilities, they had agreed it was a risk they had to take.

Wind didn't understand why Sky hadn't moved yet, but he didn't dare ask. Apparently, Wild was thinking along the same lines because he was the one to break the silence.

"Sky, aren't you going to move in?"

"They know I'm here, and haven't asked for backup yet. Leave the channel free unless you have to talk," the operative answered curtly.

Hearing the normally soft-spoken, gentle, kind man speaking so harshly and coldly was as jarring as the sounds of struggle coming through the radio.

Suddenly, a man came into Wind's field of view, and his insides turned to ice. The teenager had to swallow through his parched throat before he could speak.

"I see someone coming up on my side."

"How many?" Sky asked immediately, voice still cold. No, not cold, Wind realized. Focused.

"Only one that I can see."

They all knew anyone climbing to the roof from that access point would very likely walk right past their entry point, and that their disguise of the collapsed wall would only work from a distance.

"I'm moving in. I won't be able to talk, keep telling me where he is, I'll hide behind the casemate just north of the access point." With that, there was a soft rustle as if of fabric through the radio.

Wind had to swallow again before he could speak. "Still only one man, he reached the top of the ladder and is starting to move east as we feared." He quickly checked the cameras he could see. "The cameras haven't moved, either." He heard a soft thump over the radio, and he hoped it was Sky touching down and not Four or Twi hitting the floor.

"He is moving towards the casemate slowly," the teenager continued. It amazed him that the guard was so sure of finding nothing, he could have been on a stroll, from the way he was moving. "He will reach it in 4... 3... 2... 1… now!"

A black shadow, almost too fast for his eyes to follow, tackled the guard out of Wind's sight.

***

As soon as Gondo turned to him, Four knew what he had to do. He climbed swiftly on the table behind him, and turned to find himself eye to eye with his adversary. Before the tech specialists could drop into battle stance, Gondo leaped forward and tried to swipe Four's legs from below him. Four leaped to another table and aimed a kick at Gondo's head, but a well-timed duck made him miss. He leaped off the table and tried to find an opening in Gondo's side, but was forced into a side jump to avoid a powerful left hook.

With his size, the tech specialist usually used speed and agility in hand to hand combat, staying quick on his feet and out of range of his adversary until he got the opening to jump in and strike. Gondo wasn't making this easy for him, though, moving with a swiftness completely at odds with his mass. This, coupled with the raw power behind his every move, made him a formidable adversary and forced Four to be on the defensive.

His best chance was to buy enough time for Twi to get back on his feet, and work together to take Gondo down, but he couldn't take his eyes off the man to check on his friend. All he could do was keep Gondo occupied, and hope.

The burly man dropped into a low kick aimed for Four's middle, and the tech specialist leaped, grabbing a tube running along the ceiling he hoped would hold his weight. He curled up his legs and swung, using his momentum to kick Gondo in the face with both feet. The man staggered for a moment, and Four pressed his advantage and dropped back to the floor, preparing to attack again. The movement caused his earpiece to slip, and the split-second distraction was his undoing.

A well-armed kick connected with his sternum and sent him flying backwards against something hard. He found himself sprawled on the floor, dizzy and confused. He managed to raise his eyes to Gondo, approaching menacingly.

Something moved behind Gondo, and then a buzzing sound filled the air. The man seemed to start, then his gaze turned flat and empty, and he crumpled to the ground. Twilight stood where Gondo had been, blood on his face, a stun gun in his hand, clearly picked up from a table nearby where other similar guns were waiting for maintenance.

"Are you all right?" the operative asked.

Four could only nod, still winded. Twi kneeled to check on Gondo.

"We are lucky the stun gun was operational, I feared it wouldn't work. I used the highest setting, but he's big and I couldn't risk anything less. He should be fine when he wakes up." He looked up at Four. "Is there anyway we can neutralize him for a bit longer?"

Four nodded again as he struggled to sit up. The operative kneeled next to him and gently helped him stand.

"I have an idea," the tech specialist finally said.

They tied Gondo's hands and ankles and locked him in a small maintenance cupboard.

"He will definitely find something in there to get himself free and raise the alarm, he is resourceful," Four said with a grimace. "We are on borrowed time."

As Four was speaking, Twi replaced his earpiece, which had also fallen during the fight and was dangling from its wire. His face turned to horror as he listened, and the tech specialist was quick to replace his own slipped earpiece to find out what else had happened.

***

Trusting in Wind's whispered countdown, Sky pounced, tackling the man to the floor and quickly slipping his arm in front of the guard's face to prevent him from crying out. They fell together to the floor, the guard struggling in the operative’s grip. Sky tried to shift his weight to have better leverage, and to adjust his arms so he could firmly hold the man in a headlock, but he couldn’t move the arm that covered the man’s mouth, so he was essentially grappling one-handed.

The man had been trying to prise Sky’s arm away from his head and face, but suddenly changed objective and planted his hands on the floor, pushing himself up and nearly dislodging the operative. He twisted in Sky's grip and heaved, causing the operative's back to collide painfully with the low parapet and almost causing him to lose his grip on the man.

It was time to take a risk. Sky readjusted his arms in a choking headlock, uncovering the man's mouth but putting pressure on his windpipe. As the operative had hoped, the strangled whine that escaped the man was not loud enough to carry very far. He held on tight as the guard struggled and, after a few long moments, finally went slack in his arms.

As Sky straightened cautiously, checking on the unconscious guard, he could finally actually listen to the voices coming through his earpiece. It was Twilight’s voice, efficient and focused as ever, but Sky knew him well enough to hear the fear and tension in it.

"Support, can you see Sky? Does he need backup?"

"Stay where you are," Sky panted into his microphone. "Only one guard, I got him. I'll put him out of sight, but it will still buy us only a few minutes." He didn't need to add that someone was bound to notice the missing guard. They were definitely going to be discovered soon, it was only a matter of how much time they could haggle for.

"Support, how is the situation with the other guards?" Four barked through the radio.

"The guy left down the usual step ladder on this side," Hyrule answered.

"Same here," came Wild's voice.

Sky would have sighed in relief had he dared. He dragged the unconscious guard around a corner and took a pair of handcuffs off his belt, using them to cuff him to a tube running along the wall, hands behind his back. After a quick search of the man's pockets, the operative found keys he made sure to throw out of reach and a handkerchief he used to gag the man securely. He then moved towards the access point the man had used and knelt in a dark corner where he could see the step ladder. He spoke into his radio again.

"Wind, can you see me?"

"Yes, but only because I saw where you went. I wouldn't realize what that dark shape is otherwise."

"Ok, I'll wait here then. Watch my back, there's going to be trouble soon. We can only hope Leg and Wars make it before then."

***

Warriors moved as fast as he could manage while still maintaining a certain level of stealth. He ran along the bookcases lining the wall, searching for a roundabout way to the door of the library. If he could make it look as if he was just coming in and not leaving, he could lure whoever was there away and clear a path for Legend to make it out.

He reached the end of the room and could just hear voices coming from one of the aisles of cases. He cautiously stepped towards the door, meaning to draw whoever was in the library towards it with the sound of it opening, but had barely lifted an arm towards the handle when he heard a shout.

“Who’s there? What are you doing here?” a man yelled, moving towards him with his dark robes billowing. The operative would have run off, taking the pursuit with him, but didn’t want to run the risk of someone going for Leg while his back was turned. He’d rather waste a few seconds but see the pursuers in the face. A second person came out from between the bookcases. At least it seemed it was only two. He might indeed make a run for it, and…

Then he recognized the second person and his thoughts came to a screeching halt.

Oh no.

Lana.

She recognized him at the same time Wars recognized her. He saw her eyes widen and heard her startled gasp, but just as quickly her surprise turned to outrage.

”You.” she spat. “I didn’t want to believe you deserved to be dragged in for questioning, but the fact you are even here, now, demonstrates you do. Are you here to find secrets to sell?”

The dark-robed man straightened. “Is this a member of the rogue team?”

Lana nodded. ”Farosh.” She made it sound like a curse word. “This is Warriors Knightley.”

The man’s eyes lit up in understanding. “Ah! One of the operatives!” His face turned calculating. “I don’t think he is here alone. He wouldn’t know how to even get information out of our archives.” The venom in his voice was unmistakable now. “But one in his team does, and I think I know what he wants.” With that, he turned to move deeper into the library, back towards the archives.

Warriors moved forward to stop him, but Lana quickly stepped in front of him, dropping in battle stance.

"I don't think so," she said, her voice cold. "I would have never expected you to betray the cause and us all. My sister warned me there was a darkness about you, shadows in your heart, but I didn't believe her. I should have."

Everything about this situation was wrong. Legend was in danger and Lana thought him a traitor. Just the idea of fighting her was difficult for Wars.

“Lana, please, I can't explain now, but I am not a traitor. Please, I don’t want to hurt you!”

“Bold of you to assume you’ll manage to do that. Besides, I have no such reservations, turncoat.”

With that, she lifted her hands in the air.
Warriors jumped forward, trying to use his weight and momentum to push Lana off balance, but she sidestepped and turned to face him again. The strategist knew his only hope of walking away from this was keeping it to hand-to-hand combat. If he gave her time to cast a spell he was going to be in big trouble. This implied he had to stay on the offensive and leave no openings.

He moved forward again, trying to grasp her arms to block her, but she was faster, ducking under his arms and dropping in a crouch, kicking his legs from under him in a sweeping movement.

Warriors hit the ground hard, and barely had time to roll out of the way of the ball of fire Lana cast.

When had she become so fast?

He had barely managed to make it back to his feet when he was forced to move out of the way of an incoming spell. The globe of energy hit the bookcase behind Warriors, and the resulting blast sent him flying into a table. Winded, trying to breathe through the sharp pain in his ribcage, he staggered to his feet again, clutching his side.

But the attacks kept coming, too fast to let him do anything other than duck and dodge. A blast hit his leg as he dove aside, another sent him crashing into a wall. He tasted blood in his mouth as he tried to stand again. Through the sharp stabs of pain in his side with every breath and the throbbing pain in his leg, Warriors became aware of another kind of sensation which was kind of familiar.

His left hand felt hot, intensely so.

She hasn’t hit my hand as well, has she?

He thought he had felt his left hand warm and twinge in combat for no apparent reason before, but this time it was almost painful.

There wasn’t time to ponder this now, or to check his hand for damage, as Lana was still throwing every spell she knew at him, lightning fast. Another spell hit his already injured leg as he dove sideways, and he found himself on the floor, panting heavily, his back to the wall, his right hand clutching his bruised ribs.

“I remembered you fought better, than this” Lana said as she walked purposefully closer. She raised a hand, preparing to cast a final spell.

Warriors had no time to feel bitterness, or fear, or anything else. He instinctively raised his left arm to shield his face and closed his eyes as Lana cast.

Just as his left hand pulsed painfully, a bright, golden, hot light flashed through his eyelids, then was gone. He felt no new pain, so he cautiously opened his eyes to find Lana on the ground before him, unmoving.

He couldn’t make sense of what had happened, there was no one else in the library.

But he couldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. He checked Lana’s vitals, finding her pulse strong and her breathing regular. Wars gave a small relieved sigh, then stood with a pained grunt and made his way back to Legend and the archives as fast as his injured leg allowed him.

Chapter Text

Kneeling in the shadows to wait for a guard to discover them was something he had done on any number of missions through the years, but today it felt different, for some reason Sky couldn’t put his finger on. He didn't understand, after all he was risking his life with and for his friends, just like he had time and time again.

The operative suddenly realized that today things felt more personal. They weren’t here because they had been asked to perform a mission in the name of Hyrule, they were all here because they’d had no choice but to take this risk. They were here because without the information they were here to seek, they had no hope of making it out of this situation alive anyway.

Focus, he told himself. It still is just another mission.

Hyrule’s voice came through the radio. “The guard on the east side is coming up again, 38 minutes after last time.”

Wild answered. “I see the guard on the western stepladder. If they keep to their usual route they shouldn’t see Sky.”

“Keep your eyes on them at all times,” came Four’s voice. “If they take one step off their usual route, raise the alarm immediately. Hyrule, do you have the scrambler ready?”

“Yes. I have my finger on the switch.”

“Good, be ready to use it, if one of us gives the signal or at your own discretion, as we discussed.”

Sky hated this part of the plan, even though he knew it was necessary. What they called ‘the scrambler’ was an electronic device that would disturb the radio signals on the roof when activated. In the case they were discovered, it would make it impossible for the guards on the roof to call for backup or alert others of their presence, but it would also make it impossible for them to talk to one another. Without communication, coordination would be harder.

And Sky knew, none of them had any intention of getting off this roof until they could all get off safely.

***

When his eyes traveled over what felt like the eightieth file he pulled out of the cabinet, he was ready to weep with relief. On the folder was Hyrule’s full name, inside it a bunch of other information, pictures and documents. He quickly placed the file in his backpack, together with Wild’s and Wind’s, but before he could even unhook the flashlight from his shoulder harness he heard a familiar voice behind him.

“Well well well, seems like I was right, again.”

Damn. Of all the people he could run into, it had to be one with a personal grudge against him. Or more of a chronic case of horrible envy. Oh well, at least he was useless in combat. The strategist turned and dropped in a battle stance in one swift, graceful movement.

“Osfala, fancy meeting you here,” he said, putting as much scorn as he could in his voice (and it was quite a bit, if he did say so himself).

"I knew your brawny teammate back there wouldn't have found his way in here alone, brains do not exactly seem to be his thing."

Legend felt a cold dread clutch his stomach. This guy had run into Pretty Boy? Where was he? Surely this idiot would never have been able to defeat Wars. The strategist knew he had to keep Osfala talking. "Watch your tongue, he's definitely much smarter than you, not that it's a high bar to clear. Where is he?"

“Getting his ass handed to him by Lana," the mage answered with a smirk. Legend didn't like the sound of that. He had worked with Lana during his time with the Magical R&D department, so he was quite familiar with her fighting style. She was a naturally gifted mage and a ferocious warrior. During their work together, Legend had helped her augment her magical skills. He knew by direct experience that her spells were almost impossible to counter using only non-magical techniques. He had to go find Warriors, and fast.

Osfala was still talking. "When I heard you were to be captured for questioning I wasn't even surprised. I imagine the great Link finally overstepped enough to make a mistake and become a liability."

The strategist nearly laughed. “Link? Seriously? Even my uncle never called me that.”

“Maybe it’s that name that gave you a skewed sense of self-importance.”

“It seems to me you are the one who has always given far too much importance to my real name, ever since you discovered it. To me it's just a cumbersome nuisance, a legacy I don't want. Now get out of my way.”

Without waiting for an answer, Legend attacked.

***

Warriors reached the door of the archives and forgot everything he had ever learned about missions and combat situations. He stepped straight through the entrance in his haste to find Legend, immediately seeing the strategist closing the distance between himself and the same dark-robed man who had been in the library with Lana.

It was a beautiful and graceful movement, starting from Legend’s left shoulder and with a subtle twist of the hip, resulting in a precise jab with the strategist's full weight behind it, perfectly aimed for the guy's jaw. An equally perfect straight quickly followed, landing exactly where the jab had fallen. Just as Wars saw the dark-robed guy stumble, stunned, Leg's left fist came up again, elegant, powerful and precise, the resulting perfect uppercut connecting with the man's solar plexus.

The strategist stepped back as the dark-robed man crumpled to the ground, obviously unconscious. Legend looked up, and his eyes shone with relief for a second when they met Warriors'.

The operative was stunned and couldn’t move. While Four had warned him time and time again that Legend was a great fighter, Wars would have never believed… The strategist’s technique had been superb. Warriors had never seen anything like that.

"Nice of you to make it back, Pretty Boy." Legend’s eyes traveled over Wars' form, taking in the blood at the side of his mouth, the way he held his side and was obviously limping. His gaze also seemed to linger for a moment on the operative's left hand.

Right. Leg was the most knowledgeable in magic of the whole group, he might be able to help make sense of what had happened. But this was not the time.

"Are you hurt?" Legend asked.

"No, I just like to stand like this to deceive the casual observer. What do you think?" He took another step forward and grimaced. The strategist was quick to move to his side and slip an arm around the operative's waist.

"Goddess, Vet, I didn’t know you could boxe like that,” Wars breathed. “And who in the Shadow Realm was that guy?" Warriors asked. "He's… weird."

"An overdramatic git. I used to work with him in Magical R&D, and for some reason he's always had it out for me. Hated my guts for no apparent reason." Legend's face twisted in a way that told Warriors that the strategist knew the reason perfectly well. "The irony is that he would have been sage material, if he had just taken his head out of his ass." A sigh. "I have the files we were looking for, let's get out of here."

***

Hyrule fingered the switch of the scrambler, keeping his eyes on the guard on the east side of the roof. The resolution of the night-vision binoculars he was using was not enough to make out the expression on the man’s face, but it was enough for the doctor to carefully study his body language. As long as the guard remained as relaxed as he was now, there was no case for alarm.

Using the scrambler was supposed to be a last resort, but crucial nonetheless. It would cut them off from each other, making support useless and powerless, spectators without any way to help if things went wrong.

Hyrule remembered in excruciating detail the look on Legend’s face when he had handed him the device.

"I hate to give you this responsibility, but I have to say, apart from the fact it can't be any of them for how the plan is constructed, I trust you more to have this than my idiot team members." With those words, spoken with a fondness which gave lie to their harshness, he handed Hyrule a small dark box with a switch and a short, thick antenna. "They never want to be cut off from each other, even when it's necessary, and have ended up using this too late for it to be really useful. But I know you have faced difficult decisions before, so I’m sure you know how to make that call.”

In the short time they had known each other, the doctor had come to understand that Legend’s trust was something precious and rare. He had no idea what he had done to deserve it, but the responsibility of that trust, and of the device his finger rested on, weighed heavily on his mind. He felt it as something physical, curving his shoulders and constricting his chest.

He hoped it would be one of the others to give the order to activate it, but Legend's words haunted him. He feared it would have to be his decision.

WIld’s voice came through the radio. “Something’s happening, a second guard is coming up on this side.”

“Do they look worried? In a hurry?” Twilight asked.

“Negative. Still calm and casual as before.”

But something was obviously wrong. Why was a second guard coming up? In all the time they had spent carefully taking notes on the sentries and rounds, this had never happened. No one had called for the scrambler to be activated, and the guard Hyrule was watching was still apparently relaxed. Besides, if he activated the device, Wind wouldn’t be able to notify Sky of someone coming his way, and…

Damn.

The guard in Hyrule’s line of sight was moving too far west, too close to the parapet overlooking the Support and Equipment Building. Suddenly, the man tensed, seemingly looking down to where Sky and their entry point were. His hand moved towards the radio on his collar, and the doctor felt his stomach drop.

He flipped the switch, and the radio in his ear hissed briefly before going silent.

He was now a useless observer, Wind and Wild right along with him. He saw the man finger the radio on his collar, then move towards the ladder leading down to the Support and Equipment Building, very obviously calling to the other two guards on the roof. They made their way closer and closer to the corner where Hyrule knew Sky was hidden, alone and unprotected. The first man reached the ladder and started making his way down. As he moved out of Hyrule's view, another dark form emerged from the shadows, following the guard, moving swiftly out of sight.

The doctor felt his blood go cold. The binoculars were useless now, Hyrule could see nothing and do nothing. He lowered them, and gripped his hair with both hands.

What had he done?

***

When the radio died, Twi and Four looked at each other with horror in their eyes.

“If no one said anything, it must have been Hyrule, he must have seen something,” Four whispered, his back to the wall right next to the blasted portion.

Twilight, who had earlier resumed his position by the door, silently made his way back to press his shoulders against the brick on the other side of their entry point. Can you hear anything? he mouthed. They both knew Sky was hidden not far from them, and they would hear if he was discovered.

The tech specialist shook his head, and both men listened intently. Twilight didn’t like what Wild had said about another man, it was not the routine, and what was not routine was bad news. Even though Sky could probably handle three men at once, these men had firearms. Also, the fact that it had been Hyrule to activate the scrambler implied the man he was watching had given signs to have discovered them, but then…

A shout, sounds of a scuffle, the silenced blast of a gun, a thud. The operative raised his hand to signal he was moving, and hardly waited for Four’s confirming nod, pushing the covering aside and stepping out. He quickly made his way to the corner he knew Sky was in, moving stealthily and slipping a knife from the sheathe at his wrist.

Sky was on the floor, sporting a split lip, staring up at a man standing over him with something between shock and awe. The man was not dressed like the unconscious guards lying at his feet, he seemed to be wearing some kind of suit that caused him to be the exact color of the darkness that surrounded him. There was something terribly familiar about him, but Twilight couldn’t put his finger on it. As the operative moved closer, the tall man kneeled and offered a hand to help Sky to his feet, mumbling something the operative couldn't hear.

As Twilight and Four reached them, the tall man turned around, and Twi’s heart jumped in his chest.
He couldn’t talk, couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe.

It was Sky who recovered first. “Time? What… How… We thought you were dead. How are you here?”

When Time spoke, just the sound of his voice was enough to make Twilight’s throat close and his eyes sting. It was him. It was really him.

"I have been watching HQ for a while. When I saw movement on top of the Weapons Building, I suspected it had to be you guys. When I saw trouble I moved in."

That seemed to break Four out of his shock. “How … what… where were you hiding?”

“Warehouse air vents. Large, unguarded and so filthy no one would even dream of looking into them," Time answered with what in other circumstances would have been a shrug.

Four whistled through his teeth. “Damn, Old Man, you clearly haven’t taught us everything you know yet.”

“Let’s talk later. Situation?” Time asked, ever the commander.

“We had a scrambler, our support activated it. Last intel we had was three men on the roof, and those are taken care of,” Sky said, eyeing the men unconscious at their feet. “We are on hold until Vet and Wars come back out."

Time looked confused for a second. “If all of you are here, then who is support?”

Only then Twilight found his voice again. “Let’s talk later.”

***

Twenty years of field experience were now the only thing keeping Time’s emotions in check.

What were his boys, all of his boys, doing here, in the literal den of the wolf?

He was sure they had good reason, and it better be a fantastic reason, or may Nayru grant him patience, he was going to strangle them all himself.

Focus.

He moved to the dark shadow of a casemate, peering down into the courtyard, carefully checking and double checking if the absence of the sentries had already arisen suspicion. Having been here for days, he had already noticed that, occasionally, the guards doing the rounds would take their time, have a cigarette or two up here before they reported back in, so they had probably another few minutes.

But their time was running out fast.

Four and Twilight had stepped back inside the building, to be where Wars and Legend expected them to be.

It was thankfully juat seconds later that Time heard a whispered voice calling to him.

“Old Man! They’re here, let’s go!”

He didn't allow himself to feel relief yet. As he tightened the straps of the glider Four had handed to him, saying he would fly with Legend, Time turned to look one more time into the courtyard, checking that they had the mere seconds they now needed to get away. A lit office window in the SIU building caught his attention. Two men were standing in front of the window, and while he immediately recognized one of the SIU chiefs, the other one looked familiar, but…

No. It couldn’t be.

Impa needed to know of this.

He quickly turned to where his boys were preparing to jump. “Let’s get out of here.”

***

The window of his office in the Special Intervention Unit building, looking over the darkened grounds of the Sheikah headquarters, had become something of a favourite spot for Sooga. It was a symbol, exemplifying just how high he had climbed in the organization, and just how much he had done for the glorious Yiga and their master.

Tonight he was not here alone. He knew it was a big risk to have his brother here, but it was even more of a show of just how much of the Sheikah was now his, that he could have the head of the Yiga clan in his office and those who saw knew to keep their mouths shut.

Besides, they had much to discuss, and Sooga couldn’t risk being seen in a Yiga hideout. But he needed to know why Looga had decided to spoil his plan.

“Why did you send your men?” Sooga asked. “I thought we had agreed to wait and see how my plan played out.”

“No, you decided that on your own,” Looga answered with a sneer. “I mostly just wanted Victor dead. He owes me many lives, including our father’s, but I will settle for taking his, painfully, if possible. And as for the other two, Zauber and Litore are both liabilities and I wanted them out of the picture. Your plan gave no guarantees, and it didn’t seem to be working anyway. Also, I don’t care much for your Dragmire scum.”

Sooga’s temper, which had been steadily rising while his brother talked, flared up at the last word. “Don’t call him that. He is the chosen of Power, no one has wielded that piece of the triforce in living memory. It must be him.”

“So you say, I’ve seen no proof,” the Yiga answered with a shrug. “I think he is just a criminal, a lowly thief who managed to be the biggest, most violent bully of the playground and used that to carve out a space for himself in the most rotten garbage of Castle Town. The Yiga is above such filth.”

Sooga clenched his fists, trying to control himself. After all, he needed his brother, needed him to understand. “But don’t you see?” he growled. “The signs are there, for the attentive eye. With our help, he can bring on the next cycle, we just need Zauber’s blood, and the wielders of Courage out of the picture.”

“The most promising sign of a cycle I’ve seen in my lifetime was the coming of the Helmaroc king, and Litore got in the way,” Looga sneered. “The only thing we agree on is that all wielders of a triforce of Courage, confirmed or presumptive, must die. As long as our aims coincide, I will keep helping you. But I will not waste Yiga resources for that Dragmire crook.”

Sooga’s answering smile was sharp and dangerous. “One thing at a time, dear brother. I have already taken Woods out of the picture. There was nothing left of him to even find. With the help of the Sheikah, his team is next. They can’t hide for long.” His face contorted into a snarl. “Now, what information do you have on Zauber’s whereabouts? He is the key I need to prove to you that Dragmire can awaken the power of Demise.”

Looga lifted an eyebrow with an amused smirk. “I thought you would know, the men I sent to get him said Harp and Windfish got in the way.”

“Avis and Lepore? Are you sure?"

Before he could answer, there was a loud knock at the door.

“Enter!” Sooga called.

A uniformed man put his head in the door. "Chief, we have a problem."

Chapter Text

Hyrule was shivering, but he didn't feel cold.

He was currently in the small bedroom of their… lair, he supposed he could call it, going through the bag of medical supplies and preparing what he needed to treat Warriors and the others.

If only his hands would stop shaking.

The wheat-blond operative had a couple of bad burns on one leg which would need treating, but luckily those hadn't appeared to be too extensive and were magical in origin, so they should heal fast. The doctor also suspected hairline fractures to the ribs, but without the proper equipment he had no way of making sure. Binding them would have to be enough for now. The laceration on Wars' lip hadn’t appeared to need stitches, and the bruising and swelling on his face would just need some ice and patience.

They had been lucky. Wars had been the most injured one, the rest of them making it out with just a few scrapes and bruises.

"Doc?"

Hyrule looked up to find Legend standing in the doorway. "We need you in here for the debriefing."

Everyone else was in the living room, which was exactly why the doctor had come into the small bedroom. To have more space to work, he told himself. He lied to himself.

The pink-haired man suddenly stiffened, and took a quick step towards Hyrule. "Are you ok?"

The doctor quickly nodded. "Yes, of course. Can you ask Warriors to come in here? There is no place to treat him in the other room."

Legend studied his face for a second before speaking. "No, his injuries are superficial, they can wait, we need to do this first. Warriors knows this and is exactly where he needs to be. And you need to be there too."

"I don't think I'll have anything useful to say," Hyrule answered, averting his eyes from the other man's face.

But he kept forgetting how perceptive Legend could be.

"Hyrule," he said softly. "Debriefings are not only tactical. Missions such as these take a mental toll. Talking things through is the first step to work through whatever happened." A pause. "And you are obviously upset."

Upset? Of course he was upset. "I could have gotten Sky killed," he blurted out. "If it hadn't been your commander, up there, but another guard…" His gaze dropped to the floor. "Even Wild is angry with me."

“Stop right there,” Legend said gently, putting a warm hand on Hyrule’s shoulder. “This is exactly why we need the debriefing. You, and Wild, and everybody else, need to understand what happened, what everybody did and why. This is a big part of what debriefings are about, immediately, before hard feelings settle."

Hyrule made no answer and kept his eyes on the floor, his thoughts a confused mess.

The strategist sighed, then kept talking. “If you had been in the room, two minutes ago, you would have heard Sky say that the guard who came down from the Weapons Building did so seconds after the radio died, but we all know that no other guard came up after that. This means that man had seen Sky, but couldn't report him because his radio wasn't working." Hyrule felt his throat tighten and his eyes burn. But Legend wasn't done. "You probably saved his life, and all of ours along with his, activating the scrambler when you did. It would have been impossible to hold our exit point, even with Time there, if more guards had come up."

A tear slipped down the doctor's cheek. The operative's fingers slowly came up to wipe it away delicately, then gently lifted Hyrule's chin to make him look up. His eyes met Legend's and found warm understanding and concern there.

"Please," the operative asked, "come in there?"

Hyrule finally nodded, then turned to reach for the bag of medical supplies. He would treat Warriors during the debriefing, if he had to. His fingers had barely touched the strap of the bag when the strategist grasped the doctor's wrist and pulled him into the living room.

***

Time's hand itched to rub at his face, but he worked to stay still and keep his face relaxed and neutral. His boys needed him now, probably more than they ever had before, though they might not realize yet. Time had long ago stopped believing the Golden Goddesses actually listened, but if he did he would thank them now for finding a way to bring them all back together.

The debriefing had been relatively short, considering how many of them had taken part in his operation. Sky, Four, Twilight and even Legend had turned to him, once they were all settled, while Hyrule had checked over Warrior's injuries, to lead the debriefing, but he had pointedly looked at Twilight. His lips twitched as he remembered the way the Pup's eyebrows had briefly risen, his lips parting in surprise. His face had then turned determined and he had given a slight nod before starting to lead the debriefing.

This has not been Time's operation, after all.

He would have done little differently, though, he had quickly realized while the boys went through their discussion.

"Well," Legend said, clapping his hands before pulling the folders sitting on the table towards himself, "now that is out of the way, it's time to see if this was worth our while."

Time knew what the answer would be before he opened his mouth. He had given up his authority over this operation, after all. "Shouldn't you boys have some sleep before we tackle the files? This could take a while." He tilted his head towards the boarded up window, where the rising sun was starting to filter through the cracks between the planks.

The strategist smirked. "Nice try, Old Man, as if you would be able to sleep knowing the intel we have been searching for is sitting right there."

Legend had a point. Time sat back in his chair and gestured for the boys to carry on. Four quickly pulled his chair closer to the strategist while Warriors pulled himself up from the small couch, limping on his now heavily bandaged leg, and shooed Twilight, who conceded with a smile that was equal parts exasperated and soft, off the fourth chair around the tiny table. The rest of the boys, including their intended targets-turned-allies, leaned forward with obvious interest and anticipation.

Legend was clearly in charge now, this was his speciality. "Let's start with Victor, sorry, Wild, his file should hold the least surprises." He opened the first folder and started skimming through its contents.

“Not much we didn’t already know. You started with basic op training, as most of us did, had a brief stint in undercover ops, specialized in the Yiga, moved to R&D Tech Unit, Weapon Development, as an operative.” Legend turned over a page. “Here is the mission we were in together, the Slate test, then…” he trailed off, then whistled through his teeth. “Well, now we know why the Yiga want you dead so much. You were the one to take out Khoga.”

Time heard the sharp intake of breath of those in the room who recognized the name.

“Who’s that?” asked Wild, pushing his long hair out of his face.

Legend grimaced. “Only the Head of the Yiga, at the time. You took out their boss.”

A charged silence followed those words, broken a few moments later by the strategist again, his face twisted in a scowl. “And that is all there is. Only a brief mention of your new name and a note that you were being kept under routine surveillance.” His eyebrows raised in surprise. “Oh, you too are a wielder of a Triforce of Courage, that’s probably what saved your life in the accident with the Guardian.”

“Really? Let me see.” Warriors pulled the papers from Legend’s hand, reading the words for himself. “It’s amazing you didn’t remember that.”

“He might not have known,” Legend answered.

”What? How can you now know you can wield a Triforce? That kind of power…” Wars trailed off as he suddenly looked down at his own left hand, his brow furrowing.

The strategist gave a small sigh. “I thought you were going to ask about it when you told us about your fight with Lana. I am pretty sure your Triforce is what repelled her spell, I could feel its residual power when you caught up with me. Courage leaves a very distinctive trace.”

The look on the operative’s face would have been amusing in any other situation. “I… what? You knew?”

Time spoke up. “I did too. I’m sorry, Wars, the Sheikah is pretty adamant about not spelling things out. If you didn’t work it out for yourself, you weren’t supposed to know.”

Warriors was still stunned. “But… how? When? If you knew, it must have manifested before, but I have no…” The exact moment when he worked out the truth was clear on his face. “The fire. The orphanage. Before I joined the Sheikah.” His face turned pained. “So that was why the Sheikah wanted me.”

“Wars, the Sheikah recruited you because you are exceptional, exactly the kind of person they need,” Time said. “It had very little to do with your Triforce. That only got the Organization to notice you.”

It was Four’s turn to speak up, his voice surprised. “We have a member of our team who has a Triforce of Courage?”

Legend’s cheek turned pink. “Actually, Sky can wield one as well, and so can I. I only found out about birdbrain recently, though.”

Time sighed. There was no point hiding anything any more. “I have one too. And also…” he trailed off, and his eyes traveled to Twilight’s face. Unbidden and unwanted, images came back to the commander, images of a younger Twilight injured, bleeding, delirious with pain and blood loss, the back of his left hand still warm, the faint outline of a triple triangle with a section standing out more clearly on his blood-smeared skin. Probably the only reason he was still alive. Time choked on the words he had wanted to say.

But he didn’t need to say more. Understanding dawned in Twilight’s eyes, and his jaw went slack with shock.

"When?" he whispered.

“Your Triforce of Courage manifested when you were injured fighting the Shadow Beasts for the first time,” Time finally managed to force out. He closed his eyes, not wanting to read the betrayal in his Pup’s face. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you. I wanted to.”

The strategist was again the one to break the heavy silence. “Wait, so are you telling me that out of nine people in this room six of us are confirmed bearers of Courage? This is… preposterous. It is not as common as we are making it look. Or…” He eyed the rest of the papers on the table suspiciously, and Time could see the gears turning in the strategist’s head. “We better get back to work, we might be onto something here.”

Chapter Text

Wind felt a chill down his spine when the pink-haired man pulled a second rather slimmer folder towards himself. “It’s time for our young sailor.” The smile the strategist threw his way was a lot friendlier than the teen had expected. He also thought he saw a trace of a wink. He managed a shaky exhale and a weak smile as Legend opened the file and pulled out the loose sheets of paper inside. Apparently it was time to see what a super secret super agent club had on him.

The strategist’s face soured slightly. “Wow, Windy boy, the pictures in here… how old did you say you are?”

Four and Warriors peeked above Legend’s shoulder and Wind saw them pale. Somewhere between intrigued and alarmed, he stood from where he was sitting on the floor and stepped forward to see what had caused this reaction in the three men.

The picture Legend was holding was blurred and faded, but was unmistakably him. Even though Wind had never seen this picture, he recognized the setting and the moment immediately. In the frame, he was holding the sword he had taken from a monster camp while he was looking for his sister, and was facing the Helmaroc King, wings outstretched, beak frozen wide open in a forever silent screech.

Wind was slightly bemused. “Well, we talked about it. I told you guys I fought that stupid big bird with Tetra and the Pirates last year.”

Twilight had also stepped forward to take a look at the file, and now turned to look at Wind incredulously, eyes haunted. “How… how old were you?”

But they knew this? The young teen had no idea what the fuss was for, this was nothing new. “It was a year and a half ago, and I turned 14 last december, so 12? 12 and a half? We talked about this!” He couldn’t understand why suddenly everyone looked so horrified.

Four appeared to shudder visibly, then turned towards him. “Sorry. Knowing something and seeing just how young you were hit a bit differently.”

Warriors shook his head slowly, then looked up, addressing his words to the tall man with a scar over one eye. “Where was the Sheikah in all of this? Why did the Organization not step in?”

The man, Time, they’d called him, moved an arm jerkily, an aborted movement as if he had wanted to do something but thought better of it. “I don’t know, and many of us were wondering the same at the time. I know many agents tried to put pressure on the Council to intervene, but the answer was always the same: ‘The Organization is handling it’.” He grimaced. “They clearly didn’t.”

“There it is, I thought so,” the pink-haired man suddenly gasped. He turned to Wind with a gleam in his eyes, a sheet of paper in hand. “You are also a presumptive wielder of a Triforce of Courage, Unconfirmed.”

Wind still had no idea what that meant, except that it didn’t seem like horribly good news.

“That makes no sense,” Sky blurted out. “Why would the Sheikah want to take out wielders of the Triforce? That power is our best defense against the Malice of the cycle!”

“The orders in his case were not of elimination, but of abduction,” Four reasoned.

“No, he’s right,” Legend mused. “It still makes no sense. There is no way to extract the power of a Triforce or to test for it, it’s only for the wielder to willingly or instinctively bear. Unless…”

Wars leaned forward in his chair. “Unless?”

The pink-haired man grimaced. “Let’s have a look at the last file before we take any wild and dangerous guesses.

***

Legend really didn’t like this. The fact that most of them were wielders of Triforces could mean several things, and none of them any good. If someone was picking out wielders of Triforces, this meant important and crucial information was leaking into the wrong hands, and if that intel was leaking, goddess knew what else was. Also, the Sheikah should not be eliminating their best chance at opposing Malice. Conversely, if this was happening by chance, it meant magical forces were stirring and the cycle was upon them again (he wasn’t going to say that out loud. He had touched the supernatural forces that governed their lives a bit too closely not to believe them, but he also knew that some of them, Time in primis, would scoff at the idea that this was destiny).

He had left the doctor’s file for last because he feared he knew what he was going to find, and what they had discovered from the first two files did nothing to assuage that fear. He reached for it now, feeling it was even smaller than Wind’s had been. Without conscious thought, his eyes searched out Hyrule’s. The doctor looked pale but determined, as if he was ready to discover why some mysterious organization he had known nothing about had wanted his intact but very dead corpse. Legend shuddered at the thought, pushing out of his mind the fact that he had nearly been the one to carry out those orders. With a deep breath, he opened the folder.

There were no pictures, this time. A few papers regarding Hyrule’s entry in the Labrynnian National Orphan Program, dated some 20 years prior, his acceptance at Belleview’s Orphanage in Labrynna, dated just a few days later, a police report on the fire that had destroyed his family home from a couple of weeks before then, then a few notes on his studies, his current workplace and residence.

Apart from those documents, the file only contained a small bundle of eye-witness reports. He read aloud to the others the words of a maid who had been working for the Zaubers, a firefighter who had helped put out the raging fire, a gardener from down the street who had come running when he had seen the fire. All had described a golden light, shining brighter than the white-hot flames that surrounded it. All had described being blinded by it, to the point where they were forced to look away, but all of them, once the light had cleared, had seen a child, about 6 or 7, staggering away from the burning remains of the house before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.

Legend realized, to his chagrin, that his eyes were stinging. He refused to rub at them, hoping there would be no tell-tale sheen in his eyes, and finally tore his eyes away from the page. He forced himself to look at Hyrule, each tear he saw running down the doctor's face a knife to his heart. He had to swallow before he could speak again. "The notes at the end of the page spell out that the most likely explanation was Triforce Power. The power of a full Triforce."

Four gasped. "I didn't even know that was possible!"

"But this was your theory all along, wasn't it?" Hyrule asked, voice weak and strained, rubbing at his face.

The strategist grimaced. "It was, but it still doesn't explain the whole thing about…" his voice caught. "…the body. I was hoping to find confirmation for my suspicion that it was your blood they were after." He went back to the file, finding no more pages. He studied carefully the annotations, scrawled in pencil by a messy hand on the margins of what little pages there were, reading out loud the obscure references to old legends and forgotten lore.

"Wait, wait, go back," Sky suddenly interrupted. "There was something about the Tower in the Sky. In other words, Sky Keep. Don't you remember that story?"

The strategist blinked owlishly at the operative, trying to figure out what Sky had noticed that he hadn't. Then it hit him. "The Legend of the Temple in the Sky! Of course!" His first came down on the table. "Damn, I need my annotated edition of the Book of Mudora, but I can't go home to get it."

Wars apparently chose that exact moment to recover from the shock of learning he carried a Triforce. "Hold on, are we seriously discussing fairy tales?" he scoffed.

"May I just remind you that one of those fairy tales saved your life not three hours ago?" Legend snapped.

Warriors' smile fell. "I just…"

Time put his hand on the operative's shoulder, squeezing slightly. "You know I have no patience with superstition and bigotry, but you cannot have been this long with the Sheikah and not have noticed that the legends and lore of old are important to the Organization, whose main aim is to fight Malice incarnate when it presents every cycle. That the cycle exists and will return we know as fact, we have recent historical events and records that prove it beyond a doubt, but there still are legends about these things, spiralling back so far to be lost to the sands of time. The difference in this case is that a full Triforce has not manifested in documented history, but there are instances of it in legend and folklore. If we are trying to understand what the Sheikah is doing, if we are searching for a motive, I agree with Sky and Legend. We have to look at old stories regarding it."

Warriors still looked unconvinced.

"Wars, we know we can't take these stories literally," the strategist drawled, rolling his eyes. "We just want to understand what the Sages saw in these legends to convince them to go after Hyrule, and exactly what they wanted with his… his remains."

Legend didn't miss the fleeting uncomfortable look on Time's face. "If we are talking about motives," he began cautiously, "there is another thing we need to discuss: the possibility of Yiga infiltration in the organization."

"Well, the fact that information is leaking out is a given, considering what Twilight heard," Four reasoned. "Also, the timing of the bomb attack at headquarters suggests an inside observer." He paused, and quirked a brow at Time. "You're going to have to tell us how you walked away from that, by the way. Eyewitnesses say they saw you drive by in the car seconds before they heard the explosion."

The strategist saw the Old Man's lip twitch upward in a reluctant smile. "Why am I not surprised that you boys know that already?" His face turned serious again. "But I am pretty sure you have no way of knowing the worst of it. Firstly, that the explosion was caused by a Sheikah tech remote bomb."

Twilight visibly started at that. "What?"

"The color of the fire blast was distinctive and unmistakable. Even admitting it was a Yiga attack, then that means the Yiga got their hands on Sheikah tech. Another disturbing detail is that there is no footage of the explosion, the camera in that corner of the parking lot was malfunctioning."

Legend frowned. "This confirms that the Yiga managed to plant men inside the Sheikah, and that the attack was designed to target you specifically. We have to assume the Yiga know a lot of what we know."

Time closed his eye. "It might be worse than that. Right before we left headquarters earlier I saw someone inside one of the offices, in the company of a high-standing Sheikah officer. It was the current head of the Yiga clan."

The silence that followed those words was deafening.

Chapter Text

"Come on, birdbrain, you have to remember something else…"

Sky rubbed his eyes wearily. "I told you everything I remembered from the story I was told. A full Triforce was used in the Keep in the Sky. The legend wasn't clear on whether the Triforce was in the Keep or if it was just used there."

"Fine, we're clear on that, but you have to remember something about how it was used," Legend grumbled. "I only remember it was used to seal the evil, bringing the whole Keep down to the surface."

"The legend just said the Triforce granted the wish of its wielder, and that wish was to seal Malice away. Actually, the version I know called him Demise. I don't recall there being anything more specific."

Sky remembered this story well, but it had been a bedtime story his grandmother told him when he was a child, after all. His favourite one, one that he asked for night after night, but a bedtime story nonetheless. The details might have been wrong, his grandmother might have made them up, he had no idea. He told Legend as much.

The strategist had been grilling the operative ever since he had woken up, him and the doctor pouring over their notes, discussing what they remembered of old stories and how they could find out more. Time was sitting with them at the table, nursing a cup of coffee and occasionally offering his insight, opinion or memory.

"Damn, I wish I had my Book of Mudora," the strategist muttered again.

"So the Book of Mudora actually exists? I had only heard about it, never a direct quote, let alone actually seen a copy," Hyrule asked, intrigued. “I didn’t know it was an actual book.”

"Oh yes. Pretty rare, I have a relatively new edition, the last to be printed, I think, and one of the few copies to survive The Purge," Legend answered. "My uncle had it hidden away in an old chest."

"The Purge?" Even Sky didn't know about this.

It was Time who answered. "About 70 or 80 years ago, after the Rise of Astor, which is considered the last confirmed aborted cycle, most copies of the Book of Mudora disappeared. It's unclear if this was the doing of the Sheikah or the Yiga, because a loss of knowledge could potentially help either side, or backfire horribly." His lip twisted subtly in a mild approximation of a grimace. “Inside the organization it is certainly frowned upon, if you look into these kinds of stories and legends without having a specific and Sage-aprooved task to justify it. Knowledge in anybody else’s hands is dangerous, according to the Sheikah.”

The strategist grimaced. "Whatever the case, it will be almost impossible to put our hands on another copy of that Book." He paused for a long moment, his face turning pensieve. "Old Man, don't you think…"

Time cut him off, face stern. "Absolutely not. It's too dangerous. Our homes will be watched."

"But it might be our only chance of figuring out what is happening!" Legend pleaded. "I remember a story mentioning blood, and a Triforce, but I can't remember any more… I need that book…"

The commander's face softened. "Let's try other ways first. I still have some friends I trust in the organization, we just have to figure out how to contact them safely. If nothing else works, we'll go for your book."

They were distracted by Four, sitting up suddenly with a gasp from the nest of blankets in the corner he had been sleeping in.

"She lost something… she needs help…" the tech specialist muttered, obviously distressed and dazed. His eyes were dull and unfocused, his hair falling into his face, free from his usual headband. It was as if he was still asleep.

"Four, are you alright?" Sky asked, concern coloring his voice.

Hyrule stood and moved to kneel next to Four, who was still panting and staring vacantly into space, but seemed hesitant to reach out and touch him. "Four? Can you hear me? Did you have a nightmare?"

The tech specialist slowly turned to the doctor, his eyes seeming to flash violet in the low light. "There was… a woman. Thin, athletic, white short hair. She was looking for… someone. She was distraught, I could feel her pain."

After a moment, the tech specialist blinked hard and seemed to finally come back to himself, his eyes turning clear. He shook his head and then, still looking a little confused, turned his attention to Hyrule. "Sorry," he finally said. "It was just a dream." He rubbed his eyes. "I get these weird vivid dreams sometimes, much more intense than normal. It happens when I'm under pressure, usually."

Satisfied that Four was fine, Sky turned back to the two men who were still sitting at the table with him. To his surprise, he found both of them staring intently at where the doctor was kneeling next to Four, Time looking troubled and Legend speculative.

"So," he asked, pulling their attention back to the task at hand, "how about we take a step back and go through what we know of the separate pieces of the Triforce again?"

Legend nodded, pulling his notes back towards him. "Sounds good, let's get back to work."

***

The Chief was beyond frustrated. The investigation on team Farosh had uncovered all sorts of irregularities and infractions, painting all of its members as misfits, rogues and traitors. This was making it harder and harder to find a way to help Time, or to uncover any kind of truth regarding his suggestion that the Yiga had infiltrated the organization. Actually, on second thought, it might confirm just that.

Of course, Impa knew most agents were guilty of infractions similar to those attributed to team Farosh. Moving in to help a team member after an order to stay put, giving team members information beyond their security clearance level, even bending orders so far as to nearly disregard them. These, to the Chief, were all just indicators of how good and close knit this team was, how well they had been chosen and trained to work together. But when presented in Council under a certain angle, it suggested mixed loyalties and a planned betrayal. Could she possibly be the only one of the Sages to see just how wrong this was?

Well, to be fair, Time's boys hadn't made it better for themselves by breaking into headquarters and stealing restricted copy files, wreaking havoc and leaving six injured. She was having a hard time speaking on their behalf in Council, there was really not much she could say to justify such a deed..

The Chief rubbed her face, sat back in her chair and pushed back from her desk, turning to the darkened window. She didn't dare contact Time now, not until she had some useful information to share, even though she really wanted to know if they had retrieved any kind of useful intel, as even she didn’t know exactly what was in the files that had been taken. She knew Time would let her know when he found something meaningful, so she was willing to wait and keep doing her part.

A soft knock on the door distracted her from her thoughts. "Come in," she called softly.

She was a little surprised to see Dorian walk in. It was late, he normally would have been home with his daughters at this time.

"Dorian! You're working late today!"

"I have been a little busy, but I needed to talk to you. I imagined you would be still here."

"Well, how about we go have a coffee and you tell me everything?" Impa said, pushing herself off her chair.

"I'd rather not be overheard."

The Chief froze mid-movement, surprised at Dorian's words. The late hour meant there weren't many people around anyway, so his request was odd. The offices of the higher-ranking officers such as herself were secured and sound-proof, so she gestured to the sparse sitting area where two small armchairs and a coffee table were positioned. "Let's talk here, then."

She sat down on one of the armchairs and waited for Dorian to do the same. He seemed hesitant, but finally joined her and visibly collected his thoughts a moment before speaking.

"I am… uneasy about the situation with Commander Woods," he began. "I know how… close the two of you are, so I imagine this must be even harder for you."

While Dorian had been her close friend for over 25 years, sharing everything two people could possibly share in the intensity of life-or-death situations, they hadn't been quite as close in the last couple of years. Impa was therefore surprised and off balance that he would approach her like this. She chose caution in wording her reply.

"I won't let my personal feelings get in the way of my duty. If he has betrayed the organization, he will have to pay."

Dorian nodded politely at her words but seemed unconvinced.

"I… I am a bit surprised to hear you say that. Seeing how you have been defending him in council, I thought you were… partial to him and his cause."

The way Dorian pronounced the word 'cause' made alarm bells ring in Impa's brain. Something in her friend's choice of words was off, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She hesitated, arranging her words carefully.

"He was my friend. Has been my friend for many years, I trained him. But my loyalty is to what the Sheikah stands for. If he worked against that, then he became my enemy."

Dorian's eyes widened slightly at her reply, but quickly recovered, smiling warmly.

"I am glad to hear you say this. I thought that the… recent hard line the Sheikah has chosen to follow would not sit well with you." He cleared his throat, and the Chief got the distinct impression that he was stealing himself to something. "I… must admit I feared you to be siding with him over the organization. You have been comparatively quiet over this whole situation, considering your… superior knowledge of Commander Woods."

Impa felt her blood run cold. She had feared that someone would ask for her more direct involvement in the inquiry on Time, considering she had been the one to train him to become an operative, but she hadn't imagined Dorian, her lifetime friend, to be the one to call her out on this.

"I…," she began, hesitatingly. "I wouldn't know what to say. While it's true that we have been close in the past, our relationship had turned to 'Section Chief and Team Commander' lately, so I'm afraid I don't have any insight for the Council."

Dorian's lips twitched into a small smile. "We have been friends for most of our lives, Impa. I don't see you betraying a friend, even if circumstances were dire. Are you telling me that, if you knew Commander Woods.to be alive and you knew his whereabouts, you would share the information with the Council?"

Impa stiffened. "Dorian, you know as well as I do that it would be treason if I didn't."

The man seemed slightly taken aback, and dropped his smile. "I… I didn't mean…" he stuttered.

"If you have anything to say, say it." Impa snapped. "We have known each other for too long for games and innuendos."

Dorian was silent for a long moment, studying Impa's face with a thoughtful and cautious expression in his eyes. Finally, he spoke again, but this time in a barely audible whisper. "Impa, if you know something, just say it. Don't protect him, he isn't worth your life or that of your loved ones."

The Chief was stunned. She drew breath to answer, but found she had no words. Dorian was still staring intently at her, as if wishing her to understand… something. Something running beneath his words. Not… a threat. Nothing in his attitude was menacing. But… a warning. As if he knew something she didn't, but that he couldn't say.

A long moment ticked by in silence. Finally, the Chief felt she had been quiet for too long. She spoke slowly and carefully, looking into Dorian's eyes. She didn't know if she was testing him or willing him to understand what she couldn't say.

"I thought I knew Time, I really did. If he chose a different path, then there is little I can do. I know where my loyalties lie."

And she did. She had chosen her words very carefully, earlier. Her loyalties lay with the Sheikah ideals, but she wasn't sure if those were what the Organization was pursuing any more.

Chapter Text

"What? You know an ancient history scholar at Hyrule University?" Legend asked loudly, his tone of voice doing nothing for Four's headache.

Twilight raised a brow. "You know this too, it's Shad. He was a member of the Resistance, the group I was collecting information from after Zant's coup."

The strategist whistled through his teeth. "Damn, you're right, I didn't remember what his speciality was, though."

"His focus is actually folklore and myths regarding a population of creatures called the Oocca, but I'm quite sure he can help us," the operative answered.

Four rubbed at his temples wearily, trying to tune out the voices of his friends. He had woken up feeling as if a steel band was tightening around his head, making every loud noise painful. He hadn't even been able to wear his usual headband, the pressure and weight too much to handle.

He saw movement out of the corner of his eyes, and looked up to find Wild handing him a mug of what appeared to be tea, a softly concerned look on his face. "You look as if you need it. Are you alright?"

The tech specialist tried to smile, but wasn't sure it didn't look like a grimace. "I'm fine. I just woke up with a splitting headache. It happens, sometimes." Especially after those weird dreams, he wanted to add, but didn’t.

"Why don't you go lie down again? None of us slept very much at all and besides, the bedroom will be darker and less noisy," Wild murmured. Four appreciated the thoughtfulness.

"And leave these guys to their own devices?" He jerked a thumb at the group sitting around the table, where Sky and Wars had joined the conversation between Leg and Twi. "I don't trust them not to get into trouble."

Wild chuckled weakly, then both of them turned their attention back to the ongoing discussion.

"I don't like this, your other friend was obviously being watched. This might end up being Shitshow take 2," Warriors said, leaning back in his chair. “You and Four barely made it out of there, last time.”

Twilight's mouth twisted. "Thanks for reminding me," he muttered sourly. "I agree that I would have to be very cautious, of course, ideally finding a way to meet Shad without being seen. A crowd of students and faculty should be safe enough, to make contact."

"Or it might be easier for someone to follow you undetected," Sky reasoned.

"Please, I taught him how to move in a crowd myself," Legend sneered. "Nobody will even see him."

“I might not even need to,” Twilight reasoned. “Shad’s usual lunch spot used to be a small park near his department. While it is a favourite spot with students and faculty alike, I think I might manage to talk to him out of anybody's sight.”

Four spoke up. "You would not be going alone, would you? You need someone with some brains and a cool head around."

"That rules Warriors out, then," Legend smirked. "I'll go."

"Hey! I can't go just 'cus I'm injured, I'd be perfect otherwise! Besides, you are the worst choice ever. You would just…"

The strategist pointed an index finger right at the blond operative's nose. "Go on, say something as unoriginal as a jibe at my hair. Besides, you'd be dead wrong. Pink hair in the university district? I will positively disappear."

Four turned towards Wild, an eyebrow raised. "See what I mean?"

***

Twilight really hoped he hadn’t made a mistake. Time and Four had not been happy with the plan, but Legend had convinced them that it could work, and was their best chance at the moment anyway.

But that didn’t mean that the operative still didn’t have many misgivings himself. As he reached what he knew to be Shad's preferred lunch spot in the small but luscious park off University Square, he kept seeing in his head Thelma's broken expression as she stumbled around the charred remains of her beloved home, and Four unconscious and deathly pale on the cobblestones of Old Castletown.

Twilight shook his head to clear it. The day was cool but sunny and bright, so the operative was hoping Shad would stick to his usual habit of having the lunch he always packed for himself alone on his favourite park bench.

Legend's voice came through his earpiece. "I don't like that I can't see you inside the park, but if you are reasonably sure he'll come in there it's better for you to wait under cover. If he goes anywhere else, I'll tell you."

"He'll come," Twilight answered into the microphone with a confidence he didn't feel.

He knew the strategist was positioned on a panoramic terrace just above University Square, from where he had a clear view of the main entrance of the History Department. They had agreed that Twilight would remain out of sight and that Legend would act as lookout and backup, if needed.

"Your friend walked out the main doors now," Legend spoke softly in Twilight's ear. "He went down the steps and is turning east towards the park gate. So far so good. I'll stay where I am to keep watch until you're done, unless you say otherwise. I'll be listening. Bingo, he just disappeared into the park. Good luck."

"Acknowledged, and thanks," the operative answered.

Twilight spotted Shad coming around a bend in the path a few minutes later. He stood as the scholar moved closer and could see in his friend's face the exact moment he was recognized. If the operative had been afraid the scholar would call out to him and potentially draw attention to his presence, he was mistaken. The scholar's small smile was genuine but odd, a mixture of concerned and relieved, as he quickly moved to the operative's side and grasped his arm.

"Twilight," he said in little more than a whisper even though there was no one else in sight. "I am very glad to see you."

"Likewise," the operative answered with a warm smile. "It's been too long."

Shad's smile disappeared. "This is not a courtesy call, is it? You're in trouble, aren't you?" He sat down on the bench, pulling Twilight down with him. "Tell me how I can help."

The operative was slightly surprised that Shad would immediately think the worst, but they had been out of touch for a while, and Twilight had searched him out in a secluded setting, so he guessed it would look a bit suspicious. His friend had always been far too perceptive, after all. "No worries, I know dropping on you like this is strange, I'm sorry about that. I’m not in trouble, I’m just trying to help a few friends," the operative said with a smile he hoped didn’t look forced. "I need your resources… unofficially. One of my friends is conducting research on a few old legends…" he hesitated, knowing how this would sound. "regarding the Triforce. He asked me if I could find a book for him."

Shad cut him off. "The Triforce?" He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please tell me you aren't talking about The Book of Mudora, because then I'll know you really are in trouble. You know that is a dangerous book, which is why I keep it at the department and not at home."

"I promise you if I'm caught no one will bother to ask where I got it," the operative answered with a smirk, trying to pass it off as a joke.

"Goddess, I should have known you were in trouble when those guys came to ask about you," the scholar blurted out.

Twilight's blood froze in his veins. "What guys, when?" He asked sharply.

"Two guys in dark jackets, just a couple of days ago. They asked me if I'd heard from you recently. They said they needed to find you for something work-related, and gave me their card. Some consultancy firm, Kakariko Services, I think it was called."

The operative recognized immediately one of the covers of the Sheikah. He opened his mouth to answer, searching frantically for something to say that wouldn't sound too… bad.

But the scholar spoke again. "You don't need to say it. If they come back, I never saw you." He shook his head. "This is something big, isn't it? First Thelma, then you."

Twilight's stomach dropped. He hoped Shad meant what the operative already knew, and nothing else. "Is she all right?"

"I ran into her a few days ago, before those guys came for you. She told me her bar burned down, she might have found another venue here in the university district." His face twisted in a reluctant smile. "I warned her that her customers might be a bit more rowdy than she is used to, around here."

Twilight breathed. Thelma was fine. For now.

The scholar spoke again. "The two things are connected, aren't they? The fire at Thelma's and your trouble? Twi, what kind of mess are you in? Should I get the others?" He asked in an earnest but low voice. "You know they would all be willing to help, especially Rusl."

The idea of pulling his old friends into this situation sickened Twilight. It had nothing to do with the Resistance, it wasn't like the future of Hyrule was at stake, it was just keeping three innocents safe, and staying alive. It was bad enough that he had unwittingly dragged Thelma in this mess and that she had paid for it dearly, he was not going to involve anyone else if he could help it. As he looked into Shad's earnest, determined and concerned eyes, he suddenly realized anyone he could reasonably turn to was in danger, if the long arm of the Sheikah had already reached out to Shad while looking for him. He could only hope all the precautions he had taken not to be seen with the scholar would be enough, and now just had to get away from here as quickly as possible, before he got another friend in trouble.

Shad wasn't done talking. "Look, this is reminding me way too much of what happened last time, and if the Resistance needs to do something about it…"

The operative cut him off. "Please don't. I don't want anyone else involved," he said, more sharply than he intended. "You're right, Thelma's trouble was my fault, because I went to her for help. And what you said about those guys of Kakariko Services made me realize it's very unfair of me to even be here."

He had to get away from Shad, and fast. He got to his feet. "Forget this. Forget you saw me, don't worry about it. I'll come find you again when things calm down."

Shad stood quickly as Twilight turned away and grasped the operative's arm, pulling his friend around to face him. "Please, don't go. I want to help in any way I can. I know you wouldn't have come here if it wasn't important. I'll bring what you need here tomorrow, and I'll leave it in a plastic bag under the bench." He lifted a hand to poke Twilight in the sternum, his eyes narrowing. "On one condition. If there is anything else me or the others can do, you come running back to us. If you need backup, if you need cover, if you need help."

The operative knew he couldn't promise something like that, but he wouldn't lie to his friend. "Thanks," he said simply.

Shad seemed to understand far too well. His face twisted as if in pain. "Please, be careful."

Chapter Text

Sooga worked to keep his distaste of his surroundings off his face. He had to admit his brother was right in this, at least. Dragmire certainly didn’t keep refined company, nor did he give much importance to the aesthetics of his headquarters.

Or lair would be a better word, Sooga supposed. He was currently in the dingy basement of a rundown bar on the outskirts of Castletown, where he had arranged to meet Dragmire privately to discuss the advancement of his plan. The mobster’s henchmen were mostly burly, violent and dim-witted goons who were obedient enough, though far from bright. It really was no wonder that Dragmire was ready to listen to Sooga, since having someone with some brains as his supporter, promising more power than he had ever dreamed of, was definitely a step up.

The man himself had a formidable appearance, Sooga was ready to concede. His thick mane of bright red hair, falling in waves past his wide, muscled shoulders, complemented well the imposing figure of his tall, strong frame. His piercing, fierce eyes were such a singular, bright shade of brown to appear almost red, adding to his aura of strength and might.

"I have already explained who I am and something about my organization," Sooga said. "Now I wish to discuss a bit more the proposition I have on how to use your Power."

“You keep coming back to this supposed ‘power’ that you say I have. I have a feeling you are not talking about influence or strength,” Dragmire said, dropping down on a worn black couch.

“Indeed. Understanding better the Power you wield might help you,” Sooga explained, sitting on an equally worn, mismatched armchair. "You know of course about Malice, and his cyclic return to this land?”

Dragmire scoffed. “I know history, but I have never really bothered much with it. After all, I don’t care much about the past, all I care about is my future.”

Sooga repressed a sneer. This was a shortsighted way of thinking, indeed, but he was here to correct it.

"Bear with me for a minute. You will soon understand why I am telling you all this. Tied into the magic of the cycle is the Triforce." Sooga inclined his head towards the mobster, who nodded for him to continue. "There are three known aspects of the Triforce. Courage is the easiest to track, it activates in life-and-death combat situations, manifesting as defensive magic, mostly." He paused, grinding his teeth as Dragmire had the gall to yawn. "In the past, bearers of Courage have been the biggest obstacle to the rise of Malice in each one of his iterations." He waited, making sure he had the mobster's attention.

"Wisdom is subtler," he continued, tone a touch harder, "and the wielders of that are often not even aware of it. Even when they are, they tend to keep it secret, even inside the Sheikah. It tends to augment magical abilities, supposedly also enhancing deduction and intuition, possibly giving precognissant abilities or prophetic dreams." The list of these coveted abilities seemed to catch the mobster's interest, his eyes turning to Sooga's. "I have spent years seeking Triforces out, I am quite sure there are no wielders of Wisdom alive. The last known one was the Sage that I…." he smiled at the memory. "...replaced."

"Finally," he said with a cold smile, "Power. This is the most rare, so much so that there is no recent record of a wielder. According to legend, it manifests in conditions similar to those that trigger Courage, but is more offensive than defensive in nature. I am sure what happened to you, as we have discussed, was a Triforce of Power manifesting. Having no reliable records, in order to figure out how to harness and use it, we have to refer to ancient texts. This is what I used to devise my plan.”

The deep, booming voice of the other man resonated in the small space. “Are you telling me your plan is based on fairy tales?”

Sooga felt a stab of irritation and worked to keep his face neutral. This man might be Power incarnate and potentially Malice reborn, but he was still uninitiated. Patience was required, if difficult. “I assure you, they may be ancient, but are not fairy tales. While the details may be unreliable, there is no doubt in my mind that they carry truth at their core, reporting actual events. They are what allowed me to understand what happened to you.”

“So you’re sure that golden light I saw and the surge of strength I felt, which allowed me to win that impossible fight, was… magic? A Triforce of Power?”

“Yes. I need you to understand what a momentous occurrence this is,” Sooga answered, desperately willing this man to comprehend. “What you have no way of knowing is that Malice can be summoned, awakened before his time, inside certain gifted and powerful individuals, transferring to them all his powers. A god on earth, to rule the whole of Hyrule and beyond.”

The mobster raised an eyebrow. “What does this have to do with me?”

Ah, here maybe they were finally going to get somewhere. “The ones able to incarnate Malice and his power are the bearers of the Triforce of Power.”

The interested twinkle in Dragmire's eyes pleased Sooga very much. "And how does this… awakening work?" the mobster asked.

"The way it has been done in the past is to use the blood of a bearer of a full Triforce. This occurrence is even less common than a Triforce of Power." Dragmire opened his mouth to interrupt, but Sooga didn't let him. “There is evidence that we have found a bearer of a full Triforce. We need to use his blood to awaken Malice in you. Malice will know how to access Power, and that knowledge will then be yours."

Dragmire was silent for a long moment, the sneer thankfully gone from his face and replaced by a calculating, intense look. Sooga could see him making all the right connections, finally.

"Let me get this straight," the mobster enunciated, slowly and deliberately. "You say you will help me use some guy's blood, like a slaughtered lamb, to obtain Malice's power, become basically a demigod and then use that power to rule this land."

"Yes." No hint of doubt or hesitation coloured the answer.

Dragmire's dangerous, sharp smile was back. "In my experience, no one does anything for nothing. What is in it for you?"

Oh, this man had no way of knowing how this would be a dream come true, that Sooga had been born, bred, raised and sacrificed for this specific cause. How could this man even begin to understand? Sooga searched for an oversimplification that would suit this materialistic, uninitiated man.

"I will be your right-hand man, of course," he said simply. "I don't have the Power to succeed, but you do. I will help you awaken Malice in you and you will share your success with me. We will rule together."

Dragmire looked at him with that calculating look of his for a long moment. Sooga could see the gears turning, could see clear as day how this man was coming up even now with backup plans of betrayal, but it didn't matter. Sooga just wanted Malice to emerge, finally succeed and rule, for the first time in hundreds and hundreds of years. It would be his victory, anyway.

"Alright," Dragmire said finally, and extended a hand. "We have a deal. You have the word of Ganondorf Dragmire."

Sooga shook the mobster's large, warm hand, feeling the pieces of his life finally falling into place.

Letting his hand drop, Dragmire spoke again. "So where do we find this lamb we need?"

Sooga smiled dangerously. "I have reason to believe one of the Sheikah officers still hostile to me is the key to getting what we want."

"If they are hostile to you, why should they help?"

"I have my strategies, which have worked beautifully up to now. I see no reason why they shouldn't keep working."

***

Hyrule woke with a start, having no memory of having fallen asleep. He was on the couch in Legend’s flat, and had no idea what time it was, or what day it was, for that matter. Days had been bleeding into nights and back again, behind the boarded up windows. The only one trying to keep track of time had been Wild, insisting on preparing what he called ‘barely adequate’ (but were really nothing short of fantastic, if simple and rustic) meals and having everyone sit down to eat at the appropriate times.

Legend was, as ever, sitting at the table, now pouring over a large tome, Twilight, Four and Sky with him, deep in conversation. They didn't seem to notice Hyrule had woken up.

"The story of the Tower in the Sky doesn't have much more than we already knew, except that the bearer of the full Triforce found something in the Tower that helped him access his full power, presumably through some trial," Four was saying, studying the pages of notes in his hands.

Everyone's attention turned to Legend when he turned a page and gasped. "Of course! How could I forget!"

Sky was quick to stand and move to read the page over the strategist's shoulder. "What did you find?"

"I knew there was something about the blood of a full Triforce wielder, that's why I was so sure it had to be his blood they wanted."

Hyrule felt a chill travel down his spine as he slowly stood and moved towards the table. The other four were so caught up with the book they didn't seem to notice.

"The Epic of the Triforce King. I had even analyzed passages of it once, when studying the uses of the Triforce pieces."

The doctor listened with bated breath as the strategist summarized the story for them. "It's the story of a king who could wield a full triforce, and used it to rule over Hyrule. One of his advisors, a bearer of a Triforce of Power, was able to betray him and kill him, awakening Malice inside himself once he had the King's blood on his hands, literally. The most accepted interpretation of this is that the blood of the King had magic properties that caused this."

There was a long moment of silence in the room, but Hyrule hardly noticed. He was suddenly finding it difficult to breathe.

"So… Malice won?" Four asked in a strangely subdued voice.

"Yes. He went on to usurp the fallen King's place and ruled for a hundred years, or so the story goes," Legend explained. "A successful cycle. There have been a couple of those. That's not the end of the story, though."

He turned a few pages over as he spoke, as if to refresh his memory. "A bearer of Courage finally challenged and fought Malice incarnate, but he would ultimately have failed if it wasn't for a bearer of Wisdom, who managed to separate the mortal man and Malice, then sealed the demon away until another cycle."

It was Twilight who broke the silence after Legend's words, this time. "Well, that sounds like many other stories, at least. Courage has only ever been a defense against Malice rising, not a solution after he has succeeded."

The strategist grimaced. "True. There are only two details that set this story apart from others: firstly, the mention of a full Triforce in one individual. There aren't many of those, even in legends. Secondly, and probably more importantly, there is speculation that… it wasn't time for another cycle. The blood of the Triforce King changed the timing of it."

There was another loaded silence that felt nothing short of suffocating to Hyrule.

"So wait," Sky suddenly interjected. "This tells us why the Sheikah would not want to run the risk of leaving him alive, but it doesn't explain why they waited so many years to act."

Legend frowned. "Something might have changed. They might have found proof of a bearer of Power alive. If that were the case, it would also explain why the Yiga also wanted to put their hands on our good doctor. They might actually have a bearer of Power."

Dread settled in Hyrule's stomach and he swayed as the full implications of what Legend had said hit him. He placed his hand on the back of Four's chair to keep from falling over.

The movement caused the strategist to finally look up from the book and freeze when he realized the doctor was awake and listening. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but no words came out.

The doctor struggled to find his voice. "So… the decision to take me out was entirely justified. My very existence can bring on the end of the world as we know it."

Chapter Text

Time had just finished getting dressed after a blessedly warm shower (he was still amazed at how well Legend had organized this place, it was almost better than his backdoor…), when he heard raised voices in the main room. He quickly walked out of the bathroom to find Hyrule, his back nearly against the wall, eyes wide and breathing rapid and erratic, backing away from Legend. The strategist's hands were turned forward in an appeasing gesture.

"Hyrule, please calm down, this doesn't change anything."

"Like hell it doesn't!" the doctor answered, his voice high and cracking. "I am a danger, a weapon! You should kill me, then burn my body! I'll do it myself, I can do it with no blood spill, then you'll have no choice but to do what you must!"

The look of heartbreak on Legend's face, usually closed off and snarky, was like nothing Time had ever seen, and physically painful to witness. "Hyrule, please dont even say that," he whispered brokenly.

Twilight was by Time's side before the Commander could even ask, quickly telling him what they had found in hushed tones.

Oh.

This actually… made a lot of sense, and caused quite a few pieces to fall into place. But that was an issue for later, getting the doctor to calm down was far more pressing.

"Legend, back off," Time called out gently but firmly. When the strategist complied, the commander slowly knelt to sit on the floor, but didn't move any closer to the doctor. "Hyrule? I need you to sit down. Just where you are. Slip down to the floor, please, like I just did," he said clearly and slowly. "Good. Now just listen to my voice, concentrate on the sound of my voice.

After Hyrule shakily dropped to the floor, his back against the wall, Time talked him through a breathing exercise, which slowly seemed to have the desired effect. Soon, the doctor had calmed down enough for Legend to slowly inch forward on the floor and finally envelop Hyrule in what appeared to be a crushing hug. The strategist whispered something that Time couldn't hear, and the doctor finally slumped in Legend's arms, still obviously shaking but no longer hyperventilating.

Time stood slowly as Four, Twilight and Sky turned to him. "So what do we do now?" Four asked in a low voice. "At this point everything pivots on the hypothetical existence of a bearer of Power. The behaviour of both the Sheikah and the Yiga suggest that there indeed is one."

The commander worked to keep his face neutral. "I'm not sure we should be considering those separate entities any more."

He felt Twilight tense next to him, but it was Sky who spoke. "Do you mean that we are effectively running from both, or do you mean that… what you saw at headquarters is just the tip of the iceberg?"

Time balled a hand into a tight fist at his side. "I wish I had a definitive answer, but I only have hypotheses. At this point, though, I'm pretty certain the whole Organization is infiltrated, rotten to the core and effectively run by Yiga. That's the only possible explanation for what has been happening, especially what I saw the other night at headquarters. I am far from the only person who would recognize Looga on sight, and the fact he was even there is… " He couldn't even finish the sentence, repressing a shudder before speaking again. "I fear it's time to reach out to the only person I can still trust in the organization, maybe we'll be able to put information together and figure out what to do."

***

Impa had the letter in her hand as soon as she got off her car. Locking the doors on auto-pilot, she started making her slow way up the driveway to her front door, her full attention already on the apparently mundane words. She needed some privacy to peruse them properly, this was not something she could have poured over inside Sherikah headquarters.

The letter, printed in a generic font on cheap paper, had come through the mail at headquarters addressed to one of the aliases she used with informants, so it was not an odd occurrence in and of itself.

What made it exceptional was the fact that it was written in the old coded battle language she and Time had perfected and used nearly 15 years before. The opening was unmistakable, the words 'as per our fickle arrangement' being very deliberate and unusual enough to be unequivocable. She wasn't surprised the Commander would remember it, because she did as well, but Impa was definitely a bit rusty and needed to refresh her memory, to make sure she didn't miss any of the information Time had hidden in the words.

The printed words appeared to be just a random letter about something relatively innocuous, a leak of information about a suspicious metal workshop, but hidden in the text was a request for a meeting, with a place and time. The directions were to a secluded corner of Sanidin Park, near the small artificial lake, and the time was the following morning. The hint to information that Time was not willing to commit to paper, even though coded in a way only the two of them would understand, unnerved Impa.

This must have been something big, if the Commander had contacted her so directly and wanted to meet to discuss things in person. Impa knew that Time was well aware of the dangers of such a meeting, for both of them.

The Chief reached her front door and began absent-mindedly unlocking it. Apparently, Paya was not home yet, or the secondary lock would not have been in place. As she proceeded to the main one, she was startled out of her perusal of the letter by the key turning a third time in the lock.

That was strange. Paya never bothered with more than two turns of the key, and Impa had left before her adopted daughter that morning, so, while she had locked the primary one all the way, she hadn't used the secondary lock, either. There was no reason for the door to be locked as it was. Something was wrong.

Impa's senses were immediately on high alert. She put the letter in her pocket and stepped to put her back against the wall, pushing the door, now fully unlocked, slowly open. There was no need to keep silent, the sound of the locks would have already alerted any intruder of her presence.

"Paya?" Impa craned her neck to see as much of the foyer as she could without stepping in front of the door. Everything was dark and quiet. Slowly, she reached out to flip the light switch just inside the doorway. "Paya? Are you home?"

The Chief stepped cautiously through the door into the now illuminated entrance. Paya's favourite jacket was hanging on her usual peg by the door, but her bag was missing from the side table. Her shoes were not in their place under the table, but neither were the slippers she always wore around the house and only removed for walking out.

The feeling of wrong was getting worse. Impa could feel her cold control slipping, as she walked around the house more and more frantic, calling for her daughter and flipping lightswitches. All she found was more subtly wrong. A plate and glass in the sink instead of beside it, a throw blanket carefully folded instead of crumpled on the armrest of the couch, an armchair a little too far to the left, a trinket missing from the coffee table, no dust on the floor next to the stool, no dirt on the windowsill between Paya's potted plants.

"PAYA!" Impa heard her own voice crack as the realization finally hit her that someone had taken her daughter.

Yiga, was her first, panicked thought. But then she realized with a jolt that the Yiga would not have cleaned up after themselves, they would have left the mess of a struggle clearly visible, upturned furniture, broken glass, the door standing open, all to inspire fear and helplessness.

This was not a Yiga operation. This was a Sheikah tactic, one that Impa herself had used countless times through the years. Make their passage invisible, leave no traces, make it so an official investigation wouldn't even find evidence of foul play. Make it look like someone just disappeared.

Shakily, she dropped in an armchair, hiding her hands in her face and trying to make sense of what was happening, trying to just breathe.

Kidnapping a relative to coerce and blackmail someone was a Yiga thing to do, which was one of the many reasons why secrecy was so vital to the Sheikah, but the style of this abduction screamed so loud of the modus operandi Impa herself had helped define and perfect that there was little doubt in the Chief's mind as to who held her daughter.

She wasn't left long wondering why. Dorian's warning about her loved ones came back to her with painful clarity. Whoever took Paya, whether Sheikah or Yiga, if those even were separate entities any more, clearly wanted something from her. Impa feared she knew what. Would she play right into their hands, running to them as they clearly expected?

But this was Paya, the completely unexpected joy and light that had fallen unannounced in her life when a barely remembered distant relative had died with no other family, leaving a shy, quiet seven-year-old girl of Impa’s own blood who would otherwise have ended up in an orphanage. When Purah, as practical and detached as always, had refused to take the girl in, Impa had felt obligated to step in. Raising Paya alone hadn't been easy, with Impa’s job, but they had managed. The Chief had found such joy and strength in having someone to fight for, that she had never once regretted her decision. Knowing that whatever muck she swam through was ultimately to keep Paya safe in her home had made her a better fighter, a better agent, a better Sheikah.

Sheikah. The word, once so sweet and comforting, now felt sour and dissonant in her own mind. This was not the organization she had dedicated her life to anymore. Impa felt the lump in her throat thicken and her eyes start to burn. She reached into her pocket with fumbling fingers and pulled out her cell phone. She didn't even need to look at it to speed dial Paya's number.

The phone rang only two times before someone answered.

Chapter Text

Four was painfully aware that having three lookouts ready for backup just to make contact with an ally would have seemed like an overreaction even to Legend, just ten days before, but now they had all agreed to it easily, naturally, as if speaking each other's thoughts out loud.

The tech specialist was currently perched on a tree branch, focused in equal parts on observing every detail of the clearing below him and on the noise coming through his earpiece. He could just barely make out movement in the bushes on the other side of the small lake where he knew Sky was hidden, and he could hear the soft rustling of leaves through the radio from Twilight moving through the undergrowth under the thick trees. All three of them were painfully aware of where Time was waiting in the shadows just off the clearing below Four's position.

The commander's low but clear voice came through the radio. "I'm in position. Six minutes to t-zero. Report."

Twilight was the first to answer. "In position, just took a full circuit of the lake, all clear."

Four scanned his surroundings carefully again, checking in particular the trees and bushes around them, before answering. “In position, I have a good view of the clearing and the trees to the west, nothing here.”

After a short burst of static, Sky spoke as well. “In position, the trees to the east of the lake are clear as well.”

Time gave a curt nod. "Now we wait. Keep your eyes peeled and report any anomaly. I'll step in the open at t-zero.”

The tech specialist turned to observe the south path, where Time said he expected his contact to approach. It was only after a minute or two that Four saw a figure coming up the path at a steady run, as if in the middle of a workout. Her spiky white hair reminded the tech specialist of something, and he figured he had probably run into her at headquarters before without knowing who it was. The Sheikah tended to keep formal introductions to a minimum. The less everyone knew the better.

The woman who was clearly Chief Impa reached the clearing and slowed to a walk just as Time stepped out of the trees.

"Time," she said with a smile, "I'm glad to see you are fine."

The commander gave a small nod. "Thank you for coming, I apologize for the danger this has put you in, but there are a few things I need to discuss with you."

Impa inclined her head slightly. "We are in this together. Is this about your team? Are they all right? What about their intended targets, where are they?"

As the Chief spoke, something in her voice grated on Four's subconscious. Something frigid and bitter that made him shiver, vibrations resonating somewhere in his chest. His left hand felt distractingly numb and cold, and he clenched it to get some feeling back into it.

Suddenly he knew what the matter was. He spoke hastily into his microphone, just as the commander was drawing breath to answer, cutting him off. "Time, she's lying, she's hiding something from you, I'm sure of it. Do not tell her anything."

He saw the Commander stiffen, his surprise clear. It was almost as if Four could feel the war raging inside Time now, his trust of the tech specialist warring with his trust for his life-long friend.

Before Time spoke again, Twilight's voice came through the radio. “Something is wrong. Sky, I see plants to your left moving against the wind and not with it.”

A rustling of leaves told Four that Sky was moving to check. A whispered curse came through the radio. “I see men in the bushes, keeping out of sight. At least two, moving closer. Time, get out of there now.

If the Chief was surprised that Time had stood there a few seconds unmoving and silent she didn’t show it, just like she showed no surprise when Time spoke. "Impa, you betrayed us."

Her smooth face suddenly crumpled, and anguish was clear in every feature even from where Four was still watching, waiting for his commander to start his retreat before moving. "I'm sorry, Fairy Boy. They took Paya, they keep her at the detention center in Akkala. I can't lose her. I was promised she’d be fine if I helped them get Zauber."

"Zauber? Impa, you don't understand what will happen if they take him."

The pleading in the Chief's voice was unmistakable. "Wouldn't you do anything they wanted if they took Malon?"

Four saw Time start at that, just as Twilight spoke urgently in their ear. “Old Man, me and Sky are moving to cover your retreat but you have to move now. We will be cut off if you don’t.”

Their commander took a reluctant step back, his face almost pained. Still hesitatingly, he turned and finally fled through the trees without looking back.

***

Their impromptu hideout was a flurry of activity. When the away team had returned with their news, they had all quickly agreed that Castletown was suddenly far too hot to stay any longer. They had started going through the cupboards, sticking anything that might be useful in backpacks, while discussing safe houses, itineraries and possibilities. Warriors' heart clenched to see Wild, Wind and Hyrule looking a little lost as they helped with the packing while listening to the discussion.

The operative wondered if they truly understood the implications of what was happening, of what kind of people were after them. Kidnapping and imprisoning an innocent family member was… he didn’t even have the vocabulary to define it. It was a very Yiga thing to do, and that was the dirtiest and filthiest word he could come up with. The Sheikah had always been extremely careful with secrecy and anonymity for precisely this reason. Family, personal life, vulnerabilities were things that had to be protected at all costs. The fact that the Organization had used this kind of tactic against one of its own was… again, he lacked a strong enough word.

“This confirms what the Old Man suspected, the Sheikah doesn’t exist any more. It’s only Yiga now," Twilight had said bitterly, soon after Time had finished his explanations.

Wars had felt those words like a slap to the face. The organization that had become more than the center of his life, the reason for it, a beacon of light for the whole of Hyrule, had decayed away from the inside like a carcass eaten by maggots, still standing but rotten, corrupted and empty.

The operative's mind jolted back to the present by Sky’s voice right next to him.

“I know most of you are not going to like this, but should we stay together, at this point? If we broke into smaller groups we would be harder to find," he said with a grimace

The look on Legend’s face told Warriors that the strategist liked this idea about as much as he did. Not knowing where over half of his… his brothers, his family were, not knowing if they were safe, if they had been caught, imprisoned and tortured, if they were still alive..

No. He couldn't agree to this.

“No,” he managed to force out. “As strategically sound as that might initially appear, I think we have to consider that this is not the Yiga or the Sheikah we are facing any more, but a more dangerous combination of the two. Sheikah intel with Yiga tactics. With what this… thing, this composite, Yikah or Sheiga or whatever, knows now, they wouldn’t hesitate to use us against each other. The mere idea of one of us captured and tortured, be it true or not, would cause the rest to make mistakes. This time, we are stronger together, weaker divided.”

Legend’s look of surprised respect was something that Warriors had never seen directed his way. His face quickly turned speculative.

“I can't believe I am saying this, but Warriors is right,” the strategist began slowly. “This is a new situation, with a new set of rules.” He swallowed. "There is one exception, though." The strategist turned to their commander. "Old Man, you said you had safe back doors, and I imagine Malon has already taken one of them. Go, join her and disappear. We can take it from here. You have to take care of your family."

Warriors had known the Commander for years at this point, but it still surprised him that someone with only one eye could scowl as Time did. "I am not leaving you boys to deal with this alone. Malon is safe for now, I'll catch up to her later. Besides," he added, his face softening, "you are my family just as much."

Warriors felt his throat constrict with emotion, and the sudden silence in the room told him it wasn't just him.

A few seconds later Four broke the silence, voice a little thick. "But what do we do? What are we even supposed to do to 'deal with this'?"

Time placed one of his large hands on the tech specialist's shoulder. "One thing at a time. Let's get to somewhere safer first."

"And where would that be?" Sky ran a hand wearily through his hair, pushing it back off his face. "I would also prefer staying together, but a very good reason for splitting up is that it's so much easier to hide. Where can nine of us fit inconspicuously?"

Legend strapped a large backpack shut. "Let's start moving, then we'll improvise. I suggest going west, Mabe City or Saria Town. They are both large enough to hide a small crowd, but small enough to be off the radar."

"Wait," interjected Four, "if we follow the coast south we can turn west afterwards and reach Gerudo Town, the Sheikah have a notoriously poor hold there."

"Or we could keep following the coast down towards Ordon, the low population density there means we wouldn’t be noticed much,” Sky said.

“That, or we would be immediately noticed and questioned by the locals,” Twi answered, his mouth twisted in a small scowl. “Foreigners tend to stand out over there.”

Warriors caught movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to find Wild, bags already packed, waving a hand a bit awkwardly. "Uhmm… actually, if you have no objection to camping in the winter, I might have a better idea."