Path of the Hunters [PART 4] (NSFW)

"Sunny's right," Nova said. "Killing won't solve anything. They'll just rebuild, and kill some more. Death loves company, y'know?"

*

"Well, I'll teach you what I know, 'kay?"

Aurélie sighed. "Arguing about this gets us nowhere. Damien, if you do not wish to 'elp us any longer because we choose tactics different from yours, we will go to your base and get the children and Elesis and we will go on our own from 'ere."

*

He smiled shyly. "Okay."

"Idle threats, Aurélie," Nova pointed out. "He controls the base and the transportation. We couldn't exactly waltz away, unless he said so. We're pretty much P.O.W.s in tha aspect. Besides, I'm not gonna forsake his help, just because we don't see eye-to-eye."

"Keeping us at 'is base would do 'im little good. And I would choose 'is assistance over not as well, which is why I left it up to 'im."

"Even still, if it were the latter, where would we go?"

*

She sighed. "Later, though, when my head clears up." She went back to her food.

"Underground," Sunny supplied, smirking. "Once I build something, it lasts with barely any effort."

"Oui."

*

"Are you okay?"

Damien shook his head. "Cut off the head and the rest will die, or at least that'll leave them stunned long enough for the rest to be picked off with ease. Also, once they do put up a new council or whatever they're called, it's all a matter of theatrics. Tell them that you can and will shove a 105 mm high-explosive round up their ass like we did to the last group that made up the leadership."

Nova scoffed. "You just don't fuckin' get it, do you!? They don't need a system! Even with their hierarchy gone, there's still a massive bounty on our heads. They'll keep huntin', every last one of them!"

*

She nodded. "I'll be fine. Just a little tired. I guess I did a bit too much exploring, if you know what I mean."

"Would you want to attack someone with a personal army that is capable of killing you off from orbit?"

"Oui! It is what Laroches crave! I do not know about Baudoins, but the Laroche? They will try 'arder to kill us if they knew we 'ad such protection."

*

He nodded. "That's okay. We can just wait at the hangar after we eat if you want."

"Exactly! Besides, think if they got their hands on such destruction! That's enough to entice the Baudoins to keep huntin'! Don't you get it? If we do things your way, this shit'll never end! And more innocent lives'll get put in danger, along the way, including your men!"

*

"I guess so."

He raised an eyebrow, "Then tell me, how stupid are they? This would be what, third, maybe fourth time we've so openly took part in your affairs?"

Aurélie sighed. "You do not understand and you are not even attempting to understand..."

*

"Unless you don't want to..."

Nova sighed as well. "Forget it. They know what they know, and everything else is bullshit to them."

*

She shook her head. "No, it's not that. I was just thinking about the babies and Elesis. We've been gone awhile, and they might be worried about us."

"Then explain it to me you furry idiots! Can't blow apart the leadership because their greed will keep them coming, can't threaten them because...they like challenges-"

"Damned suicidal idiots..." interjected Katherine.

"Exactely, so our best bet is to...what exactely?"

Cross chuckled. "Still thinking like a soldier. If guns don't work, nothing will, am I right?"

His faceplate finnaly depolerizes, revealing the definition of the annoyed look, "How many times do I have to point out that all combat personel of Shadow Squad are soldiers? Hell, I'm a freakin' super-soldier, now can the sniping of our style, and tell me what the hell is your fucking plan so that we can adapt a cover strategy to insure that if shit goes south with your plan, you at least make it out of there more-or-less alive."

"Humph. Take the sniper scope from your eyes, and see the answer right in front of your nose. You don't fight fire with fire; you fight it with water. You can't answer aggression with aggression; it just makes more flames. So, you answer it with pacifism."

"Blackmail into submission?"

He shook his head. "That's still fire. We're not looking to beat them, but to simply overcome. We talk, no blackmail, no weapons, no aggression."

"You want to talk a bunch of old fanatics into calling off the hits?" Now he was confused. "Aren't these the same old people that started this inbreeding schtick, continued a blood feud when they could have made more money working together, oh, and lets not forget that they sent an army to kill you folk..."

"Every instance was caused by aggression toward one another. I won't bore you with details, since you'll counter it with your own aggression. Knowing so much just puts a hamper on understanding everything else."

"Such aggression could have been hammered out with proper discipline and a little thing people call 'diplomacy'. As for our aggression, so far, apart from Cross's house, we all acted with your permission to do so. Hell, from my standpoint, there were at least three other options of toppling the building, and then there was the one that could have left it standing. You people were the ones that said 'Sure, go right ahead.'."

He chuckled. "You know so much, but you understand so little. However, if you want to talk semantics, then from my understanding, I never used the words 'Sure, go right ahead,' or anything of the sort, when dealing with the fate of my home. From my understanding, I was never presented with the other choices that could've left my house otherwise intact."

"You're right, we know so much, yet understand little. We know these people are threats, and the standard reaction for military personel when presented with a threat is to A) Kill it by any means necessary so long as that it presents as little risk to us as possible, or B) Diplomacy via large boring speaches from politicians or threats of doing option A. Maybe it would help if you people would explain why we can't just kill them all? You know, just because we've been here for several months and have more-or-less superior technology, we still don't know much about these assassins and their social structure, while you folk do." He shook his head, "Now explain in an easily understandable way so that I can actually understand why I have to do things your way."