<div style="text-align: center">《 Rebel 》<br/>
<i>Location: Armory<br/>
Addressing: </i> <i>Greg and Mr. Hale</i><br/>​</div><br/>Rebel wasn't comfortable discussing his sex life, or lack thereof, with Greg. But he didn't blame the guy for being brash. The last six months or so had seen a change in his relationship with Sou; she was more impatient with him, she go be missing for half a day or more and give him vague answers for where she had been, and when he returned from overnight missions, she acted irritated that he had returned. It felt as if he had become burdensome to her. At first he thought she was tired of having the married-not married conversation. She said it didn't make sense if they weren't having kids, and she had an IUD.<br/><br/>That's when their last fight, the one before his morning, exploded. She didn't want to go to the clinic to have it removed, she said. It was too dangerous. And then she accused him of wanting her as a breeding machine, quoting some Handmaiden's Tale line. He didn't even know what that tale was about, but apparently he was acting like a 'commander'.<br/><br/>Which made it hurt the worse when Rachel had called him lieutenant. He<i>had </i>wanted to be a commander, but a different kind of one.<br/><br/>His eyes flicked to Greg's face, and though he felt like he might have a thing or two to say about Rachel and Anise, Rebel kept his questions to himself. "We gotta trust the chain of command," he said, "there's a bigger picture out there that we might not understand."<br/><br/>That was the mantra, wasn't it? Boots on the ground did what they were told. Leaders led, and God help their followers if they were fools.<br/><br/>He turned when Greg straightened up and looked surprised, and was slightly alarmed to find Mr. Hale at the door. Frankly, he was speechless. His immediate, unspoken fear was that he had done something wrong that was going to get his status revoked as well; some kind of "I'm sorry, Rebel, you were supposed to be on that list too."<br/><br/>"Sir," Rebel kept his hands neutral, his periphery taking in the muscle that flooded in around the boss.<br/><br/>The change in what was happening astonished him, but Rebel went with the flow. He didn't know what the man had in mind and until he did…well…he didn't want to screw it up by assuming. Right now, anything could happen.<br/><br/>He followed Hale into the back room, bewildered that the man trusted him enough to be alone with him, and shut the door quietly. He scanned the room, feeling more at ease now that there was a door between them and the armed guards. Rebel nodded when Hale said that not everyone understood what was going on. He dropped his eyes when couples were mentioned. He sighed, slid his thumbs in his pockets, and leaned against the wall.<br/><br/>Then Hale dropped the bomb, and Rebel couldn't hide his surprise. "What?" he felt the blood drain from his face. His lips opened, but nothing came out. He didn't know what to say. Rebel swallowed a dry throat and then tried to clear it, but the clenching in his chest made it difficult to do. Despite Greg's words earlier and Rebel's own suspicions, hearing Hale say that Sou had been in bed with a conspirator made it all more real.<br/><br/>"I thought there might be someone else," he glanced away, blinking at the moisture collecting in his eyes. He hated looking weak. Hated the emotions that he was feeling.<i>How could she do this?</i>Nonetheless, she had – she made her bed, and now she had left with the other man. She had made her choice. He realized that he had known it was over for months; he just hadn't wanted to accept the fact.<br/><br/>Rebel brought his eyes back to Hale. He didn't know how long this man knew, but he obviously had means to be in the know. Had they both been watched? Was there others who were on that list, people who were dangerous to those who were being released simply because they weren't useful? "This other community…I haven't heard about this threat." That aspect worried the protector side of him. There were still hundreds of people in Abendblume who relied on their protection. "What do we in the outside patrol need to know? Do we have known enemies that we should be on the lookout for?"