K I N G S G L A I V E || P a l a c e O f I v a l i c e || June 27th, 1:05 AM
He was a man marching towards a distinct goal. In the darkened palace, as he passed by knights who saluted as soon as they recognized their superior, the Knight Lieutenant could only see the path in front of him. Bryce Jenson was normally a laid back sort of guy, but this particular night had lit a fire within his fully armor clad body. He was previously making rounds in preparation for the coming meeting between two kingdoms when he ran into a clumsy and inept young knight calling himself Thomas. After listening to the boy whine on and on, the situation had become clear - the palace was breached. Rather than sound the alarm however, Bryce knew this was his moment. Ophelia, his superior and Knight general, had long occupied the heavily coveted position of commander of the entire Royal Army of Ivalice, but Bryce had always known he was better. Ophelia was his rival - and somewhat of an awkward friend - and opportunity had finally decided to stop smiling at her and avert its gaze to the Lieutenant.
Bryce stopped abruptly as he snapped from his thoughts and realized he was standing in front of the General herself. He instinctively saluted before removing his helmet to reveal a well groomed, bearded face, slicked back brown hair and light brown eyes. He stood at attention with his helmet under an arm as he addressed Ophelia. "General... We've been breached," he said almost reluctantly. He had not counted on running into his rival before taking care of the problem himself. Weighing the lesser of two evils however, he figured he could at least accompany the woman in handling business.
The Knight General had only just gotten to the bottom of the second set of stairs when the man appeared just ahead of her; Bryce Jensen, her 'official' right hand man, although she and he had never really managed to form the sort of bond that she'd created with Caspian. Ophelia was sure Bryce recognized this, and on some level resented it, which would explain why he was always just a bit off whenever dealing with her. There was also probably the fact that he was uncomfortable with having to report to a female, but that was just an assumption Ophelia made of everyone she worked with. It was a great motivator.
Regardless of the details of their relationship, Ophelia knew that Jensen did his job. She might not be overflowing with trust for the guy, but she knew he was capable and respected him for it. She slowly came to a stop and waited for him to realize he was marching right for her, and - wondering what he was doing moving with such purpose - raised her eyebrows at him.
She nodded slightly at his salut, watched him uncover his face with her arms crossed over her chest. Then - "What? What do you mean we've been breached?" Without another beat she pushed past him and continued walking, knowing he would follow her. In her gut she could feel the inklings of panic bubbling, and when she tapped her earpiece to check security, she immediately saw the flashing red blip at the library. "Shit," she growled under her breath as her pace quickened to a run. Practically flying down to the location of the library, she flung the question over her shoulder. "Details, Jensen?"
Her demeanor had not changed, but nothing else could be expected. Bryce silently internalized his frustration and turned to follow his superior as she flew through steps and halls to reach the library. He set his helmet down on one of the tables in the library as the pair entered the room. "I was making my rounds and I ran into a younger recruit who seemed flustered. I was going to reprimand him for being in the wrong area until he told me his story. Someone claiming to be of our ranks was down in the servant's area poking around. Considering the date and time of night, I determined this to have been an impossibly glaring mistake which could only mean that it was an intruder of sorts. I have no knowledge of their motivations, but I also thought it best to keep this breach quiet," Bryce stopped just outside the shelf which housed the secret entrance. "If the Queen were to find out about this with only two days until the meeting... I cannot vouch for how she would react."
Inwardly, she was fuming. This was unacceptable. Someone claiming to be of their ranks? Those servants really were so easy to fuck with. Perhaps it was another of Caspian's pranks? No matter - they would find out who was responsible soon enough. And when they did, she was more than ready to give them the ass whopping of the century.
She blew threw the library doors and was immediately stopped by the sight of the still open secret entrance of the shelf. Shit. As she drew nearer to the exposed passageway, her heartbeat shot up. She was now certain that it was not Caspian and her guys. Her mouth was a drawn line as Jensen came to a stop beside her, facing this huge problem. Ophelia feared who they would find in the holding room, but absolutely refused to show anything but her aggression. "The Queen is not going to find out about this," she stated matter-of-factly, her adrenaline nearly causing her to break her forced vocal calmness. "We are going to clean this up, nice and quietly. Understood?" Then the Knight General took off into the long hall.
But before she got too far, she spun around and looked Jensen right in the eye. And with all sincerity, she said, "I appreciate you letting me know, Bryce." She began jogging backwards. "I know you're a good man."
Taking off again, Ophelia did not waste a second before touching her earpiece. "Cas, we've been breached. I need you, Arthur, Hal, and Gabriel to come meet me and Jensen under the library, now. Keep this silent."
Bryce nodded at the mention of stealthily taking care of the intruders, but declined to reply to the rest of Ophelia's words. His mind was having trouble discerning whether her last comment was genuine and the fact that he could not tell just served to frustrate him. He wondered if his superior had ever even considered him a rival as he had considered her and it was only then that it dawned on him that his internal competition had probably been one-sided all this time - of course, how could it have been anything else since Ophelia had been the Knight General for years at this point. Shelving the thoughts for later, Bryce picked up the pace so as not to lag too far behind the worried Knight General and the duo soon came to the odd primitive door.
Ophelia burst into the room first followed closely by Bryce along with a small team of armored grunts appearing on the other side of the room from a second entrance halfway up one of the walls. The Kingsglaive were closer to the tank and seemed to still be staring in awe, but it was not long before Nero knew something was off. Whirling around, his eyes met with Bryce and, though his outward expression remained masked and stone-cold, his heart skipped and his internal feelings raged. This was not the first time the team had been caught during a mission, but it was certainly the worst time to be found out. The rest of the team was already split between watching the advancing group of grunts who were making there way down zigzagged ramps and Ophelia and Bryce who slowly strolled towards them. Bryce stopped his superior and stepped forward.
"Although I do wonder about your identities, the fact that you're standing here in this room tells me all I need to know about you. And there is no point in striking up a conversation with the walking dead. Execute these miscreants immediately!" Bryce ordered. This was what he had been waiting for. This was the time he had chosen to show Ophelia just how serious he was about rising to her position. Without giving them a chance to respond or reply, the advancing group of knights descended on the Kingsglaive and surrounding them with sword and shields drawn. Bryce elected to stay back with Ophelia and watch the carnage. Since Ophelia's team had yet to arrive, he figured this would be the perfect opportunity to show her just how effective his instruction was.
Nero and the rest of the team instinctively formed a circle with one another, their backs facing each other. The commander slowly unlatched his lance and bent his knees a bit as he surveyed the situation. Everyone was masked so no identities were compromised yet, but fatalities had become unavoidable. If they did not dispatch every person in that room, Ivalice would have all the reason in the world to believe Algareth was inciting a war - an outcome the Kingsglaive could not let happen no matter the cost. Tapping his bluetooth, Nero spoke collectively to the team in their minds. "This... This is bigger than my comprehension at the moment, but the fact is we're going to have kill these guys. Continue to hold back on using magic though so at least that way we might be able to stage a situation if we get out of this." With that, Nero briefly closed his eyes and inhaled.
Then, with a burst of energy, he charged forward.
