They saw nothing of Hardy over the next week. The Capital was considerably larger than District 7 and there were far more faces around, so losing track of someone wasn't difficult at all. There was no communal Mess Hall either, so if you wanted to find someone, you had to know exactly where they were.
"Tenth floor, Donner Rise," Andre answered when Chloe asked about Hardy's whereabouts. They'd just finished another sparring session with Ari and were walking back through the Capital toward Whitlow Park, a small cluster of apartment buildings where most of the National Army soldiers and Pandorans were housed.
As he answered, he pointed out the building he meant. It was a crooked, degraded-looking thing, paint peeling everywhere. Sections of it were incomplete, construction long since abandoned, and yet lights from inside indicated it was occupied. "You'll find him there."
"That's his apartment?" Chloe asked.
"No, Dana's," Andre said. When Chloe looked confused, he sighed. "It's a bar. But you could call it his apartment — he's practically been living there. Every day this week."
"And you didn't think to mention that?"
"You didn't ask before now." Andre shrugged. "Besides, I tried to get him out of there. He's not interested in help, and if I weren't capable of regenerating in seconds, I'd have a broken nose to show for it."
"Why did you try to help him?"
"Because he was a Chancellor. A soldier. Shouldn't have to see him like that." Whitlow Park came into view ahead of them. "If you want to try yourself, go ahead, but I don't see much coming of it."
Chloe told Jon about Hardy a little while later when he arrived at Whitlow, and he seemed entirely unsurprised.
"I know," he said, letting out a heavy sigh. "Heard word of some grumpy drunk stirring up fights over there. Didn't take long to figure out it was him. Went to see him. Wasn't any good."
"So that's it?" Chloe asked. "We're just supposed to leave him like that?"
"He'll snap out of it," Jon replied. "Eventually. He just needs time to process things, reorient himself. Can't be easy having all the blame dumped on him the way they did."
"We shouldn't have let the Council—,"
"He knew it was the better call," Jon said. "We don't want to stir up widespread panic. You go around screaming alien invasion and things will get bloody very fast. It's better this way, easier to think clearly about what we need to do to stop whatever's going on."
"Right." Chloe nodded. "Yeah, you're right. It just sucks."
"I know," Jon agreed. "Always does."
Another week passed in the Capital — nothing but training and the usual patrols. There were more Pandorans here than in District 7 and therefore far more patrol shifts, which meant a great deal of their remaining time was completely unoccupied, with no special assignments to fill it.
During the second week, they also began to see less of Andre. He turned up to only one sparring session the entire week, and Ari went similarly absent, the sessions being handed over to one Regan Vaughn — a brooding, severe man who reminded Chloe an uncomfortable amount of Erwin, and not in a good way.
Vaughn was considerably less forgiving than Ari. The sparring devolved into something closer to actual combat, fueled by bloodlust, ending often with people limping off with bleeding noses and swollen eyes.
"You'll heal," Vaughn would growl. "Walk it off."
After the final session of the week, supervised jointly by Vaughn and a returned Ari, Chloe and the others were asked to stay behind while the rest filed out.
Chloe, Jon and Jin exchanged dark looks immediately, and Chloe could see Jin tense visibly, already preparing herself for trouble.
"Come with us," Vaughn growled, once it was just them.
They all hesitated, but Ari gave a gentle, slightly reassuring nod. Jon stepped forward first. Vaughn grunted and turned toward the exit, Ari at his side. The rest followed.
He led them to a different section of the Barracks — some kind of operations or command center. Inside, it was dark and gloomy, most of the light coming from the many dozens of computer screens at the desks around the room. A particularly large screen hung from the ceiling, displaying data on the other Districts.
On it was a map of each District alongside the names of their Chancellors and their current status. District 7's map was highlighted in crimson, labeled simply: TERMINATED.
The other Districts were highlighted in green, with one exception — District 5, shown in amber, its status marked: THREATENED.
Vaughn led them to a raised glass enclosure within the room where they found Andre already waiting. He was in a white T-shirt and ripped jeans, his hair unkempt, one eye faintly bruised.
"What's going on?" Jon asked, once they were inside.
Vaughn and Ari faced them, their expressions grave. "You've received your deployment orders," Vaughn said. "From the Council."
Chloe's chest tightened.
Jon crossed his arms. "Where are we going?"
Vaughn glanced at Ari and nodded. Ari picked up a remote from the desk, turned and aimed it at the large screen. She pressed a button and brought up an enlarged map of District 5. It filled much of the screen, and beside it was an image of a man accompanied by a block of information.
The man had short, straight dark hair going gray at the temples, bushy eyebrows, deep-set brown eyes and a thick gray-streaked beard on a lined, weathered face. There was a sharpness to his appearance that made him look stern and deeply intimidating.
His name was Chancellor Stephen Bridge. Age 56. Chancellor of District 5 for three years. No biological offspring. He had taught Chemistry and Biology before the world changed, and had also served a brief stint in the army as a military doctor. His clearance level was 3.
Chloe knew there were seven clearance levels. Clearly, he wasn't a particularly high-ranked or highly-trusted officer.
Vaughn cleared his throat. "Deployment is to Five," he said. "Your task is to investigate a series of recent troubling activity within the district."
Jin shifted. "What kind of troubling activity?" she asked. "Has it anything to do with the Others? My father?"
Vaughn shook his head. "We don't know," he answered honestly. "That's what makes it troubling. Over the past several weeks possibly months — children in the district have been steadily vanishing without a trace. There one night, gone by morning. The Pandoran division stationed there had been tasked with investigating."
Ari pressed another button. Chancellor Bridge's profile disappeared, along with the map. In their place, six images appeared on the screen.
Liam Heller. Daniel Heller. Lucy Jameson. Estelle Park. Mason West. Yuri Voss.
At the sight of Mason West, Chloe's eyes went wide. He was averagely built, neither slight nor broad. His face was lean, his dark curly hair trimmed at the sides, just as she remembered it. His eyes were a light brown and a little mischievous, and even with his expression arranged into something stern for the photo, he still somehow managed to look unserious.
She'd met him before. Back in District 7. He'd arrived in a car being pursued by Servants. He was an Outsider, someone living outside Aurora's Districts and protocol with Outsiders was almost always to send them back where they'd come from, or put them forward for the Pandoran experiment. Mason had been sent to Pandora. To be made a soldier.
They'd heard nothing from him since, and had assumed the procedure had failed, that he hadn't survived it.
But there he was, his image on the screen alongside five others. It was highlighted in red, his status reading simply: ???
The same was true of Liam Heller, Daniel Heller, Lucy Jameson and Estelle Park — none of whom Chloe had ever met. All highlighted in red. All unknown. The sixth image, Yuri Voss, was highlighted in green.
She was the unit's captain.
"What the hell happened?" Jon murmured, stepping forward, his eyes fixed on the screen.
"We think their unit was wiped out," Andre answered, wincing slightly as he rose to his feet and stepped forward. He was limping. Chloe wondered what had happened to him. "The children vanished, they investigated," he continued. "The only one still accounted for is Captain Yuri, and she doesn't have much of an idea what happened. It all moved too quickly, she said. They were attacked by something strong, fast, violent — and hungry."
Chloe shuddered.
"She was the only one who made it out," Andre said. "When she went back later, the others were gone. All that remained was a trail of blood that led nowhere. Every other member of her unit is currently presumed dead."
"How do you know all this?" Chloe asked.
"For one, she called it in," Andre replied. "And I spent the past week in District 5, investigating on behalf of the Council, looking for answers of my own."
"You went alone?" Jon asked.
"Went with her." Andre nodded toward Ari. "The Council wanted a small operation — just light recon to find out what had happened and see if we could turn anything up."
"Did you?" Chloe asked.
Andre shook his head. "Got attacked while I was digging around. And when Captain Yuri said the things that attacked them were strong and fast, she wasn't exaggerating. I barely stood a chance. Whatever it was, it could have killed me. It should have killed me. If Commander Ari hadn't reached me in time—,"
Andre stopped. His eyes went somewhere distant. Chloe thought she saw his lips tremble slightly.
"So we're dealing with something capable of taking down an entire Pandoran unit," Jon murmured. "Has to be other Pandorans, right?"
"Or something else my father has made," Jin said quietly. She sounded frightened.
"And you want us to go in there," Chloe said, looking to Vaughn and Ari. "You want us to find the answers you couldn't."
"I have other commitments," Ari said. "So does Vaughn. If I didn't, I'd get to the bottom of this myself and tear apart whatever was responsible. But I need to be elsewhere. And much as your track record leaves something to be desired, your unit has a considerable amount of real battle experience, particularly given your recent ordeals. The resilience you've shown, the fact that you're still standing — the Council believes—,"
"Skip it," Jon said, his tone flat. "We're Pandorans. We know how it works. We're the expendable soldiers. If things go south and we die, the Council's probably relieved to be rid of us."
Ari said nothing. Neither did Vaughn.
"Children are vanishing," Andre said. "Whatever reason the Council has for sending us doesn't change that. We can't say no to this."
"Wait — us?" Chloe repeated, looking at Andre. "You're coming?"
"We need someone there for oversight," Ari answered. "Andre will accompany your unit. Jonathan remains your captain, he makes the calls, and Andre is under orders to comply. But he has a direct line to us and is expected to report on everything that happens. Full transparency."
"So it's a monster hunt," Lucas said. "Works for me."
"It's more than that." Vaughn shook his head. "Bridge, the Chancellor — he won't take kindly to the Capital intervening in his district, so you'll need to get him on side first. Get his approval before you move. We don't want him feeling undermined."
"Understood." Jon nodded. "And the missing children — where do we start?"
"There's a man there," Andre said. "Pastor Miguel. I met him briefly. Seemed a decent enough sort — runs an orphanage and has offered to let us stay there while we're in the district. We can use it as a base for the investigation, see if we can pick up any kind of trail."
"And just to be clear," Ari said, "you're not being chosen because you're expendable. We're all on the same side. If what you find is far worse than expected, if you find yourselves in danger you can't manage, send word back to us. We'll do everything we can to get more help to you."
"When do we leave?" Jon asked.
"Immediately," Ari and Vaughn answered together. "Two choppers are ready. You'll land outside the district and enter through the standard checkpoint — regular procedures all the way. We want to avoid any appearance of heavy-handedness."
"Understood." Jon nodded. "Is there anything else we need to know? Anything left out of this briefing, deliberately or otherwise?"
Ari and Vaughn exchanged a look. "Yes," Ari said. "One more thing."
"What?" Chloe asked.
"Be careful."