“I’m still insulted that you didn’t let me pay for the meal!” complained Marvin as he and Marly entered the hotel.

“Marvin, you've said that three times in the past hour. You’ve seen my house, I’m not exactly short on money. Besides, I asked you out. I know I’ve called you an idiot in the past, but I never thought it’d be to this extent.” laughed Marly.

“It’s about the principle.” rebutted Marvin. “And the fact that if my grandma hears about this I’ll have an hour long lecture as punishment.” he added with a shudder.

Before Marly could respond, a throat clearing sound coming from behind them broke the duo out of their conversation. Turning around, they saw Chiron, in an all human form, smiling down at them. Marly instantly hugged the centaur, while Marvin settled to simply shake hands with him after the hug was over.

“Enthusiastic as ever, Marly. It’s been a while, young Perlie. How is your training?” asked Chiron, and Marvin noticed that his tone, while gentle, was oddly cold.

“Well, Kara says I’m doing well, but I’m not so sure.” sheepishly replied Marvin, feeling a little awkward being put on the spotlight.

“Wait, if you’re all the way here-nothing’s wrong, is it?” questioned Marly, some panic suddenly in her voice.

“Quite the contrary Marly.” reassured Chiron, placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “But it’s not my place to explain. I have to go and fill in for your grandfather’s command post temporarily. Eobard said that you knew which conference room to go to.” he elaborated, before exchanging goodbyes with the teens and leaving.

“That was, well, abrupt.” stated Marvin after a few moments of silence, cringing inwardly when he saw Marly’s shocked face.

“My grandfather would never abandon his post. But if it’s a good thing-Ava.” declared Marly, her tone changing from scared to so happier than he’d ever heard her.

Grabbing him by the wrist, she practically ran to the conference room they were in not long ago, dragging him with her. She really was unexpectedly strong. When they reached said room, Marly all but bashed the doors in her excitement.

The room was different to last time he was there. There were two desks in it, with Adam and CB sitting in one. The most shocking thing to the dark haired teen was that between Kara and Eobard, who were standing in front of the desks, was a tall man with gray hair and goatee. He also has light blue eyes, which look almost identical to Marly’s right one. Could this be her grandfather?

“Grandpa? Are you here because-”

“It’s good to see you as well granddaughter, but please compose yourself.” interrupted the man, smiling affectionately at Marly. He turned to face Marvin, and the dark haired boy noticed that his smile became tighter, more forced. “James Mallory, Rank One Commander of the IDA. I assume you are Marvin Perlie?”

“Ye-Yes sir!” responded Marvin, trying his best to appear as formal as possible. Granted he probably saluted too late, and his voice managed to crack twice in the two words he said, but he did his best.

“No need for formalities young man.” laughed the commander. “After all, you are the one who will be instrumental in the saving of my elder granddaughter.”

A chorus of surprised exclamations erupted from the teens.

“Enough!” shouted James Mallory, instantly driving them to silence. “Eobard and Kara will inform the rest of you of the plan. Meanwhile, Marly and I will have a nice chat and I will inform her. Any questions?”

“Grandpa, I'm still on the school trip. In about half an hour we-”

“Not to worry dear. An exception will be made.” responded the commander, glancing at Eobard. The man’s eyes narrowed in a hard glare, one the white haired principal matched with one of his own. Eventually however, the principal gave up, nodding at the, Marvin assumed, higher ranked man.

As the Mallories left the room, Marvin noticed Adam cast a hateful look toward the commander. He was the man that had essentially ordered Ava to leave them for dead in the case of danger.

But he also noticed Eobard and Kara also stare at his retreating form with anger as well. They were on the same side so Marvin assumed they’d be on good terms, but it seemed that he was mistaken.

After they had left, Eobard let out a long sigh. “Before I say anything, I need to know any information shared within this room will remain in this room. And that includes Marly Mallory.”

“What? If this has anything to do with saving Ava then Marly is the first person that should know!” shouted CB, while the other two teens remained silent.

Adam looked down at the desk, as if contemplating what he should say. As for Marvin, it was all he could do to keep himself from having a similar reaction to his larger classmate. Remembering Adam’s words and the intensity between James Mallory and his mentors he realised that the old man was the reason for that. Still, should that mean he was untrustworthy? More than questionable morally? Yes. But they were still on the same side. At least that’s what Marvin thought.

And even if they weren’t on the same side, after everything Marly shared with him, could he keep something like this from her?

“Marvin? Care to say what’s on your mind?” questioned Kara softly. The dark haired boy assumed his inner turmoil was visible on his face, and inwardly cursed that fact.

“This-this is because of the commander isn’t it?” he asked, deciding to forgo any explanations of his more personal issues, and instead simply listen to what Eobard and Kara had to say.

“In order to understand the reason for all this you must understand what happened five years ago.” began Eobard grimly. Marvin tensed at the event’s mention, but kept his mouth shut. “The Association had gotten information regarding an incoming uprising from the vampiric forces. For the first time in living memory we had the chance to be proactive. So James Mallory’s suggestion was-his suggestion-” struggled Eobard. His breathing seemed to get shallower, but it was his eyes that drew Marvin’s attention however. His eyes looked almost identical to his vision from a couple of days ago.

“It’s okay.” reassured Kara as she placed a hand on the principal’s shoulder. It was a gesture that seemed to relax him, if only slightly,

“His suggestion was that we use the urban environment to our advantage. Set up snipers in the higher floors of the buildings, use sorcerers to trap the areas in advance-something that could only be done properly in such populated environments without our enemies figuring it out. Whenever they attacked, whatever they did, we'd be ready for it and win. Any disadvantages in numbers or strength could be reduced significantly if we played our cards right.

“And he was right. There are many Rank One Commanders. Most of them agreed to that plan, and it was set in motion. Even the people with rank and power to stop them didn’t do anything. Even I-God help me-thought it was for the best. I realised the true cost of that victory too late.” he finished grimly, not once meeting any of his students in the eye.

“I know the losses must have been terrible, but-but there was no other way to go about it. Are you seriously telling that because of something that happened five years ago you-

“You still carry Ava’s situation with you.” CB’s rant was interrupted by Eobard’s remark. “We had time to plan better courses of action, minimize casualties. Alternative plans floated around command centres. But those at the top wanted glory, they wanted to show everyone that doubted them how powerful they were. I’m not saying that there necessarily was a better path.

“I'm saying we should have at least looked for one. Otherwise we’ll never know if all those deaths were in vain. The deaths of our friends and comrades. Even those of the civilians. It’s like saying they didn’t matter enough for us to even try and think of something that wouldn't lead to their deaths.” he explained, looking into Marvin's eyes after he mentioned the civilians.

Perhaps he could sense his anger. The dark haired teen had to fight the urge to go up there and demand explanations from the old man. Why didn’t he and his buddies try to save them?

Save his parents?

Save him?

Did they really matter so little? It wasn't fair. He had subconsciously thought that the IDA did their best to save those they could. But what if they didn't?

What if there a chance that he could still see his parents' faces? Hear their voices?

“Everyone in the supernatural world knows what a disaster that was. Across the globe hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed. Centuries of keeping this world secret were nearly in vain. An array of explanations was used, barely covering everything up. We must do everything in our power to ensure that doesn’t happen again.” explained Kara, sounding surprisingly calm in Marvin’s opinion.

“But how? What can we do against the most powerful people in the association? And when whatever you said is coming finally does, won’t it be better if we stand united?” wondered Adam, looking a bit lost at his superiors.

“We aren’t going against anyone. Our only goal is to resolve this situation ourselves. Which means taking care of Amdis without the interference of James Mallory. We know that Amdis is working for someone. If James Mallory intervenes it will be potentially catastrophic. So we ask you again: can we trust you?” responded Kara.

“Fine.” huffed CB, clearly not happy about the situation.

“Of course.” replied Adam, being the only one with no apparent issues with this.

“Yeah.” Marvin hated everything about this. He had a feeling that whatever plan was set up needed him to be on board. Eobard had saved his life and Kara was his mentor, he wanted to help them. And he had already decided that he wouldn’t let anything like that day happen again.

Then the picture of Marly, her back turned to him and the symbols on her back visible even in the darkness of the room they were in flashed in his mind. A secret revealed only to him. No matter his feelings on her grandfather, he still trusted Marly.

Why couldn't this damn situation be easy?

“Good.” nodded Eobard. “The plan already in place is a simple one. The coordinates on the paper you gave us led to an area on Blood Mountain. That is Amdis’s assumed location.”

“However there is a magical field surrounding the location. One made specifically to only let Marvin Perlie inside. If anyone that doesn’t have his physical composition tries to enter, it will act as a barrier.” continued Kara, looking at the teen in question.

“And I assume you have a way for me to disable that from the inside?” wondered Marvin. It sounded like a solid plan, but the prospect of going to confront Amdis on his own still scared him.

“Indeed she does.” responded a smirking Eobard.

“As far as James Mallory knows, I have devised a spell that will negate the field in four minutes. That’s where our plan deviates. In three minutes, it will open up in a specific configuration that allows three people to enter. Me, Adam and CB.” explained Kara, looking at the duo in question.

“Kara will take care of the Vampire, while you two-” Eobard pointed to Adam and CB, “-will help Marvin and deal with whoever is with the bastard of a vampire. You will have approximately one minute to take care of everything.

"One minute?" shouted Adam.

"Against a vampire you either win and capture it, or die in the first minute. And I assure you I'll fight to the last bitter second." responded Kara, her tone leaving no room for argument.

"But you can't kill them, can you? questioned Adam. "I heard that even if you chop off it's it's head, a vampire will regenerate it. It may take months, or even years, but they will grow it back." elaborated the teen, appearing scared of even speaking about these things.

Entirely reasonable in Marvin's humble opinion.

"Don't worry about Amdis. Or James Mallory and the mission's aftermath. Kara will take care of the former, and I of the latter. Still, you could very well be risking your life. If you want to leave, now's your only chance." explained Eobard and, for the first time since Marvin had met him, he looked and sounded like the military figure he was.

There was a part of him that wanted to leave. But he couldn't. He owed it to Adam, who wanted answers. to Marly, poor Marly that wasn't even aware of this conspiracy, who wanted to save her sister. Hell he even owed it to CB.

That part of him also wondered why should they get their happy ending when he couldn't?

No. No. That wasn't right. He couldn't think like that.

That wasn't him.

So he didn't move. He was weak, and he probably didn't deserve this chance to prove himself but he would. He'd made a promise and the time to make good on it was nigh.

He couldn't back down now.

And it looked like Adam and CB held similar sentiments as they stood still as well.

"Good." nodded the principal. "Welcome to the circle of trust."