Chapter 38 Familiar Face

Aria lay back on the couch and as the hours passed, she finally heard footsteps approaching. The door opened, and Major Stark walked in. 

Dyar straightened, meeting Stark’s gaze.

 “Well, Major Stark? How did it go? Did HQ higher-ups settle down?”

Stark took a deep breath, nodding slowly. 

“Seargent Major Dyar, you’re back to your post. You’re officially released from house arrest, and you’re authorized to resume your duties effective immediately. HQ was, surprisingly, pleased with the outcome of the retrieval mission, especially regarding the recovery of two tank mechs and Second Lieutenant David. But make no mistake—” Stark’s gaze sharpened as he looked directly at Dyar, “—they are still furious with the way you went about this. Acting without any prior authorization, no word to HQ, not even a preliminary report. They feel completely blindsided.”

 "Understood, Major. But I stand by my call. It got results, and we’re all better for it.”

Stark sighed, “Yes, results. I hope you realize how much you could have lost because of this gamble. HQ has called it a success on paper, but they’re scrutinizing everything. Every move you made, every protocol you stretched. HQ’s already asking for detailed logs and your personal reports within the next 24 hours.”

 “I’ll get that report to them. I can live with their scrutiny if it means we’re one step ahead of the mutants.”

 “Just remember, Dyar,” he said in a low voice, “next time you pull a stunt like this, HQ might not be so forgiving. And neither will I.”

Dyar straightened, his posture as rigid as ever.

 "Understood, Major.”

Major Stark’s face twisted with anger and frustration as he turned to Aria.

  “Aria Lock… it’s been a while,” he said quietly. His tone was heavy, carrying the weight of unspoken pain and years of rage barely held in check.

“You and me… we never really got along, did we? But we shared one thing - one common goal that held us both steady. Wipe the mutants off the face of the earth. Every last one of them. But then, that day… that horrible day… watching you lying there, mutating right in front of us. Becoming the very thing we despised. I could barely stand to look at you.”

Stark continued, voice low and trembling.

 “When they brought you in, broken, bleeding, your body… changing, twisting like that. I wanted to draw my gun right there in the hospital. Just… end it for you. Put you out of the misery I thought you’d feel. All those lives lost - elite pilots, soldiers… so many good people, just gone. My son’s entire squad. And there you were, our Aria, our best, lying there… mutating.”

 “I was filled with such hatred. Not for you, but for what I saw you becoming… a reminder of everything we lost. It would’ve been easier to pull the trigger, I thought. Spare you, spare us all from what you were turning into. But I didn’t.”

He paused, exhaling shakily. 

“I don’t know why I didn’t, Aria. Some last piece of respect? Or maybe it was because… deep down, I couldn’t let go of the Aria I knew. I couldn’t do it. But today, I’m glad I didn’t pull that trigger. You saved my boy, Aria. My David… my only family that I got left. I thought he was gone, like everyone else. But because of you, he’s alive. Aria, you gave me back my son I had thought I lost forever. Thank you. I don’t know if you’ll ever understand… how much it means to me.”

Aria clenched her fists, her voice snapping through the room.

 “Major Stark! Focus! I am still the same Aria Lock you knew. My goal hasn’t changed, not one bit - only my body. And I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks of it. I will use every scrap of strength I have, every bit of this ‘mutation’ if that’s what it takes, to wipe every last one of those filthy mutants off the face of this earth. And when I’m finished, when they’re all gone,” she continued, pointing a finger at her head, “then, Major, if it’ll give you peace, you can put a bullet in my head yourself. But until then? I have work to do. So if that’s all you wanted to tell me, then I’ll be on my way.”

Stark’s hardened expression returned, he straightened, his jaw tight. 

“Aria Lock. You’ll face no punishment… this time. But let this be the first and last time you go off-mission. If it happens again, not even Dyar will be able to protect you. HQ has decided to grant you conditional access to military facilities under close supervision. Major Dyar here will oversee that personally. Consider this a warning - a free pass this time. But only this time. Do not pull a stunt like that again. Is that clear!”

"Crystal, sir!"

"Good, dismissed!"

Aria harbored no resentment or bitterness toward Major Stark; she understood him better than most. His dedication to the mission, his unbending resolve, his readiness to do whatever it took to protect humanity - all of it mirrored her convictions. She respected him deeply, perhaps more than anyone else in the Beehive.

But today, as he spoke to her with a trembling voice, filled with gratitude for saving his son, Aria felt a cold shiver run through her. Seeing him like this, exposing his fears and vulnerabilities, stirred something unsettling within her. This was the same man who had once been ready to pull the trigger on her himself. And now, the strong, unyielding Major Stark was cracking, just a little, for her sake.

The vulnerability he showed - the softness that had crept into his voice - was a side of him she had never seen, and it terrified her. What if this weakness was contagious? What if she too began to falter, to feel, to let her own walls crumble? She had always prided herself on her resilience, on being unbreakable in the face of horror. That was what kept her going, what separated her from those who couldn’t stomach the fight. But now she saw the possibility of that strength slipping, and it scared her.

Aria left the military level and stepped out of the elevator onto the civilian level, where the soft tapping of rain greeted her like an old friend. She was so used to the harsh military levels that this artificial rain, part of the Beehive's controlled environment, felt comforting.

She didn’t want to go back to her apartment - not to the empty walls and the hollow silence that waited for her there. No, what she missed was the enclosed, secure feel of her tank mech cockpit. A place where her mind could focus on a single goal and block out everything else.

Instead, she wandered, her boots splashing in shallow puddles that dotted the walkway, until she found herself near the park. Rain fell from ceiling-mounted sprinklers, watering the trees and flowers on this level. She sat on a cold, metal bench, letting the rain pour down on her. Each drop felt like it was washing away a part of her thoughts, carrying off fragments of the anger and the memories that had been clawing at her.

She tipped her head back, closing her eyes as the rain soaked her face, and for the first time in a long while, she felt a whisper of peace. Here, alone in the quiet of the artificial rain, she allowed herself to let go, even if it was just for a moment.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t notice someone approaching until she felt the soft rustle of an umbrella above her. Slowly, she opened her eyes to see a translucent umbrella shielding her from the rain and, just beyond it, a familiar face.

“So, I see you like this spot a lot, Liana.”