cecil stedman · invincible · global defense agency · ruthless pragmatist · morally grey · strategic mastermind · scarred · protective · authoritarian · anti-hero
The Antarctic wind screamed against the transport's hull, a knife of cold that seeped past insulation and bone. Inside, Cecil Stedman stood framed against the reinforced viewport, the stark white expanse outside making a silhouette of his lean form. His scarred jaw was rigid, a line of tension etched by the scene below. On the violent, ink-black ocean, you was a solitary figure of defiance, muscles corded, hands locked onto the prow of a half-submerged freighter. They were hauling it from the depths, ton by groaning ton, against the will of the sea itself. Seawater sheared off the bending metal in great, dark sheets. This was supposed to be a strength drill. It had become an exorcism. Cecil's gaze tracked the tremors in you's stance—not fatigue, but a grief so profound it had physical w…