Raven Wolf - 03 - The Warriors - Chapter 07 by Kurapika < Submission

Keywords male 1187360, female 1077152, fox 246838, cat 212704, wolf 192326, feline 149643, tiger 38667, raccoon 36431, skunk 34015, vixen 28411, coyote 12010, series 4624, book 4407, novel 1243, chapter 504, raven wolf 329

Chapter Seven

Eve looks Fitz over as he holds an icepack against the back of his head, a bump having swollen from when he had hit the ground after Zack had tackled him down from atop the exhibits. Eve was still having a hard time believing everything that had just happened, not only over the fact that Fitz would know about super soldiers, something she had before been told about but was having trouble accepting were real, but him somehow being involved with them was a shock.

She rubs her arms while staring at him, though she wanted to bring the topic up again it didn’t look like Fitz would be too happy to talk about it.

Fitz notices that Eve is staring at him, he slowly turning toward her and staring at her with an annoyed expression. “What...?”

Eve shrugs her shoulders not sure of how to start. “So... you were... raised in a laboratory?”

Fitz lets out a sigh as he shakes his head. “No, I was raised by your dad in this museum. The laboratory was a very unfortunate, very temporary stay in my life.”

Eve stares back at him. “So then... you hardly remember it?”

Fitz shakes his head no, something like that impossible no matter how much me might want it. “No... as much as I want to forget I don’t think I ever could forget that place.” He lets out a tired moan. “I never thought that anyone else would have managed to escape you know, I have to tell you I was pretty shocked to see him.”

Eve nods her head a frown crossing her face, that much having been obvious. “Yeah... you completely freaked out and started running and climbing over everything in the museum.”

Fitz lets the chair he had been leaning back in fall upright once again. “It’s not going to happen again, if he’s not from the labs like I thought then he doesn’t need me. Heck even if he is from the domestic military like you’re saying he is they’re still not going to want me. I’m not a super soldier, heck I’m far from it. I was just one of hundreds that carried a gene that was needed to make them.”

Eve looks at him, really unsure of what was to happen next. “I never thought that the super soldiers would actually be real... I mean... Shiya mentioned them more than once... and I’ve even seen people that are supposedly supposed to be super soldiers, but this is the first time it’s actually... I don’t know... this is the first time it all felt real I guess.” She begins to question Fitz. “So what do you know about them?”

Fitz shakes his head. “Despite me being able to recognize one I can’t tell you much about them. They made around three hundred mixes of different genetic codes, and each of those codes had exactly one hundred soldiers created from them. These ‘super soldiers’ were created with high expectations, expectations that were impossible to meet, as soon as a mistake was made, as soon as a flaw was found, they were destroyed. That’s all I know about it.” He looks away from Eve, it an unfortunate situation that he didn’t want to think back to. “Just forget that this ever happened.”

Eve continues to question him despite Fitz asking her to just forget about it. “Umm... if you would just clarify something before the topic is dropped... but WHO made the super soldiers? From what you’re explaining it sounds like something much more advanced than anything that the domestics could do, and you mentioned the “True Bloods’... who are they?”

Fitz nods his head it indeed not the work of domestics. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you...”

“Try me.”

Fitz frowns at Eve fixing her with a glare, he pushing himself up from his seat and getting to his feet leaving the room, Eve quickly following after him. “Come on Fitz don’t be like this! I just want to know that’s all, I’m not going to laugh at you or anything like that.”

Eve follows Fitz throughout the museum trying to get him to stop walking, Fitz eventually coming to a stop in front of one of the exhibits, lifting his hand and lighting knocking it against a picture that was hanging on the wall. “This is what a true blood is.” He turns away from Eve heading toward the elevator that would take him to his living quarters. “Tell your dad I need to take the rest of the day off for personal matters, I’ll be in my room so don’t bother me.”

Eve turns away from Fitz as he leaves heading toward his room, she looking over to the picture that he had brought to her attention, it being a painting of a human that she would use to tell her tours about the thousand year ice storm. “A human...?”

*******

Teddy is repairing the hilt of a blade, he had been given the task of fixing the weapons of the trainees that had broken during trials or practice, he turning away from his work for a moment and looking back watching Maigan as he stands near Iuana, talking loudly as he boasted about himself and all of his accomplishments. Iuana giving him very short and unenthusiastic responses as to amuse him enough to not have him nag her about not saying anything, yet dull enough for him to hopefully get bored and eventually go away.

“He would make a poor chieftain don’t you think?” Teddy quickly looks back from Iuana and Maigan, looking back ahead of him to find Shiya standing in front of him, Shiya continuing to speak as he watches Maigan continue to try and impress his daughter by talking about himself. “Listening to him is hard enough already, just think if he was put into a position that wouldn’t allow us to ignore him.”

Teddy laughs at the comment. “If you disprove of him so much then don’t let him be the chieftain.”

Shiya looks back to Teddy. “It’s not my place to decide that. It’s the spirits.”

Teddy lets out a heavy sigh of disbelief. “The spirits... right...” He looks back to Shiya with a shake of his head. “You strike me as a pretty smart, maybe even educated guy. You don’t honestly believe in the spirits do you?”

Shiya answers his question. “I do.” Teddy just shakes his head, Shiya looking back to him. “As chieftain of this tribe were you really expecting me not to?”

Teddy shrugs his shoulders. “I guess I was kind of hoping that you had a little more sense than that.” He looks back to Shiya. “I mean, spirits? Really? I’ve never seen one.”

Shiya gives Teddy a warm smile. “The spirits are not shy Teddy, if they have a message or guidance they will present themselves to you. The only reason you don’t see them is because you probably did not recognize them when they show up.” He looks back to Teddy, he perhaps able to help him with that. “Do you notice that one animal in particular stands out more than others? That you find yourself finding it everywhere? Not just in where you go, but even in images or dreams.”

Teddy holds his hand out motioning to the wilds around him, most all of them a wolf like he and Shiya were. “Uhh... wolf?”

Shiya laughs at the comment. “As obvious as that is you may actually have a point, one of the things that wolf has to teach is that rituals and tradition are important, and last I noticed you needed guidance in these things, especially if you are questioning your chieftain on the existence of spirits.”

Teddy frowns at him. “Very funny.”

“It was no joke. If I intended to make a joke I would have suggested the bear spirit because of your name.”

The annoyed look on Teddy’s face grows after hearing Shiya say that, Shiya looking back to him and patting him on the back. “You know there’s actually a reason that I came to speak with you.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“Iuana.” He looks back to his daughter who seems to have gotten even more annoyed, Maigan having not yet tired of hearing himself talk. “I wanted to talk to you about Iuana’s trials, I think you should enter them.”

Teddy looks back to Shiya. “Come on, do you honestly think I would make a better chieftain that Maigan there? Granted I don’t gloat as much as him but I don’t know the first thing about being a chieftain. Heck I’m still having trouble being a normal tribe member, remember I’m fresh from the city.”

Shiya looks back to Teddy, that not really being a problem. “No one knows how to be a chieftain before ever becoming one. It’s something you are taught once your path to that title has been set. As for you thinking that you won’t make a good one, well, that’s up to the spirits to decide not me.”

He motions back to Iuana and Maigan. “Now, becoming Raven Wolf’s chieftain is not what all of this is about, the future chieftain will be helped, educated and guided well before such a task is given to them. Being the Chieftain is just an added benefit, the real reason, the real prize and reason for entering and wining are because of her. These trials are more about Iuana than anything else, anyone that see’s her as the added perk to being a chieftain should feel ashamed.”

He smiles back at him. “She’s given you an invitation to join hasn’t she? She has given no one else such an invitation you know. That means that she wants you to take part in the competition, enough to even ask me to take time out of my very busy day so that I could talk to you about it.”

“Is that so?”

Shiya nods his head yes. “She’s pretty upset over the idea that you may not bother trying, and possibly very scared that she’s going to end up with someone who has entered the trials for the position of Raven Wolf’s leader more than her, like Maigan.”

Teddy frowns, issues like this a lot different in the domestic city. “Hey, I understand that Iuana likes me, I like her a lot too, but I don’t know her well enough to marry her. I mean, what if we just think that’s we want to right now, but then after decide that we don’t want to. Usually people have more experience with one another before jumping into a commitment like that.”

Shiya looks back to Iuana. “Well, then stop sitting around here playing with weapons and get to know her, all this time you’ve spent backing off because you’re afraid that the end result may not be what the two of you want could have better been spent with her discovering if it was indeed what you want.”

Teddy looks from Shiya back over toward Iuana and Maigan, Shiya continuing to try and help him forward. “Do you have any idea how much it must hurt Iuana for her to put up with someone that sees her as the added bonus for much bigger prize? I think she would have a much better time spending her day with someone that she likes, that also likes her more than he every\ would that silly title.”

Teddy thinks over what Shiya had said, he having never really thought of the situation in that light before. He smiles as he looks back to Shiya. “You know what... I think you may be onto something there.” He hands the blade he had been working on to him before getting to his feet, making his way over to Iuana and calling out to her. “Hey, Iuana.”

Iuana turns away from Maigan, a relived look on her face when she sees him there, she not sure how much longer she could have put up with Maigan’s gloating. “Teddy!”

Maigan frowns as he watched Teddy approach the two of them, Teddy ignoring him as if he wasn’t even there as he begins speaking to Iuana. “I was just about to go for a walk and stretch out my limbs a bit, care to join me?”

Iuana smiles at him. “I would like that.” She looks back to Maigan before leaving with Teddy. “It was nice catching up with you Maigan.”

Maigan watches her leave, he looking from Teddy and Iuana to Shiya, whom he had seen talking to Teddy before he had so rudely interrupted him and Iuana. “What the heck was that about!?”

Shiya shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know.” He throws the blade that Teddy had handed to him to Maigan, Maigan catching it and looking it over as Shiya gave him some instructions. “Finish the repairs on that will you.”

Maigan’s jaw drops. “What? Me repair the trainee’s weapons? That’s not my job!”

Shiya frowns at him. “It is so, I just gave it to you didn’t I? Last I checked I was still the chieftain of Raven Wolf, so the privilege of telling the members of my pack what they do and do not do still lies with me.”

Maigan frowns back at Shiya, not at all pleased with being given such a tedious job, Shiya ignoring the look Maigan was giving to him as he turns away to leave, there plenty of other things for him to do today.

*******

Iuana walks alongside Teddy, the two making their way through the woods that surrounded the Raven Wolf village, she smiling as she looks back to him. “Thanks for saving me from Maigan, he’ll literally go on for hours about himself.”

Teddy laughs at the comment. “Hey no problem.”

Iuana dashes ahead of him, making her way across the forest floor as easily if a path had been cut through it, she turning back to Teddy he not able to move through this area as easily as her. “So Teddy, are you happy here? I mean in Raven Wolf.”

Teddy grins, he actually liking it a lot more than he had initially thought that he would. “I like it, I kind of feel like I’ve been missing out by living in the city up until now.”

Iuana nods her head while glancing back at Teddy. “You know you’ve filled out since you’ve been here. You’re a lot more fit, you look a lot healthier too. No saying that you looked unhealthy before.”

Teddy laughs at the comment, it true that he needed to be a lot more active out here than he ever had to be in the city. “Well I guess that’s to be expected, I’m started to get back to how I looked when I was in the military. I mean security guard isn’t that far off from a desk job you know.” He looks back to her, he not the only one to have changed in this way. “Yula has been filling in too, I mean where we first got here he looked younger than Kitchi, and now Yula is slowly starting to look older than him, I swear he’s even gotten taller than he was in the city.”

Iuana laughs at the comment. “I wonder where he would have gotten that from, certainly not my little father.”

Teddy quickens his pace, hoping through several obstacles until he catches up to Iuana. “So what’s going to happen if Maigan wins the competition? Or someone like him?”

Iuana sighs at the thought, really not wanting to think much about a situation like that happening to her. “To tell you the truth I never thought that I would be faced with a problem like that until now... I knew that I would have to go through it as a kid, but I guess I naively thought that the winner would always be someone that I already liked... you know... just like how mom and dad would tell the story of how father won the right to marry my mother...”

She looks back to Teddy with a smile on her face. “You know they were in love with one another long before the suitor’s trials. When the announcement was made to begin the competition for my mother’s hand my mom was horrified, I mean just look at my dad, he’s not the type you would ever expect to win something like that right?” She looks to the side the grin still on her face. “Dad entered the competition regardless of his chances, just for her... mom was really terrified, she thinking that dad would get hurt or worse yet, killed in the trials. The night before the trails she was so panicked over his safety that she suggested that they run away together, but father wouldn’t have it because doing something like that would be bad not only for her, but for her family and people. In the end despite the odds my dad ended up winning.”

Teddy thinks this information over as he jokes about it. “Did he cheat?”

Iuana laughs at the question. “Well, I actually asked him the same question when I was kid, he says that he didn’t, so I’ll just have to take his word. Whatever the case the person mom loved the most was the one that ended up winning... so I guess I just thought that it would be the same for me...”

Teddy shrugs his shoulders as he looks back to her with a grin. “Well, you still have a few months before the trails right? You’ve still got time to fall in love with someone that might win before then, or maybe even the hard headed guy you already like might gets his act together and make up his mind on what he wants to do already, and maybe even win those trials for you.”

Iuana smiles at him. “I would like for that very much...”

*******

Zack is sitting on the sofa at Dolly’s house, he about to drowse off when he is suddenly hit over the head with one of the sofa pillows, he looking back to find Dolly standing over him holding the cushion with an angered look on her face. “Ow! What!?”

Dolly speaks to him in an angered tone. “How many times do I have to tell you! Don’t put the dishes away in the cupboard if they’re still wet!”

Zack groans at the complaint. “They weren’t THAT wet!”

“You can’t take the extra effort to dry them before putting them away?”

“They were practically dry! Only a little bit moist!” Dolly hits him again with the pillow, Zack quickly jumping back from the sofa out of her reach so that she couldn’t do it again.

Dolly is about to go after him but stops when two cell phones begins to simultaneously go off, both her and Zack stopping their quarrel as they beginning looking for their phones to answer them, both finding and answering at the same time.

“This is Dolly Conner.”

“Zack Magellan reporting for duty.”

The two listen to the voice on the other end of the phone, the person on the other line a member of the military that was giving them orders to follow, the two responding to their orders simultaneously as well.

“Understood, I’m on my way.”

“Right away sir, I’ll be there immediately.”

The two hang up their phones, Zack looking back to Dolly. “Well what are you waiting for? Are we going or not?”

Dolly throws the pillow she had still been holding at him before turning away and preparing to leave, Zack ducking down out of the way to avoid being hit by it, he too getting ready to leave as soon as possible.

*******

Zack and Dolly are back at the military base, they entering a room where four other soldiers are waiting.

Dolly looks around at the other soldiers that were with them, two of them she recognized, Vaan, the black cat whom would always oversee Zack’s interrogations when he was being questioned about the incident concerning Kit, and Alistair, the sharp tongued coyote that Zack did not get along with at all. The other two, a tiger and a mink, unfamiliar to her, having never been met by her before. There was one thing that was familiar about all of them though, each one of them carrying a numerical tattoo on the inside of their ears.

Alistair immediately notices Zack’s arrival. “Well isn’t this just one big happy reunion. The General must have some pretty important news if he’s gone and called in his favourite little soldier.”

Zack doesn’t look over to him, he not in the mood to deal with Alistair right now. “Do everyone here a favour and just keep your trap shut.”

Alistair laughs at the response he had gotten from Zack.

Dolly speaks up. “We’re just here for the meeting, Zack hasn’t gotten the clearance he needs yet to start working for the military again.”

Alistair is about to say something but is stopped when he sees General Mort enter the room, the six soldiers that had been gathered immediately standing in attention in his presence, the General stopping in front of Dolly as he begins to speak to her. “I apologize for the haste-full introductions, but we have business to attend to right away.” He holds his hand out to the other soldiers in the room, motioning to them one by one, starting with the tiger, followed by the mink, the black cat and then Alistair. “Kane Swartz, Chase Lockheart, Vaan Brights and Alistair Quincy. You and Magellan will be working with them from now on.”

Dolly nods her head, making a note to remember the names. “Yes sir.”

General Mort moves to the front of the room as he gets right down to business. “An opportunity has presented itself to us.”

He takes a folder, opening it and placing its contents upon a table, Dolly and the others all approaching the table and looking over what it was the general was setting out to show them, General Mort beginning to explain the situation. “Information is right now circling throughout the tribes of wilds in this area. The leader of Raven Wolf is holding trails to find a suitor for his daughter.”

Zack grins at the information. “Oh Teddy will be all over that one.”

Dolly looks back to him. “Really...? You think now’s a good time to be joking like that.”

Zack frowns as he looks back to Dolly. “Sorry.”

A deep laugh fills the air as Kane, the large tiger within the group looks over to Zack with a surprised expression. “I never thought I would hear you of all people apologize to someone.”

General Mort raises his voice. “Now is not the time for this.” He begins to explain the situation. “The trials aren’t going to take place in Raven Wolf’s village, but Raven Wolf’s leader WILL be there, and that’s all that matters.”

Vaan both looks and thinks the information over. “No way, he’s not going to come out and endanger himself over something like this. Anyone with even a bit of sense knows to stay away from high profile events when they’re trying not to be found.”

General Mort looks over to Vaan. “Forget about logic Brights, these are wild’s we’re talking about, and when concerning them tradition is always going to overpower logic, if it didn’t these trials wouldn’t even be taking place.”

He looks back to the others beginning to explain. “The whole point of these trails is for the potential suitors to try and impress the father of the daughter they are fighting for, to show the chieftain and the spirits that they are worthy of taking his place.”

Vaan shakes his head. “And they go about beating the snot out of each other to prove that? How primitive...”

Alistair rolls his eyes at the comment. “Yeah, they’re wilds, primitive is in the job description.” He looks back to Dolly with a grin. “Isn’t that right Conner?”

Dolly tries her best not to snarl back at Alistair, knowing that doing something like that would just add support to his rude comment, Zack the one to snap back at him with a snarl. “Watch it Quincy.”

Chase, the quiet mink, lets out a yawn, this whole meeting hardly interesting to him at all, he though contributing to the conversation despite his un-enthusiasm, it his job after all. “Where are these trails supposed to take place, and when are they taking place?”

General Mort points to an area on a map he had in front of him. “Here, in a little less than five months. So you’ll have plenty of time to think of and practice the plan to catch him and get it right.”

Dolly stares down at the area that General Mort was pointing out, although she did not care for intruding upon a ceremony like this doing so would result in a lot less casualties than attacking the Raven Wolf village would cause.

Alistair grins as he looks back to General Mort. “I like this plan, crash the party to capture Raven Wolf’s leader and take him with us by force.” He laughs to himself. “I wonder if freckles will be there? Wouldn’t it be nice to run into him again?”

Zack looks across the table to Alistair. “Oh yeah, he could give you a second scar to match your first, wouldn’t that be great?”

Alistair slams his fist against the table snarling angrily at Zack, General Mort raising his voice and immediately ending what might turn into a fight. “That’s enough Quincy!”

Alistair frowns back at General Mort, it annoying him that he had been the only one to get in trouble for the spat, a low growl escaping his throat as he mumbles to himself about Zack. “General’s little pet.”

General Mort looks over to Kane, ignoring Alistair’s comment and getting back to business, he now giving him his orders. “Swartz will be in charge of this operation.”

Alistair gives an annoyed groan, everyone ignoring his reaction, General Mort continuing to give them their mission info. “This is not going to be an easy scenario and you six are going to be the only ones on this mission, do you understand?”

Kane lets out a deep purr that sounded almost as frightening as a growl. “That’s fine by me. The less people I have to babysit the better.”

Mort seems pleased that there will not be a problem. “Excellent, devise a plan with your group, and make sure your group reaps results! End up empty handed and I won’t be happy.”

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Raven Wolf - 03 - The Warriors - Chapter 07

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