Raven Wolf - 04 - The Wounded - Chapter 16 by Kurapika < Submission

Keywords male 1189203, female 1078887, fox 247222, wolf 192563, horse 59126, raccoon 36494, skunk 34028, fantasy 26767, coyote 12011, jackal 11819, sci-fi 4734, series 4636, book 4414, mink 3046, cat girl 2435, science fiction 1910, novel 1243, chapter 504, raven wolf 329

Chapter Sixteen

Mrs. Fina, the manager whose job it was to organize all events related to Ms. Kelpie’s stay and appearances with in the city, claps her hands together to get the attention of a group of stage hands that were currently lounging in the break room. “Come on now back on your feet! Setup was supposed to be finished fifteen minutes ago and the back drop still isn’t even up yet!! Not to mention that there’s a lot less sparkles and stars on stage than are in the specifications people! We have a show to get ready so let’s get it ready now!” She watches as everyone quickly swarms out of the break room, she yelling after them before they are gone. “I don’t pay you to laze around and let the work build up and fall behind!!”

The doe lets out a tired sigh before heading to her next order of business, she jumping with a start when she turns a corner and almost runs into a coyote that was making his way through the hall. “Oh for heaven’s sake you had better be in the middle of doing something productive.”

Alistair frowns at the comment. “For the last time lady, I’m not part of your staff.”

The doe nods her head now recognizing him. “Oh yes, that’s right. You’re the Captain’s friend.” She points down the hall. “Naida is in the makeup room getting ready for a press meeting, you’ll find him there.”

Alistair lets out a laugh. “The makeup room? Oh and here I thought it couldn’t get better, last time I was here he was in dance studio.” He walks past her heading in the direction that he had been pointed, soon finding the room that he was looking for.

Mort is standing near the line of makeup tables that Naida is seated it, his arms crossed and a frown on his face, Naida looking over to him with a smile when her makeup artist leaves to get something. “If you keep making that frown Captain Mort your face is going to get stuck that way.” Mort lets out a heavy sigh in response to that, Naida laughing. “Oh come on, it wouldn’t hurt you to smile more often, I bet you look lovely when you smile.”

Alistair approaches Mort. “You should listen to her Captain, you really don’t smile enough, in fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen you crack a grin once.”

Naida looks over to Alistair. “Captain Mort you should be more like your friend, why every time I see him he has grin on his face. He smiles so much he could be mistaken as a hyena.”

Alistair turns toward Nadia. “I’d bet he gets that from his dad, must have been a nasty piece of work your father.”

Mort speaks up, not needing this conversation to continue. “Quincy what are you doing here? It’s the end of the week, tonight is the deadline for Dmitri’s assignment, you should be working on finding a way to finish it before you run out of time.”

Alistair nods his head well aware of that. “Yeah, yeah, already handled.”

“You’ve found your target then?”

Alistair shakes his head no. “Oh no, of course not, hard to do without Berights helping me out with that.”

Mort shakes his head not understanding. “Then how do you propose to finish your assignment if you can’t find your target.”

Alistair holds his hand out to himself. “By being inventive and finding another way of dealing with the problem.”

“Oh really, and how do you intend to do that?”

“Threatening Dmitri’s life.”

Mort stares at Alistair wondering if he should take him seriously or not, he finally speaking up after a few moments of silence. “You can’t threaten Dmitri and get away with it, what makes you even think that would work?”

Alistair shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know, I mean come on, I’m kind of running out of time here so I gotta think of something.”

“Go look for your target.”

Alistair shakes his head no. “I’m never going to find my target.”

“Go look for your target now.”

Alistair sighs turning away and shaking his head. “Come on it’s a good idea, I have better luck with this idea than I have with acquiring a target guarded by Eighteen!”

“Target. Look. Now.”

“There is just no reasoning with you.”

Mort grumbles at the comment. “Despite this ‘partnership’ between us or whatever you want to call it-”

Alistair lifts his hand placing his finger on Mort’s nose. “We’re totally lovers.”

Though not thought possible, Mort’s frown grows even more annoyed and aggravated. “I’m not calling it that.”

“You need to be more accepting of who you are.”

Mort lets out a heavy sigh while shaking his head and returning to what he had wanted to say. “DESPITE this, I am still your superior and you are to obey my orders, is that clear?”

Alistair frowns at the idea. “Maybe if my job were as easy as yours I would hop right to it.”

“Quincy! You will take my orders seriously and do as you’re told!”

The makeup artist that had been working on Naida returns to the row of vanities they are at, she letting out a gasp as she falls over hitting the ground, the light powered she had been carrying bursting and filling the air in a huge ball of sparkly dust, Mort and Alistair both coughing as they move to get out of the cloud of makeup.

Mort lets out a frustrated yell, this not having been the first time this woman had made this mistake, Mort turning to her and voicing his frustration. “If you can’t walk in heels stop wearing them!”

Naida calls over to assure her assistant. “Don’t listen to him he’s just cranky, you’re doing much better this week in them then you were last week.”

Alistair begins laughing at Mort. “You’re sparkling.”

Mort groans as he looks back to Alistair. “I’m rarely NOT sparkling when I’m working this assignment. They put glitter in everything. EVERYTHING!!”

Alistair continues chuckling. “Hey Mort, our makeup matches.”

Mort lifts his hand, holding his forehead in frustration. “Quincy… go find your target… go now…”

“Fine, I’ll do it your way.”

Alistair turns to leave, Mort calling after him before he leaves. “Take a shower and wash that off first.”

“Nope!”

“Quincy-”

“Don’t have the time, countdown to my death and all that.”

The makeup artist gets back to her feet, running up next to Mort and apologizing to him. “I’m sorry Captain! I’ll have you cleaned up right away.”

Naida walks up to Mort, she doing her best to avoid the cloud of makeup that still hung in the air. “Goodness… you really got him good this time.” She comes to a stop in front of Mort looking him over. “You wouldn’t happen to have another uniform to change into would you?”

Mort gives her a heavy sigh as his answer, Naida taking that as a no, she humming to herself as she tried to think of something, knowing that she couldn’t take him to the press conference looking like this. “Oh, I’m sure we can find something in wardrobe for you.” She points over to her trailer. “Just use my trailer again like the last time this happened.”

Mort lets out a heavy sigh as he turns away heading to the trailer, the makeup artist looking back to Naida as she apologizes. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately! I’ve never been this clumsy before! Please don’t tell Mrs. Fina she’ll fire me for sure!”

Naida waves her concern off. “Oh don’t worry about it, I won’t say anything, it was an honest mistake after all, just hurry and clean this mess up before she gets here and discovers for herself.”

Naida leaves the makeup artists side, a frown filling her face as she makes her way from her and toward a figure who has his face burred behind a newspaper. “Aither you can’t make that poor girl fall every time you need to talk to me alone!”

Aither holds the newspaper down so that he can look at Naida. “It’s the best way to make Captain Mort leave so that I can talk to you in privet about certain matters, it works every time.”

Naida sighs as she crosses her arms, she going with it despite wanting to lecture him about it. “Have you managed to find Shiya yet?”

Aither shakes his head not having any luck what so ever. “Not a trace, the guy is keeping himself just as elusive as before, I should have followed that lead you gave me before that raccoon had the chance to take it from me.”

A worried tone fills Naida’s voice, she thinking of the crystal that Aither had brought back with him after searching through Dolly Conner’s apartment. “This isn’t good… that crystal is the our only key to who we really are… go to long without it and we’ll start thinking more like a Source and less like ourselves.”

Aither nods his head, aware of how bad that might be. “That may not play out well seeing as Shiya is a source of destruction.”

Naida looks to the side. “It’s not really that… I mean his personality, Shiya is just such a sweetheart, and he really cares about those around him. I mean he risked his life to save that Dolly girl didn’t he? Sources though… would never do such a thing, they’re representatives of power they’re not souls… not people…”

She lifts her arm staring into a crystal that had been crafted into a bracelet, and image within it of when she was a child, she sitting on one side of a river that is much too large and strong to cross, she staring over at the figure on the other side, Aither as a young kit staring back at her with a grin as he talks to her, the two having to speak pretty loud to be heard over the sound of the water. “I would hate to lose a single memory of mine… both the happy and sad ones.”

She looks to the side, and upset expression on her face. “Shanira lost hers a long time ago… she acts exactly as a Source with no trace of who she really was… she’s so cold now and survival is everything to her… I don’t want to be like that… I don’t want any of us to be like that…”

Aither gets to his feet. “Hey, I’ll find him, don’t worry about it. Shiya’s played host for a Source longer than any of us, the very first to be placed in a mortal form, the two of us know from experience that it gets harder to forget things with each passing year, I’m sure he’s got a while to go before that starts happening to him.”

He looks past Naida spotting Mort he makes his way back from the trailers, he dressed in the clothes that one of the members of wardrobe had found for him. “Like I said love, just leave everything to me, you have your own problems to deal with.”

He leaves Naida’s side, saluting Mort as he passes by him. “Nice threads, didn’t think I’ve ever catch you in anything but a uniform.” Mort lets out a growl of annoyance, Aither turning back to Naida and throwing one last comment to her before taking his leave. “This one must be an absolute joy to hang out with.”

Naida sighs as she watches Aither leave, she looking back to Mort. “I apologize for Aither’s cocky attitude, he’s been that way since I can remember… my mother and father warned me about him but I never listened to their warnings, you know how it goes with parents.”

Mort looks to the side. “Not particularly…”

Naida lifts her hand to her mouth a little worried by that response. “Oh my… please don’t tell me I hit a sore spot for you…”

Mort shakes his head no, it not particularly a dark unknown secret he kept to himself. “Not really, there’s nothing for me to remember, I never knew my father, and though my mother raised me in my early years she hardly spoke a word to me let alone gave me warnings at any time. I’m positive that every time I left the house she would hope that I would not come back.” He finishes fixing the sleeve of his shirt. “She disappeared when I was six and left me to take care of myself, it wasn’t until I was fourteen that I heard any news about her again, and that was from someone of the state telling me that she had died.”

“Growing up must have been hard for you…”

Mort grunts. “Growing up is hard for everyone regardless of their situation. I don’t dwell on it so neither should you.” He looks over toward a clock on the wall. “We should go, Mrs. Fina will be furious if you’re late.”

Naida nods her head. “Yes… of course…” She seems sad, the things she had heard Mort say upsetting to hear about. To grow up alone with no one that loved them… it was no wonder he never smiled.

*******

Shiya shakes his head no while refusing to budge on the subject. “Green is out of the question!”

Fitz lets out a sigh as he continued trying to convince him. “Come on, it’s the best I could find on such short notice!”

Shiya once again shakes his head no. “It’s not happening.”

Fitz groans as he turns toward Eighteen, who as usual is stationed at the window in watch of their surroundings. “You sure you don’t want green?”

Eighteen answers the question in a sharp and unfriendly tone. “Ask me that question again and I’ll cut your tail off.”

Fitz looks away from him, looking back to Shiya and holding a small box out toward him. “Green for you it is.”

Shiya pushes the box away. “No!”

Fitz looks around him for help. “Can someone try to convince him for me? I can’t do this, we’ve been arguing over it for like- an hour now.”

Dolly looks up from a map she is looking over, she looking back to Fitz and correcting him. “You’ve only been arguing for fifteen minutes.”

Fitz grumbles to himself. “Are you sure, cause it sure feels like an hour.” He sighs to himself it looking like no one was going to help him with this, he turning back to Shiya and trying to explain again. “Alright, here’s the deal. We need to move locations, that means we have to go out on the military patrolled streets. If you go out looking like that you are going to be recognized and we’re gonna be in a whole mess of trouble you hear me!?” He holds the small box back out to Shiya, it being a fur colouring product. “That’s why we gotta make you green.”

Shiya shakes his head no, though he understood the situation he still wasn’t going to do something so ridicules. “You’re not making me green!”

Fitz holds his hand out to Eighteen. “Chase is going from his lovely cream colour to boring old brown.” He holds his hand out to Dolly. “While Dolly has to go grey.”

Shiya frowns. “Dolly is already grey…”

Dolly looks back to him. “Yes, well not solid grey like this will make me. It’ll get rid of my markings. Also I’m getting dressed up like a boy.”

Shiya stares at Dolly. “You already dress like a boy! Have you seen your wardrobe?”

“What is with you men? Just because it’s not a dress or doesn’t sparkle doesn’t mean that it’s not girl’s clothes. It’s girls clothes ok! Honestly why does everyone think I dress like a guy?”

Fitz holds his finger up to Shiya. “You want me to put you in a dress?”

“No!”

“Then make yourself green!”

“No!”

Eighteen speaks up, this not going anywhere. “Just go out and get another box of colouring, and make sure it’s not something so bright.”

Fitz sighs as he looks over to Eighteen. “Do you know how much this stuff costs? I don’t have that much in cash on me, and if I use a card it’s going to leave a paper trail for the military.”

Lumia turns her chair around as she takes her eyes from her computer to look at Fitz. “Don’t worry about it, I told you I can take care of anything like that. You can even use my account if you want to, it’s the least traceable account on the planet.”

Eighteen holds his hand up. “Or you can just steal it, aren’t you some sort of master thief of some sort?”

Fitz is offended by the comment. “I’m not a thief I’m a treasure hunter!!”

Fitz lets out a sigh, giving up and agreeing to go get another. “Fine, because Shiya is being Mr. ‘I’m going to be picky and not going to go green’ I’ll go get another colour.”

Shiya watches Fitz leave with his arms crossed. “You can use the green!”

“I don’t need to use anything! I wasn’t spotted!”

Fitz leaves Dolly letting out a sigh as she looks the group over. “Are you sure we want to do this? So far we’ve been doing pretty well hiding out in this location, and the Cadrey Museum is a hotspot.”

Both Eighteen and Lumia speak up at the same time. “We don’t have optimal vantage points at this location.”

Lumia looks over to Eighteen before looking back to Dolly, continuing to explain. “The museum isn’t a hot spot anymore, with all the activity going on the city military power is being directed at Miss. Conner’s house and the area of and around where the sources had their fight, that includes the area we’re in right now. Not to mention that at the museum I’ll have an entire security system to use to my advantage, and not only that but you guys will get a nice place to sleep for once, plus there’s a lot of hiding places there you can utilize if trouble does come calling.”

She points to the work that she is doing on her computer. “You guys are all going to get new names and identities, so you’ll have to hide a lot less too, though you’ll still have to be careful.” She looks to Eighteen. “Especially you because you have that marking on the inside of your ear that you can easily be identified with.”

She glances back toward Dolly finishing off her explanation. “We’ll also have two Super Soldiers on our side, I sent Tahki there for Eve to look after.”

Dolly looks over toward Eighteen, this also a concern. “I can still depend on you right? Tahki was your target after all.”

Eighteen walks across the room as he makes his way over to her, a smile on his face as he explains. “Don’t worry about me, I’m following you remember?” He places his hands on either side of Dolly’s face. “As long as I’m with you I’m happy, I wouldn’t do anything to compromise that.”

Dolly pulls away from Eighteen’s hold. “Chase what has gotten into you lately? Honestly you’ve been acting so strange it’s starting to scare me.”

Eighteen grabs onto Dolly wrist before she can turn away from him. “I’ve changed a bit I admit, but don’t let that scare you. I’m still the same person.”

Dolly frowns at him. “Why are you acting to weird?”

“You are everything to me, as long as I have you nothing else matters.”

Dolly questions him, she not the only friend of his that existed. “What about the others Super Soldiers… are you okay with what’s happening to them? There deadline is today you know.”

Eighteen smirks at the questions, there no need for him to concern himself over such a thing. “You’re concerned because today is Dmitri’s deadline? From what Lumia has found out from the military the reports all the Super Soldiers aside from Two have all gone missing.”

Dolly doesn’t seem too please with the answer, that still leaving at least one more person to worry about. “Yeah well what about Quincy then? He’s still there.”

Eighteen glances to the side. “If Two is stupid enough to stick around and get himself killed that’s his problem, not mine.”

Dolly argues with him. “He’s still your friend isn’t he? You Super Soldiers have known one another since you were children haven’t you? Even if you don’t get along with him you must still be worried about him right?”

Eighteen doesn’t answer her question, he letting his grip on her go and allowing her to pull away from him, Dolly shaking her head before turning away from him. “Well, fine then, give me the silent treatment. I’m going to go take a bath in grey dye and then change into the clothes that Fitz brought me.”

Eighteen watches her leave, he letting out a frustrated growl as he turns away from her and makes his way to Lumia, standing behind her chair and looking at the monitor she is working at. “You’re one of the best hackers around aren’t you? Find me something on Dmitri.”

Lumia looks back to Eighteen. “What…? Why?”

Eighteen explains it being simple. “There’s no way that Two is going to catch his target before his time is up, he needs some other way of keeping himself alive. Dmitri is a source, that’s means he’s been around for a while, and he had no qualms or hesitations when trying to kill me and Dolly so that means that he’s killed before, and he’s killed a lot. Find me the name of someone whose death he doesn’t want to be linked to.”

Lumia seems unsure about this idea. “You do know that by helping that Super Solider out you’re only insuring that the two of you will fight one another.”

Eighteen grinds his teeth well aware of that. “I can handle Two no problem. Just get me the information.”

Lumia sighs as she looks over to the small robot that was right now perched on her desk. “Okay then dad, I need you to get Ebon Dmitri’s DNA profile from the military database and match it with any cases where his DNA might have been recovered that might connect him to the case in anyway.”

“-Certainly Lumia, this will only take a moment-”

It doesn’t take long for a list to start to form on the monitor, it appearing much faster than it could be read, Lumia becoming nervous upon seeing it. “Wow… he’s really gotten around.”

“-All of these files prove through DNA that he was present or even responsible, with military records stating otherwise-”

Lumia looks lost in the information. “These files go back hundreds of years! How the heck are we supposed to find a name from this list that’ll be relevant??”

Eighteen reads through the list as quickly as he could. “There has to be something we can use in all of this.”

Lumia seems reluctant that this give them the information they wanted in the time frame that they had. “Maybe, but not anything you’ll be able to find in time.”

Shiya speaks up calling to them from across the room, he thinking that they were wasting their time. “I doubt that he cares about anyone on that list, it’s the military that cares not him, any name you pick from it isn’t going to matter to him. Look for something that would actually matter to him, you said he’s been around for hundreds of years, so look to see if he has family.”

Another window opens, this one holding a single file name on it, Lumia looking over to it and questioning it. “Dad what’s this file? And why’s it separate from the others?”

“-The DNA marker showed up, but it isn’t relevant to a disappearance or murder-”

Lumia seems confused. “Well what’s it relevant to then?”

“-It’s what Shiya requested I search for, it’s relevant to Mr. Dmitri’s son-”

Both Lumia and Eighteen’s attention is immediately on the file, Eighteen questioning what he had just heard. “His what?”

Shiya speaks up. “Told you.”

Lumia looks back to Shiya. “How could you have possibly guessed such a thing?”

Shiya looks back to her, it not that difficult a concept. “Hundreds of years is a very long time to live out alone… all of the sources have found companionship and even have families by now, Wind and Water have one another, Fire is married, and even I have children of my own. I don’t doubt that Earth would seek out someone to fill such a void.”

Eighteen reaches for the keyboard Lumia grabbing onto his hand and stopping him. “Ok no! Nobody, and I mean NOBODY touches my computers except for me alright.” Eighteen frowns at her while Lumia opens the file herself reading over the information in it. “This is it… this is the information that Dmitri would care about being found…”

Eighteen stares at the monitor, there no question about it with the information he was reading. “This is without a doubt the file that will keep Two alive.”

*******

Teddy sits down in front of a glass window, his hand on his chin as he goes over his thoughts. He looking to get an idea as reaches for a marker by his side using it to draw a marking on the glass where a game board had already been drawn, this marking his next move. “Alright Zack try and beat that!”

Zack looks at the drawn out game that was right now on the glass between their cells, he taking a marker and making his own move, and crossing out several of Teddy’s pieces, Teddy letting out a groan as he hits his forehead against the glass. “Oh come on really…? I thought I only lost at games because Yula had three hundred years of practice on me… but I can’t win against anyone!”

Zack points the marker he is holding to himself. “Super Soldier.”

Teddy holds his hand to another side of his cell, where another game had been drawn on the glass, this game having been played against his Fenrir, his young prison guard. “And what about him!? I lost against him too!”

Zack looks over to Fenrir who has once again fallen asleep at his post in boredom. “Yeah ok, you just really suck at these games.”

Teddy gives a frustrated yell. “I hate these games!!” He sits in his cell in silence for a moment, he eventually looking back to Zack with a sigh. “Wanna go again…?”

“You really are bored aren’t you?”

“I honestly don’t know how Yula managed to survive three hundred years of this…”

Zack leans back in his cell. “I’m not playing with you again, I’ve had all the ‘fun’ I need for today from the last six games.” He looks back over to Teddy. “You know what you should do for fun, cause another power outage.”

Teddy frowns at him. “I told you already, even though it was me that caused it I have no idea how I did it.” He looks down to his hands. “I can’t even figure out how do something small… like a static shock or something.”

Zack holds his hands behind his head, Teddy having explained to him all about the six sources and what had happened to him while he was here. “Raven Wolf’s chieftain seems to be able to do stuff like that just fine.”

“Shiya’s been a source a lot longer than me.”

“Maybe it just takes practice. Just keep trying to shock something until you get it right.”

Teddy looks around him. “Shock what, there’s absolutely nothing in this cell.”

Zack shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know… you’re tail, zap your tail.”

“I am NOT zapping my tail!”

“Why not, from what you explained electricity doesn’t hurt you right?”

“You know what? I don’t care, it’s just common sense Zack, even children know it’s a terrible idea to shock your own tail!!”

Teddy looks outside the cell, no one having come to get either of them today for any tests or projects. “You know this is the first day where I haven’t been poked or prodded at since coming here.”

Zack nods his head. “You and me both.”

Teddy looks back to Zack. “What do you thinks going on? A holiday or something?”

Zack looks over to Teddy. “I hear that the True Blood’s military are having some problems keeping their own citizens under control, maybe they’re busy dealing with a mutiny or rebellion.”

“Rebellion? Where did you hear that?”

“Whispers from guards… rumours… that’s all. I don’t know much about it… I just hear things…”

Teddy walks to the back of his cell, sitting down on the ground and leaning back against the steel wall behind him, taking hold of a deep yellow crystal he had tied around his neck and holding it up to stare at it. He watching the images that were appearing in it, the moment when Dolly and him had gone out to eat before he had left the city on the journey with Yula and Iuana now playing in it.

Zack glances over to the crystal that Teddy is staring at, recognizing Dolly’s small figure within it. “What are the two of you talking about?”

Teddy laughs to himself as he looks back to Zack. “She’s talking about how much she hates you actually.”

Zack frowns not at all surprised. “I suppose I have that effect on people.”

“She also mentions how she thinks the way Mort always had you around him was creepy.”

Zack laughs at the comment. “Yeah… I cleared that up with her when it came up.” The smile leaves his face. “You know I don’t even know if she made it out of that whole mess the trials turned into okay…”

Teddy looks to the side, he unsure about how Dolly was or even if she was still alive as well, the last image he had gotten of her being of Dmitri pointing a gun at her head, he though not about to tell Zack that, it only capable of making his concern even worse. “Yeah… I’d like to know if she’s okay too…” He lowers his head. “I really hope she is…”

He looks back to Zack. “She always called me special… I hated it when she did that.”

Zack looks over to Teddy. “She did that to me too, except instead of special she used the word annoying.”

Teddy shakes his head, Zack a lot different from what he remembered him being. “You know, working with Dolly as your partner has really changed you… you’re actually kind of tolerable now compared to what you used to be.”

“I’ll take that as a complement I guess.”

*******

Alistair walks down the fog filled streets of the city the curfew about to hit with the few domestics that were still not inside rushing to get back home in time

Alistair brushes some more glitter powder off of his clothes, though he had been brushing this off all day he just couldn’t seem to get all of it. “This stuff really sticks.” He frowns when he notices a domestic near him staring at him, Alistair snapping at him. “What? You’ve never seen a grown man sparkle before?”

The passerby looks unable to respond to that question, Alistair turning away from him and continuing with his search for his target, he coming to a stop when he sees a figure standing within the fog ahead of him, this person having not been there only a moment before.

A frown fills Alistair’s face when he recognizes him as the Super Solider that used to work alongside him but had then chosen to defect and side with Dolly and their targets. “Well if it isn’t Loony Mc Crazy himself, you better be here to give up because if not I am going to break every single bone in your body.”

Eighteen grins as he places his hands in his pockets. “You’re welcome to try, but you and I both know that you’re incapable of doing that.”

“What do you want Eighteen?”

Eighteen frowns as he takes a paper from his pocket holding it out for Alistair to take. “Dolly was right, you and the others are the only family I have, and even if I can’t stand you I can’t let you die.”

He lets go of the paper the wind blowing it in Alistair’s direction, the coyote moving quickly to catch it before it blows out of his reach, he not looking the paper as he holds it out to Chase. “What’s this?”

“Your ticket to survival.”

Alistair frowns not needing any help from him. “Why do you even care?”

Eighteen stares at Alistair as he answers. “Do you know what it was I did at the True Blood laboratories?”

“Besides the usual?”

Eighteen presents Alistair with a question. “Have you ever killed a Super Solider?” Alistair falls silent, Eighteen continuing. “You’ve never done it have you? You would attack and fight them all the time, but you never killed any of them, am I right?”

Alistair shrugs his shoulder. “Well that was what was so fun about fighting them, how difficult it was.”

Eighteen looks to the side. “I’ve killed them… over hundreds of them, so many that I’ve lost count, before the True Bloods started executing Super Soldiers with that poison catered to targeting us, the batches seen as defective were sent to me and the rest of my batch, and we would be given the order to slaughter them. It was part of our training, ways of challenging us and raising our combat skills.”

“The super soldiers are all made from the same common cells, constructed from the same base material with each batch getting a different combination or addition to it to make it unique. We’re basically family, each and every one of us, do you have any idea what having the blood of hundreds of your brothers and sister does to someone?”

Alistair stares at Eighteen. “I gonna go out on a limb and say it makes you crazy and turns you into a schizophrenic.”

Eighteen smirks at the comment. “I wanted it to be a dream, just a terrible dream that I could one day wake up from, but day after day I knew that I would never wake up, because this was my reality. Until one day I just fell asleep and never woke up, and I left my terrible reality by escaping into a dream, a very long dream that I have never had to leave until now.”

Eighteen looks toward the paper that Alistair is right now holding. “The rest is up to you. Do what you want with that information, I know I did my part to help you but I can’t coddle you like an infant, if you’re smart enough or not to accept that help no fault of my own.”

Alistair looks from Eighteen and down to the paper he was holding, unfolding and looking the information over, a shocked look filling his face as he questions Eighteen about what he was seeing. “This can’t be right… are you sure about this?” He looks back to Eighteen only to find that he had already disappeared, Alistair looking around him to see if he could spot where he had gone, unable to see anything of significance.

Alistair looks back down to the paper he was holding. “Well aren’t you a piece of work Dmitri, who would have guessed?”

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Raven Wolf - 04 - The Wounded - Chapter 16

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