Raven Wolf - 05 - The Abandoned - Chapter 04 by Kurapika < Submission

Keywords male 1173986, female 1064100, cat 210365, wolf 190597, feline 148049, human 106456, mouse 53279, raccoon 36034, fantasy 26405, story 13666, lynx 13617, coyote 11887, jackal 11671, catgirl 8500, sci-fi 4653, series 4576, book 4372, mink 3028, science fiction 1893, novel 1250, chapter 504, raven wolf 329, ongoing 88

Chapter Four

Vaan opens his eyes, waking up from his sleep when he hears the door to the room he is confined in open, Luca enters with a tray of food. Vaan sits up a little surprised to see someone else come in here. “What happened to the fox?”

Luca kneels down next to him as he replaces his old tray of food with the new one. “He’s caught up with some other matters of his.” He looks to the tray that he has taken, all of the food on it is still untouched. “Come on… if you don’t start eating on your own then I’m going to have to force you to eat. You’re a grown up so I don’t think you want to go through something as embarrassing as that.”

Vaan looks away from him with a grunt, Luca smiles at him and lets out a laugh, Vaan turns back, a little bit offended by the gesture. “What’s so amusing?”

Luca tries to calm his laughter. “Nothing really, you just reminded me of my young niece for a moment. When she moved in with me she would refuse to eat too, would give me that exact same dissatisfied and uninterested grunt as you did.”

Vaan doesn’t look amused, not liking being compared to a little girl. “Are you trying to insult me!?”

“No not at all.” Luca stands back up to leave the room, closing and locking the door behind him. He stops for a moment as he thinks the situation over, looking over to his grandfather who is still typing away at the computer. “Hey Granddad, do you think if we changed his food to something else he would be more inclined to eat it?”

“What we’re giving him has a balanced nutritional value.”

Luca frowns not sure about that. “Yeah but it’s not gonna do him any good if he doesn’t eat it.” He continues to think this over. “Ophelia was the same when she moved in, when I changed the food to something she couldn’t resist eating she finally started eating again.”

“He’s a Super Soldier, not a four year old girl.”

“Ophelia isn’t four she’s six.”

“What? When did that happen!?”

Luca sighs to himself. “If you would pull yourself off the computer once and a while maybe you would have noticed two years worth of growing.”

He walks back over to the computer that he’s working on, letting out a groan when he sees the screen, really in no mood to get back to work, never understanding how his grandfather could be so interested in boring stuff like this all day. “So when do you think Aither is going to get back?”

“Who knows. The Military is pretty uptight nowadays cause of all the shenanigans going on, for all we know he could be stuck there for days.”

Luca is less than thrilled to learn this. “Well that’s just great…” His eyes wander back to the tray of uneaten food, staring at it in silence for a moment before he speaks up once again. “You know, maybe I will try feeding him something else, it couldn’t hurt to give it a shot right?”

“He’s not a four year old girl.”

“He’s not four he’s six!” He stops to think over what he had said, Luca quickly correcting himself. “I mean, Ophelia’s six… not him… I’m not really sure of his age but I know it has to be more than four… I… I’m confused…” He looks back to his grandfather with a glare. “Are you happy now!? You confused me!”

“What?”

Luca lets out a frustrated growl when he sees his grandfather still staring at his computer monitor, having never turned away from it. “Now you’re ignoring me!!”

“What?”

Luca turns away from him in frustration. “Why do I even bother trying to talk to you?”

Marty continues to work on his computer. “Get back to work, the military isn’t going to hack itself you know.”

Luca lets out a groan as he looks back towards the monitor. “It isn’t going to be hacked by you or me either… I’m pretty sure we’re going to need that Super Soldier’s help if we want to get any further, after all, the defences he put up are intended to keep out a True Blood genius, what hope do we have at getting through that?”

*******

Shiya is helping Fitz clean up one of the exhibits in the museum, still early the doors to the museum are still locked to the general public. Fitz asks Shiya questions to make sure he still remembers things from his past, Shiya’s memories are in question while he does not have his crystal.

Fitz questions Shiya as he stands on a ladder to replace of the display lights that had burned out in one of the cabinets. “What were the names of your parents?”

Shiya washes the glass of another exhibit. “Amarok, Pinga and Adina.”

“What? That’s three names.”

“My father had two wives.”

“At the same time?”

“Yes.”

“Wow… alright, then let’s see… your first date.”

“Kanti.”

“Second date?”

“Kanti.”

“Let me clarify, I mean the next person you started dating, not the actual next date.”

“I married Kanti, we had four children and lived happily together.”

Fitz is shocked to hear this. “For three hundred years!?”

Shiya shakes his head. “No, for ten years… she was killed during the fighting between the wilds and the domestics.”

“Geeze that is a long time to be single.”

Dolly approaches the two of them, she had been headed towards the gift shop to open and set up for the few customers the museum expects to get. “You two are up bright and early.”

Shiya nods his head. “Mr. Cadrey would always check the displays in the morning before opening, with him not here we have to do what we can to fill in.”

Fitz climbs down the ladder switching on the light to the display to see if the new bulb works. “How about you Conner, who was your first date?”

Dolly shrugs her shoulders. “I’ve never been on a date.” Fitz and Shiya both stop what they are doing as they look over to her, Dolly frowns at their stares. “What?”

Fitz looks to the side. “Nothing… just didn’t expect that from someone your age.”

Dolly frowns at him, that’s none of his business. “Aren’t you supposed to be asking Shiya these questions and not me?”

Fitz nods his head. “You’re right.” He turns back to Shiya. “Have you ever driven a car?”

Dolly sighs at the question. “They’re supposed to be meaningful questions. Like… the other sources, how do you know them and for how long.”

Shiya answers her question just as he has been doing with Fitz’s questions. “Like I said before aside from Earth I’ve only met Wind and Fire. I met Fire before she became a Source, she lived within the True Blood colony I lived in for several years. I did not run into her again as a Source until many years later. As for Wind, I met him a long time ago as well, before becoming a part of the Laughing Meadow tribe, or as it’s known today the Raven Wolf tribe.”

Fitz is about to give Shiya another question to answer, Shiya continues adding to the information that he has just given them. “Aither is actually the one that taught me to channel and control the powers of the source I had become. In fact he’s the one that’s taught all the sources how to control their powers in their mortal forms.”

Fitz thinks the information over. “So who taught him?”

“No one did, Aither taught himself.” He looks back to Fitz. “He was a good teacher too, he worked at an orphanage where he took care of and taught the children there classes, he must have picked up a lot of experience there before having to teach me.”

Fitz lets out a whistle. “A humanitarian, assassin, source and a teacher all in one, the guy really knows how to juggle occupations.”

Dolly frowns at this information, realizing something from it, changing the focus of the conversation for a moment. “Wait… you said this Aither person knows all the sources, because he taught them all?”

Shiya nods his head yes. “Aither is the only one of us that was happy to become a source, it was easy for him to figure out how to control his powers because he wanted them and has embraced them since the day he became a source. It’s hard to explain, but when any of the other sources seek to find a way to control their powers in a mortal form they are drawn toward him, it’s as if the Sources that are inside us know that he is the only one that knows how to unlock our strength.”

“Did he teach Dmitri?”

Shiya shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know for certain, I would have to ask-”

Dolly interrupts Shiya, this is very important. “Is there a possibility that Dmitri knows who Aither is?”

Shiya nods his head, it indeed is a possibility. “Yes… it’s very likely.”

Dolly is concerned, this information that has been overlooked until now is clearly not good. “Shiya do you see what is happening here? There are Four Sources in the city, they have you on alert but the military is only using extreme resources and excessive force when looking for him. This isn’t about him being an assassin, it’s about him being the teacher! The military knows that the Wind Source knows who all of the other sources are, that’s why they’re taking such drastic measures in catching him! Once they have him they have a way of finding all of you, and if Dmitri knows him then all he has to do is point him out!”

Fitz makes a frown as he thinks this over. “You just made this whole situation with the visiting military sound a lot more scary than it already looks.”

Dolly looks over to Shiya. “If Dmitri does know than he’s probably even the one that told them about Wind knowing the identities and possible locations of the others.”

Shiya lowers his gaze to the ground, just not understanding how it has come to this. “I don’t get it… what would drive the Earth Source to do everything that he is doing?”

Dolly doesn’t think that to be something they should worry about. “How would I know? It’s not like any of us can read his mind.”

Shiya looks back to Dolly, that’s not entirely true. “Did Dmitri carry a crystal with him? Much like the one I used to carry with me? Possibly on a bracelet or a necklace so that it wouldn’t get lost.”

Dolly shakes her head. “Not that I noticed… if he did he didn’t wear it where anyone could see, it would have to have been worn under his uniform.”

Fitz quickly speaks up, not liking where Shiya might be going with this. “Wait, wait, wait, you’re not thinking of trying to take General Dmitri’s memory crystal thingy are you!? Even if you could somehow think of a way to complete such an impossible task what good will it do you!?”

Shiya looks back to Fitz as he begins to explain. “It would maybe explain why the Earth Source is helping the Domestic Military track the rest of the Sources down, and would certainly tell us exactly how much he has told them about us.”

Fitz shakes his head no. “Okay the last time you guys confronted him you were almost all killed, nothing good will come out of facing him again, especially if our intent is to steal something that holds his memories. Go on, ask anyone else here! They’ll tell you the exact same thing.”

*******

The three have gathered the others that currently reside in the museum together, they are discussing the situation with them, Tahki and Lumia listen quietly with Eighteen the first to speak up with his opinion on this. “Alright then, come up with a plan on how to get that done and I’ll do it.”

Fitz looks to Eighteen with a frown. “Do you remember what happened to you the last time you were facing against Dmitri? Both Shiya and you were shot and almost died.”

Eighteen crosses his arms not thinking that the event will be a repeat. “We were caught off guard at the time, a confrontation with Dmitri would be much different if we were all prepared.”

“You just jump at any chance you get don’t you!?”

Eighteen stares at Fitz with a frown. “I’m a Super Soldier, created specifically for battle, trained since the day I opened my eyes on how to fight my enemy, and you have me doing kitchen work.” He looks back to Dolly. “If there’s an opening on the battlefield then I’ll take it. It’s where I belong.”

Tahki speaks up, Fitz is right to be cautious. “You’re a Super Solider Eighteen but that doesn’t mean that you’re invincible. You need to be more cautious.”

Eighteen looks back to Tahki. “I’m getting sick of being cautious, especially when we have ambitious to complete that we can’t even begin to get to until we’re out of this city.”

Lumia speaks up, adding her own thoughts into this. “Look, if there’s one fact that I know of it’s that information is powerful. The more we have of it the better off we are.” She looks over towards Eighteen. “Now I’m not saying that we should just jump and get ourselves killed the first chance we get, but we shouldn’t dismiss this plan to learn more about our enemy.”

Eighteen turns towards Dolly. “General Dmitri is a key figure in this whole mess, regardless of his reasons for his choices he knows more information about what’s going on in the military than anyone. I can get that crystal for you.”

Dolly seems unsure, Tahki speaks up, there are still other matters that should be talked about. “What about Aither? If he really does know where the other Sources are then shouldn’t we be trying to get our hands on him before the military does?”

Lumia nods her head yes. “Of course, and not just to keep the military from getting that information, we need to find the Sources too, to warn them of the True Blood’s intent. Something this big is going to require a lot of careful planning a preparation.”

Eighteen speaks up once again. “Right, and while you guys work on finding a way to get the Wind Source I’ll get the Earth Source’s crystal.” He looks back to Dolly before she could speak up in protect. “And if it makes you feel better I’ll do it in way that won’t have me directly dealing with Dmitri myself.”

*******

“Come on pick up the pace, the Commander General wanted this mess cleaned up before he got back.”

Several True Bloods work quickly to repair recent damage that have been made to the iron roads and gates that surround a large iron building that was a military own science facility and factory. It’s the base where all of the True Blood’s ground breaking experiments and inventions took place.

From the looks of the damage the building has gone through an attack, it’s the target of an uprising that has been started by True Bloods unhappy with their current living conditions, this is not the first time this building has been attacked in such a way.

Fenrir exits the facility, handing his card to a guard who sits in a security room within the large iron wall that surrounds that building, the half blood takes a look at his surroundings as he waits for the paperwork to be finished. “Looks like things got pretty heated last night.”

The security guard nods his head. “Yeah, with the regulations the city has on supplies, belongings and resources you would think the resistance would not have what they need to make explosives, but they seem to always find a way to get their supplies.” He hands Fenrir his card back. “I haven’t seen you leave the facility in some time now.”

Fenrir nods his head. “I’m assigned as a guard to one of the experiments when testing is not active, they’re scheduled for testing today though so I’m off what that is going on. I thought I would take the opportunity to visit my girlfriend before she dumps me for not spending enough time with her.”

The guard laughs. “Ah, I know how it is, the girls I dated when I was your age were all like that too.” He hands Fenrir’s identification card back to him. “Well enjoy your freedom then.” The guard turns back towards the paperwork at his desk.

Fenrir turns away from him, gazing out towards the iron buildings, roads and fences, then up towards the large iron ceiling that blocks out the sky. “Yeah… freedom…” He shakes his head as he breaks into a run, quickly making his way through the gloomy city. The last thing anyone in this city feels is freedom of any kind.

After a few minutes of running the quality of the buildings around him begins to decreases, Fenrir continues on his way as the buildings become more broken and filthy until he finds himself in the slums of his city, continuing through him until the buildings suddenly come to a stop and are replaced with fenced in plots of land with bright artificial lighting hanging over them, the plants that grow on that land are currently being tended to by several Wilds, all of them wearing the collar that would send currents of electricity through their bodies if they chose to act up.

Fenrir slows his run to a walk when he reaches his destination, a large decrepit two story building filthy both from the grim it has collected over the years as well as the junk that fills its yard, it plays as a storage to many broken metal parts and building pieces that would eventually be melted down once again and crafted into something new.

In the yard several Wilds are also working, they is in the middle of sorting the scraps of metal into piles according to what they are, among these workers is True Blood, the older woman looking up from her work, a smile on her face when she recognizes him. “Fenrir! Haven’t seen you here in a long time! Your father must been keeping you pretty busy for you not to be able to stop by here anymore.”

Fenrir nods his head. “Yes, there’s no rest for a soldier, especially one with the Commander General as his father.”

The woman laughs as she walks away from her work, her clothing and skin filled with so much grim and rust that she looks as dark as the metal she’s working with. “Come inside why don’t you, I’ll get you something to eat.”

“No need to go through the trouble on my account.”

“No, no I insist!” She walks past him leading him inside, wiping her hands off on the apron she is wearing, the gesture does not do her any good when her hands are just as filthy as her clothes. “Just try not to sit on anything inside, you won’t want that sharp uniform of yours getting too dirty from being around here.”

She looks back to the Wilds that were working. “Take a much needed break while I’m taking care of my guest. I’ll be back out here to help you before you know it.” She opens the door to her house walking inside. “Ember is probably in her work room right now, one of the cultivators is having a problem with his collar, keep zapping the poor thing for no reason, Embers trying to fix it for him.”

The woman makes her way to what looks like the kitchen. “Mark my words she’ll be better than her father at that whole locksmith business in no time, especially if she has to fix his faulty collars like that one all the time. Just go on in there I’m sure she won’t mind.”

A little girl with messy black hair and clothes a little less stained and filthy than the woman’s, is sitting on the floor of the house they had entered, she looks up from her toys to see who has come to visit, a huge smile fills her face when she sees him, the little girl jumps to her feet and races over to Fenrir and grabs onto his tail. “It’s so fluffy and cute I want it!!!”

Fenrir lets out a sigh while the woman pries the small girl off of his tail, the woman is now lecturing her daughter. “Lilly what have I told you? No one that has a tail likes it when you pull at them like that.”

The young girl is disappointed. “But it’s so fluffy…”

Fenrir makes his way past the two of them. “I’m just going to go see Ember now.” He walks into a hallway leading to three rooms, grabbing onto the handle of one of them and opening the door and entering the room.

The small room is packed full of odds and end like the yard had been, but unlike the yard the mess here was is clearly organized and labelled, a teenage girl with messy black hair and filthy clothes and skin sitting standing next to a chair that a Wild is currently sitting in, she looks through a magnifying glass that is attached to device on her head that would keep it over her right eye so that she would have both hands free to work. She uses it to get a better look at the delicate procedure that she is doing as she pokes at the electronic insides of the collar that is around the wild’s neck, not looking away as she speaks to the person that has just entered. “I’m a little busy right now so I would appreciate it if you would come back later, if it’s an emergency you’re gonna have to wait.”

Fenrir crosses his arms with a frown. “I can’t come back later, I’m not exactly free to come here whenever I please.”

Ember stops her work for a moment as she looks back to Fenrir, having recognized the voice. “Oh sorry Fenrir I didn’t know that it was you. Still though, you’re going to have to wait until I’m finished with this. It’s really important that I get this collar fixed for him.”

“I don’t mind waiting.”

There is a warning beep from the electronic collar, the Wild wolf lets out a yelp when another surge of electricity suddenly goes off, Ember quickly turns to him and getting back to work. “Sorry… if I could take this off of you I would… but I don’t have the permission or skill to do either, so you’re just going to have to hold on a bit longer until I get it fixed.”

Fenrir approaches the wild looking him over. “Another wolf?”

“Yeah, a heck of a lot of them came in not that long ago, when it came to the collars we aren’t exactly prepared to deal with that amount, so instead of getting fitted with new ones dad had to fit a bunch of older ones to them, and some of the collars, like this one are pretty defective.”

She replaces the tool she is using with another. “From what I understand the Military was originally going to use them in some kind of experiment, but then something happened to the project, I duno if it was cancelled or there was a development or what, but they sent them this way because they didn’t need them anymore and now we have an excess of workers. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s more than enough work to be done, the more workers the less back breaking it is for all of them, but we just don’t have the room to house them all when they’re not working. The work sheds are packed full enough as it is.”

Fenrir takes hold of the thin and worn shirt the Wild have been given to wear as clothes, he lifts it up to find the mark of a raven with the head of a wolf on his chest. “Yeah… I know exactly which project he was intended to be used for.”

Ember doesn’t look up from her work. “No way! It was the one your Dad assigned to right now wasn’t it! Oh you have to tell me all about it!” Fenrir crosses his arms, Ember looking from him and over to the Wild she is now trying to fix the collar on. “Oh right… maybe when I’m done with this collar then.”

The wolf that sits on the chair keeps his eyes on Fenrir. “You were one of the soldiers that invaded Iuana’s trials.”

Fenrir stares back at him, not really knowing anything about the gathering that they had targeted that day, other than of course there were a lot of Wilds that filled the requirements of one of their project descriptions there and that is the reason they had attacked and collected them. “Iuana’s trials? Is that what the festival or whatever it was you were all attending was?”

The wolf frowns at him. “They are sacred trials meant to find the one worthy enough to be the mate of our tribe’s next in line.”

Ember glances over to Fenrir. “Sounds like what you interrupted was a pretty big deal, you should apologize Fenrir.”

Fenrir turns to her, there’s nothing to apologize for. “I was just doing my job! I didn’t head out intending to mess up something like that.” He frowns when Ember gives him a glare, he sighes as he looks back to the wild. “Sorry… for messing that up…”

The Wild looks away from him. “It is not me you should be apologizing to. It is Iuana and Teddy.”

“Teddy?”

The Wild begins to clarify why Teddy’s name is important. “He is the one that won the trials to be both Iuana’s mate and our future chieftain.”

Ember lets out a disappointed sigh. “Oh man Fenrir, that’s bad. You went and broke up some kind of a wedding of all things. That’s just wrong on so many levels.”

Fenrir frowns at the comment. “I am not talking about this anymore.”

Ember looks back to the Wild she is fixing the collar on. “He doesn’t want to talk about it because he feels bad. Fenrir’s a big softy like that.”

Fenrir is about to say something to counter that argument but is stopped when Ember once again speaks up, closing up the hatch on the collar that hides the electronics she had been working on. “Alright, the collar shouldn’t be electrocuting you for no reason anymore. If you get any more problems be sure to come see me as soon as you can.” She looks over to the clock on the wall. “Your supervisor isn’t gonna be here to bring you back to the mines in another hour, so just go out in the yard and help the other wilds there with sorting through the scrap metal until he gets here.”

The wolf gets to his feet, fixing Fenrir with a cold glare before leaving the room and heading outside.

Fenrir watches the wild leave before looking back to Ember who is now putting the tools she had been using away. “He looks a little too small to be working in the mines.”

Ember nods his head. “Yeah… but he’s completely useless when working on the fields, all the wilds that came in with that bird mark on their chest are, any fields they’re assigned to end up wilting and dying, so they all got moved to the mines.”

“That… doesn’t make a lot of sense…”

“Well… you know, some people just don’t have a green thumb I guess.” She sits down on the chair the Wild has been seated in as she looks up to Fenrir. “So, tell me about this super secret important project your Dad has you working on. Does it have anything to do with that Super Solider you guys have?”

Fenrir seems surprised to hear such a thing getting mentioned. “How did you find out about him?”

“So it does include him then!”

Fenrir shakes his head no. “No actually, though father is very involved with the projects concerning that Super Solider I have nothing to do with it. I’ve been assigned to the Lightning Source.”

Ember laughs at the announcement, many that knew about that project see it as a joke because of all the years it has been around. “Oh well isn’t that great, honestly I don’t see why the Military hasn’t just given up on that. They’ve been trying for decades now! They’re never going to find a way to control that.”

Fenrir scratches the back of his head. “Actually… they did. They found a compatible host and have managed to trap the Lightning Source inside of him. I’ve been assigned as his guard since they brought him in.”

Ember is surprised to hear this. “Oh wow really? I never would have guessed.” A smile crosses her face. “So what does this mean for us? I mean can you imagine it? If we had the Lightning Source of all things the military would see the resistance as an actual threat and not just a petty annoyance!”

Fenrir grins at the thought. “I didn’t mean to get your hopes up, but that’s not going to be happening anytime soon. The source is trapped in the host for certain, but right now the host is unable to use the power of the source on his own at all.” He crosses his arms. “The military isn’t able to use that power either, not until they finish building compatible machines able of drawing that kind of energy from him anyway.”

Ember lets out a sigh. “Yeah… well when they figure that out it’s going to be over for us and the rest of us in the resistance… we won’t stand a chance against something with that kind of power.”

Fenrir nods his head understanding that. “That’s why the resistance needs to get him before the military is able to do that. It’ll be heaps better for us to have a useless Source than for my father to have a working one.”

Ember thinks this over. “Alright I see what you’re getting at, so we need to think of some way to steal the source from them… something like that is not going to be easy.”

“Well you and the others need to think of something quick. Mom and the other scientists have been working on this project none-stop.”

Ember gives him a grin. “Fenrir, I couldn’t ask for a better inside man than you.” She turns away from him as she begins picking out some objects from the items she has sorted in her room. “Too bad your girlfriend isn’t as dependable as you.”

Fenrir lets out a sigh. “She’s not my girlfriend she’s just a friend, you are the only girlfriend I have so stop getting so jealous.”

Ember frowns as continues going through her things. “But you always talk so much about her, Lumia this, Lumia that all the time.”

“I’m telling you you’ve nothing to worry about, she’s just a kid.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it.”

Fenrir tries to explain himself. “I told you before, me and her grew up in the Half Blood nursery, but she’s six years younger than me, still a kid!”

A sad look fills Ember’s face. “Don’t call yourself that…”

“Call myself what? A Half Blood?” He places his hand on his wolf like ears, they are much different from the human ones that Ember has. “It kind of can’t be helped, that’s what I am after all. Anyone can tell just by looking at me.”

Ember crosses her arms. “You’re a ‘Genetically Controlled True Blood Hybrid”

“No one calls us that, that title is too long.”

“They call you a Half Blood to insult you! You’re still a True Blood you know… you’re just different.”

Fenrir smiles at the comment. “Well I appreciate you looking out for me but really, it’s not that big a deal to me.”

“It should be a big deal to you!”

Fenrir tries to change the topic back to what it should be. “Anyway, the Lightning Source, tell me what you guys come up with as soon as you can.”

Ember crosses her arms. “I want that Super Soldier too.”

Fenrir seems a little confused. “The Super Solider? Why would you want him?”

“Because he’s a Super Soldier duh! Having something like that on our side is bound to be useful!”

Fenrir doesn’t seem too sure about that. “I don’t know about that… he’s genetically engineered and programmed to respond truthfully to any question my father gives him, if the resistance takes him in and the military manages to get him back, he won’t be able to help but tell him everything he needs to know about the resistance, our base of operations, our future plots, even our names will be in jeopardy.”

Ember crosses her arms. “Yeah, but if we have him then we’ll have something that can actually do damage to the military.”

Fenrir tries to talk her out of the idea. “Look, getting the Lightning Source out is going to be hard enough! We’re never going to be able to get the both of them out!”

Ember stands her ground. “This isn’t up for negotiation Fenrir!”

Fenrir shakes his head with a sigh, he walks over to a desk in the room and takes a paper and pen from it, beginning to draw a map, this is the layout of the compound that he works at, he circles a room once he is finished with it. “Both the Lightning Source and the Super Solider are being kept here in holding cells next to one another. It’s the highest grade holding cells the facility has so be careful.”

“Oh please, the last thing someone like me needs to worry about is a locked door.”

Fenrir holds the paper out to her, quickly pulling it back from her when she makes a grab for it, he makes sure that one thing is perfectly clear. “Look, you need to think up a plan with our leader and go over it with him. No acting out on your own like you did with the last batch of information I gave you, these subjects are too important to the military, thus making this venture extremely dangerous. If the leader of the resistance says that it can’t be done then you listen to him! Got that?”

Ember frowns. “But this is a big deal! If he says no and we miss our chance than-”

“Promise me! If the leader says no then you won’t go out and try to do this on your own.”

Ember gives him a sigh as she reluctantly agrees to the terms. “Fine… I won’t do anything if the leader doesn’t agree to it.”

Fenrir holds the paper out toward her once again, Ember grabs it from his hands and looks it over. “But I’ll be really mad if that hesitating, precaution loving ‘we should take the safe route’ chicken doesn’t for once in his life take a risk and do this!”

Fenrir frowns not thinking the leader to be that bad. “Being reckless and unorganized only gets people killed, simply attacking in rebellion and yelling out your displeasure isn’t going to get anything done. The resistance is lucky to have someone as cool headed and calculated as him leading it.”

*******

Alistair waves to Mort upon seeing him, his voice just as cheerful as ever. “Good morning Captain! I hope you slept well!”

Mort lets out a cranky grumble in response to this, sitting on a folding chair with his arms crossed as he waits outside of a meeting room were Naida and her co-workers are currently going over the script of their next performance.

Alistair frowns at the response. “I take it that you didn’t sleep well then?”

Mort sighs to himself, Alistair is always coming around here and lounging about for hours. “Why aren’t you ever working!?”

“I am working, and very hard might I add.” He sits down at a table taking a newspaper off of it and leaning back in his chair and propping his feet on the table as he opens the paper to read it.

Mort stares at him with narrowed eyes, it does not look like that at all. “Work hard somewhere else.”

Alistair doesn’t look up from the newspaper he is reading. “Why work somewhere else when I can work here and be in the presence of my significant other?”

“Stop that.”

“You seem more cranky than usual? Something happen that I should know about? Communication is key to any relationship you know.”

Mort frowns while letting out a low and aggravated grumble, though he is currently bothered with something he certainly doesn’t want to admit or tell Alistair about it. The two sit in silence for several minutes, the only sound made is when Alistair turns the page of the newspaper he is reading.

Mort lets out a long heavy sigh as he finally breaks the silence, hoping that he would not regret what he is about to do. “What is your experience relationship-wise with woman?”

Alistair holds the paper he is holding down as he stares at Mort, almost at a loss of what to say. “Really…? Why would you even think to ask me that? I thought it was pretty clear by now that I’m kind of maybe not at all interested in woman for a rather specific reason.”

Mort frowns at the comment. “I thought that was just for… you know what, never mind, just forget I ever said anything.”

Alistair seems confused. “Wait, were you attempting to ask me for some kind of relationship advice? As in, you may or may not be in a relationship with someone, who may or may not mysteriously disappear off the face of this earth if I happen to get their name?”

“Go back to reading your paper Quincy.”

“No! This is important! Who are you cheating on me with!?”

“We’re not in any kind of relationship!! It’s not cheating!”

Alistair sits up in his chair. “Oh! So there is someone else!”

“You’re giving me a headache.”

Alistair frowns as he goes over the information in his head. “It’s that General Jovina person you were talking about before isn’t it!” Mort remains silent, Alistair takes that as a yes. “You said it was just business between you two!”

Mort nods his head, that’s exactly it. “It is… but… perhaps… not always…” He looks to the side. “Before she was promoted to General we used to date, it ended and we remained friends, what I said before was true, it is just business between us now.”

“If it’s just business then why were you attempting to ask me for relationship advice!?”

Mort lets out a sigh there really is no avoiding the issue now as it would run the risk of Alistair annoying him throughout the day even more than he already does. “Last night she came to my apartment and during the conversation we had asked me to go out with her again.”

“Did you respond by punching her in the face?”

“No of course not! I responded by saying no, the conversation inadvertently turned into an argument, and she said a lot of things afterwards that ended up keeping me up all night because I couldn’t stop thinking about them. I don’t know how to respond to it… I still don’t know how to respond.”

“What did she call you cranky, grumpy and emotionally inept? Cause if she did then I hate to break it to you, but that’s all true.”

Mort frowns at the comment. “No! She didn’t call me any of those things.” He looks to the side, it actually sounding foolish for someone to be so upset about. “She said that I was afraid.”

Alistair seems surprised to hear this. “What in the heck could possibly exist that you would be afraid of?”

“Nothing that you should know about.”

“Are… you afraid of… smiling? Cause I can believe that.”

“Let me clarify. It’s none of your business.”

Alistair shakes his head as he looks back at the newspaper he’s been reading. “You are the crankiest boyfriend I have ever had.”

“Please stop calling me that.”

Alistair is about to say something but stops when he spots a long series of numbers that has been written with a pen on one of the pages of the newspaper, Alistair lifts an eyebrow as he reads them over. “Interesting…” He tears the page with the number written on it out of the paper as he gets to his feet to leave.

Mort is surprised to see him get up. “Are you actually going to do your job for once?”

Alistair waves the comment off. “I’m always doing my job you just don’t realize it.”

“No, I’m positive that you never do anything while you are here.”

Alistair leaves the room calling back before leaving the room. “I could say the same for you.”

Mort sighs as he looks around him as he continues to sit around waiting for the meeting that Naida is attending to finish, Alistair kind of does have a point.

*******

Alistair reads over the number on the paper he is holding. “It should be around here.” He looks around him until he spots a payphone, walking up to it and crossing his arms as he waits next to it, the phone rings not long after he has arrived, Alistair picks it up and answers in an annoyed tone of voice. “You’re spying on me Eighteen? Is that really necessary?”

The voice on the other end responds. “In my situation it is in my best interest to keep an eye on you.”

Alistair frowns at the comment. “Come on, I’m slacking off when it comes to looking for you and that back stabbing wolf that convinced you into following her. Clearly I’m not bugging you the least you can do is do the same for me.”

“You know that I can’t.”

Alistair sighs to himself. “How do you even find the time to do keep an eye on me? Aren’t you supposed to be plotting you next grand destructive scheme of evil or something? You’re kind of a terrorist now so one would think that’s how you would be spending your time.”

“I don’t sleep often, and my situation is not like that.”

Alistair gets right to the point, it’s clear that Chase has gone through the trouble of contacting him for a reason. “What do you want?”

“A crystal.”

Alistair is confused by the request. “A crystal? I don’t have any crystals.”

“Dmitri does, and I need you to find it and take it from him.”

Alistair seems offended. “Look, you may have kept me from getting killed but I’m already repaying you for that by not hunting you and Conner down. I don’t owe you anything so what makes you think that I’m going to do something like that.”

“I’ll trade the crystal for information that will help you get Sixty Six back.”

A frown fills Alistair’s face. “You know where Berights is?”

“Get me the crystal from Dmitri, and I’ll help you get Sixty Six back.”

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Raven Wolf - 05 - The Abandoned - Chapter 04

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