Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Destiny's Call ❯ entry the Twenty Third ( Chapter 23 )

Entry the Twenty third

 

Tarius looked over as the figure passed out of the shadows and into the light. Even though his arm was covered and his hands gloved, it was still easy to tell his arm was robotic, which frustrated Rugged to no end. Cool as it sometimes was, the sidelong glances had begun to get on his nerves. Tarius just smiled at the disgruntled look and hailed him. “What's up? How's Stone?”

 

Rugged looked up to the side of tank Tarius was seated on, nodding to Jessie who sat next to him. It was apparent he was taking a break from the repair job. Tarius could fix almost a whole tank alone, in the time it took a full team to do one, but that entitled him to a bit more free time, when he wasn't directing the entire repair shop. “She's fine. The Hospital still needs a lot of help with the plague victims. So she's also tired out. But she won't take a break.”

 

“I understand that. So what are you here for?”

 

“Another death. Non-plague related, the bloods been drained dry. Tony wants your help setting up a trap for the perp.” Rugged had been placed in charge of internal security, underneath Isaiah. Which meant murder was his department. But these particular murders were beyond him.

 

“Why didn't he just comm. me?”

 

“doesn't want the Paladins hearing about this yet.”

 

“oh right. Pat gonna be there?”

 

“Still swears its none of his lot. That's part of why Tony doesn't want the Paladins to hear. You know Pat is one of Prodigy's best friends.”

 

“yeah.”

 

“So, coming?”

 

“Be right there.” He turned and, pausing for a second, suddenly leaned and kissed Jessie on the cheek. She smiled and her face flushed, and Tarius hopped down, his face reflecting hers. He turned to look up, and said, “be back soon, let Matt know he's in charge for a while, would you.”

 

“sure,” she said, and turned to go further into the shop. Tarius then followed Rugged back out into the night time gloom.

 

“so you finally kissed her?”

 

Tarius just cringed and smiled. “Girls and love, the two most scary things in the world.” Rugged just laughed.

 

The Walker's size had greatly expanded since they were first the Celtic Resistance. Well over 2000 people had joined, though the same group remained at the core, with only a few additions, mostly Allies originally leading their own groups before joining the Walkers. The camp stretched for around a mile, not counting the military and the knights. It was a motley college of tents, tarps, collapsible shelters, and various other portable dry spaces.

 

More people, more powers. Abilities got you far, sometimes, simply because you could often do more. 3 new healers had been discovered as the Walkers moved eastward towards St. Louis. A trio of men had come forward, who could project shields around themselves and others, similar but different to what I could do. More men like AA, but they were often more powerful in one of the 3 categories, they could all share enhanced strength, speed, and stamina, but where one could go days without rest, but only lift a car, another could lift a bus, but only go perhaps two days without wearing down at all. Other powers popped up, including a few that were rather, mysterious.

 

One of those people stood in the shadows of the Armadillo interior as Rugged and Tarius entered. His skin, even in the shadows, was a pale white, almost bleached, his eyes a strange gold. Both nodded to him, and said, “Vincent.” Vincent was part of a group of, well, Vampires. Not old or ancient vampires, but rather people who had gained the properties of vampires, much as one could become a shield, or a battery, or a healer. They were called “New Breeds” typically. Vincent served, in a gesture of faith and good will, as a body guard for Tony Walker. But, that faith thing was part of the problem. You've probably made a few guesses by now…

 

“Pat coming?”

 

“He got hungry, had to get a quick fix before he did something stupid,” explained Walker. He sighed. “We can't afford for this to continue. I still trust him… but… one of you is breaking ranks, and its undermining everything we've tried to do. If it keeps up, the Pack will make a move.” He was addressing Vincent.

 

“We know,” was what he said, but his silky smooth voice carried so much more. It didn't help that Vincent so looked the part of the guilty, just by standing there. He didn't drink human blood, but that was by choice, no nature…

 

The Pack was a group of shape shifters, all of whom changed into various canine forms almost at will. They saw themselves as a sort of “mother nature children police force.” They were mostly comprised of native Americans. There were others of their kind, different animals, but the Pack was the most well known for the sheer level of animosity they held towards the New Breeds. And their numbers, they were the largest by far, with over 50 shape-shifters. They made up an entire unit all their own. And they were devastating, which gained them a lot of weight within the Walkers.

 

Suddenly, a new chill entered the room, as Pat glided into the small space. “Sorry about that Walker. You can go now Shawn.” He added to the man standing behind him, just outside the doorway. Shawn was a blank, and tasked with attending, or rather witnessing, that Pat ate exactly what he said he'd eat, so that nobody could suspect Pat. Blanks were immune to all mental abilities, even telekinesis. Pat, above all others, had to remain above suspicion, because he was the nominal Leader of all the new breeds who had chosen to join the Walkers. They called him the “Pattriarch.” A play on his first name, Patrick. *Pat-tree-arch*

 

“this time, the victim was found dead, drained of blood, and body was badly traumatized, not far from the med tents. It seems he escaped the initial attack, but was subsequently recaptured and tried to run for it. We've confirmed he did not actually come from the med stations.” Rugged finished reading the report, and looked at Walker.

 

Walker, in turn, looked at Tarius. “I want you to work with Pat and find a way of setting up a monitoring system, if we can actual port it around that would be wonderful, but find something we can use to monitor for the activities of this guy, and make sure nobody knows you're doing it. I don't want the New breeds any angrier than they are, but they're the only ones this could be, unless it's a rogue. But the Pack would have sniffed one out by now, or so the Alpha tells me.” A silent laugh passed between Pat and Vincent at the mention of the Alpha. New Breeds held about the same level of respect for the Pack that the Pack held for them.

 

“Sure thing. I've got some ideas, was kinda wondering if you'd have a request like this.”

 

Walker smiled. “Of course you would be. Thanks Tarius, you can go now. Rugged, you too. Pat, stay here for a second.”

 

Tarius and Rugged exchanged glances as they walked out. Pat drifted closer to the table. Walker looked right at him, and asked, “Well? Do you have something new or not?”

 

“yes. We've picked up a new scent, I even got the Pack's best nose to check it for me. Good ol' Shila.” Shila was one of the only members of the Pack on good terms with the new breeds. “She's sure it isn't a new breed scent, something off about it. Leon,” here he pointed at the ceiling, where Leon suddenly became visible, “concurred.”

 

“Excellent. Let Tarius know and see if you can set up that tracking system to scan for it. I really hate not telling this to Rugged, but the fewer who know, the better… and he has a big mouth sometimes.” He sighed, palming his forehead and leaning against the table, before standing up. “You can go now, Pat, Leon, you too. Come on Vincent, we're getting out of this stuffy room.”

 

“Yes, High Guardian,” responded all three at once, taking on a formal tone, as they occasionally did, just to lift Walker's spirits. It annoyed him to have his title used on him. “And Pat, let Stanetly know I'm out if you see him. He's already in the know, so tell him about the scent if he hasn't picked it up.”

 

As Rugged walked out of the Armadillo, back towards his truck, a huge, too huge, wolf bounded up to him, and suddenly shifted form. Austin was wearing the traditional and simple robes Tarius had designed for the shape shifters. The clothes, no clothes, actually shift with them. They'll often destroy their clothing when they shift. The robes simple shifted in a different way to fit comfortably around them in animal form, allowing them to not have to walk around naked. “Hey rugged, what's the news?”

 

“hey Austin,” Rugged said as Austin leaned against the truck and pulled his hair out from under the shirt. He preferred to let it flow free where possible. “The news is the same. We don't know who keeps doing this.”

 

“It's one of the New Breeds, probably several of them. You know it's true.”

 

“Austin, I don't know anything, now stop bugging me and get back to patrol.”

 

“I'm on break.”

 

“oh great. Look, just because you're one of my best security officers does not mean I need you coming to see me ever chance you get.”

 

“I don't come see you ever chance you get. It's been 3 days since I said anything to you outside my job.”

 

“Fine, fine, I'm going to see Stone, don't follow me, ok?”

 

Rugged got into the truck and shot off, heading to the med stations. Meanwhile, Austin shifted back into wolf form and shot off towards the pack's tents. Along the way, he ran into Isaiah helping with some heavy lifting out by the Olympian Tents. The Olympians were most of the sports stars, from soccer, track, basketball, football, baseball, track, who had banded together into roughly one unit. A semi-separate division of them were the outcast Falcons, a group of rouges, outcasts, and athletes, who fell under the direct command of Isaiah during battle. He had named them, but they had found him, mosty. He and his men were helping set up some new tents and greet some new comers to the organization. Austin continued past as Isaiah waved to him, not sure which part of the Pack he was looking at.

 

Isaiah surveyed the tents, then turned to the new guys. “These should hold you over for now. Just let me know if anything comes up.” He turned to Joe, and said, “Head back for now Joe. That's enough for today. I'll just go check in with Tarius.” Isaiah walked across the camp towards the machine shops, which were next to the repair stations. Along the way, he saw Stanetly learning to play football with some of the other guys off duty. It was nice not having camp on alert for once.

 

It was unfortunate, but Stanetly and Skilver, the other Reptildra, had developed bad nicknames. They were called the traitors or the betrayers, by those in ignorance. For those who did know them, they had a slightly better name. “The Red White and Blue Scalies.” For those who had known them since this started, there were no nicknames. It was a running joke in camp to witness the expressions and reactions of new recruits when they saw Stanetly or Skilver.

 

Viz was seated on the sidelines, calling commentary. “And Stanetly has the ball, he charging down the field, but wait, he doesn't see Jacob coming on fast, and and YES! That's a tackle, no, wait, it's a touchdown! Stanetly has used his tail to put the ball across the line! That's a touchdown folks, and one for the history books too! But oh wait, that was definetly a foul, and a five yard penalty on the play. Oh too bad. That would have been some touchdown. Alright guys, reset it, five yards back. Alright, you're good!”

 

At the same time as he watched through 22 pairs of eyes the game playing, he kept tabs on 3 sets of scouting pairs hovering on the thermals. Golden eagles, hawks, and one Seagull were airborne, keeping tabs on the main force, which had housed itself within Two HUGE tortoise like creatures the size of small mountains. Although they could be seen from camp, it was still better to keep a couple pairs of far seeing eyes on the camp to pick out details.

 

It was peaceful, that day, so close to St. Louis. The victory there was fresh in the minds of everyone. It had been a spectacular success, but they had reun into the reinforcements almost as soon as they'd left the city. It had stalled them. The military was on the other side of that army, for the most part. The paladins were operating in the spaces inbetween, the Knights were on the northwest side. And so now they stood, staring, across the vast sea of land, with the River at their backs, and the future ahead.

 

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