Chapter 3
Blade growled as Mac pulled a talon from his shoulder. "Next time I'm bringing a rocket launcher," the panther said as Mac patched his shoulder up.
"Bright side, we are done here. Everything is killed. So, unless you wanna stay for the bag and tag, you are free to go." Mac said holding the talon up after he covered the hole in Blade's shoulder.
Turning to look at Mac, Blade saw the large talon in the other male’s hand. "I have never seen anything with one of those before," he said, wondering what kind of demon it was they’d just taken out. Then the fact Mac said he was free to go dinged in his head. "As much fun as cleanup is, I'll pass. I'll take the intel I got back to the Boss and let her know what happened." Blade looking around the makeshift base they were in out in the middle of Arizona dessert where they had ghosted the scene unfolding in the FQ to avoid any more news coverage.
Mac nodded. "We shouldn't be too long packing up. We'll head back to the compound once we are."
"Roger that," Blade said, standing up from the bench he was sitting on in the med tent and picking up his bag that lay at his feet. He looked at his favorite riffle on the bench. The demon had melted that barrel and twisted it into a pretzel. "I can't believe he ruined my gun. I've had that thing forever."
Mac turned his eyes to the weapon. "I feel for you, I really do, but I think your big mistake was trying to use it as a tongue depressor."
Blade shrugged. He’d thought ramming the barrel down the demon's throat would stop it from biting off his face. "Live and learn."
Mac chuckled. "Don't forget the talon. I think Asher might want to see that damn thing." Mac nodded at it.
Blade sighed looking at his poor gun again before he ghosted to the compound to find Reese.
Reese stood in her father's study, with her arms crossed over her chest, she stared at the broken mantle that now showed only the first four letter of the Fitzpatrick name. She didn't see it, caught in her own head as the murder of her father looped in there, trapping her like a bad dream. The explosion, him tossing her the weapon and flashing her a smile. Her being lifted off her feet by that big SOB with the thing on his face. Not being able to breathe. Her arm with the Glock pointed at Ozzy and the finger sliding over hers, squeezing the trigger.
She closed her eyes and dropped her blonde head when the single phantom gunshot sucker punched her in the gut. Her arms tightened and her fingers bit into her sides as she fought to break free of it, before it looped again. "Snap out of it Reese," she whispered to herself and forced her head to lift and her blue eyes to open. She sighed her relief when the spell seemed to break and she went back to pacing a hole in the singed carpet.
Appearing in Ozzy's study he blinked a moment not realizing he’d gone right to Reese. A small smile curled on his lips. Bag in hand, he watched her pacing. "You know if you're trying to measure the place for a new rug, it’s better to use a tape measure, instead of walking a hole in the floor," he said, trying to be funny, but it didn't come out right. He could tell she was upset.
She growled when the unexpected voice made her jump and her head snapped around to look over her shoulder. Eyeing Blade, she was having trouble convincing herself that he wasn't just another mirage, pushing her one more step closer toward completely batshit insane. Either way, her glare softened and one corner of her mouth turned up as she stared at him. "Glad you made it back, Fluffy. Took you long enough, though."
"I'm sorry we were just having too much fun getting our asses handed to us. How are you?" Blade asked knowing the answer wasn't good.
She sighed and scrubbed her face with her hand. "We lost Brock." Shaking her head, Reese still had trouble believing it. To make it through the fight with the hellhound, just to drop because he got its blood on him, was bullshit.
Blade's mouth dropped open, he didn't know what to say. "Jesus. If everyone else alright?" He asked going to her and wrapping his arms around her. As he did, his shoulder shot a bolt of pain through him. Growling, he tried to ignore it.
She slid her arms around him and nodded against his shoulder, her nose twitching at the scent of blood. She pulled her head back and fought the urge to start stripping him down to see how bad it was. It took all of her control not to. "You're hurt."
"Yes, a demon got me in the shoulder with one of its talons. Or it looked like a talon, but I'm not sure what kind it was. Never seen one of them before. My gun is in worse shape than I am. We kept the talon to give to the doc. Maybe he'll know what the hell it was." Blade's mind flashed to the demon trying to eat his face, thinking on his feet he rammed the gun barrel down its throat. It put its talons in his shoulder and lifted him off his feet. Only one of the talons cut through his flack jacket. As Blade came off his feet the barrel left the demons mouth. With its free hand the demon took hold of the barrel melting and twisting it upward. If Mac hadn't opened fire on it, Blade might not me here. He didn't tell her that part.
"Just tell me it didn't bleed on you," Reese tried to keep the worry from showing on her face or in her voice. Rycker had stuck around longer than most to collect all of his equipment and he'd stopped by to debrief the Doc on his way out, so they had that bit of intel about what took down the bear. Everything was falling apart around them and that meant that they had to stand strong. "Mac hadn't seen it before?" That was not good. the griffon had seen more than most.
"Well, I wouldn't say it bled on me. More like it exploded on me, but I got checked. I'm just fine other than the hole in my shoulder. And Mac had never seen it before," he said, pushing some hair from her face. "Tell me what happened here."
"Here?" She shook her head and coughed a laugh. "A dragon was camped out in here. He's moved into the parking garage now. At the Pit? A hellhound attacked. Brock took it out, but it bled on him and the blood killed him. Kara lost her shit. She's in a cell there, last I knew. And to top it off, Bart finally decided to grow a set and as the eldest Navarro, he's decided that our services are no longer necessary." She growled and looked up at him. "I'm glad you're okay, Fluffy. Who knew I could worry?" She grinned, feeling a little more like herself now that he was back and in one piece.
Taking it all in, he just sighed. "You worried about me? Aw, you do love me," he teased her. He wasn't sure how he could help her with any of it. "Dragon? Like a real live dragon?" he asked, a little shocked.
She made a face at him and laughed. "Yeah, I guess I do. And yes. A big ass red and scaly dragon with wings. He likes Syn, calls me snack pack and he's vegan or only eats them. Not too clear on that part." She shook her head and reminded herself not to think too much about it. "The weird-o-meter is at an all-time high."
"Well, Toots, it's the end of the world and all that. Happy times," he said laughing. "Never seen a dragon before? How big was he?"
"Fucking huge." She grinned and stretched up to kiss him. "Have Syn take you to meet him. He doesn't care for me at all. So, tell me what happened. Once the camera guy became lunch for whatever that was, the live feed was just static."
"Well, the sky opened up and it started raining demons. It was a party." He purred against her lips. "I think I'd like to meet the dragon. And we may need to replace some vehicles. They crushed or melted most of ours," Blade said, thinking about what happened.
She groaned and dropped her head against his chest. "If we live through this, we need a vacation."
"Yes, we do. Some place with no people," he agreed, resting his chin on the top of her head. "So, the thing with Bart. How are we going to fix this?"
"Sniper." She nodded and grinned against his chest. "Or we can throw him in with Kara."
Blade laughed. "Toots, I was thinking something much scarier than that."
She grimaced, remembering the clinic being torn apart around them. "What do you have in that devious panther mind of yours?" Whatever it was, she hopped it chapped the bear's ass so raw the fur never grew back.
"We call a Tribunal meeting about it. Have Salvation an Nocona do a review The Navarro Clan." He grinned.
"You are cold blooded," she laughed. "Wait. Do I have to take Ozzy's place?" She wasn't sure how she felt about that, but the bear would shit. "I figure the first time the shit hits the fan, he'll be begging us to come back. I haven't decided if I want to hold a grudge yet."
Blade grinned even more. "Yes, I am. I assume that you'll take Ozzy's chair. And sooner or later you'll have to do that. Others need to learn to respect you."
"Either way, the bear will have to meet my terms or he can go to hell. I'm not putting my people in there if he's got a death wish." She shrugged, inhaling Blade’s scent and purring softly. "He only has as much control as I let him think he does. I'm lulling him into a false sense of security, because we both know he doesn't have a hope in hell of containing that Valkyrie and she wants to use his skull as a coffee mug."
He tried not to laugh. "Well, whatever you want to do, Toots. I'll support you on it. I'd still like to ask Salvation for some help in scaring him."
"Do what you think is right, Fluffy." She tilted her bead back to look up at him. "Ry left eyes and ears there. He's monitoring the situation so that if Brax, Beyer or Bree are in trouble we can bail them out."
"Oh no, no, no! I am not the Boss, you are! So, it's your call!! I just work here." He was glad about having eyes and ears still there. "Well, when was the last time you or he checked to make sure everything was okay?"
She looked at the clock, one of the few things Cecil hadn't knocked off the walls with his giant ass and her eyes popped. It couldn't be right. She could not have been n here, staring into space for almost two hours. "I'm sure Ry is, probably with a bowl of popcorn and a beer, but I haven't checked in for a bit," she admitted.
Watching her face, he cocked his head. "I'm sure we can go check it. You okay, Toots?"
"Yeah. I think I'm just tired. It's been a hell of a twenty-four." She gave him a weak smile and stepped back, afraid that he’d see just how close to snapping she was. "Do you want to watch on the tube or pop in for live entertainment?" She smirked. "The bear said he didn't want AP there, not that he didn't want customers, and I do like to poke bears."
He thought for a moment. "I think we should pop in and get some dinner. Make them slave away for our money," he joked.
"Maybe send a few plates back, just for fun?" She snickered and nodded her agreement. "I love this plan."
"I like how you think. We could have a lot of fun with this." He smiled and stepped back. "When would you like to do this?"
"As soon as you're feeling up to it." She could use the distraction and in all honesty, she was worried about the three bears not named Bart that were in effect held hostage by his decisions, until he got some sense knocked into him.
"I'm ready. I haven't eaten days, to be honest. Unless you count sand and rocks I got in my mouth from the demon ass kicking I took."
"Sorry, Blade," She kissed his cheek and took his hand, ghosting them to the alley that led to the back parking lot and eyed the hole in the pavement that seemed to lead into the basement. "Not my monkey. Not my circus," she muttered and began walking around to the front of the building.
Blade followed and eyed the damage. "This doesn't look good at all, Toots," he said as they went around front. "Maybe we should check it out." It was habit for him to be worried and concerned.
"We should, but the bear wants to go solo and he's got to learn that it's not all barking orders and lollipops. He made the mess and it's his job to clean it up, not ours. Not until he asks, make that begs, Salvation gets involved or we see someone in danger. I know it's not easy, but he has to learn this one on his own." She pulled open the door when she didn't see anyone covering it and walked in. "If this is how he runs shit, they won't even have a liquor license by the end of the week."
Blade put his hand on the door above her and let her walk in first. "Yes Toots. You're the boos. Table or booth?" He asked looking around trying to feel out the place.
"Booth. Harder to sneak up on us from behind." She ducked under his arm and stepped inside. The place was quiet, with a few staff and the usual hardcore bar flies. The stage looked naked, without the band's instruments waiting to entertain the masses. The place felt off, way the hell off. She arched a brow at Blade and walked to a corner booth to sit.
He slid into the booth seat across from her. "Ghost town. I don't like it, Toots." he said honestly trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
She shook her head, agreeing, "Yeah, it's weird. What the hell happened after we left?"
Blade wasn't sure what had happened, but he wanted to know. The end of the world wasn't just a figure of speech. It was a real thing. He looked around the bar. He didn't see any of the Navarro's. How weird would it be now that Brock wasn't here? Grizz was one of his favorite people here. People were dropping like flies and it didn't set well with him. He wondered how much trouble he'd get into for getting their own beer. Maybe that'd get some action in here.
Reese half expected a tumble weed to blow across the floor. She hadn't realized how much her team filled in around here until their absence made it obvious. There was always a Navarro behind the bar or in the kitchen. Since it wasn't the bar, she gave Blade a look and made an executive decision to nip this shit in the bud and slid out of her seat. When she got to the saloon doors that separated the kitchen from the bar, she looked over the top. The kitchen was a disaster. Dishes were overflowing the sinks and the grill looked like a box of Crayolas had melted on it. Food and debris littered the floor that on any other day you could have eaten off. Still, no bears. 'We might have a situation, Fluffy,' she mindlinked Blade and closed her hand over the pommel of Glock holstered under her arm.
Blade watched her slide out of the booth and go check things out. As he waited he looked around the vibe in the space was off way off. When he heard her mindlink he slid out of the booth and followed her scent. He thought about calling out of one of the bears. Slowly he made his way to Reese. “Toots. I'm not sure what the hell is happening here, but it can't be good,” he said, keeping his hands ready if he needed to pull his gun from his side holster of his pants. He was still dressed in his AP uniform.
"What the hell did we miss?" she shook her head. "Oh, fuck. The portal." Silently she prayed that all hell hadn't broken loose downstairs and remembered the hole in the pavement outside leading into the basement. Turning, she began for the stairs and pressed the mic button on her earpiece. "Rycker, I need everyone not knee deep in carnage ready and on standby for The Pit. Blade and I are going in."
"I have no idea," Blade said pulling his Springfield XD from his side holster. His finger clicked off the safety. He turned and put his back to Reese's. "Are we going to do this clearing things one at a time or just John Wayne this bitch?" God he'd be working with Ethan to long. Everything with that guy was shoot first and ask questions later. Run in guns blazing. Blade shook his head mentally and waited for her to tell me how this was going to go.
"Can't shoot the bears, no matter how good it would feel," she grinned, palmed her Glock and flicked off the safely as she began down the stairs, dropping into a squat to see what was waiting for them, without providing too much of a target. The silence had her worried. Yelling would be better, hell, she'd settle for a small explosion. Anything that would promise they weren't walking into pile of corpses.
Blade let her go down the stairs and followed behind her. He moved past her on the bottom of the stairs. He knew standing straight up might get his head blown off, but he wanted to make sure she was shielded. He made a quick turn gun first into the hallway and saw nothing. 'Clear,' he linked her. 'Toots, I don't know normally get the creeps, but I got them right about now.' Then he heard something step on something with a crunch down the hall, around the corner. 'We’ve got movement,' he linked her as his training kicked in to place. Since he was still in dressed for war, he looked back at her over his shoulder and nodded to his right leg. The pocket of his pant held smoke grenades, and flash bangs. 'Take some grenades and throw one down there. The ones in that pocket won't kill anyone. Those are in my vest.' He turned his head back to the sounds coming from around the corner that they couldn't see. That pissed him off.
Crouching as she silently moved down the remaining steps, she reached into the pocket he nodded to and pulled out a grenade. Pulling the pin with her teeth, she held the lever down and straightened up, pressing her back against the wall to peer down the hallway. Reese froze and gaped. The cells that lined the wall were empty and it looked like a bomb had broken through the stone in two of them. Kara was gone, and that was a problem if she was still set on bringing the city crashing down around them, or killing a certain bear that didn't know enough to stay out of her face. The other was worse, a serial killer named Zander had been in there and now he was free. 'Inmates are out,’ she linked Blade and finally turned her head the rest of the way to look down the hall. The lights made a sizzling noise and browned in an out, making it hard to see what was going on, if anything, in the shadows at the end. Movement made her arch a brow. She threw the smoke grenade. If they were going in blind, it only seemed fair for the playing field to be even.
Mac and the others hit the compound and started unpacking what was left of their vehicles and other things. When the Reese's voice came over their headsets. Mac jumped out of the back of the truck he was in. "Reese, and Blade need us in the city." Mac yelled as the others pulled up behind him.
Ethan opened the truck door and climbed out. Standing six foot six, with shaved head an short beard he was one of newest members of AP. Mac brought him in on the last mission Ozzy Fitzpatrick had set Mac's team on. Ethan pulled his riffle from the front seat before closing the door. "The fun never stops, does it Mac?" he asked, coming to stand beside Mac.
Mac smiled for a moment. "No, if you like action, Alpha Pride will feed that need." Looking around he did a mental checklist of who was in one piece after the demon attack.
"We'll go in with two teams. The area is heavy with civilians of all species. So, we treat this as an urban war zone." Mac ordered as the men lined in formation. "Team One will be Ethan, Jack, and myself. Team Two will be Mark, Hal, and Ray. The rest of you will be back up. Listen for the signal. If Reese, Blade, or myself gives it, you flood the area. If need be, have the choppers ready." Mac said as the men started moving into place.
Ethan let out a chuckle. "Get to the choppers," he said in a snicker, in his best Arnold voice.
Mac shook his head. "One of these days kid I'm gonna have you tested for mental retardation."
"Someday old man, but not today." Ethan said laughing.
It didn't take AP long to get to The Pit. The parked down the street keeping out of sight. Armed to the teeth, Mac took point making his way to the back of the building seeing the hole in the side of it. 'Team Two cover and enter the front of the building.' He linked them. 'Team One we are going in.' He pulled his riffled up and started into the building. Stepping on the chunks of wall that crunched under his boots, he slowed a moment as the sound of his boots made the crunching echo. Fuck, he thought to himself. He knew there was no real stealthy way in, without making a sound. He started in through the hole in the wall and came out in one of the cells an down the hallway he was about to give the all clear when something came flying at him blinding him. A smoke grenade exploded blinding the men for a moment. Coughing for a moment his eyes started to burn a bit.
Reese started down the hall, scraping her shoulder against the stone and held her weapon in front of her, panning right and left. She took each step with care, and swallowed the need to cough. It was another 'skill' Ozzzy had insisted she learn, to ignore the tickle in her lungs, and shed spent countless hours locked in a bus full of this shit to learn it. When Ozzy was your dad, there was no tapping out. Her head turned at the coughs behind her and she smirked, hoping that if it was back up, they weren't trapped inside the cells. She'd only glanced, but it looks as though the doors were still closed. Reese froze, reaching behind her to tap, Blade's chest so he wouldn't run into her. Something hit the wall a few feet in front of her and grunted and slid toward her feet.
Mac stopped his cough. He knew better than to do that. Tapping his earpiece, he tried to ignore the burning of his eyes. Then Blade's scent made its way through the smoke. "Back up has arrived. I do believe one of you blinded us with a smoke grenade," he said, just loud enough for it to be heard over the headsets.
Blade started forward as Reese moved when her hand stopped him. He listened a moment. When Mac's voice filled his ears. 'Toots, didn't Ozzy have some kind of alert for when AP members came in contact with each other.' He could have sworn their headsets were supposed to beep or something so they didn't hurt other team members by accident.
'Sounds like call waiting. Ry changed the frequency to one humans and animals can't hear,' she linked back. Edging forward carefully and kneeling when her foot bumped something. Even through the smoke, she could smell bear, but couldn't make out who it was. She tilted her gun away from them and grabbed their shoulder pulling them up to push them behind her and Blade. 'Our people will get you out,' she linked them. ‘What's ahead?'
The bear coughed and crawled over the floor. 'He's back and he's lost his shit,' Beyer linked back before getting to his feet and running to safety. "Civie coming out," she whispered and began to move forward again. At least they knew it wasn't Kara, even if who the he was, was still a mystery.
Blade nodded and let Beyer go past him.
As they started forward Mac and the first team fell in line behind them. Team Two started into the front of The Pit. "Everyone clear out!" Mark yelled. The humans and few shifters that were there looked at them like they were crazy. Mark held up his fake badge that read S.W.A.T. Ray started herding people out the front. Once the bar area was clear Mark hit his earpiece. "Bar area clear," he said, waiting for the next command.
The exit sign glowed softly on the ceiling before browning out to a dull flicker, telling Reese that they were close to the portal. Hands punched through the smoke, grabbing the front of her shit and her wrist of the hand holding her weapon. Her hair flew into her face as she was spun and slammed against a wall. She blinked to clear the bright dots and tried to breath, but the giant fist was pushing too hard for her chest to move. A face broke through the smoke, sneering and hovering less than an inch from her own. Its scent left her in shock, because it couldn't be.
"You shouldn't have come, Reese," Brock snarled. "Call them off."
"Can't breathe," she ground out, trying to buy some time for everyone to be in position.
The bear, shook her by the front of her shirt, grinding her into the stone. "Call. Them. Off," he growled.
"It's Brock," she croaked into the smoke-filled hall before she pressed against the wall with her feet and pushed toward him, knocking him off balance and falling with him to the floor when he didn't release her.
When Reese disappeared in the smoke, Blade was about to open fire. He heard Brock's voice. Blade held up his hand for Mac and the others to see and to stop. 'I'm going ahead you stay here.' Blade linked Mac and started forward, using his powers to make the smoke part so he could see. His XD at the ready to blow anyone's head off including Brock's if need be. When Reese and Brock came into view on the floor he pointed his gun down at them. "Grizz let her go," Blade demanded.
Brock snarled and looked up at him. "You don't fucking scare me with that fucking gun." Brock pulled Reese closer to him using her as a shield. "I have no idea what the fuck is going on here, but I do know I'm done playing these fucking games. Kara locked in a cell. What the fuck is that about?" the bear demanded in a snarled growl. He didn't know what was going on. His brother trying to hug him like they were the best of friends. When that wasn't even close to the truth.
Reese growled and slammed the heel of her boot into Brock's shin when he spun her around and held her in the way of a bullet, only getting a grunt and the steal bands of his arm around her tightened, threatening to break ribs. "She was tearing the place apart when you died. It was for everyone's safety. Now stop this shit. We're not the god damn enemy."
Brock blinked a moment. Dead. He was dead? She was trying to fuck with his head. But he'd play along. "Well I see that worked out great. She's not even here. Who was the other male in the cells with her?" He asked letting Reese go. He looked up at Blade. "Get that gun out of my face or I'll ram it down your throat." He glowered at Blade.
Blade let one of his hands drops from his gun and took a hold of Reese, pulling her up next to him. The gun didn't move from Brock's face until Reese was safely behind him. "Grizz, you need to take it down a notch. We are here to help."
Brock busted out laughing. Help. when did they ever really help? All the damage Ozzy and his minions had done to this place and his clan. The panther wants to stand there talking about help and shit. He's off his rocker.
Reese glared at the bear, who had stripped her gun from her hand before pushing her at Blade. "Did being dead fry your brain? You were here when they brought Zander in." She used her magic to clear the smoke from the hall. The bear was laughing like a loon and she didn't like the crazy she saw in his eyes. "And it looks like we couldn't hold Kara anyway, so what the fuck is your problem?"
Brock got up from the ground and held the gun in his hand looking at it, and then at them. "I assumed since you know everything, you'd know more about Zander since you and your daddy are the big wigs around here. My problem you ain't got time for that, Cher." Over Blade and Reese's shoulders he saw more AP assholes. "Do you always have to bring your clowns with you? I mean how many of you are in here? Like fucking cockroaches." He was getting angrier by the moment. The air around them started to pop and sizzle.
Mac, Ethan, and Jack stood there listening to everything. Wondering what the bears problem was other than the fact he was dead.
Mac tried to process everything. "I think we're all missing the large issue right now. If you were dead or are dead. How the hell are you standing here?" Mac said, making sure his voice carried.
Narrowing her eyes, she observed the head of the Navarro clan. Mac raised a valid point. "No, I don't. Where's your pet Valkyrie?" She assumed that Kara must know, or they'd be standing in a pile of rubble right now. She eyed Brax picking himself up off the floor further down the hall. His eyes screamed that he was in shock and he cradled his left arm against his chest. Reese sighed. "How about we all stand down, take a breath and try to figure out what the hell is going on?" She realized that Blade was trying to shield her and stepped forward, holding her hand out to Brock for her weapon, "If you don't mind?"
Brock turned himself so he could see all of them. Putting his back to the wall or what was left of it and still holding the gun, he grinned at her. "Sure thing, Cher." He removed the clip from it and handed it back to her. He crushed the clip in his hand and handed that back to her also. "If I knew where she was, would I be here?"
Brax wasn't sure what was going on. Holding his arm to his chest and moved past his brother and put himself between Blade and Mac. "Brother, I don't know what happened, but there was no need for your bullshit." Brax said, watching Brock who just growled at him.
"Don't call me Brother. Not after what you did," Brock snapped.
Brax had turned to get himself to the clinic when Brock threw those words at his back. He spun and glared at the bear. "Why don't you tell me what the fuck I did, because I have no goddamn idea!" he growled.
Reese arched a brow at the useless clip and slid it into her pocket before slapping a hand on Brax's chest to hold him back. Brock was off the rails and they didn't need a bloodbath. They had enough of those everywhere else. "Do you know where Kara went?", she asked Brax, keeping her voice soft and calm.
"No," Brax shook his head. "She asked to be let out. I said I couldn't and then she blew a hole in the damn wall. Who was the idiot that didn't ward the fucking wall?"
Ethan had no idea what was going on. "Boss Lady, we have team two upstairs. Should we have them stand down?"
Brock looked at the new guy. "Yes, I'd have them stand down. Before I get mad and start kicking the shit out of you AP dicks. As for you Brax, you know what you did. Now, if we're done standing around here, I have shit to do." Brock started past them. Shit was too weird. He still had no idea why he'd come out of the portal. All this talk of him dying didn't make sense to him.
"Yes," Reese sighed and pressed the mic "Stand down. Just a domestic dispute." she dropped her hand and turned to watch the bear go, waiting until he was gone to speak. "I don't like this, at all."
"Copy that." Mark said as he got the message. "Pack it up and head back." Mark barked to others. "We're headed back to the compound," he said into the ear piece. Then the three males left The Pit, leaving the others there to handle whatever mess just happened.
Mac nodded in agreement. "Do you think he came back like Dane and Kara did? Like, maybe he's brain is fucking scrambled. The look in his eyes was like he wanted us all dead. And I know I never did anything to the bear. Hell, I always tipped him big when he waited on me."
Blade put the safety back on his XD and put it away. "And he called you Cher? When the hell did that ever happen?" Blade asked looking at Reese.
"Never," Reese snorted. "Did you bury him in Stephen King's Pet Cemetery or some shit? Cuz he's back, but he came back wrong." She shook her head and started back up the hall. "Looks like we still aren't welcome here, so HQ remains the compound."
"Maybe, Toots." Blade said.
Mac thought for a moment. "Unwelcome or not, we still should stick around. If he's off, it could end up with a lot of dead bodies. We can't in trust the portal to him. You saw what he did to Brax, and Beyer. And Beyer is the easy going one. No one ever had a problem with him," Mac said, trying to think of other reasons for Brock to be upset. True Kara in cell might set him off, but if she's not in there now, so there is no reason for him to be pissy.
Reese thought about what Mac said and weighed the pros and cons. "We should, but we don't want to be the reason for the bodies either. Brian grew up with them and if he doesn't know that Bart kicked the bear out, it won't seem off to him." She sighed and put away her Glock. "Us, on the other hand, should clear out."
"Toots, do you really wanna leave Brian here a lone to handle this. Though you got a point about being the reason for the bodies. This is a hot mess. We need to find the Valkyrie. I think that is at the top of the list of shit to look into."
"Agreed. Anyone know how to do that?" She arched a brow at them. "Not just Brian, but it has to be people that won't set the bear off. He's never turned on his family like this." She scrubbed her face with her hand, "And if Bart gets in Kara's face again, we're looking at world war fucking three."
"I vote Ethan stays here. He is new and Brock doesn't know him enough to hate him." Mac said.
"Well gee thanks old man. Just leave me here for the bear to eat me."
The whole time Jack had been standing there silent. Jack was like Mac in the way he'd been there a long ass time. He didn't have an assigned team. He went where he was needed. He wasn't as tall as the others were. Just barely five eleven. Long white blond hair pulled back and braided down his back. He was one of the only jackals in AP. He cocked his head to the side. "I'd like to add something to the list of things to look into," he said in quiet tone.
Mac turned and looked at him.
Reese looked up and nodded. "All suggestions are welcome, Jack." Her head was beginning to pound. She wasn't sure if it was the stress, the smoke or Brock banging her head against the wall. It didn't matter, she didn't have time for it.
"Zander and the fact there are no human police or fire department here right. With a hole blown in the side of the building and all that. Shouldn't we be eye ball deep in human authority?" He asked honestly wondering how they were the only ones with guns here.
She considered it and shook her head. "With the shit going down on the news, I think they have their hands full and I'm hoping this place is still flying under the radar. About an hour ago, the president declared war on shifters." She'd forgotten that they were on a mission and probably didn't know. "Not seeing them might be in our favor."
All of the male’s eyes bugged out for a moment. "Say again?!" Mac said.
"How could he know what the hell we are?" Blade said in a growl.
"He may not have used the word shifters specifically, but werepeople is close enough. Either way, we're public enemy number one."
"Well, isn't that just fucking jim-crackin-fucking-dandy!" Blade said shaking his head. "All we need is villagers and pitch forks, fucking up the works. We gotta put this genie back in the fucking bottle. No ifs, ands or buts about it."
"Then we need to find Fenrir and shut this shit down. But when own are being hunted and cut down, am I supposed to let them be murdered? I know that the shit has hit the fan on an epic level, but I can't catch a break long enough to form a fucking plan. Right now, if any of you want the job, it's yours. I'll go work for the panthers." Growling, she walked toward the stairs. If they needed one person to be solely responsible for saving the world, they picked the wrong chick.
Mac reached for a put his hand on her shoulder. "Reese. You can't abandon AP or your post. I know how you feel, but you forgot one important thing." Mac said in a calm tone, hoping she didn't spin around and throat punch him.
Her jaw ticked. "Do you Mack? Tell me about how I feel. You all have an ass load of suggestions when I'm not asking for them, but when I do? Yu clam up tight and I get ‘you're the boss.’ So why don’t you fucking tell me what I'm forgetting before I snap completely and just start doing shit my way, on my own?"
He pulled his hand back from her. "I understand how you feel, because I lost my family on the job and it was my fault. I had to pull the trigger myself. When you've had to mow down your own blood, like they were nothing, it does something to you. Ozzy's death was just the start of hell on earth. The omen's have been coming for a while now. And we are not your nemesis. We are your family. And you have us to help you through all this. If you want to leave AP to someone else? That is fine. That’s your choice. I am not the boss. You are. Ozzy willed his power and all that to you. Not me or anyone else."
She shook her head. If the griffin only knew the details of how Ozzy died. Having Brock slam her into the wall in an almost identical pose, hadn't helped. "Thanks," she said tightly and walked away.
Mac and the others let her pass. "We'll head back to the compound." Mac said to Blade.
"Okay I'll keep an eye on her. I don't think anything is gonna make shit better right now." He said with a sigh.
Not wanting to piss the bear off anymore by walking up the stairs, she ghosted out.
Blade watched as Mac and Jack cleared out. He stood there a moment wishing he had something to fix all this.
Ethan headed upstairs to sit in the bar and keep an eye on things.