Damien stood and watched the sky. There was a rustling in the trees before him, but he paid it no attention. He knew who it was, and knelt as a large orange tiger came strolling out from the brush. His Familiar moved with a slow grace, head low, steps light, as if he was always in stalk mode. "Rajah." Damien said as the tiger came and sat before him. Finally, the thing that had been tugging at his mind and leaving him feeling slightly empty and vulnerable all morning disappeared with the arrival of his other half. "You were gone too long. And you went too far. I told you not to go that far." He reprimanded the creature before standing again.
As if to say sorry, Rajah came to sit beside his person and flicked his long stripped tail over his feet. I apologize for making you nervous Damien, I was nervous too. The apology surprised Damien slightly, seeing as Rajah never apologized for anything. But I discovered something useful. Damien turned towards the tiger slightly. Behind them, he could hear Seph speaking softly to the captive, and his shoulders stiffened. Women were not cut out for the job they'd assigned her. They had too many emotions getting in their way.
The prisoner girl was right. The camp is close. Rajah told him, and Damien focused his attention back on the tiger. But not as close as we thought. That's why I had to go so far. They were just outside the boundaries you gave me.
"So you found them? Did they see you?" Damien asked, watching as his Familiar licked his paw leisurely, as though they were discussing the weather. Of course no one saw me or I would not still be here. He said, and Damien's brows furrowed in confusion. The situation is worse than we thought Damien. Rajah said, answering the question in his mind. The escapee's have found the Revolution. They've teamed up. Damien nodded, taking this in for a moment. "So how is this a bad thing? They've just put all our eggs in one nest, so to speak."
It means we're vastly outnumbered, and it would be nearly impossible to destroy the Revolution, and take certain mutants alive. It would be a massacre, and you know we have orders to keep some of them alive. Damien considered this while Rajah continued. They're planning a raid this instant so you need to come up with something fast. Either we move out, destroy them, and fail to take our prisoners, but successfully stop their raid, or we wait, let them attack the institute, and come up with something else.
Damien ran his fingers through his hair, a soft hiss escaping his lips. Shit. He thought to himself, though not completely himself, as Rajah's chest rumbled in a soft, amused purr. "I'm glad you're finding this amusing Rajah." Damien spat, just as he sensed someone coming up from behind him, making him spin, he met Mackenzie's eyes before she'd even opened her mouth. His gaze burned holes in hers, daring her to bring him bad news. It was evident that he was worked up, as he was breathing shallowly, and his shoulders were stiff.
"I don't mean to question you or your choices but it was my understanding that we were supposed to recapture the escapee's not execute them." Mackenzie said in a respectful way, making Damien feel rather ridiculous for whirling on her like he had. He sighed and calmed down, his expression returning to passive, the tension in his body draining away as quickly as it had appeared.
He flicked her comment away with no more than a shrug. "Not that I should have to explain my decisions to you, but, the girl I killed was not on the list of mutants we're required to take alive. My orders are that I have to return only those that are on the list, and if I can recapture anyone else, but if not, then they can be killed if they have to be." He sighed. The day had hardly begun and already he was exhausted. Probably from lack of sleep. He never slept when he sent Rajah out. It just wasn't possible.
Damien glanced past Mackenzie, at the camp, then back to her. "Come on." He said, jerking his head towards the camp as an idea turned over in his mind, unfolding, forming a plan. "Time to announce the plan." He turned away and headed towards the camp, making his way into the center. By now, all his hunters were awake. They were trained that way. Every hunter woke before the sun was in the sky. "I have just been informed that the situation is worse than we thought." He announced loudly, so everyone could here. "The escapees, and the Revolution are working together, meaning that one quick attack would be messy. People might get away, and others that we were ordered to capture, might get killed. So I've come up with a new plan." Rajah sat beside him. Sure you don't want to think about this? The tiger asked with obvious concern, but Damien ignored him and went on. "We'll give them a reason to come to us." He said with a smile, liking the idea more and more as it unraveled in his mind, hoping that no one could tell he was totally winging it.
"We'll sneak into their camp while they're away on a raid and capture whoever they leave to watch, and take them back to an Institute. They'll try to make a rescue. But we'll be ready for them. We'll have someone on the inside, feeding us information about every move they make." He looked at Persephone, and grinned. "Seph, you've been trained for this type of thing. After they return, you'll stumble into their camp, injured, begging for help, ect. There's no way they'll refuse you. Once you're safely in, the rest of us," he gestured around him, at the camp, "split." Beside him, Rajah flicked his tail, and Damien could tell he approved.
"We have to move out now if we want to get there before they get back, so if there are no questions, pack up. If someone has a problem, come and see me." With that he turned away, making his way towards his tent. He was the only member of the group to have a tent. Tents were a hassle to carry, but the scientists had assigned Damien a man whose only purpose was to carry his things. "Josh, Jake." He gestured to the two men standing guards. They were twins, and impossible to tell apart. They shared everything. Even a Familiar. Because he couldn't tell the difference between them, Damien made a point of giving them orders simultaneously, so he never had to make a decision on who was who. "Take down the tent." The two nodded, and Damien ducked inside to collect his things.
Vera watched the Revolution leader with vibrant blue eyes as he stood before her, clearly angry. She couldn't help it. The corner of her mouth twitched up in a slight smirk, and a single brown eyebrow raised itself in amusement. Was it really that easy to get him mad?
"First of all I do not like you warping in here unannounced." Her attentive eyes flicked to his hands, noticing how they clenched into fists. She looked back up at him, eyebrow raising higher, forcing herself to keep shock from her expression. "I was having a conversation with my sister and I don't take sick days." He growled "And for your last question I sorta have a plan but I need to know what yours can do. I plan on setting up a ring of fire around the institute except for one place where we will have one stand guard at. Half of us will go through the front entrance the other through the back. We see if there are any one to save, if not we get out of there and I set the place on fire." Vera then watched as he tried to remember who Boo was. "Shes the half blind girl right? Well I don't mind that, she would probably keep us back if she came but if she stays she listens to Adalind."
Sensing that he was done, she smiled falsely and leaned forward slightly, as though she was telling him an important secret. "Careful now." She hissed in a falsely pleasant tone, "You wouldn't want to be like the humans now would you?" She smirked, her words like daggers. "They seem to think they can tell people not to be themselves. Don't tell me not to Warp around. I'm a Sly. Unless you chain me to a tree, I'll Warp where I want." Satisfied, she leaned back again and considered the rest of his words.
However, before she could respond, she was interrupted by one of Aindreas's. A male Feline. Vera watched the boy as he reported to his leader, almost as if she wasn't there. Though she didn't blame him, and she wasn't offended. He wasn't loyal to her. There was no need for him to report to her. "Good morning. Aindreas, the Institution isn't active right now. I only saw one guard on patrol and he looked pretty tired. There are two doors, a main entrance and a back door that has some sort of fancy electronic lock on it. There's a large window on the ground floor, too. I'm guessing because of that they keep the captives in higher floors or underground," Vera watched the Feline, an idea hatching.
She then turned back to Aindreas, tucking a piece of fire-red hair behind her ear, revealing the piercing there that she'd done herself a long time ago. "I like your plan Aindreas. Not bad. However, a ring of fire? It would take too long for you to set up, and we need you to do other things." She looked back at the Feline, unable to remember his name for the life of her. "What if you have..." She hesitated on his name, "This Feline, make a force field around the place while we're in there and stand at one of the doors? That way, nothing can get in until we're done, and he can take it down for us to get out." She glanced at the Feline, looking him over briefly. She wasn't sure how Feline powers worked. Did it drain him at all to make a field and keep it up? Would he be able to make a field that big for that long?
She turned back to Aindreas. "And don't you worry your little head about my people. They'll follow me anywhere." She said, hoping it was true, and hoping that he couldn't see that she herself was unsure of it. "We should also all pair up, so that no one's alone." She said, glancing at the camp briefly, hoping they had even numbers. She'd like to take Alex as her partner, but she had a feeling she should probably take Aindreas, seeing as they were both the leaders.
You don't have to do this you know. Vera was startled by the voice in her head. Miatta. She'd sensed her nerves before even Vera herself had. We could just take Boo and Alex and get out of here. Or, better yet, just us. We could go in the middle of the night. No one would know.
Vera closed her eyes briefly, blocking the thoughts out. She knew Miatta meant no harm. She wasn't some sinister side of her, trying to convince her to bail on her friends, she was just presenting the opportunity they both knew was there. It was in their nature. As a sly, every single instinct she had screamed that large groups were bad. The animal in her wanted freedom. Wanted solitude. It wanted to be able to look out only for itself.
But she couldn't do that. The human in her would never forgive itself if she left. No Miatta. We can't do that. She said to her Familiar before opening her eyes again to look at Aindreas. No matter how much she denied it, she was terrified of going back into an Institute, if not for herself, than for the others, but she was also ready to actually do something instead of just sit by.
Ada stood back, listening to the leaders talk, watching their movements, but not engaging in the conversation. She had no place in it really, though she knew Aindreas would jump off a cliff if she told him to, she really wasn't qualified to be a leader, and so, she left the decision making to him and the fire-haired escapee.
Adalind watched her brother respond angrily to Vera, knowing he was giving her the exact reaction she wanted, but not feeling the need to step in. She sighed and sat again, tearing at little pieces of grass in boredom. Sometimes she wished she could go on the raids, just for the sake of having something to do, but Adalind understood why Aindreas made her stay back. Someone had to watch the camp, and she really didn't think she was ready to go back in there anyway. Plus, he didn't want her hurt, and Ada didn't want to get hurt either. Not so much for herself though, but for him. Sometimes feared what he would do should she ever be hurt, he was so protective of her. He would probably be so blinded by rage, he'd do something he'd only regret later.
"She's the half blind girl right? Well I don't mind that, she would probably keep us back if she came but if she stays she listens to Adalind." Addie heard her name, and looked up, meeting Aindreas's eyes with a smile. Someone was going to stay back with her? She couldn't help but feel happy. She'd never had company. Usually it was just her and the empty camp when the others went on raids.
She glanced around, wanting to find the girl she'd be on watch with, but was inturrupted when Kefir growled suddenly, making her jump. She turned to him, and rubbed his ears gently. "What's wrong Kefir?" She asked as he placed his head in her lap, and then noticed how the fox that had been watching her flicked her tail impatiently and stalked off to take her seat by Vera. Ada smiled softly and kissed Kefir on the head. "Thanks Kefir." She whispered softly.
"Hey Addy, didn't sleep well last night?" A kind voice, made Adalind turn her head to see Emerald sitting next to her. She smiled at the green-haired girl, and turned to face her. She liked Emerald. She was always so nice to her, and she didn't mind the way she babied her a little. It felt almost motherly, and Ada liked the feeling of having someone else care about her.
In response to her question, Addie just sighed deeply and shrugged, leaning back on her arms, pushing her long black hair behind her, letting the raising sun touch her icy pale skin. She didn't sleep well. Everyone in camp knew that. It was hard to keep your nightmares a secret when you woke up, screaming bloody murder where everyone could hear you. It had started to become a problem, so Ada had volunteered to take night watch, and promised Aindreas she'd sleep during the day, though she didn't always keep it, making her very tired. However, she was the kind of person who could ignore discomfort so it didn't really bother her too much.
"You know sometimes when I can't sleep I put on one of my mother's pieces of jewelry, the songs they sing sometimes help me get to sleep. If you ever want to barrow one to see if it would help you sleep I'd be more than happy to lend it to you." Adalind's hand moved up to the small diamond at her neck. Just barely enough to give her nourishment, but still her most prized possession. She turned her head towards Emerald, meeting her hazel eyes with her own pitch black ones, a grateful smile on her lips. "Maybe tonight I'll try that,thank you. It would be great to have a regular sleeping pattern again. Though I don't mind taking night watch really." She smiled softly. "Gives me a chance to listen to the stars." Ada looked up as her brother ordered Emerald to gather everyone up, then turned back to the girl. She wanted to place a hand on her arm and thank her, but she couldn't touch her. Touch was too revealing. Too invasive. She had to be satisfied with only words.
She looked up as Leif returned from his watch and smiled. "Leif!" She grinned, standing up next to her best friend, giving him a hug, being careful to only touch the fabric of his shirt, and not his skin. "Good luck in the raid today." She said, pulling back. That was another thing that sucked about being the only one left behind. She had to let her brother and her friends run straight into the face of danger while she stood by helplessly on the sidelines. What if something happened to them? How would she ever know? She'd rather be captured or killed with them, than be the only one left. Loneliness was not something she coped with well.