Chapter VI: The Night Warriors
I awoke and rubbed my eyes to see the night sky through the SUV's front mirror. I yawned and scratched my head as we drove onto the right side of the road and straight into the fence that was about 10 feet away. It only took a split second for me to snap awake and reached for the steering wheel and shifted it to the left.
Grayson, who's head had been tilted back as he had fallen asleep a few seconds ago, snapped awake with the sudden shake and slammed on the breaks as he took the steering wheel back from me.
I looked at Grayson, with my hands still on the steering wheel, as he looked back at me and smiled gingerly.
We both looked back and saw Veronica and Alexandria sitting in the back seats of the SUV. Both were upright and wide eyed as they stared at us.
Grayson's cell phone rang, with a hawk's call as a ringtone.
He answered it as he continued on the road.
"Hello...no I didn't hit anything yet...yes...it's fine." Grayson said and looked at me, out of the corner of his eye, to make sure that I didn't change to my white tiger form to listen to the person on the other end of the call. "Okay, goodnight Fiona."
I raised my eye brow as Grayson hung up the phone.
"Did she say to find a motel before you crashed somewhere?" I asked.
"How did you know? Did you change again? I didn't even notice if you did. Eavesdropping isn't correct behavior, Dick." Grayson said.
"I didn't have to hear anything. She always commented on both when we drove at night.
We finally stopped in a big named hotel as I yawned loudly. Grayson walked out of the hotel's lobby after he was done reserving a room then walked back towards us and saw the girls in the back and turned around and headed back in to reserve a second room.
I read the receipt in silence as we headed up the elevator and into the third floor, where our room was. Both room cost a little over $120 but what I always paid attention to was the business location, Carlsbad, and the state, New Mexico, and the words "We appreciate your business!"
I was falling asleep when some light knocking was heard on the door. I waited for Grayson to answer the door but he never moved. I pulled myself out of bed and saw Grayson sleeping with his face covered by a pillow to drown the snoring. I yawned again and opened the door and saw Veronica and Alexandria standing outside with a blanket and a pillow under each hand.
They yawned then rubbed their eyes as I waved them in. Ten minutes later we were all fighting for a place on my bed. We had all grown up so fitting in a regular twin bed wasn't as easy anymore.
In the morning I awoke lying sideways on the bed with Alexandria's legs over mine and Veronica's over my chest. I looked and saw both of them asleep so I lay there motionless.
Grayson snorted awake and stood up. He looked a little dazed then asked. "What time is it?"
I hushed him quietly which made him look my way then shift back when he saw the girls asleep and pretty much burying me.
Grayson scratched his head. Then yawned once more and lay back down. I thought about how we were all growing and how the three of us used to all fit in a regular bed without problem. Fiona measured me a day or two before we left and said that I was now 5'1. She said that I would get bigger in the next year.
It was now 9:30 and I was awoken when Alexandria had transformed into her white tiger form in her sleep and had been moving so she lightly scratched my midsection with her left foot.
I tickled her foot and she moved it away but let it shift right back. Grayson was up now. He went to the bathroom and stopped when he saw me still buried under the girls' legs.
He moved over and took hold of my feet and slowly pulled me out as I made sure to not wake the girls up.
I caught myself with my hands as I hit the floor then stood up and silently thanked Grayson.
"So why did I pay for two rooms?" He murmured.
I shrugged then smiled when my sister scratched her stomach with her white tiger claws.
We both headed out into the hall where there was a girl sitting in front of a door. She held her head down and would only raise it to hit the door.
"Weirdo." Grayson muttered and took me to a fast food restaurant to get breakfast.
We ate ours there then ordered seconds plus some for the girls. We ate our second servings on the way home.
"Why did we get two?" I asked.
"Because we're men and because we can." Grayson said as he bit into a sausage link.
I smiled as we entered the motel's lobby. That was the first "just because" statement that he ever made. Grayson drank some of his coffee as we entered the elevator that took us to the third floor where our rooms were. He handed me his coffee which I held then sipped. Grayson stared at me as I shrugged and drank some more.
"Don't get addicted to that stuff." He said and took the coffee from me then stopped when he felt that there was only a little left then drank it.
We entered our room and the girls were still asleep. Alexandria was laying on her back with her white tiger paw on her furry stomach, as Veronica now lay face down with her head and arms on the outside of the mattress.
"Leave them sleep." Grayson said as he began looking for clothing.
We walked around silently as we began to get ready to head out when Alexandria moaned slightly and shifted.
I walked over and shook her once to wake up but she ignored me so I walked into the bathroom and wet my hand then walked out without drying it. I put my face about three inches from Alexandria's and moved my hand over her forehead so the water slowly drips down.
Alexandria's face shifted, slight at first, whenever the water reached her furry forehead. She moaned again and opened her pure white eyes slowly. It wasn't the first time I've seen her in that animal form but it did seem weird to see her asleep in such a way. Normally we only shifted while awake and even then it was only for a short time.
"Oh crap!" She yelled as she instinctively jumped back and hit the wall with her white tiger claws digging into the drywall.
Veronica shifted awake. "What? What?" She asked as she tried lifting her head with her arms but ended up sliding off the bed, flipping over, and landing back first in the floor.
I laughed as I could see Alexandria's chest rising and falling quickly as she was still alert. I must have also frightened the animal in her because even the claws on her feet were extended.
"What the hell, Richard?" Alexandria asked as I fell on Grayson's bed, laughing. "You could have given me a heart attack.
I sighed and wiped a year from my eye. "That was awesome; you should have seen the look in your eyes." I imitated her facial expressions and laughed again.
Veronica stood up and rubbed her back slightly. You're such a jerk, Richard. I could have broken my neck." She said but I just kept laughing.
Alexandria jumped at me from the beds and lay on top of me as she held my hands with her white tiger paws; I don't think she even knew that she had changed. The transformation gave us the animal's instincts and abilities but it was easy to forget that those feelings belonged to the animal and not the person sometimes.
"Say you're sorry." Alexandria said with an animal growl, she didn't realize that she was showing me her animal fangs.
I was about to say something when she jerked back slightly as Grayson pulled on her left white tiger ear.
"Ow, ow, OW!" She said and instinctively began to slash at Grayson's midsection with her claw but she stopped herself when she saw that she was about to attack Grayson who raised an eyebrow at her.
Alexandria chuckled and smiled slightly then lowered her paw.
"Down girl." Grayson said and motioned for her to get off me.
Alexandria didn't protest as she got off the bed, I followed. Grayson put the bed nice and tidy again. Alexandria kicked my leg once and I shoved her with my arm.
"Stop it you two." Grayson said.
"Stop what?" Alexandria said as Veronica yawned and headed to the bathroom.
"Stop hitting each other." He said.
Alexandria gave a look of surprise then gasped slightly when an eye appeared from the back of Grayson's head and focused on her.
"I could see you, remember?" Grayson said as the eye disappeared and he turned around. "You might want to be dressed and human when we head downstairs." He reached out and lifted her right paw by its fur and held it in front of her. "I don't think the people downstairs would react well to see a white tiger girl walk into the lobby with them. They'll scream and run."
"Either that or those two Las Vegas Circus Circus dudes will be there and throw a net over her and drive off. I heard they were looking for a new white tiger for their new act."
Alexandria cocked her hip and crossed her arms then stuck her tongue out at me as her fur slowly dissolved into her body as the muzzle on her face shrunk and showed her human face. Her skin slowly shifted from the black on white to a tanned pink.
-0-
I opened Grayson's cell phone as Fiona had sent him a new text message that was addressed to me.
"Is he eating more than he normally does?" The text from Fiona asked.
I turned and saw Grayson bite into his breakfast burrito then down some coke as he drove.
I typed in the numbers 9371 that spelled "Yes." and hit the send button.
I got a response a few seconds later saying "Tell him not to be so nervous."
I typed in: 65290469027308446471*** which spelled the sentence "Okay how are things?" and hit the send button.
"Is it Fiona?" Grayson asked as a potato piece fell out of his mouth.
"Yes, she says to not be nervous." I said as I opened the new text.
"Different, miss you guys!1!111!" It said.
I smiled and hit the keys 9306477096808661**, which stood for "We miss you too!" hit send and closed the phone.
Grayson snacked on a breakfast burrito as he took the map from me as we drove down the highway. He swerved once or twice so I took the steering wheel from him.
I stared at the sign that sign that said "now leaving Carlsbad" as Grayson stared at the map.
"Tell me when we get to Calrsbad City, okay." Grayson said.
"Uh..." Veronica started.
"Grayson... Um... We might or might not have passed it." Alexandria said.
"Really? When?" Grayson asked as he stared into the map.
"About two seconds ago. We slept there remember?" I said as I swerved to dodge a dog who was trying to cross the road.
"Really?" Grayson asked then pulled out the receipt and swore when he saw that we really did sleep in a motel in Carlsbad, New Mexico.
He turned the car around, and barely avoided hitting both the fence on the side and the driver behind him, after he declared that I was a bad driver.
-0-
I stepped out of the car while staring at the broken down building that read the word H yton Ind t ies. The building was being remodeled and a wing was being added.
"This place looks like crap." I said as a worker was trying to climb on the roof from the side and fell off but was caught by the jumpee cord tied around his waist.
"So where are we going to live?" Alexandria asked as she pulled slightly on her skirt.
Grayson shrugged. "They didn't tell me anything about that, now that I think of it. A motel maybe... We might even have a room or something in here."
"Ew!" Veronica said.
"Do you have any idea of all the germs that old building is bound to have?" Alexandria complains.
"Probably a little less than the nails you've been biting since we left Corpus Christi." Grayson said as Alexandria tucked her hands behind her.
I smiled and stared at my sister then started walking and stopped when a man in casual clothes stood outside of the building. He waved us over then walked inside.
We shrugged and walked forward and finally in. We stood in a lobby that had a receptionist desk to the immediate right and what might have been waiting lobby chairs that were covered in semi transparent plastic.
Grayson was about to call out when some voices could be heard coming down the hall. In a few seconds a man in a white t-shirt, blue and white shirt and tan cargo shorts walked up as he signed some paper and talked to a man wearing a hard hat. The first man handed the papers over to the man in the hard hat and they both separated.
"Hello, General Grayson." The man started and walked up to shake Grayson's hand.
"Good morning." Grayson replied.
"I am Jacob Linens, we were expecting you about an hour ago, did everything go alright?"
"Yes, everything is fine." Grayson started. "We just got lost.
"Yes, that does happen a lot. No matter, please make yourself at home. The bed chambers are down the hall and you will most likely have beds to yourselves but we ask you to bunch together if we get a lot more people come in. We are adding three new wings to the building, two of which are for housing so there shouldn't be a problem after that.
"More people?" Grayson asked.
"Clearance level black, General. We'll discuss that later." Linens said.
"Kids, can you find us some beds to rest, I've got to talk to Mr. Linens for a little bit." Grayson said.
"Okay. Here's your cell phone back." I said and handed his cell phone, that I held onto since the morning when Fiona texted Grayson. Grayson took the cell phone and put it in his pocket as I took Alexandria's hand in mine and pulled her away as Veronica followed.
We were half way down the hall when Alexandria broke the silence.
"Don't you want to hear what they're saying?" She asked.
"Of course!" I said. "But that won't be till later when we get the phone back."
"Why?" Veronica asked as Alexandria nodded.
I simply smiled and walked into the room labeled "Beds."
The hall smelled of disinfectant and scented candles. There were several different doors that lead to rooms throughout the hall. Most doors were opened, which we assumed it meant that it was empty, as well as available.
A nerdy girl juggled a stack of books as she passed several people down the hall.
"Excuse me!" She said as she passed us.
We all stared as six more rows of books floated along behind her. We all looked at each other in surprised and came to the conclusion that everyone here was a dark one.
A girl ran out of a hallway and ran into a room and closed the door as another girl ran up to the rooms door and knocked on it twice loudly then touched the door that burst into millions of smaller pieces then reformed after the second girl walked through it.
"This place is full of life, isn't it?" Veronica said.
"Looks that way." I replied and walked down the hall and glanced at the opened rooms. One of which had a white fox girl and a boy with wings who were sitting on their bed talking. The girl smiled and waved at us as we passed by, the boy grinned and nodded at me.
We settled on three rooms on the edge of the second row. The halls were set on criss crossing patterns. A map on the edge of each row said that there were four rows in total. There were 5 rooms in each half of the rows so that means that there were 20 rooms per row, 10 per each side, and 40 rooms in total. The map that said "you are here" that was by Alexandria's room said that we were on the B side of row 2 We shared the hall with a pair of black cat sisters, who kept to themselves, and the nerdy girl who passed us on the way in.
Grayson came in and we told him that we got him the room across the row. He thanked us and walked in without another word.
"You okay?" I asked when I walked into his room.
"Yeah..." He replied and sat down on the bed that was pushed on the side of the room.
"Hmm... Can I borrow your phone? I want to play solitaire." I lied.
He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out the phone then handed it to me without saying anything.
"Thanks." I said and walked out.
He grunted and lay on his bed.
"What's wrong with him?" Veronica asked when I closed Grayson's door.
"Don't know, we're about to find out though." I said and opened Grayson's phone and stopped the voice recording program that had been running in the background for half an hour now. We headed across the hall, which was probably around five steps, and closed my door.
We all sat on my bed as I started playing the recorded message back. It took it a few seconds to start as it was a little over half an hour long.
The recording started from when we got out of the car. I wasn't going to record anything but I just hit record and left it alone. I fast forwarded to the part that Grayson asked us to find our rooms.
"Clearance level black, General. We'll discuss that later." Linens recorded voice said.
"Kids, can you find us some beds to rest, I've got to talk to Mr. Linens for a little bit." Grayson's voice sounded tired over the phone's speaker.
"Okay. Here's your cell phone back." My voice said and there was silence for about half a minute.
"Officially... We are here to act as a center to start a group home for people with...powers; I'm calling the group 'Night Warriors'. There are a lot more people that are different and need a place to support them. Support and protect them from all the groups of people who wish them harm. They're segregated and laughed at."
"I saw that in Texas. A man killed the parents of those kids. I happened to be there and was able to help before the kids were killed too... They were only 10 and 11."
"Yes, you'll find that a lot of the people here are orphans or don't have a home for one reason or another. Not everyone is as supportive or caring as you."
"What's your position in all this?"
"I neither hate nor adore them. I think of them as people...people who have a sickness...no that's the wrong word. More like people with a misunderstood gift."
"Is that why you started this organization?"
"I didn't start it but I'm glad to be part of it. But this facility will try and find a cure for this gift."
"It's not a sickness. Having these powers isn't something that should just be thrown away."
"I agree with you. But some people don't see it that way."
"You're talking about people in the military?"
"No, well yes...but that's not what I mean. Some people who have this gift see it as a burden, and would like a cure. This facility will try and separate them from their powers or even show them how to live and control it. We have a full staff of doctor's and guards are dedicated to the volunteers that wish to undergo the experimental procedures. It gives me a chance to try something too."
"So why all this secrecy?"
"Secrecy?"
"Clearance level black..."
"Walk into my office please."
There was the sound of shuffling and then the sound of a door closing.
"Mr. Linens, what is so-" Grayson started.
"Please call me Jacob. I'm not one for formalities, Robert." Linens said. There was silence before he spoke again. "Yes, Robert. Clearance black. You do know what that means don't you?"
"Yes." Grayson replied.
"This information is only known by a selected few and is only to be spoken of by you and me in this room and not to be repeated to anyone, is that understood?"
"What could be so secret about a pharmaceutical company?"
"Is that understood, Robert?"
"Yes."
"Good. I work under Iliabel, your superior, and he has personally recommended you for this job. What we are going to try is something that has never been tried before."
There was a pause that was followed by the sound of papers being placed on the table.
"What's this?" Grayson asked as he was heard browsing through the papers.
"20 profiles. 12 of which are Night Warriors that are here and the other 8 are on their way and should be here in the next week or two. We are hoping to increase it at least five fold by the end of summer."
"-Black, Soria: female, 23.
5'7. Nationality: English. Species/powers: feline. Level 3/10.
-Black, Elizabeth: female, 21.
5'6. Nationality: English. Species/powers: feline. Level 3/10.
-Kyo, Arnold: male, 27.
5'11. Nationality: Black. Species/powers: bird/flight. Level 7/10.
-Rawlings, Alacia: female, 19.
5'5. Nationality: American. Species/powers: levitation/photographic memory. Level 6/10.
-Gerald, Roxanne: female, 18.
5'8. Nationality: Black. Species/powers: invisibility. Level 8/10.
If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were recruiting dark ones."
"Some might say you're right, Robert." Linens replied.
"For what? War? Espionage? Piece keeping? Experiments?"
"All and none maybe." There was a pause as Grayson shuffled through the papers. "The subjects get ranked on their estimated usefulness. Take Roxanne Gerald. She is able to become invisible. Do you have any idea how valuable that can be in a war."?
"War?"
"She would be ideal for information gathering, spying... She could even take out an entire platoon by herself."
"Why did you say 'war'? What war?"
"There's always a war, Robert. I think that it's time we show that we not only have an upper hand but that we're years further than the enemy."
"Is this?"
"Yup."
Grayson sighed then read the files:
"-Oblivion, Richard: male, 14.
5'1. Nationality: American. Species/powers: white tiger. Level 4/10.
-Oblivion, Alexandria: female, 13.
5'0. Nationality: American. Species/abilities: white tiger. Level 4/10.
-Walker, Veronica: female, 14.
4'9. Nationality: Hispanic. Species/powers: shadow and space manipulation. Level...
Is this right?"
"Yes... She got a perfect score: 10/10."
"Why?"
"I knew this one man who could do what she could, when I was a boy. He was poor and would use his gift, a lot like Ms. Wake's. He stole objects of value to sell. He never got caught since he used his shadow powers to steal the items when nobody was around."
"So you're expecting Veronica to... Steal items for you?"
"Not as such no. What if she could be used to take out rank after rank of soldiers? Think about it... To her, it wouldn't matter if they were behind trenches or inside a base. Look around the room, Robert! Do you not see shadows in this room?"
There was silence for a few seconds.
"What stops her from killing us right now, with the right training of course." Linens said.
We all stared at each other for a few seconds then looked back at the phone when the recording continued.
"So you expect me to just let you use those kids, the children that I think of as my own, as instruments of war? Something you could throw at the enemy? Do you have any idea what that would do to them? It would scar them for life! Richard and Alexandria would be a little better off but Veronica won't even hurt a fly. Literally. I had to kill a lot of insects for her because she wouldn't or couldn't kill them. About a year ago, a bird hit the electricity poles and fried. He died instantly. The two girls cried for the bird: a stupid, dead, fried bird...and they cried for it. They convinced Richard to dig up the soil behind the medic building to make a grave for it; does that sound like someone who will kill a, how did you put it? An entire platoon?"
"You don't have a choice, Robert. As long as we're concerned: you're relieved of the duty of taking care those three. We'll handle them."
"Good luck. Richard and Alexandria will ignore you completely and Veronica will question everything you say and do." Grayson chuckled.
"They'll be made to see reason."
"And you'll find out how much a scratch hurts when it's coming from a white tiger. Should know." There was silence for a few seconds in which Grayson probably held up his arm to show one of the many scratches Alexandria gave him at some point. "Those kids aren't only kids, Linens. They're smarter than that." The sound of static was heard as if Grayson had tapped the phone twice, signaling that he knew that we had been recording the conversation. I'm sure that he didn't let Linens see the gesture though. "Those kids trust me completely and I will not do anything that will compromise that."
"You will have to, General. Or I will-"
"You will what? You'll inform Iliabel? I think I'll call him right now and see what he thinks." Static was heard through the phone as Grayson had reached for it but stopped.
"No... Listen... They don't have to know about this. I'll be willing to disregard the two Oblivion kids completely but I want Ms. Wake. The two white tigers are useless to me anyway."
There was silence then the sound of Grayson getting up followed by the sound of someone striking someone with a closed fist.
"Don't you dare talk about the kids like that." Grayson barked.
"You've made a big mistake, Robert."
"That's General Grayson to you, you bastard! Is this why I was transferred for? Because if it is, I would like to be transferred back."
"No... You were actually transferred here for a different purpose. I was just hoping that you'd share my point of view."
"Your point of view?" Grayson asked in a horrified tone. "Did you actually think that I would let you turn a couple of kids, barely in their teens, into murderers? Into tools for your sick games."
"It's war, Grayson. War has its price."
"War against whom? If you want a war I could call Dick and Alie in here and let them use you as a scratching post." There was the sound of the door opening and Grayson yelling. "Richard! Alexandria! Get in here."
We didn't hear when he called out to us as we were too deep into the housing hall to hear anything that came from outside.
"No!" Linens said over the speaker.
"Then you leave them alone! Do you hear me you son of a bitch?" Grayson sounded furious. "You leave them alone, if I see you talking to them without my permission, I'll have them claw your eyes out. Are we understood, soldier."
Linens mumbled something incoherently.
"Are we understood?" Grayson had repeated.
"Yes."
"'Yes' what?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good, I'll be expecting a full report about my duties in the morning. I don't care what you do with any of the other people that volunteer but I was transferred to run this facility and that's what I'll do. Is there a problem with that?"
"No, sir."
"I didn't think so. I'm going to go lay down before I have a stroke or something." Grayson sighed and walked out of the door. The spell phone made some static noise then quieted as Grayson spoke into it: "Stay away from Linens, Richard, Veronica, Alexandria...stay away from that man."
"How did he know that you were recording it?" Alexandria asked then jumped and screamed once when someone's hand was placed in front of her face. It was an older hand, hair coming out of the back side and arm. The hand shifted and an eye was in the palm.
"How many times do I need to remind you that I could see what you're doing at all times?" Grayson asked.
We all turned and saw him. Veronica bolted forward and hugged him. Alexandria and I followed and showed our appreciation for his affection by embracing him. He returned the gesture and promised that he'll never let anything happen to us, as long as he could help it.
-0-
A year l passed and the hall was getting crowded. There were a little over 610 people now, about 294 of with where male and the other 316 are female.
We were all trained to use our powers efficiently and in different ways. The animal species where trained by a woman named Angela Panithy while the others were trained by Linens and Grayson, who was mostly there to keep an eye on Veronica.
Veronica didn't want to train as she didn't like the fact that she wasn't a typical girl but she gingerly agreed after the others labeled her a narcissist. The training was only two hours a day and optional, as it was summer and the heat was in full effect by mid day. The training started at ten, Grayson's decision as he didn't want the people to think of the training as a chore but as an alternative to living as an outcast.
It was about nine at night and we all sat in the dining hall as we ate a late dinner.
"Richard, give me a woll." 11 year old Evelyn said as and held out a hand.
I got a dinner roll and through it straight in the air. The roll went about 15 feet higher than the girl's head as everyone around stopped talking and stared.
Evelyn looked up at the roll then jerked slightly as her pigtails bolted up and extended into the top of the dining hall and caught the bread roll and pulled it down. The extended hair shrunk back into her head but her pigtails held the bread in front of her. She split the roll in two and used a silver bread knife to spread butter on them before taking the buttered roll from her hair with her hands and bit into it.
She smiled at me as she chewed, the way that only a little kid can smile. Evelyn was an 11 year old girl who had been an orphan her entire life. She came here about three weeks ago after she had been kicked out of her orphanage. She wasn't able to control her powers so her hair was always long so the other kids picked on her and she would accidentally lash out at them with it. Her stay in the orphanage came to a close when she accidentally knocked the head mistress out through a window on accident when she impulsively attacked another kid who moved out of the way. The head mistress lived after falling out of the second story window but the other employees took the mistress' absence as a chance to throw the girl into a car and dump her a few miles away. Alexandria and Veronica found her during one of their walks and brought her here.
"Wow Eevee, you caught that pretty high up." Veronica said as she sat down next to me. She and Alie, as well as another girl named Brianna, like to go for walks in the evening. They say that it's for exercise but I followed them once and they spent the entire time in girl talk.
"I had been practicing; I still can't do it without jittewing before I use it though." Evelyn said.
"Well I'm sure you'll learn to control that one of these days." Alexandria said as she reached from behind me and took a sausage from my plate.
I bobbed my head back and pushed against her breasts then quickly bobbed my head forward.
"Hey!" She protested. "Those aren't cushions, you know."
"No they're pillows." I replied as my index finger turned furry and my nail sharpened into the white tiger claw that extended from my finger. I stabbed the sausage piece that my sister didn't bite into and stuck it in my mouth as I shifted my finger back to human to unhook the sausage.
"No, they're..." She said stopped as she noticed a lot of the males around her stare as they waited for her to call her breast by name. "...never mind." She said and sat on my other side.
We sat and ate and talked, amongst ourselves as well as the others in our group, until Grayson stood up and clung his glass for silence then stopped when people made motions as they couldn't hear him.
Grayson looked around then towards his pant leg as someone had pulled on it. He smiled then bent down and picked up an 8 year old girl and followed to place her on the table. She didn't live here with most of us; she was dropped off by her father who worked at all hours of the day and weekends too.
Huyton Industries, where we lived, had added a ward that did research on most types of dark ones, whether they were Night Warriors or not. I haven't seen it but I heard that all subjects were volunteers but the medicine and treatments given would have all sorts of side effects that might need treating at any time of day so different doctors were there at all times.
The girl adjusted her shirt and reached out for Grayson's hand then opened her mouth wide.
"Hello? Testing! One, two, three." Grayson's voice said as it was amplified over the little girl. She had the power to touch an object and transform it, so she had learned to use other's people senses and amplify them.
Grayson looked at me for confirmation that he was heard. I nodded and he smiled then continued.
"Welcome, Night Warriors, to the first annual dinning at midnight. Yes, before anyone says anything, I know that it's 8:31 and not midnight. But I'm old and need my early sleep."
A wave of laughter broke out. Grayson had seemed to acquire a sense of humor in the last year, be wasn't about to start doing stand-up but hit was a start.
"No, Mr. Linens has to go back to Pennsylvania tomorrow; I know he's taking some of you with him. Please know that you all will be missed and welcomed back here at any time." He stopped as a boy whooped behind me. "Except for him, we won't miss Mr. Andrews." People laughed and shoved him lightly. "No, I'm joking, he will be missed."
Grayson continued talking but stopped when the girl closed her mouth to swallow some spit.
"Are you okay, Penny?" I heard Grayson say. The girl smiled and nodded then opened her mouth again. "Thank you Penny. But as I was saying: we are going to lose some people tomorrow but even as they are going to be missed, they will still be part of us. They will still be Night Warriors."
The girl named Penny coughed loudly as Grayson was cut off abruptly.
"Penny, it's okay. Let's stop." Grayson said.
Penny shook her head and pointed at a boy near her who had tossed some food into her opened mouth with made her choke slightly. Penny inhaled then puffed the air out and the boy was pushed and fell backwards from his chair. He hit the floor on his back as laughter broke out. The boy scrambled to his feet then put the chair back, said that he was sorry, and sat down. Penny then arranged her hair, took Grayson's hand again and opened her mouth.
"Any chance of you taking him with you, Linens?" Grayson asked as people laughed. Linens smiled then said something that sounded like "you can have him, I don't want him."
Linens was still keen on starting his army but lost interest on Veronica when she showed little to no improvement on her training. Veronica, who never tried on purpose, was waiting for Linens to leave before she would really start her one on one training with the next instructor who had already agreed to personally train her.
"As you all know: we are here to help you all train and use and control your powers. I believe that we had done that on most of you. Even Richard," Grayson said as he signaled at me "has showed improvement on using his white tiger powers. The same Richard who wouldn't learn to take a shower every day or learn his geography. Richard, where's Africa?"
I looked around as everyone turned to look at me. I shrugged as a boy whispered in my ear. "It's in South America..."
"It's in south America." I repeated and several people laughed.
Grayson started saying something but stopped and laughed when his voice kept being cut out by Penny's laughter.
"No, Richard. It's on the other side of the world, by Europe." He said. "Well regardless of Richard's lack of geographical knowledge, Linens... I mean Jacob will be missed. We are getting another professor named Mary-Anne Zala who will take over." He gestured and a woman in her late 40's stood up and waved at everyone while smiling. "As far as I know, that's all that will change. Sorry but I'm still going to be here." People groaned them laughed as Grayson gestured at them appreciatively. "I will still have an open door policy, so if anyone needs talk or to complain or to tell me anything then my door is always opened. And if it is closed then please break it down as I am dying or something. That is all."
Smiles spread through the crowd then broke out into applause. Penny put two fingers in her mouth and whistled. The sound came out altered and harmonious that spread through the crowd, then turned to face Grayson and clapped along with the others but stopped when he helped her down then began to walk away. He passed Alexandria, Veronica and I.
"How did I do?" He asked.
"Great!" Veronica said immediately, she wasn't lying. He had been working on that speech for a little over a month. He had practiced it on us at least a dozen times.
"You kids are awesome." He said and walked back towards the doors that lead to the halls when the doors flew open in front of him.
A man in leathers stood by the doorway. He panted loudly as Grayson walked up to him. I stood up and went to help Grayson as Veronica, Alexandria and a boy named Deon stood up and ran towards the men. I recognized the man in leathers as I ran closer: it was Rewall. He wasn't covered in blood anymore, with was good as it probably would have scared the others.
Grayson helped him up as I reached both of them. I took Rewall's other arm and supported him as we took him into the elevator that headed up and into the bed chambers.
-00-
"He told us, two days later after waking from his 47 hour sleep-a-ton, that the base had broke into panic. The higher ups refused to give any of the privates a rank increase and the extra money that came with it. So the privates rebelled and killed several of them. Fiona, I found out later, got hurt and had to attack some of the privates. She, Gena and some of the higher up. His inside of the women's bunker as she constantly electrocuted the walls so nobody would be able to get in. The privates then high jacked a tank and ran the back of the women's door over and tried shooting at them with the cannon but were too inexperienced to be able to fully run it. Fiona went up to the tank and electrocuted it, she only wanted to disarm it but she ended up causing the inside mechanisms to explode. The lid of the tank wasn't fasten correctly and the explosion seeped out and threw her back through the wall. She was hospitalized for a little under six months." I said.
We all hung around my backyard again as I told the story. The group had now included Helena and Zeke and Jeffrey and Lilian and their children. Jonathan and Christine had joined too. I had never told them our story so they were fascinated by it.
"So how did that evil prick get there?" Jonathan asked.
"Rewall?" I asked. "He never admitted to it but he had instigated the riot from both sides. He had convinced the higher ups to not promote the privates to save money, and he also had convinced the privates that there was this huge promotion coming up. It wasn't too hard to rally them up when he had made the higher ups announce that no promotions would be issued. He had gotten with Gina who told him where we were going to be and he simply glided here on his wings as the army base burned and got engulfed in chaos. Fiona told Grayson about what happened when we visited her after she woke up."
"So when does Melissah come into play?" Lilian asked as she snuggled close to her husband.
"Melissah?" I asked as I tried to associate a face to the familiar name. "Oh yeah... Her father brought her about two months after the first anniversary. She had little to no control over her telekinetic powers so she was seen as scary and distant. Her father brought her with hopes of helping her be able to control her powers. She ended up spending more time in the Industries than she did at home. She also befriended Rewall, which is always a mistake."
"So Rewall was this asshol..." Jimmy started then stared at his mother who stared back with her head cocked at one side. "I mean: so Rewall was this evil person who just wanted to mess with you guys?"
"In a way... Good save by the way. "He wanted to be in control with a group that Linens was trying to create. He was actually on the way to the base to use his powers to convince me to accept the plan even before I transferred to Huyton Industries."
"Wait..." Jonathan asked. "So he has more powers than just being able to fly and creating scythes and stuff?"
"Yes, he was also able to manipulate people's thoughts. He was able to confuse Grayson and made him think that he was the one who thought of the idea of creating the Night Warriors and making them into an army to eventually be used on the United States and eventually the world."
"Holy crap!" Christine said.
"So..." Jeff started. "If they never would have kidnapped Christine and Lily's friend, they probably would have gotten away with it?"
Alexandria nodded and smoothed her lip onto the side.
"Holy crap, mang..." Jeff replied.
"'Mang?'" Jonathan repeated.
"Shut up." Jeffrey replied and most of the group shared a laugh.
"I think that you have had enough to drink." Lilian said as she took Jeff's beer.
"Why do you say that?" Jeff asked. He didn't try reaching for the beer; he had grown to accept that he had had enough whenever his wife said so. "Because I said mang?"
"Yes and because..." She started then pointed at the half group of beer bottles that were two away from being a dozen.
Jeff opened his eyes then stopped himself and smiled. "I must be drunk, because you looked good for a second there."
Lilian scoffed and shoved Jeff away when he had lean in to kiss her. We all laughed as Jeff stood back up then sat down and claimed that he never wanted to go to the bathroom.