Here we are- the last installment of the story! I would love to hear what you think about the whole kit-n-caboodle! See? The WOD is still alive and kicking!
Ch 8
Olivia stared ahead, her eyes glassy and dark. Even though she was awake she saw nothing around her and did not speak at all. Her surroundings had taken on a surreal quality and every sound made her flinch, just a little. The past few hours had been a nightmarish parody of the life she once used to have. A brief light passed in front of her eyes and she blinked slowly, recalling what had led her to this point of pain in her life…
The door to the Director's office flew open with a loud bang and rocked on its hinges. A very pissed off looking man strode through the office with his son meekly in tow. He was large and seemed to be having a problem staying in his Homid form, he seemed to ripple and flux with every step; the fight for control was evident as he seethed. His face was chiseled and attractive when it did not wear the unhealthy red flush that currently covered it from the neck up. His massive body rippled and flexed as he fought down the rage that threatened to explode and consume him. He all but dragged the young man in behind him and motioned, rather half tossed him into a seat. He leaned over the desk and with a stare that would melt the flesh off any other, looked into the Director's eyes.
"Where is that bitch? She was to be executed this morning for what she did to my son." He seethed. "Where is she?"
"Richard, sit down." The Director said calmly. "We have things we must discuss."
"She killed my son!" the man roared. "I will not sit down until you can explain to me how your "State of the Art" facility could have let something like this happen! I demand answers, or I will make you wish that you had never heard of this damned place."
"Your son died defending our brawn in a Black Spiral attack on our center." The Director said calmly as if Richard had not interrupted him at least half dozen times in his short sentence. "The death total also included Olivia and another First Line pack, and while we are proud of the efforts of your son's heroism, we are all still in shock and grief at the horrendous turn of fate. Of course he will get great renown at our next moot."
"What games are you trying to play? You promised me that once she was healed up enough to understand what was happening to her, she would be punished for what she did." Richard hissed. "There was no attack, my son was brutally murdered, and his brother had to witness the atrocity! You promised us retribution. "
His son, the one Olivia had dubbed Two, sat meekly by his father's side. He watched the banter listlessly. Ever since his twin died he had been in a grief so profound that he was on suicide watch all the time. The only thing that had made him come out of his fugue was the promise that his twin's murderess would be killed for her insolence. As he listened to the exchange and watched the Director, his eyes glowed bright from rage with a strangled cry and he half shifted into Crinos. He tried to stand but a heavy hand on his knee, by his father, kept him in his seat and he slowly shifted back to homid and glared at the Director.
"That freakish little Metis whore killed a Garou, one of Gaia's chosen and a good warrior. There is no way you will cover this up and pretend it did not happen! I will personally make it my mission to make sure this freak center is shut down and all responsible stripped of their Glory for this!" Richard snapped again, trying to keep his son seated and calm. "I will make sure that no funding ever comes this way again, and let's not forget all those who might have opposed this little test lab of yours. You are starting a fight you will not be able to finish."
The Director tossed a bright green envelope on the desk, and it landed with an ominous thud. Richard snatched up the folder and sat down and looked at it like it was a trap. The envelope was carefully sealed with his name boldly scrawled on the front; he took it and savagely ripped it open. Inside there was a manila envelope, stuffed very full, he opened it slightly more carefully than the envelope. There were documents with large portions highlighted, some very legal looking papers and a pile of glossy photos. As his eye caught the top most photos, he suddenly took more of an interest in the contents. The chair creaked with sudden weight as he thumbed through the remainder of the photos and the paperwork. There were no small amount of documentation of his financial status, his earnings, his private accounts as well as business expenses and tax filings. The photos showed him making shady deals, assaulting a few Bone Gnawers and then of course his mistresses. Richard raised his eyes to the Director who said nothing but continued to watch him leaf through the pile. The last pile of papers made the man go absolutely pale, and he said nothing for a long while.
"Where did you get this information?" Richard finally asked when he had control of his tongue again.
"I didn't." the Director said leaning forward "But a member of our staff is very good at obtaining information and presenting it at opportune times."
"This is bullshit. I refused to be blackmailed." Richard started to say, until the Director handed him one last sealed letter. Richard scowled thickly but opened the letter and what he read had the incredible effect of making him pale further. His son tried reaching for the folder and was shoved back into his seat with a snarl.
"I trust this will explain everything and just how badly things can go for all of us?" the Director said mildly. "Now as for your threats of shutting us down and blackmail; we expect your full endorsement of this program and your annual contribution of half a million dollars starting this month and every year after."
"You expect me to give in to this threat?" Richard snarled "My son died!"
"Because of his own folly which is regrettable but do you really want your own foolishness to come out? This is no joke, no idle threat and certainly no game. What you have in front of you is a mere scratch on the surface of what information has been gathered on you. It is real, it is very much a ploy for leverage and if you know what is good for you and yours, you might just take the deal." The Director said "But of course the choice is yours."
Janus sat calmly at his desk looking over Olivia's file once more. Calmly he pressed the rubber stamp across the top; it was his routine cleaning out of the non-essential files. The stamp slid with a squeak across the photo. Deceased. It was done, finished for all times. With a barely discernable sigh he looked at her picture one more time, the trusting brown eyes looking up at him with her smile. He had done his best by her, hopefully it had been enough. He put the file aside with out a second thought and picked up the next once. Erica's face stared up at him balefully from the picture, and pressing the stamp into the ink once more he pressed the rubber against the glossy photo. Deceased. Five more times, he repeated the process until his pile was gone. He calmly stood and took the folders to a file cabinet on the far side of his office.
He got a cup of coffee and stretched. He grabbed another pile of folders and began reviewing the files of the children he would be meeting with the next day.
Olivia slowly woke to a slight shaking. She sat up startled and immediately regretted the action. Her body was sore and her head throbbed. She fought nausea and tried to lie back down.
"Olivia, you must wake up now." Janus said "We don't have much time."
"What?" she asked, trying to clear her throat.
"Wake up." He said more forcibly and moved about her room.
Soon she heard the familiar sound of the scrambler and looked at Janus. His lips were pressed tightly together and he looked more grim than she had ever seen him.
"We do not have much time and there is a lot that I must tell you." He said, handing her some clothes.
"I thought I was going before the council for punishment today." She said in a tiny voice, she had never seen Janus this intense and the waves of emotion rolling off him sent her stomach lurching in panic.
"That will not be happening." He said flatly "Now get dressed and listen carefully. I will only have time to cover this once."
Olivia stood gingerly, feeling her ribs shift and pop. She shifted into Homid form and put on the clothes Janus held out to her. She was still sore, despite medicines and moaned under her breath as she put the shirt on over her head. He watched her for a moment and then motioned for her to sit down.
"What I am going to tell you is to save your life. I am giving you information as a means of survival and should only be used as your last recourse." Janus said pulling out sheets of paper "In addition I want you to read these and commit them to memory. This is what you will need to tell the one I am sending you to for his verification."
"Sending me to?" Olivia said slowly taking the sheets of paper but not looking at them "You mean I have to leave?"
"Child, they are preparing to execute you as we speak." He said softly
"Why?" she asked
"You killed a Garou, and since your Metis life means less than his, your blood was the repayment, of course only after you were healed so you could feel the pain." Janus sat back and sighed, it was going to be a long story. He began to fill in the pieces of what she didn't know before telling her what she needed to know.
He had been in his office when a klaxon had started buzzing. It was not a klaxon heard often, as it was the one that signaled an attack had been made. He leapt to his feet and left his office at a dead run, only to get upstairs to find Olivia in a bloody heap on the floor of her favorite glen with medical attendants around her. To her left lay a decapitated young man he didn't recognize and being held back by a security guard was the twin to the dead boy. Fury covered the twin's face as he continued to strike out at Olivia's prone form, and was making damaging contact until the guards saw Janus and quickly pulled the boy out of reach. Snarling out orders, Janus rushed with her down to the med lab where her doctors worked long into the night to ensure she would survive, which was precarious as they almost lost her many times that night. He stayed awake all night making sure that she would be okay, because there were a lot of questions he wanted answered. He had been told that she had frenzied and attacked the boys because they invaded her private spot, which to Janus sounded like a bunch of shit. If anything, Olivia never considered anything hers, so he prepared himself to find out the truth. He spent the night on his lap top gathering documents that he just might need to use. The Director caught him as he walked out of her room, the next morning and walked with him down the hall. Quiet was punctuated by sharp footsteps, but Janus refused to say anything until the Director made his comments first.
"She is set to be punished when she is well enough to understand her crime." The Director said, oblivious or at least not caring to notice Janus' lack of sleep.
"I would like to look into this matter." Janus said
"It is done Janus; she attacked two Cliath warriors." the Director said flatly "You know well what the punishment the Metis have for attacking Garou."
As Janus watched the man walked away, he was filled with the urge to rip the man's chest open and see if there was actually a heart in the cavity or not. He calmed himself, so that he could think; it was the only way he could save Olivia. He knew from the extent of her injuries or at least what he could tell, that it would be at least a week before she was lucid enough to be tortured for defending herself, her only crime. He walked over to the station and grabbed her charts from a startled nurse. He carefully reviewed her charts, not quite sure what was ringing wrong until he noticed that they had done a swab and extra labs that were not usually done. Tilting his head to the side he flipped through the pages until her found the lab orders and gritting his teeth, he forced him self to put the chart back calmly. He needed to appear calm, now more than ever since the shit was going to hit the fan. He didn't want to give away his advantage of surprise.
Despite his outward appearance he was not calm as he strode through the corridor. He was seething and wished that he could break his carefully masked façade and let loose the raging beast that was so close to the surface. He was breathing hard and had to force himself to slow his pace and calm down. Though he longed to be irrational and let his wolf take over, it was not going to be the way to get what he needed most. With a passive look on his face, he carefully opened the door to the security room and quietly walked in. The guard sat with his feet up on the desk, in obvious habit, and didn't turn as Janus entered. Although a harsh clearing of the throat had him on his feet in seconds.
"Ah! I didn't hear you come in." the man whinged.
Janus looked him over carefully, his sharp memory pulling up information based on the name on the man's badge. Things were going to be interesting, this man's history made the whole situation more wrong.
"Didn't mean to startle you, Larry" Janus said, lurking in the doorway shadow. "Just wanted to ask you some questions about what happened with those two Garou visitors."
"Well, the ah, Director already had me give my statements." Larry said, obviously nervous as his eyes darted from side to side "I'm sure they are in the report."
"Yes, but I wanted to see if I could jog your memory for a few more details."
"Okay." Larry conceded, because he realized he had no other choice. "What do you want to know?"
"Well let's start from the beginning." Janus said softly leaning toward him "You were sitting here when you saw the struggle?"
"Well, yes, I was here after my, ah, lunch." Larry took an instinctive step back, his nerves on end, although Janus' word's were casual enough, his body told a different story "I came back to my post and as I was looking up I noticed the girl freaking out and the boys trying to protect themselves."
"So she was attacking both of them?"
"Yea." Larry said "She was standing in front of them, waving and shouting."
"And you rushed right up there?" Janus asked
"Yea, but by the time I got there she had him on the ground choking him, while his brother tried to get her off of him. She was in Frenzy, and you know Crinos ain't no easy form to control."
"I see," Janus said, pacing just a bit "So then what happened?"
"Well I got up there and subdued her, then had to keep the boy off her. He was all sorts of mad that she killed his brother." Larry said, relaxing now that the story was out.
"What weapon did she use?" soothing tones were getting harder and harder for Janus to use.
"That boy was one of them Garou that gave in to the trend of wearing Silver around their neck as a fashion statement. Being all bold and wild, well she grabbed on to it and pulled until it cut into him." Larry said, not hiding the smug look on his face. "Makes no sense that he would wear silver anyhow, but I guess it was some sort of dare on his Sept."
Janus' body shook as he stared at the ground, while anger coursed through him. He couldn't give into his Rage and rip the lying bastard apart. Instead slowly his eyes rolled up to meet the man before him 'Oh Larry, Larry, Larry; you have chosen the wrong excuse' something in his eyes made the smug look fall off Larry's face quickly and he was once again was a nervous mess. He stunk of fear and Janus was getting pissed waiting for the true story to emerge, he was too mad to try his usual tactics. There had to be some way to get the truth, he looked around the room and noticed the man inching slowly toward an overhead cabinet. Finally his brain popped out of the fugue and gave him the answer that his brain tried so hard to put in place for him and Janus almost smiled, everything was under video surveillance, and this time he would get the truth. He placed his hand on Larry's shoulder and allowed himself a feral smile.
"Why don't we review the surveillance data?"
The large thirty-two inch screen showed the surveillance data with crystal clarity the small grotto that Olivia usually favored for reading outside and watching birds. As Janus watched he felt his stomach knot in anticipation of the horror that was going to happen to Olivia. She had on her usual headphone and sat quietly with her book on birds. The boys approached her. There was small conversation, but Janus could see how they flanked her, boxing her in and moving her towards the back of the grotto. There was no way anyone watching could say that Olivia had set up the crime; she very much was the victim from the onslaught. They kept leading her back into deeper cover but she stalled, obviously confused by what they had in mind. As he watched, Janus made a mental note to contact their pack and see if these "boys" had a history with their kinfolk. He steeled himself for what he knew was coming, a rape swift and brutal. He watched Olivia fight and cry out, calmly noting the time the attack started, and then watched her grab onto the silver garrote style necklace the foolish boy wore around his neck. It twisted and pulled in her frenzied grip and she kept tugging and shaking trying to remove the thing that was burning her. Janus could see that there was no thought in her mind except to escape the pain and violation; he also noted that the Twin was unaware of his brother's plight because of his enjoyment in raping Olivia. When the boy fell dead from decapitation by his own necklace, the twin finally noticed and began to beat Olivia, until she passed out. After watching another thirty seconds of the boy try to kill her, Larry and two other guards finally showed up and allowed the boy to beat on her until Janus himself showed up. Quietly Janus stood up and ejected the disk from the player and casually put it in his pocket.
"Twenty-two minutes, Larry." He said allowing just a bit of rage to come out. "You watched for twenty-two minutes until it got bad enough for you to go out there."
"I was tending to other things, but when I saw…" Larry faltered.
"You watched." Janus interrupted him "I guess being the first Kinfolk born to a family rich with Garou must have been embarrassing for your parents. I'm sure they let you know how substandard you were, but even that is no reason for you to allow an innocent young girl to be attacked and almost killed."
"She ain't nothing, just a damned Metis. She ain't Garou and even worse she's one of those Gaia scorned, and then had the nerve to look normal? Hiding her deformities to try to pass off as one of em? She deserved what she got." Larry snapped, then immediately paled as Janus looked at him.
"Gaia's scorned, hmmm? Guess you would know, since you are only kin, and being such there are rules you are to follow. And since you decided you knew better than a Garou, I will make sure you get what you deserve." Janus said softly as he walked towards the door, turning at the last second to pin Larry to his seat with a deadly look "Don't plan on going anywhere, because I will hunt you down if you run. It's been a while since I have had a good hunt."
The stench of urine followed him out of the office and Janus fought the urge to go back and kill the man, instead he would make sure the man regretted his inaction. Janus figured six months on breakfast duty would cure his disdain. Breakfast duty wasn't often given to kinfolk, only other Metis, since the children were ravenous at breakfast and unlike the other meals where they were forced to be civilized, breakfast was a feeding frenzy of raw meat and snarls. He wondered how long Larry would keep all four limbs in tact and almost smiled. He went back to his office to set up the dominos of information that would ensure not only Olivia's security but his own as well. His years of hellish work in the facility were finally coming in handy and it was time to use what he had learned and carefully stored away. Janus stayed with the facility for this very reason - that some day he might start to repay Gaia for all of the atrocities he had taken part in, either directly or remotely. The reason he never accepted the Director position was for the security of his soul, he couldn't run a place that had become so corrupted. Instead he quietly observed and made sure that when it was needed he would have the power to do what he needed to. Today was that day. He sat down at his desk, placed a metal clip on his phone line and then made a call.
"Memorize these, and I shouldn't have to tell you how important this is." He said and handed the papers to Olivia and waited while she scanned them. "I have made arrangements for you to live elsewhere."
"They will hunt me down." She said letting the words on the paper sink into her memory. It was her medical files, some random events and a string of letters that were obvious to her as a very complex computer code.
"No they won't." Janus said, glanced at his watch and sat, "There is more that you need to know. This is your absolute fail safe, if nothing else works this will make sure they think twice about hunting you down."
The facility had started out because a group of Glass Walkers thought that too many Metis were going over to the Black Spiral group because they had no sense of belonging. It was a sort of safe house for Garou to drop their unwanted Metis children to be raised without the shame of having had one; it seemed to assuage the guilt of parents who had broken the law of their Goddess in the name of love. The parents were able to convince themselves that they were indeed doing what was best for a child who would have been shunned at their home pack. The scientists were elated because it meant they could study the Metis in a very controlled environment and hope to learn more about them. It was also hoped that some how the research would yield some sort of secret to ensure Garou births from normal mating, but forty years later they had still barely scratched the surface on what binding could be used in the genetics make each birth a successful Garou baby. Janus had taken a job initially because he had been hurt in a huge vampire attack and after taking a near lethal dose of Silver dusted whip lashes he needed extra time to heal. The facility offered him a quiet place to indulge his love of science while he slowly healed.
At first the facility was a great place to be there was a high energy about learning about their misunderstood brethren. It was primarily designed to keep shame from the parents and their packs, all family and pack ties were cut and complete anonymity was maintained on both ends. Soon Metis children were being dropped off in all age ranges; some quiet and with drawn and the others wild and unruly and because of this the center was to capacity within a few months of it opening. So the decision was made to increase the size and the facility grew to accommodate the mass numbers. The Board of Glass Walker's that oversaw the facility and its progress were amazed that all of the Metis children that were being left for raising. The Litany was being broken much more often than any would liked to admit, but the Board felt like they were doing Gaia's work by accepting the least of them and raising them in a good environment.
Janus found it to be an interesting project, working with and testing Metis children. Despite some deformities, they seemed to be like any other Garou children, they were smart, quick to adapt and most were not so animalistic that they couldn't be trained. In fact it was he who decided to interject a fine arts curriculum into their daily regime. He pitched it as if it were a test to see if they were intelligent enough, but he wanted to give them a new stimulus. He reported in many meetings the great advanced his children were making and recommended other tests be given, which lead to the facility training the children in all areas. It rather bothered him that he seemed to be one of the few that remembered despite their huge size and constant Crinos form, that these were still children. Punishments were always swift and merciless and affection was fleeting and he didn't know how he could deal with it.
Rather by accident Janus stumbled upon information that would shape his destiny into what it ultimately had become. He had been trying to find the Director at the time, to discuss with her the possibility of teaching the children to read, but took a wrong turn and ended up in a lab that he never really paid attention to before. Low guttural moans filled the air and Janus stuck his head in the curtain only to find one of the "problem children" strapped down to a table with his brain exposed. Doctors were inserting long thin needles into a portion of his brain and carefully noting what the reactions were. On another table was another problem student who had her stomach opened up and her digestive track was being monitored. As Janus looked around he realized the room was full of Metis children no older than age twelve who had "discipline issues". Some had already changed, some had not but all were being experimented on and from what he could tell it was painful. A doctor finally noticed him standing there and ushered him into her office and explained to him that some Metis changed and were too deformed to be much good as anything but a living research subject, and the rest were Metis who had anger control issues.
She explained that since their facility was such a great success that it was quickly outgrowing even the new buildings and until more buildings were built that there had to be some way to control the population. So children accepted over age five were in two categories: those who behaved and were trainable and those who were unmanageable and were either experimented on or killed. Those who had undergone their first change but were too deformed were used for research as well, since they wouldn't be able to be trained. There were no qualms about killing a Metis child, since they were a product of Litany violation and should not have been born anyhow. There was that small prophecy of the perfect Metis who looked normal and had no deformities, and there was a small watch for that because it would signal the end of the world. All in all, the entire lab was doing what it wanted in the name of research and Janus was sickened by the atrocities that he had witnessed. But he put a smile on his face, looked neutral and asked what kind of progress was being made like any good team player would.
It was the start of a cycle that would have profound impact, because it was then that Janus began to collect information on everyone working around him, not matter how big or small. He kept quiet but was the "go to guy" for a lot of people there by gaining a reputation of discretion and loyalty. Very much like his Roman God namesake, he became a duality around the facility. He worked with people he quietly thought barbarians, and gathered information that could bring them down. He also became an Angel of Death of sorts. He could not abide the torture being brought down on such young children and began to make quiet rounds to put them out of their suffering. It was Janus who actually created the Punishment Chamber. He proposed the idea because there were more and more unruly children coming in than the center could handle.
It all started out one morning when a group of children attacked the caretakers at breakfast. For the Metis children, breakfast was always the most uncontrolled meal. After their eight hours of sleep and due to their advanced genetics, they awoke ravenous and were harder to contain than at any other time. Fingers had been nipped and sometimes an overzealous child might trample a worker, but for the most part they were just barely contained. That particular morning the children were out of control and as the raw meat was brought in, they attacked it and anything around it: including the workers and themselves. The massacre left only a few children unscathed, and most headed towards the infirmary. The handful left tried the same tactic at lunch, and as they were being contained, one tried to escape. Al had been a rather quiet child; until his first change and then he was given mood swings that would hit and make most of the Metis around him cringe. During one of these infamous mood swings during their lunch period he had attacked and mauled twelve workers and it took four full darts of anesthetic to drop him and even then he was still thrashing and fighting. One of the not so injured scientists asked to have Al brought to his lab so he could see if there was a hormone being produced for the super amount of aggression. Janus stepped in and decided that perhaps it was better to just exterminate the particularly violent ones to cull the same reactions. So he helped the facility to create an incineration chamber that would flash fry anything in under six seconds. He reasoned it was better to die than have months of research tests performed until death.
The facility had been running for almost fifteen years when things changed. There was a huge attack by a group of Black Spiral Dancers. How they found out about the facility was a huge debate but regardless they had found it and attacked in a huge group. While the facility tried to mount a defensive front against the invasion the Director decided it was unconscionable to let the Metis be slaughtered in rooms they could not escape from and in an uncharacteristic show of kindness, let them out of their rooms. The tide turned for the facility at that point. Children in age but not mind, they mounted a united front born from months of trainings and pushed back the invading waves of Spiral Dancers and not only bought the facility enough time to get a fighting force down to help them, but as the children fought for survival, they began to win the battle. Deformities that seemed to have no use came into play: poison pouches when punctured effectively worked as a poison gas cloud that dropped everyone within a specific radius, over long teeth and claws made effective weapons and soon even the Black Spiral Dancers had to pause when confronted with hysterical but maniacal sounding laughter from those Metis whose change left them more than a bit deranged. The children fought until no Black Spiral were left, and the facility began to see them in a new light.
They were no longer just subjects used for research; they were all now trained to become a front line unit. They would go in and clear the way for Garou teams to do their work. This meant that less Garou were being hurt and missions to flush out vampire nests and the like were much more successful. And there were always plenty of Metis around to train even if some fell. In fact the children were being trained to work in units and could easily be moved around once a team member fell to fill in the holes. In time of war younger and younger groups were being sent out half trained at best to disastrous results, so Janus began stepping in quietly. Over the span of his work at the facility he had collected enough information that he could call quite a few shots and no one would dare to oppose him. He made sure that training started early and that each child was trained enough to have a chance to survive. The only thing that was a huge debate was teaching them to side step, the Director had feared that it would leave to too many Metis escaping and causing havoc. Janus finally had to give up that fight since there were just too many other issues to fight for.
At the current day, Janus had more power than most people knew. Of course those on top owed him favors and feared his knowledge but he had in place a fail safe to make sure he wasn't some unfortunate accident. He made it well known that he had all the information backed up in a place that could go public if he were not around to reset it daily. It was his own personal hell, but Janus figured that it might the only way to salvage his soul and see Gaia and the Summerlands when he died.
Olivia regarded Janus in a new light, and troubling thoughts passed through her mind and flickered in her eyes. She didn't know what to think of him, he had always been a surrogate parent to her and what she learned was disturbing to say the least.
"Shouldn't we tell others about this place?" she asked, slightly confused by his secrecy when such atrocities were happening.
"Olivia, there are at least fifty facilities like this one around the nation. We could never hope to close them all down, not to mention they would just spring back up in secrecy." He said softly "At least this way I have a small measure of control."
"They are killing us." She said, feeling the betrayal to her core. "That cannot be what Gaia intended for us! We are being punished for our parents' sins! We are not some trainable puppets meant to die so the almighty Garou nation can survive!"
Janus had nothing to say in the face of her anger, it wasn't anything he had not thought himself but her hurt and disappointment in him radiated out and sucked the breath from him. He had never allowed himself to get as close to a Metis child as he had Olivia. He realized in that moment that he wasn't better than any of them. He too gave her preference since she looked so normal compared to the other children. Would he have gone to such lengths for Justin or Brynne? Probably not, but Olivia was pretty with no deformities that could be seen. She was intelligent, fast on her feet and in everyway a child he could easily be proud of. She watched him with those soul aged wise eyes, and he felt like the worst person possible. He knew he had to tell her the secret for her own safety, as well as give her the where about of his cache of information.
He took a deep breath and finished giving her all the information he had that would keep her safe. It also gave her the keys to destroy him as well as quite a few high ranking members of Garou society. He knew that she would never betray his trust, as he just had hers, but still it was frightening to think of what power this mere child now held in her hands. He sighed and stood; he activated a small device on his waist and motioned her towards the door. Once on the other side he side stepped, and was relieved that she quickly followed him. He handed her a small backpack that he had dedicated full of things she would need over the next day.
I have set for you to pass unharmed through the umbra to a bathroom of a local bus station. From there you will take the next bus to New York city and to a pack of Glass Walkers that are expecting you and will house you as a favor to me. Janus said, motioning over a small web spider and placed it on her shoulder.
He had paid dearly to get the web spiders not only to guide and protect her but also to delete any knowledge of her and any trace of her. He had called in massive favors and promised more to keep her safe. It was the best he could do for her and felt he owed it to her.
I will not be able to contact you for quite a long time. He continued No matter what, I want you to know that I do and have always held true fondness for you. Follow the spiders and when you get to the bus, find a seat and lay low. Be safe Olivia.
She nodded mutely, not sure what to say back to him. She was even more shocked when he pulled her into a tight hug. She returned the hug and then quickly turned on her heel and followed the spider into the umbra.
Janus stepped back into the real world facility, and began to walk toward the top level and exit into the forest. The small device on his belt blipped, and lights flickered as he walked. The machine was causing a cascade failure of the surveillance system as he walked by; no one would be able to tell that Olivia had escaped through the umbra and not through the front door, just one more method he put in place to guarantee her safety. After getting to the top, Janus walked back down to his office and shut off the device. With a sigh he gathered up a small handful of green envelopes and began to deliver them.
Olivia followed the spider to the bus station, it was uneventful allowing her mind to mull over the mass amounts of information she had received. She quietly exited the umbra into a bathroom stall of the bus, pulled a ticket out of the small backpack and almost smiled when she noticed her PDA and a few others of her electronics in the pack as well. Soon enough she got on the bus to New York City and sat quietly by herself in the back.
She looked out the window with glassy eyes, trying to absorb all that she had learned, and tried to deal with being mad and grateful to Janus at the same time. She had lost a sense of home and security and she was never going to get it back, at the same time she had true freedom for the first time in her life. She sighed once then put on her head phones and with a cheerful Irish song drowning out the rest of her thoughts she rode forward into her new life.