Somewhere in a ten mile radius, a man has been in a secret room, he was searching for anything that might help him find someone he is guarding. He has been doing so since noon yesterday. He's been doing so for hours nonstop.
His search soon led him deeper into a more secretive rabbit hole as he searched through the many tools and boxes, he soon came across a box that peaked his interest. It will definitely not help him find the person he's looking for, but it has told him something.
On the small rectangular box in giant black letters was the name,
PROJECT: SILVER BULLET
Next to that box was a smaller box labeled
UNDERGROUND FIGHTCLUB/ SHADOW FIST
The first box peaked the man's interest the most. The man got on the phone and phoned a friend.
"WOLFMAN," shouted a familiar voice. "How may I assist you today?"
"I found your secret room."
"Ok."
"You have been keeping tabs on me?"
"I keep tabs on everybody."
"Why?"
"I keep all the files I made, so no one else would. I made fake ones, so the higher ups wouldn't question anything, but I keep the real ones. They are for our safety. The only one that isn't there is mine. Mine is with me and in several hidden locations." The man then grew silent.
"So I will find everyone else, what is exactly in this box. Anything that can assist me with these files?"
"If you're looking for current locations you'll only find one. Don't read that."
"Why?"
"It'll open old wounds."
"My wounds never healed. Goodbye Tex.
"Tuffy wai-" before he could say another word, Tikanni hung up the phone. Tex sat at his chair for a moment he then grabbed his black felt hat, and black Carhartt jacket. As he began walking to the door, someone came through it. This boy stood six foot two, had long black hair in a braid, tan skin, a blue plaid shirt, blue jeans, brown boots, and a brown cowboy hat. The boy looked to be eighteen years old.
"Look after things while I'm gone," spoke Tex.
"Where are you going," asked the boy.
"Church, to pray for a friend."
Tex then shut the door behind him, got inside his truck and left.
Back with Tikanni, he opened the box and stopped in shock of what he found. He grabbed the item and stared at it for the longest time. He was then taken out of his thoughts by whimpers. Tikanni decided to investigate he sat the item down, and silently walked upstairs. The first thing he noticed was moonlight. It was dark.
"How long have I been in that room," he thought.
He looked around and could see most of the wolves were outside on the porch...most of them. Tikanni heard another cry coming behind him. He turned to see Willow was in the far corner of the living room. She was mumbling and shaking in her sleep. She was having a nightmare. Tikanni turned to see everyone was sound asleep. He wanted to keep it that way.
Tikanni knelt next to the shaking she wolf.
"Willow," he began. "Willow wake up. It's a dream Willow." While saying this he was gently shaking her awake.
Willow's gold eyes shot open and she shot up like a rocket. She immediately jumped at anyone unfortunate enough to be near her. That unfortunate soul was Tikanni. He caught her and held her tight, so she wouldn't hurt herself and so anyone wouldn't be woken by her fear driven outburst.
"It wasn't real," he began speaking.
"You're not there anymore."
"It was a nightmare."
"You're ok."
"You're safe here."
"It's ok."
She then glared at him.
"It will never be ok," she spoke in a low voice. "Though I suppose a human wouldn't understand that.
"I get that."
"What could a human possibly understand of my pain?"
"Oh, sorry to burst your bubble, but humans hurt too. Everyone hurts. It's apart of everyday life. Everyone has different pain. Some pain can be healed and some pain can't be healed. Mine can't be healed. I wake up every morning hating what I see. I have had this pain in my heart for so long I forgot what it's like to not hurt. I wish I couldn't feel anything.
"So yeah, I kinda feel your pain." Tikanni looked back, and everyone was still asleep. The last thing he wanted was to wake the whole house up with his little outburst. He then turned back to Willow, her eyes still set on Tikanni.
"I am sorry. I don't know why I said all that. I hope you sleep well."
With that, he went back to the basement. He had no idea why he said all that. He went back to the box and opened it up again.
Before he could pull anything else out, he heard someone coming down. To his surprise it was Willow. Why would she be coming down?
"Why," she asked.
"Why what," he answered.
"Why do you hate yourself?"
"Don't you have anything better to do with your spare time than bug me about trauma?"
"I can't sleep, and your words sparked my curiosity."
"Why do you hate yourself?"
"I asked first."
"Ladies first. You tell me your problems, and I'll tell you mine."
After some silence, Willow gave in.
"Fine," she conceited. "I open my eyes and I see the faces of the ones that died. They died and I could have stopped it."
"Would you care to elaborate?"
"My father was a horrible wolf. He lived by a saying: the strong survive and the weak perish. He wanted power. He was willing to do whatever to get it."
"Yeah, Dean told me about your dad. He sounds like we wouldn't get along."
"Ok, then what do you think he would do if our pack caught Omegas, the weaker members of packs, trespassing in our territory?"
Tikanni's eyes grew wide at the realization. He never thought of that until now.
"He hunted them like dogs."
"Pups, elderly, any wolf that was deemed an Omega was killed."
"Even pups?"
"We would keep the pups in our pack. He wanted to see if they would survive and become Alphas. Out of all the pups to go through that, one survived. It wasn't even kidnapped for that purpose."
"What was it kidnapped for?"
"It was Runt."
"Oh, I get it. Steal something precious from the enemy."
"Yes."
"I really wouldn't like your father."
Another thought came into Tikanni's head.
"Did he dish out the executions, or did he have his wolves do this."
"He did both. He would do it mostly, but he had his subordinates do it as well."
"Did you?"
"No, I didn't. He tried to make me do it, but I always came up with excuses. When I found Omegas and I was alone, I would warn them, and I sent them away. They did not need to die. I couldn't bring myself to do it. My mother, before she passed, told me of what Alphas were supposed to be. They were to lead, hunt, and protect all the wolves of their pack. No matter how old, or weak. I hated what my father did."
"Why didn't you leave?"
"He trained me to the brink of death after my mother died. I was terrified of him. He had beaten me until I mastered the skills he was teaching me. I was trained to the maximum of my abilities. That is partially the reason I survived so long on my own. He also taught me to do as I was told, to do what was best for the pack, and purity is the best way to keep Alphas strong. He instilled so much fear in me, that I never went against him. I never questioned it. He began calling me Princess, and I hated the name. I then helped Runt survive his time with the pack, and he taught me to be optimistic about what wolves can do. He had an Alpha's spirit. He offered me food even when he hadn't eaten. It reminded me of how my mother told me what an Alpha stands for. It doesn't matter of purity."
"Yeah," spoke Tikanni. "That pup is something else. Heck all three of those pups are. They are kind, work hard, and make a great team. So, you grew a conscience thanks to Runt, and you left the tyranny of your father."
"Yes," continued Willow. "but I had hoped that my father would change. It was dumb. He never changed, and I finally left him when he lost his fight to Dean. Even though I left him and that horrible pack, it still haunts me. I hear him ordering me to kill, and I see their faces. I see other wolves hunting them. Even though I never hurt them, I didn't help them."
"You survived your father. He ran by fear. You did whatever you had to to survive. Not only did you do that, but you helped what you could. No one can blame you for that."
"I lived like a coward."
"Yeah, but you lived, and eventually you overcame your fear. You overcame it. No one else did that. That was you."
"But they still died."
"Stop that. You can't do that to yourself. Coulda, shoulda, woulda. It's in the past. The only thing you can do now is live better. Help the weak, protect your loved ones. Live a life where you can be happy with what you did. Look on the bright side, you survived your father, his manipulation and abuse on you and your mind made you what you are now. It helped you survive. It trained you to your best, and now look at all the good you can do. You can help all the wolves of your pack. That is once you decide to move into a pack."
She never thought about the good her messed up childhood had done for her.
"What's true strength is having the ability to talk about it, true courage. That hurt that you feel won't go away though. I know that from personal experiences, personal losses. I take it you're mother and you were close?"
"Yes, her death still hurts."
"It will, and you became absorbed in your training, and surviving your father, that you tried not to feel anything. It worked until you met Runt, and you started to question. You then saw him lose to Dean, and that solidified your decision to turn a new leaf. You did what you could to send omegas away. You helped do whatever you could to help, and not get killed. You don't think of the ones you saved, you think about the ones you couldn't. You should feel good you saved some. Live for the ones that couldn't live anymore. Don't let it waste away your life too. You're dad isn't here to hurt you. You can show emotion, cry, laugh, smile, live, love. Enjoy your newfound freedom."
"I think I understand what you're saying." She spoke.
"Ok," he answered.
"I will do better."
"That's all you can do."
"Ok, I told my trauma. Now you tell me yours."
"Ok, I said I would tell you, but I warn ya, it ain't all sunshine and rainbows."
"Were you not listening to how my father treated me and turned me into an emotionless killer?"
"Touché, but he didn't succeed. You still showed emotion. You had a conscience and chose to not kill weaker Omegas. You chose to get out from under his control. You changed."
She then thought of his words.
"I guess I did."
"Yep."
"You still have to tell me you're story."
"Dangit. Ok, my life started like everyone else's, I was born. I was born in Montana to a very lovely family. As soon as I was born, I was trained to fight in all styles of combat. I quickly found out that I was not like other kids. My parents told me of my Amarock heritage. It made me stronger, smarter, faster, and more durable than the average human. I also had the ability to use magic. After six years my little brother, Maengun, was born. Everything changed a few weeks after he was born. "
"I was playing with Maengun and my father picked both of us up, and he took us to a very small room in our home. He told me that if he or my mother didn't come back, that I was to take care of Maengun."
Tikanni was quiet for a moment. His eyes drifted and he looked completely out of it.
"Tikanni," asked Willow.
"Sorry, it's just I was so young that my memory was a little foggy."
"It's ok."
"I remember hearing screaming, and when the screaming stopped, the little door that was hiding us was broken and I saw this big man. He slowly walked over to me. He reached and tried to pull my brother away from me. I held onto him so tightly."
"Finally, the man stopped, and he just grabbed me. He began dragging us out of our home. When he brought us out of the house, I saw my mother and father bound to posts. In front of them were more men, lots of men. These men held guns."
"Wait," interrupted Willow.
"Yes?"
"Sorry, I want to understand the story, so what is a gun?"
"The thing humans use to hunt and kill. They look like long sticks that shoot fire out of them."
"Ok, I'm sorry. I won't interrupt again."
"No, it's quite alright. I find it rather comforting and humorous that you are asking questions. It helps me continue it. Now, as I was saying, my mother and father were in front of a lot of guns. The man that had my arm turned my head around. He said I would be a strong little wolf. I then heard the guns firing. I didn't turn my head back. I remember looking down and holding my brother and thinking he would never know who they were besides what I tell him."
Tikanni then perked up and looked at the staircase.
"Ok, you eavesdroppers, Come out," he spoke.
Willow looked to the staircase as well. She was so caught up in the story, she didn't hear anything.
"I won't finish my story until you come out," he ordered.
As if on queue, all the wolves began to slowly slink down the stairs. The resembled dogs who got caught doing something wrong.
"How much of that did you hear," asked Willow.
"Everything," spoke Kate.
"I thought I caught you guy's," spoke Tikanni. "Did I wake you?"
"No, we were all up," spoke Humphrey.
"Please don't tell anyone of my past." Begged Willow.
"We won't," spoke Runt. "I'm sorry you went through that."
"We all are," spoke Claudette. "We're sorry for eavesdropping as well."
"You're forgiven by me," spoke the Amarock. "You should know the backstory behind the one protecting you."
Willow was silent.
"I forgive you as well. You should know who you are traveling with even if it is as a prisoner. I trust you won't tell."
"Yeah, none of these stories leave this room." Tikanni's order was dead serious." The new found audience nodded their heads."
"Great, now that we have that out of the way, and you guys heard everything else, I can continue my story. The people brought Maengun and I to our new home. A secluded area in the middle of nowhere. It was in Montana, but very far from any human homes. It is called a base, and it was our home for the next twelve years."
"We were introduced to a lot of people. They were our superiors. The man who dragged me out of my home brought us into a room full of beds. He told me to stay. I did as I was told. I didn't know what these men wanted, and I wanted my brother safe. I then heard something."
Tikanni the opened the box and pulled out the object on top of everything else.
"It turns out, we weren't alone."
He then laid the object in front of the group.
Everyone looked down at the small rectangular, flat, thing in front of them. It was a picture. Everyone except Willow remembered how Dean described them, and showed the family. This picture showed six people, no, six children. Tikanni then pointed to each and every person, naming them off one by one.
"That's me." His finger moved to someone on his shoulders.
"That's Maengun." He then put his finger on a female right next to him.
"Lyra." The next person next to Lyra was in a cowboy hat.
"Tex." All through the picture and labeling, Tikanni had a smile on his face, and then he landed on the last person.
"Dead meat."
"Why is he called, Dead meat," asked Stinky.
"Because when I find him, he'll be dead meat."
"Oh."
"We were all the same age aside for Maengun. He was six in this picture while we were twelve. That's really young for humans if you didn't know. The next day, a lot of men came into our room. Out of all of them, I only ever liked three. That was Jean' and Fatu. I told all of you about Jean' ,the magician, but I never told you of Fatu, the Samoan Slaughterer, and Izem, the lion.
Everyone gave him a strange look. The have never heard these terms.
"Those are their nicknames that they earned by fighting in many battles. I only ever liked these three because they treated us like kids, and taught us right from wrong. The rest of the many many people who trained us, treated us like a chore. If we got it wrong they'd beat us until we got it right. Those three were different. They treated us like humans instead of weapons. They kept calling us their kids. They scolded us, and taught us a lot."
"Eventually, we learned everything we could about combat. Hand to hand, weapons, and as much magic as possible."
"We trained day and night. In the water out of water, in the air out of the air, with magic without magic. You named it, we trained for it. We were the perfect soldiers. That picture was us going on our first mission."
Everyone gasped at this.
"At such a young age," asked Humphrey.
"Let me break this down for you guy's," spoke the Amarock.
"Amarocks are not normal humans. They are stronger, faster, have more, endurance, more durable and can use magic. Amarocks are like a one man army. We can take on many individuals with our skill alone. We were sent on the missions our superiors didn't want the innocent civilians to know about. It was extremely top secret. We received all the highest honors anyone in the military can have, but to the rest of the people, we never existed. We were the best.
Tikanni became silent after he said that. He seemed to be in thought over his next words.
"When we were at the base, those people turned my team into the perfect soldiers. No questions asked, do whatever it takes to complete the mission, die if you have too, and kill the enemy."
"We fought people like a war. The thing about war is you never forget. It is a very horrible thing. I will never forget what I did to win. All for my superiors."
"For the longest time I followed their orders, and I destroyed their enemies. I then found out something about my leaders. Not all of their enemies were bad. They did unleashed my team and I upon innocence. That was the final straw. I brought down that base and all the leaders who assigned me to commit those horrible crimes. Anyone I deemed an enemy was going to feel my wrath. My allies fought tooth and nail by my side. One was a general, the others were my team, Jean', Fatu, and Izem."
"We split off into two teams: Tex, Maengun, Lyra, and I took the north end of the base, and Izem, Fatu, Jean', and Dead Meat took the south. We fought the many soldiers that protected their leaders, but we eventually managed to beat the whole base despite being horribly outnumbered." Tikanni has a smile on his face, but it soon quickly faded.
"Lyra went to see if the others were ok, when we thought the battle was tipping to our favor. We quickly overtook the north side. What we didn't take into account was a traitor amongst our small army."
"Dead meat," spoke Willow.
"Dead Meat. Dead Meat managed to kill Fatu, Jean', Izem, and Lyra, before I could get to any of them. Lyra was still breathing when I found her, and she was the one who told me it was Dead Meat to have killed them. With the base destroyed, Dead Meat gone, My team dispersed. The general remained in the military as a high ranking official, Tex went to live in Texas, and I sent Maengun to live with him. I wanted Maengun to have some sort of a normal life, and I thought Tex needed someone to help." Tikanni was silent after a moment.
"What about you," asked Willow.
"I left. I saw Tex one last time, and began to walk down a road with little belongings. I wanted to be alone, I wanted to find him. I decided to multitask. I was going to find Dead Meat, but I decided to use my skills for good. I began to help people everywhere I went. After about five months of this, I find poachers. I was tracking them a few months prior, but I didn't expect them to have a live wolf in a cage."
"These poachers shot at me and missed. I shot back and I didn't miss. I let the wolf out of the cage and we actually began to talk. She called me a good human for stopping the other two bad humans. If only she knew what I had done, and how horrible I felt. She wanted to go home. I wanted to be alone. She didn't know where she was. She was in Montana, her home was in Jasper."
"I decided to help her. I had nothing to do, and I wanted to do something good for a change. We ended up walking all the way to Jasper. While doing so, I found out some stuff about her. Her name was Talia, she was the leader of a pack called the Eastern Pack. She had a mate named Tony, and a pup named Garth. She couldn't wait to see them. I told her as little about myself as possible. My name is Tikanni, I was a soldier, but now I am just a guy who wants to help anyone he can. We eventually made it to the edge of Jasper.
We were stopped by a pack. I thought it was hers. I see that she looked very distressed. She runs away from the pack. I find her crying. She wouldn't say anything except they were gone. I held her.
Once she calmed down, she told me that the wolf she spoke too was once her subordinate. He stayed that the majority of the pack was killed in a vicious storm. He then tried to coerce her into becoming his mate. She refused and ran away. I stayed with her for a few days. I let her cry, and I let her hurt because I know what it's like to not do that.
I told her about my past. I thought it would let her know that she isn't alone. I don't know why, but she decided to travel with me. I let her, and we traveled together ever since. I owe her a lot. If it wasn't for her, I would already be dead. She helped me fight my demons, and cope. In return I helped her do the same.
"I hate to say it, but she treated me like her pup. Eventually I got a cabin in Idaho. My eye turned blue, and it lead me to Dean. That's about my whole story. Any questions?"
Everyone just looked at him with wide eyes.
"Wow," spoke Kate.
"Yeah."
"That's so sad," spoke Humphrey.
"Yeah, try living with it. I trust you guys won't say anything."
"Oh don't worry we won't," spoke Runt.
"Good, cause if you did, i'd have to kill you."
Everyone gasped.
"Kidding! I am kidding, but that was a funny joke."
"Well, I thank you Tikanni," began Kate. "You trust us enough to tell us your story."
"Well, I don't talk about it much. I don't want to tell people my story. I don't want them to pity me. I don't want to look vulnerable. I am a soldier. I will always be a soldier."
"No," spoke Kate. "You're so much more. You helped us through so much, and you are kind, and help everyone. You are not our soldier, you're our guardian. You're Dean's guardian. You been with us for so long. The whole pack knows not to attack you. They know you by name. They even say hi to you. You're family."
Tikanni was touched by her words.
"Thank you. I thought you would hate me after I told you. I thought you would want me no where near you, your pups, or your pack."
"No, why would you think that."
Tikanni was silent. He then smiled.
"I don't know. I was just nervous."
"Tikanni," asked Stinky.
"Yes, Stinky?"
"Who was the best out of your team?"
"It was me. In fact we had nicknames based off of our prowess."
"Really," asked Humphrey.
"Yep. I was Alpha, Dead Meat was Beta, Lyra was Gamma, Maengun was Omega, and Tex was Tex. He didn't have a nickname because he had a fit about it. We were little, and he kept screaming. He said, "I DON'T NEED NO STUPID NAME LIKE THAT! I ALREADY GOT A NAME. ITS TEX, AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT. He was in that room tearing it all apart throwing papers around screaming. Two guy's tried to grab him, but he kept slipping by them."
"So, he was Tex with no nickname," laughed Tikanni
Everyone began to laugh. Willow just giggled.
"Ok, I think that's enough of story time with Tikanni," spoke Humphrey.
"We have to keep looking for Dean."
"Right," spoke Tikanni. "I am going to keep looking through this stuff for anything that could help us locate him. I am just going to look through this box. After that, I'll look through the box that says, Shadow Fist."
"What is Shadow Fist," asked Claudette.
"It's an underground fight club. People from all over come to fight it."
"How will that help us find Dean?"
"The people who participate in this fight club are very well known. They basically own the city. They have eyes and ears all over the place. Dean can run, but he can't hide. Someone is bound to have seen him. A normal human is easier to track than, Dean. If I find one of these bosses, then their eyes and ears will become my eyes and ears."
"I get it," spoke Kate. "Thank you so much Tikanni for everything."
"Thank you for being you, all of you. Now, head to bed. We have a big day tomorrow. Goodnight."
"Everyone said their goodnights and slowly went up stairs."
Tikanni then looked at the box. The first file on top was labeled Alpha. He then thought of Kate's question.
"Why would you think that?"
Her voice echoed in his head.
"Because I hate myself. I would not want me around you, your pups, or your pack," he spoke. Little did he know Kate and Willow both held back, and heard what he said.
Both of them were silent. Neither of them said anything as they began to walk back to their spots to sleep. They didn't want to push. Willow fell asleep knowing she wasn't alone, and she had someone who could understand her. Kate, on the other hand, wanted to help him. She was going to try and help him.
Meanwhile, back in the basement, Tikanni was looking through the files. Along with his file, he found everyone else's. All except for Tex's just like he said. The next one was labeled Beta. Tikanni quickly looked through the file and found what he was looking for, current status and location.
In big bold letters on the bottom of the paper read the same thing Tikanni had on his.
MIA
Alive
Unknown Location
"I will find you," spoke Tikanni. He then sat the file on top of his and his eyes grew wide at the name on the file.
GAMMA
He lifted the file, and a piece of paper fell out. Tikanni picked it up, and began reading. On the paper were some numbers. Tikanni knew exactly what these were. They were coordinates.
Under the coordinates wrote For Lyra and a signature was written on the bottom of the note. It was Tex's
Tikanni's shock only grew when he put the two together. These coordinates is where Lyra must be. He sat the paper in his jacket pocket, and opened Lyra's file. What will he find? He didn't know. Maybe closure, and maybe pain. He didn't care.
