AN : First of all, thanks to the people who followed this story. Every time I receive a notification it makes me really happy :) Then, I'm sorry for not updating in a long time, but I know I won't update regularly and it is useless to try to convince myself that I will. And finally, here's the tenth chapter, hope you enjoy it :) It's my first attempt at really writing a fighting scene in English so don't hesitate to tell me what I must improve.

CHAPTER 10

They went back to their room, all of them feeling downhearted after Evan Lee's death. At least, they had the Mother Cell... Jackson announced that he would stay at the lobby to try to contact Chloé again, and left the room. Jamie and Niamh stayed, and the reporter decided to take a shower after what they had witnessed. She said she felt dirty, although there was no blood of gore scene, seeing this dead man just shook her to the core. Niamh was laying on the bed, reading silently and occasionally answering Jamie's questions, when she heard footsteps in the corridor. By rote, she listened to the rythm of the person's pace and felt a sudden burst of annoyance and slight anger when she recognized it. She sighed loudly and set her book on the bed, raising her voice.

"Jamie, we have a visitor", she said.

"Who ?" the reporter quiered, stopping the water and leaving the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her.

Shafer knocked on the door, drawing Jamie's attention to it.

"Our favourite agent of FBI", Niamh drawled sourly as an answer before looking back down to her book.

Jamie went to open the door, which surprised the young metamorph, who stopped reading again to look at the reporter with disbelief.

"Seriously ? In a towel ?" she complained.

"What ? He's quite handsome, don't you think ?"

Niamh made a digusted noise as her face twisted in repulsion. He whole being couldn't even bear the idea of liking Shafer in that way. The door opened, and she returned to her book, trying her best not to listen to the conversation the two others will have.

"Um... Hey", Shafer laughed as Jamie opened the door and he found out how she was 'clothed'. "Uh, wh-where are Jackson and Niamh ?"

"He's down the coffee shop, and I'm here", Niamh spoke out from her bed, still trying to focus on her reading. "What do you want ?"

"Oh, what ? You're not celebrating ?" Shafer said, he sounded surprised.

From her bed, Niamh could hear Jamie raising her eyebrows in incomprehension. They lost the Mother Cell and Leo Butler, Evan Lee Hartley was somewhere out there with the Mother Cell, and Shafer was constantly watching them. The girl sighed in annoyance while she resumed to her book. Where was the last line she read... There. It was her favourite series of books, the first she read when she was old enough to read alone. She could still remember how it had been difficult to begin the book, how she had stopped after only ten pages, before coming back to it a year later, and finishing it in three weeks. She was eleven, and she had read Harry Potter for the first time. Since then, she had read the entire series more than she could remember, but she still loved reading it. She could always recall old memories from her childhood, when her mother used to cuddle her to sleep. A slight smile cracked on her lips at the remembrance.

"Uh, well, there are mitigating factors", Jamie retorted.

"Now, come on. You have the evidence to take down Reiden, right ?" Shafer said, raising his hands in objection, looking like Evan Lee's death wasn't that much of a failure.

"I... It seems like it", Jamie agreed slowly, letting herself being convinced by the agent.

"So unless I'm missing something, it seems like your bad day turned out great. So ask me, you should be doing something about that."

"We would, if you hadn't come up !" Niamh said loudly from her bed, unable to focus enough on her book to read it.

"Niamh !" Jamie scolded her.

"No, it doesn't matter", Shafer reassured her, waving Niamh's agressivity aside with a movement of his hand. "She doesn't like me, it's okay. But you should do something else than staying in a towel here with this grumpy teen-intern of yours, although you're an excellent towel-wearer. Among your other very fine qualities", he added with a charming voice.

Niamh frowned in surprise and incomprehension. Was he flirting with Jamie ?

"Really ? What would those be ?" Jamie replied with the same tone.

"Well, if I'm gonna list those, I should probably come in, 'cause it could take a while", Shafer continued.

"Ew, I'm definitely out. I think I'm going to be sick... Urg... Jackson will need to know he shouldn't come back before a moment..."

Niamh got up from her bed and set her book down on it. She pushed past the two others, and especially Shafer, and made it to the door. She sort of turned out her sense of hearing, limiting it to what was immediately around her, and exited the hotel room, closing the door behind her. Sighing in annoyance, she walked through the corridor, until she reached the elevator, and got inside. She pressed the lobby button and waited until the elevator reached the first floor. The doors opened in a soft 'ding' and she got out of it with another heavy and aggravated sigh as she made a face at the thought of what the two could be doing upstairs. She was heading towards the lobby when she almost hit Jackson on his way back to their room.

"You shouldn't be going up there, Jamie and Shafer are pretty busy", she said with an obviously upset tone.

But he didn't care, he shoved her aside as he passed, gesturing for her to follow him with a look of worry. He was on the phone, or at the very least, trying to make a call.

"What's going on ?" she quiered, now anxious too, her heart rate increasing slightly.

"Shafer. He killed the optometrist. We... Jamie, listen to me", he said frantically when she picked up the phone, as he looked at the light indicating the floor the elevator was at. "Ben killed the optometrist. Okay ? He didn't call it into the field office, he killed him."

There was a brief pause on the other side of the phone, and Niamh could almost hear Jamie's distress in her shaking breath.

"Uh, I-I'm with Ben right now, actually. Niamh just left, and... Maybe, uh... Maybe we could all meet up later for dinner or..."

"You're a terrible liar", Shafer's voice was heard, cutting her off, and he hung the phone.

Niamh couldn't suppress a low growl when Jackson pushed his phone down his pocket anxiously, scaring off an old lady who happened to pass by. Her hands were shaking with fear and contained anger, as they were waiting for this damned elevator. She started pacing, thinking about the idea of using the stairs instead of waiting there, but she knew it would be too long to climb fifteen floors, and she would be exhausted after that. Even metamorphs could be tired from exercise, and running up all these stairs would, and she didn't want to be diminished when she would have to fight Shafer.

Eventually, the elevator arrived and opened and they jumped in. Luckily for them, noone tried to get in with them so they weren't slowed. Jackson hammered the fifteenth floor button brutally, and mashed the button to close the doors. The ascension was agonisingly slow, and Jackson started to be scared of Niamh and her eyes, growing golder by each second passing. She was so tense that the joints of her balled up fists were white and he could almost hear her heart beating hard against her chest. He tentatively put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to immediately look at him, fear in her eyes.

"Hey, calm down, okay ? We're gonna save her and stop that bastard", he reassured her, squeezing her shoulder in comfort. "You need to learn to deal with pressure. It's not the first stressing situation we've faced, and it will certainly not be the last. Keep it together and be brave."

She nodded distractedly, face pale and still anxious, but breathing deeply as if to force her heartrate to slow down. She bit her lip and looked down, suddenly aware that she had been acting foolishly. When she raised her gaze to meet Jackson's, she seemed a bit more composed.

"You're right. It's gonna be hard to control it, but I'll try. You're right", she repeated. "We will face way worse than a corrupted agent and I need to learn to keep my anger in check."

"Good", Jackson said with a friendly smile.

They were a few floors from fifteenth, and were ready to bolt out of the elevator as soon as it would open. Niamh took a deep breath, closed her eyes and largely opened her ears. Immediately, she was overwhelmed by dozens of loud sounds and noises, but she held strong. She filtered everything until she heard the particular sound one would make when struggling against a gag. The probability of it to come from someone else than Jamie was too low, and so she knew the journalist was already restrained. When the doors opened with the familiar 'ding', she trailed her eyes on the man exiting their room. She emitted a loud and especially menacing growl that made Shafer look at them. His eyes widened and he took off.

"You son of a bitch !" Jackson and Niamh hissed as they both darted out the elevator.

"Go check on Jamie, I'll catch him !", Niamh ordered, her alpha blood rushing through her veins, struggling against herself not to let loose of all control and chase the human down like she would a prey.

"Just don't kill him", the zoologist said calmly to her, knowing she could hear him even from the distance.

Eyes trailed on Shafer's back, Niamh heard Jackson's words, but couldn't afford to slow down to answer him. The agent of FBI had the Mother Cell in his hand and was running away, she had to catch him, no matter the cost.

"No promises..." she mumbled, already inaudible by Jackson, as she prepared herself to potentially have to kill a human.

Shafer turned left at the end of the corridor and broke through the emergency staircase door. The girl followed him immediately, only to have to dodge narrowly the bullet Shafer shot at her. The projectile dug a hole in the wall beside her head, and suddenly adrenaline bursted again, flowing through her body like fire. It elicited another loud growl of pure anger from her, but she managed to keep control over the dangerous furry part of herself.

"If I were you, Shafer, I'd drop the Mother Cell now before I accidentally kill you", she rasped out, struggling to speak despite her fangs pushing against her gums.

"I could say the same about you", Shafer retorted with both dry amusement and seriousness. "Or are you finally going to tell me what your secret is ? Why Oz and Campbell protect you ?"

By the way the sound reverberated, she guessed he was three stairs underneath. He was not that far, this staircase was rather narrow... She gathered all the control she could muster and began to run down the stairs, keeping the Beast hidden in her heart. Shafer fired again, and this time, he hit her. She let out a pained cry and backed to the wall to avoid any more shots, her shoulder screaming in agony. Breathing loudly and quickly, she tried her best not to let her seething wolf take control of her despite the adrenaline flowing in her.

Pain ! Bad ! Evil ! Kill ! she could hear her inner voice murderously scream.

"Sorry, I don't have time to talk. You see, I have to deliver this thing and I can't..." Shafer bragged from the floor under, before being interrupted by the young metamorph.

She jumped from her floor and landed on him before he could aim and shoot, and punched at him, narrowingly missing his head and only forcing him to drop his gun and the Mother Cell. They both toppled to the ground and rolled down a few more stairs, until they hit a wall. Shafer had a slight advantage against Niamh, who looked completely stunned by their fall, and also because she was first to hit the wall. She blinked, her eyes flicking from gold to blue and the other way around as she was trying to focus on the matter at hand. Shafer was slowly getting up, his legs wobbling as he stood. He was human, he was weaker than her, but still, she had yet to recover from the shock. Her gunshot wound was throbbing and she was bleeding profusely, but didn't care.

She shook her head as if to get rid of her dizziness, to no avail. She tried to rise on her feet, only to be smashed to the ground by a powerful punch from Shafer. She landed face first and let out a groan, but propped herself with her arms only immediately. The agent of FBI was clearly scared, even so slightly, and didn't wish to leave her the slightest chance to get up and counter attack. He rolled her on her back again with a kick in the ribs and threw himself at her throat, squeezing his hands around her neck. Winded by the blow and still stunned, Niamh was struggling to understand what was happening to her, but the pain helped her to focus. Her eyes became lucid in an instant, her mind instantly cleared as well, and she began to wrestle against him, her superior strength only so slightly helping her since she was pinned to the ground, couldn't breathe and her injured shoulder irradiated suffering.

She brutally scratched him, her nails digging deep in his flesh and making him wince in pain. She growled lowly, her eyes shining brighter with molten gold and her teeth bared at him.

"Get off her, you son of a bitch !" a voice shouted from above.

Shafer darted his eyes at Jamie and realized he could shoot her if only he could get to his weapon. Jamie realized it too and they both bolted towards the gun. The reporter got her hands on it first, aimed at the agent and fired. She kept pulling the trigger until there was no more bullets in it, and then continued for a few seconds. Jackson was behind her. He was staring at the dead man and further, at Niamh, who was shaking on the ground. He then ran to the girl and checked her pulse. Fast, but strong. He let out a relieved sigh and looked up at Jamie.

"Oh my God... Oh my God..." she uttered, completely shaken to the core, and pale as death.

"It's gonna be okay. Okay, um... Jamie, keep the gun. We'll dump it later, after erasing your fingerprints and DNA from it. Niamh ? Niamh, can you hear me ?" he asked softly to the prone metamorph.

She groaned, her mind raging with fear and relief, and anger and joy, and death drive and... She snarled, her back arching painfully as blood dripped from her shoulder. Her organism was still fueled by adrenaline and though she fought to contain it, it was becoming harder and harder every passing second. She blinked. Once, twice... A face was near hers and startled her. She jumped back as she snapped her jaws at Jackson and bared her teeth, surprising Jamie, who let out a scared squeak. Jackson reacted quickly enough to avoid being bitten, but barely, and he crawled back to put some distance between him and Niamh. She was breathing heavily, obviously trying to keep control over herself, but he could see in her eyes it wasn't easy.

And then she was gone. No more lucid gleam in her golden eyes, only the dark hostility they found in the other animals. She growled louder as she grew bigger in seconds, doubling her size and growing dark fur. Behind him, Jamie gasped when she witnessed the transformation for the first time. A second before, there was a wounded girl in the staircase, and now it was a mad with pain killing machine. They were so screwed... he thought. The Beast raised its gaze at him, its pupils still normal.

Jackson saw there a window for negotiation. He reminded himself of what Abe had told him about how he had calmed the metamorph in the woods, and decided that it was their only chance.

"Niamh ? Niamh, it's me, Jackson", he said softly, in a sweet and comforting voice, as if he was talking to a child... or to a wild and scared dog. "You know me. I'm your friend, remember ?"

He wasn't sure if he should approach her and risk being killed, but he sensed that he needed to be closer to break through her madness. He swallowed hard and neared the stiff and menacing hybrid Berserker-werewolf. She growled, her white fangs contrasting on her fur when she bared them to warn him. Even though he was utterly terrorized, he took another step towards her, but stopped right after that.

"Niamh, it's over", Jackson whispered to her, making eye contact to ease her stress.

She growled. As an alpha, she didn't like being stared at, it felt like a challenge. But the human part of her could see he cared about her and that he was worried. Her growl decreased, but she remained stiff and ready to fight.

"Shafer's dead, there's no danger anymore. You can turn back to human", he said warmly with a nice smile.

She was breathing loudly, heavily, as if she was struggling against herself once again. She blinked several times, every time looking more lucid than before. Her breathing became steadier, calmer, and she began to look around her and not only Jackson anymore. She saw Shafer's body on the ground, five bullet holes in his chest, and she saw Jamie, staring at her in utter shock, the gun still in her hand. She let out a snarl that sounded something like a contemptuous laughter at Shafer's dead corpse and sucked in a deep breath. She rose up on her hind legs, frightening Jackson who crawled back in panic, and began to reverse back to human form.

She then collapsed to the floor, breathing quickly, pale from the blood loss and the stress, and pressed a hand to her wound with a wince. She hissed when she touched the edges of the hole and tightly shut her eyes close. Then she opened them again and glanced at Jackson, still half lying on the stairs. A smile etched on her lips as she regained total lucidity from after her transformation.

"Hey, I didn't kill him, see ?" she joked weakly, her voice croaky.

Jamie cast her a shocked and pained glance and suddenly Niamh understood she was the one who had killed the corrupted agent. Her smile vanished immediately and she let sympathy color her face.

"I'm sorry, Jamie... I didn't want you to do that..." she said soflty, still livid from the blood loss and pain.

"It's not your fault, Niamh..." the reporter whispered, her voice flat and emotionless. "He was going to kill you. I... I had to do something. It was him or you. I choose you."

Niamh had a sad smile and closed her eyes, the bullet still buried deep in her flesh and preventing her enhanced healing to work properly. She heard footsteps nearing her and then, a hand replaced her own to apply pressure on the wound.

"It's gonna be alright. Don't worry, we'll take you to a hospital and..."

"No hospital. I'm not human, remember ? And what would you tell them ? How I was shot..."

"She's right, Jackson. We'll find a vet to stitch her wound and extract the bullet."

Surprisingly, even though she just killed a man and witness her friend and colleague turn into a giant hybrid wolf-bear, she was holding up just fine. She slipped the empty gun in her waistband and joined Jackson next to Niamh. The metamorph blinked multiple times and breathed deeply to gather her courage. She then strained her muscles to get up and leaned against the wall to help herself stand straight. There was now a small pool of blood under Shafer's body, and hers was starting to mix with it as it flowed from her shoulder.

"What about him ?" Jamie asked, showing Shafer with a movement of her chin.

"Screw that bastard. He's dead", Niamh snarled, teeth bared. "Someone will find him, eventually, and we don't have time to clean this mess. Let's gather our stuff and get the hell out of here with the Mother Cell..."

Jackson nodded slowly and helped Niamh to walk past the agent's body. She painfully climbed the stairs, her throbbing shoulder a reminder of how close to death she had been. If Shafer had been a bit more lucky, he could have put that bullet in her head, and even a metamorph couldn't survive that in human form.

"So you... you really are... a werewolf ?" Jamie said in an undertone once they got in their room.

"Well, I told you, right ?" Niamh replied with a smirk as Jackson sat her on her bed.

He went to the bathroom and came back a few minutes later with gauze and disinfectant. She stripped of her top, keeping only her bra, to let him apply the antiseptic and patch the wound. She hissed when he sprayed the liquid on her injury but remained determined. As soon as he was done, she put on her t-shirt again and got up from the bed.

"It's something to tell me what you are, and another to see it..." Jamie defended herself, still staring at the blood on Niamh's clothes.

"Don't get used to it too quickly, it's dangerous. You saw it, I almost lost my mind back there. I could have killed Jackson... This thing, this Mother Cell... it infected me as well as the animals. When I turn, there's... that thing in my mind that keeps pushing me to attack and kill. For now, I've never succumbed it, but I don't want to push my luck."

"Okay, let's pack up", Jackson intervened. "We don't know when someone will want to take the stairs instead of the elevator, but it could be soon, so we need to go."

"Right", Jamie agreed, before turning to her suitcase and beginning to stuff it with her belongings.

They managed to be ready in only five minutes. Niamh put on a jacket to hide the blood on her t-shirt, and though she was pale, noone could guess she had been shot. They paid for their room and quickly walked to the parking lot before climbing into the rental car. None of them was feeling safe, and Jamie seemed to finally be getting that she killed someone. Her hands were shaking and her breath became uneven, shallow, panicked. Niamh was sitting next to her in the back of the car to comfort her. It was something she never forgot : help and be there for the pack members who felt sad. She could see in the reporter's eyes that she was flashing back to the same scene over and again : the agent strangling Niamh, him noticing her, her grabbing the gun and then firing it five times. And then, the body on the ground, dead.

Jamie suppressed a sob but let escape a silent whine. Her shoulders were retrospectively shaking from fear and shock. Niamh put her right arm, the valid one, around her shoulders and pulled her closer with all the warmth and friendliness she had.

"Shhh, you'll be alright", she whispered to the other woman.

"Did you... Did you ever killed someone ?" she asked so quietly Niamh almost didn't hear her over the car's noise.

"Only animals. I fought metamorphs, but never killed one. And never killed a human either", Niamh replied with a softness Jamie never heard from her.

"Then how do you know I'll be alright ?" Jamie sobbed, breaking the younger girl's heart.

"Because you're strong. You helped Mitch with mad lions, you tracked down Leo Butler, you saw him die, you tracked down Evan Lee Hartley, and you didn't fall apart when you saw me change. It's normal to feel destroyed when you put an end to another life. Even if it was the life of a corrupted asshole who killed a innocent in order to cover his tracks", she reminded her.

Jamie let out a sigh, her breath shaking, and looked up at Niamh. Her eyes were red and puffy, but she looked like she was feeling better. She wiped the last tears welled up in her eyes and attempted a faint smile. She would get better, with time, Niamh thought.

"I didn't even ask you... How are you feeling ? Shaf... You were shot, after all", she said, correcting herself before saying the infamous name.

"It hurts, but I don't think I'm gonna die from it", Niamh replied lightly. She didn't want to worry the reporter with the fact that she almost couldn't feel her fingers now.

"We're almost there", Jackson announced from the front of the car. "Stay strong, only five more minutes."

The last minutes they drove in silence, and when Jackson parked the car, none of them dared to speak either. Niamh was pale, but she held strong and insisted on climbing out of the car, and then go inside the vet's office without help. She was too stubborn and proud to admit that sometimes she could need assistance. The door's ring chimed when they opened it, and a voice came from a room further inside.

"We're closed for now, come back after 2."

Not listening, they reached the door which the voice came from and entered, finding the vet eating. He looked up at them and got up from his office.

"I said..."

"We need help. Our friend's been shot. You have to remove the bullet", Jackson said, his voice like steel.

"I can't do that ! Bring her to a hospital, I'm a vet. Plus, I won't mingle in gunshot wound stories, too dangerous."

"We've got no time to negotiate. Just do it", Niamh growled as she took off her jacket and top to show the fortune bandage they made.

"Hey, I said no", the man resisted, walking backwards to distance himself from the three weird people who just entered his office.

"And I said yes", Jamie countered, pulling the gun out of her waistband.

The vet gasped and almost fell to the ground from fear, his gaze fixed at the deadly weapon. They had no more bullets, but he didn't know it. Niamh felt her heart twinge for Jamie, who was still recovering from giving death and was already threatening someone with the very same gun she had killed with. Instead of showing this sadness, she allowed herself to smirk.

"O-Okay... I'll see what I can do..." the man stuttered as he began to search his stuff to find his tools. "It's gonna take a while, you... We should go to the block, there's all I need there", he added, his stress still peaking.

"Good."

Niamh and the other two followed the vet deeper inside the cabinet. They entered another room, cleaner and smelling like chemical products. Niamh frowned and coughed, her enhanced senses disturbed by the odour.

"Okay, just remember I'm not a surgeon, I'm a vet, okay ? I-"

"We know. Just hurry, I can't feel my hand", Niamh growled.

Jackson and Jamie shared a worried glance at her words. She didn't want to scare them, but now they were. Firstly, the vet did a few tests, soflty touching the area around the wound and evaluating where the bullet could be inside her body. Her eyelids were fluttering and she had difficulty keeping her head high. Once his exam was over, the vet put on some latex gloves and helped her lie down on the operating table.

"Okay, so I'm going to sedate you so you don't..."

"No. Just take it out and stitch, I'll heal."

"It's gonna hurt like hell", the man explained slowly.

"He's right, girl", Jackson said, careful to avoid mentioning any name that could have them identified. "We know you're tough, but you don't have to..."

"Quiet. All of you. Just extract the bullet and sew the wound, doc", she insisted.

Even if Jackson and Jamie disagreed, they couldn't do anything about it. The vet gave a plastic dog toy to Niamh who just couldn't help but laugh at the situation. The toy was new and clean from any animal saliva, but have her, a werewolf, bite on a chew toy to fight pain was hilarious. Jackson had a sad smile too, but Jamie just kept her hand on the gun, still trying to figure out how she could be doing this so soon after Shafer's death. So Niamh put the plastic bone in her mouth and prepared herself to not move despite the pain.

Slightly shaking, the vet removed the gauze and examined the wound, becoming more and more professionnal as he focused on the task at hand. He disinfected the area, his tools, and took a deep breath. He then plunged the pliers in the wound, causing Niamh's body to jerk in pain. She let out a low growl, her teeth digging holes in the plastic toy and her heart rate increasing significantly. She did her best not to move too much, though, knowing that he needed her to stay as still as possible. Jamie neared the table and put a reassuring hand on Niamh's other arm, just to show her she was not alone.

"I'm almost there..." the vet whispered, entirely too concentrated on getting the bullet to realize noone could hear him at this volum except for Niamh.

When the tip of the tool touched the bullet, she couldn't suppress the cry of pain she was containing since the beginning of the extraction. Her entire arm was shaking, and Jackson immediately went to block it against the table to prevent her from injuring herself more on the pliers that were still inside her shoulder. Her face was livid and covered in cold sweat, and she couldn't understand why it was so painful. Every second was a struggle. To keep her eyes open, to keep her heart rate and adrenaline in check, to prevent herself for screaming.

"Okay... I got it..." the vet murmured again.

Slowly, he removed the little chunk of metal from her body, and immediately her arm stopped moving like if it was possessed. He discarded the flattened bullet in a nearby plate and grabbed his sewing kit. His hands were red from the metamorph's blood, but now it seemed like he was doing better than a few minutes ago.

"You're lucky. The bullet tore a few tendons, and was deflected by your clavicule. It was pressing against your subclavian artery but didn't pierce it. You may have a bone cracked, and some difficulty to move your arm for a few months, but if you stay calm, you'll eventually recover", he explained softly, as if he had already forgotten that they had threatened him to do this.

He grabbed her left hand and dug his nails in her wrist, looking at her.

"Do you feel it, when I do this ?"

"Ow. Yeah..." Niamh breathed out quietly with a smile, after spitting out the chew toy, looking exhausted.

"Good. I think you'll recover your sensations too. It was just that your arm wasn't correctly pumping your blood. I'm not a surgeon, but I suggest you to put a sling on for the next weeks, okay ? And don't use your arm, it's still weak", he ordered more than he suggested, as he finished to sew her shoulder.

He then applied gauze and bandaged her upper body and arm to be sure it would hold. Incredibly tired, Niamh could barely see in front of her, but she forced herself to stand up, though her legs were shaking, and let Jamie help her put on her clothes again.

"Thank you, doc..." she whispered, eyes half closed and her head doddling. "But we have to clean this mess... Guys, could you... ?"

"Of course, tough girl", Jackson replied with a both sad and happy smile.

They gathered all the compresses, the tools, the dog toy, the needles and pliers the vet used and put them in a plate. Then they soaked them with medical alcohol and burnt them. The vet was horrified, but couldn't do anything as some of his material burned right under his eyes.

"Sorry, but we can't afford to leave any traces", Jackson explained as he pocketed the bullet.

"Who shot her ? Who shot her so you couldn't go to a hospital ?" the man asked with genuine concern.

Maybe it was because he was a doctor, that he cared for people in pain that he forgot so quickly that they didn't come peacefully to him but threatened him. Or maybe it was because he was just a nice guy who was just scared of them until he saw they wouldn't actually hurt him. Niamh, Jackson and Jamie glanced at each other, trying to decide whether to tell him or not.

"We..." Jamie began slowly, trying to find the right words. "We found something important. Like really important. And... we were working with..."

"J, you shouldn't say that", Jackson interrupted her brusquely.

"FBI shot me", Niamh said flatly, her eyes closed now though she was still miraculously standing. "Was corrupted... Tried to kill her too..."

The vet stared at the three of them with utter shock on his face, and had to sit to not collapse to the ground. Jackson sighed at the sudden revelation of Niamh, but didn't object more. What was done was done. He helped her lean on him and turned towards the exit.

"Thank you for your help. And... sorry about the gun."

"We didn't have bullets, anyway", Jamie added, with what sounded like a dry laugh.

They left the vet behind them, still trying to process what just had happened to him, and got to their car quickly. Niamh fell asleep almost immediately after Jackson started to drive, and didn't even notice the brief stop they made to ditch the gun and bullet in the bay. She only woke up when they arrived at the airport. They booked tickets to Washington and climbed in the plane as soon as it was there. Once again, Niamh slept during all the flight, skipping lunch while the two others ordered food. She didn't move from an inch during the whole journey, and was especially hard to wake, this time, but she seemed to be better than before. Still sleepy and weak, but she was less pale.

They followed the crowd of people heading towards the lobby and then changed directions to go to the airport bar. While driving to the airport, Jackson had received a text from Chloé : they were back from Rio and would wait for them at Washington's airport. Niamh in tow, they walked towards the table Chloé's group was sitting at. Even though she was half unconscious and her shoulder was throbbing, she could faintly hear Mitch bragging in the distance.

"So... what's next ? I'm feeling kind of cocky after beating a bat plague with $20 worth of used hardware. Bring it !" the vet said with joy.

Niamh and the others arrived at this moment and sat next to them on the couches of the bar. The metamorph was breathing heavily, her injured shoulder sending waves after waves of pain because she still had not found a sling to wrap around her arm, and she had to keep it close to her, forcing her muscles to work. She let herself fall on the seat with a pained wince but didn't allow herself to make any noise.

"Niamh, are you okay ?" Abraham and Chloé immediately said, before even saluting Jackson and Jamie.

"Long story short : it hurts but I'm fine. I'll let you discuss about what we found and just rest a little..." she muttered as she leaned on Jamie's shoulder, who was now sitting next to her.

Jackson took the last place, next to Abraham and leaned forward, inviting the others to do so as well so the could talk quietly. Jamie carefully took the Mother Cell from her bag and discreetly showed it to the others with a triumphant expression.

"What is it ?" Chloé asked, trying to understand why she should be overjoyed to see a metal cylinder containing some yellowish cristal.

"They call it the Mother Cell", Jamie replied quietly on a conspiratorial tone.

"What the hell is a Mother Cell ?" Mitch quiered, casting a glance at Chloé, who looked at Jackson, who could just manage to look like the world might end.

"We found Leo Butler", he explained. "He told us that it wasn't his bacteria that got the animals becoming mad, it was the Mother Cell, and it is present in every Reiden product. And they know it."

He lowered his gaze, staring at the floor and biting his lip, not really knowing how to put it right. Eventually, he let out a deep sigh and raised his head.

"Shafer was with us, he threatened to turn us in for hacking if we didn't let him come with us. So we found Butler, he told us everything he knew, and brought us the Mother Cell. We... crossed paths with Evan Lee Hartley. No, don't interrupt me, please", he said to Chloé, who was already trying to get some explanations. "We tracked him down and found him. He tried to use the Mother Cell to cure himself. Apparently, my dad did something to him that made him kill these hunters, and made him the alpha of the wolf pack back at the prison. He died from his 'treatment'. And then Shafer betrayed us. No, still no interruption please, you'll ask your questions later. He attacked Jamie and tried to steal the Mother Cell. Niamh fought him and... well he won't be a problem anymore", he concluded, casting a sorry glance at Jamie, whose eyes were darkening with sadness.

"You killed him ?" Chloé hissed in both surprise and horror to the drowsy metamorph.

"I did", Jamie corrected, avoiding everyone's eyes. "He was choking Niamh and he had shot her, I couldn't let him do."

Mitch put his face in his hands, looking concerned and terrified of potential consequences. He sighed loudly before looking at Jamie with understanding in his gaze. She quietly thanked him just by returning his stare. Abraham however, looked blasted and stunned. And Chloé was trying to think logically, pushing aside any emotional consideration.

"Okay. So Shafer's dead. Who could have sent him if it wasn't the FBI ? 'Cause you know, FBI wouldn't attack people like that, right ?" Mitch asked eventually.

"My money's on Reiden, and don't you dare tell me I'm being paranoid again", Jamie said, still staying very little expressive to not disturb Niamh.

"Actually that would make sense", the vet replied with a shrug. "An agent of FBI could easily get to us without resistance. But my real question was : who knew we were investigating ? I mean... Butler stole the Mother Cell, fine. But he was hidden. Shafer approached us at the Prison, right ? So he already knew something was up. Reiden knew about the side effects of the Mother Cell, you said. Someone there had to tell him, fine. But how did he got to us ?"

"Easy. Jamie's hacker friends sent her data on Reiden, and he just followed it to find us", Jackson explained.

"With the FBI ressources ? After you told me he went rogue ?" Mitch said like he doubted it.

"He hacked into Butler's account... With his computer... He could have done it by himself..." Niamh mumbled, proving she was still awake and listening.

"Well, at least we know that we may have Reiden to be wary of too, and not just animals. And the FBI, now."

Jamie lowered her head in an apologetic look. She was still shaken from what she had done, but she didn't regret it. She had spoken the truth, earlier. Shafer was about to kill Niamh, she couldn't let him do it.

"Fine", Chloé suddenly said in the awkward silence. "We need to find a hotel and painkillers for Niamh, she doesn't look so great..."

"I'm fine..." the girl groaned with annoyance to hide how much her shoulder was killing her.

"Yeah, keep telling that to yourself", Mitch scoffed. "You need a sling and to rest. And your jacket is going to not be enough if you keep bleeding, 'cause I can already see smears of red on your shoulder."

Niamh grumbled and put her hand up to her shoulder to hide the stains. She then got up clumsily, eyes half closed, and tried to shoulder her bag. Once again, Jamie beat her to it and grabbed it in addition of her own.

"Let's go."

AN_2 : I'm not a doctor and I didn't follow medicine studies, so I had to look on the Internet for the "extracting the bullet" part, so don't yell at me if it's full of incoherences ^^'