Black Angel

Chapter 8

Darren

"Schubaltz, this is your Black Angel and her pet Cat. I'm going to keep in contact with you daily. I've been informed that the Panthers have a price for my head. If I don't contact, if I miss even one day, come looking for me. Please. Don't tell Rob, Jake, or Jonathon. They'll simply pull the mission and we'll get nothing. Over and out," Alex said into the radio. There was some static and then it died.

Suddenly, and franticly, gloved fingers began to turn all sorts of different knobs with in the DiBison as a serious of beeps and whistles went off.

"I know that Beak, but maybe I can still find her," Thomas retorted to the AI system.

So Thomas continued to fiddle in the zoid for hours until there was finally an interruption.

"Hey Thomas," came Van's voice from the ground. Thomas jumped and hit his head on the ceiling. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing, nothing at all," Thomas yelled back down as he rubbed his head.

Van sighed. "What are you doing wasting time? General Kruger has a job for us that could really help Alex."

Thomas sighed and jumped down from the cockpit. He wondered if he should tell Van about Alex's message. Then again, Van might go and tell Kruger before Thomas warned him not to.

And for the hundredth time, Thomas wondered why Alex had contacted him of all people.

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Alex walked into the next bar was immediately grabbed and rushed back outside.

"Are you nuts girl? Showing your face so openly?" a male voice asked as it hustled her back to her zoid. Cat, noticing something wrong, began to approach from her place by Alex's hell cat.

"Let go of me!" Alex growled. Hearing the growl, Cat began to pick up pace.

"Calm yourself," the male voice said as he dragged the struggling girl behind the zoid, Then almost expertly pushed Cat away from him. "I'm a friend."

Alex could finally see the face of the man who grabbed her. "Darren? I though you left the continent."

Cat, also recognizing the face of a friend slowly slinked back to the zoid. However, the organoid kept her eyes on Darren.

"Heard what was going on and decided I needed to come back," Darren said as he rubbed Alex's back.

"You just can't come back when you think you can be the knight in shining armor again…" Alex growled before being cut off. Darren had leaned down and kissed her. He pulled a way. "…as…if nothing…ever…happened."

"Don't expect to," Darren said with a sleek smile.

Then he took a long cloak out of his bag and threw it around Alex's shoulders. He tied it loosely around her neck and brought the hood up so that most of her face was covered.

"People are coming to see what they can earn from this little dispute between the Panthers and the armies. You'll blend in with them if you wear foreign clothing."

"I look like the Lioness," Alex growled.

"No, no," Darren insisted. "She wears red, I made sure to get you black. Now why can't things go back to the way they were?"

"I'm seeing someone," Alex responded.

Darren but his hands in his pockets and pretended to groan. "So I can't get what I want from you?"

"And I'm not Bella," Alex snapped.

"Alright, alright," Darren responded. "Listen, the Hawks are on their way to see if they can take over if the Panthers get ticked off."

"Not good," Alex sighed.

"I don't think the Panthers should be ticked off, if you know what I mean. The Panthers don't care to do much with the armies. The Hawks will have no problem stepping on all sorts of toes. Maybe make more attempts to tick off a young man who just so happens sit on a nice big chair," Darren replied.

"You got to be kidding me," Alex groaned. "Where did you hear that?"

"My family likes to talk, it's a Hawk's most noticeable trait," Darren pointed out.

"So you're here to undermine your bandit family and you think you can do that by undermining my bandit family, but only to an extent. No wonder our fathers wanted to marry us to each other," Alex laughed.

Darren shrugged. "To bad you're seeing someone."

"Now if you don't mind," Alex said as she moved way, "I have people to find and family to avoid."

Darren laughed as he kissed Alex on the forehead. After that he made sure the hood was up and then left as quietly as he had came. Once Cat saw that he was gone, she turned to Alex, the organoid got up to come to stand by Alex. She shook her head, pointed to her zoid, and pointed it in another direction.

Cat shook her head and merged with the hell cat. She was not as extravagant as Zeak. Instead of streaking up several feet into the air, Cat simply jumped into the bottom of the zoid and it moved away from Alex. She wasn't too concerned about finding the two cats later, it would only take a whistle.

Alex walked into the bar she had originally tried to enter before her run in with Darren. She stayed hidden beneath her black cloak, her hand resting on a gun. The bar was not much different from the one she saw the Lioness in.

She noticed an older man who sat with a few younger men and she felt herself smile warmly. These men were a little rough around the edges, but they were good men. She walked up to them and held her hand out to the oldest of the group, and she made sure that she put her hand in the coded manner. The leader took her hand and smiled.

"Glad to see that they haven't gotten you yet Alex," the leader said as he wrapped an arm around her in a warm hug.

Alex smiled as she pulled away. "Give me more credit Uncle. I took on Chaz and lived to tell the tale."

The group of men around her laughed.

"True enough," Alex's uncle said. "Now what information do you have for us?"

"The Hawk's are moving in to claim what the Panther's lose," Alex said calmly as she pushed away the beer that the bar tender brought her. She caught the eye of one of the other men and resisted the urge to flick him off.

Her Uncle smirked at the silent exchange. "Now who told you this?"

"Darren," was the curt reply. The men hooted and hollered, good naturally patting her on the back. "Do you have any information for me?"

"Nope," her Uncle replied.

"Shouldn't have expected much from low life bandits," Alex growled as she left the bar. Once out, she whistled and watched as her zoid approached her.

"It wasn't poisoned," the man from earlier said.

"May be not by you Kyle, but by someone else from your group," Alex said to the youngest of her older brothers.

"Yeah, I heard about the attempt when you were with the Lioness, Evelyn was pissed that it didn't work," Kyle replied. "By the way you look like her, the Lioness, not Evelyn."

Alex growled as she wrestled out of her cloak. "I knew it! I told him!"

"Keep it on, at least you're somewhat safer," Kyle said. "And don't worry about them. Everyone is under orders to keep them merry."

"I figured as much Lindsey is the same way. I just keep hoping that he would go back to the way before grandma died, back when Uncle gave me Cat," Alex replied.

"He gave you Cat cause the beast liked you and hated him," Kyle laughed. "Besides what do you need him for? You have Kruger?"

"Wait how do you know that?" Alex asked as Kyle walked over to his own zoid.

Kyle turned back to his baby sister. "I'm a better big brother than you give me credit."

"And what about this divide between what's left of the Panther siblings?" Alex shouted over the noise of two zoid engines.

"Next time we meet, Alex, it'll be in battle. One of us will have to die. And it's going to be me," Kyle yelled back. "Do you understand?"

"Wait…what?" Alex yelled back.

"If it's between me or you, I will be the one to die…" Kyle said as he climbed into the zoid. The enhanced Command Wolf shot forward. And somewhere in the back of her mind, Alex thought that he would be perfect in the Lightening Siax.

She tried to block out the voice that was begging to die.

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Later that night, after Alex and Cat had made camp, Alex wondered what she should say to Karl. She wondered if she should ask for his advice, advice that he could never communicate to her any ways.

"Hey Schubaltz it's your Black Angel again. A little tired and a little sad. Listen, if you come into contact with a man named Kyle Claws, when you lock him away keep tight surveillance on him. He is not to be confused with his twin Ryan Claws. Cat says hi."

Alex just hoped they'd find her one true brother before she had to. It was a shame such a good man wanted to die so badly.