Sarjevane, April 21, 2010
The three of them were in that same mess-hall, waiting for Thirteen to show himself again. When he entered the hall, Al began talking: "Is that this Thirteen you mentioned?"
Neither Max or Snake spoke, but Thirteen did: "I see you've already given out man the heads up."
"Will you cut the crap. You need us for something. What is it?" Snake replied.
"You're right." Thirteen said, "But Mr. Winch wants something from you too. He wants you to not stab him in the back, as you're planning to."
Neither one of the three looked surprised, until Thirteen added: "I know that you spoke to Max about trying to double-cross us, just because you happen to know that Group W is worth ten billion dollars. I also know that Al over here doesn't trust him, just because he's a business-person."
Neither one of them understood how he knew any of this. Max was the one to get up and attack Snake. The latter was about to do the same, so he was just about prepared enough to have his own grip on Max.
"You told him, didn't you?!" Max asked him.
"How do I know that you're not the one playing here!?" Snake questioned.
"Neither one of you told me anything." Thirteen told them, "If you can't trust me or my friend, you should at least trust each other."
"Are you saying that you're actually friends with that guy Winch?" Al asked him, "You sure know how to pick'em."
Thirteen ignored Al's remark, and waited for Snake and Max to let go of each other. These two looked at each other, then slowly let go. They sat back in their seats, and waited for Thirteen to speak again.
"So now that there are three of you, it's time to bring in the next two." he said.
"Next two?!" Snake exclaimed.
"How many more do we need here?" Max asked him.
"Only these two." Thirteen answered, "Assuming we can find at least one of them."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Snake asked him.
"Let's just say that there's this one... individual we've been tracking lately." Thirteen explained, "We don't know who or what it is exactly, except that it tears people apart like some savage animal. It's left it's body's all through the Canadian area of British Columbia, into Washington State, all through the states, but the trail ends in New Jersey, for some reason."
"Why in New Jersey?" Al asked him.
"We're not sure." Thirteen answered, "However, there's a certain area where authorities don't dare to come. We believe that it's hiding there."
"What area would that be?" Snake asked, though he didn't sound like he was interested.
"Camp Crystal Lake." Thirteen replied, "It's particularly known for this urban legend, surrounding about this kid, who grew up as wild man in this area."
"Something that's able to tear people apart and a wild man." Al laughed, "This sounds like a nice match."
"I'm not so sure." Thirteen remarked, "Either this thing managed to rip this man apart, or the man was vicious enough to kill it. Or their fight was heavy enough for neither to have survived. Either way, if you can find at least one of them, alive, you take them back here. If you find them dead, then we'll have to do it without them."
"And what do we know about these two?" Snake asked, "I don't think we'd wanna go in unprepared, like the last time."
"Of course." Thirteen agreed, as he opened his briefcase, to take out two pictures, both of which were an artist's account of what they look like.
"This here is of the wild man, according to someone who's been there during the summer of '08." Thirteen said, as everyone looked at the picture.
If anybody didn't know any better, they'd say that the artist had overreacted a little in drawing this man, as his entire upper body appeared larger than his legs. The only thing they might want to take seriously at all, is the fact that this man carried a large knife, a machete perhaps, and wore a hockey mask.
"This guy likes hockey." Al remarks, "You sure he ain't the one from Canada?"
Thirteen ignored that remark: "This here is from the thing from Canada. It's how the then mayor of Seattle described it to have looked like."
What they saw on the picture looked like a young woman, with very sharp nails, strangely hairy, and a Asian-esque set of eyes, although given her other features, that Asian look might well be a wolfish look.
"All I know about that one..." Thirteen continued, "... is that the mayor found a large wolf, mortally wounded. He tried to... help it, but when he did, it started to look like that."
"A wolf...?" Max sounded somewhat unwell about this.
"Is that a problem?" Thirteen asked her.
"Er... no, not at all." Max answered.
"Oh, I get it." Snake figured it out, "You're part cat, and here were hunting for a wolf."
"I see." Thirteen said, "Well, can you guarantee that your natural rivalry won't take over?"
"Yes!" was Max's definite answer.
"Good." Thirteen said, after which he got up and picked up a crutch, "Before I forget, Al, here's something to support you for your leg. Regards from Dr. Struyss."
Al took it and used it to get up. Still he wondered: "You don't think I'll be a problem for the team with this leg?"
"From what I've been told, you can work pretty well when you're that hellspawn." Thirteen said.
This got Al more than a little concerned. He changed into Spawn again, by which means he also changed the crutch into a sword, flew up to Thirteen, who didn't appear to feel much threatened, as he used his own military move to dodge every attack from him.
"Who told you all that?" Spawn asked him, "Who told you I was a hellspawn? Who told you what I can or can't do?"
"That... would... be..." Thirteen tried to answer..., "Sebastian."
Spawn stopped attacking him at that point: "Who the fuck is Sebastian?"
Thirteen turned to Max and Snake: "You remember Dr. Bacon. He told me."
"How could he? He wasn't even with us." Snake remarked.
"I know." Thirteen replied, "I don't know how he does it either."
"Bacon's first name's Sebastian?" Max thought that was funny.
"Which reminds me, I haven't seen him since yesterday." Thirteen mumbled, "I wonder where he is."
Snake sighed: "I'm not leaving before I know where he is."
"You do that." Thirteen said, "But then we'd tell everyone where to find you."
"Not if I get outta here." Snake reasoned.
"And then what?" Thirteen asked him, "You can only hide somewhere in Europe, where the Pulse didn't take effect, so it's easier for us to track you. If the authorities catch you, they'll send you to L.A. this time. And yes, Max, he also knows who to contact when you turn against us."
"So you ain't got nothing on me?!" Spawn remarked.
"Now that we know what you are, we can track you down as well." Thirteen answered, "So we can still make your life hell."
"I'm already in hell." Spawn reasoned.
"So last thing you need is people bothering you, right?" Thirteen questioned.
All three of them felt uncomfortable with this. But they all knew that they had no choice.
Somewhat cynical, Max said: "Then by all means, let's go to New Jersey."
