It was perfect. Fun, nice … pleasureful. This mission was so easy and for some reason relaxing. Then that night it all changed.
Grant trailed a few miles behind Caleb's car.
"He still ahead on this road?"
"Confirmed." Simmons answered. "There's a huge National Park way out here."
"A park?" Grant glanced around. The sun was close to the tops of the trees.
"Is he going star-gazing?" Skye suggested.
"No. Something's up." Grant stated.
He pulled up to the gate into the park. A ranger stepped down to meet him.
"Good evening sir. I'm going to have to ask you to turn back." The ranger said apologetically. "The park is closed for the night."
The agent eyed him. "I was just following someone down this road. They got through."
The ranger shook his head. "The park closed half an hour ago. No gets in and everyone leaves. No campers this weekend. It's the full moon so we have a tendency to keep people and animals separate. They both go a little crazy if you know what I mean." The fellow said trying to be friendly.
Grant just shook his head in frustration and turned the car around.
"He's continued in the same direction on the same road." Fitz said confused.
"Find me a new way in." He commanded.
"Ah. Ok. There's a service road on your right… now!"
Grant jerked the wheel sending the car spinning into onto the dirt road. His vehicle thundered down it kicking up more dust then he could see through.
"Driving blind." Grant warned.
Fitz stuttered. "What? Ah. Turn right … one my mark. Now!"
The other Agent twisted the wheel. He didn't hit anything thankfully. The dust settled a bit finally as he got on more traveled roads.
"One last right." Simmons said. "Not for a while."
"How's Caleb?"
"Pulled off in a parking lot." Coulson said.
"Get me there." Grant said seriously.
"Alright your turn is on your right in 300 feet."
Grant spotted the pass up a head. "Got it."
It took him back onto the main road. The wheels shrieked in distress. Thankfully the guard gates were far enough back not to hear it.
"Alright. 20 feet ahead. On you left. That's his lot." Simmons said.
Fitz took the mike. "Glasses are ready to go so we'll get a live transmission."
Grant pulled on the glasses as he pulled into the parking lot more slowly. He touched them giving a slight tap to the rims. There were a few other cats in the lot. No campers my foot Grant thought. He spotted Caleb's immediately. The glasses flipped to the live blue ex-ray he had used before. There wasn't anyone in any of the cars, not even the Angel guy's.
"Look up." Skye said catching some motion. He did so. "There!"
"Got him." Grant said watching the figure walking in the woods of mystic blue. "Ok turn it off. I can track as well as next guy."
He left his car catching immediately up with his target. Caleb was walking through the woods carefully. He seemed sure of his place. Grant jerked when the blonde suddenly turned. He stiffened but the other merely bent down seemingly to polish the ground. The floor shifted under his hand. Grant shifted his vision again to ex-ray. These glasses were darn handy.
"There's a box IN the ground." Fitz reported. "Like a locker or something."
Grant flipped his vision back. Caleb glanced down in the box as if counting. Then he picked at his shirt. Grant's eyes widened and he looked away quickly.
"He's stripping?" Skye half asked and half chuckled.
Grant glanced back up. "Yes." He hissed, a bit flushed.
There was laughter from the other side of the earpiece. Grant looked back up with the deep metallic thud of the closing box. He jerked. Caleb stood tall and bare chested, cloaked only in a pair of loose white shorts and a necklace.
"Wow." Skye said. "Big ass chain."
Grant treaded after the blonde who continued to walk in that particular state of dress. The necklace swayed heavily dangling pretty far down his chest. It was quite oversized. Not something he would ever picture the guy wearing normally. There was some kind of amulet on it too.
The sun was almost all the way down when Caleb finally stopped. Grant watched him seat himself on a rock in the midst of a bitty clearing.
Grant took a deep breath. "Intercepting." He whispered stepping forward. "Waiting for someone?" He asked loudly.
The figure jumped a mile straight in the air. Caleb landed facing him looking ready to run. His stance was tense, a fighter's stance.
"G-g- GRANT!" The blonde bit out. "No. No. No. You shouldn't be here. Shit."
The agent raised a brow. That was the first time that he had experienced an Angel swearing. "Why?"
"It's dangerous." Caleb hissed holding his head. Grant took a step forward and the blonde lurched back. "I'm dangerous."
Grant snorted. "I can hardly believe that."
"No. No." Caleb yelped tugging at his blonde hair. "You have to get away. You have to run."
"Caleb." The dark haired male held up his hands. "If something's going wrong I want to help, like you did for me."
"Help me by leaving." The blonde was nearly frothing at the mouth. "Run! Leave! You …"
He stopped mid-sentence. Caleb stood up perfectly straight looking passed Grant instead of at him. "I'm so sorry." He whispered. Tears ran down his face but his expression was one of perfect tranquility. He stared off dazed. Blue eyes crossed.
Grant followed his gaze to where the full moon was gracing the sky.
"Ward?" Coulson said. "I think you should get out of there."
The blonde before him started to twitch horribly. His skin erupted with ripples of uneven blonde bristles, like his hair. The streaming eyes closed. He slumped like half of his body had liquefied and bones flowed like molten lava. His face warped and ears cornered out as the golden hairs grew in everywhere. His body hunched over onto four feet where hands and toes used to be. The creature snarled and leaned back. The wolf knocked its head back and howled long and heavily.
Grant stood frozen. "Please advise."
The huge werewolf flipped its gaze to him.
"Run?" Fitz's voice cracked.
It kind of looked like a massive golden retriever but with pointed ears and ten times as deadly. The dog stood up on its back legs and Grant gazed up at it. Standing a healthy eight feet, it examined him with blue eyes. The werewolf dropped to all fours, roaring. Grant held his place as it approached.
"Caleb?" He asked.
It snarled launching right at him. Grant dropped completely to the ground and the wolf sailed passed him and kept going. Another growl joined the first and Grant had to tilt his head all the way back on the ground to see. There was a second huge wolf, not quite as big and a ruddy brown color. They fought vigorously.
"Ward. Get out of there." Coulson hissed tensely.
The guy nodded and turned on his knees. He got up as silently as possible, watching the wolves, and took three quick steps before being forced to stop.
"Damn." Skye said with a pale face.
A timber wolf about the normal size but with its legs distorted like the other two werewolves stepped forward. One of the golden eyes set in its head was completely gone with feral scars around the empty deep cavern that didn't quite close. Grant swallowed hard. He was suddenly dragged backwards by his coat. The blonde werewolf set him on his backside behind him and snarled at the other wolf.
"What's it doing?" Grant whispered.
The other smaller wolf had bent its head to the ground then lain down entirely.
"Standby." Coulson answered.
"Standby?" Grant said tensely. "That's the best you can do?"
Grant's werewolf settled a bit.
"Alright." Simmons said. "We connected with a wolf behavior analysis. He's quite a fascinating fellow. He's"
"Simmons." Grant bit. "Analysis."
"Oh right." She paused. "The little brown is submitting herself to Caleb's dictation."
The blonde wolf touched noses with the mud colored werewolf. It poked a nose toward Grant but backed off as the larger werewolf growled again.
Grant huffed. "Ideas?"
The blonde werewolf turned back to him and walked a circuit around him. Other wolves seemed to appear around the clearing. Most were a darkish brown. One of them was mottled black and grey. Not a single wolf was as large as Caleb and they all did the strange roll-submit thing. The sandy werewolf accepted them but as soon as they inched towards Grant he snapped and sent them off to the edges of the clearing. All the wolves lounged around in the moonlight calmly but Caleb wouldn't sit still and he tried to keep eyes on the Shield Agent at all times. The biggest werewolf walked circuits around the clearing, encircling Grant with the other wolves.
"Um hi." Grant said surprised when the first brown wolf nudged him.
Caleb was at the far edge of the clearing looking the other way.
"Are guns effective against these you think?" He asked his team tensely.
"For any normal wolf I would say an absolute yes." Fitz answered.
"Coulson?" Grant asked.
"At this point and time I wouldn't bet your life on a conventional weapon." He responded. "Try calling your lover boy."
"I hate you." Grant growled. He chimed louder. "Caleb? Help?"
The pale colored werewolf looked over and snarled. The brown wolf backed up and the Caleb continued his patrol.
"Ward?" Simmons piped up. "Our analysis says that the female that keeps approaching you may be his other Alpha. It may be a good idea to make nice to her."
Grant looked across the field. The blonde werewolf was growling at a new arrival and it looked to be another battle rather than a friend. He would be busy. The small one eyed dog was lying nearby. The agent walked over and sat a foot from her shoulder, more like crouched ready to jump away. She lifted her head and sniffed at him.
"Um? And?" Grant asked.
There was a pause. "He says try to touch the underside of her jaw to show submission in a greeting."
"If my hand gets bitten off I'm going after your professor." Grant said flexing his hand in farewell.
"What happened to your super speed, secret agent man?" Skye laughed nervously.
Grant reached out and down just barely an inch from her snout. She looked at him oddly as he ran his fingers under her jaw but tilted her head back regardless. He sighed in relief and scratched her throat. There was an abrupt flash and the brown wolf was held down by a wall of blonde fur. She yowled and Caleb held her down snarling, teeth over her muzzle.
Grant jumped up. "What did I do?"
Caleb let go of her nose but held the ruddy brown down and took Grant's coat in his mouth. The dark haired male was dragged toward the prisoner and the lighter colored werewolf took Grant's hand and set it over the muzzle of the one eyed she wolf.
"Well that changes things." Coulson says.
Grant held his place until the blonde werewolf moved back. The she wolf stayed on her side while Caleb nudged Grant away.
"Apparently." Fitz was speaking now. "It's not her that is the Alpha, but you."
"Me? ELP!" Grant was tugged backward and fell.
His back hit a wall of fur and he found himself leaning on the blonde wolf. The big head rested on his shoulder.
"You know I don't appreciate being shoved around like that." Grant chided. "And what do you mean me?" He asked carrying on two different conversations at once.
"Well with the behavior so far your wolf friend has established you as the other Alpha in the pack." He continued.
"Fantastic." Grant groaned holding his head.
He was going to have bruises all over himself in the morning and a nice whopper headache. The big wolf gave him a lick on the side of the face. It whined at his discomfort.
"It's fine." Grant said leaning back tiredly. "What does an Alpha do?"
"Well." Simmons started then stopped.
"Um."
Grant groaned. This couldn't be good if even Skye wouldn't tell him.
"I wouldn't worry about it until you need to Agent Ward." Coulson finally said. "Is he still being harmless?"
The dark haired agent looked at the big head on his shoulder. "Yeah."
"Well then there's nothing to worry about." The answer was passively concerned.
Grant rubbed his eyes under his glasses. "Caleb?"
The wolf looked up at him.
"You can hear me can't you?"
The werewolf looked like it was smiling.
"You can't really answer questions though can you?"
The wolf shook its head then the entirety of its body. The blonde werewolf stood up, sniffing. A big werewolf, about Caleb's size and maybe larger was approaching. It was white as moonlight and had blue eyes too. Grant's werewolf woofed. The other wolf barked back. They didn't seem confrontational or either submissive. Both wolves stood on their hind legs and barked back and forth. They dropped back down and butted heads in a friendly manner.
"Looks like he's got a buddy." Grant said.
"Our analyst says they are acting like brothers." Coulson reported.
"He doesn't have any siblings though." Grant answered.
"We don't actually know that." Coulson said.
Grant huffed. "He isn't the kind of person who would just not be in contact with their brother in all the time we've been trailing him."
"What if they don't like each other?" Skype put in.
"Are you watching the same thing I am?" Grant asked.
The two light colored werewolves were walking toward him yapping back and forth. When they got in front of Grant Caleb walked around him and laid back down so Grant could lean back again. The Shield Agent stayed up though watching the white wolf warily.
"Ok. They might be siblings." Grant whispered.
The white wolf had the same big blue honest and trusting eyes. It lowered its head and sniffed at his chest. It suddenly reeled back like it had been shot. The big dog yelped and backed up quickly falling onto his backside. Grant jerked backward into Caleb. The blonde went to stand looking anxiously at his friend but lay back down to protect Grant. The white wolf sat just shivering, looking at the ground as if mulling over new information.
"What happened?" Grant hushedly asked Caleb and the team.
The blonde werewolf shrugged with a strange look on his face, like a wolfie kind of worry. He stood up and hesitantly walked toward the white wolf. Caleb twisted his head. He touched the other wolf gently with his nose.
"You ok?" Grant asked.
The white werewolf breathed heavily. Caleb prodded him until the wolf staggered forward and they sat down on either side of Grant. The agent just leaned on his werewolf. They just sat there until the moon dropped and the night reached its darkest just before the dawn. The white werewolf stood up and nodded to the pair. Grant watched him go and a glint caught his eye. The white werewolf had a thick chain with a heavy amulet on it. He looked up. Caleb was tracing the werewolf's departure. The same too big chain hung around his neck.
"What is that?" Grant asked sticking his hand under the chain.
It wasn't tight to the skin, but it was not loose by any means. The metal was smooth from good crafting and wearing. Caleb tipped his head up so Grant could see the amulet. The agent reached forward to touch it when the werewolf lurched. Grant scootched back quickly. All the werewolves were twitching and melting.
"Here comes the sun! Dada-dada!"
Grant covered his ears as Skye started singing. It didn't work as he just pressed the earpiece into his ear canal further.
"Skye. Quit it!" He hissed.
"It is true though." Fitz pointed out.
The forest blazed with the orange burning sunshine. People started to stand up. Caleb knelt for a moment. Grant couldn't see his eyes. Finally the blonde male stood all the way up. The chain rapped against his chest. He reached up at took the amulet in his hand. Caleb squeezed it and the little thing started to flash mechanically making a small blipping sound.
"Caleb?" Grant stood slowly.
The blonde gave him a glance. Caleb walked away toward the other people in the clearing. It really hurt in Grant's chest. A whimper escaped his mouth.
"Grant?" The team asked concerned.
The agent looked down toward the ground. The ground fuzzed a bit with the liquid in his eyes. A hand landed on his shoulder. He looked up right into Caleb's eyes. Caleb rubbed his shoulder reassuringly. The blonde mouthed with obvious difficulty 'Give me five minutes'. Grant nodded. Caleb smile slightly and moved stiffly over to help up an older woman with only one eye. The lady nodded to him once she was on her feet. The large male touched the scratch on her face gently. She shook him off.
"Ouch." Grant whispered spotting the large gash on Caleb's other side.
Simmons was looking to. "When did he get that?"
There was a growl of tires on gravel. A big army class vehicle with a covered back pulled slowly into the clearing. The driver hopped out. Caleb went over and shook his hand. He gestured to Grant and they talked with mouthed words and no voice. It didn't seem anyone had a voice to make sound with. The park ranger finally shrugged.
"All right everyone!" The park ranger guy called. "Come get your clothes and hop in the back."
The people surged forward. The ten-ish people climbed in. Caleb went in then hopped back out fully clothed. He walked toward Grant slowly, watching like a person closing in on a wounded wolf. Grant watched kind of confused and more than a little dazed. Caleb helped him up. Grant's legs attempted to buckle under him from being tossed around and sat upon all night.
"Sorry." Grant apologized leaning heavily on Caleb who shook his head, dismissing the apology.
They loaded up into the back of the truck. The vehicle rolled a long for a bit shaking the tired looking occupants. It stopped and Caleb hopped out to help another young guy into the truck. The teenage male was all by himself. The fellow got dressed quickly.
"This is your driver, Ted. Report. Everyone is accounted for." The intercom hissed. "The other two trucks are full and all thirty four plus one are safe and sound. Heading to deport 1."
Caleb seemed to let out a huge breath and sat back on the wall next to Grant. When the truck stopped again they were back at the parking lot. Everyone except a few guys got out pushing buttons to unlock their cars. The truck took off with its remaining occupants. Grant on instinct pulled his own keys free. A hand closed around his snatching the keys.
"You look a bit pale and shaken to be driving." Caleb' voice crackled as he tried to speak the best he could. "We'll get'yer car later."
Grant just nodded looking down at his hand for the first time. It wouldn't hold still with the tremors running through it. The blonde lightly guided him to the sunlight shining car that Grant had trailed into this place to begin with.