Gary was a small town, to look at it you would think that the fall had never happened here, it looked like every town ever filmed about before the fall, there was a school, a basic convenience store, a small main street with idyllic shops, like a time out of the past, the first modern tech of note was a small communications booth, but other than that it seemed normal, there were meta humans around, but they were elves, dwarves and the occasional well dressed Orc, I doubted our collection would be welcome.
"Time to don your lab coat Ghost" K.C said putting one on also. She pulled her military badge from her wallet and put that on the front as a form of identification. "I suggest you try and look as nerdy as possible" nerdy? I pulled my hair into rough pigtails and left it at that, there was no way this was going to work, I was still a mess from all the blood, and I knew my clothes were crumpled and dusty from drying in the desert. Mannery pointed out the shuttle station, with a schedules visit to the corridor in the next half hour; with a bit of luck this just might do us.
"I'll talk, you look grumpy" I told her, she snorted
"Piece of cake"
The guard at the shuttle station looked over the paperwork, then across at our menagerie of "test subjects" KC's irritated expression made him a little twitchy, not finding anything out of order other than my missing I.D which KC helpfully explained away as me being "a forgetful bint" I grimaced and he took it to be genuine teasing and so he allowed us aboard. The troop climbed aboard, the jaguar helped aboard by Hacker and Mannery
"That was easy" KC whispered as she sat midway up the bus, further forward from the group, acting as guard
"Too easy" I confirmed "But I'm not going to complain right now" I had been holding my breath as we had been processed, the guard hadn't looked too closely at our attire, or at anything else really, the blood stains though mostly covered by the lab coat were still there, and my hair was in desperate need of a proper wash, the smell of chemical soap however might just be our saving grace here. There were two other people on the bus, both human, we settled everyone in, I made a note of Cakador's vitals then settled near the back, the depression beside me told me Adam had taken seat beside me "Do me a favour and just keep an eye on anyone not in our group" I whispered to him
"Will do" he said, the depression lifted.
We waited patiently for our time to move, just as the doors were about to shut a third man stepped aboard, odd, he didn't have any papers but was allowed straight on. A none descript man, everything about him plain, he had the type of features that if you were asked to pick him out of a crowd five minutes after meeting him you'd have a hard time of it. He took a quick glance about then settled beside Geraldine, strange, there were dozens of individual seats on the bus, why sit next to a complete stranger?
"Want me to keep an eye on him?" a voice whispered next to me, I clamped my mouth shut to stop from yelping in surprise, and simply nodded quickly, my invisible friend moved off presumably to where the odd man was sat speaking quietly with the Gnome.
What could he possibly want? After two or three minutes the bus set off, the driver rang his little bell and we pulled away from Gary station. I tried to settle in for a quiet ride, I wasn't going to get it, about fifteen minutes into the trip Geraldine suddenly got up, climbed over the back of her chair so she didn't have to pass the odd man and went to sit beside Hacker, What? The Gnome and Orc did nothing but argue, why would she sit with him? Unless it was . . .
The man did not seem the least bit perturbed by the sudden exit, simply tapped a note into a palm pad and looked about, spotting Mannery he stood to speak with him.
"He's looking for an elf" Adam whispered "Some guy called Lathain" Lathain?!
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure" Bugger
"Tell KC, I need her to contact Lathain, find out who this guy is, in the meantime I think I'll intervene" I said getting up and walking over to Mannery and the stranger
"I'm sorry, you seem to be upsetting my patients, if there is something you need I would rather you spoke with me" I told the stranger, Mannery gave me a nervous but appreciated glance as the stranger turned his eyes to mine, I had to stop myself taking a step back, everything about the guy was plain, but his eyes, his eyes were the coldest eyes I had ever seen, almost reptilian, they hit me with a force unseen, it took all my strength to hold the gaze
"And you are?" he said, a strong southern drawl
"The doctor" I said
"These are your patients?"
"They are" I said I felt something then, like someone probing around in my brain, as if my mind was full of doors that someone was opening glancing at what lay beyond and closing them, I focused on the man before me, what did he want? Why was he such an upset to the Gnome, was he dangerous? I made these thoughts clear, I glanced up to view Cakador, I would need to check his vitals soon I thought, my eyes fell back to the man in front of me, he had a passing look of surprise and I felt the presence withdraw.
"I am looking for someone" he said reaching inside his coat for an old fashioned photograph, sure enough there on the photograph looking about the age of fifteen was Lathain, the match was in physical appearance only, the young eyes were nervous, even shy, a complete contrast to his demeanour now "Have you seen this man?"
"What do you want with Lathain?" I asked
"So you do know him?" he questioned, the reptilian eyes looking out at me, I suppressed the need to shudder
"I said as much didn't I?" I said back "Met him about a year ago, what do you want with him?"
"I need to find him"
"Why?"
"It is none of your business"
"Well I'm making it my business" I said, letting my voice drop the warning, the reaction was instant, those cold eyes hit again, doors in my head were rattled, but I had locked him out, you didn't spend as much time as I had with someone invading your most personal thoughts without learning to develop a resistance, in my case I had developed a very strong resistance.
"You will tell me where he is"
"Can't tell you what I don't know" I said, his voice was calm but there was fire behind the eyes now
"You will tell me where he is" he repeated
"No, I don't think I will"
"You will tell me what I need to know" a flicker in the corner of my eye saw KC giving me the backing off signal, to hell with it
"Fine, I'll tell you what you need to know" I said leaning forward so my face was mere inches from his "Lathain is one of me and mine and is therefore under my protection, if you want him you'll have to go through me first" Mannery broke into a sweat beside me, the strangers eyes narrowed, he stood, drawing himself to his full height, the doors in my head rattled more insistently
"You will be processed for this" Processed? He strode to the front of the bus and laid a hand on the driver's shoulder, the bus started to slow, KC stepped up beside me
"What's going on?"
"Get ready to take the wheel"
"What?!" I didn't give her time the bus stopped, the man stepped off and withdrew his palm pad and began typing, oh no you don't, a flick of my wrist sent a bolt of lightning to the palm pad, the stranger dropped the now melted device, ringing his hand and hissing in pain, I lurched forward and hit the door close button beside the startled driver, whilst blasting another bolt at the ground in front of the man, he jumped back away from the bus, KC meanwhile was wasting no time dragging the driver out of his seat and hitting the gas, the man started to run beside the bus to keep up, hand bashing the side, we were soon kicking dust into his face, I thought for a second we were off scot free when I saw something that made my stomach drop, the figure suddenly sprouted wings, huge reptilian wings, racing forward flapping great sweeps he rose into the air after the bus, he was . . . he was a drake!
"What the?!" KC yelled at me from the driver's seat "Is that what I think it is?!"
"It is" I confirmed "Open the door" I said
"What?"
"Just open the door!" I shouted, I grasped the centre bar and swung half my body out of the doors as the bus barrelled down the road "Just hold her steady!" I called
"Easier said than done" KC shouted, "I ain't exactly a brilliant driver!"
I took aim with my right hand and shot a lightning bolt, a square hit to the chest, no effect! The drake breathed back and spit a fireball, I ducked inside as the ball hit the concrete beside the bus, right where my head would have been, not good, I swung out and blasted again, still no effect, the drake breathed in again
"Swing right!" I called; KC tugged the wheel narrowly avoiding the next spit ball
"Give me a little more warning!" She screamed at me
"Sorry!" I aimed another bolt, again a direct hit, this one fizzled a little on his chest as he sped towards us, and he didn't even flinch
"That's only making him angry!" KC snapped at me, "Can't you knock him from the sky or something? Aim for a wing"
"Do you want to fight this guy?!" I shouted at her "LEFT!" Again the bus swung horribly across the road, my grip on the bar almost slipped, I broke out into a sweat, I was scared now, drakes were powerful creatures, even younglings would eat me alive if they caught me, and this guy was already pissed off. It screamed, a gut wrenching cry, guttural and alien from the human looking form, I shook.
Think, what could I use? As if sensing my fear the creature spurred faster, now almost level with the back of the bus, I shot a bolt at it to make it fall back a little, hitting through it's wing, it screamed, angry, but it was slower now, a huge hole ripped inside it's wing, the drakes eyes were now black, pinned on me, The human face twisted and contorted, a reptilian snout started to push through the face, white sharp teeth and deep green eyes as sharp as razors, the man's chest bulged and scales ripped from them, a long needle pointed tail ripped out from behind him and flared out as gliding spines lifted from the tail. I gulped, this was it, I'd pushed it too far, now me and everyone else here would pay the price, why had I been so stupid? . . . Stupid? Stupid! That was it!
"Give me a sharp pull to the right in 5 seconds then hit the brakes" I yelled to KC
"The brakes?!" she yelled at me "Are you nuts?!"
"Little bit" I closed my eyes, left hand tight on the bar, feet firm, I raised my hand, opened my eyes, spell on my tongue. The lurch came, bucking my feet, I finished the spell, the mana light hit square on the creatures chest then the brakes were hit, the creature screamed as it slammed into the back of the bus, wings being dragged under the wheels as KC put the bus in high reverse, dragging and mangling the drake beneath the full weight of the bus, she put the brakes hard on as the bus spit the drake out in front. "Go, Go, Go!" I yelled, KC wasted no time in putting her foot down and shooting forward, the bus bucked again as she ran the drake over going forward, as fast as she could manage the dust trail kicking up over the creature, in the side mirrors rapidly disappearing we saw the drake sit up, fold it's broken wings and turn in circles before we lost it from sight
"Did I hit its head?"
"Probably, but I cast confusion on it, it'll spin in circles for while before he snaps out of it" I told her, leaning on the lever to close the door
"How long is a while?"
"Depends on how strong he is, maybe a day, maybe an hour"
"What did you get me into?"
"Honestly I have no idea"
"Great, just great" she muttered
"What did Lathain say?"
"He said to run and hide"
"Were you talking to the same elf?" I asked surprised
"I was" she said "He sounded scared"
"Lathain doesn't get scared"
"Oh he was scared, he said to run and hide and to forget ever meeting him" she said, the bus lurching horribly as she tried to change gear.
"What is he running from?" I murmured to myself
"How should I know?" KC replied "But whatever it is nearly got me killed, so I'd like to find out what"
"Call him and tell him we took care of it"
"I'm not your receptionist"
"Nope but you're the only one of us with a comm. link and if we don't tell him it's taken care of he'll go into hiding before we can meet up with him"
"Fine, but when we get to the corridor you're getting yourself a comm."
I smiled "Never gonna happen I'm afraid unless you want a special kind of hell to rain down on you" KC gave me a look
"You're all crazy" she muttered
"Never said I wasn't" she laughed at that.