Chapter Five:
Riddle

Disclaimer:I do not own the cartoonStorm Hawks. It and all its respectable characters are © to Asaph "Ace" Fipke and Nerd Corps. Lupin and all plot contents within are © to me. All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them.

Note: Whoo, long chapter! Mostly conversations being exchanged, but it'll move along to…somewhere for the plot. I think. XD And Hedlum, I feel accomplished! I replied more properly this time! Success!

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A writer is someone who can make a riddle out of an answer.
-Karl Kraus

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A few police officers were busy cordoning off the area around her garage and had barred her from going inside, but after a call to Charlie, she and Aerrow had been granted access to her garage. She noticed the wary looks they shot her way and it made her want to bristle under their scrutiny. But, she kept her temper under wraps and continued on her way, stepping in through the scorched entry to her garage. Almost as soon as she stepped through the threshold, she felt that heavy weight bearing down on her once more, pressing down on her shoulders and back. She suddenly felt like the Titan, Atlas, bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Christ, she thought. Jesus fucking Christ.

The rage was starting to build back up again, like a dying ember being coaxed back to life. It felt hot and heavy in her chest, almost painfully so. She would have liked nothing else than to take it out on someone, ideally the asshole who'd done this to her home…

"Do you have anywhere else to go?"

And just like that, that same rage came to a sudden standstill at the question. She turned to look at Aerrow, who was watching her in earnest concern. Kosmo came trotting up from behind him and planted himself beside her, whining and wagging his tail. Hesitantly, she anchored herself to the dog, running her hand carefully, purposefully through his fur.

"I'll figure something out," she finally managed, her throat tight and dry like sand. She didn't know whether to pitch a fit or collapse and cry now. Everything, it was all gone. It'd disappeared in the wink of an eye. Rage fought it out with grief and won again.

That bastard. Whoever he was, she was going to rip him limb from fucking limb when she got her paws on him.

Back to square negative one, she thought morosely. She kicked at a warped tool lying on the floor. It clattered noisily across the concrete, causing Kosmo to woof and jump up to his feet and trail after the tool. A few police officers watched from a distance. Aerrow winced, glancing at his side, where Radarr came scrambling up to him.

That grief, that sadness, the knowledge that she'd have to scrape along the bottom of the barrel to meet end's meet again was looming over her. It felt, the longer the seconds ticked by, that it was going to overwhelm and engulf her, and she wouldn't be able to stay afloat this time. The money she received from her GI bill was nice and all, but everything was almost always pushed out towards bills, and the rest for the past few months had been frittered away to repairing her vehicle. Very little money, even with her job, had been saved.

Lupin eyed everything around her, feeling that weight on her shoulders again, growing heavier the longer she looked. Her work bench was so badly burned, she was surprised it hadn't turned to ash and dust. Her tool boxes, for the most part, were mostly untouched, except for maybe the one that was warped too badly beyond repair. The tools were most likely intact, or so she hoped. The boxes and plastic bins she'd used for her storage on the opposite side, where the second bay door and a second car could be stored, were all badly destroyed. She doubted much of anything survived, except for maybe the things in the core center. She couldn't remember what was in there. Clothes most likely

She looked up toward the little office complex she'd renovated for her bedroom and at the spindly metal staircase that led up to the second deck, grimacing. She didn't trust the steps. But she'd need to get up there, hoping that at least something in there was salvageable. Like her laptop. Everything for her school semester was in there.

Kosmo leaned against her, whining in between panting and licking his chops. She scratched him behind the ears absentmindedly. No doubt a part of the story had already made it to the news. So much for anonymity. She was surprised her phone wasn't blowing up with calls and messages yet. It was only a matter of time, though, she guessed. Not everyone listened to or watched the news, didn't hear about it until the day after or so.

"I'll…probably sift through all of this crap first and then camp out in my car." She finally admitted reluctantly with a sigh, motioning listlessly to everything before letting her hand drop to her side. "I…I'm used to it. It wouldn't be the first time I've done it. Lived out of my car, I mean."

"Look, I know that this is kind of out of the blue, but…you could come stay with us at the Condor until…well, I guess until we either leave or you find a more permanent place to live at."

Lupin paused in her observations, looking over her shoulder at the redhead. He had a faint smile on his face, looking genuine and kindly in his offer. Radarr was once more perched on his shoulder and whined. He looked doubtfully between Aerrow and Lupin before giving her a curt nod, as if to say, "Yeah, all right, fine. Good with me."

The offer, to be frank, threw her off. And yet, simultaneously, it didn't surprise her in the least. He just seemed the type to offer up something as helpful as this.

"You barely know me."

"So? It's a Sky Knight's duty to help people. Why should I exclude you?"

She snorted, eyeing him almost in disbelief. "'Sky Knight'? Is that what your people are called where you're from?"

"Well, just a few of us. You have to go through standardized training to earn the title. And not everyone's cut out for it," he replied, rubbing the back of his head. "But…that's not really important."

"Then what is?"

"I think I know who did this."

Her breath hitched. She pivoted, turning fully toward him, felt herself prickling in expectancy. A lead. Finally.

"Who?"

"It's…complicated," Aerrow said, a look of uncertainty flashing across his face. It was as though he was either regretting what he said or deciding how to explain it to her. Or perhaps both. Finally, he seemed to relent on continuing and sighed, nodding to her.

"His name is the Dark Ace. Not his real name, of course, but…nobody in Atmos knows what his real name used to be, except for maybe the original Storm Hawks. Any actual information about him, they were…scrubbed away from official records to the public. I'm sure they're in a private sector somewhere, but well…" He paused, that hesitation still apparent, as though he was deciding whether he should continue, or how much more he should tell her. The name 'Storm Hawks' briefly set off questions in her mind, but she tucked the information away for later.

She waited, forcing herself to remain where she was, to not advance on him and shake him, to force the answers out of him. Her patience paid off.

"He worked for an opposing…country, of sorts. Cyclonia. Their leader, Master Cyclonis, she wanted to take over the Atmos, put us all under her tyrannical rule. When she was defeated, she fled to a place called the Far Side. She opened a portal to get there, since you can't just fly there by airship, it's headed off by a mountainous region that's constantly battered with storms and hurricanes. This was all seven years ago." He sucked in a breath, slowly and steadily, allowing the pause to fill in between them. Lupin eyed him carefully, taking in his scent mark, trying to find a hint of, well, anything that would indicate him of lying, but there was nothing. He was rather earnest, painfully so in fact. She gave a curt nod, as though signaling him to continue.

"The Dark Ace was her top man, head of her forces and personal confidant. He was a very skilled fighter, more capable than the others under her. He…" Aerrow paused, glancing away for a brief moment, then back to her. "He was a very…tough opponent in most cases. I'd have to say if I wasn't as quick as I am, well…I'd be needing a lot more than luck to have kept him on his toes."

"You keep saying 'was', like he was…"

"Dead?" He finished, raising a brow at her. Lupin nodded. Then realization dawned on her. She didn't say anything. "He was. Up until very recently. He died in the final battle before Cyclonia fell. When Master Cyclonis fled to the Far Side, we followed her through to finish what we'd started, to make sure her threat wouldn't come back one day. She found a way over there to bring the Dark Ace back, fairly recently, and we…"

He stopped short and Radarr whined, patting his face sympathetically.

"We've made friends and we've made enemies on the Far Side. It's a lot wilder than Atmos, Things are very different out there and the people are…not exactly what we're used to. We had to get used to it pretty quick if we wanted to survive. Thing is, so did Master Cyclonis. After she brought the Dark Ace back, she confronted us pretty quick. It got nasty."

Aerrow grimaced. Lupin waited patiently. He shifted on the spot, looking away from her, at anything else. "We didn't know what else she'd discovered until we got shoved through a portal and ended up here. We thought at first, we were back home, back in Atmos. But…we found out pretty soon that we weren't."

"Obviously," came the dry reply. She crossed her arms, waiting.

"Right. Well…the thing is, it got pretty hectic moments before we got tossed here. Chaotic. I don't think that portal was very stable, thinking back on it. It just…felt like something was off. And now I'm thinking that we weren't the only ones who crossed over."

"You think they might have gotten picked up in the crossfire and ended up here as well. This…Master Cyclonis and Dark Ace."

"Yeah. Like I said, it was very chaotic up until the point we ended up here. Actually, I don't think it's stopped." He cracked a wry grin, laughing, although it petered out fairly quickly.

"Is that why your bike was so fucked up?"

"Well…yes and no. It wasn't the portal that messed it up; it was the constant hits and battering it took in the fight against the Dark Ace. Mine isn't as armored as some of the others, it's pretty lightweight. I like speed over defense." He shrugged, a light grin tipping his lips up.

She didn't feel quite satisfied with his answers, and as long as the question floor was still opened up, she was going to take advantage of the opportunity. She thought on her next question before it hit her.

"How have y'all made a living these past few weeks? I mean, all that money…"

"Racing. Something that translates universally, I guess." He was grinning widely now. "Had to beef up Finn's Skimmer here and there, make adjustments, take out his crossbow attachment—he wasn't too happy about that. You'd be surprised how well it does against those…what do you call them? 'Crotch rockets'?"

She snorted, but nodded at his apt description. The bikes they rode were much larger and looked cumbersome. She didn't think they'd have made good racing bikes. Guess she was wrong.

"Have you…found a way to get back?"

The smile on his face fell and she almost regretted asking.

"No. We're hitting walls every which way we turn. But now that it seems more and more likely Master Cyclonis and the Dark Ace ended up here, there might be a chance to get back. Master Cyclonis had the crystal she used to summon the portal on her when we ended up here. Chances are, she still has it, but it's probably dead."

Crystals? Lupin squirreled that nugget of information away for later. She was no geologist major, but she was pretty damned sure that crystals weren't a viable power source. But in another world? Possibly. She wasn't going to debunk it off the bat quite yet.

"If it's dead, than it's useless, innit?"

"Not unless we use Piper's Solaris Crystal. Put that puppy under the sun, it'll recharge itself. Use it on another crystal, it revives that one too. There aren't too many in Atmos, we were lucky to come across it and it's helped us out in so many jams, it's not even funny."

She could see the excitement lining itself up behind his eyes now, and the feverish ideas were racing across his mind, they were practically floating above his head.

"We have to find them."

"Well, it seems like they know your whereabouts more so than you do about theirs. Or they think they know. Probably why they torched my place, to send you a message." She motioned to her garage. His face fell and he seemed to come back down to earth and gave a solemn nod.

"You're right. And I'm sorry. I feel like we're responsible for this. If I knew that they were here, I wouldn't have involved you or anyone else for that matter." He allowed a few beats to pass before continuing, "And I'm afraid if you went off on your own, they might come for you personally. That's partly why I'm offering you to come stay at the Condor, too."

"You think I need protection?" She looked offended, face pinching into a snarl. He backtracked and waved his hands at her, as though trying to dispel what he'd meant.

"No, not entirely," he admitted, glancing her up and down. He remembered how vicious she had been earlier, how easily she knocked over that fireman, like she was swatting away a mere fly. He recalled how the fire had practically engulfed her, wrapping her up in a wreath made of its many forked tongues. He recollected how she didn't burn when she should have, how she somehow coaxed the fire to die with a mere flick of the wrist where the firemen couldn't with all their tools. She had looked so…otherworldly in the fire's blazing light. Inhuman wouldn't have sounded right because she obviously wasn't human, but still…it almost fit the bill.

"'Not entirely'. Right. What the hell does that mean?" She said, glowering at him. He found himself pinned under that mismatched gaze and a chill wormed its way up his spine, inching along like ice in the veins. He's seen the warmth they could admit, when coaxed out in the right way, burning like fire and passion. But now they were hard and unyielding, like ice, a hard wall that would allow no one to pass. He vaguely recollected something Piper had once said, something about eyes and windows and souls and whatever it was altogether—he eventually would remember—it was very apt in description.

Now all he had to do was step around the proverbial land mines she'd planted in her words and pick the right ones to say in return. Why were women so hard to talk to?

"I meant…I just meant that…whoever else that might offer you a place to stay, they'd be at risk. What if you left for work or school and they were attacked? You can't always protect people, especially when you're not there to do so. At least on the Condor, you'd be hidden, and anyone you know wouldn't be exposed to the danger the Dark Ace or Master Cyclonis might present. There's still a risk right now, but it's not as high if you stayed with us."

Her bristling settled and she seemed to consider his words. He waited, and Radarr snuffled beside him, cocking his blue-furred head at Lupin. His little hands dug into his shoulder.

"…you have a fair point," she reluctantly agreed at last. She sighed, shifting weight from one foot to the other, looking around her garage, that piteous and mournful expression on her face again. "I can't just leave my place exposed like this, though. I don't exactly live in Beverly Hills with upstanding citizens for neighbors."

"Can't that lady from earlier keep an eye on your place?"

"Maria. And no, she lives around the block. She wouldn't be able to " She sighed, looking up toward the bay door suspended above them. "If I could just get that down…or maybe just have those lunkheads out there guard the place until I come back in the morning. I can give Charlie a call about it. He owes me."

She turned away from him, moving toward the row of burnt work benches, reached out and ran her hands over the roughed up material. Her brow furrowed and she paused, lips pursing tightly.

"That commlink you gave me…" She muttered absently. "It…it's gone. I had it, right here." She jabbed her index finger against the wood several times, making a dull thud with each impact. "I forgot it when I got blindsided with work and came straight to your ship afterward."

The pieces came together rather quickly and Aerrow hissed. "He took it, then. Great."

"When he was snooping around," Lupin scowled before kicking at a smaller, warped tool box, one the few that didn't make it through the fire. It flew and crashed against a far wall, the tools inside clattering noisily away onto the concrete floor as the drawers burst open by force. "Qing wa cao de liu mang!"

Radarr jumped, startled at the explosive and unfamiliar words that the werewolf hissed out, growling with his fur standing on end, eyes locked on the woman. Her fists quivered at her sides and a deep, inhuman growl bubbled up from her throat. Kosmo woofed at her twice, fur standing slightly on end, body trembling in nervousness. A minute passed before she forced herself to settle, to calm down, and once more, Aerrow saw her eyes flash like an animal's in the low lighting. "Sonuvabitch. I'm going to tear that asshole a new one when I get my paws on him."

She expelled a quivering breath, eyes still dancing with anger, but he could see she was trying to settle herself, to calm down. It wasn't much, but it was enough to allow him to somewhat relax, knowing she wasn't going to hit him. That relief quickly dissolved when she jerked a flattened hand at him like a knife, glancing at him with a sharp gaze. "I'll…I'll go with you. Just…wait outside. I need to go through some things real quick, see if I can't find some things and bring 'em with. See if I can't salvage some of the important things out of this fucking mess."

He nodded reluctantly and took his leave, the image of Lupin engulfed in flames springing to mind again. The wolf woman who played with fire.

It sent more chills down his spine.

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"Well, that was a long trip. You guys didn't make any pit stops while you were out, were you?"

Finn was in the bay when they rolled up the lowered ramp, fiddling with another one of the bikes similar to Aerrow's. Aerrow threw him a look that told him now wasn't the time, but Lupin already beat him to the punch.

"My garage just burned down. Thanks for asking."

Aerrow winced. Not exactly the route he would've taken to break the news. Finn's face fell and a twinge of regret flashed over it.

"Oh…oh man. I-I'm sorry. What happened?"

"Arson. Someone burned it down on purpose. To send you guys a message," Lupin responded as she let Kosmo out. The German Shepard barked twice before plopping his rump beside Lupin, looking up at her expectantly. She dove back into the car while Finn looked to Aerrow, confusion abound.

"The neighbors said they reported a dark haired man skulking around the place right before it went up in flames."

Recognition raced across Finn's face and he looked to Aerrow.

"You don't think…?"

"I think so. Dark Ace." The Sky Knight nodded, lips pursed tightly.

"So then, that means…that means him and Master Cyclonis might've gotten stuck here with us."

"Yep, and you'll need to track them both down." Lupin called. Finn furrowed his brow, looking back at Lupin.

"You told her?"

"Her place got burned down because of us. If we hadn't asked her to help, she might still have a home," Aerrow defended. Finn looked taken aback before he hesitantly nodded.

"Right. Makes sense if, ya know, the Dark Ace burned it down to send us a message…" He frowned again, scratching the back of his head. "But, how did he know? I mean, we only visited you once. You came here for the repairs the rest of the week."

He watched as the older woman yanked out a plastic crate with a metal grate in the front and small holes in the side. Something meowed and squeaked from inside. Then she pulled out two more. Kosmo sniffed one of them and a hiss generated from within. Cats?

"We don't know," Aerrow said truthfully. "But Lupin has an idea to help us find them, if the police don't figure something out."

Finn's brows shot up into his bangs as he assessed the werewolf. He would admit, his curiosity was piqued. "Really? And what's that?"

Lupin gave a wry and crooked smile.

"My little secret."

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"Bear, I need a favor."

"You been needin' a lot of favors lately. What's the deal this time?"

Lupin scuffled inside the small apartment, tail giving a shiver as water droplets sprayed about. Bear growled in annoyance, shielding his face with his hand.

"Hey, hey! Easy on the carpet! It smells bad enough already, don't add to it with water damage!"

"Tear it up then and replace it with hardwood."

"That costs money that we don't have just yet. Now what do you want?"

Bear closed the front door of his apartment, while Lupin wandered into the cramped, but cozy, living room. She briefly looked to the kitchen, seeing it empty. Bear came lumbering into the living room behind her, scowling slightly at the unexpected visitor still slightly dripping from the rain outside. It didn't rain in Los Angeles very often, but when it did, it was memorable, at the very least. Today it was pouring.

"Jerry at work?"

"He gets off in about an hour. Why?"

"Keep in touch with him. I'm…worried."

The annoyance dropped and worry replaced it in an instant. "What's going on?"

Lupin inhaled slowly, unsure of where to begin. Everything she'd learned felt almost surreal.

Other worlds. Sky Knights. Crystals.

Too much, but at the same time…

"Text Jerry, see how he's doing first. Then we'll talk," Lupin paused. "After I make some coffee. S'cold outside."

"Cold don't affect you as much though."

"I don't like it," she snapped back, wandering into the kitchen. "Bad memories, all right?"

Bear sighed heavily, not wanting to press his luck. Werewolves, he knew, had precariously volatile natures, more so than skinwalkers did. It's what made them more resilient, wilder, nastier and harder to kill. Lupin always had a temper, for sure—and he wondered if it had been an attribute of being born a pyrokinetic or what. He did know that the lycanthropy exacerbated her irritability though.

He collapsed on the couch as he heard Lupin flitting about the kitchen, already making herself at home. Minutes later, he could smell coffee brewing. The young woman came shuffling back into the living room and placed two mugs on the coffee table before collapsing in the loveseat beside the couch, slumping in it. He waited several moments before pulling his phone out and sent a text to Jerry. He responded within the minute. Relief was bliss.

Lupin waited, and he finally nodded with a sigh. "He's fine. Now what's going on?"

He leveled her with a serious gaze and she held it, to her credit. She may have been a bit of a prankster as a kid—admittedly, he would join in for the helluvit—but she knew how to sober up and be serious when the time called for it. The Marines had only hammered out and built up on that, giving her better bearing and sense of when to play and when to work.

And right now, it was time to go to work.

"I can't…explain everything right now. I'm…admittedly, I'm still processing it myself. It's a bit out there, but…" She paused, gathering her words, he could see it on her face. There were times when she was an open book and other times, she was as closed up a fortress with no blind spots. It was rather aggravating sometimes. "Those kids aren't just your average kids. They came from…somewhere else. And they made some pretty nasty enemies. Tyrants bent on control of everyone. They got stranded here, Bear, after a pretty big battle. That's why they needed me. Well, not me specifically, but—,"

"But a mechanic," he finished and she nodded slowly, finally averting her gaze. She was fidgeting, and he could tell, she would like nothing more than to up and leave and not say anything else on the matter. She was always like that. Old habits died hard.

Hiding it all away, never asking for help even she knew she needed it. It was frustrating and it made him—and plenty of others he knew—feel utterly helpless when things finally came crashing down around her ears and there was nothing anybody could do to help at that point. In all fairness, it was her fault for waiting until last minute, and yet, with her family's upbringing…

"My garage burned down last night, Bear."

He blinked her, not comprehending at first. Then it slowly drove home and the only thing he could do was hiss out breath between his teeth. She looked, at first, so nonchalant about it. But he knew her better than that. Everything about her was tense, like a spring, ready to be released at the slightest give. Her eyes were distant and stormy, just waiting like that tension in her muscles. Everything was purposeful and paced, when in reality, he knew she would have liked nothing more than to rant and rage and tear everything in her path apart. A bit of an overly theatrical gesture, to be sure, but what scared him more than anything about her was her single-minded drive and fearlessness in not giving up. And he was seeing that in spades and aces just from a mere glance at her.

He didn't care what she said about her Sire. She might have expressed her fear about him—those fleeting moments where he saw the cracks in her armor—but the stories on the wind that carried into the supernatural underbelly after each fight…

He wouldn't mess with the Red Beast's Sired, even if he was going to be paid for his trouble. He'd rather take on the Red Beast himself than her. And that was saying something.

"It was arson," she said after a few calming breaths, bringing him back down. "From one of their enemies. They wanted to send a message."

"A message?"

"To those kids," Lupin said with a nod. "They're part of a…well, it's kind of similar to the Marines, actually. They're the ones you're supposed to call on when you need help in force. Small strike teams used for all kinds of operations: rescue, covert ops, reconnaissance. The works."

He didn't like how she was skirting around everything and while he had half a mind to beat her down with questions, he knew she wouldn't relent on giving any answers about the subject. Push her, and she'd clam up. She was annoyingly good at that. And she knew that he knew.

"And these people who burned your place down—they're trying to get to these kids through you."

She inhaled slowly, purposefully, and he saw her hands clench up so tightly, her knuckles turned bone white.

"Something like that, yes. And I…promised to help them hunt down these people."

"Lupin…" He felt his gut instinct to worry was right on the spot. He could see that single-minded drive of hers was already in the works, and while it was admirable, it was destructive as well. It could land her into more trouble that could be way over her head if she wasn't careful.

"I have a place to stay, Bear. I didn't come here to beg for a spot to sleep in. I'm not gonna bum myself on you and Jerry, but I was worried about you and him because you both were in contact with these kids too." She paused, contemplating her next words. "Keep in close contact with me. Both you and Jerry. I don't know what else these people are capable of, but I'd rather not find out. I don't…I don't want anyone hurt because of me."

And there it was. That lone crack in the armor. He didn't know whether he should comfort her or to sit idly by and pretend he didn't' notice. She needed the first, but would have preferred the second. Christ, she could be difficult…

"It ain't your fault. Whatever shit those kids are into, it's theirs. I'm sorry you got caught in the middle of this and…I wish I'd never sent them your way. If I'd known…" He sighed, feeling that words were failing him again. He wilted a little, and wished he could do more than spew out useless condolences and sympathies. This wasn't the first time in his life he's felt so…so useless, and it wasn't just with her. It was with many people in his life. "Lupin, I'm so sorry that you lost your home. I really am."

She averted her gaze and pursed her lips but said nothing.

"Look, I know Jerry might get into a hissy fit about it because we just moved and all, but we'll let you stay. You don't have to bum around in your car—,"

"I have a place," she interrupted sharply, cutting him off.

"Your parents," he asked hopefully. She shook her head, though, dashing his silent hopes that she'd at least seen that much reason.

"I'm not telling you where. I can't, I don't want to endanger you or Jerry any more than you already might be. I just…need you both to stay in contact with me until this is resolved."

"And when will that be?"

She finally met his gaze and he saw something that made him wish he hadn't asked. He saw the wildness that wasn't entirely her, but the beast lurking inside, the monster that now resided within. Something he was all too familiar with and yet, at the same time, so wholly unprepared for, he wondered who was the true head honcho between them. He liked to pretend it was him, but let's face it. He knew he wasn't much of a monster.

He was a bar bouncer and while he was strong—stronger than the average and even trained humans in the world—he wasn't as resilient as a werewolf, and frankly, his species in general never would be. He preferred to anchor himself to and mingle among humans than his own kind and while it was frowned upon, it was worse for werewolves. They preyed upon humans as a rule, with few unfortunate and negatively socially marked exceptions that stood out and he was looking at one of them.

She stood out. She blazed in the center of a darkness that churned all around her, and it made her a target, both for her lifestyle and her reputation. She was fearless even when she scared, both of external and internal monsters that lurked about in her life. He's seen that part of her even before she'd been bit.

He shivered.

Bear might have been born a skinwalker, but he'd never utilized himself to the degree Lupin has in the few years she's been as a bitten-and-made werewolf.

"I'm going to hunt these fuckers down and rip them to bloody shreds. And nobody is going to stand in my way."

The tenacity and vehemence in which she'd admitted this was resolute. It scared him with the equally eerie calm that accompanied her words.

"Lupin—,"

"No, Bear. Not this time. I've let a lot of shit go over the years. I've let people walk all over me. I've let them push me aside. I'm not letting this go. Someone dared step into my home, my territory, and rip it away from me. My life, my home, it's gone. I can't get it back. It isn't just something I can just buy it back, some of it was made the way it was. And now, I'm going to take theirs and they're going to regret fucking with me like this." She leveled him with a cold gaze. "Don't let yourself think like a human, Bear. Remember that you're not."

Her words struck hard and fast, painfully so. The woman sitting across from him who had pined away as a teenager for normalcy was now reversing her argument and using it on him. The chill in her words didn't help much either. It also reminded him that she was right. He wasn't human. He'd taken a human mate, yes, but he himself wasn't human by any means.

But that didn't mean he'd have to fall like a pit victim to every instinct that screamed at him to react the way he wanted to. He couldn't afford to. And he knew she struggled with the same urges, doubly so for being what she was, nearly every day.

She finally stood, looking drained and gaunt, as though every word she'd spoken had drained her.

"Tell Jerry I said hello," she murmured quietly, the ears atop her head swiveling to hone in on him as he stood as well, easily towering over her tiny frame. "And keep in touch with me. At least three times a day. Morning, noon, and evening. Or more, if you can. I want…I want you and Jerry and everyone else safe."

"You think I can't protect him?" He felt offended at her jab. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye—the gold one, he noticed almost right away, because it wasn't the right colour—and once more leveled him with a cool gaze.

"I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to protect yourself, let alone Jerry."

She was trying to bait him. Make him rise to the occasion. He knew this, he saw it, but it still riled him up. Dammit.

He bristled at her blunt insinuation, pointing at her with a thick finger. "Look here, girl, I can protect my own just fine. You worry about your own. You got me? We don't need extra protection from your kind."

If she was going to play this by species, he was willing to be up to bat in kind.

The only reaction he got was a faint smile.

"Good to know, Bear. Take care. I'll contact y'all later."

And then she was gone, just like that. Down the hall and out the front door, quiet as a mouse.

It was only after she'd left that he'd noticed the coffee mugs still sitting on the table, having grown cold during their tense conversation. Neither of them had been touched. That worried him.

Lupin loved her coffee and if she hadn't touched a drop, it was just another sign that this situation worried her more than she was truly letting on. Bear pulled his phone out again, intent on keeping a sharper eye on Jerry.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Note: I don't know why, but whenever I think of Bear in appearance, all I can think of as a close enough faceclaim for him is Michael Clarke Duncan. It doesn't help that he once played a character named Bear. XD It's that deep voice. Gotta love it.