YARA
Newhalem, September 2040
Ben headed to the Clemente's house. First, at his usual transgenic speed, he jumped over the garden fences of the neighboring houses and thus shortened a considerable part of the path. But as he got closer, he was able to see a car in front of the house thanks to his cat genes, which allowed him to see as well at night as he could during the day. He jumped over a high hedge into the garden of the house opposite Clemente's and then sneaked up to the black suspicious car from the back, crawled the last few meters behind the hedge right next to the car, lay hidden there and listened. He could hear two men talking in the car.
"Jan send the records directly to the superiors."
"Shut up Mario, I'll do it."
Then Ben heard them playing a few snatches of words from the wiretap recordings from the Clementes' house and how one of the two opened the door.
"Gotta take a piss," the guy who called himself Mario got out with these words and Ben now knew he had to leave immediately.
He crawled back the way he came and could already hear the rustling of the leaves on the hedge.
He grimaced in disgust and was happy to be far enough away to dare to jump over the back hedge again.
He waited until the car door slammed and jumped over. He then moved in a wide arc around the car and managed to get to the back door unseen. He knocked and when Arya opened the door he quickly held his finger in front of her lips and told her not to greet him. Before the others in the room saw him, he asked her to give him a pen and paper and wrote SURVEILLANCE OUTSIDE on it. He sent her with the paper to the others. Only when it became quiet in the room did he go after her and say:
"The little nap was good for me, your beds upstairs are very comfortable Ramon. Have you been able to discuss a few things or are you making small talk here?"
When he heard the word small talk, he winked conspicuously. Ramon got on first:
"Yes, I traveled to Seattle specifically to buy the best beds."
He grabbed a pen and paper and while he extolled the virtues of his comfortable beds, he wrote something down:
WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT THE INJECTIONS?
Arya took the paper GO TO THE BASEMENT she wrote.
Ben took the hint straight away:
"Somehow the topic of beds has made me tired again. Isn't it time to go to sleep?"
Ramon, Yara, Seth and Ben followed the request and everyone agreed and wished each other good night.
They went down the stairs behind Ramon Clemente and he opened a room down in the basement that seemed secure.
He closed the door behind them and smiled:
"You certainly didn't expect us to be so well equipped, but we never let go of our suspicions and took precautions. I think the Familiars are on your trail."
"What exactly do they actually want from us?" Ben replied a little angrily because he was tired of not knowing why he was being followed and what dangers that entailed.
"How dangerous are they?"
Ramon and Yara sat down at the small table in the room and the boys joined them.
"It's going to be a long night guys."
He told the two of them everything he had learned about the Familiars in the years since he met Max. He told them about their skills and their practices, their cult and the great battle, everything that had happened around Terminal City and what he had had to do with it, and he told the two of them about their mother and the incredible troops around them. And he told how Max had seen the same drawings of the snake cult at that time and what she had later told him about them.
He didn't know much about her father, who he suspected was "Eyes only".
In between, Yara told us a few things about her abilities. Then she said that female offspring of mixed couples never suffered from tryptophan deficiency. However, the male offspring could still be affected if one looked closely at the inheritance. She looked at the boys questioningly.
Seth spoke up:
"It looks like Ben was the only one who hit the jackpot."
There was a knock on the door
.
"Hey, it's light outside again," Arya came in and, with a motherly look, placed a glass of water and his pills in front of Ben's nose. He looked up at her gratefully.
She went out again and shouted loudly:
"Get up, you sleepyheads."
That was the keyword and Yara was the first to join:
"Oh man, mom, you could really let us sleep in."
Seth quickly helped her:
"We're coming soon Arya, should I help make breakfast?"
They all came into the kitchen one after the other and helped Arya make breakfast. Ben even stood at the stove and made pancakes while watching Seth, who looked somehow different. Did he blush a little as soon as Yara stood next to him?
When Seth and Yara tried to open a drawer at the same time and their hands touched, Ben could tell that his brother had been caught. But Yara also looked at Seth in this way, which revealed that she also had a lot for his brother.
Ben smiled and tried hard to just look at the pan of pancakes because he wanted to wait until they realized their feelings for themselves.
Ramon Clemente was curious if the surveillance unit was still set up in front of the house and went to the porch.
"I'll quickly check whether the newspaper is there yet," he used as an excuse to stroll up to the garden gate while he looked around carefully.
He couldn't see anyone. Was it possible that this organization had actually temporarily withdrawn?
He took the newspaper like he did every morning and walked back to the house, deliberately calm but still with a watchful eye.
"Seems to be a quiet day," he reported inside, nodding his head toward the door.
They sat down at the table and ate, very hungry after this long night. Ramon noticed the strain of staying awake for so long, the others were all fresh and awake as always because the need for sleep wasn't anchored in their genes so they actually hardly needed any sleep.
Yara and Seth sat opposite each other and Ben watched the two of them stealing glances at each other.
However, he could also see that Ramon had already noticed it and didn't seem quite as impressed.
He tried to engage Seth in conversation but was too tired to discuss deep things, so Yara kept interjecting and Seth was only too happy to listen to her again.
Ramon seemed to capitulate:
"I need a break guys".
With these words he got up from the table and went straight to the sofa to make himself comfortable there. As soon as he lay there he was already asleep.
Arya took the opportunity to talk to the boys about where they wanted to go next. Of course that was a diversionary tactic and as she spoke she pulled out a pen and paper and dictated her answers to the two of them.
So the plan was that Seth and Yara would go on a trip to the town together after lunch and she would go into the basement with Ben and Ramon and Joshua to make further plans for their trip to Seattle.
Now the next steps were planned and everyone wanted to relax a little. Seth and Ben joined Yara and made themselves comfortable upstairs in front of the TV while Arya started tidying up in the kitchen and then sat down with Ramon in the living room until she could prepare lunch again. Joshua had made himself comfortable in front of Ramon's sofa and took a nap until he heard the clatter of the pots in the kitchen and joined Arya.
Seth and Arya were already coming down the stairs. He had showered and put on something fresh and Arya looked in surprise at her daughter, who this time had not chosen a provocative outfit, as usual, but rather a practical outfit despite her short skirt.
Was that because of her company? If so, she already liked Seth more than any of the young guys who had knocked on her door.
"We're going into town," Yara whistled when she saw her mother and the two of them were out the door.
Ben came halfway down the stairs shortly afterwards and called out: "Can I take a quick shower before dinner or should I go afterwards?"
"You can take your time, Ramon is still sleeping and I need a little longer."
He gave a thumbs up and was up again in one jump.
Ramon was woken up by the conversation and dragged himself from the sofa into the kitchen. He wasn't overly excited about his daughter and Seth going out together, but he knew well enough not to get involved if he didn't want Yara's stubbornness as his final boss.
So he sat down next to Joshua and they both drank a lemonade in silence while they waited for Arya's good food.
Ben came from upstairs just as she was setting the table. He wanted to help her but she turned him away with a look at the table and at the same time he saw that his medication and a glass of water were waiting for him there. Since he was already a little weak, he gratefully accepted this advice and sat down with the other two.
Arya set the table and brought the food with her. They ate in silence and while Ramon took over cleaning up after the meal, the three of them went into the soundproof basement to make further plans.
Seth and Yara had walked downtown to go to the diner. When they got there, they both ordered a burger with fries and then took time for a large milkshake. They talked about Yara's friends and school, all the things that were foreign to Seth. She couldn't believe how isolated the two young men had grown up and loved to talk about what a normal teenage life felt like. She envied the freedom that Seth and Ben had enjoyed despite everything. Nobody set times or paid too much attention to when you actually came back. However, she also felt sorry for the boys when she heard about the strict training and the tutors. They sat there for several hours, chatting and even joking around a bit until, as agreed, they headed home around 6 p.m. She had taken a small detour through the fields on the edge of the city and challenged Seth to a little race, which he let her win. She poked him in the ribs and laughed as she said:
"Did you think I wouldn't notice"?
He grinned and before she could defend herself he had already grabbed her and unceremoniously put her on a fence.
"Show-off," she said briefly as she was already at the top and sprinting towards her house with a really long jump. It only took a few seconds for Seth to catch up with her again and she stopped abruptly and looked at him admiringly.
"The training has turned you into a machine," she grinned challengingly at him and continued running.
Seth was first to the back door anyway, standing there and holding the door open for her.
She slipped in and he followed her, although out of the corner of his eye he noticed that behind them a shadow also seemed to be heading towards the house.
Once inside, he ducked away and in a few seconds was at the front, peering out through a small crack. He just saw someone get into the back of the observation car.
"Still these inhumans or superhumans or whatever crazy people," he muttered from behind the curtain.
Yara crouched behind him and gently pushed him away towards the basement. They both went downstairs to sit down with Ramon and Ben and report.
When they locked the door downstairs, the first thing they told the two of them was that they had been followed.
"That probably changes the plan," Ben said to Ramon.
Ramon nodded: "Now the plan has to be implemented faster, how long have they been gone?"
"Just a few minutes ago," Yara answered the two of them.
They sat down at the table together and discussed the plan.
Soon, Seth and Ben went upstairs and packed. They made Joshua understand that he would also have his things ready.
They hugged Arya and she quickly gave Ben a can of tryptophan before opening the back door without a word and with a worried look.
Seth and Ben started walking. Ramon was just able to pull Yara back by the arm.
"Not so fast young lady, you stay at home".
She looked at him sternly and angrily went up to her room.
Ramon and Joshua walked out the front and got into Ramon's car. They were a diversionary tactic in case the Familiars had taken a stand again. As it seemed, things were quiet at the moment and the replacement of the spies who had been present earlier had not yet arrived. Even these superhumans seemed to make mistakes.
"It's an advantage for us," said Joshua and was happy to be able to accompany the boys as planned.
They drove off to collect Seth and Ben as agreed when the coast was clear.
They stopped at the edge of town and the two of them jumped into the back seat. Ramon stepped on the gas. Their initial destination was the small town of Hazel.
On the way in the car, the four still had a few hours to exchange possible scenarios, solutions and further information.