"Strike first, make it hurt; when everyone assumes the worst I never have to say I'm sorry. Spiteful and ruinous, I'm all the things you feared I was; another villain in your story. Never forget, I didn't ask for this." – I Didn't Ask For This, Beth Crowley
"Are we there yet?" Seth asked for the millionth (sixth) time. He'd long since grown bored of the drive, the cityscape having gave way to long stretches of nothingness. This was further amplified by the fact that it had gotten dark out and while the moon was bright, it still did little to satiate the feline's bordem. Oslo couldn't help but grin when the feline let out a yelp as Zhu Yuan put her seat back against him.
"It shouldn't be too much longer now." Jane answered, glancing down at the GPS screen. "We should be coming up on the meeting place in a matter of mome-"
Her voice dropping off grabbed Oslo's attention, the wolf shifting his position to look between the two front seats, looking out into the darkness. Jane killed the headlights on the vehicle, slowing down to a crawl.
"Oslo…" She started, glancing over her shoulder. "Yeah, I see it." He confirmed.
A few hundred yards ahead of them, Oslo could make out the dim glow of headlights from multiple vehicles. Just past them was a large tractor trailer completely blacked out.
"Jane, how much do you trust your contact?" The wolf asked, studying scene ahead of them.
"Piper has always been dependable. If she's deviated from our plans there's a good reason." Jane said, their truck finally coming to a stop. She thumbed the steering wheel in nervous irritation. Zhu Yuan looked between the two thirens before trying hard to make out what they were seeing ahead of them. "What's the problem?"
"Piper was supposed to meet us alone with her lights off." Jane answered, fishing through the center console of the vehicle for a small device, holding it up to her eye. "There should be a rotating IR beacon where her truck is. I don't see it." She sighed, biting her lower lip as she tried to work the angles in her mind.
"What's the play?" Oslo asked, "She's your contact. I'll follow your lead."
Jane took a quick look around their vehicle, pointing at a water tower a short distance from them. "Think you can provide us some cover?" The wolf nodded, "How's your night vision, kitten?" He asked Seth, ignoring the indignant huff from the lynx thiren, the wolf reaching up to click off the automatic light before swinging the door open.
"I'll have you know I'm fully grown and my night vision is excellent."
"Really? Well," Oslo clicked his tongue, digging through a gear bag in the cargo area of their vehicle. He pulled over Seth's door, shoving a long cylindrical object in his hands. "Happy birthday. You ever been a spotter before?" He asked, securing a belt around his waist that contained ammo for the rifle he had slung over his shoulder.
"No?" Seth responded, looking at the device in his hands.
"Well you're about to get a crash course. C'mon." Oslo stated, looking to Jane. "Mark left to right. Whisper for sleep, brimstone for heat." He said, waiting for her to nod before he took off running for the base of the tower, an extremely confused lynx in tow.
They were both panting slightly by the time they made it to the top, crouching low as they moved towards the far edge of the structure. Oslo set to work folding out the bi-pod of the rifle, going prone. He pulled a few rounds from each pouch, sliding them into holders on the rifle stock and an elastic cloth on his arm; he glanced up at Seth as the officer laid next to him, bringing the scope of to his eye. Confident the feline knew how to look through the device, Oslo rested the stock of the rifle into his shoulder.
"While looking through that it's going to give you a readout." Oslo began, being cut off by Seth. "Target goes in the middle box, I give you the distance, wind, and direction. Right?"
The wolf glanced over at him with a raised eyebrow, chuckling quietly as he got back into position. "We might just got along yet, Seth." The wolf quipped, the imagine coming into focus. "Jane is going to call out a number. That will be our target, counting from left to right. It's up to her to determine if we'll be going lethal or not."
To most, the lack of night vision optics would have been a hindrance. But one of the benefits of being a thiren was that sometimes you could see as clear at night as you could during the day. "Seth, I need a baseline. Mark the truck for me?" Oslo asked, looking at the large tractor trailer parked near one of the motorcycles.
"900 meters, no wind."
The wolf grinned. "A pup could make these shots." He whispered to himself, making adjustments.
He watched as their SUV approached, the small group that had been hanging out by the larger transport vehicle spread out a bit, seemingly taking up positions that would provide them advantage in a fight. "I hope I don't need to remind you of this, Jane," Oslo started, knowing she could hear him over their comms. "But if this goes to shit you and the Captain should keep your distance from the bad guys. I know you lust love doing your demon rat thing, but I really don't feel like doing hair-point sniping tonight."
"I've got faith in you, Wolfy." Came the smooth reply, Oslo ignored the snerk from Seth. "That's cute. Irritate the guy with the large rifle. Always ends well for everyone." The wolf sighed, moving his view from one target to the next. "No one seems upset to see us, but I'm not seeing a lot of friendly looking faces either."
"The truck belongs to the Sons of Calydon. The Boar on the side of it is their logo. They're one of the major biker gangs out here." Seth said, scoping out the truck. "Jane said her contact was a transport expert who deals in cargo, so I'm guessing that belongs to Piper."
"Biker gangs love to rep their house. But I'm not seeing anyone down there wearing Sons of Calydon branded gear. I don't like it, Seth." The wolf sighed, watching as their partners parked the SUV, making sure to leave him a clear line of sight. "If anyone at home has their ears on, can you forward me known members of the gang? I'm hoping to match faces here."
It didn't take long, the wolf briefly looked away from his rifle to check his watch as a few imagines scrolled the screen. None of them were any of the people he'd just gleamed through his scope. Oslo let out a frustrated growl. He trusted Jane, he just really hoped they hadn't be lead into an ambush.
He wouldn't make a move until her signal, but that didn't stop him from putting a live round in the first slot of his ammo holder.
Down on the ground, Jane brought the vehicle to a halt, putting it in park as she read the layout of the land. Piper's truck was here, but the girl was nowhere to be seen. Even on the off chance the rest had wanted to tag along against her wishes, none of the people she could see were members of the gang.
Jane weighed her options. She could call an abort, get the hell out of dodge and hope Oslo's aim would keep pursuers off her back. Or she could play the cards at hand and figure out a way to come out on top. She looked over at Zhu Yuan. "Keep two or three feet behind me at all times. If this starts to get bad you take right, I got left." The rat thiren said, offering a bit of an admittedly forced smile to try and calm her nerves. "But I'm sure we'll be fine." She said, throwing the door open.
The cool night air of the desert made her bristle a bit as her boots hit the dirt. The custom blades hidden about her stirred nervously.
She approached the meeting place, watching as their faux hosts spread out before them. Jane took a quick note of the number of people she could see and made a best guess estimate of how many she couldn't.
Jane came to a stop a short distance from where the others had been waiting, her tail swishing behind her as she gauged the scene. Before she had an opportunity to say anything a wolf thiren stepped forward. Black leather covered up most of his dark fur, green eyes focused solely on the rat. "You must be Jane. I've heard a lot about you."
Jane hadn't been expecting that, but the professional undercover agent didn't let her surprise show. Her trademark grin stayed in place as she placed a hand on her hip. "You know my name, but I don't know anything about you."
"Yeah, you don't." Was tense reply, the canine's tail swishing behind him. "What do you want?"
"I'm looking for a friend of mine. The driver of that truck parked behind you."
"I don't know anything about it." The wolf answered. "Truck has been here for days, abandoned. We're scrapping it for parts." Folded his arms over his chest, a smug grin on her face. "Better get back to the city, mousy. I'm sure your sewer misses you."
He turned his back to Jane, taking a step towards where he had been sitting a moment before when one of Jane's blades slammed into a dead tree a few inches from his head. The wolf froze, looking at the blade out of the corner of her eye. With a sigh, he turned, swinging his repeater rifle from his back, in a swift motion he had it leveled at the head of rat thiren.
"Are you crazy?"
Back up on the water tower, Oslo wasn't a big fan of the scene playing out at the other end of his magnified scope. Wishing Jane would give him firing orders. Both Oslo and Seth watched as the canine raised the weapon, aimed directly at Jane.
"Fuck." Oslo hissed, slamming the bolt of his rifle forward, taking aim. Seth didn't have to be told who the wolf was aiming at, calling out the readings from his spotter's scope. Oslo rested his finger gently on the trigger of the rifle, "Call it, Jane."
"We both know you're not going to shoot me." Jane's voice came over the ear piece. The amount of confidence in the statement told them both she knew something they didn't; but it didn't change the fact that they were watching her stare down the barrel of another wolf's gun.
"So if you're done screwing around, can we talk like professionals?"
Oslo breathed a sigh of relief when after a moment the wolf lowered the weapon. It wasn't enough for him to unload the lethal round from his rifle, but at least he could move his finger off the trigger. He watched carefully as the two dangerous thiren stepped closer to each other, still keeping a safe distance.
Oslo kept his cross hairs on the wolf while Seth scanned the crowd for trouble. He could hear them negotiating about information. Something still didn't feel right, but at least no one was shooting at them yet.
"She is looking right at us."
Oslo glanced at Seth. "What? Who?" He asked, moving from target to target.
"That woman. I think she's a fox thiren?" Seth answered, "Little further back to the right the dead tree." He said, Oslo following his directions and checking for anyone that matched. He sucked in a breath when his scope found the target. "Ah, shit…"
"That sounded like you know her." Seth observed, looking over at the wolf expectantly.
Oslo didn't answer, looking at the other thiren through the magnified image. She was a fox thiren, and like him she had a unique fur pattern made up of different blue and white markings; but the most prominent feature of hers was her piercing amber eyes.
And those were focused directly down the barrel of his scope as if this was a long distance staring contest.
"Do we need to be worried?" Seth asked, watching the scene play out. Oslo could only sigh, "I don't know yet." He was watching her closely, seeing what kind of action she would take. He didn't doubt for a second that she had clocked him. It was pretty obvious she was working either with or for the group that stood in their way.
But she also hadn't blown their cover yet.
He watched as a grin slowly formed on her face as she dug into her pocket. She pulled out her phone, flashing the screen in his direction before tapping away on the device. A moment later his wrist vibrated. Taking a breath, Oslo broke contact with his rifle to check it.
"I see you."
"She has your number?!" Seth hissed, his voice conveying his stress at the situation.
"What is going on up there?" Zhu Yuan's voice came across the line, Oslo didn't answer either of them as Seth gave her a quick rundown of what he was seeing. Oslo's eyes were focused squarely on the vixen. He flicked his scope briefly to check on Jane, seeing her still negotiating with the squad leader.
Oslo took a deep breath, it was easy for situations like this to get out of hand if someone made a bad decision. Just as Jane was playing out her cards, Oslo had to play out his. He bit his lower lip as the vixen strode confidently forward, walking over to an orange and tan feline thiren and turning to whisper in her ear.
"Did she just…?" Seth asked, but the answer became obvious when the feline's eyes briefly looked towards the tower. "Yeah, she did."
Oslo's finger rested itself back on the trigger, not entirely sure what the next play would be. The vixen stood behind the feline, arms folded, looking proud of herself. The feline seemed like she was taking a moment to process the information before she looked over her shoulder at the fox and nodded.
The sniper watched as she produced a compact pistol from the small of her back, walking past the feline to the wolf who's focus was on Jane. To her credit, the rat didn't give any indication of the approaching threat.
Oslo watched as she took up position behind the wolf, leveling her pistol with the back of his head before getting his attention. He froze, not having expected the sudden betrayal. As far as Oslo could tell, no one had as the other gang members were staring in disbelief, not sure if they should draw their own weapons or not.
There was an extremely tense moment as words were exchanged between the two before the wolf raised his hands, allowing the feline to grab his repeater before the vixen appeared to secure him with handcuffs. He shouted some commands at the gang and much to Oslo's surprise the other members piled into their vehicles and left; leaving the three thirens behind.
"Ok, I'm officially lost." Seth sighed.
"Come on down boys, we're clear." Jane called, "Captain's on her way to grab you."
It didn't take long for Oslo and Seth to be retrieved and brought to the meeting grounds. Seth gave the wolf a questioning looked before they both climbed out of the vehicle. Oslo looked oddly happy to see the vixen, arms spread like he was planning to give her a hug.
She smiled, then promptly slammed her first into his gut.
Oslo gasped for air, doubling over briefly as the wind left him. He spit into the sand as he managed to get himself upright, about to curse out the woman when she flung her arms around him. Oslo froze for a moment before returning the embrace, ignoring the curious, concerned stares from his teammates.
"What was that for, Terri?" He hissed, rubbing his chest when she stepped back.
"For pointing a rifle at me, you dick." She answered, one of her fangs poking out as she grinned. "It's good to see you again, Oslo." She said before turning to the female feline standing nearby. "Pulchra, this is Oslo. He can help with that problem we were talking about."
"Pulchra?" Seth asked, looking the feline over. "The Mercenary?" He studied her for a moment before looking over at the dark gray wolf, his eyes going wide after a moment. "That would make him Mors."
"Lone Wolf Mors, to be exact." The vixen corrected him. "I've been after him for years. Finally managed to track him down only to discover his connections to the man at the very top of my Most Wanted list." She said, sounding proud of herself before giving an annoyed glace to her old friend. "But I figure if Oslo is camping out on a water tower with his rifle then something bad must have happened." She said, turning to face him fully, a finger in his face. "That was over two years of investigative work and a fantastically built cover identity down the drain for you, wolf. So you better have a good reason for being here."
"Someone tried to murder Lycaon." He said, causing Terri's angry facade to fade. "Oh…"
"If you're here, where is Piper?" Jane interrupted, pointing at the truck.
"Captured." Pulchra stated, plucking Jane's blade from the tree and handing it back to her. "By the same gang I'm a member of. Things have gotten complicated." She sighed, "It goes like this: There's been a hostile takeover of the Outer Ring. The former Second in Command of The Vanquishers killed the leader with the intent of taking over; but a lot of the gang members were still loyal to the gang itself rather than any one leader. So when that didn't work he left, taking the more fanatical members with him." She answered, sighing.
"Since then, the Outer Ring has seen a lot more bloodshed than normal." Terri took over, "They've captured a number of folks from nearby towns and are holding them at some bunker that we haven't been able to locate. They also captured the Sons of Calydon plus a hacker and a proxy."
"Wait, you said you guys are members of the gang. How don't you know where their bunker is?" Seth asked, the look on his face showed he was suspicious of them both.
"They've kept everything compartmentalized; to the point where I don't even know where the funding is coming from. They've managed to obtain a lot of gear and weapons but from what I can tell they don't really have a revenue stream that would come close to matching what they're spending."
Oslo glanced at Jane the same time she gave him a look. That was the second time they had heard about a group of thugs coming into large amounts of cash.
"So what is it that you need my help with?" Oslo asked, folding his arms.
Terri looked to Pulchra and nodded. The feline regarded the wolf for a moment, trying to gauge if she could actually trust him or not. She did trust Terri though, so it was a start at least.
"I need your help to free the Sons of Calydon. I owe them a debt and while the gangs have always had a friendly but tense rivalry, abduction and murder was never in the cards. I want out, but I won't leave them behind."
Terri nodded, turning to her old partner. "If anyone can help us with this it's you. I'd gone undercover with the gang to grab my target when I discovered the full scope of what's going on here. I caught wind Pulchra wasn't on board with everything so we've been working to uncover everything."
Oslo took a moment to consider the information. This detour would take time he wasn't sure they had, but it could also yield allies they would need if they planned to track Mockingbird in the Outer Ring. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking to his team to see if he could gauge their thoughts.
"You said something about a proxy?" Zhu Yuan's voice pulled him from his thoughts.
"Yeah, some guy from New Eridu. We got intel he was captured and is being held. I haven't been able to confirm an ID yet though. Same for the hacker. She's apparently world class, so we were hoping we'd find some kind of breadcrumb trail on the Inter-Knot or anywhere that we could follow to find them. But we haven't had any luck so far."
"The proxy," Oslo pressed, "Is there anything at all you can tell me about him?"
Terri raised an eyebrow at his insistence on the proxy, pulling her phone from her pocket and tapping a few icons before handing it over to him. "That's all I have."
Oslo took the device, reading over the limited information. "From New Eridu, arrived a few days ago, had injuries from a burn… no description information though. Not even where in New Eridu they grabbed him from. But the timeline and injuries line up." He said, reading it off to the others. "This could be our boy." He finished, looking to Jane who nodded in agreement.
Oslo handed the phone back to Terri. "It would appear that our interests are a bit more aligned than I first thought. The proxy they grabbed might be a friend of ours that we're searching from. He was taken in the same attack against Lycaon."
"Any idea why?" Terri asked, flipping through a few more files on her phone.
"Nothing solid yet." The wolf admitted, accepting the phone from Terri when she handed to him again. She had pulled up a new profile. "What's this?" He asked, thumbing the device.
"That's the leader of the gang, Lucius. I haven't been able to find last name."
Oslo scrolled through the data, his fingers freezing when he came across a picture. The motion hadn't gone unnoticed by the others. "What's wrong?" Seth asked, head tilted.
Oslo lifted the phone up for the others to see, his tone tense.
"It's him. Lucius is Mockingbird."