“Damn straight,” Terry agreed without elaborating.
The four looked at him oddly until he laughed.
“Welcome to the big leagues. You haven’t arrived until you’ve failed your people. You have to give them the responsibility. All you can do is try to pick the best people who support the ideals of the FDG. Honor. Courage. Commitment. You can’t get inside someone’s head and I don’t want you to, not like Akio can take a look. We don’t want that. We’re human and we make mistakes. It’s okay. All we can do is apologize, fix it, and move on. You still have great responsibility. There are garrisons scattered across the globe. You show up looking defeated, and you’ll find out that your problems are only just beginning,” Terry lectured the senior leaders of his Force de Guerre.
“Injustice only survives when justice allows it to continue,” Marcie quoted one of TH’s sayings. She didn’t know where he got it from.
“Or when justice doesn’t know it’s happening, which still doesn’t make it right, but we can work with ignorance. We can’t work with apathy. You know where that quote came from?” Terry asked.
The four shook their heads.
“The ultimate warrior for justice. He is called the Archangel. If you see him, you need to be somewhere else. Death follows him like a plague. If you ever hear the name Michael Nacht, tremble and bow your head. He deserves your greatest respect, just like Bethany Anne deserves your respect. Akio’s purpose in life is to serve her, and she stands arm in arm with Michael. I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m telling you this.
“Because I realized moments ago that we don’t need to turn the whole world into fucking Pollyanna central. We only need to help it survive, do our part, serve those who we can help. This captain? He has shown that even after all we’ve done, human nature embraces might-makes-right. The strongest will lead these city-states out of the destruction brought about by the WWDE, brought about by those who were strong back then, and now, no longer exist.
“This was supposed to be a meeting where we discussed the way ahead, but I’m putting one proposal on the table. We’re going to contract the FDG, leaving only the inner circle. We’re going to recover the extra weapons and lock them deep within Cheyenne Mountain. And our tac teams will put out fires. We can do no more. This war against injustice has been fought for the entirety of man’s existence. We won’t let injustice stand wherever we see it, wherever we’re called to help, but we can’t be in all places at all times. That makes us the ugly wart on humanity’s ass. This captain showed us how the FDG would degenerate to the point of being useless in executing our real mission of helping the world to survive until She returns.
“No one failed. The world simply moved on without us. Now is the time for us to flex to our new reality.” Terry looked at his family. They were barely breathing as they didn’t want to miss a word.
“Archangel, huh?” the teenage Sarah Jennifer said with a smile. “Sounds mysteriously enticing.”
“Stay the fuck away from him!” Terry said a little too sharply before softening his tone. “Steer clear, if you can, and if you can’t, don’t be a dick around Michael. It could be fatal.”
CHAPTER SIX
WWDE + 134
North Chicago
Ted stood nervously in the power plant’s parking lot. The Mini Cooper was being shut down for the last time. There were no fuel rods remaining. The power plant was going to run off coal, now that ships plied the waters and a mine was once again active.
Felicity tried to hold his hand, but it hung limp as Ted could think of nothing but his baby. The traditionally-fired power plant held no allure. Even though it was ninety percent of what he had been doing for the past century, maybe even ninety-nine percent, he still considered it trivial compared to running the nuclear reactor.
He wasn’t needed any longer. Generations of trained and experienced workers ran the plant. Without the Mini Cooper, they could handle anything that came up.
A single tear traced its way down his face. Felicity wiped it away for him, knowing that he wouldn’t do it for himself.
“Time to move to San Francisco?” Felicity suggested.
“I think so. What about the kids?”
“You mean our fifty-year-old Werewolves who look like teenagers?”
“Yes,” Ted said matter-of-factly. He never understood why she made such statements. They both knew who their children were. He was amazed that she thought he forgot those details of his life.
“They have their own lives. They are free to do what they wish. It’s called adulting.”
“I don’t think it’s called that,” Ted replied.
Felicity sighed in exasperation. “They are scattered all over. According to Terrence, they’re resurrecting the North American Pack Council, whatever that means,” she drawled slowly.
“They used to be out of New York. Gerry was the alpha. I’m not sure what happened to him,” Ted said, still watching the walls of the old power plant as it generated electricity without him.
“Did you know that Joshua Timmons is the alpha?” Felicity said, enjoying the gossipy side of the information.
Ted stared at the plant for a few seconds before it registered. “Timmons?”
“Yes. It seems that Timmons had a son and didn’t bother to tell the rest of us.” Felicity stoked the flames of the revelation.
“Timmons has a son,” Ted said as he contemplated the information. He knew that Felicity liked her share of gossip and usually inundated Ted with the inane details of other people’s lives. In this case, he wondered why she hadn’t shared sooner. It could have been her most profound tidbit ever. “Does he know?”
“No. I just found out this morning and couldn’t wait to share it with my beloved,” she said, grinning.
“But you shared it with me instead?” Ted asked innocently, before turning to her and smiling.
She recovered from the surprise quickly. Ted deadpanned well when the mood struck him, which wasn’t very often.
“We’re moving to San Francisco!” Felicity exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Ted’s neck and kissing his face. He dodged back and forth as if trying to avoid a dog’s tongue.
“Women,” he complained.
Tianjin, China
“I guess you’ll do all the talking?” Terry said, knowing that it wasn’t a question.
“Unless you learned to speak Chinese on the way over. You still could talk, but they won’t understand your barbaric tongue,” Aaron taunted. Yanmei giggled behind her hand. Marcie shook her head.
Terry turned to the others in the pod and pointed to the Weretigers. “See? This is the respect I get. Leave for fifty years and everyone forgets who you are.”
“I think it’s far worse than that, TH,” Char replied casually, looking around with a sly smile. “They remember who you were.”
“DAAAAAYUMMMM!” Timmons yelled. “I can hear the sizzling flesh from here. BUUUUUURN, baby, burn!”
Terry’s mouth worked, but he couldn’t deliver a comeback. “I got nothin’,” he finally admitted. “Char has clearly been taking it easy on me to set me up for this. Go ahead, do your worst.”
“That’s not how it works,” Butch replied. “It’ll be best when you don’t see it coming. We’ll wait. We have lots of time.”
“Literally, hundreds of years,” Skippy said, nodding.
Gene and Bogdan watched, uninterested in the banter. Gene was pre-occupied by the work he had to do on Fu’s new home. It was on the outskirts of the community where there were plenty of trees to cut down and work with. Gene took great pride in his woodworking ability. Bogdan wasn’t bad either, but he didn’t have the love for it that his father did.
Bogdan didn’t have his Fu who he would do anything for.
The pod touched down and the pack exited, strolling casually into the compound located well outside the city. They had no intention of changing into Were form.
The three Forsaken stood out, dressed in black leather, their skin covered from
head to toe. They peered out from under the wide brims of their hats. Two men and one woman, the tight leather outfit showing her figure far better than those of her companions.
She liked it that way because Joseph liked it. They held hands as they walked. Terry and Char both smiled as they watched. They had left right after the Second Battle of Paris and didn’t get to see the love affair between the two Forsaken.
Terry and Char suspected it rivaled what they had, or what Gene and Fu had. “I hope that Akio holds enough sway with Bethany Anne that she allows the Forsaken to live. Well, all of us for that matter,” Terry whispered.
“I don’t want to lose my head over it,” Char replied, still enjoying the verbal jabs.
Terry could only shake his head. He angled toward Sylvia and Sarah Jennifer. He felt that he needed to be more protective. Both Sarah and Sylvia had inherited some of their parents’ nanocytes. They were both going to be long-lived as they healed quickly and completely, the nanocytes repairing injuries without leaving a scar.
Only Sarah Jennifer showed an abnormal speed that intimated she might approach Terry Henry Walton, who was barely below Akio and vampiric speed. He and Char both had the extra boost from when they paired.
Terry and Char had no idea how it worked. Neither did Akio. He chalked it up to a once in the universe perfect storm.
Aaron hesitated before going in so he could address the pack. “I suspect they aren’t ready for us. They don’t know what we are. They aren’t aware of the Unknown World,” he said.
“Why would you wait until now to tell us?” Terry wondered aloud, throwing his hands up in frustration.
“I didn’t really think about it until now. Sorry,” he mumbled.
Yanmei shrugged. “Does it matter?” she asked.
Terry mulled it over. “I guess not, and it’s probably better that the warriors don’t know. Maybe we’ll disband this garrison in entirety.”
Marcie nodded. She’d been thinking the same thing. Recruit the best and the brightest for the tactical teams. They had to be more than just strong. They had to be smart. The colonel emphasized that there would always be someone who was stronger or faster, but the one who could think through the problem the quickest would be the one to win the fight.
The pack waited outside the gate while Colonel Marcie Walton entered with Aaron and Yanmei.
Terry shifted nervously, watching closely. “Let it go,” Char encouraged. He looked at her questioningly. “The control. You haven’t had it for fifty years. Now you want to be the big bad colonel again?”
“Of course. You know me so well, and here I was thinking I was keeping my secrets so well over the past hundred years. Shit.” TH tried to look distraught but couldn’t. “I feel okay,” he said. “I feel ready to move on, but I’m not sure what’s next for us.”
“I’m sure it’ll be great, whatever it is. I know you’re not burning out on bringing down the bad guys,” Char stated.
Kim, Kae, Ramses, and Cory joined them. “Dad’s tired of going after bad guys?” Kimber asked.
“I am not!” Terry raised his head and lifted his chin in defiance.
“Me, too,” Kaeden joined in. “Sometimes I get tired of punching them right in their smug faces and blowing their heads off. But then I reload, and it’s all good.”
“Why does everyone think I need cheering up?” TH wondered.
“Because you look like you need cheering up?” Kimber said as if it were fact.
Ramses and Cory waved Sylvia and Sarah to them. “Sparring always makes you feel better. You up for a quick bout, Sarah?” Ramses asked his oldest daughter.
“Sure, if the old man can be rooted out of his pity party.”
“Here I am, minding my own business and everyone’s on me like Heinz on a hot dog.” Everyone younger than one hundred and seventy-five years didn’t understand his statement. “Fine. One ass-kicking, made to order, served up on a silver platter with big spicy meatballs, just for you.”
He pointed a finger at Sarah, then turned it upward and crooked it in a come-hither motion.
The pack gathered around. The colonel and the kid circled each other to get the feel of the ground, the sense of the air.
“Kick his ass!” Sylvia called to her sister. “If you beat him up too bad, Mom can fix him.”
Cory shushed her daughter while Ramses chuckled. “The undyingly faithful belief that their parents can fix everything.” Cory looked at him with her glowing blue eyes and shook her head. Her wolf ears popped out, her hair getting caught behind them, but she didn’t care.
Not anymore.
“You wrestle bear good. You wrestle tiny human better,” Gene said, trying to be encouraging. Bogdan elbowed his way closer. In Werebear form, Bogdan could take her, but not in human form. They’d sparred a great deal behind closed doors, a fact that Terry Henry Walton was unaware of.
“When were you wrestling with a bear?” Terry asked. Sarah shrugged as she spun, fast as a hummingbird’s wings, sending a roundhouse kick past Terry’s face. He dipped back slightly, just enough for the booted foot to pass harmlessly by his face.
He slapped the calf of her kicking leg, trying to unbalance her. She pirouetted and landed in a fighting crouch.
“I’ll be damned. I think your mother set me up,” Terry suggested. “I think it’s time for a fucking lesson.”
Terry growled and danced toward Sarah.
“Any day, old man,” she countered, side-stepping. Terry didn’t bite. He wanted her on the defensive. He bracketed her back and forth, pushing her toward the edge of the circle.
When her back was against the imaginary wall, he looked over her shoulder, mouth agape and eyes wide. She turned to see what was behind her. Terry swung with his left fist and caught her in the mid-section with everything he had. She came off her feet and flew into Sue and Timmons.
The three of them went down in a heap. Sarah gasped as she tried to draw a breath, but her diaphragm was too stunned to draw air. She rolled around, curled into the fetal position, and passed out. Cory rushed to her, glaring at Terry Henry as she rushed by.
Char tsked-tsked and shook her head.
“The best lessons are learned the hard way,” Terry said. He hadn’t even broken a sweat. He kneeled next to Sarah, watching her ragged breathing calm and come more easily. She opened her eyes.
“Nice trick,” she gasped in a breathy whisper before smiling. Cory and Terry helped her to her feet. Terry bowed to her and she bowed back.
“You have the speed, Wildflower, but you win with your mind.” She nodded as the group closed in around her, elbowing Terry to the outside of the circle.
“Shame on you,” Char told TH, taking his hand and squeezing it. “Hitting a defenseless girl.”
Terry’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. Char chuckled.
“She’s going to be great,” Terry said, “as long as she doesn’t think she’s invincible. Once she feels that way, that’s when she’ll be defenseless.”
“I’m glad we came back, lover,” Char whispered softly toward Terry’s ear.
“As am I, dearest.”
Marcie appeared behind the group and looked like she wanted to say something, but was distracted by Sarah’s obvious incapacitation.
‘What happened?’ the look on her face asked.
“Just a little sparring, pawn against the king kind of stuff. An old man beating up on a little kid,” Butch said, casting a hairy eyeball in Terry’s direction.
“I’ve sparred with her. She’s no little kid.” A smile tugged at Marcie’s lip. “In other news, it seems the garrison is part-time as they couldn’t sit around and do nothing. They are what Dad described as Reservists. So, disbanding is easy. The captain will collect all the weapons and lock them in the armory. We’ll return for them later as we have a key.”
“That was anti-climactic,” Terry said. The pack collectively shrugged. Kim, Kae, and Ramses remained still as they waited for the next order from the colonels, their commanding off
icers.
Terry looked at Marcie, cocking his head.
She nodded and smiled. “Mount up! Next stop, Australia!” The group trudged back to the pod, taking their time as they waited for the Weretigers to return.
“More of the same?” Terry asked Marcie.
She twisted her mouth sideways. “Yup.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Japan
“Activating the gate in forty-seven-point-one Yollisters,” the disembodied voice said, before the signal disappeared.
Akio looked at Eve to translate the reference into Earth time. Eve performed the calculations. “A little over sixteen years,” she said.
“Bethany Anne is coming home,” Akio stated.
“Will you tell Terry Henry Walton?” Yuko asked, feeling relieved that the Queen would return. They didn’t know that she was now Empress.
That didn’t matter. Bethany Anne was on her way in the greatest ship of the known universe.
“I need to meditate, try to understand what our future holds.” Akio bowed to Yuko. She hesitated.
“You have done everything without the help of the other six. How much easier would the time have passed, had we not been alone?”
Akio looked deeply into Yuko’s eyes. “Once we found Terry-san, Char-san, and their pack, we were not alone.”
San Francisco
“But why?” the sergeant asked, leading a chorus of the other sergeants as their combined voices added to the dismay.
“Because we’re contracting the FDG to a total of twelve tactical teams. We no longer need a massive ground force. I’m sorry,” Marcie explained for the twelfth time.
“It’s all I know,” someone said from the back. Auburn remained in the back with a few of his most stalwart hands. The logisticians were remaining behind to work full-time keeping the garrison’s facilities intact.
The vast majority of warriors were being converted to reserve status. Training one weekend a month. Terry had modeled it after the old National Guard, the Reserves, those units that were there in case of need, training until they were deployed. Full-time civilians. Part-time warriors, doing a little bit of everything.
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