Chapter 6: Friend or Enemy

Lena sat on the couch and was still quite surprised. Jaguar came from the kitchen and put a bowl of soup on her.

"Here, eat something. You've slept for two days."

After Lena had finished eating, she wanted some answers. But she didn't know how to start a conversation. Jaguar sat next to her on the armchair the whole time, watching in silence.

"Well..." she began. "You are not our enemy, I'm beginning to realize that."

"I never was," he said.

"I'm sure you have many questions. So go ahead and I promise to answer them all truthfully."

"Very well. Where are we?"

"We're in a remote cabin in Sussex, near the coast."

"Do you live here?"

"No. I just retreat here when I need to lay low for a while. My main residence is a house in the West End of London."

"WHAT?" she said. "All this time, we thought you were dead. and you were right under our noses."

"We have met before, you just didn't recognize me."

Lena looked at him in astonishment.

"Remember. The singing street magician?"

"That was you?" she said, genuinely surprised.

"Yes, it was me."

"A true actor has been lost on you . But seriously, what do you want anyway?"

"I really need help from Overwatch. It's very urgent and there are billions of lives at stake."

"I think you'll have to explain that a little better."

And Jaguar started telling her. He told her the reason why he was created and that he is now looking for the Artifact to destroy it. He also told her that Null Sector was planning an attack on Tokyo in a week and that he had already contacted Overwatch and that they were going to join them in a week from now when they attacked Tokyo.

"How did the others react when you said I was with you?"

"Winston said if I touched a hair on your head, he'd tear me in half."

"Wow, I've never seen him like that," she said, amazed. "But why don't you take me right back?"

"First of all, you need to rest and secondly, I need your help, too."

"And for what?"

"Recently I found out that the last council member of Medusa, the politician Anton Moore, knows where the artifact is."

"I knew there was something fishy about them. How can such an asshole win an election," cried Lena.

"So anyway. Moore is hosting a gala in Kensingtion in a few days. I have to get a ticket under fake names. My goal is to confront Moore and get the information out of him where the artifact is."

"So just assuming that I believe you. That doesn't mean I do. Why should I trust you? I mean...."

Jaguar's thoughts wavered as he looked out the window and saw something coming out of the bushes.

"I mean, who do you think I am?" Lena said.

"A wild fawn," he said absent-mindedly.

"I've never heard anyone say that to me before," Lena thought.

TIMESKIP

Lena was alone in the cabin, Jaguar had gone out because he said he had to do something. Bored, she went to a shelf and looked around. On the shelf were a few books, some CDs with radio plays by Sherlock Holmes and a few movies, including action movies, fantasy movies and even some Disney movies.

"Well, at least he has good taste," she thought.

In the meantime it had become dark and Lena had gone into her room and looked out the window. There he was. Jaguar carrying something over his shoulders. On closer inspection she discovered that it was a stag. He laid the stag on the floor and surrounded it with his blue fire.

Then he went down on all fours, pushed the stag to the ground and started biting pieces out of it, pushing a smacking growl away. Blood dripped from the carcass and coloured the ground red.

Lena was stunned, a thousand thoughts flashed through her mind. But one thing was clear to her: she had to get out of here. She put on her jacket, shoes and her chronal accelerator, grabbed her pistols and was about to run out of the house when he suddenly stood behind her.

"So now you know who and what I am," he said coldly.

She reached out to him with her pistols.

"Stay away from me," she screamed.

"I wouldn't go out there if I were you."

But she ran out of the house and down the hill without turning around. She kept running and running, but her chronal accelerator was empty. She turned around and realized that she had run inside a fenced forest.

Then she realized. Near here was the laboratory where Jaguar was created. And Winston told her that when Jaguar escaped, so did some genetically engineered test subjects.

"You're really quite fast." she sped around, on top of a hill Jaguar stood with his arms folded.

"How did you find me so quickly?" she pointed a pistol at him.

"I didn't get my nickname 'The Silent Hunter' for nothing."

"Why did you follow me?"

"What kind of gentleman would I be if I just let you freeze to death here or let you get eaten?" he said with a soft smile.

"Gentleman? There wasn't much of that going on just now."

"Believe me, it's nothing I'm proud of."

"Everyone says you're a wild animal. By now I believe it too." Tracer did not lower her pistol.

"We're all wild animals, most of us, just too scared to show it."

"Don't give me that crap."

"You know, it's pretty unfair to judge me before you.....Tracer. Don't turn around now!"

"What is this? Is this another one of your tricks?"

"It's not a trick. Please. Come towards me very slowly and when I shout 'now', jump to the side!" he said in a calm voice.

Tracer looked at him angrily, but she walked slowly forward. Then she heard footsteps behind her.

"NOW!" he shouted. Tracer blinked to the side and Jaguar shot a bolt from his hand.

Tracer turned and saw a dog-like creature. But this critter was much larger and bulging with large disgusting boils all over its body.

The creature walked towards them and bared its teeth. But Jaguar, jumped protectively in front of her and punched the creature in the face. Then he turned to face Tracer.

"RUN!" he shouted. The creature lunged forward and snapped at his arm, pulling him to the ground.

Tracer drew her pistol and fired, but it only left a few scratches. The creature let go of Jaguar and looked at her. Then he yanked his arm up and rammed his claw into the creature's throat.Blood spurted from the wound and the creature staggered back, stumbled and lay dead.

For a moment, all was silent. Then Jaguar slowly rose to his feet. Holding his arm, he looked at Tracer and pointed his finger to the west.

"There is a military base in that direction, you can call your friends from there. If you hurry, you can make it in an hour."

Blood ran down Jaguar's arm, leaving clear tracks in the snow. Breathing heavily, he tried to walk back to his cabin, but he was about to collapse. Then he felt something at his side. It was Tracer who held him up.

Later at the cabin.

Now it was up to Lena to patch him up, but she didn't do it very well.

"Ow. Don't make the bandage too tight!"

"Sorry." she said.

"I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," he said calmly.

"What was that all about? Why are you doing that?"

"The scientists, they gave me a hunting instinct. It helped me a lot in the jungle, because otherwise I would have starved to death. When I started living among humans, I tried to suppress it. But in the long run this becomes difficult.... And from time to time I lose the fight."

"It's okay. "But if you want me to trust you, promise me it won't happen again," she said. And put one hand on his arm.

"Okay, I promise."

"Uh Jaguar....."

"Jonas." he said.

"What?"

"My name is Jonas."

"Okay. My name is Lena. So Jonas, thank you for saving me."

"You're welcome." he said, and his emerald eyes gazed into her hazel.

"Well Lena."

" Yes?"

"Maybe you should take a shower."

"Heh heh. Maybe you're right," she giggled.

"There's a bathrobe in the bathroom. You can use it."

When she came back from the bathroom, she was wearing a black and green bathrobe and had a big grin on her face.

"What's wrong?"

She pointed to a symbol on the chest of the bathrobe.

"Slytherin?"

"Wot? I like Harry Potter," said Jonas.

"Me too. But do you really think Slytherin is better than Hufflepuff?" she asked as she sat down next to him on the couch.

"Absolutely, it's the best house."

"Absolutely not Hufflepuff is the best."

The discussion continued for a while until Lena got tired and went to her room. But later she got thirsty and went back downstairs.

Jonas was asleep in his armchair when the moonlight shone on his face Lena could see a single tear running down his cheek.

She didn't know why but for some reason he made such a lost impression on her that she felt he needed her help. She went back to bed and fell asleep.