Goons Alike

Querris was an old man.

Not frail to tell the age, but handsome enough to be invited over for a cup of tea and cake.

Haha. Cake.

Being a fella who's piercing gaze was as cold as the shiver that suddenly ran down his spine, the adrenaline pumping in gave him all the reasons to run. His foot slightly scraped across the soil and his height made up for the frustration. Two soldiers, one the rude the other a young ladd, could spot him easily past the crowd.

In grunts he fought his body to move. Heavy steps amongst those of the panicked refugees sounded louder by the second. The enemy were closing fairly in on him. He had been accused of having started the fire because of hardly fitting in with the crowd as much as he anticipated. The stereotype was that no other New Coralton dweller was that classic to own a steed. And even if he'd excuse himself, he couldn't risk being patted down. There was a lot in his inventory.

Scanning the surrounding, just tents where about. He swayed left and right, pulling stuff down to block the path behind him, earning vulgar exclaims from the chasers. And as he kept limping through the chaos, heaving, his fear grew. One thing's certain he wouldn't outrun them for much longer.

He ducked below height into the nearest tent and quickly stayed silent. He slouched to comfort and listened attentively as the soldiers ran past then their stomping fading into the distance.

"Well this ticks me off." He spoke under his short breaths. "Talk about miscalculation."

Querris reached into his coat's inner pocket and returned the two brad pins. He revolved them between his fingers and then after a few turns dropped them to the floor. Unlike before, this time the pins did not move after their solid drop. And Querris washed down a face deep with contemplating. He was plotting his next move.

It all came back to him as he heard some footsteps approaching. One of the soldiers was hastily heading straight for the tent. Querris searched for a place to hide frantically but it was too late. The cop lifted the tent flap and peered in, his hand inched closer to the pocketed pistol.

For a moment an awkward silence falls in place. The man locks eyes with the fugitive who in turn was crouched inside and simply stared back whilst frozen on the spot.

Shouts from outside come and go yet the quietness here drags on. By now it felt uncomfortable to both parties. Pulling away from the eye contact, the man looks around anxiously in search for a distraction. For him this wasn't a peep into a tent, it was one into death. Ice blue eyes that went to the depths of the soul seemed to stare back into the soldier's very own.

As if successful on being distracted, the other man backs away slowly before fleeing. There in the scene, the old man is left with a puzzled look although thankful of the coward's resolve.

'The day predators turned to prey.' He thought to himself and softly chuckles.

• • • • •

One. Two. Three

The Commander signals and a quick rattle pierces the air - her firearm sparks in the dark. After a second gone silent, the doors slowly creaks open.

Ranzo immediately pushes in, barking at whomever was inside to surrender. Their torches and lazers zoomed back and forth, up and down, in and out. 'The intruder must be hiding.'

After the quick and thorough sweep inside the room, they all concluded nobody was inside with them. The third guy was then sent to at least clear the outside and make sure no one else was nearby.

"Commander, you have to see this." Called Ranzo.

In the room, all the computers were on. Some were beeping with running digital codes all time long while some where either blank or had a tab left opened.

"It can't be." She slightly shook her head.

"It appears we have been breached." Ranzo nodded, letting loose his weapon to no guard.

Together they visited each desk, checking the computers one by one.

"A rat maybe?" Her associate ran some possible hints. "Whomever it was was polite enough to tuck the seats back into place. But how was this possible? This block is surrounded by other posts, there are no windows that one could slip through."

"I'm equally as amazed sarge..."

She stood before the computer with a tab opened. It had been ran through however abandoned before the infiltrator successfully acquired all the information he or she was in search for. And that information happened to be the very same Sia's been rushing everybody to uncover.

"Joulene Feustin?" They said in unison then exchanged looks.

'Alright, here's the thing.' The Commander weighed the possibilities.

'Nine isn't at play here somehow. Within the confines of this camp one of us is under the rat's lead. Could be more.

Back when I first met him to discuss terms. When I warned him about the measures my division would take to end their desperate doings, he let me in on a little secret.'

Two days ago

"Stand down!" Sianna commanded.

After this Ranzo was warned of any further aggressions.

Although the brothers had been successful intercepting the military involvement, taking on the regime would not be spoken the same. The terms were shared, troubles were weighed. Treason wouldn't come without a cost. The C.A.S.D complied and conditions are set. Some sectors in parliament still wager however significance to their prestige was completely concealed by the rising brethren influence.

"They're mobilizing." Nine said as he wearily looked at the little girl. "I can sense it."

"What?" The Commander eavesdropping, making Nine's reaction to be quite a shock. Then before he decided to fulfill her greed, he shakes his head.

"My past." He said solemnly. "I've outsmarted what's shaped my motives today. Or at most, I thought I did. Now it's coming back to hunt me down and once they get to me, It's over. But before that happens, I want to find somebody else living around here somewhere myself. Miss Commander, please, I have to find my relative."

"Who's on your tail and who are you after."

She asked...

It all came flooding back.

From the little secret Nine had let her in on, Sianna was eager to join the chain of predator and prey. A desperate measure to protect the country and its people - that's how she brushed it off to be.

And from what her guts told her, a third party was involved in all of this. Or honestly, she was the third wheeler. Her trained guard sensed foul play and her instincts were as sharp as a falcon. Her reckoning pointed all that has just happened in the camp to be a solid scheme. The timing and place: too good to be an accidental crisis. Something told her that whomever was hunting down Nine's relative was right under her nose.

The woman glanced over her shoulder. Ranzo had been quiet for a while now and staring at the computers. At last, he slowly turns to her with many questions drawn on his face. Receiving the impression, the Commander felt a load suddenly set itself upon.

"I owe you a lot." She swapped the mag and reloaded the weapon. "But right now, I have some cleaning to do... Ranzo, let me teach you how to take care'f the laundry... I'll need your trust for the last time."

As they cautiously moved through the space examining the computers, a pair of eyes lit up from the darkness. The motionless glare fixated to the two figures and steady without a blink. The Commander and Ranzo's face were illuminated by the faint glow of the screens.

Siesta scanned their movements from beneath a desk, silent and ready to pounce.