From The Wolf's Shadow [Marcus]

[Marcus Prasad]

Marcus returned the young blondes smile and was about to respond when suddenly Lucien popped in on his bluetooth receiver buzzing in his ear, prompting Marcus to raise a finger for silence, his eyes focusing on nothing way off into the distance.

"Go ahead Ghostwolf."
Marcus replied as he turned away from Kyr, walking away a few steps as the young pup spoke. Biting his lower lip at the implications of an enemy element operating in Anaheim. An attack on the Barracks? Marcus began to pace back and forth as the gears in his head began to turn.

Actualy.......
Marcus turned back to Kyr for a moment before a light went on in his head.

"Ghostwolf. Made contact with a member of the Dragons. You sure that wasn't what you picked up on? Gonna need a lot more than just a gut feeling before I can make an informed decision. I tell you what, Find whoever is lazing around the compound and see if you can find me some hard evidence. In the meantime, inform the L.t. (Lieutenant) back at the Station. Have him put the base at Stand to (Alert but not at battle stations). S'all we can do for now."

Suddenly the man rounded on Kyr, the jovial Marcus immediately replaced by the Grim of the Crows. Warden of Anaheim city.

"Shot in the dark but did you notice anything or anyone suspicious as you entered the city?"

Marcus had gone from skeptical to Business mode for one reason. He always trusted his gut, and his gut was telling him to trust Lucien's gut enough to not ignore his concerns out of hand. One never handles the safety of a whole city recklessly.

[Kyrie Blaze]

The blonde hesitated as the communications device suddenly crackled to life. She could faintly make out the words, but whose voice it was she didn't quite know. It was too faint, and she couldn't catch everything.

The small woman planted her feet and waited as Marcus turned away, as she wasn't about to be rude and slip off when he had his back turned, discussing something that came up on his comm device. Marcus' part of the conversation she had no shame in listening to. It also told her more than the snippets of words she had caught.

Blue eyes slid up at Marcus as he turned and returned to the Grim he had been when he ordered her from the shadows.

Reacting to the authority he held as easily as she breathed, she answered immediately.

"Negative. Not even the man whose shadow I slipped into seemed overly suspicious..."

Which was the whole point, she knew.

"Split or stick, Grim Prasad?"

Kyrie watched him, completely willing to help. Marcus knew his territory and men better than she. If he ordered her to go scout, she would. If he wanted her to stick by him to double their eyes in their movements, she would do that. Regardless, she would act with his direction, defaulting to his command though she wasn't a Crow.

Just an ally.

But a darn good one.

[Lucien DeChain]

Lucien nodded along as Marcus gave his orders, even though he wasn't actually there, nor could he see the nodding.

"Yes Sir. Heading back to base now. I'll update when I've got more to go on." He clicked the earpiece off.

Of course he understood, this was the way things went. It wasn't that Marcus didn't trust him. But for things like this, a feeling was not considered to be hard evidence. Couldn't evacuate a city on a gut feeling.

But Lucien knew. He was sure. Even besides the fact that not a single civilian had stepped foot inside a 50 foot perimeter of the old Police station all day, there was a tension in the air that was uncanny. The air had substantial weight.

He remained invisible, heading back to the base to see who was there.

[THIRTY MINUTES PASS]

A call would come in to Marcus' comm.

"Ghost Wolf to Fenris! I, er, I have that evidence you asked for..." He panted, as if out of breath. "The.. I mean, that is to say... The building is wired to blow on all four corners. I've got Joe and Croaker here helping me try to disarm them... It might take a while, but we can do it... Yeah. For sure. Though, evacuating the area might be a good idea, just in case."

A pause. A sigh.

"Oh, I almost forgot. We also found small amounts of the water purifier that's used in the community wells. Whoever planted these had it on them."

"Okay. ... Ooookay Sir I have to... Concentrate..."

[Marcus Prasad]

"Stick."
Marcus replied almost immediately. For all he knew this was still part of her assessment of Anaheim's defences. He simply did not know enough about her to rule that possibility out. Marcus wanted to keep her close for now.
"But don't expect any excitement, we play it cool until we get word."

A sound plan. But that didn't mean they couldn't do some investigating on their own.

"Let's go for a walk hmm?"
He would say to Kyr without looking back to see if she would follow before sauntering off down the street, making his way towards the eastern checkpoint. Whatever was going on, certainly wasn't here.


30 Minutes later


"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE DISARMING THEM! WHEN THE FUCK DID YOU BECOME A GOD DAMN BO-".
Eyes widening, Marcus bit down the B word with a frustrated growl as he paced back and forth, finger pressing against his earpiece. He had gone almost completely pale when Lucien gave him the bad news. A shade immediately replaced with Red when he heard the rest.
"You fucking rights your going to evacuate everyone."
Marcus hissed in a low voice. His fury coming from the fact that A) Someone managed to sneak into Anaheim and plant bombs in the Crows HQ and B) It was done while being visited by a member of the Dragons. So not only were they in danger, but Marcus ran the risk of being horribly shamed.

'Oh. Not on my god damn watch.'

"Set up a Cordon around the HQ. Gas leak if anyone asks. I want that Building empty NOW. And pup? If you get yourself killed I'll Ressurect you and kill you myself! Make it official. Grey Dog. All Armed Personnel are to take up stations from the Checkpoints, to the Water pumps, Medical villages and HQ."

The water pumps eh? It was the logical step. Marcus would have done the same after taking out the Nerve center.
"Kyr. Hope you don't mind but we are in abit of a hurry."
Grabbing the young blonde and Craddling her in his arms, Marcus would take a running start, channel his Qi to his feet and Rocket jump, rebounding off of a few buildings to build up speed before sending the both of them blasting towards the formerly privately owned water supply that fed the city.

And woe betide the fools who dared step into this Alpha's den.

[Kyrie Blaze]

"Sir. Of course." Though both were understandably on-edge, neither showed it. The blonde left her hands at her sides, not wanting to take the extra few seconds to uncross or remove them from her pockets in case anything did pop up. Her shoulders were soft and relaxed as she moved out by Marcus's side, tailoring her steps to fit his larger stride as she did with everyone else. It probably wasn't even noticeable.

Her gaze remained bright and watchful, as always. Nothing seemed amiss as they moved on, the blonde observant of what Marcus did and said though her primary concern was ensuring that this situation be rectified as succinctly as possible.

It was later, when Marcus was yelling, that the scope of what they were dealing with became apparent to her. Disarm. Bo-word. It was not a difficult thing to draw a conjecture that said that there was a bomb-threat in Crow Territory. Immediately the blonde became more watchful, searching slowly and thoroughly around them for anyone that may have overheard.

Until Marcus turned, spoke, and scooped her into his arms. A squeak of surprise escaped her lips, but far from alarmed. In fact, as Marcus exploded from the ground, he gained a grin - bright and full, though brief - before her gaze flicked around. She held on, but lightly, and the tension of surprise was quickly gone.

A hurry indeed. By her grin, she certainly was into this new development. Kyrie would have liked to say she could have kept up, but the explosive power of Marcus's qi propelled them farther than she could have ran in the same time.

Despite her excited intrigue at this way of travel, she was also preparing herself for the potential situation that could come about, especially if the one or many that planted these bombs - how would they work, anyway? Perhaps it would be good to know - stuck around.

[Lucien DeChain]

"Yes Sir. The area will be evacuated..." Lucien responded, quite formally, before the radio fell silent.

As the duo approached the water wells, they noticed something strange. The military guards were stationed in their proper posts, and the well looked untampered from the outside... But no one was around, not one civilian gathering water.

The guards themselves were slightly nervous, having just heard the Grey Dog call put out on the main channel. Recognizing Marcus as he approached, they turned to him, obviously wondering how severe the situation was.

"Sir! We just received the call. A gas leak...?" One guard asked, eyes wide.

[Marcus Prasad]

"...Is exactly what you're going to keep on telling people for so long as this crisis is in effect."
Marcus finished the man's sentence in stride as he closed in on them. Marcus could understand their anxiety. This WAS after all the first known time Anaheim had ever been infiltrated. Still, he needed them at thier best which meant some gentle not so gentle reminders that they were SOLDIERS.
"Now stop with the lip quivering and put your game faces on. Just like we drilled, Keep everyone who isn't supposed to be here out and I want headcounts reported to base at random times. I wanna know if there's a few more faces than there should be here."

Taking a step back, the man looked the building over.
"Now if you guys don't mind, back to your posts and sharpen your eyes. First one to find these bastards gets the first whack at em after we string em up."

"This? Is Kyr of the Dragons."
Marcus explained, Jerking a thumb back towards the young blonde.
"She's going to be sticking with me as I and the rest of the wolfpack conduct inspections. Good day and Good luck gentlemen."

Gesturing for Kyr to follow, he then walked past the guards and entered the Water Pumps that helped feed the city.

"Keep close. There's some sections here I don't want you near. Just how it is."

[Kyrie Blaze]

The blonde was silently impassive as she watched Marcus seize command and assuage fears all in one direct statement. She didn't nod her approval, but watched both the Wolf and the reactions of his subordinates. While she was watchful otherwise for other things, the blonde was undoubtedly taking mental notes on the behaviour when things were not a drill.

Were not explanations.

She followed Marcus at a respectful distance and stopped, and when she was introduced the blonde inclined herself forwards in a Dragon bow, left hand clasped in a fist over her heart before she straightened with her hand coming back down to her side, all in one smoothly crisp motion.

She moved out with him and expanded her stride to catch and keep up, raising her right eyebrow at his words. But she kept close even as she wondered. They were allies now...but even so, perhaps it was understandable that each group would have their secrets to safeguard. It made her somewhat uneasy - not that she thought the Crows would ever use whatever they had against the Dragons - but also reassured her somewhat. If it was weapons or the like, perhaps it would be okay.

Perhaps.

She still didn't like the nature of it...but she was here in an observational capacity only in regards to this. Helping to defend against threats, however, she was all for.

[Lucien DeChain]

"S-Sir!" The soldiers yelped in unison as they jumped in to attention. As Marcus and Kyrie entered the wells, the soldiers scrambled into their positions, and began preparations for their assumedly longer than usual shift. Seems they took the situation with the seriousness it deserved.

The place was deserted, and even around the massive wells there was no one around. The perimeter being patrolled by the soldiers, no one dared stray from their post order.

From the area, they were free to do as they pleased. A few feet away, a large pipe extruded from the ground, arcing above the earth and returning to the earth a few feet further, in an upside down U shape. On the bow of it was a test valve that could be opened to take samples. It showed no clear signs of tampering.

[Marcus Prasad]

After inspecting the Valve, Marcus would frown. This wasn't right. It was almost TOO clean here. Too perfect. Either the infiltrators managed to Enter the Well Station, Poison it, cover thier tracks perfectly and leave by the time they got there, Or nothing of the sort happened and they were in the wrong Pump Station.

Which would SUCK! A Mistake of THAT magnitude could cost lives!
Which means drastic measures were needed.
"Nothing by the looks of it. Alright Kyr, We need to make this quick. I give you authorization into the water pumps restricted zones. Do me a favor and use your Qi to do a quick sweep of the place. If there's nothing here, We move on."

He couldn't second guess himself now, and there was no point bothering Lucien since he hadn't heard a boom yet. Best to interview a few of the workers then.

Looking about, Marcus would hunt down a Well worker and ask him a few questions such as how long have they been working at the wells, Whether they enjoy the work, how long they've lived in Anahiem. Questions meant to poke holes in an Infiltrators cover story. If satisfied, Marcus would plainly ask.
"Seen anything suspicious in the past hour or so?"

[Kyrie Blaze]

Kyrie's eyes swept the area, taking a look at the large pipe and then resting her eyes upon Marcus as he inspected it. When he spoke up and to her, she shifted a little straighter, listening intently.

"Sir." She inclined herself in a rapid, shallow bow that had everything to do with expediency and nothing to do with a lack of respect for the Wolf.

She turned and moved off after getting info on where they were--her qi wisped out as she approached and - if the places were in utter darkness - would extend her senses out within it--or, even if necessary, speed into the shadows to expedite her search.

[Lucien DeChain]

The soldier that Marcus was talking to would appear slightly nervous. A clean shaven man, with a spotty complexion and clean skin. No dirt under his fingernails, or grease in his hair. Smelled pretty good, too. He would explain and answer all Marcus' questions, and there was no gaping holes in his story, but he appeared shifty, like he wanted to not be there.

"I mainly work underground, so I wouldn't have seen anything unusual. I'm a pipe fitter, after all. Maintenance work mostly."

Kiyr would find a small glass bottle which looked like an eyedropper, a few spare tools lying around, and a large red button that read "DO NOT PRESS".