Chapter Eighty-Two - What's happening outside

As Locke worked his way through the groups of cultists, things outside the building were moving at their own pace.

In Locke's cabin, Tia was sitting in front of a computer while Hanna was with the little girl River. Usually, Tia would be playing some online game but now she was using all of her time to try to get some information about the state of the city. Although she and Locke shared a mental bond and she could see everything he saw and did, she still wanted to know what was happening and she wanted to help him, the fact that Tia didn't have any combat skills filled her with rage and made her feel a deep emotion of frustration, she ardently wished to be more useful so she wanted to at least be able to provide informations to Locke, since she couldn't fight she could at least be 'the girl in the chair'.

To her frustration the internet went down shortly after the initial attack, not only that but all forms of media in general had gone down, television, radio, telephones, cell phones... nothing worked. Exasperated, Tia stood up and stood in front of a window, watching the smoke rising far into the horizon, through her mind link she continued to watch Locke's situation.

"Hey Tia, any news from Locke? Is everything okay with him?" Hanna questioned entering the room, even though Tia had 'added' her to the mental link, she couldn't do anything more than send and receive messages, unlike Tia, she was unable to see what Locke was doing.

Tia looked at the goth girl, even though Hanna tried to disguise she could see that the girl was worried, Hanna didn't even have makeup on, which didn't change the fact that she was beautiful, assuming a cheerful tone the fairy tried to relieve the girl's tension. "He's fine, he almost made a massive mess with the world by accident but, by a stupid very close margin, he managed to resolve the issue in the end... He's now trying to go all the way and get rid of this problem once and for all,you don't need to worry, all he's facing is just a bunch of small fryes and some cannon fodder guys, unfortunately it seems like every step she takes he meets another bunch of these freaks... How's the girl doing?"

"Her name is River, after making her eat and taking a shower i managed to make her sleep a little... She likes you a lot!"

"I know her name..." Tia replied with a strange tone, she sighed and continued. "She thinks I'm one of those fairies from the children's stories, those that fly around princesses, all cute and delicate and I... I just don't want to destroy her dreams... This girl has been through a lot, I don't want to disappoint her... It's very hard to have to be near her with her looking at me with eyes full of admiration and innocence... I can't even curse her near her"

"She surely went through a lot… even before the monsters..." Hanna commented sadly. "She is sleeping surprisingly well though, I left her in Locke's bed, I didn't know he had so many stuffed animals, they weren't here the last time i spent the night."

"...They're mine... I asked Locke to buy them..." Tia commented in softly tone.

'So deep down you're a cute and delicate fairy...' Hanna thought with a smile on her face. "So my parents and my sister are on their way here... they want to make sure I'm safe... I also think they will be safer here, but I still don't know what I'm going to say when they realize Locke isn't here and..." She looked at Aunt. "I also don't know how I'm going to explain the bunch of lizard people who are keeping watch and, well, I don't know how I'm going to explain... you..."

"AHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Tia, unexpectedly, burst out laughing. "Don't worry about it girl! As much as I would love to be introduced to Cop Mamma, the Mustache and the Famous Chic I know it's not time for this yet! No one can see me unless I let them, so they won't even know I'm here! While the geckos out there, I'll talk to them! I'll see if I can convince them to back off a bit and I'll tell them to stay hidden!" Tia got up and walked out the door, she went towards the lizard men who kept guard at the door.

"Cop Mamma, Mustache?" Hanna was confused.

"Oh that's kind of my thing, I like giving people nicknames... I hope you don't find them offensive." Tia replied.

"No, I found them cute... What is my nickname?" Hanna questioned with curiosity.

The fairy looked at her and smiled.

***

Alexis Durand was not happy, not happy at all.

She now found herself facing the entrance to the shelter and looking with her brow furrowed at the city in the distance with its darkened skies, her arms were crossed in front of her chest and her fingers drummed rhythmically against her armor, demonstrating her inner turmoil.

To annoy her even more, she could feel the bond with her father again, the same feeling that she had all her life, tthe feeling of always be watched, the feeling that she would never be alone again, but what annoyed her most was the fact that, when that invasive feeling returned, for a moment she was relieved.

"Any news from the Bureau?" She questioned over the radio.

"They're still unable to cross the barrier, we won't gonna have any back up soon…" Dr. Sarah Ragdear responded with a worried tone, to Durand's surprise, the doctor walked through the door behind her, answering her directly. "The BPD managed to block the news and prevent any attempt to enter the city, stating that the city is experiencing a natural disaster, it will do a lot of work to hide what happened here... What are we going to do now?"

"We are unable to organize another attack on the cultists' hideout, we underestimated them, they were too prepared... Now we have to leave everything in the hands of a wild card..." Alexis commented irritated, the idea of ​​having to leave her fate in someone else's hands filled her with an overwhelming sense of humiliation.

But what else she could do? She had already used almost all the sacred power she had, most of her soldiers were dead or injured, almost all her assets had been completely drained and her partner was injured, the only option for her now was to ask for the help of her father, something she would never do unless it was her last resort.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? He is a monster after all!" Sarah questioned with a worried tone.

"A monster like me?" A cold voice questioned, Sarah turned quickly only to notice Tamar's eyes glowing in the dark, a few feet away from where Alexis and she were, the panther woman blended so well into the darkness that the woman hadn't even noticed her existence.

"That's not what I meant!" Sarah responded quickly. "I know you, Tamar! I know that even with all your mysterious style you always had the good of others in your eyes! But this guy, we don't know anything about him!"

"Girl, you don't know anything about me either!" Tamar replied in a playful tone, she stepped out of the darkness and approached the two women. "As for the dragon boy, I don't think you need to worry about him, in fact if it weren't for him we would all be dead by now! Besides, if he were our enemy we'd be in big trouble... That guy... The feeling I get when I'm around him... And the same feeling I get around the commander, the feeling that I never must try to fight him..."

"What do you mean?" Sarah questioned.

"I felt it too... That boy, his power is growing at an absurd speed... I only felt this level of power in beings like my father..."

"This-this-this cannot be possible! If he was at the commander's level he would have already finished with these cultists in less than a second!" Sarah now sounded scared, the memories of when he had threatened Locke with a gun coming back to her mind and making her stomach turn cold.

"I don't think he's at the commander's level yet, but he's pretty close… The problem is I feel he's going to pass the commander pretty soon, God, I feel like he's going to pass my father too… Alexis replied, which caused Sarah's eyes to widen even further.

"No-no-no, you guys are kidding, right?" Sarah asked, visibly frightened, her eyes darting between the two other women.

"I'm going out on a patrol!" said Tamar, the panther woman jumped and ran on all fours at high speed, her feline tail following her movements as the woman disappeared in the distance.

"Hey, Hey! You were kidding, right? Right?" Sarah kept asking scared.

"I'm going in a patrol too, even if the boy is fighting in the city I doubt he managed to finish off all the enemies that were outside the building... the chance of them showing up here is great, after all, most of the humans in the city are here in this shelter... Sarah, keep in touch with the Bureau, if anything happens call me ny the radio!" Alexis put on her helmet and grabbed one of the guns that still had ammo.

"Hey? Common? You were kidding right? Hey? Hey!"