Chapter 32 Emergency protocol 1

The image was interrupted and the symbol of the northern block appeared. Then the image of Jannet in BDU uniform appeared instead of her usual dress uniform. She had red eyes. 

"Three hours ago, the Council President was attacked when he went to pick up his children. He is now... "

Another soldier hurried up to her and whispered something in her ear. Liz stared stunned at the television and saw her aunt collapse. Soldiers rushed to her side to carry her away. "Uther came from the side.

"At least the uniform suits him..." came from Babsi. 

Uther looked at the camera. His arms crossed behind him, 

"According to the Council Act, which was created when the Northern Bloc was founded, Emergency Protocol 1 is now active. All units are on standby, the border guns are active. My fighter squad has been moved to the border. "

Will was as white as a sheet, Babsi looked at him. 

"What Will?" 

"He didn't say he had the high command on record."

Liz saw Grimm on TV dragging Mrs. Schlüters in front of Uther, Uther wasn't looking at Schlüters.

" So the people in the north block and the free states understand what's happening now. " 

He pointed at Schlüters, who stared at Uther in bewilderment. 

"The perpetrator!"

" I have powerful friends !!! Them!!!"

Uther looked at her and she fell silent.

"Do you know who I am? "

She nodded slowly.

"So you can understand what the protocol means too, and so you can understand even more with your deluded brain. The Council only did it as a last resort against my protest. In the event that the president dies or is seriously injured, the northern bloc must be able to defend itself until order is restored. In case some idiot Free State politician thinks we are incapable of acting. That's why all troops are under my command until then. "

"Shit!" came from Babsi. Sue stared at her. 

" Mom!" 

" Take that as a warning. Schlüters, you're about to tell me who your friends are." 

Babsi sighed.

" And I was worried about you."

" I'm not crazy enough to tell the world that if they want, they can get a world war that they can lose 100% of the time. Even when the facilities were on standby they were always maintained by Uther's people. "

Will switched to silent, he looked at Babsi who was tirelessly trying to call someone. 

"Why isn't she answering..." she muttered. 

Then he looked at Liz.

"Take care of your moms when they get here. " 

Liz didn't understand what he meant, it was only an hour later, when Jannet, Gitte and Min came in all upset, that she realized. She simply hugged her mother. 

She didn't know how long, but at some point Henne came in. She didn't bother to change her clothes, which were covered in blood. She looked very tired. 

Gitte woke up first, stood up, walked towards Henne, who looked at Gitte. 

"He's alive, Uther has just brought him back. 

Gitte fell to her knees. 

"When can we see him?" asked Jannet. 

Hen sighed.

" Come, but he will need some time to recover. "

Liz followed the others, in front of a door stood EXO soldiers again, they scanned everyone, then they were allowed to enter.

Liz saw a large room in front of her, the lights were on. She saw Tes Uther's wife standing by the bed, she was wearing normal clothes.

Tes injected her with a serum.

"You need to inject this once a week, don't let Earl touch you until you're completely cured and I don't care if he can work with genes. He'd give you some fake stuff and then screw with you until you're back to normal."

Alex grimaced as he got the injection.

"Don't be like that," came from Tess.

Liz was the first to run to him, closely followed by her sisters. But they didn't dare squeeze him. He did and her heart filled with warmth again. 

" No exertion for a week, understand?" Tes said to her mother and aunts.Liz looked at them questioningly.

" You know what I mean."

"Tes, what are you doing here?" asked Babsi.

Tes smiled.

" Giving him the right medication."

She patted Alex on the head like a dog.

" I see and ..."

" Uther is on the hunt and since he considers you family and that's rare with him. Make sure Alex gets better. "

" Your husband threatened the world with war."

Tes looked at her.

" No. He just told them that if they meant to attack, we would not stand idly by." 

She continued to pat Alex on the head.

"You'll see, everything will be fine."

Her cell phone buzzed and she looked at it.

"I have to go, my new fruit pits are here." 

She gave Liz and the others a pat on the forehead and hurried off.

They were still bringing in beds, which Liz welcomed because she was tired and fell asleep. She woke up a few times because she heard voices, and each time she opened her eyes she saw John standing by her father's bed talking, or Will. More than once she heard Uther declare war on the countless lands and send out his hunting party.

 When she was finally awake, she saw the bed empty. Her father was standing by the window, smoking a cigarette and fully dressed. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. He looked at her with a smile.

"Come on, let's go and eat something. Wash up and change into something else."

Liz nodded, still sleepy, and shuffled into the bathroom. It wasn't until she emerged in a north block tracksuit that she realized something was wrong, because the others were also wearing suits like this. 

"Right, everyone here, then we can go for a bite to eat," he said.

They followed him and took the elevator to the underground car park, where there was an SUV that they got into. Their mothers were sitting in it. Liz was confused, she looked at her mother. 

"Mom ... Dad should..."

"There are paramedics." 

It wasn't until the car sped out of the parking garage, escorted by two Striker vehicles. A second SUV joined them and they stopped in front of a restaurant Liz didn't recognize. 

They got out and she saw that the Strikers were lined up to block the restaurant.

"Find a seat." 

She did, but as soon as she sat down, someone hugged her. 

"Lizzi," said a girl's voice. Liz turned around. It was Tahara, she was the same age as her and, like Liz, had a short haircut, the hairdresser had called it an undercut.

"Hey, Tahara."

She smiled and beamed.

"What are you doing here?" Liz asked.

" This is my grandfather's store, I told you he works in catering."

" But your aunt always came, you know, the one who always told you off for your hair."

Tahara continued to grin. 

"I don't listen to her..." Liz looked at her aunt, who stared at her angrily. 

"And what are you doing here? " 

"Um..." Liz looked around. Her sisters had joined her mother and her mother had run to the other SUV.

"Alex!" came from inside and Ahmed rushed out and hugged Liz's father.

"They said you're ..." 

"We'll be back here in a few hours. I wanted to get something to eat before we go on." 

Liz saw the relief on Ahmed's face. 

" Merrüh! Bring the menus!" 

Liz smiled as she saw Tahara's aunt rushing over. 

Alex sat down at the table where Liz was sitting, held her stomach as she sat down and lit a cigarette.

"Order what you want Liz."

Liz looked at him.

" Uh..." she looked at Tahara. 

" Take number 2. Do you remember what my mother put on the table for my birthday last month?"

Liz remembered.

"I'll have number two and a Coke."

She looked at her father. 

" I'll have the number two and two coffees. "

Liz raised an eyebrow, a shadow settled over her and wandered on. Tahara froze. Liz looked at her, then turned back to her father. Lee was sitting next to him. 

He had gotten smaller, but he was still huge. He grinned and lit a cigarette.

Liz saw two Asians in pitch-black suits standing guard. 

Ahmed brought coffee and Coke. Lee thanked him. 

"Alex, it's no problem if you're here and not..." he began. Alex looked at him. 

" No, I have a minimal escort with me."

Lee laughed.

Liz winced as she heard her mother laughing inwardly.

"Your mom's here? " She looked at Tahara. She nodded.

"She got me out of school when she got the call. She actually wanted to take you and Mei with her, but they told her they'd already left."

"Um, we're..." 

Min hugged her brother and then looked at Liz.

"They snuck into the helicopter, Mei confessed everything to me. It was your idea Liz." 

Lee laughed. 

"Lee, that's not funny, what if something had happened?"

Lee wiped a tear from his eye. 

Gitte came out of the store with a stocky woman who resembled Tahara's face. 

"I ordered some food for the escort," Gitte looked at Alex, who looked up from his phone.

Liz wondered what model it was as she saw the Nodblock Ai on the display. 

"Thanks, hey Vanessa, I heard you're having a baby."

The girl looked at him.

"Only Jussuf knew that..."

Alex grinned. "He told me because he wants to do all the courses with you." 

Vanessa groaned. 

A large plate was placed in front of Liz and she stared into the crowd, looking at Tahara who grinned.

"That's more than on your birthday."

Tahara looked at her innocently. Alex grabbed her plate and shoved half of it onto his already full plate and set it down in front of Liz. 

"I can do this ..."

Gitte snuggled up next to Alex and ate from her plate.

Liz was busy with her plate, whenever she looked up she saw Lee eating or her mother, but not her father, who was sipping his coffee. 

When she had finished, she leaned back. It felt like a family meal and when she looked around, all she saw was family anyway. She couldn't help but think that Vanessa was a cousin on her mother's side. 

Her mother had always told her that Vanessa was a weightlifter. When she looked at her, she could still see it. 

They sat together for another hour until they all got into SUVs and drove on. Mei sat next to her and watched as Sue fell half asleep on her father and April did the same on the other side.

Liz looked at Mei.

"Your mom quizzed you?" 

Mei nodded.

" I got a console ban." 

" My mom didn't even scold me ... which makes it worse. What did April get?"

Mei mused. 

"She had to read an old ham and Sue scolded her."

Liz fell silent, walking to the front where her mother sat talking quietly to Min.

"You know what's scary?" Mei looked at Liz.

" What?"

" Haven't you ever noticed that the four of them hang out together the most?" 

" Hhmm, but Aunt Jannet is often with them too."

" Mom... what will my punishment be?" Liz asked. Gitte looked at her. 

"You'll have to wash your own clothes."

Liz was silent, she didn't know anything about washing clothes.

"Liz?" Liz woke up from her mental dream, blinked and looked from her beer to Mei, who was looking at her scrutinizingly. 

"You slept there with your eyes open?"

"I just remembered something from when we were little."

" You mean when you brought your first boyfriend home?"

She blinked.

"No. It wasn't until Uther conquered the North Block to its current size and, you know, after Mum quizzed him, no one dared."

"I had Uncle Lee over then, when I brought mine ..."

They both giggled. 

"I wonder what happened to Tommy, who we both fancied when we were 17."

" Uhh he was tougher back then, scuffed leather jacket, well-trained, tattoos. "

"Dad had him," April commented, sitting down at the kitchen table, opening a can and sipping it.

"Mom said your moms weren't fast enough," April looked at them both. "They were extra protective of us when we were little."

" Dad caught him? " Mei repeated.

Liz looked at her father, who was sitting on the couch again.

"Dad, what did you do with Tommy then?"

He looked up and looked at her questioningly.

" The guy when we were 17."

He thought for a moment. 

" He became a monk."

Liz looked at him skeptically.

"And why did he become a monk?"

He grinned furtively like a cat.