Banished Pt. 20

"An anomaly?" she asked, and Lawrence nodded.

"Someone who manifested an ability on earth."

"What kind of ability?" Joanna asked, and Lawrence shrugged.

"Don't know. But whatever the ability is, it's been jamming locator abilities."

Joanna chewed on her lip a bit.

"And what if they tracked me coming into here?" she asked, and he nodded towards Desiree, who rubbed her sticky hands together excitedly.

"That's where I came in. I use my visions to figure out some windows of opportunity to meet up. Today, right now, was one; mostly because they assumed you'd be too busy grieving your loss," Desiree explained, and Joanna felt her chest tighten a little at the mention.

"Even if they can't detect you here, that shifter can locate you with his own visions," Lawrence continued, and Joanna nodded.

"So, you have a 'shifter' of your own?" she asked, and the girl laughed.

"Oh, that'd be the day," the woman said, laughing in that chirpy way. "I might be a far seer; but I'm no shifter," the girl explained, and Joanna raised an eyebrow at that.

"What's the difference?" she asked, and Lawrence cleared his throat again.

"Far seers can see future outcomes with various degrees of reliability, depending on their ability. Shifters can actually change those outcomes."

Joanna chewed on her lip as she studied Lawrence.

"Okay, I'm a little confused here. Are you seriously trying to tell me that the future is set in stone, and only these shifters can change it?" Joanna asked, and Lawrence swallowed uncomfortably.

"To some extent, yes. Minor outcomes can be affected by just about anyone; but major outcomes, global outcomes, or outcomes on a millennial scale? Those are usually out of the league of 'just anyone'," Lawrence explained.

"Jesus Christ," Joanna muttered. "Why bother doing anything if that's the case?"

Lawrence shook his head.

"I think you misunderstand. We might not be able to change anything individually, but that doesn't mean we can't be part of the collective that manages to shift things in a significant way."

"How? Without a shifter of our own, what are we supposed to..."

Joanna's words trailed off, and Lawrence nodded.

"It's as you say. We'll need a shifter of our own," he confirmed, and Joanna sighed.

"So, how does this work? What's the criteria for being a shifter?" she asked, and Lawrence shrugged.

"Some are born with the ability; some manifest it over time. We're not sure, but they do exist out there in the world, and outside of the company's grasp."

"Are you sure? Considering how aggressively they collect assets, I was certain shifters would be high on their list of priorities," Joanna said, and Lawrence nodded.

"They do recruit them whenever they can; but a fully realized shifter is much harder to pin down."

"Wait- so the anomaly-?" she began, and Lawrence shook his head.

"Not a shifter. At least, not from what Desiree can tell," he said, and the woman nodded tiredly.

"So, we need to find a shifter?" Joanna said.

She posed the question more to herself than anything else, but Desiree smirked a little at that.

"You mean, find another one," she said, and Joanna shook her head.

"Another one?" she asked, and Lawrence nodded.

"That woman you were tailing; she's a shifter," he confirmed, and Joanna shook her head.

"Wait, what? We banished the sibling of a shifter? A sibling who also turns out to be the child of... wait, hold on. Does that mean her mother is-?"

Lawrence raised a hand, stopping her.

"No, Nathan was adopted. He's the only child of that woman, on earth at least, from what we can tell," he explained, but Joanna quickly shook her head.

"That's still too many co-incidences. And if Nathan really is her son, how did he even end up on earth, much less with a rogue shifter?"

"Hold on, end up on earth? What are you guys talking about?" Desiree cut in, and Lawrence shot Joanna a quick look.

"How much does she know?" Joanna asked.

"She knows about Kepler, the company... uh, about assets... and the singularity."

"And Nathan?" Joanna asked, and the man sighed.

"Nathan is a... special person of interest," the man explained, and Desiree nodded.

"An asset?" she asked, and Lawrence nodded.

"Yes, but not a typical asset. There were... inconsistencies, and when I investigated it, I was removed from my position."

Joanna smirked at this.

"Right, I almost forgot. You drafted a kill order against him," she said, and he nodded, turning to explain things further to Desiree.

"We shipped out an undesirable with critical inside knowledge along with Nathan's group. An undesirable that I was told to eliminate, whatever the cost," Lawrence explained. "So, I put a bounty out on her head, but... Nathan got in the way."

"So, you drafted the kill order?" Joanna asked, and Lawrence nodded.

"But as soon the kill order went out, the higher ops suddenly intervened. It was... strange. Unprecedented, really. So, I started doing my own investigations."

"Was that when you found out?" she asked, and Lawrence shook his head.

"No. I was relieved of my position. No explanation, no inquiry, nothing."

"Wait- then how did you find out?" Joanna asked, and Lawrence fiddled his fingers nervously.

"Encrypted message, readable only using my private keyword," he said, and Joanna's jaw dropped.

"Then, someone on the inside wanted you to know?" she asked, and he nodded.

Desiree stifled a yawn at this.

"Sheesh. So, what's the big deal with this kid?" she asked. "Is his mom famous or something?"

"I guess you can say that," Joanna answered. "But famous in a 'this is really bad news' kind of way."

"How bad are we talking? Is he like, Hitler's kid or something?" she asked, and Joanna laughed.

"That's not far off, actually," she said, and Desiree screwed her face up.

"Really? Who is it then? Who's his mother?" she asked, and Lawrence took a deep breath in.

"Lilith Carter," he replied, and Desiree raised an eyebrow.

"Lilith Carter? That doesn't sound as bad as Hitler. What did she do anyway?" Desiree asked, and Joanna let out a bitter little laugh.

"What she did is almost as bad as how she did it," Joanna answered, and as Desiree looked at her expectantly, Lawrence gave her a little nod.

Joanna cleared her throat, before continuing:

"She, uh... she wiped out all life on a continent about the size of Australia," Joanna explained, and Desiree's eyes went wide.

"What? With what? A nuclear bomb?" she asked, and Lawrence let out a sigh.

"If the legends are to be believed... with nothing more than her bare hands," he said, and Desiree's gaze darted between Lawrence's and Joanna's as she tried to process the information.

"With her bare hands? H-how is that even possible?" she asked, and Lawrence shrugged.

"We have very little data on what happened, although the legitimacy of that claim is now... speculative at best. In any case, we only knew bits and pieces, and that she has never been seen on Kepler ever since," he said.

Desiree however, seemed to be having a bit of a hard time with the news.

"Wait- her son was here? On earth? Does that mean she can come here as well?" Desiree asked, seemingly quite flustered now, but Lawrence shook his head.

"We don't know if it's possible. No one has ever come back here from Kepler, much less a baby. And we know for certain that Nathan was raised here on earth from that age."

"He's an asset though, isn't he? What if he comes back? What if he turns out to be as terrible as she was?" Desiree asked, but he shot her a comforting look.

"It's not likely that a skill of his allowed him to come back. He was just a baby. But given the way the company has behaved and the info that was passed to me, they know very well who he is, and maybe even how he got here. Which leaves us with only one choice; monitor him and find out," Lawrence said, and Joanna raised a hand.

"Hold on a sec. Nate was taken off of our watch. I don't even know if I'll be reinstated as his handler," Joanna said, and Lawrence sighed.

"You will be," he said, shifting uncomfortably.

"How?"

"Because you'll give your shifter what he's looking for," Lawrence said, and Joanna eyed him warily.

"Which is?" she asked, and he held her gaze, swallowing with some difficulty as he did.

"Me."

***

"Nate-? Nate, baby wake up."

"Nnhh," I groaned, as I felt myself being shaken awake.

My eyes shot to wakefulness however as I caught that familiar scent.

Blood...

"Cameron, what's-? What happened?"

She was kneeling beside the bed, clutching her stomach, and as I quickly climbed out of bed, I realized her nightgown was soaked with blood.

"I- I can't move," she said, her expression clearly pained, and I nodded.

"I'll get Evie," I said, as I dashed to the door.

As I burst through and hurried down the corridor, Casey's door flew open behind me.

"Nate? What's wrong?"

"Get Evie!" I yelled at her, and she nodded, quickly reading the panic in my voice and tearing off down the corridor.

I went back to the room and wrapped my arms around Cameron, holding her.

I quickly activated sensory perception, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what was wrong.

Cameron was taking long, slow breaths, and several times she shuddered in my arms.

"Nate, what's wrong?" Evie asked, as she burst into the room, Casey following closely behind.

I took a step back as Evie stepped in, and she took one look at Cameron before looking into her body with sensory perception, but it took only a second before she glanced over her shoulder at me, an uncomfortable look on her face.

"Uhh, Nate... could you-?"

I nodded quickly.

"Sure, I understand."

I headed outside, and to my surprise, Casey followed, pulling the door shut as she joined me.

"What happened?" she asked, and I bit my lip.

"Not sure. I woke up and she was like that on the floor."

Casey shifted her shoulders uncomfortably.

"Did you two, uh... have s-"

"Nate?"

Evie cut Casey's thought off, and I turned to her, concern plastered on my face.

"Is she okay?" I asked, and Evie nodded.

"She is, but can we talk? Uh, alone?" Evie asked.

I shot Casey a quick look, and she nodded.

"Uh, yeah... of course," Casey said, as she turned and headed down the hall and back into her own room, but not before casting one tentative glance back in my direction.

"What happened?" I asked Evie, and the girl shook her head.

"Nate, did you two have sex last night?" Evie asked, and I nodded.

"Fucking hell. Was it too soon, since the-?"

Evie quickly shook her head.

"No, no. That's fine. She healed perfectly from the birth, from what I can tell. But Nate. I don't think she's ready for another kid," Evie said. "She bled out to prevent herself from getting pregnant."

I stared at Evie, my mouth slightly agape, and I shook my head, letting out a sigh.

"Can I go in?" I asked, and Evie quickly nodded, but as I went for the door, she moved in and wrapped her arms around me.

"I'm sorry, Nate. I know it sucks that you lost the child, and I'm sorry..."

I nodded, allowing myself to feel the slight comfort that her warmth afforded me, before breaking off and steeling myself as I entered the room.

"Nate... I didn't mean to. Please, you have to believe me. I really didn't..."

"No, it's alright. I understand," I said.

I quickly moved to hold her, and as she rested her head against my shoulder, she quietly sobbed.

I stroked her hair reassuringly as we sat there together on the floor.

"I want my son back," Cameron said finally, and I sighed.

"Of course, you do," I said, brushing her hair out of her face, and she pouted a little.

"Do you mean like right now, or...?" I asked, and she folded her arms.

"Bring him back without leaving me," she said, and I rubbed the back of my head.

"Does that mean we're going together, or am I supposed to create a shadow clone?" I asked, and Cameron sighed.

"Tell me the truth, Nate... do you have a plan?" she asked, and I bit my lip.

"A general one? Sure," I answered, but as she studied me expectantly, I took a deep breath in before continuing; "the general plan is to track him down, get some intel on his monster friend so we know what it's capable of, then train a small team of fighters specialized in countering them."

"Who do you have in mind to track him?" Cameron asked, and I shook my head.

"Right now, no-one. I'll need to discuss it with Casey, and more than likely, even the trackers will have to get up to scratch combat-wise before we can risk letting them go out on extended trips out of the forest."

"What about me?" Cameron asked, and I felt a little twinge in my chest.

"What about you? For what?" I asked.

"Tracking. I still feel this connection to him... inside of here," she said, gently resting a hand on her stomach, and I swallowed uncomfortably.

"That'd be a pretty dangerous task," I said, and she let out a small laugh.

"Yeah, no shit," she said. "Who else are you thinking is going to accept the risk of going out there just for our son?"

"Uh, me?" I asked. "I'm probably still our strongest fighter. I'll lead the team, probably take Bianca... maybe Blair."

Cameron frowned, shaking her head at that.

"You'll be needed here, Nate. To raise up our new home and get things settled."

"Not always. I'll be able to go out. Sometimes, I'll have to," I countered, but Cameron shook her head again.

"I want my son back, Nate. But I also want a safe place to exist where he can grow up and have a decent life. You need to create that place while I look for him."

I chewed on my lips a bit as I studied her.

"I just... I don't wanna lose you," I said.

Cameron reached out, and rested a hand against my face.

"I'm sorry, Nate. But even if you keep me locked in a room, you'll still end up losing me. You know that, don't you?"

I nodded slowly.

"Can't I keep you by my side without locking you up?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Every single time you went out on those dangerous missions, or went off to pull one of those crazy stunts that've saved us time and time again; I've trusted you to come back to me, haven't I? Don't you think you can do the same for me?" she asked.

"As long as I know you're coming back," I said, and Cameron smiled.

"I am, Nate. I promise I'm not gonna just wander off and get myself killed if that's what you're worried about. I'll do this right. Training and everything."

Cameron moved into my arms again, but as I held her, my thoughts were conflicted.

Part of me knew that I should let her do as she wished and help her along wherever I could.

But the other part of me that wanted to keep her by my side was already working out some of the methods through which I could accomplish that.

Eventually, however, Evie came up with a washcloth and a wooden basin filled with water, and I decided to step away while Cameron got cleaned up.

The sun was up, and as I knocked on Casey's door, she quickly answered.

"Is she okay?" Casey asked, and I nodded as she ushered me into the room. "So, what happened?" she asked, and I took a deep breath in.

"We made the... perhaps hasty decision to try to have another child last night, and her body was not on board with it," I explained, and Casey clicked her tongue in annoyance at me.

"Again? Seriously, Nate," she said, and I sighed.

"She asked. Was I supposed to say no?"

Casey looked away, a slightly uncomfortable look on her face, before nodding.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Are you okay?"

I nodded.

"I don't want to push things, but... I think she might be moving into territory now that I'm not sure I'm comfortable with," I said, and Casey raised an eyebrow at me.

"What do you mean?"

"She wants to learn to fight so that she can go out and track Ethan down," I explained.

Casey bit her lip, as she thought about it, and I shot her a disapproving look.

"What?" she asked, as I shook my head.

"Tell me what you were thinking."

Casey bit her lip nervously.

"It was nothing," she said, but as I moved in front of her, and put a hand to the wall by her face, she swallowed uncomfortably.

"Please don't lie to me," I said. "What were you thinking?"

She held my gaze for a bit, before turning away, a slightly guilty look in her eyes.

"Fine... I was thinking that if Cameron's out tracking Ethan down, then maybe I could convince you to stay here, where you should be, helping us get started on establishing our settlement," Casey finally admitted, and I nodded.

"That's better," I said.

"Nate, you don't understand. I-" she began, but I cut her off, placing a hand against her cheek as I leaned in and swiftly claimed her lips.

We exchanged a few kisses before I broke away, and she rested her head against my chest.

"You're not mad?" she asked, and I let out a chuckle, as I took half a step back and looked into her eyes.

"I'll never be mad at you for being honest with me, Case. I might not always agree with you, but when we work together, we get a lot done. Don't we?"

Casey grumbled a little at this.

"Maybe if you were a little more agreeable, it would be easier," she said, and I snickered in response.

"And miss all those cute faces you make when I tease you? What fun would that be?"

Casey shook her head, before opening up her door.

"If you don't mind, we actually have work to do today," she said, gesturing for me to follow, but as I stepped outside, I chanced one more longing look in the direction of Cameron's room.

"Do you wanna check on her?" Casey asked, and I shook my head.

"Maybe later. What's on the agenda right now?" I asked, as we turned and headed down the corridor to the stairwell.

"The Accalians are settling in here for now. They can see to our captives for the time being, but we'll need a long-term solution for dealing with them," she said.

"We could offer the newbies a place with us, but the newbie-hunters will have to stay here until we know how to handle them."

"That's a lot of newbies, though," Casey said. "Are you sure we can take on that many right now?"

I nodded.

"Those who choose to come willingly, we'll take back to Grenze. The ones who refuse, we can keep imprisoned with the hunters. Or, maybe put them to work on keeping the fort running."

As we exited the fort, a Kobalt hunter began to approach us from across the courtyard.

"Frei-Casey, geschätzter Nathan," the man greeted us, bowing, and I returned the gesture. "A captive-God of name, 'Daisy', requests discussion," the man said, and I nodded.

"Thanks," I replied, and the man bowed again, before heading off. "Where are the captives being held?" I asked, turning to Casey.

"In the dungeons," she replied, and I eyed her.

"The what?"

"The dungeons. This is an actual fort, you know? We have dungeons," she said, and I snickered a little.

"Yeah, but... that doesn't mean we need to throw people in there," I replied. "Lead the way."

Casey led me a short way around the side of the fort facing the bridge, and to a stairwell which led to a kind of basement level below ground.

There were a pair of Accalians standing guard outside, but as we went in, I was surprised to find that we needed torches to even see, and the inside was as dank and foul smelling as you'd expect a dungeon to be.

"So, who is this 'Daisy'?" Casey asked.

"Hunter," I replied. "She gave us some info that helped me take on Leona, actually."

Casey eyed me skeptically, as she led me down a corridor.

"Uhh, let's see... the newbies are in blocks A and B, which I think are down this way. So that leaves us with here," she said, gesturing to a large door.

She nodded a little, and I sighed as I stepped forward, and with some effort, pushed the heavy, metal thing open.

"Hey, asshats! Could we get some more fucking light in here? Your torches suck fucking dick!"