Ch. 06: The Morning After

Sam remained stern. He looked up to his father, who had been a fearsome and powerful commander that demanded respect, but this feeble thing before him? And this was all his fault. Their former commander before...

Etienne Montague picked up his cane and he limped around his great desk to speak with his son, "You remember, my son... It has been nearly 10 years now since my former colleague did this to me."

Sam nodded, "And after we were kind enough to take in his daughter, raise her, make her a soldier among our own ranks, our sole female operative."

Etienne coughed into his paw, "And this was his gratitude."

Sam held his ailing father, "May she bleed the blood that he should have. That bastard deserved to suffer. Now, what is it you called me here for?"

Etienne coughed, "Yes." He gave a firm stomp with his cane. Then, a weasel scout in a ninja garb came out. The scout got down to his knee and then presented a small black box to the otters.

Sam recognized the lead casing, "Is this...?"

Etienne nodded, "The same blasted stone that imbued Sinclair with her accursed power, which has allowed her to shame us, to outshine us, when she should have just been your bride. If not for this, she would not even have had the urge to fight like us. You can regain our glory, you must fight her with the same power, my son!"

Sam's solemn features shifted towards ambition as the box was opened and he first laid on this tiny sliver of energy. Without a word, he touched the stone as it had started to glow.

There was a flash.

"Aah!" The scout who had knelt before Sam had but a moment to scream before he was immolated in the pure shard energy that took hold of his body.

Sam fell to the floor, his right palm burning as the shard's entry point.

As he regained his senses, he screamed at what he saw, "Father!!!"

The scout had not been the only victim in the blast.

Etienne lay dead, his body burned by pure energy that had engulfed his son.

Sam shouted, "Guard! In here now!"

The two guards outside came in to see their leader dead, and the lieutenant in pained tears.

The otter growled in fury, "Don't touch me, my body burns... my father has died."

...

Meanwhile, Jacob, Jimmy and Matt were all waiting. The meeting place was a warehouse on the Corpus Christi docks.

All of a sudden, all three seemed to feel a surge rush through.

Matt barely flinched, Jimmy acted like he'd just climaxed, Jacob held his chest like his heart would burst.

The rat grunted, "What was that?"

Jimmy nudged the rat, "That's the feel of another one of us bein' born, compadre! Anytime one of us is blessed by a shard, the rest of us all feel it! We'll never know where, but we'll know the time."

Jacob felt the burning subside, "So, when it happened to me, you all must have felt it too."

The bat kept one wing wrapped around him, "Oh yeah!"

Matt sniffed, "It's certainly something to get used to, what you don't get used to though, is when one of us dies... now that..."

"Now that's a hell of a rush!" Carrie shouted, interrupting Matt's solemn moment.

The badger groaned at the roo woman who had just gotten here.

Carrie roughly grabbed Jacob, "Well, you don't smell like cum and your ass still feels fresh..." She joked crudely as she fondled the rat's rear through his pants.

Jimmy even didn't like his girlfriend's crude humor, "Carrie! Still upset about havin' to sleep without me?"

She let the rat go to confront her boyfriend, "I have no problem with sleeping by myself! What I have a problem with is you ignoring me for your new little boy toy here."

Jacob had to speak up, "Hey, it's nothing like that!"

The muscular female glared at the rat who just talked back to her, "A prisoner doesn't have the right to talk to his captors! And you!" She turned to Jimmy, "You have been getting friendly with anybody but me lately."

The bat groaned, "Where are you even gettin' that? I still go places with you, Carrie. I still smoke with you, hell we just got done fuckin' the mornin' before, if you happen to recall."

The roo shoved him, "And I still had to hold you down to make you finish! You don't appreciate me!"

Brody separated the both of them, "The two of you, settle your shit! This is not the time or place! The Marks is here."

As he had spoken, a long black limo rolled into the warehouse.

Motorcycles flanked the limousine like a presidential motorcade. The bikes were all ridden by Marksmen. They themselves did not have the powers of their superiors, but each was heavily armed with both firearms and melee weapons. Some had uzis, some had Japanese swords.

The four, Jimmy, Matt, Carrie and Jacob all watched the scene unfold.

The limo stopped in the center of the warehouse, the driver shutting it off before he got out to open the door for their boss.

Matt and Carrie both bowed, Matt pulling Jacob down with him.

Only Jimmy still stood.

The hyena driver stepped back as the large doberman stepped out of his fancy limo. The big brown dog wore suit which seemed strained against his upper body. He smoked a Cuban cigar, tipping his ashes into a tray held for him by his driver.

Jerome Marks had arrived.