Myra Fletcher (Barb)

Myra gritted her teeth. She hadn’t expected to be fooled by the 2M’s.

But it should have been obvious that the 2M’s weren’t just going to let all the people they kidnapped get away. And they had the money and the connections to make it happen. Myra and the others had suspected before that the 2M’s had connections with the police. They could probably have a precinct covering each of their bases.

“Could we raid the police station to free them?” Deen asked.

“The police had ComExos and drones,” Dario pointed out. “We won’t stand a chance against them. Besides, we don’t know where they are going. They could be going to the police station. Or they could be going to other bases of the 2M’s.”

“How about tracking them down?” Myra asked. “You can get the camera footage right Johann?”

“Sure, but it might take some time,” Johann replied. “Wherever the footage is being stored isn’t the same as where the traffic light systems are.”

“We can focus on the footage later,” Dario said. “We should probably get out of here first.”

“Uh, good idea,” Johann said. “Myra, could you seal up the hole?”

Myra nodded and started growing bark to cover the van's hole. It would still look weird, but probably a lot less weird than with the hole, and a lot less likely to be pulled over. She tried her best to make the bark look like straight wood planks, making it seem as human-made as possible.

Talking about weird, Dario changed the subject to looking for the hostages. Was he in on this? Myra had always had suspicions about Dario. Ever since Kelsey disappeared, Myra couldn’t help but feel that Dario was somehow responsible. Still, she didn’t have any proof.

Maybe the 2M’s really did kidnap Kelsey. Going after these kidnappees could be the key to finding Kelsey.

“Let’s get out of here,” Johann said. He started up the van and began driving back to their base. The white noise of the engine filled the van. Nobody spoke.

“The silence is killing the mood,” Reo said. “We should celebrate when we get back.”

“Celebrate?” Myra asked. “I’m not sure I’m in the mood for celebration. We should be trying to find the hostages.”

“Could be worse, nearly got my head blown off,” Reo said, pointing to the wall filled with Myra’s bark. We should be happy everyone made it out alive, especially with this being our biggest mission yet. I’m thinking of ordering a cake. What flavors do you all want?”

Myra had the instinct to argue with him, but she stayed quiet. Generally, she would snap back when Reo was being a creepy ass. Maybe nearly dying changed him. Nah, he’ll be back to his old annoying self tomorrow.

Myra took a look at Erind. She was standing next to Deen.

“Good job,” Myra told her. “You did pretty well back there.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think that’s what happened,” Erind said. “I kinda got knocked out by Slinky.”

“Yes, but you followed my lessons,” She said. “You tried to keep your distance and use ranged attacks whenever possible.”

“Sure, I guess,” she replied. “And thanks for keeping me safe when I got knocked out.”

“We’re teammates,” Myra said. “I’ll always make sure to protect you.”

A bit of guilt built up inside of Myra as she lied. She was the one who attacked Erind before. She shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions when she read Kelsey’s note. Without Erind, she might not have survived this attack against the Adumbrae with a Fedora or Slinky. I wish I could apologize.

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Still, even though Erind was a Corebring and had helped save her, it was a bit suspicious that Adumbrae showed up to help her. At the mall, there was the red-hooded Adumbrae who fought her to save Erind. The red-hooded Adumbrae saving her could have been just a coincidence. But, at the 2M’s warehouse, there was the giant werewolf Adumbrae. The same one that Stella fought near the 2M’s convoy. No way this was all just a coincidence. Especially when Ento was riding the werewolf Adumbrae. They had to be working together.

Erind was somehow connected to these Adumbrae. Myra didn’t know how much, but she did need to contact them. Whether it was the Professor or the 2M’s that kidnapped Kelsey, Myra wasn’t going to be strong enough to go against them herself. Of course, she did have Johann.

But Johann was a powerless human. With the help of the red-hooded Adumbrae and the giant werewolf Adumbrae, she might actually stand a chance at freeing Kelsey.

Now, how would she contact them? Should she go up to Erind? There is a high chance that she would just deny it. Just like when she met the rest of the artificial Corebrings.

She would just have to talk to them alone. At least the werewolf Adumbrae was friendly to her. It could have eaten her but chose not to.

That’s settled then. She would contact the Adumbrae working with Erind. Now she would just need Johann to do a favor for her; track Erind’s location to figure out how she’s working with the Adumbrae.

Amber Deen Leska

Why did celebrations always have to be with cake or pizzas? Why couldn’t there be a healthy choice for a meal? Like a salad. Perfectly good and healthy. Deen always cringed when she had to eat sweets at a party.

“Can we have vanilla cake?” Erind asked.

“Can we have some carrot cake?” Deen asked. Of course, carrot cake wasn’t really that much healthier than cake. But it was a bit healthier.

“Seriously Deen?” Erind asked.

“What?” Deen said. “It’s better than no vegetables at all.”

“Celebrating with vegetables?” Erind countered.

“We have to stay fit,” Deen replied, folding her arms.

“I don’t think a few calories is going to make a difference,” Erind said.

“How about we split the difference then,” Deen replied. “Vanilla carrot cake.”

“I feel like that is just carrot cake,” Erind said.

“Did you refuse to eat your vegetables when you were younger?” Deen asked.

“First of all, non-sequitur,” Erind pointed out. “Second, of all, I always made sure to eat my vegetables. My Mom rewarded me with sweets because I ate all the vegetables.”

Deen pictured in her mind Erind’s Mom giving her a platter of cookies right after Erind ate some asparagus. The scene caused her to laugh.

“Well, Ms. Perfect Child, then you should be fine with carrots,” Deen said.

“I definitely am,” Erind replied.

“Then I’ll reward you with cake afterward,” Deen said.

“That wasn’t the deal!” Erind said. “Also, you’re not my mom.” Both of them giggled.

Erind was the polar opposite of her when it came to food. Deen was a health nut. Erind had a sweet tooth. She made a note to buy Erind more sweets. She loved seeing her best friend being happy.

Her best friend… who was working with an Adumbrae. Deen couldn’t believe it. Why was Erind working with that red-hooded Adumbrae? Deen wished the 2M’s cameras had better audio quality because she couldn’t hear what was going in that room with Ento and the red-hooded Adumbrae.

Erind seemed way too nonchalant about that Adumbrae. Even if that Adumbrae saved her a couple of times, that didn’t mean she was trustworthy. What if that Adumbrae was just using her to get eat more? That werewolf form the red-hooded Adumbrae could transform into was scary. Its teeth were so large. And don’t Adumbrae become more powerful by eating humans and Adumbrae? What if the red-hooded Adumbrae decided that it wanted to eat Erind?

Deen couldn’t let that happen!

Besides, it didn’t seem that Adumbrae woman was interested in freeing the hostages. It just seemed like she wanted to fight the 2M’s for more power. Deen would need to warn Erind about her. Now probably wasn’t the right time. It would ruin the mood.

Back at the base, everyone was eating the carrot cake. But guilt began building up inside of her. Here she was celebrating, while all of those hostages were put right back in the clutches of the 2M’s. How were they even going to free them? They were way back at step 1.

Maybe Deen should have just stuck with them. But her Guardian Angel told her to split from the group. That was so unfair. It only cared about her safety. Not the safety of the other people.

“You look upset,” Erind pointed out, bringing her out of her thoughts.

“Hmm?” Deen hummed. “I was just thinking about the hostages.”

“We’ll get them back,” Erind said.

“How can you be so sure?” Deen asked.

“Because I have a guardian angel of my own,” Erind replied.

“Wait what?” Deen gasped.

“I was just joking,” Erind giggled. “But we found their base once, so why wouldn’t we be able to find them again?”

“I guess my failure is making me feel guilty,” Deen said.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a failure,” Erind said. “We wrecked one of their bases. And now there’s one less of them. And we got out alive too.”

Erind’s optimism was amazing. Deen smiled. She would make sure to protect Erind. Even if she failed to protect the hostages, she still had her best friend. And she was going to make sure that red-hooded Adumbrae would never take her away.