The Inner Circle

The woman sat forward, placing her elbows on the table and her finger tips together as she glared over her fingers at the man. "It has been 3 days. How much time does the man need in order to inform one family of a death?" She said with stressed patience. "Surely someone as hand picked with kit gloves such as yourself would have some knowledge of the inter workings of your commanding officer. Seeing that your group was the only one to come back without a death, but the only group with the utter lack information.. Your information for the situation would be most invaluable to our investigation into the matter, Beck." She said. Her eyes slid ever so slightly in Morrigan's direction in order to stress the point that Amaryu thought her useless. This brought a spot of color into the short woman's cheeks.

"Uppermen Shoemaker has yet to awaken from his run-in with the werewolf, his charge is as silent as ever and all I can get from his other ward's report, is that there was a cryomancer beating the every loving shit out of him. From what reports I've gotten from Former Uppermen Kerrigan's charge," She emphasized the 'former', "Was that there were several fights going on. I want your report, Cadet Beck." She nearly growled the order. "Make sure Commander Bray gives me that damned report. He does not want me to cause him trouble."

She stood slowly, and thanks to the step she was on and her heels, she towered satisfactorily over him. "Am I clear, Cadet Beck?"
 
At least Kerrigan is probably getting a kick out of seeing this, the soldier allowed himself internally while he steeled his exterior to the royal ass chewing for which he’d voluntarily submitted himself with a glib remark and non-answer to a direct and probably very legitimate question. It all served as a reminder for why detached assignment was leagues above being embedded with handlers, charges, and their politics.

“Entirely, ma’am,” he responded crisply, again eyes forward with the locked posture that came from receiving far more colorful and violent dressings of similar venom for the better part of his walking and breathing days.

Darius. Beck hadn’t spoken to him yet. His own healing and recovery regiment from an assignment, including one with as powerful a blow as he’d taken during his once-in-a-lifetime stomp of the shifter, had left him bruised and sore. Baths of ice water had steeled his skin, but it was nothing compared to the ice from this woman.

Beck fought back the hints of a smile, burying them deep inside. Between Morrigan and Amaryu, he took solace that at least the universe provided him a reminder that few assignments continued to pay dividends quite like his divorce. Good with guns. Not so much with women.
 
Amaryu's jaw tightened as she glared down at the man. He didn't smile. But she knew the urge was there, and that ate at her more than anything. There was literally nothing she could do to him to make him spill his information. Well, not within the appropriate limitations of the different divisions of the military. She kept her glare on him for several minutes.

"Kerrigan, you're dismissed."

Without another word, the woman left the room with as much dignity she could muster. "Praetor Beck." Amaryu clicked her tongue. "I've read a lot about you. I don't know why my higher ups hold you to such high regard." She said with a tad bit of sass in her tone. "Your commander will brief you, but you will be given temporary custody of the charge known as Zieg, until Uppermen Darius is back to 100%. Until then, your temporary assignment will still come from Commander Bray, but it will also be coming from me as well."

She turned her back on him. "You are dismissed."
 
By the time they got back to the Inner Circle, Orion's mood had soured immensely. He kept to himself, and while he ensured the werewolf didn't wake, part of him wanted it to snap open its eyes long enough to rip out his throat. At least then, this hell would be over for him. Alone in his room after having given his side of what happened, the redhead found himself unable to sleep. Of course, that was natural, but this time it appeared to be worse. He hadn't even bothered using his fairly decent healing abilities on his body, not caring at the moment about his welfare. It had been quite a while since he was unable to defeat his enemy, and that, coupled with what had happened to Darius, was wearing on him. Snarling as he tossed and turned, the twenty-five-year-old slid up into a seated position upon his bed and just glared hard at the floor, having had just about enough of the no sleeping and the shitty dreams the last three days.

"Find out the truth… question what you think is the truth…" The words from the disembodied voice ran through his head, bringing out more frustration and irritation.

"I wasn't being a coward!" He shouted at nothing in particular before systematically destroying his room. His rage didn't dissipate, and he was quickly moving out of his room and down to the training room. Ignoring everyone and anything in his way, Orion moved to the locker room and changed into his swim trunks before heading to the pool. Leaping into the water, he let his body sink to the bottom, and he clenched both fists against his side.

Screaming at the top of his lungs while beneath the water, Orion sent the liquid erupting out of the pool and into the air. He held it like that for a few minutes before releasing another scream. The water dropped back down in the pool, splashing around and soaking anything around the edge. He did that a few more times before exhausting himself. Dragging his body over to the steps, he sprawled out, glaring at the ceiling angrily.

"I am going to find you… and I am going to beat the ever-living shit out of you and make you wish you hadn't fucked with me…" Orion snarled as the water in the pool started to twirl. Clenching his jaw, he sent it careening at anything and everything electronic he could manage, still incredibly incensed and not thinking clearly.
 
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The ride back was silent from Alaska's end. She had a lot to think about, what with the stolen lighter and sharp piece of glass. The glass made her nervous, and it was a chore sitting still and staying focused. The lighter she'd hidden away in her secret pocket, but it was heavy enough that a search could reveal it. The glass, however, wouldn't fit, especially with the lighter in the way. On top of the fear of accidentally slitting her wrist if she moved wrong, it was a bit more obvious.

However, searches have been a bit lax lately, and given the state of their group when they had arrived, they glossed over her. Alaska received a quick pat-down of the obvious hiding spots, then she was sent on her way.

She tried not to rush back to her room as there was bound to be someone watching. Eventually, she made it, tucking the glass between the pages of a book on her bookshelf, and the lighter in the air vent and heading for a shower while they were still relatively empty.

Now, three days later, she still wasn't sure how either item would help her, but it was better than having nothing. She sat in her room, staring at a book but not really paying much attention to the words on the page. Sleep had been elusive lately. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the face of the woman she had killed. When she did sleep, she dreamed that her eyes flew open and she begged Alaska not to pull the trigger. More often than not these days, she woke sweating, trembling, and wondering if she had made the right choice.
 
"...you will be given temporary custody of the charge known as Zieg..."

Even though he'd been standing at attention throughout the rant thinly disguised as debriefing, the soldier visibly tensed further as the words poured from the icy administrator. That commander who'd enraged Amaryu with his lack of communication? He'd assigned Beck to be the fail-safe proverbial wooden stake in the last operation if something went wrong with Zieg. Now the soldier was tasked with holding his leash? Beck managed to unclench his jaw long enough to acknowledge his order.

"Number 204321 under my supervision. Acknowledged," he swallowed, the grave-rough word going down like a spike.

After he was dismissed, Beck turned and left the room, finding Morrigan still outside, like the other kid who'd been kicked out of the principal's office for somehow setting a classroom on fire alongside him. He didn't bother looking down and to the side at her as he picked up the coat he'd taken off before stepping into the office, throwing it over his shoulder.

"Are you two related?"
 
Morrigan didn't even look at him, glancing in a similar fashion at him from the side. She snorted heavily. "To her? No, if I was I'd probably would have hung myself before I was 15. She's such a bitch.." She muttered. "Walk with me. Please." The word sounded foreign coming from her, but there was something else hidden there. Was that genuine pleading?

She didn't wait for an answer from him, just assuming he'd follow. She looked troubled, which was also odd for the woman, and it took a few minutes before she finally opened up to him again. "Have you.. Have you had any adverse effects from the other night? Have you had any foggy memory, or loss of memory since being around Alaska three days ago..?" She asked bluntly, not even tip toeing around the issue. The usually cautious woman tap danced around the subject usually, as it was the way of the political advancement in the handler divisions. But something truly troubled her.
 
A little humility looked good on Morrigan, Beck mused to himself as he watched her take a few steps before he began to trail and follow. With almost a foot of difference in height between them, it didn't take long for him to catch up and stay alongside her, just as it didn't take the handler long to get into the reasons why she wanted the company. In the mix of all things, he'd almost forgotten that Alaska was the woman's charge given the distance between them in the mission. Still, there was an honesty to the question, the prodding, that seemed far too pointed and, well, desperate, to be anything other than genuine.

"Memory loss?" Beck had assumed Morrigan's lack of information handed up the chain of command was a product of injury, bucking an authority figure out of spite, or a combination of the two. The sincere lack of memory and the theory that it could be caused by the girl? That was unexpected, but a few puzzle piece did start to fall into place. "No. Nothing like that," his words were short and pointed, but not in the dismissive manner one would come to expect from a man that eschewed traditional conversation in favor solidarity. They continued to walk for a moment before Beck suddenly spoke up again.

"In fact...I remember...Ever had a dream that wouldn't go away? It's...like a memory, but stronger. Strong enough that you're walking around in it and can't get out. Like...you're back. Even if you don't want to be." Beck struggled to put the concept into words. He'd been swimming in memories that had been pressed down underneath layers and layers of orders, assignments, and protocols. He didn't talk about it. It didn't exist beyond the exterior of the duster and gear. But now he'd couldn't get out of the past again.

"You're the girl's handler. Last person that should have to go to others about her. Meanwhile, your friend in here just stuck me keep Zieg out of trouble while Darius is on the mend."
 
"She's not my friend." Morrigan snapped. Temper. She was losing her cool. Something was definitely off. She turned on heel and looked up at him. "I've tried to go to the upper ranks about Alaska and her potentially having memory altering abilities. They blew it off as paranoia and stress. Me?! Stressed! Can you believe that?!" She gave a loud "HA" at that.

"I was told to give you Orion for protection on the mission, but I decided to give you Alaska instead. I don't know why I decided to go against the call. But.." She bit her thumb. "I have large gaps of memory missing, Beck. Not just of last night. Random encounters. I'd find myself in the hallway in my bloody night gown in the middle of the night. I.." She looked at him again. "Are you absolutely sure there is no gap in your memory at all? None whats so ever?"
 
Beck wanted to be amused at the thought of the woman not getting her way, the person who was used to barking orders and lording everyone finding herself on the other end of being marginalized. That desire for amusement as she ranted about the issues -- not mention how shockingly easy it had been for him to get under Morrigan's skin with a single word -- vanished in an instant with the revelation that she'd changed the assignment on the fly based purely out of what Beck could only assume was fear.

Fear.

Fear of her own charge. Fear of the effects that might be happening that she couldn't prove. Fear of what might happen. Based on that personal feeling, she'd bucked orders and thrown what she believed to be a threat to her own mind and sanity at Beck to protect herself. Traded in her own charge on an unsubstantiated idea and so that everyone involved was dealing with an unknown rather than putting their best teams forward. Darius was in a bad way, a bad way that might have been different had it not been for that decision. And there were men in Beck's unit dead. Not directly because of what happened, but he wasn't about to give the benefit of the doubt.

Beck's eyes flared for a moment in silence as he allowed her to finish speaking. His mind was swirling. Ghosts of Beck's past followed them down the hallway, waiting for the conversation to end so they could steer him down the path to their own version a story long ago told. Maybe there were gaps. He'd be lying if he said he was entirely sure of what had been happening since the mission. He'd be lying if he said he didn't think that something might be missing.

But then again, lying didn't seem to both Morrigan Kerrigan where Praetor Beck was concerned.

"No," he gruffed. "None. I've got a requisitions order." He adjusted the duster over his other shoulder and turned off.
 
Praetor Beck
Medical Facility
It was a short walk from his debriefing over the medical facility Darius had been transported, so Beck was still grumbling through a clench jaw when he entered after his dressing down from Amaryu and the bombshell dropped by Morrigan in the aftermath. Truth be told, the soldier had been avoiding the prospect of seeing Darius as the dust settled from their mission. Didn't care much for hospitals for one, but also he'd needed some time to sort out the goings on in his own head. Now, his hand had been forced by the assignment to take responsibility for Darius' powered charge, Zieg, in the old handler's absence from the field. The gravity of the assignment had barely had time to sink in on Beck before he entered and wandered about until finding where Darius was kept.

Zieg was heavy on Beck's mind, but still the last figure he'd expected to see upon entering. It made sense when logic was applied, but logic was the last thing running through the soldier's mind at the moment. He locked icy eyes onto the figure. He seemed...smaller, somehow. The threat Beck knew him to be wasn't diminished, but there was something about this setting that cooled the normal tension. For a few moments, anyway.

"Need a jail break?" He asked Darius from a distance.​
 
Darius was up, sitting against the back pillow and grumbling to himself. His face was a tad shallow and drawn, his skin a bit pale. But he looked fit enough to walk right out and resume his duties. Zieg stood nearby, avoiding the windows as best he could. When Beck entered, Darius turned to face him and snorted. "Jail break if that means I can get decent food. These so called doctors keep putting me on this jello mush that tastes like barfed up meat in a can. And they call it healthy! Bah.." He grumbled, gesturing to his untouched plate. It.. Didn't look that great, all of it some vague color of mush.

"But something tells me you're not here to offer salvation or a smoke. And I don't have your keys, they took that from Zieg when we finally got here. Though I'm not sure how much blood ended up on the floor board. So what's up?"

--

Morrigan stumbled her way aimlessly through the halls. She wasn't exactly sure where she was or why she was going there. She had no clue what was happening to her period.

Finally, though, she found herself in front of Alaska's door. Anger flooded her. Engulfed her. Empowered her. The next thing she knew, she was kicking down the woman's door.
 
After what felt like forever, Orion collapsed against the floor, the water that had been cascading all around suddenly dropped down and splashed everywhere. He narrowed his eyes and slowly pulled himself off the ground. Leaning against the wall, he sighed heavily and glanced down at the band around his wrist. Snarling, he wrapped his fingers around it, trying to rip it off. After a few tries, he realized it was pointless and screamed, fist slamming against the wall he had been leaning against momentarily prior.

"I want this shit off me..." He murmured and slowly made his way out of the pool room that was pretty much destroyed thanks to him. He opened the door and glanced down the hallway, still irked immensely. Keeping the door open, he looked back and the pool and, without even thinking about it, swept the water back out of the pool and into the hallway, flooding it.
 
Even in his condition, Darius didn't seem to miss much. Beck didn't bother with pretense for the veteran handler, dropping the coat down at the edge of the bed and blowing out a hard sigh. God, he hated hospitals. Everything about them. The smells, the sounds, the -- the feel of it all was just suffocating in a way he couldn't tolerate.

"Fate and our superiors got together and came up with spectacularly bad idea -- they're putting Zieg with me until you're back on your feet again," he explained, for the first time lifting his eyes to lock dead onto the face of his new charge. All the time before he'd been keenly and acutely aware of his presence, position, movements such as Beck could keep up with them, but this was the first he'd sought out direct eye contact with the one that was now to be his responsibility in every way the powers that be saw fit.
 
Alaska felt the anger before moments before her door was rudely kicked open. She jumped, the book in her hands dropping to the floor as the empath blinked at the door to find her handler standing there infuriated. Straightening her posture, she plucked a piece of fabric from her pants and stared back at Morrigan.

Maybe she'd found out about the weapons she had hidden, or maybe not. It was hard to tell with Morrigan what was pissing her off. She dropped the fabric on the ground and bent to retrieve her book. "Feel better?" She asked, gesturing to her door.
 
Orion would find that he wasn't alone, though. He'd find a very lanky looking boy standing in the hallway, chewing bubble gum and listening to his tunes in his earphones. "You've made quite a mess of the pool area." He said, bright neon green hues gazing at Orion coolly. He had bright blue hair that was spiked back, but otherwise wore the regular uniform of a collared. "I really wish you hadn't done that. It really makes my shift hard when I have to listen to the overlords and fill out paperwork as to why some smuck got beat to a pulp."

--

Beck's words didn't penetrate right away. Darius blinked a few times, just staring at Beck flabbergasted. "But.. You're not even a registered handler..?" He asked quietly. "Oh boy.." Darius pinched the bridge between his eyes. Zieg stared back, blue hues cold and calm. There was no malice there. There was hardly anything there. The humor that had been with him the night of the attack had left again, and he was just as stone as he was before.

"Zieg, boy.. Give us a minute, will ya?"

Zieg nodded and slowly moved for the door, closing it behind him. Darius started shifting in his bed, looking like he was about to get out of bed. "I hate these damned hospital gowns.." He grumbled, trying to reach for his ruined clothes on the table across the way. "Grab my jacket, will ya?"

--

Morrigan stormed forward and without saying one word, she tried to slam Alaska against the wall. She would reach for the woman's throat. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?!?!!!" She screamed.
 
At the sound of gum being chewed, Orion slowly glanced down the hallway that was now wet with standing water. His red eyes narrowed briefly at the words and he just shrugged impassively, not in the mood for a lecture by another collared. It wasn’t that he didn’t think the male had the gumption to lecture, he just didn’t want to listen to it. His anger was still simmering and the redhead was fine and dandy with taking it out on the noisy kid if need be.

“Get lost. It’s not like they can’t clean it up… it’s fucking water.” His arms crossed against his chest and he slowly raised his middle finger, crudely flipping off the male. It slowly dawned on Orion that the individual was potentially threatening him and he growled low in his throat.

“How about you fuck off, you’re not going to beat me into a pulp, if that’s what you were getting at. If you don’t mind, I have things to do and need to speak with my handler.” With that, Orion surged down the corridor, intending on completely ignoring the blue-haired male.
 
Beck fought the instinct to strafe a few steps as Zieg exited, watching him the entire time he made his exit. Subtle, but noticeable ease of tension crept through the soldier's visible features without him in the room, at least until the permanent handler started making overtures towards a grand premature recovery. Beck raised a hand, stopping just short of push Darius back down onto the bed.

"Easy now," he beckoned before the handler gestured across the room toward what was left of the gear in which he'd been hauled back from the field, the clothing Beck had left him in unsure whether he'd lay eyes on Darius among the living. A few steps brought him to the jacket, grabbing it and tossing it over the man's lower body.

"I'm guessing you aren't about to fish out some cigars," he lamented, crossing arms and leaning back against the wall, casting a quick glance back toward the closed door just to be sure.
 
This is what she gets for playing it cool, honestly. Instead of paying close attention to her handler, Alaska was so focused on giving off an 'I don't give a fuck' attitude that she missed Morrigan's approach and suddenly found herself flung against the wall, a hand to her throat. "What?" She choked out, one hand grasping to try and pull the other woman's away.

"I don't know... what you're talking about!"

As a general rule, Alaska avoided physical contact with other people. Touch, she had learned, tended to intensify emotions. With Morrigan's hand on her, she was drowning in her handler's rage. She struggled to find her calm, to try and turn it back on Morrigan, but it was impossible between the all-consuming anger from Morrigan and the hand around her throat.

Desperate, she kicked her foot out toward Morrigan anything to get her to just let go.
 
The boy started laughing as Orion ran past him-- Only to find that Orion was now stuck in front of the boy again. He'd see what seemed to stretch behind the odd boy infinite doorways to the same vision he was seeing right in front of him.

"You're not going anywhere until you clean this place up. No one else have time for it. Best get started."

--

Darius grunted and held a finger to his lips for a moment before pulling on some strings in his jacket until a secret pocket came loose. He pulled out an old leather case and pulled one out. "I owed you one anyway." He handed it over to the man before pulling out what he was actually after from another pocket. It looked like a very intricate syringe with a murky black liquid inside. "Take this. I don't know why they're making a non-handler in charge of him but know this... Zieg has quite a bad name for himself, even though he's done nothing but follow orders since he came here. I've been around him enough to know he's not all what he seems. But this is what he gave me to stop him, even had me test it if he ever came to a point he couldn't stop himself from feeding on a human. It won't kill him, but it will make him bad off for a long while. Just plug this into him and push and within seconds he'll be down. Just be sure he doesn't know what he's doin', alright?"

--

Morrigan pressed harder, attempting to choke the life out of her. Consequences be damned. That is, until the foot connected with her ribs with a smart crack! She let go and howled in pain, her rage flaring up more. "You monster!!!" She half shouted, half cried in agony. Once she recovered enough, the woman took another swing, aiming a punch to the chin.
 
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