Demons 3 Draft 1 CH 13 (Patreon)

The room is large enough for the conference table there and the half-dozen people standing around it, as well as allowing more to move around them. I recognize the captain as the man turns to glare at me.

“I spent half a year hunting him down. I’d still be at it if you hadn’t pulled us out to come here and do bullshit recon.”

“Captain Humbert,” the woman says, her tone hard, “you are going to remain civil. You are the one who said that the only you’d be able to pull off this rescue was if you had an army with you.” He motions to me. “There’s your army. And not only that, but according to your reports, the demon with him was at least as effective as Derick, and that was while he was injured. From what I see, he’s in good health now. So you’re getting the equivalent of more than two armies.”

I recognize her, the timbre of her voice, her annoyance at someone else. She was the woman who was in charge the previous time Amanda needed rescuing.

“Colonel, if you want me dead, just put the gun to my head and pull the trigger, will you?”

“Don’t be overly dramatic, Captain. The previous time was due to an understanding lack of trust. Derick is here of his own volition this time, so it should mean our interests align fully.” She faces me. “Derick, it is good to see you again and healthy.” She looks at Claws. “Am I correct in assuming this is Claws in the Dark? He is the only demon you’ve been seen working with, but the last report on you is a year and three months old.”

“I am Claws in the Dark,” he answers.

“I am grateful for your assistance in this.” She turns back to me. “I wish you’d been honest with me about your motivation last time. We could have come to an arrangement that wouldn’t have required you betraying your unit.”

“You mean one what would have let you capture Claws so you could experiment on?” Captain Humbert’s snort mirrors my opinion of me having been in a unit.

“We wouldn’t.”

“That’s the only thing the army does,” I state, barely keeping my anger in check. “You hunt down demons, kill or capture them, so you can find better ways of destroying them.”

“That is a very misinformed opinion of what we do,” she replies, “but this isn’t the time for it. Once this operation is over, we can sit down and I can explain the role we play in the grander scheme of things.”

“I’ll rescue Amanda, again,” I state, “but this is the last time. You can thank Claws I’m even here. If I’d been able to talk him out of doing this, I’d be happy to let you handle it alone. Next time make sure she’d properly secured.”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” she replied. “Her new lab has been set up for months now. No one will be able to get to her there.”

“Where is she being held?”

The Colonel moves aside and a man places a screen on the table. Her assistant, I sort of remember, the thin blond hair being familiar. He attaches a keyboard to it and an image appears. An overview of a city, this one, if they aren’t wasting my time. The image moves until the view is angled, an older building, a dozen floors in height centered in it. Around it are smaller buildings, with taller ones in the distance.

“That’s Memorial Tower,” the man says as he types, moving the image so I have a sense of how large it is. It sits on an entire city block. “It was built when the city was constructed as a memorial to the arrival of—”

“Harry,” she says gently, placing a hand on his shoulder, “this isn’t the time for a history lesson.”

“Of course.” He types again and the screen divides into multiple views. Around the building, further away, with it always in the shot as a reference point. What they emphasize are the people, humans, not quite humans, and demons, moving about without obvious conflict.

If not for my experience with Protect and Moores, I’d say this is impossible. “How many people are in the city?”

“A lot more than should be,” Captain Humbert replies. “The evacuation order was given close to three years ago; before the sickness reached this far. Everyone was relocated, or so we thought. The initial assessment was that the demons had moved in, somehow after the area was cleared. We couldn’t find any evidence of it, but they’re demons, so it’s not like we can track them outside the cities. Then we noticed how many people there were. There’s no way to bring in that number of people without us noticing, so we had to conclude they just didn’t leave. And with no one else there, they took over the city.”

“Not the city,” Harry corrects him. “Only around Memorial Tower, the most recent estimate is twenty city blocks around it.” a new image appears, a map of that section of the city with blocks highlighted. It’s more a square than a circle, but it is clearly around the tower. “The numbers are difficult to get accurate, but we estimate there to be close to a thousand humans, with around four hundred of that in some form of guard-position. The rest seems to act as support. Most of the restaurants in the highlighted area draw power, as do a good number of the stores. If I can draw an analogy to old history, this is a city from the dark ages. The tower is the castle, with the surrounding area acting as residences, commerce, and protection. We’re missing the wall, but I suspect that’s because it would have drawn our attention to this area being occupied.”

I don’t understand any of what he says except the important point. I tap the tower. “That’s the most secure location in this city.”

Harry nods. “The distribution o the guards adds weight to that.” A new image, a map again, but this one with paths indicates, concentric with the tower at the center. “Those are patrols, each group is composed of eight humans, we’ve counted twenty with what we’re calling hulks.” The image of one of the near humans, too big muscles stretching their skin. Lumbering instead of walking. “And eight groups who also have a demon with them.”

Captain Humbert taps the image of a hulk. “What’s it feels like to know you’ve been outclassed?”

I ignore him, indicating the man standing next to the demon. “His arm, that looks like what you used to inject yourself.” The captain’s face darkens.

“Yes,” Harry says, “from all accounts, they have gotten hands on PFB-324, what the soldiers commonly refer to as Boost.”

“Or one of the black market variant,” the Colonel adds. “Let’s not forget we lost the monopoly on Boost some time ago. But it does mean that even the people can be a problem, on top of the demons and the enhanced soldiers Doctor walker has created.”

“They aren’t hers,” a new voice says, and I stare as Jason pulls the flap and enters the room, “I’ve told you that before.”

I look at Claws.

“I did not know,” he answers before I can voice my question.

“What are you doing here?”

“Doctor Gourd is here because I ordered him to be,” the woman says, and I turn my anger on her.

“What are you doing putting him in danger like that? He’s a civilian, he has no business being even near a potential combat zone!”

“Good to know you still care about my health, Derick,” Jason says, grinning.

“Of course I care! How could you think I don’t?” I point to the sleeve of his right arm, folded and pinned to his bicep so it doesn’t dangle about, empty. “You lost your arm to save me.”

He sighs. “And here I was hoping you’d grown a sense of humor in your travels.”

I narrow my eyes at the man. “This is not a place where humor belongs.”

“Humor belongs everywhere,” Jason protests. “And I’m here because with working with you for more than four years, with Amanda for twice that, and reading every report available on demon-human interactions, I’m the closest thing to an expert on this situation available.”

“Which you could have informed them by phone. There’s no need for you to be here.”

“Other than my orders,” the woman says, her tone making it clear she was in charge.

“You used me,” Claws growls.

“No one could find Derick,” the colonel says, “and we needed him here.”

Claws steps toward Jason and I see the fear on his face, but he doesn’t move. “You used me, Jason. You did not say, this was to get Derick here.”

Every soldier in the room pulls their sidearm, even the colonel who’s been calm until now.

“If I’d said that first, you wouldn’t have gotten him.” Jason’s voice is steady, despite his fear. “You care too much about keeping him safe. You needed to see the situation and come to the conclusion he was needed on your own.”

Claws shoves Jason away, and the man barely catches the item that slides down his chest when Claws pulls his hand away. “Derick is right. Humans enjoy lying too much.” He returns to my side as Jason looks at the phone in his hand.

“If you’re all down with the drama,” the colonel says.

Jason looks at me, pleading replacing the fear. I shake my head. This is of his doing. He broke Claws’s trust. He will have to find a way to rebuild it if that’s what he wants.

“As for your claim this isn’t Doctor Walker’s work, I’ll say the same thing I did before. She doesn’t have access to the same resources here as we provided her, so there’s no reason to expect her to produce anything resembling what she did for us. That doesn’t mean these hulks aren’t dangerous. Even more so since they seem to be fine working with demons.”

“Like her other creations are different,” Captain Humbert mutters under his breath.

“And if Boost didn’t burn out close to eighty percent of the people using it, within six months, we probably wouldn’t need to seek alternatives, but as of yet, Doctor Walker is the only one to have produced someone capable of reasoning. Unlike what you and so many others think, mindless soldiers are not an asset.”

“Then give me more people,” The captain says, “and I’ll take the whole damned city. Using these two guaranties Walker ends up dead.” He points to me. “He hates her.” Points to Claws. “It’s afraid of what she can make. Neither of them has any incentive to want her to live.”

The colonel looks at me. “Are you doing this for a chance to kill her?”

“No. I said I’d rescue her.”

“You lied before.”

“Claws was in danger. He isn’t now.”

She looks at Claws. “What about you?”

“Derick doesn’t want her dead.”

“But do you?”

“Yes, but I will not eat her unless Derick tells me he wants it to happen.”

“Oh, please tell me you don’t believe them,” the captain says.

She looks at him. “You have your armies, Captain, and your orders. Get to it.”