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  "description_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'>Book 4 in the Raven Wolf series.<br /><br />Due to human negligence the world as we know it has ended and been reborn. The animal spirits that guide man giving them the forms of animals so that they would be able to survive in this new wilderness. Though now carrying the form of beasts man has not forgotten the place they once had, as an existence greater then just what nature wanted of them, an existence above all.<br /><br />Those that worked to gain their humanity are known as domestics, while those who wished to follow the rolls the spirits had given them were known as wilds. Both groups grew arrogant and hateful of one another, the wilds saw the domestics as selfish monsters, for they were returning to the ways that had once destroyed the world, while the domestics saw the wilds as primitive beings afraid of progress, they no better than wild animals.<br /><br />The raven and the wolf spirits grew tired of the destruction and fighting, and sided with the wilds in their ideals, the domestics only capable of further destroying nature. In their anger they marked a tribe of wilds with a curse, they being removed from the sacred circle of life, unable to hunt or grow their own food, their souls never able to move on while their bodies are unable to return to the earth when they died. The curse upon them only broken once the domestics are gone once and for all. The cursed tribe now known to all by the name of the spirits whom cursed them. &lsquo;Raven Wolf&#039;</span>",
  "writing": "[b]Chapter Eight[/b]\n\nIuana stands across from Kane as she listens to him, he having explained to her the situation he faced within the military. Iuana slowly beginning to nod her head to the things she was hearing, coming to grasp everything that was being told her and understanding the situation. “So… my father managed to get away and is safe… and he still hasn’t been found by the military.” Kane nods his head yes, Iuana continuing to question him on what he had told her. “And Teddy… it wasn’t you that took him… it was the other people that attacked the trials.” Kane again gives her a nod of his head. “And you… if you return empty handed… they’re going to kill you?”\n\nKane gives her one last nod of his head. “This is no farce, everything I have told you is the truth.”\n\nIuana eyes wander away from him, it was a lot to take in at once, and the confirmation that Teddy had been taken away by that unknown enemy was not easy for her to hear. “I understand why you would want to leave the military is they intent to kill you… it would be crazy not to leave… and even if your motives are not ideal I understand why you would seek out vengeance and come to Raven Wolf.”\n\nShe thinks this over thoroughly, seeking a peaceful solution what her father and she strove for. “I know you intend to join us because in our push for peace there will be fighting, and you want to take advantage of that, but what will happen if we-” She stops to correct herself, she certain that it could be achieved. “What will happen once we achieve peace? What will you do? And even when we fight for it, will you fight for the sake of fighting or will you fight for the sake of ending conflict? I need to know these things.”\n\nKane shakes his head with a smile. “Raven Wolf will not win. You will fight long and you will fight hard, but you will never be able to change the minds of the Domestics, and if it came time for war you would never be able to beat them.”\n\n“If you think that then why join us? If you fight so much for your survival then why join the side that you believe will lose?”\n\nKane explains his motives. “You and your people are stubborn, and you will fight to survive and have your view accepted, and your fight will never give you victory, just more fighting, until each and every one of you warriors is weeded out in the battles.”\n\nIuana turns away from him, not wanting to admit that to be the path her pack was headed down, Kane continuing. “I am a survivor, but I also know that one day I will die, and when I die I want it to be in battle as the warrior I was meant to be, I will not accept death as a punishment for anything else, especially my imperfections.”\n\nIuana is a little confused. “You would risk your life to fight for peace while at the same time believing that we will never achieve it?”\n\n“I fight for the sake of fighting, if peace somehow comes from that then so be it.”\n\nIuana scratches the back of her head, Kane catching onto this action and commenting on it. “I’m clearly not your ideal warrior, but I am a warrior non-the-less, and a powerful one at that.”\n\nIuana looks from Kane over to her warriors that watched them in the distance, her eyes resting on Eleven, both she and Tahki having joined Raven Wolf just as cold and just as cruel as the tiger had been when they had first arrived, both of them having changed their tune after being accepted by the tribe, Iuana looks back to Kane, perhaps if those two could change he could to. “You are indeed not an ideal addition to Raven Wolf, we seek for peace not conflict, and you have made it very clear that is violence and vengeance that you seek. I know that many will not agree with me… but despite all of that I would like to take a chance on you, but only on one condition.”\n\nShe motions toward her people, each and every one of them important to her. “You must take the time to learn what it is that makes us fight as warriors, to see why this peace is so important to us.”\n\nKane nods his head a little amused by the comment. “All I have to do is sit through a lecture then?”\n\nIuana shakes her head no, it not exactly that simple. “No… you will go on a journey, a spiritual one, one that will help you to find and accept yourself.” Kane lets out a laugh, Iuana reaching up and placing her small hand upon his large chest. “This is not a joke. You are a warrior that much is clear, but there is so much more to you than that, you just have no idea of what it is.”\n\nKane falls silent as he stares down at the small white wolf in front of him. “There is nothing else to me.”\n\nIuana gives him a smile, even if he did not believe it that was not the truth. “There is more, there is so much more that you will be amazed and in the end, you will be surprised that you did not see all of this about yourself before.”\n\nKane shrugs his shoulders, if sitting through some silly little coming of age type ritual was all that was needed to be done to get into Raven Wolf then it would be easy, he could make up some kind of nonsense in the end about finding his path and be done with it. “Alright then, do your worst to me. I would love to be introduced to this stranger that you say exists inside of me.”\n\nKitchi nervously watches Iuana and Kane speak to one another, though the two were clearly in the sights of him and the other warriors they were far away enough to keep their conversation from being overheard. “What do you think she’s telling him?”\n\nEleven crosses her arms. “What I wish she would say is no, and then give us the order to slaughter him before he is able to attempt to reach Yula. Knowing her though, she’ll think of some way to give him a chance, just like her father would do if faced with this situation”\n\n“You really think that she would let someone like him join?”\n\nEleven nods her head yes. “Her father has already allowed two Super Soldiers to enter already, he even allowed a military soldier.”\n\nKitchi clears his throat. “Security Guard…” Eleven slowly turns her head toward him, Kitchi shrugging his shoulders. “What? Teddy was always very clear on that.”\n\nIuana and Kane begin to make their way back, Kitchi’s body tensing as he begins to prepare himself for anything. “Well… here goes…”\n\nIuana walks past them heading back to her village. “Let’s get back to the village, there is much work to be done.”\n\nEleven lets out a tired and worried sigh, that confirming the decision, she making her way in front of Iuana and standing in her path. “Iuana please believe me when I say that you can’t trust him.”\n\nKane looks over to Eleven with a smirk. “I suppose I should find myself lucky that this was not your decision then?”\n\nEleven narrows her eyes at the tiger. “Very lucky.”\n\nKitchi lets out a sigh as he looks to Eleven. “Looks like I’ll keep watch over the forest on my own from now on… until that guy can be trusted I would really like to have you there in the village… after all you’re probably the only one that would be able to do something if this were to go badly.”\n\nEleven sighs to herself, Kitchi indeed correct about that. “I don’t blame you for your concern.”\n\n[center]*******[/center]\n\nChase lets out a tired yawn as he rolls on to his other side, letting out a mumble as he makes himself comfortable on the hard floor. The mink this time not the only one sleeping, Dolly, Shiya and even Fitz having managed to fall asleep as well, it late into the night already.\n\nFitz opens his eyes letting out a grumble, he slowly sitting up and holding onto his tired head. It was difficult for him to stay sleeping when there was a Super Solider in the room, he constantly finding himself waking up like this. He let out a sigh while leaning against the wall that he was near, his waking up every five minutes starting to get frustrating.\n\nShiya’s voice begins to question him. “You can’t sleep?”\n\nFitz looks over to Shiya, Shiya lifting his hand and waving to him as to signal that he was awake too. Fitz grinning while shaking his head and letting out a laugh while looking over to him. “Looks like I’m not the only one that’s having trouble sleeping.” He motions over to Chase. “I can’t sleep because of him.”\n\nShiya rolls onto his belly as he looks over to Fitz. “In my experience they’re really not as scary as you make them out to be, just don’t pick a fight with them that’s all, if you do you’ll lose.”\n\nFitz stares over at Chase, after everything he had seen while living in the labs it wasn’t easy not to be scared of him or any of the others.  “You didn’t grow up in a laboratory with them, if you did then you would know exactly just how horrifying they are.”\n\nShiya stands it his opinion, even if they were made for fighting they were capable of growing into something no different than anyone else you might run into. “Give yourself a chance to get to know them and they’ll be less scary.”\n\n“I don’t think so.”\n\nShiya holds his hand out to Chase as he soundly sleeps in his spot. “How is that guy scary in any way?”\n\nFitz looks over to Chase. “I’ll have you know that guy in particular is the scariest one I’ve seen. I recognize him you know, he’s from batch ten-thirty-three, you can check the mark in his ear if you want to see if I’m right, but I know that’s his number before having to look, and let me tell you, once you see a ten-thirty-three in action I guarantee you will be terrified of them.”\n\nHe leans back recalling what he could remember about the true blood labs before running away. “While I was there the members of ten-thirty-three were the absolute best out of all of the Super Soldiers. So good in fact that the True Bloods had thought they had finally gotten it right, any combat scenario that was given to them they passed with flying colours, one time they were even made to fight a rival batch of Super Soldiers, just to see how things would play out, batch ten-thirty-three killing their opponents quickly and without flaw, each and every one of them even though they were facing another group of Super Soldiers. They were perfect… until that fatigue problem reared its ugly head.”\n\n“You know they weren’t always so lazy, and I don’t know when that defect kicked in, I was already long gone from that place when it did, in fact I’m glad I was gone when it did, the amount of rage the True Bloods must have had was most likely immeasurable, and I guarantee that it was taken out on them.”\n\n“The fact that he can act so oblivious like everything that has happened to him was nothing, events that could easily be pushed to the side so that they can’t affect him. THAT’s what makes him so frightening.”\n\nShiya turns back to Chase, that indeed a troubling thought to have towards them. “True enough, but I still don’t see any reason to be afraid, maybe if he were on an opposing side I would be right to be frightened, but when they’re on the same side as me-”\n\nFitz interrupts him. “He’s a Super Soldier of the Domestic Military, that guy is not on your side.”\n\nShiya smiles back at him. “He likes Dolly, and Dolly is on my side. I doubt that he would do anything to hurt her.”\n\nFitz laughs while nodding his head. “Yeah, yeah I guess you’re right there.” He pauses for a moment thinking this over. “You know I never really thought one might show affection… I guess I just always assumed that they would be nothing more than perfect little soldiers. The more time I spend around them though… the more I realize how little alike they use to act compared to when I knew them before. I don’t know if this makes them less, or more frightening…”\n\nFitz turns back to Shiya, now beginning to question him. “So why are you still awake?”\n\nShiya stares over to the window of the room, the call for help still not having left his mind. “Earth…”Even though Chase had presented a very convincing argument Shiya still couldn’t help but want to respond. “The small tremors keep coming… they’re still asking for help.”\n\n“Can’t be an easy thing to ignore.”\n\nShiya shakes his head. “No, it’s not.”\n\nFitz pushes himself up getting to his feet. “Well, why not go check it out?” He motions toward Dolly and Chase. “Those two are sleeping so that can’t really do anything to stop us.”\n\nShiya looks over toward Dolly. “I can’t go anywhere without Dolly, if I don’t remain near her the bracelet she put on me will shock me.”\n\nFitz walks over to Shiya, kneeling down next to him and grabbing onto his arm, looking the bracelet over. “Interesting, her partner had this on him when I met them at the museum. It’s not easily removed you know, else he would have taken it off as soon as he was able to.”\n\nShiya nods his head. “Yes I know… I’ve tried to remove it on a number of occasions but have had no luck.”\n\n“It’s based off of True Blood technology, so of course it’s going to be a pain, but it’s not impossible.” He reaches into his pocket taking out several small picks that he would use for opening locks that might stand in his way, he getting right to work knowing his way around the device. “I know how to get these things off you know, took me a while to get the skill down but I had a lot of practice. I had one of these when I was a kid, it was around my neck though so it was even more difficult to break into.” There is a click as the bracelet opens, Fitz taking it off Shiya and throwing it to the side. “Alright, now that that problem had been dealt with let’s go check out that call for help.”\n\nShiya seems a little bit reluctant, even though this was something that he really wanted to do he could not just throw the warning the Chase had given him away. “What if it’s a trap?”\n\nFitz waves the idea to the side. “We’ll be careful alright, we’ll check it out from a distance first.”\n\nShiya nods his head, it not taking a lot to convince him to go through with this, he looking down to the still sleeping mink and wolf before heading toward the window the room, he and Fitz exiting and beginning to make their way through the foggy cold city.\n\n[center]*******[/center]\n\nVaan is back at military headquarters, the black cat sitting in front of his computer and working well into the night as he always did since the time limit had been added to his orders.\n\nMort walks past him while headed out the door. “Go to sleep.”\n\nVaan looks up from his work there no need for him to worry. “I’m a Super Solider, though not as impressive as the others I can still work a long time without sleeping, besides, I can’t sleep when I know that I’m going to die if I don’t get this job done.” He frowns looking Mort over, he putting on an overcoat to shield himself from the rain outside. “Where are you going?”\n\nMort stares at Vaan for a while, may people often forgetting that he would do this every once and again. “Home. To sleep.”\n\nVaan doesn’t seem to understand, it being more convenient just to stay here. “Why do you need to go home and do that? You’ve been sleeping here for the past few days.”\n\nMort nods his head, very well aware. “Yes, which makes for very grumpy pets.”\n\nVaan immediately stops his work and he stares at Mort in disbelief. “Pets!?” He tries to gather his thoughts, Vaan just not able to picture it. “You have- I just never… you really don’t seem the type to have pets.” He shakes his head it just sounding odd. “Is pets some kind of secret code for something else?\n\nMort shakes his head. “Pets is code for pets.” He finished doing his jacket up, picking up a briefcase that was near him before heading out the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow, and get some sleep.”\n\nVaan shakes his head as he gets back to work, still not believing it. “Pets… he’s probably meeting up with a woman or two.”\n\nHe suddenly stops his work when the screen on his computer flashes and the pictures and words changes to a series of numbers. “What in the-” He pauses for a moment to focus on the numbers, they not randomly placed and instead spelling out a message. “This is the coding the True Bloods use…” He frowns, though he knew that this had to be the work of the hacker the message didn’t make any sense at all, it simply the list of numbers corresponding to the Super Soldiers that had been created and their termination confirmation. “Why would she go out of her way and risk being chased to show me this?”\n\nHe stops talking when something on the list changes. “Unaccounted… wait what?” He looks at the number recognising it to belong to Kane. “Oh no… no, no, no this is not good…” He continues going down the list, finding his number, and then the mouse’s, then Chases.” He stops as he holds his hands on either side of his head, he not having to continue looking to know that they were all on there.\n\nHe picks up his phone to contact Kane but gets no response, he dialling the only other number available at this time, since Zack was gone and Chase never carried a phone because people kept stealing it when he would fall asleep, Vaan beginning to explain as soon as it is picked up, a slightly panicked tone in his voice. “They know Quincy! The True Bloods know!”\n\n[i]“True Bloods know what…? I swear this had better be important Berights or I am going to come straight over there and-”[/i]\n\nVaan looks back to the list. “They know that we’re alive.”\n[i]\n“That’s impossible, if they did then they would have come looking for us to finish the job.”\n[/i]\n“Well if they don’t that hacker that I’m after certainly does.”\n\n[i]“You found her?”[/i]\n\n“She’s shown up in the system again, but I haven’t found her.”\n\n[i]“Well then don’t waste time talking to me! Track her down and find her before she disappears again! She’s your target and if you don’t catch her you’re dead remember?”[/i]\n\n“I know but… her shoving this list in my face… it’s a little bit weird…”\n[i]\n“It’s a lead. Now follow it before it gets cold.”[/i]\n\nAlistair hangs up the phone on his end, Vaan worriedly looking around him, there no one else here, Mort having gone home for once, with no one having any idea where General Dmitri had disappeared to, while all of the other Super Soldiers were off working missions of their own.\n\nHe reluctantly gets to his feet knowing that if he didn’t act now that he would miss his chance, and the likely hood of this opening appearing again before his time was up was slim. “Alright then…” He traces the signal getting a location, typing it down in the portable computer that he used and then quickly heading out the door.\n\n[center]*******[/center]\n\nAchak hums to himself as he adds the last of the needed ingredients to a mixture that he is working on, he looking up from his concoction when Eleven enters his hut, Achak not getting the chance to great her as she makes her way toward him and begins quickly talking to him. “Please Achak, I need you to remain calm, do you think that you can do that for me?”\n\nAchak seems a little bit confused. “Calm? Calm because you think I’m going to get angry or calm because you think my everyday mannerisms aren’t exactly what one would consider calm?”\n\nEleven clarifies it for him. “Don’t get angry.”\n\nAchak takes a quick look around his hut now suspicious of the situation. “Did you break something while I wasn’t here?!”\n\nHis searching comes to a stop when Iuana enters his home, she followed by Maigan, his father Hasson, and a large tiger dressed in the uniform of the domestic military.\n\nAchak immediately recognises him as one of the Super Soldiers that had attacked during Iuana’s trials, the skittish wolf dropping the bowl he had been holding and backing away on all fours, his sharp teeth bared in a snarl as the fur on his back stands on end. “Get him out of here!”\n\nKane begins to chuckle to himself as he watches both Eleven and Iuana try to calm the wolf down, Maigan looking back to Kane and snapping at him. “This is not meant to be amusing to you.”\n\nKane shrugs his shoulders. “Doesn’t keep it from being funny.”\n\nIuana holds her hand out to Kane as she tries to explain to the shaman why he was here. “Achak please I need your help, he wishes to join Raven Wolf and to do so has agreed to the conditions I have set for him. I need you to guide him, and help him reach the spirit that is right now hidden from him.”\n\nAchak shakes his head no as he backs away from Iuana. “Oh no, no, no, no.” He turns toward Kane speaking to him bitterly. “You don’t expect me to believe that someone like him, who dared to desecrate and attack our sacred trials, would actually seek spiritual enlightenment? He lies to you to try and gain your favour.”\n\nKane lets out a smirk, Achak indeed having a point. “As stupid as a spiritual journey is, I am willing to do anything to get the Wild Princess and her followers to trust me.”\n\nAchak frowns as he turns back to Iuana. “See, he said it himself then. One cannot find the spirits if they do not seek or are at least open to them.”\n\nIuana nods her head already knowing that. “That is why I need your help. He needs you, our Shaman as a guide.”\n\nAchak’s opinion does not change. “This is the Solider that took your father and Tahki away from us! He does not deserve to be given such a chance or even heard out!” He looks from her back towards Kane. “If you want him to prove himself then why not have him give them both back?”\n\nKane holds his hand to his chest. “Unfortunately a request such as that would not be possible, as I know where neither of the targets are.”\n\n“They’re not targets you overgrown-”\n\nIuana quickly silences Achak before he could start throwing insults at Kane. “Achak please.” She pushes him back from Kane and the two warriors at his side as she begins to speak softly to him. “We need him. Not only will he provide great strength to Raven Wolf, but his alliance brings us closer to the realization of peace that I and father are working so hard to achieve. So will you at least try?”\n\nAchak frowns as he glances back at Kane, the condescending grin the tiger right now had on his face not helping to win him over, Iuana continuing to try and convince him. “I will have Eleven and Hasson to watch over you if this venture turns out unfavourably.”\n\nAchak lets out a huff of disapproval as he makes his way from Iuana’s side, slinking on all fours as he approaches Kane, giving him a good look over before looking back to Iuana with a frown, agreeing to go along even though he did not want to do this in the least. “Fine, but don’t get your hopes up, as I doubt that he will open his mind to the spirits. He looks more blind towards them than Teddy did when he was first brought here.” He looks toward Hasson and Maigan. “Also I want Maigan instead of Hasson. Maigan is bigger.”\n\nHasson frowns as he holds his hand to himself. “You know that my skills are well enough for this task.”\n\nAchak doesn’t change his opinion. “Maigan is still bigger.”\n\nMaigan and his father both seem confused, that hardly an adequate way of deciding if one was good for the job or not.\n\nIuana looks the two over, there no problem in filling Achak’s oddly reasoned request. “That is fine, you can have Maigan instead then if it would make you more comfortable.”\n\n“Indeed it would.”\n\nIuana lets out a sigh of relief. “Thank you Achak.” She makes her way toward the entrance of the hut, motioning for Hasson to follow her and Eleven and Maigan to remain. “You two keep an eye on him should anything go wrong.”\n\nEleven and Maigan both keep their eyes fixed on Kane, the tiger moving to the center of Achak’s hut and sitting upon the ground. “Well then, let’s get started oh spiritual advisor of mine.”\n\nAchak lets out a fake laugh as he makes his way over to Kane. “Don’t insult me by so eagerly jumping to the task when you have no actual intention of seeking out the spirits.” He approaches Kane beginning to lecture him. “I’m not as clueless as I look you know, you agreed to this not because it is something you can see yourself accomplishing, but because it is something you think will be easy to fake your way through.” He sits on the ground across from Kane. “You plan to make up some nonsense about finding yourself or seeing the spirits, surly if you recite a bunch of our foolish ideals and descriptions of the spirits and your journey that you can easily win our favour.”\n\nKane frowns, Achak hitting the nail right on the head, the scruffy grey wolf continuing to speak. “Well, let me assure you, Iuana has given me the task of being your advisor, and I am not so easily fooled by deceitful words woven together in hopes as being mistaken as the truth.”\n\nKane takes his eyes from Achak’s face, his eyes moving down to his shoulder, the mark upon it looking familiar. “What does that tattoo on your arm mean?”\n\nAchak frowns as he lifts has hand covering his shoulder and hiding the mark from Kane’s sight so that it would not distract him. “Do not change the topic!”\n\nKane points out the tattoo that was now hidden beneath Achak’s hand continuing to question him about it. “Forty Nine had that same marking on her arm.”\n\nAchak lets out a hiss at the number Kane had said, he recognizing it to be the number Tahki had been labelled with. “Her name is not Forty Nine, she is Tahki now. And that marking is a symbol of binding, she and I both share it because we are husband and wife.”\n\nKane stares at him in disbelieve for a moment before letting out a loud laugh at the information. “I never imagined Forty Nine would have such low standards!”\n\nAchak frowns bitterly while letting out a disgruntled growl, Eleven approaching Kane and speaking sternly to him, angering the shaman he was supposed to be convincing to allow him to stay not exactly a step in the right direction. “You do know that you need to impress Achak to gain his approval before Iuana will even consider taking you in, and though I may be stating the obvious allow me to tell you that right now you are doing a very poor job of that!”\n\nKane stops laughing as he looks back up to Eleven with a frown. “You are taking the fun from this.”\n\nEleven argues back with him. “This is not supposed to be fun. This is serious.”\n\n“Are you telling me you take this nonsense seriously? You’re a Super Soldier aren’t you? Surely you have more common sense than to believe this.”\n\nAchak brings Kane’s attention back to him. “This is not about Eleven this is about you. Now stop side tracking the topic.” He sits in front of Kane. “What is your name?”\n\n“Why not ask the spirits? As you seem the type that will not trust any answer that I give you.”\n\nEleven and Maigan look to one another, Kane clearly being difficult with Achak.\n\nAchak frowns in response to Kane’s comments. “Would you rather I call you by the number written on the inside of your ear?”\n\nKane frowns back at him, the number the True Blood called him by always a distasteful reminder of the life he and the other Super Soldiers has escaped from, Kane now answering the question he had been asked as to prevent that from happening. “Kane Swartz.”\n\nAchak nods his head pleased to finally get some kind of cooperation from him. “Kane then, very well.” He moves closer to him, leaning his head near Kane’s and talking lowly in his ear. “Tahki often recalls to me the memories she has of growing up as a True Blood experiment, they’re very frightful stories, and are very hard for me to forget. In fact I recall her speaking one time about a group of tigers that went under the batch number of Zero Zero Thirty One, one of the longest lasting of the first generation of Super Soldiers. The defect they were found to have quiet silly.” He motions over to Maigan, whom he know to be bigger in size than the tiger. “They would freeze on spot when faced with an opponent larger than them.”\n\nKane lets out a snarl while Achak continues. “You and your group were the laughing stock among the Super Soldiers that knew did you know that? Of all the defects one might have that was indeed the most silly and foolish of them.”\n\nAchak steps back from Kane, the tiger letting out a chuckle. “I’m afraid that you have confused me for someone else.”\n\nAchak doesn’t take his eyes off of Kane as he calls out to the large wolf he had asked Iuana to leave with him. “Maigan!”\n\nMaigan steps forward upon hearing his name, Kane slighting flinching at his advance while falling completely silent. Achak grinning as his tail thumps upon the ground, he rather pleased with this result. “I don’t think I am mistaken.”\n\nMaigan seems confused, he having not overheard what it was Achak had discussed with Kane. He looking to Eleven hoping that she had caught on and could explain, Eleven opting to remain silent for now.\n\nAchak makes his way from tiger as he begins to go through his collections of ingredients beginning to gather several items. “Now then Kane, who are you? What is it that you believe yourself to be?”\n\nKane is about to answer but is stopped when Achak speaks up once more. “Don’t bother telling me about how you are a warrior created for the single purpose of fighting. You are the third Super Soldier that has had to go through this so I already know all about that.”\n\nKane frowns. “Then you have put me at a loss of what to tell you Shaman. To my understanding there is nothing more to me, I believe this is why I am here taking up your time.”\n\nAchak shakes his head in disappointment. “You Super Soldiers are always so difficult…” He begins to recite the same thing that had been told to the Super Soldiers before Kane. “Until your spiritual journey has been completed I am stripping you of your title as warrior, you will not fight, be the battle from something as important as a war or as insignificant as a disagreement you are forbidden to take part in conflict, you will not watch fights, you will not speak of fights, you will not touch weapons and so help me if it could be done I would say that you can’t even think about being a warrior.”\n\n“What do you possibly expect me to do then?”\n\nAchak frowns, though that much was obvious to most people Super Soldiers were always so oblivious. “You live, experience life for what it’s worth, learn about the world and the people around you. The will to protect and live is what makes the warriors of Raven Wolf so strong, how can you fight to protect anything when you do not know what it is you are protecting?”\n\nKane sneers at the request, he reluctantly nodding his head in agreement. “Fine then, I can do that, it sounds absolutely foolish, but I’ll do it.”\n\n[center]*******[/center]\n\nVaan is standing within a filthy seldom used road in front of rather ominous and empty building, this being where the hacker’s signal had come from, the black cat looking nervously to either side of him, he certainly on his own with this one. He takes a deep breath as he prepares himself to go inside. “Ok, I can do this. It’s just a computer hacker, a little girl none the less. I may not be able to handle any of the other soldiers in the military but I can at least handle a little girl.”\n\nHe timidly takes a step forward, his pep talk though spoken to try and encourage himself wasn’t really making the task any easier, Vaan gulping as he opens the door to the building and looks inside, the inside that of an old and abandoned factory, rows of work counters lining the floor, a high ceiling hanging above them, everything dark and empty, there looking to be nothing else in sight.\n\nVaan slowly begins searching the building for any signs that someone might have been there, the building heavily covered with dust, that though no surprise seeing as this place looked long abandoned. He stops in the middle of the rows of counters, taking out his hand held computer and looking through the data on it to double check his location, this indeed the place that the signal had come from.\n\nA loud slamming startles the cat, Vaan looking back towards the door to the building to find that it had closed, probably from the wind outside. Vaan turning his attention back to his computer and checking his calculations again, he looking up once he is given results identical to the first time he had put the information into the computer. Vaan looking through his surroundings, his attention brought to the table top of a counter two rows across from him. The dirt on it looking to have been recently disturbed, handprints upon it.\n\nVaan makes his way over to the counter in question, the hand prints looked too large to belong to a child, but their existence was still intriguing, Van kneeling down toward the cupboard in the counter under the area where the dust had been disturbed, the dust on the handle of this door signalling that it had also recently been used.\n\nHe opens the cupboard door looking inside, finding a small phone inside. Vaan picking it up and looking it over, he not having to examine it long before he realized that this was where the signal was coming from. Vaan letting out a heavy sigh as he hands his shoulders. “This is a trap… isn’t it…?”\n\n“You know I was expecting you to figure that out sooner, you being an intelligence model and all.”\n\nVaan looks up from the phone he was holding in his hands turning around to look toward the voice, spotting a swift fox sitting casually on one of the countertops behind him. Vaan not sure of when he had gotten there, he not having spotted any movement or heard any noise, but no doubt the fox was not there when Vaan had first entered the building, he wasn’t so lacking in skills that he would miss such an obvious thing as someone just sitting on one of the counters. “Who are you?”\n\nThe fox answers him. “Who I am is not important. You see, you are the reason that I’m here, you are the reason I’ve been constantly tiring myself out by following the military day after day, you are the reason that things concerning me and my companions are starting to get compromised, and my friend, you, are about to fix all of that trouble by disappearing.”",
  "writing_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'><strong>Chapter Eight</strong><br /><br />Iuana stands across from Kane as she listens to him, he having explained to her the situation he faced within the military. Iuana slowly beginning to nod her head to the things she was hearing, coming to grasp everything that was being told her and understanding the situation. &ldquo;So&hellip; my father managed to get away and is safe&hellip; and he still hasn&rsquo;t been found by the military.&rdquo; Kane nods his head yes, Iuana continuing to question him on what he had told her. &ldquo;And Teddy&hellip; it wasn&rsquo;t you that took him&hellip; it was the other people that attacked the trials.&rdquo; Kane again gives her a nod of his head. &ldquo;And you&hellip; if you return empty handed&hellip; they&rsquo;re going to kill you?&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane gives her one last nod of his head. &ldquo;This is no farce, everything I have told you is the truth.&rdquo;<br /><br />Iuana eyes wander away from him, it was a lot to take in at once, and the confirmation that Teddy had been taken away by that unknown enemy was not easy for her to hear. &ldquo;I understand why you would want to leave the military is they intent to kill you&hellip; it would be crazy not to leave&hellip; and even if your motives are not ideal I understand why you would seek out vengeance and come to Raven Wolf.&rdquo;<br /><br />She thinks this over thoroughly, seeking a peaceful solution what her father and she strove for. &ldquo;I know you intend to join us because in our push for peace there will be fighting, and you want to take advantage of that, but what will happen if we-&rdquo; She stops to correct herself, she certain that it could be achieved. &ldquo;What will happen once we achieve peace? What will you do? And even when we fight for it, will you fight for the sake of fighting or will you fight for the sake of ending conflict? I need to know these things.&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane shakes his head with a smile. &ldquo;Raven Wolf will not win. You will fight long and you will fight hard, but you will never be able to change the minds of the Domestics, and if it came time for war you would never be able to beat them.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;If you think that then why join us? If you fight so much for your survival then why join the side that you believe will lose?&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane explains his motives. &ldquo;You and your people are stubborn, and you will fight to survive and have your view accepted, and your fight will never give you victory, just more fighting, until each and every one of you warriors is weeded out in the battles.&rdquo;<br /><br />Iuana turns away from him, not wanting to admit that to be the path her pack was headed down, Kane continuing. &ldquo;I am a survivor, but I also know that one day I will die, and when I die I want it to be in battle as the warrior I was meant to be, I will not accept death as a punishment for anything else, especially my imperfections.&rdquo;<br /><br />Iuana is a little confused. &ldquo;You would risk your life to fight for peace while at the same time believing that we will never achieve it?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;I fight for the sake of fighting, if peace somehow comes from that then so be it.&rdquo;<br /><br />Iuana scratches the back of her head, Kane catching onto this action and commenting on it. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m clearly not your ideal warrior, but I am a warrior non-the-less, and a powerful one at that.&rdquo;<br /><br />Iuana looks from Kane over to her warriors that watched them in the distance, her eyes resting on Eleven, both she and Tahki having joined Raven Wolf just as cold and just as cruel as the tiger had been when they had first arrived, both of them having changed their tune after being accepted by the tribe, Iuana looks back to Kane, perhaps if those two could change he could to. &ldquo;You are indeed not an ideal addition to Raven Wolf, we seek for peace not conflict, and you have made it very clear that is violence and vengeance that you seek. I know that many will not agree with me&hellip; but despite all of that I would like to take a chance on you, but only on one condition.&rdquo;<br /><br />She motions toward her people, each and every one of them important to her. &ldquo;You must take the time to learn what it is that makes us fight as warriors, to see why this peace is so important to us.&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane nods his head a little amused by the comment. &ldquo;All I have to do is sit through a lecture then?&rdquo;<br /><br />Iuana shakes her head no, it not exactly that simple. &ldquo;No&hellip; you will go on a journey, a spiritual one, one that will help you to find and accept yourself.&rdquo; Kane lets out a laugh, Iuana reaching up and placing her small hand upon his large chest. &ldquo;This is not a joke. You are a warrior that much is clear, but there is so much more to you than that, you just have no idea of what it is.&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane falls silent as he stares down at the small white wolf in front of him. &ldquo;There is nothing else to me.&rdquo;<br /><br />Iuana gives him a smile, even if he did not believe it that was not the truth. &ldquo;There is more, there is so much more that you will be amazed and in the end, you will be surprised that you did not see all of this about yourself before.&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane shrugs his shoulders, if sitting through some silly little coming of age type ritual was all that was needed to be done to get into Raven Wolf then it would be easy, he could make up some kind of nonsense in the end about finding his path and be done with it. &ldquo;Alright then, do your worst to me. I would love to be introduced to this stranger that you say exists inside of me.&rdquo;<br /><br />Kitchi nervously watches Iuana and Kane speak to one another, though the two were clearly in the sights of him and the other warriors they were far away enough to keep their conversation from being overheard. &ldquo;What do you think she&rsquo;s telling him?&rdquo;<br /><br />Eleven crosses her arms. &ldquo;What I wish she would say is no, and then give us the order to slaughter him before he is able to attempt to reach Yula. Knowing her though, she&rsquo;ll think of some way to give him a chance, just like her father would do if faced with this situation&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;You really think that she would let someone like him join?&rdquo;<br /><br />Eleven nods her head yes. &ldquo;Her father has already allowed two Super Soldiers to enter already, he even allowed a military soldier.&rdquo;<br /><br />Kitchi clears his throat. &ldquo;Security Guard&hellip;&rdquo; Eleven slowly turns her head toward him, Kitchi shrugging his shoulders. &ldquo;What? Teddy was always very clear on that.&rdquo;<br /><br />Iuana and Kane begin to make their way back, Kitchi&rsquo;s body tensing as he begins to prepare himself for anything. &ldquo;Well&hellip; here goes&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br />Iuana walks past them heading back to her village. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s get back to the village, there is much work to be done.&rdquo;<br /><br />Eleven lets out a tired and worried sigh, that confirming the decision, she making her way in front of Iuana and standing in her path. &ldquo;Iuana please believe me when I say that you can&rsquo;t trust him.&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane looks over to Eleven with a smirk. &ldquo;I suppose I should find myself lucky that this was not your decision then?&rdquo;<br /><br />Eleven narrows her eyes at the tiger. &ldquo;Very lucky.&rdquo;<br /><br />Kitchi lets out a sigh as he looks to Eleven. &ldquo;Looks like I&rsquo;ll keep watch over the forest on my own from now on&hellip; until that guy can be trusted I would really like to have you there in the village&hellip; after all you&rsquo;re probably the only one that would be able to do something if this were to go badly.&rdquo;<br /><br />Eleven sighs to herself, Kitchi indeed correct about that. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t blame you for your concern.&rdquo;<br /><br /><div class='align_center'>*******</div><br /><br />Chase lets out a tired yawn as he rolls on to his other side, letting out a mumble as he makes himself comfortable on the hard floor. The mink this time not the only one sleeping, Dolly, Shiya and even Fitz having managed to fall asleep as well, it late into the night already.<br /><br />Fitz opens his eyes letting out a grumble, he slowly sitting up and holding onto his tired head. It was difficult for him to stay sleeping when there was a Super Solider in the room, he constantly finding himself waking up like this. He let out a sigh while leaning against the wall that he was near, his waking up every five minutes starting to get frustrating.<br /><br />Shiya&rsquo;s voice begins to question him. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t sleep?&rdquo;<br /><br />Fitz looks over to Shiya, Shiya lifting his hand and waving to him as to signal that he was awake too. Fitz grinning while shaking his head and letting out a laugh while looking over to him. &ldquo;Looks like I&rsquo;m not the only one that&rsquo;s having trouble sleeping.&rdquo; He motions over to Chase. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t sleep because of him.&rdquo;<br /><br />Shiya rolls onto his belly as he looks over to Fitz. &ldquo;In my experience they&rsquo;re really not as scary as you make them out to be, just don&rsquo;t pick a fight with them that&rsquo;s all, if you do you&rsquo;ll lose.&rdquo;<br /><br />Fitz stares over at Chase, after everything he had seen while living in the labs it wasn&rsquo;t easy not to be scared of him or any of the others.&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t grow up in a laboratory with them, if you did then you would know exactly just how horrifying they are.&rdquo;<br /><br />Shiya stands it his opinion, even if they were made for fighting they were capable of growing into something no different than anyone else you might run into. &ldquo;Give yourself a chance to get to know them and they&rsquo;ll be less scary.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think so.&rdquo;<br /><br />Shiya holds his hand out to Chase as he soundly sleeps in his spot. &ldquo;How is that guy scary in any way?&rdquo;<br /><br />Fitz looks over to Chase. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have you know that guy in particular is the scariest one I&rsquo;ve seen. I recognize him you know, he&rsquo;s from batch ten-thirty-three, you can check the mark in his ear if you want to see if I&rsquo;m right, but I know that&rsquo;s his number before having to look, and let me tell you, once you see a ten-thirty-three in action I guarantee you will be terrified of them.&rdquo;<br /><br />He leans back recalling what he could remember about the true blood labs before running away. &ldquo;While I was there the members of ten-thirty-three were the absolute best out of all of the Super Soldiers. So good in fact that the True Bloods had thought they had finally gotten it right, any combat scenario that was given to them they passed with flying colours, one time they were even made to fight a rival batch of Super Soldiers, just to see how things would play out, batch ten-thirty-three killing their opponents quickly and without flaw, each and every one of them even though they were facing another group of Super Soldiers. They were perfect&hellip; until that fatigue problem reared its ugly head.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;You know they weren&rsquo;t always so lazy, and I don&rsquo;t know when that defect kicked in, I was already long gone from that place when it did, in fact I&rsquo;m glad I was gone when it did, the amount of rage the True Bloods must have had was most likely immeasurable, and I guarantee that it was taken out on them.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;The fact that he can act so oblivious like everything that has happened to him was nothing, events that could easily be pushed to the side so that they can&rsquo;t affect him. THAT&rsquo;s what makes him so frightening.&rdquo;<br /><br />Shiya turns back to Chase, that indeed a troubling thought to have towards them. &ldquo;True enough, but I still don&rsquo;t see any reason to be afraid, maybe if he were on an opposing side I would be right to be frightened, but when they&rsquo;re on the same side as me-&rdquo;<br /><br />Fitz interrupts him. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a Super Soldier of the Domestic Military, that guy is not on your side.&rdquo;<br /><br />Shiya smiles back at him. &ldquo;He likes Dolly, and Dolly is on my side. I doubt that he would do anything to hurt her.&rdquo;<br /><br />Fitz laughs while nodding his head. &ldquo;Yeah, yeah I guess you&rsquo;re right there.&rdquo; He pauses for a moment thinking this over. &ldquo;You know I never really thought one might show affection&hellip; I guess I just always assumed that they would be nothing more than perfect little soldiers. The more time I spend around them though&hellip; the more I realize how little alike they use to act compared to when I knew them before. I don&rsquo;t know if this makes them less, or more frightening&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br />Fitz turns back to Shiya, now beginning to question him. &ldquo;So why are you still awake?&rdquo;<br /><br />Shiya stares over to the window of the room, the call for help still not having left his mind. &ldquo;Earth&hellip;&rdquo;Even though Chase had presented a very convincing argument Shiya still couldn&rsquo;t help but want to respond. &ldquo;The small tremors keep coming&hellip; they&rsquo;re still asking for help.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t be an easy thing to ignore.&rdquo;<br /><br />Shiya shakes his head. &ldquo;No, it&rsquo;s not.&rdquo;<br /><br />Fitz pushes himself up getting to his feet. &ldquo;Well, why not go check it out?&rdquo; He motions toward Dolly and Chase. &ldquo;Those two are sleeping so that can&rsquo;t really do anything to stop us.&rdquo;<br /><br />Shiya looks over toward Dolly. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t go anywhere without Dolly, if I don&rsquo;t remain near her the bracelet she put on me will shock me.&rdquo;<br /><br />Fitz walks over to Shiya, kneeling down next to him and grabbing onto his arm, looking the bracelet over. &ldquo;Interesting, her partner had this on him when I met them at the museum. It&rsquo;s not easily removed you know, else he would have taken it off as soon as he was able to.&rdquo;<br /><br />Shiya nods his head. &ldquo;Yes I know&hellip; I&rsquo;ve tried to remove it on a number of occasions but have had no luck.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;It&rsquo;s based off of True Blood technology, so of course it&rsquo;s going to be a pain, but it&rsquo;s not impossible.&rdquo; He reaches into his pocket taking out several small picks that he would use for opening locks that might stand in his way, he getting right to work knowing his way around the device. &ldquo;I know how to get these things off you know, took me a while to get the skill down but I had a lot of practice. I had one of these when I was a kid, it was around my neck though so it was even more difficult to break into.&rdquo; There is a click as the bracelet opens, Fitz taking it off Shiya and throwing it to the side. &ldquo;Alright, now that that problem had been dealt with let&rsquo;s go check out that call for help.&rdquo;<br /><br />Shiya seems a little bit reluctant, even though this was something that he really wanted to do he could not just throw the warning the Chase had given him away. &ldquo;What if it&rsquo;s a trap?&rdquo;<br /><br />Fitz waves the idea to the side. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be careful alright, we&rsquo;ll check it out from a distance first.&rdquo;<br /><br />Shiya nods his head, it not taking a lot to convince him to go through with this, he looking down to the still sleeping mink and wolf before heading toward the window the room, he and Fitz exiting and beginning to make their way through the foggy cold city.<br /><br /><div class='align_center'>*******</div><br /><br />Vaan is back at military headquarters, the black cat sitting in front of his computer and working well into the night as he always did since the time limit had been added to his orders.<br /><br />Mort walks past him while headed out the door. &ldquo;Go to sleep.&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaan looks up from his work there no need for him to worry. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a Super Solider, though not as impressive as the others I can still work a long time without sleeping, besides, I can&rsquo;t sleep when I know that I&rsquo;m going to die if I don&rsquo;t get this job done.&rdquo; He frowns looking Mort over, he putting on an overcoat to shield himself from the rain outside. &ldquo;Where are you going?&rdquo;<br /><br />Mort stares at Vaan for a while, may people often forgetting that he would do this every once and again. &ldquo;Home. To sleep.&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaan doesn&rsquo;t seem to understand, it being more convenient just to stay here. &ldquo;Why do you need to go home and do that? You&rsquo;ve been sleeping here for the past few days.&rdquo;<br /><br />Mort nods his head, very well aware. &ldquo;Yes, which makes for very grumpy pets.&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaan immediately stops his work and he stares at Mort in disbelief. &ldquo;Pets!?&rdquo; He tries to gather his thoughts, Vaan just not able to picture it. &ldquo;You have- I just never&hellip; you really don&rsquo;t seem the type to have pets.&rdquo; He shakes his head it just sounding odd. &ldquo;Is pets some kind of secret code for something else?<br /><br />Mort shakes his head. &ldquo;Pets is code for pets.&rdquo; He finished doing his jacket up, picking up a briefcase that was near him before heading out the door. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll see you tomorrow, and get some sleep.&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaan shakes his head as he gets back to work, still not believing it. &ldquo;Pets&hellip; he&rsquo;s probably meeting up with a woman or two.&rdquo;<br /><br />He suddenly stops his work when the screen on his computer flashes and the pictures and words changes to a series of numbers. &ldquo;What in the-&rdquo; He pauses for a moment to focus on the numbers, they not randomly placed and instead spelling out a message. &ldquo;This is the coding the True Bloods use&hellip;&rdquo; He frowns, though he knew that this had to be the work of the hacker the message didn&rsquo;t make any sense at all, it simply the list of numbers corresponding to the Super Soldiers that had been created and their termination confirmation. &ldquo;Why would she go out of her way and risk being chased to show me this?&rdquo;<br /><br />He stops talking when something on the list changes. &ldquo;Unaccounted&hellip; wait what?&rdquo; He looks at the number recognising it to belong to Kane. &ldquo;Oh no&hellip; no, no, no this is not good&hellip;&rdquo; He continues going down the list, finding his number, and then the mouse&rsquo;s, then Chases.&rdquo; He stops as he holds his hands on either side of his head, he not having to continue looking to know that they were all on there.<br /><br />He picks up his phone to contact Kane but gets no response, he dialling the only other number available at this time, since Zack was gone and Chase never carried a phone because people kept stealing it when he would fall asleep, Vaan beginning to explain as soon as it is picked up, a slightly panicked tone in his voice. &ldquo;They know Quincy! The True Bloods know!&rdquo;<br /><br /><em>&ldquo;True Bloods know what&hellip;? I swear this had better be important Berights or I am going to come straight over there and-&rdquo;</em><br /><br />Vaan looks back to the list. &ldquo;They know that we&rsquo;re alive.&rdquo;<br /><em><br />&ldquo;That&rsquo;s impossible, if they did then they would have come looking for us to finish the job.&rdquo;<br /></em><br />&ldquo;Well if they don&rsquo;t that hacker that I&rsquo;m after certainly does.&rdquo;<br /><br /><em>&ldquo;You found her?&rdquo;</em><br /><br />&ldquo;She&rsquo;s shown up in the system again, but I haven&rsquo;t found her.&rdquo;<br /><br /><em>&ldquo;Well then don&rsquo;t waste time talking to me! Track her down and find her before she disappears again! She&rsquo;s your target and if you don&rsquo;t catch her you&rsquo;re dead remember?&rdquo;</em><br /><br />&ldquo;I know but&hellip; her shoving this list in my face&hellip; it&rsquo;s a little bit weird&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><em><br />&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lead. Now follow it before it gets cold.&rdquo;</em><br /><br />Alistair hangs up the phone on his end, Vaan worriedly looking around him, there no one else here, Mort having gone home for once, with no one having any idea where General Dmitri had disappeared to, while all of the other Super Soldiers were off working missions of their own.<br /><br />He reluctantly gets to his feet knowing that if he didn&rsquo;t act now that he would miss his chance, and the likely hood of this opening appearing again before his time was up was slim. &ldquo;Alright then&hellip;&rdquo; He traces the signal getting a location, typing it down in the portable computer that he used and then quickly heading out the door.<br /><br /><div class='align_center'>*******</div><br /><br />Achak hums to himself as he adds the last of the needed ingredients to a mixture that he is working on, he looking up from his concoction when Eleven enters his hut, Achak not getting the chance to great her as she makes her way toward him and begins quickly talking to him. &ldquo;Please Achak, I need you to remain calm, do you think that you can do that for me?&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak seems a little bit confused. &ldquo;Calm? Calm because you think I&rsquo;m going to get angry or calm because you think my everyday mannerisms aren&rsquo;t exactly what one would consider calm?&rdquo;<br /><br />Eleven clarifies it for him. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t get angry.&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak takes a quick look around his hut now suspicious of the situation. &ldquo;Did you break something while I wasn&rsquo;t here?!&rdquo;<br /><br />His searching comes to a stop when Iuana enters his home, she followed by Maigan, his father Hasson, and a large tiger dressed in the uniform of the domestic military.<br /><br />Achak immediately recognises him as one of the Super Soldiers that had attacked during Iuana&rsquo;s trials, the skittish wolf dropping the bowl he had been holding and backing away on all fours, his sharp teeth bared in a snarl as the fur on his back stands on end. &ldquo;Get him out of here!&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane begins to chuckle to himself as he watches both Eleven and Iuana try to calm the wolf down, Maigan looking back to Kane and snapping at him. &ldquo;This is not meant to be amusing to you.&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane shrugs his shoulders. &ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t keep it from being funny.&rdquo;<br /><br />Iuana holds her hand out to Kane as she tries to explain to the shaman why he was here. &ldquo;Achak please I need your help, he wishes to join Raven Wolf and to do so has agreed to the conditions I have set for him. I need you to guide him, and help him reach the spirit that is right now hidden from him.&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak shakes his head no as he backs away from Iuana. &ldquo;Oh no, no, no, no.&rdquo; He turns toward Kane speaking to him bitterly. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t expect me to believe that someone like him, who dared to desecrate and attack our sacred trials, would actually seek spiritual enlightenment? He lies to you to try and gain your favour.&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane lets out a smirk, Achak indeed having a point. &ldquo;As stupid as a spiritual journey is, I am willing to do anything to get the Wild Princess and her followers to trust me.&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak frowns as he turns back to Iuana. &ldquo;See, he said it himself then. One cannot find the spirits if they do not seek or are at least open to them.&rdquo;<br /><br />Iuana nods her head already knowing that. &ldquo;That is why I need your help. He needs you, our Shaman as a guide.&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak&rsquo;s opinion does not change. &ldquo;This is the Solider that took your father and Tahki away from us! He does not deserve to be given such a chance or even heard out!&rdquo; He looks from her back towards Kane. &ldquo;If you want him to prove himself then why not have him give them both back?&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane holds his hand to his chest. &ldquo;Unfortunately a request such as that would not be possible, as I know where neither of the targets are.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;They&rsquo;re not targets you overgrown-&rdquo;<br /><br />Iuana quickly silences Achak before he could start throwing insults at Kane. &ldquo;Achak please.&rdquo; She pushes him back from Kane and the two warriors at his side as she begins to speak softly to him. &ldquo;We need him. Not only will he provide great strength to Raven Wolf, but his alliance brings us closer to the realization of peace that I and father are working so hard to achieve. So will you at least try?&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak frowns as he glances back at Kane, the condescending grin the tiger right now had on his face not helping to win him over, Iuana continuing to try and convince him. &ldquo;I will have Eleven and Hasson to watch over you if this venture turns out unfavourably.&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak lets out a huff of disapproval as he makes his way from Iuana&rsquo;s side, slinking on all fours as he approaches Kane, giving him a good look over before looking back to Iuana with a frown, agreeing to go along even though he did not want to do this in the least. &ldquo;Fine, but don&rsquo;t get your hopes up, as I doubt that he will open his mind to the spirits. He looks more blind towards them than Teddy did when he was first brought here.&rdquo; He looks toward Hasson and Maigan. &ldquo;Also I want Maigan instead of Hasson. Maigan is bigger.&rdquo;<br /><br />Hasson frowns as he holds his hand to himself. &ldquo;You know that my skills are well enough for this task.&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak doesn&rsquo;t change his opinion. &ldquo;Maigan is still bigger.&rdquo;<br /><br />Maigan and his father both seem confused, that hardly an adequate way of deciding if one was good for the job or not.<br /><br />Iuana looks the two over, there no problem in filling Achak&rsquo;s oddly reasoned request. &ldquo;That is fine, you can have Maigan instead then if it would make you more comfortable.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Indeed it would.&rdquo;<br /><br />Iuana lets out a sigh of relief. &ldquo;Thank you Achak.&rdquo; She makes her way toward the entrance of the hut, motioning for Hasson to follow her and Eleven and Maigan to remain. &ldquo;You two keep an eye on him should anything go wrong.&rdquo;<br /><br />Eleven and Maigan both keep their eyes fixed on Kane, the tiger moving to the center of Achak&rsquo;s hut and sitting upon the ground. &ldquo;Well then, let&rsquo;s get started oh spiritual advisor of mine.&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak lets out a fake laugh as he makes his way over to Kane. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t insult me by so eagerly jumping to the task when you have no actual intention of seeking out the spirits.&rdquo; He approaches Kane beginning to lecture him. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not as clueless as I look you know, you agreed to this not because it is something you can see yourself accomplishing, but because it is something you think will be easy to fake your way through.&rdquo; He sits on the ground across from Kane. &ldquo;You plan to make up some nonsense about finding yourself or seeing the spirits, surly if you recite a bunch of our foolish ideals and descriptions of the spirits and your journey that you can easily win our favour.&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane frowns, Achak hitting the nail right on the head, the scruffy grey wolf continuing to speak. &ldquo;Well, let me assure you, Iuana has given me the task of being your advisor, and I am not so easily fooled by deceitful words woven together in hopes as being mistaken as the truth.&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane takes his eyes from Achak&rsquo;s face, his eyes moving down to his shoulder, the mark upon it looking familiar. &ldquo;What does that tattoo on your arm mean?&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak frowns as he lifts has hand covering his shoulder and hiding the mark from Kane&rsquo;s sight so that it would not distract him. &ldquo;Do not change the topic!&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane points out the tattoo that was now hidden beneath Achak&rsquo;s hand continuing to question him about it. &ldquo;Forty Nine had that same marking on her arm.&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak lets out a hiss at the number Kane had said, he recognizing it to be the number Tahki had been labelled with. &ldquo;Her name is not Forty Nine, she is Tahki now. And that marking is a symbol of binding, she and I both share it because we are husband and wife.&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane stares at him in disbelieve for a moment before letting out a loud laugh at the information. &ldquo;I never imagined Forty Nine would have such low standards!&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak frowns bitterly while letting out a disgruntled growl, Eleven approaching Kane and speaking sternly to him, angering the shaman he was supposed to be convincing to allow him to stay not exactly a step in the right direction. &ldquo;You do know that you need to impress Achak to gain his approval before Iuana will even consider taking you in, and though I may be stating the obvious allow me to tell you that right now you are doing a very poor job of that!&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane stops laughing as he looks back up to Eleven with a frown. &ldquo;You are taking the fun from this.&rdquo;<br /><br />Eleven argues back with him. &ldquo;This is not supposed to be fun. This is serious.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Are you telling me you take this nonsense seriously? You&rsquo;re a Super Soldier aren&rsquo;t you? Surely you have more common sense than to believe this.&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak brings Kane&rsquo;s attention back to him. &ldquo;This is not about Eleven this is about you. Now stop side tracking the topic.&rdquo; He sits in front of Kane. &ldquo;What is your name?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Why not ask the spirits? As you seem the type that will not trust any answer that I give you.&rdquo;<br /><br />Eleven and Maigan look to one another, Kane clearly being difficult with Achak.<br /><br />Achak frowns in response to Kane&rsquo;s comments. &ldquo;Would you rather I call you by the number written on the inside of your ear?&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane frowns back at him, the number the True Blood called him by always a distasteful reminder of the life he and the other Super Soldiers has escaped from, Kane now answering the question he had been asked as to prevent that from happening. &ldquo;Kane Swartz.&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak nods his head pleased to finally get some kind of cooperation from him. &ldquo;Kane then, very well.&rdquo; He moves closer to him, leaning his head near Kane&rsquo;s and talking lowly in his ear. &ldquo;Tahki often recalls to me the memories she has of growing up as a True Blood experiment, they&rsquo;re very frightful stories, and are very hard for me to forget. In fact I recall her speaking one time about a group of tigers that went under the batch number of Zero Zero Thirty One, one of the longest lasting of the first generation of Super Soldiers. The defect they were found to have quiet silly.&rdquo; He motions over to Maigan, whom he know to be bigger in size than the tiger. &ldquo;They would freeze on spot when faced with an opponent larger than them.&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane lets out a snarl while Achak continues. &ldquo;You and your group were the laughing stock among the Super Soldiers that knew did you know that? Of all the defects one might have that was indeed the most silly and foolish of them.&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak steps back from Kane, the tiger letting out a chuckle. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid that you have confused me for someone else.&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak doesn&rsquo;t take his eyes off of Kane as he calls out to the large wolf he had asked Iuana to leave with him. &ldquo;Maigan!&rdquo;<br /><br />Maigan steps forward upon hearing his name, Kane slighting flinching at his advance while falling completely silent. Achak grinning as his tail thumps upon the ground, he rather pleased with this result. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I am mistaken.&rdquo;<br /><br />Maigan seems confused, he having not overheard what it was Achak had discussed with Kane. He looking to Eleven hoping that she had caught on and could explain, Eleven opting to remain silent for now.<br /><br />Achak makes his way from tiger as he begins to go through his collections of ingredients beginning to gather several items. &ldquo;Now then Kane, who are you? What is it that you believe yourself to be?&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane is about to answer but is stopped when Achak speaks up once more. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t bother telling me about how you are a warrior created for the single purpose of fighting. You are the third Super Soldier that has had to go through this so I already know all about that.&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane frowns. &ldquo;Then you have put me at a loss of what to tell you Shaman. To my understanding there is nothing more to me, I believe this is why I am here taking up your time.&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak shakes his head in disappointment. &ldquo;You Super Soldiers are always so difficult&hellip;&rdquo; He begins to recite the same thing that had been told to the Super Soldiers before Kane. &ldquo;Until your spiritual journey has been completed I am stripping you of your title as warrior, you will not fight, be the battle from something as important as a war or as insignificant as a disagreement you are forbidden to take part in conflict, you will not watch fights, you will not speak of fights, you will not touch weapons and so help me if it could be done I would say that you can&rsquo;t even think about being a warrior.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;What do you possibly expect me to do then?&rdquo;<br /><br />Achak frowns, though that much was obvious to most people Super Soldiers were always so oblivious. &ldquo;You live, experience life for what it&rsquo;s worth, learn about the world and the people around you. The will to protect and live is what makes the warriors of Raven Wolf so strong, how can you fight to protect anything when you do not know what it is you are protecting?&rdquo;<br /><br />Kane sneers at the request, he reluctantly nodding his head in agreement. &ldquo;Fine then, I can do that, it sounds absolutely foolish, but I&rsquo;ll do it.&rdquo;<br /><br /><div class='align_center'>*******</div><br /><br />Vaan is standing within a filthy seldom used road in front of rather ominous and empty building, this being where the hacker&rsquo;s signal had come from, the black cat looking nervously to either side of him, he certainly on his own with this one. He takes a deep breath as he prepares himself to go inside. &ldquo;Ok, I can do this. It&rsquo;s just a computer hacker, a little girl none the less. I may not be able to handle any of the other soldiers in the military but I can at least handle a little girl.&rdquo;<br /><br />He timidly takes a step forward, his pep talk though spoken to try and encourage himself wasn&rsquo;t really making the task any easier, Vaan gulping as he opens the door to the building and looks inside, the inside that of an old and abandoned factory, rows of work counters lining the floor, a high ceiling hanging above them, everything dark and empty, there looking to be nothing else in sight.<br /><br />Vaan slowly begins searching the building for any signs that someone might have been there, the building heavily covered with dust, that though no surprise seeing as this place looked long abandoned. He stops in the middle of the rows of counters, taking out his hand held computer and looking through the data on it to double check his location, this indeed the place that the signal had come from.<br /><br />A loud slamming startles the cat, Vaan looking back towards the door to the building to find that it had closed, probably from the wind outside. Vaan turning his attention back to his computer and checking his calculations again, he looking up once he is given results identical to the first time he had put the information into the computer. Vaan looking through his surroundings, his attention brought to the table top of a counter two rows across from him. The dirt on it looking to have been recently disturbed, handprints upon it.<br /><br />Vaan makes his way over to the counter in question, the hand prints looked too large to belong to a child, but their existence was still intriguing, Van kneeling down toward the cupboard in the counter under the area where the dust had been disturbed, the dust on the handle of this door signalling that it had also recently been used.<br /><br />He opens the cupboard door looking inside, finding a small phone inside. Vaan picking it up and looking it over, he not having to examine it long before he realized that this was where the signal was coming from. Vaan letting out a heavy sigh as he hands his shoulders. &ldquo;This is a trap&hellip; isn&rsquo;t it&hellip;?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;You know I was expecting you to figure that out sooner, you being an intelligence model and all.&rdquo;<br /><br />Vaan looks up from the phone he was holding in his hands turning around to look toward the voice, spotting a swift fox sitting casually on one of the countertops behind him. Vaan not sure of when he had gotten there, he not having spotted any movement or heard any noise, but no doubt the fox was not there when Vaan had first entered the building, he wasn&rsquo;t so lacking in skills that he would miss such an obvious thing as someone just sitting on one of the counters. &ldquo;Who are you?&rdquo;<br /><br />The fox answers him. &ldquo;Who I am is not important. You see, you are the reason that I&rsquo;m here, you are the reason I&rsquo;ve been constantly tiring myself out by following the military day after day, you are the reason that things concerning me and my companions are starting to get compromised, and my friend, you, are about to fix all of that trouble by disappearing.&rdquo;</span>",
  "pools_count": 1,
  "title": "Raven Wolf - 04 - The Wounded - Chapter 08",
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  "rating_name": "General",
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  "submission_type_id": "12",
  "type_name": "Writing - Document",
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