Kadance

9b

He takes a chair dismissing the subject and invites the other two to sit down so he can fill them in on what they have planned for the reception. "Now to fill you in," he looks at both of them hard, "I stuck my neck out for you two and you almost destroyed everything. Candlen you came to within a split second of death pulling that weapon out. If Kadance hadn't of said anything Jayse would've killed you before I had even noticed that you had pulled that out. Jayse was actually starting to pull the trigger when she said something. What you might not have noticed is that she touched Jayse just touched him and he put the gun away. Thompson, or as we call him Tommy was just about to send his knife flying. They are fast. Tommy is fast, but he's nothing on Jayse. I might be able to match Tommy's speed, but there's not a chance that I'll be able to match Jayse's."

He turns to Candlen with anger in his eyes, "Damn it boy, you saw him when she stopped him. They'll kill for her and they won't even think anything about it." He look turns hard, "and so will I if you even think of being disloyal to her. She's fair, just be straight with her and she'll be straight with you. She speaks her mind so if you're easily offended learn not to be. Believe me, you'll know when she intends to insult you."

His look turns hard and he pulls up Tommy's part of the gift, "She doesn't trust easily and that's for a very good reason." He starts playing the vid.

"This is her uncle, the person the reception is in honor of on Friday. He is the reason she doesn't trust. We believe there is more that she's not telling us about, far more, but this will do." Borden allows the vid to flow then stops it at the point where her erstwhile fiancee comes on screen. "That was her fiancee he became her uncle's right hand man when he did this." He restarts the vid.

"He didn't know that she had left that weekend to be with her sister, who had already been inducted to the warrior society. It was supposed to be a short visit, but after the bombing she stayed with her and helped her raise her nephews until they left for Camp." He is now to the point in the vid where it shows her sister dying and her picking up the gun and killing the shifters as they entered until Sigma showed up.

"We are fortunate that she managed to survive this long without her uncle realizing that she was still alive. She no longer had friends or family to fall back on. Any money that she might have was cut off due to her uncle. She knows that her uncle killed her parents for that money. She knows that he has killed many innocent people to keep that money." He plays the vid some more. This time it shows an apartment building on fire and it was dated recently, "her uncle somehow found out she is still alive," it cuts over to the uncle's office and he's talking to his right hand man. Audio had been added and the three listeners were disgusted.

"This Friday General Rueton is holding a reception in this man's honor." Borden sneers the last word.  "Kadance and therefore us are commanded to attend. We don't believe Rueton knows the true identity of Kadance or that she is this mans niece.

"But we do know that keeping Kadance safe from suiciders will be a lot easier if we don't have to worry about keeping her safe from him as well. So we are setting up a surprise for this bastard, a little gift from us to Kadance. We're going to take this bastard out on Friday." Borden stops talking and lets the information seep in.

After awhile he gains their attention once more, "We are informal here so ranking doesn't matter. Kadance likes it that way. She wants us to call her Kadance or boss will do if you're not comfortable with her name. Jayse, is in charge of security then Tommy, me then you two." He hands them their orders and new com units.

"You'll want to read those as soon as possible. These orders change the whole game." Borden says happily.

"Into a very fun one," Tommy says having silently entered the room. Borden didn't jump but the other two showed their surprise. Tommy just laughs at their pulled weapons and they sheepishly put them away.

"I'm heading over to Command and picking up a few things. I'll get your things on the way back. Do you have any surprises waiting for the unwary?" Tommy asks already knowing the answer, after all they are just as paranoid as he is.

They both nod. "Anything especially nasty or is it fairly easy to overcome?"

Candlen answers, "For most my little surprises would be nasty, but for you I don't think you'd have any trouble with them."

Rackem just grins and says, "Nothing you can't handle if you're quick."

Tommy just rolls his eyes and snorts, "Right. Well boys have fun. Remember we're on a deadline here." His tone is deadly serious as he continues, "This is one bastard that needs to pay. We have a plan and Borden will fill you in on it." Then he disappears even as they are watching him.

Both Candlen and Rackem shiver at Tommy's ominous words and at the bruise that they couldn't stop staring at. "That was one huge bruise." Rackem finally managed to get out.

Borden snorts, "I told you boys that Tommy had received her displeasure. He had some errands to run for Kadance. Then he got bored. He came through the testing grounds here, cutting across them pitting his luck and skill against the scanners and any weapons testing that might have been going on.

"That was of course after having disobeyed her direct order to not sneak onto Command base. And then of course there was the booby trapped front door and the booby traps around the bunker here. It took him all night to calm her down and for a while I wasn't sure that he'd be able to."

"The bruise Jayse received is still faintly visible and he received that one over a week ago. Remember I showed you the vid that was made." The two nod, they remembered alright. Anyone that saw that vid would remember it.

"He got his slap for kissing her without her permission." Although their admiration for Kadance had grown, and Borden had seen that, they now realize that it would be better for them to look elsewhere to place their affection. That was the outcome Borden was looking for.

"Now we only have a short time left to get this planned. This is what we have so far..." Borden says getting down to explaining the plan they have for the reception on Friday. Rackem and Candlen listen intently to the plan. Occasionally one or the other would shake his head and make a suggestion that would change the plans already made.

It takes them several hours but they finally have a plan that they think will work perfectly for the reception. They don't realize the slightly maniacal smiles they wear as they put things away and prepare food to eat.