Vigilante (Under Construction! Please Excuse the Dust!)

Chapter 16: in the den.

Mach Seven:

        "Talon, I can smell that furball from here. She reeks," I said, making a disgusted noise in my throat. I paced in the security center; Dawn sitting beside the monitors and watching them for any movement from the Shapeshifter.

        "Can't you?" I asked her, flattening my hands on the counter covered in equipment and edging forward. Dawn didn't respond, keeping her eyes bolted to the screen.

        Nothing was happening in the room. The rank Shapeshifter and that psycho girl were in there, left 'alone' by Merrill. That thing had been halfway crazed when Charm dragged it here, but now, it sat beside the bed, keeping a close eye on the girl.

        What Dawn was watching for, I couldn't guess. It didn't even matter if that nutcase went unstable again. The Brigade was more than capable of taking her out without much of a fight, but apparently I was the only one thinking this.

        Charm had specifically stated to Dawn that if anything was to change, she was supposed to alert him, at his own home, no less.

        "What's the big deal with that Unnie, anyway?" I sneered. "Just looks like some trash from the Outer City to me."

        Dawn didn't say anything, but her eyes cast sideways at me, sharp and threatening, cutting across the silence like a razor. Her glance was only that and her eyes were back on the monitor in less than a second, resting her chin in her hand. I reeled, nose crinkling and eyes narrowing. Dawn was a hard one to read, at times.

        "Not fond of your Outer City sistren, are you?" a voice declared from the door. Turning over my shoulder, I saw it was the doctor. She watched me carefully, voice trimmed and curt.

        "She isn't my 'sistren', Sam," I objected, a scowl appearing on my face. "None of them are. You of all people should know the garbage that come from that place."

        "Of course I do," she said, the corners of her mouth turning down like she had tasted something awful. "But, you came from there, too, Dane."

        I prickled, sharpness appearing in my tone as I gritted my teeth.

        "Don't you dare call that place my home."

        "Not your home. The Outer City is not anyone's home," Sam said. "But it is the place where you began. If you forget that, you'll never get anywhere."

        "Shove it, Sam," I growled, my lips peeling back from my teeth. "I didn't ask for your opinion."

        Sam simply shrugged, crossing the room to Dawn. She leaned against the counter, arms crossed over her chest.

        "Do you still have those bath beads that Sunny gave you last Christmas?" she asked, a little out of the blue.

        Dawn nodded once.

        "Vivika is irritated the base's scent. I think the smell of lavender would help her relax enough to trust us, don't you?" Sam continued.

        Dawn nodded again, her ponytail bouncing.

        "I will take some to her, then," Dawn said, standing stiffly and briskly exiting the room. Sam smiled after her and then looked at me, all smug and knowing.

        "We all come from somewhere, Dane," she basically repeated herself. I rolled my eyes and walked out of the surveillance room, annoyed that she was being uppity and also that she was right.