He sat down, taking up his notepad and leaning back in the chair. “Scott, you were in command of this mission. Beyond the official report I’ll be receiving later, have you anything to add?”
“Yes, sir,” Scott replied. “First I want to add that I was quite surprised when I spotted Vengeance overflying the search area. However, I was more surprised when after he had dropped knockout gas into the courtyard and picked up the tiger, Tracker launched into an attack, without orders, to protect her. Vengeance might have ended our initial mission by carrying her away, but Tracker not only prevented that result but then insisted that the search was more important than pursuit of the criminals. I wish to commend him for his dedication to our principles.”
Antoinette glanced over to the fox sitting beside her in time to see his ears fall at the commendation. Magnum, too, gave Tracker a hard stare, before nodding as he remembered Tracker’s first mission with the Defenders. As Tracker leaned forward to argue, Magnum raised his hand, interrupting him before he could begin.
“Red,” he asked, turning to the big warrior, “is this true? Did you see anything unusual?”
“Yeah, Magnum. He not only insisted on trying to find and rescue the tiger, but he said that even if we pursued Blacksnake’s gang, he would stay behind to find her if he could.”
“Even to the point of letting her hold his tail on the way back,” Jay quipped. “He never lets anyone touch him.”
Tracker slumped in his seat, ears down and tail curled under the seat of the chair.
“Tracker?” Magnum asked, turning to the vulpine Defender. “What have you to say to these statements?”
“I…,” he glanced around at the others, cringing as though trying to hide within his fur, “It was our mission. Our encounter with Vengeance and the other EPs was not expected. Any opportunity to disrupt Blacksnake’s activities needs to be taken. Any opportunity to keep them from growing stronger must be taken. I couldn’t let Vengeance take another EP away unwillingly.”
“And what of your activities subsequent to their defeat,” Magnum queried.
“The mission stood, sir,” he replied. “Now that I knew we were searching for an EP, we needed to rescue her for her own sake as well as the good of the city. She was being hunted by both the police and a criminal organization, not counting Blacksnake’s EPs. She needed to be found and brought to safety.” His ears rose as he spoke, though his tail remained tucked beneath him.
“I see.” Magnum thumbed a notation onto his pad and studied it for a moment, then set it down, looking at the others. “What made you so certain the tiger was an EP, Tracker?”
“I didn’t have any real evidence, sir, but the prior difficulty first the police and then Scott and I had gaining any kind of real track on her implied intelligence. Her attack on Pneumata, leaping straight up from a rooftop and dragging her to ground was an intelligent maneuver, something a natural animal wouldn’t do when its being hunted. Add this obvious intelligence to the ability to phase through solid objects was enough evidence to me that we sought a person and not just an animal.”
“Very well,” Magnum nodded again, adding the information to his notes. “Send in your reports to Colonel Carfield as soon as you can. Meanwhile, show Ms Duval down to the infirmary for a checkup and make sure she’s satisfied with her accommodations. After that you’re on your own unless something else comes up.” He rose and moved around the table, escorting them to the door and seeing them down the corridor before closing it behind them.
#
Scott carried her duffle bag while Tracker carried her guitar case and led her to the Med Center on the next level down. There, a doctor gave her a quick visual examination and checked her blood pressure, prescribing some nutrient supplements and rest after noting her gaunt features and apparent exhaustion. He assigned her a temporary private room down a short corridor, where her escorts placed her belongings with promises to check up on her later. Through it all she held her fears in check as everything seemed so similar to what she’d experienced with the other EP organization, yet seemed so different. Once everyone had left the room and closed the door, she slipped close to it and listened intently, trying to hear if anyone stood guard beyond as Blacksnake had done. Hearing nothing, she tried the door, surprised that it opened easily to her touch. Glancing left towards the door leading in to where she now stood, she found it closed, though a glass pane made it clear that anyone could look through and see anyone in the hallway. Turning the other way, she eased silently down to the end of the corridor and tried the doors on either side. Each opened into a room identical to her own, the door showing no form of lock other than a glass panel at about chest height just to the side of the frame. After checking a couple more doors at random to find the same accommodations, she returned to the one they’d given her and slipped in as silently as she’d left it. Resigned for the moment at her apparent captivity, she undressed, climbed into the bed and fell asleep.
