Mmmm… so warm and comfortable. The morning light shined into my eyes as I pulled the blanket more tightly around myself. I just wished the mattress were a little softer.
Pour quoi? What? Where did this blanket come from? Where was I? I opened my eyes, shielding them with my hand from the sun, beaming in through windows just below the ceiling of the auditorium. Lowering my head again, I looked at the forest-green blanket lying over me.
“Good morning, Antoinette,” the voice spoke, strong, but gentle. “I hope you slept well.”
I yelped with surprise and drew back, pulling the blanket more tightly around my naked body. Not four meters away, the man I now recognized as one of those who battled Vengeance the day before sat on a table, watching me.
“Don’t be afraid,” another voice spoke, its odd inflection pulling my eyes down to the fox, still lying on the floor. “We won’t hurt you. We want to help.”
I cried out. “No! I won’t return! Je ne serai pas un jouet pour l’homme noir!”
“Non, mademoiselle! We are not with them. We want to protect you from them,” the fox-man replied with fervor almost equal to my own.
“We saved you from Vengeance and the rest of Blacksnake’s gang, Ms Duval,” the man added. “I’m Scott Nolan, and this is Tracker. We’re with the Defenders.”
I looked more closely at them. Neither had moved from where they sat or lay and they seemed truly to want me to trust them. The one called Scott looked a tall man. He appeared muscular without the bulk of a weightlifter. In many ways, he looked more like an athlete than a warrior. On the other hand, Tracker, still lying on the floor, looked more like Scott’s pet dog than a person, his flag waving slowly in the air under the table.
“You–them… What’s the difference? You would only use me as they wished to use me.”
“Is that what you believe, Ms Duval?”
“But why not? Searching, you were, for me even before the one called Vengeance came down. If you do not wish to use me, then why search you?”
The fox answered, “Before yesterday, we didn’t even know of you, Ms Duval. The Chattanooga Police asked us to help find a stray tiger that was running wild in the Yards. It wasn’t until Vengeance and his gang attacked that we realized we were hunting for an EP.”
“What is this… EP… that you speak of?”
“Enhanced People,” Scott replied. “Most normals call them ‘Mutants.’ But that’s beside the point at the moment. As Tracker said, we were asked to find a tiger, and we discovered the tiger was you. Now we would like to help you learn more about yourself and in the process, protect the city from a creature that could do a lot of harm.”
“So you want to cage me, instead. Is that any better than what Blacksnake wanted of me?”
“We can’t speak for Blacksnake, though we do have an ongoing issue with him,” Scott answered. “The Defenders are associated with FORCE, and FORCE wants to shut Blacksnake down.”
“On the other hand,” Tracker added, earning a surprised glance from Scott, “it’s not that we want to cage you, but rather that we want to help you. Yesterday, you were just the object of a search mission; a beast that needed to be brought under control. But once I saw you, I couldn’t let you be hurt. I refused to let Vengeance carry you away, even if it did mean you were removed from the search area.”
“Besides,” Scott added, “whatever Blacksnake wanted you for, it portended nothing nice for any of us. He’s proven more than once that he cares little for whom he may hurt in order to have his way.”
I shook my head. “You say you want to help me, but I do not wish to be helped. I wish only to get my things and leave. This place is not good for me any more.”
“You know that Blacksnake will continue to follow you. If he thinks you can disrupt his plans, he will stop at nothing to capture or kill you.”
“I do not care! I will go away! I will go back to France! I will not be the plaything of any man!”
“Then let us take you where you would go. Let us help you get a head start on him.”
“No! I do not want your help.” I shook as I watched them, seeing the earnestness in their expressions but wanting none of it. I needed to be alone. I needed to be with Chantré. I needed time to think. “If you wish to help me, then let me go. Do not try to stop me.”
“Is that truly your wish, Ms Duval,” Scott asked.
“Oui! Let me go and do not follow me.”
“As you wish.” Reaching up to his temple, Scott touched a button on his earphone. “Captain, please move the van away from the door and notify the police that a woman will be coming out. They are not to interfere with her in any way. She is to go free.” He glanced back at me. “Understood?” He listened for a moment, then nodded. “Roger, captain. We’ll wait for your signal.”
I rose to my feet, wrapping the blanket more completely around myself as I heard the hovervan start up and move away. Watching the front doors, I saw it cross the street and park at the curb. Nobody else was in sight.
“You are free to go, Ms Duval. Please allow us to escort you to the door. After that, you may go as you wish.”
I nodded to Scott as he and Tracker rose and stood aside. They waited for me to pass and moved in a meter or so behind me. As I walked, my knees felt weak, knowing that I was going out into danger; knowing that I would never escape the Dark Man.
