North America Trials

[albatross]

As Dante, Bel, Marv and Dancer make their way back to the barracks after seeing the division one grounds, Marv sniffs and steps back to Dante and Bel.

"Dante," Marv says quietly, his voice a low rumble, "Take Dancer back to the barracks. Bel, ah, I could use you're help." Bel looks at Marv and then looks around. Marv is crouched, ready to strike and though he is talking to Dante and Bel he stands next to them and slowly scans the area with his eyes. Dante's sixth sense hasn't activated, so they are in no immediate danger but clearly Marv is concerned.

[sasqaricious]

Akane finally retuns to wherever the rest of the people are seeing nothing can be found. She will be happy when this in turn all ends. Perhaps then she may be of more use.

[Dome]

Dante says to Dancer, "you heard the man, lets move."

He sends Bel a telepathic message, 'stay safe love, see you soon.'

He then begins to escort Dancer back towards the barracks.

[albatross]

Soon everyone is back at the barracks except Marv and Bel.

A short while Tiger looks at her phone and announces she is going on an errand.

As she is leaving Marv returns, but he just shakes his head and refuses to answer any questions in front of the kids. He does tell Dante that Bel is fine and 'did good.'

Then Tiger returns. She sends the kids to bed and tells Marv, Lt. White, Akane, and Roan to take turns guarding the barracks. "Don't let anyone outside our team inside without confirming with me first. Send me a text or call."

"Jeckle, Kris, Dante, come with me," And she sets off across the grounds. She walks quickly, and she keeps her hands close to her gun. All three of them have been around Tiger enough to read she is on the lookout for enemies.

Finally, they arrive at the base hospital. Tiger flashes an ID and breezes past the guards, her UN uniform good for that much. She sends Kris and Dante into the ICU stops Jeckle outside and says quickly. "He is stable. Marv found a trail of blood. Bel was able to stop the bleeding. She didn't know who he was, she started with OS later. I came to get you as soon as I saw him." Tiger puts her hand lightly on Jeckle's shoulder and holds open the door. "Your brother is inside."

Inside Kris and Dante see Bel standing beside an ICU bed. There are bloodstains on her clothes, but she is calm and nods to both of them.

[shiivster]

' . . what? he is? . . oh' *Jeckle is clearly stunned by the news, but her face seems to relax knowing that he's okay. 'i need to see him. i need to see for myself'

*if allowed, she'll go inside and nod to them and move to the side of the bed and stare down into the face of her twin. her knuckles will touch the face in a tender manner then sighs 'oh you big lummox. you're safe now, relax already. there you go. rest now, you made it home'

*she looks up at Kris and Dante 'my twin, Heckle'

[albatross]

Tiger enters the intensive care unit behind Jeckle and stands quietly beside the bed for a moment looking down on the unconscious Heckle.

[sasqaricious]

Akane does exactly as she is instructed and stands guard. Skipping sleeping in exchange of her charge, having done this in the past she knows she can do it.

[dakota]

Khris stood silently out of respect for Jeckle's pain of finding her brother like this. After a moment, he leaned over to Dante, " _{I know you probly don't think this is the time, but can you read his mind enough to give me a look at whoever did this? Then I'll leave you to see to Bel.}"

[Dome]

Dante whisper, "maybe, but I need to talk to Bel first, find out his condition. Telepathic digging can make him worse from what I have heard. Let me see if I can help boost his healing and see how he is, and then I'll dive in."

He steps closer and sends Bel, 'hey love, I am glad to see you are ok. I'll expect details later. For now, how is he?'

[dakota]

"_{Don't waste too much time. Whoever did this has a headstart}" Khris replied, sounding like he intended to do something brash

[albatross]

Bel looks up at Dante, her expression is serious and thinks If we had been one minute later, he'd be dead. He was shot several times point blank. I was able to stabilize him and the doctors here were able to remove the bullets. I'm drained, but I think he should pull through. I'll need some rest, then we can do some more tomorrow.

After a few moments a doctor comes in and Bel and Tiger step away from Heckle's side for a short conversation. The doctor looks at Bel like she is some kind of miracle worker, seeming a bit awed. He isn't excited to have all these people in the intensive care, but he doesn't really challenge Tiger on it.

The doctor steps forward and tells Jeckle, "I know it looks bad, but he is in great shape all things considered. He lost alot of blood, but because he was found right away we were able to put it all back. There isn't any major organ damage" the doctor looks sidelong at Bel. "With the bleeding contained, he should be awake and ready for lots of resting tomorrow. I know you;ll want to question him about what happened, but it will have to wait until tomorrow and it will need to be kept short. He is going to be Ok, but he'll need rest."

Tiger moves back to Jeckle's side and brings a chair over, "Jeckle, your brother isn't likely to wake up until tomorrow. If you want to stay here tonight you can." She says indicating the chair. "We'll leave you alone for a few minutes, but we'll be back to say good night."

Tiger herds Kris, Dante, Bel and the doctor outside into the hall and sends the doctor off with a few instructions.

"I can tell you two are anxious. Calm down and listen to what I have to tell you. I have information, information you could use to find out what happened. First, your going to listen to my orders."

Tiger continues, "Heckle is connected to Omega Shield, connected to Jeckle. Whoever did this wanted him dead. When they find out he is alive they are likely to send a killer to this location to finish the job. If they know we have had contact with him, especially if they already know about Jeckle or Omega Shield they are going to try to kill us too if they can. Our first priority is security. I'm posting a guard at the door. Kris, me and Dante will watch the window and building from outside in shifts the rest of the night."

"Tomorrow we are going to heal Heckle some more. Bel should be able to heal him quicker and more completely than ordinary doctors. Once he is awake, Heckle may give us information. Remember to wait for me before taking any action. Tomorrow is also going to be the day that whoever did this figures out they screwed up. They might respond immediately. We need to be here if that happens."

Tiger grates her teeth a little. "I'm sure all of you are angry. I am too. But we'll all feel worse if Heckle gets killed while we are out looking for vengeance. So you understand why we need to wait for Heckle to wake up, I'll tell you what we know. Marv found the trail of blood, he didn't find anyone suspicious nearby and he backtracked the trail to the beginning. Heckle was shot more than six times with a .357 magnum. That means either the shooter reloaded or there were two guns or two shooters. The area was a corner near an area of the base where crowds were passing to see the Division One grounds. They had to have used silencers. Heckle had no weapons or powder burns on his hands, no shells were found nearby, though Marv did find some evidence that some of the rounds fired missed - so there might have been a conflict. Heckle was dressed in a UN uniform, just like half the base."

"At the moment, the base forensics team and MPs are investigating. There are also some very heavy hitters here as part of the staff and trainers for division one and two. S.C.R.E.T., the CIA, and some impressive freelancers have teams here and they aren't happy that there might be a gunman on the loose. To say that the matter will be investigated is an understatement." Tiger sighs.

"We need to stay here with Jeckle, that is our job right now. We aren't going to out-detective SCRET, our best chance at getting even is if the killer or killers show up here."

"Dante and Bel, get some rest and come back in seven hours. Kris, lets say goodnight to Jeckle and climb a roof. I'll join you and take a nap before my shift."

"This has to be quite a shock for Jeckle." Tiger looks towards the door.

[albatross]

After the kids are asleep, Marv, Lt. White and Roan join Akane for a short sharing of information between watches.

Marv tells them his information, his gravelly voice low so the kids won't hear him.

"I found trail of blood and followed it to a guy who'd got shot. Didn't find who did it tho... Bel healed the guy. I sent Dancer back with Dante so she didn't see anything." He scowls, "Don't tell the kids. If they hear rumors fine, but I don't want them asking me 'bout it. The guy was in bad shape and I might let somethin' slip. Don't wanna say anything I should'n."

"They musta had a silencer cause he was shot half-a-dozen times or more and nobody heard a thing even though there were people all around. Stay sharp. They probably don't know who we are but it bugs me somebody's out there. Stay sharp."

"Uh, I told you there was a trail of blood right? I think I skipped my medicine. I'll go take that now."

[sasqaricious]

Finally something I can do![/b][/color] Akane thinks before stating. "If this were the case, maybe one of us should be out there tracking him. I will volunteer for this mission if only to have something actually to do. And if I start tonight there may not be any need for the others to worry.

[albatross]

Lt. White says to Akane, "Maybe be a good idea, but... This base is crawling with metas and agents from at least three investigative agencies."

"If you are going to work around them, you are going to need coordinate with the official investigation or they will start investigating you and get sidetracked. Go to Tiger, she has the connections to make you our liason to the investigation."

Roan speaks up telepathically, It may be better to track the investigators than to track the attacker. If you can watch them and harness their capabilities you can pursue several avenues at once. Find not just the attacker, but information about who they were working for.

Marv just holds his big head in his hands, trying to think.

[Dome]

Dante holds up his hand as if in school, "uh, excuse me, but I can help with the healing. I have some abilities that can help him. (Healing Touch, and Increased Healing) If we can take turns healing him he can get on his feet and get moving. Will be much easier to defend someone who can move and duck when we need him too, than someone who is tied to a bed."