“I am pretty sure I know what you want to talk about…I would appreciate it if-” Mal said as she closed the door.
“Deleted all files of yours from the server and I insured: No one but you and I here will ever know.”
Based on Mal’s past with Medical Doctors, he couldn’t explain why he so quickly trusted Doctor Grayson.
“How are you?” She asked.
“Sore?” He answered in a question.
“That’s not what I mean…” Grayson asked putting her hand on Mal’s.
His emotions swelling to the surface, she watched the unkillable, unbeatable man in front of her turn into jelly.
“It’s hard. To control it.” Mal said.
“Doctor Hayward and you made, this Hero when you were in High School? Isn’t it supposed to balance out the thing in you? How could you have not turned into some sort of killing machine?”
Mal smirked at the comment. It was a common misconception, Mal had learned long ago that The Wolf, it wasn’t evil. He was a different type of fighter. Brutal? Yes. A sociopath? Yes. Evil? No. The Wolf only wanted to hurt those who deserved it. The Wolf wouldn’t even come out at all if he tried to force it for no reason.
“Can I talk to The Wolf ?” The Doctor asked.
“We can ask, can’t we?” Mal said.
Closing his eyes, Mal asked if The Wolf would come out. The Doctor could tell there was a conversation in the recesses of Malcolm’s mind, that he couldn’t see.
“Hello, Doctor…” The Wolf asked, “What do you want?”
This was not something Doctor Grayson expected. Malcolm Daniel’s control was insanely good, The Wolf and him had gone from an out of control relationship to symbiotic.
“Why? Why do you want to do the things you do?” She asked.
“I am sure you read in the file about my younger, less focused days.” The Wolf retorted, Grayson looked down at the pad of the story of Malcolm beating a Buck to death with his bare hands. She nodded, in the other people with Dissociative Identity Disorder she had seen that ended up in the hospital, they were rarely this under control. “After the third person in here was made…he rubbed off on me, in a way. I started wanting to right the wrongs of the pathetic drecks of mankind. I decided that some humans were trash and I am a garbageman. I take out the trash. If it was Mal’s choice, it would be a bullet between the eyes. Painless. No suffering. Me? I prefer to send a message, for the next guy who thinks it’s a good idea to a rape and murder a teenager because she was attractive and in a US Navy uniform. The Wolf will come for you, he will hunt you down and show you no mercy. There will be no quarter, unless tie you between four cars and rip you apart.”
Starting to write on her notepad, a note as she tilted her head up to here a growl. She understood why the stories were so terrifying, they were true. Clicking her pen and tossing her notes in the trash can, she crossed her legs.
“Reflex. Apologies.” She said as the toothy smile of The Wolf looked back at her. “Tell me…what do you think of the Sons of Nathan Bedford Forrest?”
“I want to rip them open, see if their guts are as superior as they believe them to be. I want to burn them to the ground.” Said The Wolf.
“And David?” She asked.
The Wolf looked around, like he was regretting something.
“I drove him to Quinn, not Mal. Mal blames himself but the rage, the anger that finally pushed David to Quinn? Mine. I wasn’t in control but it bled over to Malcolm.”
“You want to save him…don’t you?”
“I will do everything in my power to protect him. Whatever it takes but…the more we see. The less the three of us think it’s possible.”
The Wolf blinked and the facial structure of Mal switched from a toothy grimace to a grin.
“Hello there Young lady. I am here.” Said The Hero.
“So you’re the cheesy superhero guy.”
“That is me.” He retorted.
“I really don’t have anything to ask you…how has it been?”
“Tough. Mal blocked himself off for me until…not that long ago. I haven’t actually been out in decades. I almost just hang out, temper the angry one.”
“Does that bother you?” She asked.
The Hero shook his head.
“It’s my job. Keep Mal from becoming the Monster he could be. When we’re balanced, we are the most effective fighting being, probably in human history? Maybe. I don’t know for sure.”
“What do you think of David?” Asked the Doctor, knowing the answer, she just needed to know.
“We may have caused this but it’s also our responsibility to stop it. No matter the cost to us.”
Mal blinked again, back to normal. Sweating, reaching for the cup of water and swallowing the pills in next to them.
“Did I dance well enough for you?” Mal asked.
“You are a medical miracle. You know that?” She asked. “I know you used to take valium for panic attacks, would you like a refill? Anything else you used to be on?”
Since the fall of America, Mal hadn’t taken any medication. He had gotten out of Coronado and realized he left his bag of medicine. Jace and Selena were actually always looking for Valium for Mal and the other medications he took daily.
“Yes…Olanzapine XR, Adderall XR and Zoloft?”
Pulling out her prescription pad, she wrote a note to the pharmacist, writing the medications down and having a note to the side that read:
120 day supply Five refills.
“Malcolm, I am not a therapist or a psychologist, there aren’t many left and I have a feeling, you won’t be around here much longer but do me a favor. In four months, meet me right back here: we can talk. If you want to ever talk about anything,” The Doctor grabbed her card in her white coat pocket. “Call me. Day or night.”
Giving a kind smile back to Mal, she saw that just living itself was a challenge to him a times so a friendly face would be a positive.
“You know what this means though? Keep the booze low…”She said. “I also gave you some painkillers, I figured someone like you, you wouldn’t be here long.”
Mal laughed at her.
“I will Doc. I promise.” Mal said watching her leave before she stopped.
“Mal, one more thing: thank you.” She said.
Looking at her with a confused look on his face, she smirked.
“You’ve never done anything to directly save my life but…I have heard stories when I worked at the VA, about a Wolf, a man who was unbeatable in battle but kind to his friends. Helped the defenseless, that’s something people need to see and I think one day you’re going to be comfortable showing it in the public eye. There’s going to be a lot of people with no hope who look you as a symbol.”
“Better watch yourself, you’re giving The Hero a chubby.”
“Yeah I saw that, Anime? Really? I didn’t guess that.” She said.
The Hero was modeled off of a character from one of Mal’s favorite TV shows, the Japanese anime and manga by Kohei Horikoshi, My Hero Academia. The character was aptly named AllMight, he was a symbol of peace and justice on the show, a man of action who described himself moving before he had a chance to think. This allowed Malcolm to be who he was and marry it’s thought processes with, The Wolf without neutering him.
Mal opened the door where Tye and Wallis were waiting.
“Well, Commander Daniels, I need to brief you on the current situation,” Wallis said.
Mal sat down and waited.
Commander? What the hell is that about?
“Commander?” Mal asked.
Wallis stopped him and raised a voice recorder.
“This is Commander Timothy Carpenter, Codename Jackal. Upon my death or capture, I pass my rank and role onto Malcolm A. Daniels, Code Name The Wolf.”
Mal chuckled.
“I hate that name, let’s stick to Wolf-1,” Mal responded.
“Why was your team called The Wolves, by the way?” Wallis asked.
“Have either of you seen the Lord of the Rings movies?”
Both of them nodded.
“Aragorn’s speech about how when the age of Man will fall, ‘An hour of Wolves and shattered shields when the age of Man comes crashing down.’”
“Wait, wouldn’t that make you the bad guys then? Destroying all of mankind and all?” Tye asked.
“To most people, we were,” Mal stated.
Mal entered the elevator with two of them in tow.
“Well, to most of the world, we were. Even to our allies, we had to do things that went against their interests.”
“Why Wolves then?” Wallis asked.
“SEALs are a pack oriented fighting team, just like Wolves, we don’t take opponents on our own. Wolves fight larger animals to bring them down,” Mal said, “We are like one piece of straw as individuals, but as a unit? We are unbreakable.”
“I can break a bundle of straw,” Tye said, “but I also know one of those pieces…may be stronger than I thought.”
Mal chuckled, Tye had seen that Monster inside of Mal.
“Yeah you don’t want that guy Tye, trust me,” Mal said jokingly, “but these Sons are trying to break us already. What’s that situation look like?”
Wallis waved Mal to join them in the hallway of the hospital and walk with her towards the elevator. Mal pushed the button for the elevator and turned to Wallis, she handed him a tablet.
“Our intelligence operators are about 99.99 percent sure that they kidnapped Tim by taking his children,” Wallis said, “if they killed him, they would be gloating about it by now. We have reports of a Sons force racing north to Crane Naval Station, we have a plan for an intercept via the Osprey.”
“Why do you need my input then?” Mal asked.
“None of this can go on without your approval,” Wallis said.
Bureaucracy. These are a few of my least favorite things.
“Consider it approved and anytime I am not around,” Mal said, “Make a decision and roll with it. The fact that you guys gave them a day head start is a problem.”
Wallis scrunched her face like she knew that would be a problem.
“Yes, Sir.”
“And you can drop that shit too,” Mal said, “I have a name.”
“You got it, Mal,” Wallis said.
“Funeral arrangements for Kyle and the other children?” Mal asked.
“BANS local is making them, should I tell them to update you on their progress?” Wallis asked.
“No, I don’t want updates, I want a time and place. I need you to send someone to my house, the Garage ID is my birthday, prepare my dress uniform for a funeral.”
Mal had begun to think he needed to prepare for the long haul.
“You have a BANS dress uniform?”
“No and I am not wearing one either.”
Mal exited the elevator with Tye and Wallis in tow.
“I will pass that along to your secretary, which I would like to remind you, I am not,” Wallis spat, dripping with sarcasm.
“My bad,” Mal said, “I just have a very short list of BANS personnel I trust. I will get to know whomever deals with these things.”
Tye shook his head.
“None of that matters right now, until I am on a helicopter up north we are all dead in a few days anyways,” Tye said.
“You aren’t going to be the only one on the Osprey,” Mal said, “I am going too.”
“Absolutely not!” Wallis and Tye said in unison.
Mal smirked.
“I am sorry, are either of you in position to tell me what to do?” Mal asked.
Mal stopped at a Keurig Coffee machine and inserted a renewable pod before putting a mug under the drip and waiting for a response from the machinery. The two of them sighed as they realized they couldn’t stop him.
“You are crazy, you know that?” Tye asked.
“I am well aware of my mental state,” Mal said, “but our best solution right now is overwhelming force. They can’t leave Crane with that weapon and you guys will get killed if you go in there without me.”
The security system at Crane could only be deactivated by someone in it’s systems. He was the only one available, with Tim they could get in.
“I sent a group over to Scott Air Force Base with Tim’s access protocols, we will have a set of predator drones up and ready.”
Mal was surprised at the foresight Wallis had but lacked the tactical awareness to not see the problem.
“That would be great if we could differentiate between Tim, his kids and the enemy,” Mal stated.
“I actually have a solution for that but,” Wallis said, “it will also take your son out of the targeting equation, that fluid that you gave David was tested on Tim and his kid’s first the other day. Should have just enough to track everyone. It will be faint though.”
“Why were you working on that by the way? You got it in there so fast?” Tye asked.
“Jace said we should come up with ways of catch and releasing these assets, so we could track them back to their holes. The night before, the chemist in me was inspired so we tried it. Completely harmless to humans but: One-hundred percent effective at tracking them via satellite.”
Mal turned to Tye and smiled.
“Seems you guys have this all figured out then,” Mal said as he crossed the street back to the city courthouse.
“The locals need a parameter for how they act: What rank of security do you want them at until you guys return?”
“The highest one. I mean this is an existential threat to every person here,” Mal said.
“Red-1? Are you sure? We can’t calm the people down that much after we go there,” Tye said.
Mal turned to them at the steps.
“Tye, how many times have they went to Red-1? What are the Red-1 rules?”
“Twelve times over the past eight years,” Tye said, “it is mostly about getting civilians who are non-essential into bunkers and keeping clothed and fed.”
“Do it. Are there scrubbers in the bunkers?”
Tye nodded.
“Good, maybe if it does go off we got a chance,” Mal said, “I want extra MOPP gear for every member who has a mild disability or has a shred of color to them. In case of Emergency, we can’t lose all of our people there.”
Mal walked up the stairs and winced as he felt the stitches in his legs and shoulder.
“Are you sure you are up for this?” Tye asked.
“I am, I want the Osprey and all men at the heli-pad in one hour,” Mal said.
This was our point of no return, from this moment Mal was done letting David and Quinn get off light.
Three hours later
The Osprey flew above the cloud cover in case they would be viewed from the ground, Tye sat in the corner of the Osprey with thirty-five other troops scattered around the Osprey’s cargo belly. Tye motioned for Headphones to Mal as the other team leaders put them on. Mal realized that they had to talk about what the plan is.
“Crane Naval Surface Warfare center is located 35 Miles Southwest of Bloomington Indiana, thankfully the only way to get there is to go through Indianapolis. So they had to get north of Indy to get down there, it’s located in a rather secluded part of Hoosier National Forest. It’s a long travel schedule with them having to avoid patrols, under the best of circumstances they just got there but more than likely we will get there about the same time. You guys will be fast roping into the center of the base and defending it from any attackers as long as the predators fly-by goes to plan,” Mal stated as three hands shot up.
Mal pointed to the fire-team leader on the far left, a young woman with a scar running down her eye.
“What’s the R.O.E., Sir?”
“Seek and destroy,” Mal stated, “inside our first warehouse we will find a set of tactical eyepieces, Wallis has already attached them to our network. It will help you guys not hit your actual commander whenever we hit their back line.”
“What’s the pl
an on any captives we take?” The second fire-team leader asked, a man with dusty blond hair who couldn’t have been 24.
“I have no plans on taking any captives unless they openly surrender,” Mal said, “no extra chances though.”
The last hand was Tye.
“What’s the strategy to deal with any locals?”
“There are no locals, Wallis already checked on her first fly-by and the above ground has no current inhabitants,” Mal said, “It is very important that I am the first person on the ground. The security system has a biometric system that will read me from where we will drop off, I will make sure it views you all as Friendlies: and be very helpful when the Reds come.”
Wallis spoke over the loudspeaker of Jack’s Osprey.
“Commander Daniels, I need you on your ear-piece,” Wallis stated.
Mal had taken it out to grab a few hours of sleep while they flew up here, he dug it out of his cargo pocket and slipped it into his ear.
“No more for now guys, we are eight minutes out according to Jack,” Mal said, “Lock and load.”
“Mal, you would not believe how awesome this thing is,” Wallis said, “but the force they are bringing is bigger than I thought, you are looking at over a hundred and eighteen people. They have mild armor, mostly APCs and what looks like an old school artillery sheller. When they park it, I will take it out.”
35 versus 118 usually wouldn’t be good odds, but we have the advantage with the ultimate equalizer.
“How loaded are the two predators?” Mal asked.
Wallis sighed loudly, as if what she was about to say was going to make Mal really mad.
“About that whole, ‘Don’t take too much of anything’ standing order you gave me,” Wallis said as Mal’s groan intensified, “I was just worried we may find ourselves out-matched. I only took two from Scott Air Force Base but…I took the Drone Carrier.”
Drone Carriers were flying Air Force Carriers that could levitate hundreds or even thousands of feet above the battleground. They were mostly used for their automated ability to refuel and reload their Predator drones with more weaponry, it doesn’t require any sort of fossil fuel because it runs off of solar fuel cells.
These weapons are more likely to tip the scale of this war in a way that starts the actual war all over again.
Monsters Page 18