Grayson held his hands out in front of him in a sign of peace.
"We are here to speak with Takemura Ryosuke and ask for your help, we are not a threat," Grayson said.
Still the Sentinels surrounding them did not drop their weapons, they heard someone call Ryosuke's name but he must have been busy because he did not respond.
"How do we know you are not one of the fascist Sentinels?" the foremost Sentinel asked.
Grayson felt a strong bond to this Sentinel, stronger than normal, it was as if he were more closely linked to him as Jo was, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Harry looked like he was having the same experience. Grayson studied the Sentinel steadily; he had a very big sword, though he was not huge like Grayson, Matt, or even Harry. He was closer to the 6ft mark, but he was still sturdy and looked like he could handle himself well.
"I am Grayson Phillips, this is Harry McDonnell, Josephine Wilson, Sheila Wilson, and Matt," Grayson said, realizing he'd never even asked Matt's last name.
He also realized he'd taken Jo's kids presence for granted a bit. He would really have to hang out with them properly and give them the attention they deserved. Especially since they were like family and he rather enjoyed Matt's funny personality, plus he seemed like a great guy. Matt looked at him and rolled his eyes.
"Matt Crazz," Matt said quietly.
Grayson nodded and mouthed sorry to him; Matt shrugged and looked like he wanted to laugh. The Sentinel holding the sword aimed at them, looked at each face and studied them still on his guard.
"Ryosuke, get your ass out here!" the Sentinel yelled.
After a second Ryosuke came out looking sleepy and rubbing his eyes, his eyes went wide when he saw the scene before him and who was waiting for him.
"Jo, Grayson, Harry, what are you all doing here, what happened?" Ryosuke asked.
He walked past the Sentinel at the forefront and pushed the sword down toward the ground, shaking his head at him.
"They are safe Horitz, you don't want to mess with these people, they could tear you to shreds before you could draw your sword if they wanted to," Ryosuke said quietly.
The Sentinel looked back over at Grayson, who was himself at the front of their small group and sighed.
"Brandon Horitz, that's my name," Brandon said, they all nodded at him.
"It's nice to meet you Brandon. Takemura-san we came for your help," Grayson said, not wasting time.
Ryosuke looked a bit upset and worried; Grayson looked at him intently and waited for him to speak his mind.
"Jo, why have you come knowing it is dangerous to use a portal, are you in trouble? Where are the rest of your kids?" Ryosuke asked.
"Takemura-san we need your help and that of your comrades as well," Grayson said, Ryosuke frowned.
"Call me Ryosuke, and what can my comrades and I do for you that you cannot do for yourself? Coming like this is dangerous to us, you have given our position away," Ryosuke said, Grayson shook his head.
"You are all safe, before I opened the portal, I put a protection on your encampment to assure they would not sense the portal opening inside of it," Grayson said.
Brandon stared at him with wide eyes.
"You can protect someone in a different time and place? Who the hell are you, and wait, Josephine Wilson? As in Fierce little Jo with the bloody defending sword?" Brandon asked, to which Ryosuke nodded.
Wow, that's a mouthful.
"Fierce little Jo with the bloody defending sword? Jesus Jo, you need a whole sentence for your title," Grayson teased, amusement coloring his tone; Jo smiled at him widely and shrugged.
"I was famous, what can I say?" Jo said, winking at him; Harry laughed and Sheila giggled.
"Yeah she was famous, she had a way of beating the enemy down and making some of them ask to join our side, mostly because Mom is hot in a fight!" Sheila said proudly.
Grayson laughed and Matt nodded; Harry smiled at Sheila and nodded.
"I would imagine so, Jo may be a demon trainer but she is definitely a beautiful person," Harry said smiling widely.
Brandon's gaze fell on Harry and then he really looked at him and seemed to become entranced with Harry's beauty. Well at least Grayson wouldn't be the more beautiful one anymore; Harry was much more beautiful now than Grayson was. He glanced at Brandon and realized he was studying him just as intently. He smiled at Brandon kindly and nodded.
"To answer your question, yes we can protect from afar, but that is beside the point, we are running short on time, Ryosuke where can we speak in private? Bring the leader of the encampment please," Grayson said, Ryosuke sighed and nodded.
"Follow me," Ryosuke said and turned.
He led them to a large tent that held four large picnic-like tables with benches for seats and indicated they sit. As they sat, Grayson felt his mind expand more; more memories trickled in although they were not painful as the other times had been. It was probably because this time around he wasn't receiving as much information. With these memories came some memories of how to use some of his abilities, the ability to see into others minds. Harry and he could read other's minds, not only could they read their minds, but they could also see their lives, and their true nature.
Grayson also remembered he did not like forcing his way into someone's mind unless it was necessary, just because he could do it didn't mean that he did it; he had always tried to respect other's boundaries, even as the original first. He was still aware of his surroundings and of what was going on around him the whole time his memories were returning, even with all the information that was returning to him.
"Sit please, I'll go get Nathan," Ryosuke said as he put water in a teakettle to boil and then turned to go.
Brandon, who had followed them in, kept looking at each one of them in turn, almost staring admiringly at each one but mostly at Grayson, Harry noticed and didn't seem to like it. Grayson linked their hands together and smiled at Harry.
"So who are you really? Ryosuke wouldn't tell us much about how he got Yuki back, except that he had help from Jo and her companions," Brandon asked.
Grayson thanked Ryosuke in his head and made a note to thank him for being discreet and following his wishes to remain secret for now. Harry cleared his throat and smiled at Brandon kindly, even if he was jealous of the looks Brandon kept giving Grayson, he was still the same peaceful and loving Harry.
"Gray introduced us to you already Brandon; we are who he said we were. We only recently changed, yesterday actually, and we are still getting our memories back, but Jo has been training us for quite some time, so we are a little more adept at fighting than most I would think. We are here helping a fellow Sentinel as we helped Ryosuke; that is all I will say until your leader comes, I don't feel like repeating myself," Harry said, as a Ryosuke and a large man, as big as Kenneth Phillips was when he was in perfect health, walked in.
"Hello, I am Nathan Horitz, Brandon's older brother and the leader of this encampment. Welcome, I hear you are in need of some assistance, how can we help you?" Nathan asked.
All except for Brandon stood and extended their hands in greeting, shaking at the forearm, as was old custom; Nathan eyed all of them, zeroed in on Jo, and smiled.
"Ah Jo, it has been so long, how have you been?" Nathan asked with a wide smile, Jo smiled and walked over to Nathan and hugged him at the waist.
"I've been in limbo my old friend, how have you been?" Jo asked him.
Nathan shook his head as Jo walked back to the table and sat down; the others did the same when Nathan walked around the table to sit next to Brandon.
"Not so good lately, we've been seeing a lot more attacks on our kind. Sadly, the attacks come from our own kind. This Fascist business is getting old fast, and we can't seem to get a handle on it. There doesn't seem to be anyone that can bring them to their knees," Nathan said rubbing the back of his neck; it seemed to be a nervous habit of his.
Grayson's deep rumble of a voice became a bit deeper with the spike of anger he felt at
Nathan's words. This Void guy's attacks on his and Harry's Sentinels needed to end; each time he heard more it only made him angrier.
"Have you also heard of this Void guy?" Grayson asked.
Nathan snapped his head up in surprise and studied Grayson for moment, really looking at him then Nathan answered quietly.
"I have heard of the Void, but I am not sure exactly what is true and what is not. I think most of it is fallacy but there is no way of knowing until we encounter him. However, I am not exactly inclined to encounter this guy. If this is whom you are trying to go after and need our help in catching or defeating him, I cannot help you. I will not send my people into a situation where their chances of survival are minimal in the best of situations," Nathan said still looking at Grayson's face with an admiring eye, Harry cleared his throat.
"Gray maybe it is ok to show Nathan, it wouldn't be right to ask him for help and not let him know, especially with the plan we came up with," Harry suggested quietly, squeezing Grayson's hand, which he still held in his.
Grayson looked at Harry and sighed and nodded, just then Jo's hand shot out and stopped Grayson from standing up.
"First why don't we explain our plan and see what he says?" Jo suggested calmly.
Nathan looked at her in surprise but remained silent; he studied Harry as intently as he had been studying Grayson, with that same admiring look. Grayson couldn't fault him, Harry was simply beautiful to look at; one couldn't help but look.
"Ok Jo," Grayson said, turning to looked Nathan in the eyes.
"Ryosuke did you tell Nathan anything about Yuki's imprisonment, how and where she was being held? How we got her out?" Grayson asked him, Ryosuke shook his head.
"Only that she was being held by the fascist group, you requested I say nothing and that was what I did," Ryosuke said.
Grayson nodded and smiled at him widely, bowed slightly; Ryosuke looked at him startled, but smiled back.
"Wow, when you smiled you actually look gorgeous. Has anyone ever told you that you look like a girl?" Brandon asked Grayson in awe.
Grayson turned and gave him a withering look, making Brandon avert his eyes and clamp his mouth shut, blushing profusely. Harry laughed and Matt joined him, Sheila looked amused and a small snort escaped her lips, and Jo looked like she was holding in her laughter.
"Oh shut up, and what are you laughing at Harry, you are more beautiful than I am. Just wait until someone starts saying you look like a girl again. This time I won't defend you, see how you like it," Grayson said huffing.
Why was everyone always telling him he looked like a damn girl? Even if he did, it wasn't something he wanted to hear. Harry leaned over, kissed him, and smiled.
"Complain all you want, it won't change the fact that you're still beautiful. Now quit your bitching and let's tell the man our plan," Harry said smiling widely.
Brandon's eyes were riveted on Harry, Grayson laughed in his head to himself, Brandon thought Harry was more beautiful too, but he wouldn't say it. Fine by him, he could look all he wanted, but he would never have him. Harry was Grayson's and Grayson was Harry's; that would never change.
"Well we really are running short on time so let's get to it. We plan to free most or as many Sentinels from the fascist prisons as possible. From the information we've gathered, the Void is draining them of their energy, and then he's sucks out their souls. We have one of the Sentinels that he was forcing into servitude by the fascist group; they are holding his wife. They told him if he served them, they would keep his wife alive, if he refused they would suck out her energy and soul and give her the final death. He was the one that helped get Harry's and my Father out and bowed to me first," Grayson said turning to Ryosuke and directing his last sentence at him.
Ryosuke nodded, remembering the person of which he spoke.
"Anyway, our plan is simple, yet hard because we don't have enough people to execute it. We plan on hitting more than one of their facilities at once, I can pull the Sentinels out all at the same time but we need to throw them off our trail, which means we need some type of diversionary tactics. We need to make them think that more than one person hit the prisons. If they can't trace where we went then they won't know where to look right? The only problem is that the Sentinels would not be able to go home anymore because that would be the first place they would look for them. I think taking everyone at once would seriously debilitate the Void. Would you and your people be willing to help?" Grayson asked.
The fact that he had sent the entire group of refugee Sentinels that they'd rescued home, still worried him a bit. He was no longer sure that they would be safe at home even with the heavy protection he placed on each of their homes. However, one thing at a time, they had to rescue the imprisoned Sentinels.
He knew his plan sounded crazy, but it was just crazy enough to work. Though finding somewhere to hide all the imprisoned Sentinels was going to be a tough one. How to know where safe enough was, for so many people?
Grayson already knew where all the Sentinels were as did Harry, they had only to open their minds and feel every one of them. Harry and he were connected to each one so closely that they could feel all of them, even the ones being held for judgment and the ones that were dispelled but not gone to their final death. If they delved deeper, they could actually feel the Sentinels that had already gone to their final death, but that required entering a different plane and though it was not hard, it was also, not fun.
Nathan sat and stared from his hands to each individual face at the table then back to his hands pensively for a few minutes and took a deep breath. He stood and looked down at Grayson.
"You are the one that speaks for everyone here requesting assistance, correct?" Nathan asked.
Grayson looked at everyone in turn; they all nodded. In actuality, he spoke for all Sentinels even for Harry if it came down to it, though he would only do that as a last resort.
"Come then, the rest of you please remain," Nathan said; Grayson shook his head.
"Harry comes with me always, that is not negotiable," Grayson said.
Nathan looked from Grayson to Harry to Grayson again; nodding he turned to leave. Grayson turned to Jo, Matt, and Sheila, looking at them apologetically. He really didn't want to leave them behind.
"Sorry guys; Jo, I'll fill you in as soon as we get back, ok?" Grayson asked; Jo winked at him and nodded.
"This is the roll you were created for Gray, don't be hesitant about it. Harry remind him of that when he looks like he has forgotten," Jo said.
Brandon looked at Jo curiously but said nothing; Ryosuke simply looked at them silently. Harry nodded and smiled at her then they followed Nathan, he led them to another tent that was smaller and only held one table. Nathan excused himself for a moment and left the tent stating he would be back in a moment.
There was a small woman that looked ancient and withered, but Grayson knew for a fact she was not. She was technically ancient and old, having lived longer than anyone else at the camp, except for Grayson and Harry, but in actuality she looked just as young as Grayson and Harry. She was the most powerful witch ever, literally, though to be fair she was more than a witch, she'd been a magic wielder before the word witch or the existence of one came into being.
"Hadox, it has been more than an epoch, how have you been?" Grayson asked smiling at her widely, his eyes twinkling as he hugged her tightly.
She smiled at him with a wide knowing smile and looked at Harry.
"Well, well, now, this is quite a day. Indeed, it has been more than an epoch that we have met my dear Alphatos. Betatos you look as lovely as ever, well actually you both look quite gorgeous don't you. I was getting worried that you weren't showing up," Hadox said.
Not only was she a witch, she had the sight, the woman knew everything, and in all the time Grayson had known her, at least that he could remember, she had never once been wrong.
"It's Harry and Grayson now," Grayson said pointing at Harry and then himself, she smiled at them and shoo
k her head.
"Though your new reincarnation may be called Grayson, you will always be Alphatos, and the same goes for you Betatos. However, if you feel more comfortable using Grayson and Harry then I will oblige. My name now is Helen if you wish not to confuse the new Sentinels amongst us. A few know of my true identity but most do not," Hadox said taking a sip from the mug in her hand.
She was even smaller than Jo was, standing at 4'8" in height when she was at her youngest, in her old age glamour she stood at 4'7" max. Although she had the ability to make herself look any age she wanted, in reality, her true self looked as young as Jo. Yet, her power was as big as she was small, it was massive, and when he'd last known her uncapped. She had limitless power because she drew it from the universe at large.
"So how about we use our old names in private and our new ones when someone is around?" Harry suggested, Hadox nodded and smiled at Harry's suggestion.
"I'd like that beautiful; you look like an angel my dead Betatos, and you Alphatos, seem to be under the impression that your other half is more beautiful than you, but you are quite mistaken. You have never seen yourself clearly have you, you are of equal paring, different though your beauty is. I fear Alphatos will attract more attention for his sheer size and well look at him. He is magnificent in every incarnation, is he not my Betatos?" Hadox asked Harry, Harry nodded and looked at Grayson with an admiring look.
"That he is Hadox, you look great also, you haven't aged a day have you, and beautiful as always," Harry said sitting next to Hadox and crossing his legs at the knee.
They could both see her for what she truly was, her glamour and magic had never worked on them although they could see the image she projected as if it were a transparent sweater she was wearing over her clothes.
"Aren't you the big flirt, there was a time when you only had eyes for Alphatos," Hadox said, teasing Harry as she smiled and patted Harry's hand, causing Harry to chuckle.
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