"I've called you all here today on such notice in regard to our new trainee..." Nutmeg stood at the head of the table in the counselor's break room.
"I saw the email. It's Juke." Valorie commented, drawing uncertain looks from her friends. "He turned himself in only to join F.V.R... Makes no sense."
"Do you think he feels compelled to make it up to us?" Batanna inquired.
They were startled by the Head Mistress' sarcastic, angry laugh.
"He's so up to something." The squirrel stated blatantly, planting her hands on the tabletop. "Unless nearly burning to death was enough to make him question his life choices, I doubt he's here with his morality in mind."
"Weren't you the one most excited about him joining?" Val chuckled confusedly. "What changed?"
"He turned himself in. He escaped Null Space, and instead of rejoining his clan, he decided to go to the five he hurt the most and make them take care of him. It's almost like a power move." The squirrel lifted her hands off the table and paced the front of the room restlessly, her tail twitching. Her antsy reaction made everyone else in the room uneasy as well.
"Well, I know I was hesitant about the idea of him joining, but..." Scarlet looked from her sibling to the Head Mistress. "I won't mind taking over as his primary counselor. Especially since you're busy with Eclipse and all."
"Really, Scarlie? Oh, thank you, you're so considerate!" Nutmeg darted around the table to give her a hug before becoming grim again. "You be careful around him, girlie. Yes, we treat all trainees equally, but sometimes equally is not always fair. He's a master of stealth, being a ninja and all."
"I don't mean to interrupt, but I just got a text from Bob." Valorie called from the end of the table, referring to the Head of Guard. "The Resistance has lost a prisoner. An octopus called Mimic. Apparently, he can shape-shift."
There was an uncomfortable pause as everyone regarded her words.
"What does this mean?" Cyanic asked, dreading the answer.
Valorie's sea-green and ocean-blue eyes studied her phone in thought. "Means we gotta up security. We can't just waltz in and out, we've got to not only show our ID's, but answer a uniquely-assigned question about ourselves."
"Oh dear... I'm surprised we weren't doing that already, but it's understandable." Nutmeg glanced at her own phone, reading the email's pop-up. "...Oh! And guess what? He allied with N.I.T.E."
"It just keeps getting better, doesn't it?" Batanna groaned sarcastically. "What is Mimic, a mercenary?"
"Looks like it. He used to be part of an anti-Eggman mercenary group called the Diamond Cutters. Apparently, he and a wolf named Whisper are the only remaining members of the group because..." the squirrel squinted incredulously at what she was reading, doing her best to paraphrase the wording to make it quicker. "...he joined Eggman behind their back and betrayed them?"
"But he's no longer on Eggman's good side." Valorie was following along the same email on her own phone. "So, he probably joined N.I.T.E. for that reason."
The lavender bat looked up in concern. "Nutty, one of us should probably go with you for this evening's trainee soup kitchen visit. Just in case."
"I'd appreciate that." The squirrel replied, her brow furrowed. "We should also have a security question that only the five of us know."
"I'll ask an obscure question, and one of you give it an obscure answer," Valorie directed. "Who is the evil poptarts' ally?"
"Cockroaches." Batanna said off the top of her head.
"Occasionally ask another random question or statement that doesn't make sense, too, and the answer will always be a defiant, 'Good.'" Nutmeg added. "Have you heard that grass is sometimes blue?"
"Good." All four counselors said in unison.
"That one's kind of funny, I like it." Batanna giggled. "I bet our trainees will give us weird looks."
"Joke's on then, they wouldn't otherwise know it's really us." Val scoffed.
"It's lovely seeing you, besties, but lunch period's out. Eclipse is most likely waiting." Nutmeg ended their meeting. "Meeting dismissed."
YOU ARE READING
Blood Bonds
Fanfiction(Book 3 of the Spirit of the Phantom Ruby series) In Blood Bonds, a forgotten enemy is found and captured by G.U.N.; Eclipse the Darkling! Eclipse finds himself signing a treaty over to G.U.N., enrolling him in F.V.R.'s redemption program and separa...
