Shadows Over Camp Darkness

Carrot and Stick

Gideon wasn’t a good enough person not to slightly enjoy the sound of the pain and terror filled scream that ripped through the night air. As an Alecto Fury, her literal stock in trade was fear and pain, to the point where the victim was pushed over into madness and only then given the sweet mercy of death. She hadn’t plied her trade in several years but there was a part of her that could count down to the exact minute the last time she’d been a battle Fury, and that part of her now recognized the work of one of her sisters. She was also a decent enough not-quite-human-being to realize that part of her was eagerly running towards someone that could legally be classified as a psychotic maniac. But you can’t choose family and Gideon was never one to deny that she wasn’t any better. Just more controlled.
Using logic and reasoning, and her own instincts, Gideon had determined that the next target would be one of her enemies. So it came as a rather massive surprise for Gideon to sprint onto the scene of a minimal blood bath to find that it had absolutely NOTHING to do with her at all. There were two Intakee’s; neither of them one of her kids, and they had clearly gotten into a fist fight that had devolved into a biting and slapping match. The scream had likely resulted after the female had bitten and tore a chunk out of the male’s bicep.
“If you’re going to use your teeth, have the decency to swallow the meat and not let it go to waste. Otherwise keep your fangs to yourself.” Gideon barked out, her zap slapping both kids to the ground with ease.
Several other Councilors stumbled onto the scene, panting and wheezing and looking ready to be confronted with horrors and violence. It was almost anticlimactic for this little squabble to have caused such a ruckus. Virgil was lurking at the edge of the scene, having already scanned it and determined that he needn’t interfere with basic Camp politicking.
“What happened here?” Head Councilor Ruth demanded her voice cold and reminding Gideon that the Frost Giant descendant could literally lash those involved with her words.
“He tried to grab the flag from me!” the girl wailed as she started to recover from Gideon’s zap.
“It was dangling from her tail!” the boy countered. “She was waving it around and I just tried to grab it. I wasn’t being rude, I was playing the game we were told to play!” he cried back, sounding miserable and in pain.
And then all hell broke loose as people started to scream at each other and accusations started to fly. The boy and the girl were actually spitting at each other as Gideon watched the Councillors start to snipe over their heads, each accusing the other of having no control over their unruly Intakees and other such ridiculous nonsense. Gideon blinked and felt her nostrils flare as every predatory instinct she had flared to life, recognizing the distraction as exactly that. Her head swiveled around, her one good eye evidently searching for the culprit behind this madness in front of her, the chaos too sudden and too foreign feeling for it to be naturally occurring. She caused madness with pain and fear, others of her sisters used mental torments and emotional sawing. Gideon could gaslight someone but she was far better at spurring her quarry into agitation by acting like a fire ant.
“ENOUGH!” Gideon felt the word bellow out of her belly and chest, slapping everyone down with the zap as she silenced the lot of them, too determined to spot the other Fury to care to temper her zap as she normally would. It was still far from lethal, but generally she knew it was a bad idea to overrule the other Councilors like that. So it was the perfect time for Jasper and the others to arrive on the site.
And all the predators in the group were absolutely STUNNED when Gideon turned her back on the lot of them to stare out towards the trees. They were not a threat to her, and such a simple act revealed that far greater than any declarations of ability would have. Gideon didn’t pay attention to their silence, astonishment, or anger; she was too busy trying to find someone that did not want to be found. With a carefully controlled inhalation, Gideon dropped away even more of her humanity. It wouldn’t be terribly obvious to someone watching, but those that looked at her now found it hard to look away; madness was always captivating.
“Your face is slipping.” Lisa stepped up beside her and warned.
“On purpose.” Gideon didn’t explain. Thankfully, she didn’t have to; her friends understood.
“Okay ladies, gentlemen, both or neither; let’s get back to our regular routine.” The Witch called out, cajoling the others into movement again. Not that they wanted to leave the interesting show Gideon was putting on, but thankfully the Witch was soon supported by the Dragon.
“Report.” Doctor Cyr requested once the rest were chases away, many complained (Jasper) that she should be providing answers before the situation was dismissed, but the Dragon just waved them on. Gideon stared out at the trees, her humanity sliding even further away as she remained silent. “Report now.” He added authority to his command and Gideon finally blinked.
“All is not well in Oz.” Gideon commented obliquely.
“Tell me something I don’t know.” There was humour in his words, but the same dark humour one found working in a morgue; it was only funny because it wasn’t.
“If the bump in the night is afraid of the monster under the bed, so should you be.” Gideon sighed, sounding so very tired suddenly.
The Dragon’s hand rested on her shoulder briefly. “You are not alone, and I don’t mean your sibling out there.” He attempted comfort. Not bad for a Neutral.
“I’m going to leave the Hellcat with her kittens for now; she knows how to get information to me if needed.” Gideon suddenly informed her voice low.
The Dragon remained silent, even though Gideon could feel the question he didn’t verbalize; why would he have to get information to her if she was planning on coming back? “If you’re sure.” He said instead.
“You’re the only one here capable of protecting her should I fall.” Gideon actually offered an answer.
“And there is someone out there that you believe capable of making you fall?” the Dragon didn’t make it sound doubting of her or the other Fury.
“I grew up with the lesson that anyone and anything can be broken. They teach that to us by breaking us. The one out there somewhere might be the very specific one that broke me years ago.” Gideon kept it as straightforward as possible but she knew that even the Neutral Dragon was giving her that look; a mix of horror and pity. She didn’t break her stare down at the forest to confirm, nor did she extrapolate how exactly it was that she had been broken.
“Does this change your plans for your kids?” thankfully the Dragon was pragmatic instead of pedantic.
“Not even a little bit. Dinner is cooked, the bell has been rung, and I plan to stuff the tasty morsel down her throat if she comes sniffing for it.” Gideon grinned as she spoke, and her zap crackled with something more than just electric pain. Finally her regular eye tore from the stare down at the forest and she turned her scarred visage back to Doctor Cyr. “Does any of that change your response to my plan?”
“Not even a little bit; I trust you.” The Dragon’s words were lightly spoken and yet staggering in their forthrightness.
“Terrible plan that, really. But at least I’m going to put on a good show.” Gideon quipped, turning her back to the forest now that she knew she was being watched.
“Please try not to die Gideon, your loss would affect a great many of us in ways you probably don’t anticipate. Sentimentality and all of that.” He cautioned, looking away so that Gideon wouldn’t just laugh off the emotional situation. She didn’t handle the emotional side of things as well, they both knew it, especially when it was her own emotions.
“I have work to do, Doctor. So with your permission, I’ll get the gears grinding.” Gideon smiled, the wounds on her face twisting to make it slightly horrific looking.
“Rule Two.” The Dragon smirked as he gestured her onwards.
Rule Two. Don’t get caught. Gideon smiled as she headed back towards her Head Councilor and Intake. Her whole life had come full circle in so many different ways that it was painfully poignant and irritatingly unstoppable. She’d gone from biomagically designed hunter, to child soldier, to Intakee, to Camp Councillor, to Camp Saviour, and now she was firmly back into biomagically designed Hunter. There were just a hundred lifetime choices between that hunter she used to be and the Hunter she was now. And here she was teaching these children the Rules that had once been used to break her so apart that Gideon didn’t actually remember the first few years of her life; she only remember the Rules and the taste of Family. And now Family was here and Gideon was going to use these Rules to break everything.