The Shadow Man

Fourteen

"Judger and I will take the east side, scout it out first. That was the only tactical weak spot in the walls and defenses. Keep in mind we don't know how many hostiles that guy has there, could be 4, could be 40, we don't know."
"What if it's more than we can handle?"
I ask.
He looks at me.
"Live to fight another day."
He says.
I turn to Xander.
A grim look shows on his face as he knows this is vary different than fighting 100 G'hunawae. These are Nolites.
It took all of us to stop Donnie when he went rogue, and even then, we failed miserably.
This might be the day we die.
"What about Donnie? What if we don't get to take him?"
I ask.
"We know this, thing wants us, all of us. So why hasn't it taken us?"
Finley looks at me, furrowing her brows.
"He's shown he has the ability to take us by force, we've all seen that, so why hasn't he?"
I ask.
"Maybe he's just really lazy?"
Suggests Xander.
"No, he's got a point."
Says Rone, stroking his chin.
"What if his powers are limited? Like when Keepers strained himself to use his energy attacks on Donnie? That could explain why he never stays around us long enough to actually engage us in combat."
Says Judger.
"So he's got a weakness, let's use that."
Says Alice.
"It's not that simple, were still not sure how his powers work, and that doesn't excuse his Nolite security."
"Alice I understand your frustration, but we have to be smart about this, we don't know what we're dealing with. For all we know he could have an army of G'hunawae in there as well."
I say.
"What did you say?"
Asks Xander.
I turn to him.
"About the G'hunawae?"
I ask.
"Yeah, I just thought of something.
Earlier he said that he sacrificed himself to save us, and that we left him to face impossible odds. He wants us to face those odds too. Remember, the SCO headquarters was built where it was because the main Nolite Crucible was in its vicinity."
Rone looks at him.
"What's your point?"
He asks.
"How many people were killed by the G'hunawae during that attack? How many of them had to face impossible odds that we were powerless to save? How many people gave their lives for us to live? Think about it...he wants us at the headquarters because he wants us to be pulled into the G'hunawae home world, to fight against countless G'hunawae...That's his ultimate goal."
He says.
"I don't understand, that's deductive reasoning."
I say.
"Yeah but it came from Xander."
Mutters Rone.
"I know."
I say, shaking my head.
"Okay, so that gets us a motive, and almost an identity, but That doesn't explain how he got his powers or how we stop him."
I turn to her. 
"Well figure that out as we go." she looks at me with disbelieving eyes.
"That's not good enough, Kree."
she says.
"If your going after him, I want you all back safe. We don't completely understand this thing guys, he could kill you, all of you. Don't you realize that?"
Rone steps forward.
"Alice, dealing with monsters and things we don't understand is literally what I do for a living. I'll make sure they all get back home safe."
She nods, hugging herself.
I turn to him.
"We'd better move."
I say, looking at the sky above him.
"Your right."
He says.
I don't move.
No one does.
We're all hesitant to go out, knowing this time we might not come back.
This time we really are facing impossible odds.