White Rabbit

Chapter 28: A Warrior's Descent

CLATTONIA

"Um," The redheaded woman shifts around awkwardly as she sits across from me, Reece, and Essence and Jace sits next to her in the booth in the restaurant that she took us to, "You guys can order whatever you like. I'm the one who asked to take up your time and who brought you here, so I'll pay for it."

"Who are you and what do you want?" I ask bluntly and Jace's eyes flicker to me.

"Um," The redhead pushes up her black glasses nervously and her hazel eyes flit back and forth between all of us, "I'm Baelyne Bayette, but most people just call me Lyne. I work in the restricted floor and I'm an analyst who studies brainwave activities and makes sure that people's health conditions are stable. I've been working there since I was twenty-two and I'm twenty-four now. I've been working on Operation Heavenly for the past year ever since I got put on the team for it."

"That's the operation that Midnight had the papers for," Jace says as his eyes widen in surprise and Reece's breath hitches.

"And what do you want with us?" I ask.

"I want you to help me stop it," Baelyne says firmly as her eyes harden with determination, "I chose to work at this organization because I thought that they were good, but I learned over the years that they target everyone that's Supernatural, not just the bad ones. I don't believe in harming the innocent and I don't believe that you can group everyone together like that. Where you come from and what you are don't define you, it's your actions that do. I joined this organization to help people, not harm innocent ones."

"And how do we know we can trust you?" I raise a brow.

"I'm putting my life and my career on the line here by speaking to you," Baelyne glances around wearily, "Isn't that enough? Why would I be telling you all this if I didn't mean it?"

"People are deceptive, that's why," I cross my arms against my chest, "But, if we chose to believe you, how would you be able to help us and what would you need us to do?"

"Operation Heavenly is something that should never have been started," Baelyne explains, "It's truly horrible. They're creating a weapon unlike any other in order to eradicate all Supernatural and I'm afraid that nothing could beat it, if you can call it an it. If anything, it's a him."

"Him?" Reece questions.

"His name is Azriel Kalayavan," Baelyne continues to explain, "White Rabbit created him and trained him to be a lethal weapon who's hell bent on destroying everything Supernatural, despite being Supernatural himself. They created him a long time ago with the help of twenty-six year old Genna Bastille, a lead scientist at White Rabbit who only cares about creating experiments and doesn't care what the consequences of her actions could be or what repercussions she could face. She's extremely skilled and is an eccentric genius, but she acts as if she's on some sort of energizer drug all the time and never stops working and flitting about, creating all sorts of new things, formulas, and theorems. The operation stays on the restricted floor and is led by your father, Jace, as well as Genna and several other workers. I work a rank under them and make sure that Azriel's vitals are stable and see how he reacts to different stimulants and tests that they perform on him."

"Was that what Aether was doing down on the restricted floor with you?" Jace asks, "Helping you?"

"Aether was giving me the file that held Azriel's information as well as any incidents involving him, including the one with Midnight Maverick and how he took the papers for the operation," Baelyne says, "Aether is sometimes called down to help out with things on the operation, but he usually isn't down there. He's only allowed to help because he's so well trusted within the organization, as you know. They didn't fully know how to harness the Supernatural aspects of Azriel until Minjonet came along. Minjonet Melek is a Supernatural nineteen year old who hails from France and she works with White Rabbit only on that operation. I don't know why they chose to work with her and why she chose to work with them, but she occasionally comes in to help."

"This is crazy," Reece shakes his head and crosses his arms against his chest, "Do they really believe they can control someone like that?"

"Azriel was born in White Rabbit at age sixteen," Baelyne says, "He was originally an Angel named Azriel Reichart who was orignally born in Ikebukuro and was given the title Vilem, which was a status that his family held for three generations before him, meaning that they were the protectors of Ikebukuro. Azriel always fought with a Dark Angel who wasn't necessarily bad, but he would often do things that were considered unjust by others. The two were actually childhood friends, but they never saw eye to eye. Essentially, a few months after he turned sixteen, he was in a fatal accident and got caught by members of White Rabbit, and they somehow transferred his consciousness and genetics into a synthetically engineered human being. They made it so that his memories became buried underneath what they wanted the synthetic being to believe. He still has them, but something tremendous would have to happen in order to bring them out. And that's where I need your help. Our only hope is to try and get Azriel to remember who he was."

"And how do you expect us to do that?" I raise a brow at her.

"I'm not sure," Baelyne frowns, "But I wanted you to know about this. I want to help you in any way that I can and I want you to know that you have another ally."

"Thank you," I nod, "We appreciate your help and your information."

"I may be able to help you," Reece says and we all glance over to him, "I know the Dark Angel that you're talking about."

"Wait," My eyes widen slightly as I recall the Dark Angel from Aiko's shop, "Raphael?"

"Yeah," Reece nods, "And we should probably get going. Aeryn's going to be ticked by the time we get back and Lucian's going to have to deal with her until we do."

I wince at the thought of those two together any longer than they have to be before I sigh and stand up from the booth.

"Thanks again," I say as the others stand up and Baelyne waves over a waitress to order.

"No problem," Baelyne smiles somewhat forlornly as we leave the restaurant.

"Hey, Clattonia," Reece says hesitantly as the four of us walk down the sidewalk.

"Hm?" I raise a brow at him and turn my head in his direction.

"Who," Reece clears his throat before glancing up at the sky, "Who was it?"

I pause for a few moments as Jace and Essence both watch me hesitantly, Essence somewhat curiously as well, and I sigh.

"It was Aether," I say finally.

Reece snorts indignantly and shakes his head.

"I never liked him," Reece scowls and the three of us fall silent, "Now I just have more of a reason to kill him."

I place a hand on Reece's shoulder and squeeze it gently, giving him a sad smile, which he returns for a few seconds before looking straight ahead once again as the four of us continue down the street.

Reece, I promise you that Midnight will get justice someday, sometime, whenever it's right, but I will be relentless in the pursuit of it.