Brotherhood

Protection Detail

"Casting out the net."  Seven focused, letting the emotions of the city wash over him. He hated doing a search in a city. To his senses, cities were living things, swirling with energy. Some of it was positive. A father looked proudly at his son. Two old friends reunited. A young girl sobbed at a movie's happy ending. A couple enjoyed some vigorous sex. But so much was negative. A bullied teen contemplated suicide. A woman was writing a scathing "Dear John" letter, preparing to leave her faithful husband of five years for her younger lover. A battered wife limped through her kitchen, bringing breakfast to the man who had brutalized her only the night before. But none of these were what he was looking for.

Seven narrowed his search. This was the worst part, removing the positive to focus on the specific negative emotions he was looking for. The very air seemed to go dark and cold as the emotions swirled around him, the city suddenly a cesspool of painful stimuli. The empath braced, fighting it back as it threatened to overwhelm him, narrowing his search more, more. And there, the telltale emotions he was looking for, excitement, trepidation, anxiety and an underlying current of bloodlust, violence, and greed. Seven concentrated on them, narrowing his awareness to the group of mercenaries waiting for their target. He focused, linking once more to his brothers. "Seven total mercs, painting them now. Terra, like we suspected."

"Received." One's familiar presence flowed through him, following Seven's senses to the mercenaries. Now Seven could sense some of the detail One could pick up, two distinct vehicles, weapons, a buzz of thoughts as the men reviewed their orders and plan of attack.

Of course, the telepath's senses were far sharper. Seven felt him focusing in on the men's thoughts with laser intensity. "Definitely Terra mercs. They're planning to ambush our objective when he turns down that side alley, heading towards the parking lot to the set."

"Just like we expected," Five sent. His presence hovered on the edge of awareness, noting what the other two were sensing. "I'm near the alley, in place to intercept."

"Take out the four in the second vehicle, Five," One ordered. "They're the backup, heavily armed. Watch yourself, brother. Seven, you're with me on the first. That's the three who will be making the actual abduction attempt. We'll let Five deal with the four in the second vehicle while we stop and insure the first three."

"Copy."

"Roger."

"Seven, where is our objective now?"

"Sitting in traffic," Seven reported after a brief search. Finding this one was easy, coming as naturally as breathing. "Seems to be very much into his music. Jackass."  Seven could picture the scene, the lovely singer, oblivious to his danger, playing air guitar at the traffic light, rocking out to his music on the way to the set. He could imagine the sparkle in his eyes, the way heads would turn and fingers would point, fans delighted for a glimpse of that famous face...

"Get your head in the game, brother!"One snapped sharply, interrupting Seven's fantasy. "Keep your focus on our targets until we engage. If anything goes wrong, you'll sense it first."

Seven grimaced, embarrassed. "Sorry, brothers."  He started moving, heading towards his assigned position in the alley.

"Seriously, Seven, would you just talk to the guy?" Five urged.

"Not helping, brother," One called crossly.

"Back off a moment, One, we got a little time and this needs said," Five insisted. "Look, Seven, the entire world knows about the history of you two, that whole 'Shevine' thing. They know what happened, the attack and all, but One and I know all about how things really ended between you two last year, before the attack. Yeah, that was a bad scene, but you gotta admit, you came on pretty damned hard. You can hardly blame him for how he reacted! And now you haven't seen or spoken to the guy in nearly a year, and we know that's affecting you! Your head is not in the game here, brother, and now that we're protecting him, it's becoming a real liability! We lost him for over a day when he suddenly took off for Oklahoma without warning, and you went into such a panic attack that none of us could think!"