Final Apocalypse: Rise of Tamara

A word or two, sir?

Daniel pulled the truck to a stop at the Black and White's building. He, Brute, and Ali climbed out and walked inside. Isabelle and Rone were waiting by the elevator. "Did you stop for fast food or something? We called you two hours ago." Rone stated as he shook his cousin's hand

Daniel shrugged. "No. We couldn't take the helicopter or the jet. They both need maintenance. So, we had to drive the armored truck. Sorry, we're late."

Rone rolled his eyes and called the elevator. Brute handed Ali a pack of crackers he kept in his coat. "We're never gonna get a break, are we?" He whispered.

Ali shook his head. "Considering that this is the second meeting tonight, I believe it's fair to say no."

They all stepped into the elevator and rode it to the top floor, where Sako and Odia were waiting. The only person missing was Charlotte. She'd decided to go looking instead of standing around talking about the problem. Typical of her.

They walked to the meeting room. Recon stood on one side of the table, The Black and White on the other. Isabelle slid the page across the table to Daniel. He read it, then passed it to his colleagues. When the page had been passed around, it was handed back to Isabelle. "See the problem now, boys?" Odia asked.

Daniel nodded and sat down. Brute and Ali followed his example. "So, we're looking for a woman with octopus tentacles? Strange, but ok."

Rone shook his head. "Tendrils. They act like stingers. You read what the venom could do. For all we know, Rapture has a proxy out there building an army. Or killing anyone that gets in her way."

Ali made a 3-D image of the illustration appear over the table. "No hints were given as to who it could be?"

Odia shook her head. "No. Nothing even close. All we know is that this person is supposedly merciless and bloodthirsty. Do you have anyone on file that fits that description?"

Daniel handed her a photo of Iron Mask. "He's the closest candidate. But it states that it is a "queen". That implies female. We know that he and Llana were in love. Well, sort of. But there's a discrepancy with that too."

"And what is that?" From Rone.

Brute stood and pulled a bloody bullet from his pocket. "Hexalus put this godkiller bullet through her head. There's no way she could have survived."

Rone counted the attendants of both groups. Tom and Coltiĺĺero were both missing. He pointed it out to Daniel, who it seemed was intrigued as well. "I tried calling them both. Neither one would answer, so I just assumed that they were busy. I'll try one more time."

He called Colt's phone. It rang a few times, then went to voicemail. He called Tom's number. This time, someone answered. "Hello?" A female voice asked.

Daniel put the phone on speaker. "Who is this?"

"Grandpa, it's me, Marriko."

Daniel breathed a sigh of relief. "Is your dad there?"

"No. They all went out for drinks a while ago. Tamara and I are the only ones here right now."

"Oh. I called Darrius a few hours ago and heard screaming. I wanted to check on you guys."

Marriko chuckled. "Yeah. We were watching a horror movie and had the volume up really loud. He thought something was wrong and bolted into the house. You should have seen his face when he opened the door. It was hilarious."

"Well, when you see your dad, can you have him call me?"

"Sure, no problem."

"Oh, one more thing. Did your uncle stop by? I sent him to check on you guys."

"Yeah. He stopped by about an hour ago. He went to the bar to see everyone else."

"Alright then. I'll see you later. You and Tamara have fun."

"We'll try. Bye, grandpa.

"Bye." He hung up and set the phone on the table. "I guess we know where Tom and Colt are now. They're probably wasted. We don't need to bring them in here like that."

Rone nodded. "Yeah. I guess we'll start looking tonight. We'll let them know tomorrow. Does anyone object to that?"

No one objected. Isabelle stood up. "Coffee's free. Where do you think we should start looking, Daniel?"

"I don't know. Rapture said he wanted to tear us apart from the inside out. It's probably someone we're associated with. Family members, friends, coworkers. Check them all out. But if you find them, don't kill them. Do your best to apprehend them. Does anyone object to that?"

Again, no objections.

They all decided to split into groups. Rone, Ali, and Isabelle would check upper New York and lower Maine. Brute and Odia would go south. That left Daniel and Sako to check Manhattan and surrounding cities. If no luck was found there, then they were to report back to the others.