Ender started to zone out again as the conversation shifted back to talking about the pirate. Same shit, different day, different trafficker. Though, some asshole setting some of his equipment on fire was an unneeded extra bit of fun.
Either way, besides the added danger of dealing with a Skinwalker, and Soren going for that very reason, Calico was just one of the pirates they worked with to free trafficked individuals, while taking down their traffickers.
The normal routine was that his people would meet up with whatever pirate they were working with, kill the traffickers, free the captured, and then split the illegal goods. They'd scrap the ship for parts, followed by helping those poor souls who’d beentrafficked return to their families, or somewhere safe, while using any data they recovered to try to track down past victims. It was pretty straight forward at this point, and it wasn’t as if Ender usually went nowadays.
His ass was too high profile to be running around outside the compound for long. So it was all a bit boring now.
When was the last time he’d gone on a trafficker murder bash? Ender pursed his lips, and tilted his head as he tried to remember.
I should go.
He blinked at the sudden thought, frowning when the odd urge he had to go on this particular hunt intensified. His stomach was twisting with thisknowingthat he needed to be there. Thatknowingsent Ender’s heart racing, and he found himself straightening in his chair as a shiver of fear sliced through him when he dared to even think about not going.
What replaced that fear was rage, swiftly swiping it aside the moment he recognized and identified the unnaturalness of the need that wasn’t really his own.
How dare those bastard Fates involve me in their spinning of threads?!
And that’s exactly what it was. Someone had changed fate, and whatever must come to pass now, his presence would obviously be required to accomplish it.
Ender knew he could ignore it, he was old enough and knowledgeable enough to do it…but the price… Even now, he could feel a building pain in his very bones, ready and waiting to spread if he even considered denying the threads—that were no doubt even now tangling around him—what they wanted.
To be honest, Ender would rather not deal with that pain, as it would likely last for days. Besides…part of him was very curious to see who he’d find waiting on the other side of this pull.
Ugh, but the timing!? Why now?! The anniversary was so close…too close! The pain grew, and was now an aching throb. Barely containing his angry hiss, Ender gave in.
FINE, you bastards, I’ll go!
Why bother fighting it when he’d likely have more fun just going along with whatever bullshit this was?
Ender grimaced as he took another sip of his coffee, holding back the urge to add more sugar cubes. Mainly as the taste was fine, he just liked sugar when he was irritated.
“Why do you look like someone pissed in your mug?” Soren drawled, the man eyeing him suspiciously.
Ender smirked. “Just a bit too bitter for my liking.”
“Bitter, my ass. You are six sugar cubes deep in that fucking cup.”
“Be less observant,” he snapped.
“Be less predictable!” his brother said snidely. “Now, what the fuck is going on in your head, you crazy ass snake?”
Ender sighed, but his smile never dropped as he set down his mug and announced, “Seems it’s time I get back into the action.”
“What?” Kore asked with a frown.
His smile widened. “Be joyful, boys, my old ass is going with you into space!”
“WHAT?!” Soren barked.
At the sound of a drawer opening, Killian frowned, his hands slowing to a stop on his keys. Looking down, his brows rose at the shadowy hand he saw reaching into his previously closed desk drawer. After some sounds of rummaging, the hand retreated, pulling out one of the big cookies he kept inside.
“What in the fuck, Severo?” he rasped in disbelief.
As the shadow started to drag the cookie across his damn brand new carpet, leaving crumbs as it went towards the door with its prize, he stood up and followed.
Killian followed the hand out of his office, after opening the door for it, and all the way into the elevator and down to thethird floor. People eyed him and his shadowy thief while they went, but none were brave enough to say shit to him.
On the recruit training floor, he bypassed the oddly slow-moving hand and pushed into Severo’s office, fully prepared to scare the ever-loving shit out of the Shadow Dweller, but stopped in his tracks when the only one he found inside was Skya.
