~*~ ~*~ ~*~
As if the universe was simply trying to prove to her its' intense levels of hate and contempt for her through the agents still at the Weslyn building, Vosthan reported to LeShana that trouble was brewing from the source of all annoyance and idiocy in the known universe, Admiral Teg. Only too aware that it had been simply a matter of time before the self righteous prig's over inflated sense of self would prompt him to do something monumentally stupid from the moment she had challenged him, LeShana ordered the cars back across the island. Unfortunately the details were scarce, most of her team's strong telepaths had come with her in the hopes that their superior mental barriers would prevent Raven from detecting them. In addition, whatever the Admiral was up to had involved cutting the buildings outside lines of communication. What little Vosthan had managed to gather only warned that it was a serious situation, and that LeShana needed to be ready for whatever the moron had planned. When they arrived, she and Vosthan entered the building alone while almost everyone else held back and remained outside the building, just in case the idiocy that would follow was to be as bad she expected. It took less than a minute to discover that the day was to be one of those where she was doomed to simply underestimate everything and everyone. Almost immediately inside the doors, she was confronted with the sight of the Admiral standing behind an armored wall of gun wielding troops. It was as if he was consciously trying to remind her of how he, his government, and it's military had repeatedly violated the treaty by failing time and time again to destroy the banned pieces of military hardware.
"You are in violation of the Earth-Center treaty." The Admiral bellowed, only too proudly, from behind his vanguard. "You will immediately turn your prisoner over into my custody and desist any further attempts to obtain him for your own ends. Under Section 12: subsection 4, and I quote, 'No Earth citizen should be taken against his will by any Center authority.'."
"Section 12: subsection 4.1, and I quote 'Unless the person is deemed to be a threat either through acts of terrorism, criminal acts committed outside of Earth territorial space, or gifts that surpass the abilities of the Earth governments to train safely.'." LeShana countered immediately, growing more than a little angry that he would try to use a half truth in order to weasel his way into getting what he wanted.
"Section 10: subsection 34, 'An Earth citizen who is granted diplomatic immunity by his or her government may not be removed.." The Admiral parried quickly.
"'Unless the citizen wishes to be removed." LeShana finished for him. "Further more, 'Diplomatic Immunity may not be granted unless the Earth citizen requests it through official channels and has not committed any crimes. This, however, does not apply in the case of dangerous gifts as specified in Section 12: subsection 8 through 12.'." The Admiral quickly flipped through the pages of the treaty looking for some recourse. LeShana smiled and was just about to proceed inside, but was stopped by the rather intense sound in front of her, there was no sound quite like that of twenty-five automatic rifles being cocked in unison.
"'An Earth military commander has final say in matters of Earth security.'." The Admiral finally bellowed back at her.
"Section 24: subsection 54, 'No Center agent may be hindered or stopped in the completion of their duty by any authority other than the Center itself.'." Leshana was almost angry enough that she might be tempted to violate every bit of training she had ever received, just so that she could ignite the pompous, dictatorial, moronic twit and watch him burn. "Admiral you have violated that treaty and stretched the letter of the law at every possible chance and in every possible way for over year. And now you DARE threaten me with illegal weapons, while proclaiming to be upholding the letter of the law, which says those very weapons are banned. You have come so dangerously close to violating every tenant you are supposed to uphold, that I no longer have words for the level of idiocy you are putting on display at this very moment. FINE! If you want to start an incident, then I hereby order you in violation. I will order an immediate halt to the Restoration project, every Center agent in this building, and every Center agent on this planet will disappear. We will let you have your way, and if you want to sacrifice your planet's future over one talented boy, so be it! I can not help but wonder what your fellow citizens would think of that. There are 130 other countries that are a part of that treaty, I wonder what they would do when they discovered that one man on a power trip over one small boy, ruined it for all of them." LeShana looked to Vosthan, who nodded, held up his hand and ripped every single one of the weapons into chunks in the space of a heartbeat, sending the pieces scattering across the floor. A few seconds later, the other agents summoned at his signal appeared and filed past the shocked soldiers on their way out the door. "Let's get out of here." LeShana ordered, pulling the door open as she lead the mass defection out into the street.
By the time the last of the stragglers from all across the city had reported in safely to their off-site and unofficial headquarters, diplomats and political professionals from seven different departments of the US government had called, trying to apologize for the incident. LeShana had needed only to answer one of them and only long enough to ask if Admiral Teg had been removed from his position as the director of that region's efforts. When the answer had been 'no' LeShana had hung up and refused to take any more of the calls that would have made her phone ring endlessly, had it not been set to silent and shoved into a jacket pocket. While LeShana had nowhere near the authority to allow her to call off the treaty, end all diplomatic ties, and end the restoration efforts, nor was she likely have any support in the Great Council for such an act, she did, or would rather, have the unquestioned support of all the other teams and team leaders. That would be helpful in making the situation look as if it was about break down, if nothing else. There had not been even one of her counterparts that had not already spent at least an hour at some point, lamenting ever getting involved with the world and the people who ran its' governments. As much as LeShana might like to think her problems in that part of the world were bad, unfortunately the incident wasn't the worst one that had occurred that year by any means. At the time, it had seemed that the whole of the world's population were working against them in one way or another. She could only hope that the latest incident and the mere appearance that there was real trouble stirring, could jerk the chains of all those corrupt politicians into acting like they had some sense of decency for just a few more weeks.
The off site facility had the unimaginably useful feature of being completely unknown to the local government, as well as being well off the beaten path. Set deep within a tangled landscape of well aged warehouses, along a chunk of the New Jersey shoreline, it was all but forgotten to the outside world. If one were to walk a ways down the road or risk the climb up a rusty ladder outside to the thin metal sheeting of the roof, they could see the city up on their northern horizon. Ultimately, it did not offer them any kind of comfort, climate control, proper facilities, or a modicum of civility, considering there were now 250 agents suddenly jammed into what was essentially 10 rooms, even though one of the rooms was easily large enough to hold that number, it still wasn't exactly a pleasant environment for any of them.
"What on Earth is that heavenly smell?" Tuvin asked, sniffing the air with his muzzled face while his large, bushy tail began to wag. If LeShana and the others were a little less exhausted, then one of them might have chosen that point in which to tease him over his display. But his sharper senses did, in fact, herald a smell that was intensely pleasing as it wafted down the hall towards them. Even as LeShana's stomach rumbled in response and she came close to following the scent towards its' source, the half open door swung fully open and the very last person she might have expected to see, besides that most hated of Admirals, walked into the room carrying a great, heaping, double armful of food.
"By the time me and your boys here got enough food for everybody, we had nearly worked the kitchen staf
fs of every decent take out restaurant between here and Manhattan into early graves. So I have no idea what I've got here.. much less which is the best smelling." Raven muttered calmly as he stepped into the room like he belonged there. "But it's best to grab some now, I nearly lost an arm getting this much through the hordes out there."
"What the hell are you doing here?!" LeShana demanded angrily when she finally found her voice once more.
"Regretting the offer to pay for dinner for all of you?" He murmured as he slid his burden down onto the table. The others all laughed happily at him, but LeShana wasn't sure she was quite so ready to forgive him.
"Come here." She growled at him angrily, grabbing his arm and yanking him towards the hallway. As they left, he calmly ordered her people to make sure to leave some of the food for her, further infuriating her with his sudden thoughtfulness. Considering the situation, there was only one room where they had any chance of finding even a modicum of privacy. Across the hall a magical workroom, and the shields that cut off the room from the rest of the building would make sure that no one else would hear if she started yelling, as she so very much wanted to do. "Now, tell me why the hell you’re here." She hissed at him as she swung the door shut behind them, which only just avoided being qualified as being a 'slam'.
"You know, we have a saying here on Earth, , 'You are beautiful when you are angry', but I never really got it until now. With all of this.." He gestured to all of her as he spoke. ".. and that temper, damn girl you've got it goi.." The rest of his words were cut off as finally her slowly eroding control of her temper simply snapped, and she threw his much larger mass back into the metal wall behind him.
"Why the hell are you here?!" His infuriating superior smile that had so easily angered her earlier suddenly reappeared.
"I just thought you shouldn't have to go without my charming presence." On the edge of doing him some serious damage, she yanked him forward, fully prepared to slam him into the wall a second time, except that suddenly she was being spun around and was pushed back into the wall herself. Although not gentle about it, some part of her did acknowledge that had he wanted to hurt her he easily could have. Her attempt to strike him was caught, and in the next moment he had captured both of her hands. In a potent display of gentle strength, he pinned both her arms above her head with one hand. "You weren't lying to me when you said you hated what my government was doing." It was not the question she would have expected, instead it was a simple, unadulterated statement of fact. "And you were right, that idiot of an Admiral won't be satisfied until he's got me on his short little leash and eating out of the palm of his hand. Well I don't want your protection.." Never in LeShana's life had found someone so infuriating, and when she tried to surge free of his grip he held her back without even seeming to try. ".. but, I do want to change things so that I don't ever have to worry about my friends, and you are my best chance to do that."
"I hate you.." She growled at him.
"Good, because I’m not too fond of you right now either. So are we in this mess together, or..?" Before she was forced to give him the last answer she might have wanted to give, the door snapped open and Solair and Destin were both suddenly there. Raven looked away from her glaring gaze and glanced back at them as if assessing the chances of him winning a fight against all three of them. "Well.. I guess we can finish this conversation later then."
He let her go, and for a heartbeat she was very tempted to strike him out of sheer spite. Before she could render her final verdict, Solair swept into the room and pulled her away. As she was drawn out into the hallway beyond, it almost looked as if Destin was going to teach Raven a well deserved lesson for being such a pompous jerk, and she was ready to encourage him to do so. Instead, they both left the room in her wake. She was, however, intensely surprised when the door closed behind them and she was grabbed and pulled tightly into Solair's arms, her friend hugging her close. A reassuring, calming aura enveloped her, all but forcing her senses to relax. After a while, Solair released her, and together with Destin, guided her through the now empty halls to her room. Destin opened the door and Solair guided LeShana towards the bed. With a massive sigh, LeShana flopped down onto the cushioned surface. Before she could tell her not to, Solair had pulled off LeShana’s boots and Destin was pushing a tray of food into her lap, all but ordering her to eat. Destin perched on the edge of the desk as Solair took the chair, each taking a similar pose. LeShana tried to get comfortable, despite the fact that she was trying not to wither under their expectant gaze, while her stomach demanded she eat something.
"Want to talk about it?" Solair finally asked.
"No.. go away." LeShana replied snappishly.
"Not going to leave." Destin told her stubbornly.
"Then I order you to leave." LeShana told him even more stubbornly.
"No." Destin replied, locking horns with her. He was one of the few whose sheer will and stubbornness matched her own. LeShana tried to stare him down, but she only lasted a moment before she broke off the uncomfortable gaze.
"I am too tired to argue with you." She finally conceded. "I just wish I was home, away from this back water planet and its' idiotic, aggravating, inhabitants."
"What's bothering you more, Raven or that moronic Admiral?" Solair asked her softly. In Earth parlance, LeShana believed this was called a 'good cop, bad cop' routine.
"Raven.. the Admiral.. No! Both of those pompous, self assured, inflated, overblown, idiotic men!" She whispered tiredly, feeling the need to break something or someone rising as she thought about a certain smug smile.
"Hey, I resent that remark." Destin told her with half a smile.
"No, dearest, you resemble that remark." Solair countered, and LeShana could not help but smile at the insulted look Destin gave his bonded, even though that was the last thing she felt like doing at that moment.
"I just wish I could go home and forget about that infuriating Raven." LeShana added as the truth came flooding back. "He's just so frustrating. When I finally think that I have him cornered so that he'll actually have to listen to me, he pulls his trap on us. He pisses me off out sheer joy, drives us out of there, and the shows up here like there's nothing wrong in the world!! HE is the MOST frustrating man I have EVER met!!" Solair and Destin exchanged a mysterious look that gave LeShana the distinct impression that they were speaking telepathically, but she could not hear what they were saying. "What?!?!" She demanded of them, angered that they were talking behind her back.
"Nothing." Solair replied, looking at LeShana.
"Just discussing a theory about Raven." Destin added. "Nothing that would interest you."
"Get some sleep. In the morning everything will seem better." Solair suggested. She rose and took Destin's hand, and they left, closing the door behind them. LeShana had the distinct feeling that she was being left out of the loop. Sighing with the knowledge that she could do nothing about it. LeShana finished eating, turned off the lights, and rolled up in her blankets, hoping that sleep would come quickly.