White wolf

Chapter 14 wolf Ethan turned to Iona, searching for reassurance. Iona looked back at him. He blinked once, his expression neutral, unhelpful. "No," Ethan said quietly. Arthur nodded. "You'll exit through the lower gate. The portal is sixty kilometers from the target. Good luck, friends. I'll be watching you." Elizabeth stepped forward. Her eyes found Ethan's face. "Everything will be fine. Don't worry." Around them, the black spheres rose—lifting from the floor in silence, arranging themselves in the air. "These drones will be there. We'll see and hear everything." She turned. "Ani, you'll fire the tranquilizer. This dose was prepared by S.U.N. I've never seen anything like it. It should knock out every creature in the district for a month." A brief pause. "Expect resistance. This mission is high priority. Good luck." The armor assembled around them. Ethan loaded cartridges into his revolver—feeling each one seat into its chamber, clicking the cylinder closed, sliding several more into his belt. Iona's hand moved along the row of cigars on his chest. Ani vanished. Then reappeared. Then vanished again. Ethan watched the space where Ani was not, then was, then was not again. He could not entirely prevent what happened to his face. The portal delivered them into an abandoned observatory—high, curved ceiling, accumulated cold, equipment too heavy to take. The dome above was partially open, the stars visible through the gap. Outside, the frozen world received them without ceremony. The snow was compressed, dense, resistant underfoot. The wind moved in low, sustained currents. The trees stood in their dark, frost-laden rows. "The jet is to your right." Arthur's voice arrived through the earpiece. Ethan turned. The jet shimmered into visibility—black, glossy, silent. Ethan looked at it. Then looked up at the sky. "Satellites can't see us?" Elizabeth's voice carried pride. "No. I show them empty ground instead." Inside, the jet was warm. The seating long and soft. The displays glowing. "I'll input the coordinates. You don't have to do anything." The jet lifted. The movement was so smooth the ground simply fell away beneath them. "You'll arrive in four minutes." Ethan looked at the viewport. Then he turned from it. "Let's remember that they were human. And what happened to them is not their fault." Iona turned to look at him. "What does that mean?" Ethan's hands moved in his lap. "It means... that we shouldn't kill them, at least." Iona's expression shifted. "They're monsters, Ethan." Ethan's head moved—a small, firm shake. "Maybe they can be saved." Ani's voice arrived from somewhere in the jet's air. "Those who can be saved, we save." "Then why don't I see a single cured mutant in Numinous?" "Enough." Arthur's voice arrived sharp. "Complete the mission first. Save the argument for another time." The jet landed. The Siberian night received them fully—the cold immediate, total. The moonlight fell across the snow. In the distance, the ruined building stood against the treeline. Their boots found the snow. "Where's Ani?" Iona shrugged. "No idea. She's probably in a tree." "I'm here," Ani's voice arrived from above. "Relax, kids." They moved forward. "Right! On the right!" Arthur's voice arrived with urgency. Ethan turned. The creature emerged from between the trees—three meters of it moving toward them with impossible speed. Its eyes were white—burning, fixed. It closed the distance and its hand found his throat. The pressure was immediate and total. His feet left the ground. Instinct operated. His hand found the revolver. His arm raised. He pressed the barrel directly against the creature's face and fired. The howl that followed moved outward with physical force. The hand released him. Ethan hit the ground, his thrusters firing—catching him before impact, lifting him, stabilizing him in the air. Below him, Iona moved. His hand found a cigar at his chest and drove it into the werewolf's chest. The explosion was concentrated and devastating. The creature left the ground. The tree it struck gave way with a sharp crack. The creature stood again. Ani's arrow found its chest from somewhere in the dark—the green vial shattering on impact. The werewolf roared and launched itself across the clearing toward Ethan. Fifty meters. Ethan moved. The thrusters reoriented him, pulling him sideways as the creature arrived at where he had been. The snow received it instead. The clearing was quiet for one second. The creature lay in the snow. Its breathing was audible, deep and irregular. Ethan landed hard. "What was that?!" The disbelief in his voice was genuine. "My shot barely scratched it!" "What did I tell you?" Iona's voice came from across the clearing. "They're monsters!" "Focus!" Arthur's voice arrived sharp. "Restrain it. Now!" Ani materialized beside Ethan—the restraints already in her hands. She moved toward the creature. The creature surged. One massive arm found Ani and sent her in an arc across the clearing that ended in the snow. The creature's eyes found Iona. Iona's arm came up—blocking. The teeth found the arm. The sound of Iona's scream was raw, traveling across the frozen clearing. "Iona!!!" Ani's voice—not controlled, but something from below that. Her bow was already up. The arrow left it and found the creature's neck. The teeth released the arm. Iona's free hand found the creature and pushed. Ethan's arm came up. The explosive round found its mark. "Fall back! Everyone into the jet!" A sound reached them from above—different, higher in register. They looked up. Something descended from the sky. It fell rather than landed—a controlled fall, arriving at the clearing with the full force of its weight. The snow displaced outward in a ring. The frozen ground cracked. The red figure straightened. "That's Redstone," Iona whispered. The werewolf found its feet. Its frame shifted—widening, drawing up. The white eyes found Redstone. Redstone's eyes found it back. Burning, unhurried, unimpressed. The wolf attacked first. Redstone's hand caught it. His arm carried the creature's momentum and redirected it—down, into the ground. The impact drove into the frozen earth. The red beams from his eyes arrived, cutting across the creature's face. One final blow. The ground accepted the creature. The red giant stood over it for a moment. Then he turned, boarded the second jet, and was gone. Ethan stood in the clearing's cold silence. "Is he dead?" Silence came back from the earpiece. They restrained the creature—the restraints closing around it. A capsule descended, filled with green liquid. The return flight was quieter. Iona and Ani sat together. The bandaging on Iona's arm was visible. From the bathroom, sounds arrived. When Ethan came back through and took the seat across from Iona, he kept his eyes on the floor. A drop of blood fell from Iona's bandaged arm to the seat below it. "Ethan." Iona's voice was quiet. "When you shot it... in the face... did you know it wouldn't kill it?" Ethan said nothing. His eyes remained on the floor. Because he didn't know. And the silence was the honest answer. Numinous received them in its familiar golden warmth. Arthur was at the gate. He crossed the distance and his arms found Ethan, then Iona, then Ani. "I'm sorry your first mission was like this." He turned to the Saer. "Deliver him to S.U.N. It's her request." Ethan's face changed. Anger arrived in the set of his jaw. Arthur noticed. "Ethan, son—that's what we do here." The heat in Ethan's face found its threshold. "Maybe you should've brought Redstone from the start! Then Iona's arm wouldn't be torn apart!" Arthur's expression did not flinch. "Redstone is not part of your team. He was backup. Don't rely on him again." A pause. Arthur straightened slightly. "You have to earn your place here. This isn't paradise. When there's a mission—you go. Doesn't matter how dangerous or risky it is. Even alone. The Mind must know it can rely on you." Then, softer: "Anti-entropic energy heals fast. Iona's arm will recover." He turned away. Ethan watched him. "I want to see the Mind." The response was immediate: "Go to the gate. If it wishes to see you, it will open." The gate opened. The vast hall received him. At the hall's center, hovering at five meters, the golden hologram. Ethan's steps slowed. They stopped. Then the voice came. It struck his chest before it reached his ears—multiple sources simultaneously, every pitch and register and gender and age producing the same words. "Ethan." He gathered himself. "I came here hoping to learn the truth." His hand came to rest on his chest. "Humans need to know what they are fighting for. We need to know that we are trusted—and who we trust." A pause. "So... who are these mutants?" "They are my fault." Ethan's brow drew together. "How?" The hologram moved—gliding toward him. Its hand extended. "The energy that healed you and gave you strength—the energy this city requires to survive—leaks into the universe in the form of radiation. That is why they are my responsibility." Ethan's chin dropped. His eyes found the floor. "So they are, like me, your creations." His eyes came back up. "Why us? You have so much power. Why don't you act yourself?" The hologram drifted closer. "I cannot act within the boundaries of your world. In that sense, I am crippled—as you once were." Ethan's eyes sharpened. "You're not from this universe?" The hologram inclined. "Ethan, know this: I have no malicious intent. No evil goal." "If this radiation is so harmful, why don't you leave this universe?" "This place requires a power source. Without it, it would collapse instantly and be erased forever. I take only dark energy from your universe, to slow its expansion, to delay as long as possible what happened to mine." Ethan's face changed. "Heat death," he whispered. A pause. "And who is it that heals?" "He belongs to the past." Another pause. "If something like this happens again, we will take measures. You now know the truth." Ethan looked at the hologram for a long moment. He smiled. "Thank you for trusting me." He turned. His footsteps moved through the hall toward the gate. Arthur was there when he returned. "So. What did it tell you, Ethan?" Ethan told him. All of it—the radiation, the guest in the universe, the survival and the reason for it. When he finished, Arthur was quiet. "Did you know? About any of this?" Arthur's head moved slowly. "No. I didn't know about the radiation." A pause. "That we are needed—yes. That much was known to me. I didn't ask for more." His eyes moved briefly before returning. "I have a family here, Ethan. They are safe. Illness does not touch us. Neither does death. We have work. A purpose. When monsters attack humans, we protect them." Ethan looked at him. "From monsters we created ourselves." The silence that followed belonged to Arthur. He stood in it. His jaw moved once. His eyes held Ethan's for a moment before they found the floor. He had no answer. Ethan said nothing more. He turned and walked toward the portal.