July 25, 2005 – 07:30 (Manitoba Time)
Soon after entering their room, before they went for a shower together, Coralis's phone rang, displaying an unknown number.
"I'm listening."
"Blue Thunder! The stunt you pulled last night landed you 3rd on our wanted list. Any truth to the rumours I heard about it?" said Dimitri DeMarco on the other end of the line.
"Third?" said Coralis, pressing the button to put the call on speakerphone. "I don't know what you have heard, but if it is the same thing as my MI6 contact did, I'd say the rumours aren't accurate."
"It will be on the news shortly. I think that those responsible for the lists wanted to move you higher on the wanted one, but my colleagues working your case said they can't prove that those you killed were innocent because of rumours of people kept in cages. The same goes for other names I heard. Emery, I heard that those in charge of the lists wanted to raise him to 11th for his involvement but wouldn't say why. I think they moved him to 18th instead. Agent Eva Suri, she's a werewolf, right?"
"Yes, she is."
"She now ranks 28th as a wanted witch. They also transferred Sebastian Larameer to that list, placing him 29th I think. The name of Zahir Bota was also added to the list of wanted witches, he is 40th. Were they involved?"
"Yes, Sebastian and Emery escorted their prisoners outside while I killed the guards and lab workers. Eva and Zahir fought my tail and helped them to escort the prisoners out. They also helped heal the unconscious ones when we were done in there."
"Ooh, so the rumour of people being held captive are true? The workers, were they all humans?"
"Yes, there were many people in cells and cages. My husband had been kidnapped by them, and that's why I went there, but he wasn't the only one they captured as an unwilling participant in questionable research. I did kill a lot of people, yes, but the majority were the elementals, werewolves and vampires working there. There were a few human workers, six I was told."
"Questionable research? Were they supernatural in nature?"
"Yes."
"Let me see what I can do from fiscal."
"We knew it was coming for Sebastian, but Eva is now a wanted witch?" said Frank, chuckling as Coralis ended the call.
They went for a shower, and forty minutes later while Frank was asleep, Coralis called Liam to retrieve their luggage.
"I can get Dean to bring everything where you're at when he wakes up, but you might get asked weird questions when registering so many random pieces of luggage. Sarah had two medium-size suitcases and a carry-on, and I had a larger one."
"Good point. How about this, when Dean drops them off, I portal them by the Healing Moon back woods, just across the wards by the electric pole?"
"That works. If you're going to be there all day, we could arrange that for when my mother gets off work. She's still having car problems, so I'd pick her up at the same time."
"We'll stay in town today and head home tomorrow. Realistically, I should lay low for a bit, and we're in a good spot for that, but it's not like people will let me do so. Thanks for coming here with him, sorry it ruined your vacation time with your cousin."
"No need to thank me for it, and I'll see my cousin again another time. It seems we were at the wrong place at the wrong time, but I think more good than bad came out of it. Wait until I tell my mother what happened last night and what we saw in that lab. Do you think we'll see more of those experiments?"
"I don't know, I suppose it depends if they have another lab somewhere else or if they have backed up their researches. We can only hope we won't see them again for a very long time."
Coralis wanted to rest with Frank and get some sleep, but she couldn't. She sat on the bed next to him, her back against the wall, thinking about the operation she was discussing with the CMMA elders and some agents before she took off to where Frank had been taken.
"Sister, brother Sebastian, are you awake?" said Erik through his posse mind-links.
"If she is not, I am," said Sebastian.
"I'm awake. What's up?"
"As expected, Blue's ranking went up, but not only hers," said Erik.
"Yes, I know. I spoke with DeMarco… almost 2 hours ago. He also warned me that Eva was about to become a wanted witch."
"Eva is now a wanted witch? She's going to love that one," said Sebastian, turning his monitor on. "THIRD?? Holy gods from above, we knew you'd probably go up, but to have landed top 3... Even me, uh? 29th, right behind Eva! Ooh, and Zahir also made it to the list of honours!"
"He also said something about Emery's drastic move in ranking," said Coralis.
"You didn't just piss off the right people. This means that what you've done in that filthy lab is a much bigger blow than Andrew did the entire summer. Many governments were starting to question the hunt following The Rogue Paladin chain of actions, when they understood that his victims weren't humans, but yours… hurt the cockroaches so much more. Brother Sebastian, what you sent us was more precious than gold, it's the work of a true posse legend," said Henry.
"Think about it, if the aftermath of what you've done last night causes countries to wake up and back out of the witch-hunt because of the narrative telling them you rescued a lot of people from unethical researches being done on them against their will, the cockroaches will lose their influence. It's a victory for us. Tonight, we will celebrate you making it to the top 3 most wanted ones and Sebastian moving to that list," said Erik.
"DeMarco said they moved me 3rd because they couldn't prove the people I killed were innocent. He thinks I'd have ranked higher otherwise."
"They can't prove they were innocent, and yet you still moved up to their top 3 witches they want dead. Even if they tried to claim that all the people you killed were humans, the fact that there were people held captive in there for research purposes will backfire against them if they try to play that argument to demonize you," said Sebastian.
"At this point, knowing who are 1st and 2nd, with Andrew now 4th, pushing Milkya to 5th, you know what? I will take my new ranking as a compliment," said Coralis, playing with Frank's hair.
"Same for mine. Stephanie won't be thrilled about it, but we knew it was a matter of time before I moved to that list. Emery and I didn't even kill anyone, meaning the destruction of that lab alone hurt them massively. I'll take my new ranking with honour."
After her conversation, Coralis wanted to take off and fly around the area to clear her mind but decided against it. She didn't want to leave Frank alone, even for a second. She got up to grab her phone and called for food.
"Blue Thunder, see, didn't I tell you last night that you made me proud?" said Whazk through his Shadow Elemental mind-links.
"What happened last night?" said Alejandro.
"Alejandro, I'm surprised you didn't ask me if I watched the news, it seems to be the talk of the day," said Coralis.
"That's very mildly put. Everyone at the CMMA has been talking about it, of course, but the fact that you now rank 3rd on the list posted by the CIA with little of an explanation, while some countries following them seem to be questioning it, is what's sparking more talks outside of the CMMA," said Whazk.
"I gave up on watching the news lately. What happened? Blue, you're now 3rd?" said Matasia.
"Last night, while I was at the CMMA meeting regarding our joint operation, my mate was kidnapped, and I saw red. It was like a switch flipping on kill mode in my mind, so I took off and followed the mate bond to a secret research facility in northern Saskatchewan. I killed everyone in there, including a CMMA elder who turned out to be the one seemingly running that facility, making him a cockroach, and including six human scientists. They said I've killed over fifty people by myself."
Coralis heard a knock on the door and opened it to see the innkeeper holding a tray of food.
"THEY TOOK YOUR MATE?? Is he okay?" said Alejandro.
"He's fine and currently asleep in my line of sight. I got there before they could touch him," said Coralis, placing the tray on the desk.
"Given the amount of people that were held captive and used as test subjects, I wonder how come it never came on our radar," said Whazk.
"People need to understand that mates aren't a weakness; they're a trigger. People need to be careful whose trigger they pull," said Riwik.
Coralis saw her phone vibrating, displaying an unknown number.
"I'm listening," said Coralis.
"Blue Thunder," said Nancy from the other end of the line. "Can we meet tomorrow at Headquarters?"