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Wearing regulation issue, he reported to the lab coats for further instructions. They cleared and released him to his regular duty. Regular duty, how could they even call it that. He stepped out of the army recruiting office that served as a front for the facility. He still thought it was a strange cover but in L. A., what wasn't strange? His car was a low slung, blue Ford Probe. It wasn't new, but he liked it. People often thought it strange that a tall man would go for a car so low to the ground. He checked the mirrors and put on the sunglasses before heading out. He would get home and change in time to rendezvous with his team. There would be a short briefing and then he would go out on patrol. L. A., not for the first time he thought he would much prefer it if the army had left him in the jungles of Belize. Of course with the attacks of 11 September everything had changed. Terror now had a very human face and the government wanted his khaki but back in the states. This wasn't the duty he wanted, wasn't the duty he had been promised. Since when had duty had anything to do with want or promises? Besides, he hadn't lived up to his end of the bargain either.
-----Sunset----
Angel smiles into his son's face. The warmth on the tip of his little finger spreads over his entire body as the little face smiles back at him. He laughed to himself and grinned as the little one tried to make its face go fanged. His little eyebrows arched down toward the bridge of his nose and his little tongue poking out as if to moisten the tips of fangs. Connor didn't even have teeth yet. Angel wondered if he should stop using his true face to entertain the boy. It just seemed like the child really liked the face. Angel almost laughed out loud as the baby tried again to emulate the jagged smile of his father.
"Angel, are you going to play with the young one or are you going to join the hunt for battle and honor?"
"I am going to play with the young one.... until I hear from Wesley."
"Wesley has sent me to beckon you. Shall I tell him that you would hear these words from his own lips?"
Angel sighed his frustration and returned his face to normal. " I will be right down. Is Lorne here?"
"No, G..ah Lorne is not here. My Princess says that he is not coming today and asks that you bring the young one with you." Just to make himself happy Angel handed the baby to Groo. Immediately the child began to cry as it were being pulled into pieces. Angel pretended to look for the child's toy. Groo was in agony. This wasn't the first time the child had reacted this way to him. He did not understand. The children of his kingdom, his former kingdom, loved him. He was frequently cheered in the streets. This one would have none him. Even when Connor was being held by his Princess and Groo dared to draw near this same wailing would occur. Bewildered he begged the child to cease its yelling and to quiet itself. All to no avail. Finding the "missing" toy Angel took the crying child from Groo and it instantly began to coo happily. The look of dejection and confusion on Groo's face kept the boy's father grinning all the way downstairs.
As the trio entered Wesley's office Cordy extended her arms and said, "You give me that baby." Taking the boy into her arms and cradling him close to her body she sighed, "MMMMM you feel so good. I can't believe that I haven't held you for the last two hours. Did you miss me? Of course you did and I missed you too. I think you have gotten cuter. Let me look." She lifts the boy over her head smiling into his giggling face. She gently wiggled the child left then right as she said, " You _are_ cuter. In just two hours you are _so_ much cuter. How did you do _that_? How do you keep getting cuter, huh?" The child squealed in delight. Angel smiled as Groo went and sat in the corner furthermost away from Cordie and the baby. Wesley began talking about the new client and nest of demons that plagued him.
***********************
The L. A night sky was not really dark. The street lights, the headlights the blinking lights on the bottom of airplanes. He had to fight not to squint. He felt a wave of homesickness for the dark quiet of the jungle. The jungle where he had been in fear of his life more often than he had not. He had to face it he just hated it here. This was so the worst place for him to be. He couldn't understand why he was so very sure of that. The army had literally sent him to the gates of hell and it never bothered him. The only thing that he could think about now was finding some way to not be in L. A. He had to get out of L. A. and soon. He lifted his left hand, made a fist and pulled it down three times fast. Immediately after that he raised his index finger and middle finger and then pointed to the northwest corner of the street. A man dressed in jeans and a green T-shirt moved pointedly in the direction. He was more stealthily followed by a young woman. She was a small blonde. As Riley watched the pony-tail at the back of her head bob up and down an image flashed in his mind. He saw the face of a child.
******************************
As usual when the images were strong Riley felt light-headed. The dizziness and disorientation, he was told, was normal for these events. His mind scoffed at the word normal. Suddenly he was being shaken. A Lieutenant Harper was at his side and giving him a concerned look. Riley straightened to his full height taking on the mantle of command again. He heard the crack of gunfire in his earpiece and responded. He mobilized three more members of his team with a hand motion. They began to move toward their leader and from his position they all moved into the alley. The team was met by the sight of man in the green T-shirt hanging over the clawed hand of a large bipedal lizard like creature. The HST had small red glowing eyes and scaly green skin. Calhoun, the green T-shirt, was unconscious, he had tried to subdue the creature hand to hand rather than first using weapons. The little blonde wasn't about to make that mistake. She had called for backup and pulled her weapon when the first blow had landed on her partner's skull. As she emptied the clip of the custom made 9mm that she carried, Emily Gibson wondered if Calhoun had survived that first blow. The creature moved toward her when the bullets stopped hitting it in the head and neck. It let out a roar as it advanced on Gibson's position. Riley, at the head of the team was the first to fire, instead of bullets Finn used the tranq pistol in his belt. He landed two darts the first in the creature's throat the second in its stomach. His experience in the jungle had taught him that the lizard like "living" demons were more like animals than most others. They were incredibly strong and resilient but they could be affected by drugs. Once they were down the best method to kill it was to behead the creature. The rest of the team was firing bullets at the thing and Riley missed his old command. He raised his hand to signal a cease fire and was pleased at how quickly they responded. As the creature began to weave, letting Calhoun fall to the ground then dropping to the ground itself, Riley thought maybe there is hope for this unit after all. His eyes surveyed the exposed throat of the felled Bimoeshot and Riley said to Harper, "Hatchet."
Urban HST Control Training Center - Debriefing
"According to Lt. Harper you were unresponsive for 3-5 seconds while in the field. What caused this?"
"As my report indicates, Commander, I had another episode."
"What did you see if anything during this episode, Captain Finn?"
"I saw the face of a child, an infant. I had the feeling that it was a boy."
"A human child?"
"Yes, sir."
"Anything else?"
"No, sir."
"That is in keeping with your report. What I do not see here is what triggered this....vision of yours."
"Private Gibson, sir."
"I beg your pardon, Finn, Pvt. Gibson?"
"Yes, sir... (sigh) no, sir. What I mean is I saw her hair, the ponytail moving up and down as she moved into position. She was running and it was bouncing." Riley's eyes glazed over and went vacant as he spoke. It was obvious that he was seeing the ponytailed Gibson again but then something else happened. Riley's eyes went white. All color on his eyeball disappeared. Once they were white then they went black. The Commander went white as a sheet. He felt the fear that he had been keeping at bay since Finn was reassigned to L. A. What if this happened to him? The Commander's Aide Colonel Frank Lewis stepped up and began to question Captain Finn.
"What do you see, Finn?"
"I see the infant being cared for by a man."
"Can you describe the man and his surroundings."
" I can't see the man's face. He is facing away from me. The man is tall, slightly over six feet. He weighs about 190 lb.. He is wearing bright yellow pants, red belt, pale yellow shirt." More excited almost agitated Riley continues, "He's green and has red eyes. He has small horns and blonde hair." Riley blinked and shook his head as if rejecting the image. When he lifted his head again his eyes had returned to normal. Riley looked up into the Colonel's eyes and said, " What was that thing? It was holding the baby. I don't know why?"
The Colonel asked, "Do you know where?"
"Negative. The room looked like a hotel room."
The Colonel aware that Riley was upset and disoriented gave him permission to see the doctor.
Once Finn was out of the room the Commander spoke. "What are we going to do with that boy?" Though it would not be obvious to anyone else Frank Lewis recognized the panic in the Commander's voice. He spoke reassuringly, "We use him to train and field test our Urban HST control units. We monitor the precognition for information that can be used to protect our nation and its citizenry." The Commander seemed unmoved by the words from his aide, " I think the boy is a threat in the field. If he is going to go in and out like that?" Frank managed not to sigh. They had been over this time and again, "It is a risk Commander but the field is the primary trigger for the precognition. The military missed a major opportunity not using Finn and his information on 11 September. It was Finn, himself, that kept the _fifth_ plane on the ground. He went AWOL (Absent Without Leave) to get to Dulles. He got a ticket on the plane, held the plane hostage on the ground for three hours until the World Trade Center was hit. When he surrendered he named the would be hi-jackers as his accomplices to make sure the local cops would hold them. The interrogation of those prisoners is what gave the war its first big push, its first successes. We have to use him, Sir." Calling the Commander sir to remind him of his duty, his role in this situation, Frank saw that he had reached the man. He left the room and went to compile a report on Finn's latest episode of precognition. This episode like the others seems to be diminishing in strength. The details are becoming fewer and fewer. In a short while the General will no longer have to shrink from Finn since the precognitive ability will most likely be gone. The question hovering in his mind was how did the baby and the green baby-sitter pose a threat to national security?
***************
"Listen up, people." The quiet voice carrying to the back of the room and bouncing from that wall back to the front of the room. The Eight man squad ended their conversations and turned to face their new training coordinator, Riley Finn, Capt. U. S. Army. They all stood at attention until Riley said, "As you were."
"What we have here is the creature that attacked and wounded Pvt. Calhoun." Finn said this as he hit a switch that put a picture of the green scaled and behead creature on the screen behind Capt. Finn. This particular type of HST lives solo most of the time. We have the pheromone signature and we will be trailing that signature tonight we are looking for a nest people. According to intel how many of these creatures will be found in the nest? Harper."
"Um, that we should approach with caution considering the size and strength."
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