Chapter 22: Chapter 21- The Visit

As Etrius moved through town, it looked up to the increasingly cloudy sky. The weather was turning cold and it wouldn’t be surprising if it started snowing soon. Glancing at Abby, it saw that she was curiously looking at the town. Considering that this was the first time that she had been here, it was no surprise. Currently she was in her human form and wrapped in a blanket. Her necklace was hidden under the blanket and so far, it was working flawlessly.

Walking by some guards, one of them gave Etrius an odd look. That was probably because of the way that it was carrying Abby. Instead of holding her like a baby, it was holding her in a way that allowed her to face forward as she liked to look around. Though having said that, it looked like she may fall as she was more sitting on its arm instead of being held by it. She was completely safe because Etrius wouldn’t allow her to fall. Through from the perspective of others, it sure didn’t look like it.

Soon enough they arrived at the lord's manor. On the opposite side of the street, Etrius and Abby looked at it. Reaching into its pocket, it pulled out the letter that it received this morning.

 

“Mu?” Abby sounded.

“Yep, that's where we’re heading.” Etrius said. “Your mom’s in there.”
“Mo!” She said.

“Remember to keep your necklace on.” It said.

“Mu.” She nodded.

“Good.” It nodded.

 

Walking towards the gate, Etrius once more glanced at Abby. Though it called her a small idiot, she was a smart kid. Or at least that's what Etrius thought. Maybe since it was her parent, it was viewing her in a more favorable light than other babies. At times she seemed to understand it and she didn’t cry often. She was also unreasonably understanding when it told her not to do something. Last night for example, it told her not to play with a knife, and she obeyed without question. It hadn’t even told her what a knife was or even showed her one. She simply nodded and started biting a spoon.

After presenting the letter to one of the guards, Etrius and Abby were let in with no issues. At the door the two were escorted by a maid who was very reluctant to look Etrius’ way. If Abby noticed this, she didn’t care, she seemed to be having fun taking in the sights of the manor. Though as far as manors go, this one seemed sparsely decorated when compared to the ones in the capital. As for the reason that was, Etrius couldn’t know for certain, though it was likely due to Torie’s parents absence.

Moving through the manor, the two were brought into a room with two comfortable looking couches facing each other with a small table in the middle. On the table was a bowl with hard candies in it. Looking at this, Etrius remembered that it completely forgot to bring her a gift. It looked at the shadows and wondered if it should ask them for help, but decided against it as both Abby and a maid were in this room.

 

“Ba!” Abby called out.

“Yes?” Etrius asked.

“Mu!” She reached for the hard candies on the table.

 

Etrius took a second to think. Abby could absolutely eat one of those, but not in her human form, and she had very little practice eating in her human form. Not only that, but those candies were the perfect size to choke a baby, and a maid was watching them. More specifically, the maid was watching Abby. Only a reckless parent would give an infant one of these. But Abby really looked like she wanted one of them. Would she cry if she didn’t get one? Abby was smart, so she should know that she couldn’t have one, but she was smart. If she cried, not only would the maid think bad of Etrius, but it would also feel forced to give her one.

Adriana wasn’t even here so it couldn’t even push this problem off to her. As her parent, Etrius needed to make a swift decision. Not only that but it needed to make the right decision.

 

“Maybe later.” Etrius said.

“Mu…” Abby pouted, giving up.

 

Etrius petted her head, very glad that she didn’t put up any resistance. As soon as it stopped, Abby reached for its hand and clumsily placed it back on her head. Etrius wondered if it really felt that nice. Not long after, Abby drifted off to sleep in the silence of the room. With Abby in its arms, Etrius waited for Torie.

Walking through the stone corridors of one of the many containment zones was an old man in a suit with two armed guards. The cleaning crews were still hard at work cleaning all the blood and debris from the recent battle. Ever since their existence was revealed to the public, it's been a shits how. First there were protests and then one by one UN forces, led by a few European countries, have been raiding their facilities across the world. Within one year their European facilities were destroyed with who knows how many horrors released onto the world. There was a crackdown on those in Asia but it was nothing bribes promises couldn't fix.

As for the facilities in the African nations, they were being relocated to the bases under the Sahara. The problem was this base he was currently inspecting. To think the UN would invade Alaska and even release several monsters even after what happened in Vienna. The onsite nuke almost had to be detonated. It was only thanks to the local forces and the cooperation with the American Council that Alaska was spared.

Glancing in one of the many infirmaries the old man, the site director, saw many of the survivors. With military doctors and some of the more helpful monsters aiding in the recovery, many lives were saved. Sighing, he thought about the political fallout. In protest to the attack, the North American nations expelled the European diplomats involved with the attack. Following their lead, many other nations expelled diplomats, leaving much of central and Western Europe isolated diplomatically. There were even talks of expelling them from the UN. Seeing an overworked man in a blue lab coat approach him, the director sighed.

 

“Good news or bad news?” The man asked.

“Is there any good news in this situation?” The director asked.

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“Out of the twelve creatures that escaped, three were killed and the rest were recaptured. The last one was found this morning hiding in a fishing boat.” He said.

“Another win for crab fishing. And what about the UN? Are those idiots out of the country?” The director asked.

“Hell, much of their fleet was sunk in harbor and what's left of them are being hunted down by the Cascadian and Californian navies in the pacific.” He said.

“Any risk of them being helped out?”

“After what they did, every nation in the pacific would have their guns pointed at them. The Panama canal is locked down with the Gulf nations on heightened alert and the east coast nations already mobilizing. We already got promises that the Australians and Japanese would sink any UN ships that enter their waters.” He said. “As for China and the Soviets, they’re still fighting over what's left of Mongolia to care about what we or the Europeans do to each other.”

“What about the other bases? Any known threats against them?”

“We already secured the Egyptians corporation, those in India are being reinforced and because of what our friends in the UN did, Quebec is petitioning for American statehood. They’re serious this time.”

“You say that every year. What about the South Americans?”

“Brazil and Grand Columbia are cooperating with the American Council, so we should have nothing to worry about there.”

“That would be a first. What changed their mind?”

“Probably afraid of having their own 'Vienna event' due to the UN.”

“Who would?” The director asked. “What about Project Acer? I heard that it got hit, how’s it doing?”

“Apparently there was a small scale activation but there doesn’t seem to be any sort of damage. No one is missing either.” He said.

“Good.” The director signed. “The sooner we can get these things off earth the better.”

 

As he was about to walk away, he spotted something odd. Rather someone odd. In the infirmary sitting by herself was a lone child. In her hands was a stuffed animal.

 

“What the hell is she doing here?” The director asked quietly.

“Um, who?” He asked.

“You know who the hell I’m talking about. The kid. Why the hell is a kid here?”

“She’s Dr.Morgan's kid. Apparently he was going to try and use her to tame White. Something about childhood innocence.”

“You mean to tell me that Dr.Morgan was going to use a child to try and tame the creature we found that killed polar bears for fun?”

“His proposal was shot down, but the attack happened before she could be moved off base.”

“And where’s the idiot now?”

“He was executed with the others when the UN found them.”

“Damn… what about any relatives?”

“None living that we know of. Her mom died in childbirth and her grandparents already passed by the time she was born.”

“Poor kid…” The director muttered. “See to it that she’s taken care of.”

“Yes sir.” He said.

 

Leaving him, the site director left with the armed guards. With all of the damage there was still plenty of work that needed to be done.