As Ty exited the classroom he had a new found focus. As he moved to the hallways between the students, his pace a little faster than the rest, he weaved in between them as if cutting through a crowd was an art form. 'I know what I have to do but it's going to be hard. Cyrus has the answers I need, I know my friends are right but I have to know what the truth is.' Ty told himself as he found the end of the crowd then exited the school.
**
Part of the group of student soldiers that had left the campus with Cyrus, were now meeting together in a storage room at the Military University. "Listen, I already heard some other people talking about it, who apparently knew Cyrus. I set them straight though, and told them to keep their heads down." A taller man with dark chin length hair and sharp features sporting an obvious athletic build said.
Then another in the group replied "Yeah that's probably a wise decision."
A woman with long curly red hair and fire in her eyes spoke as she turned to the next person in the room. "How did you make out? What did you find in his room?"
"Yeah about that…not a freaking chance man they've already been there. Room was spotless, wiped-clean. There wasn't a trace of him ever even being in there. This is bad man." A tall and stocky man replied with a skin tone nearly as dark as charcoal.
"Chibaya, are you serious? That's even worse than what we thought."
"I know Fiona…I know…" Chibaya, the stocky man, replied to Fiona, the woman with curly red hair. "The situation doesn't call for panic, it's a time for strategy. We need to get ahead of this before the Ministry comes for everyone else that was involved."
"Isamu we better have one hell of a strategy if we want to deal with the government's shadow squads and come out alive on the other side. That's precisely why we don't want to be panicking or rushing into things Fiona. We do need to be careful and cautious of course but this isn't the time for in-action. We need to react, stay fluid, and don't forget our training." Isamu lectured.
"When the man's right he's right what can I say. You're a sharp one, okay let's make a plan." Chibaya nodded in agreement.
So the trio planned the next moves to see what they could do about Cyrus and what, if anything, they could do to stay ahead of the Ministry or even maybe outsmart them.
**
As Ty got off the train in the city center he started going through his strategy on how he would make it to Cyrus in the Ministry compound. 'I guess I really only have two different options. I could try to go in the front door and say that I know him, trying to demand my way into seeing him. Or, I have to find a way to sneak past the guards at the front. I'll need some kind of a distraction for that to work."
The Military University students had been through tours throughout the city highlighting all the government's buildings. It was required as part of their education upon entrance to the University. One of the stops during those tours was always the Ministry compound. Ty remembered it looking quite fortified with guards at the front stopping everyone who enters and exits making them go through full-body scanners. That way they could control what was being brought in and out and who was entering and exiting at all hours. It was always documented with their digital ID passes that all citizens were required to wear on their right wrist and at all times when not at home. In fact every government building that was entered and exited had a scanning post. Although most were not required to have full body scanners. Instead they were required to document where citizens were at all times, just like the government signs said this was for their safety.
As Ty was walking along the pathway through a wooded area behind the train station, he saw the black wolf keeping pace with him again, just in his peripheral sight. There in the tree line, it spoke to him once again through a seemingly psychic link so he could hear him clearly, although the wolf's mouth never moved.
"You know very well young pup that only the second option is going to work. I will give you the ability to offer the distraction you need."
"Ah you again what do I call you? What exactly are you? Why can't anybody else see you? How am I hearing you?"
"All will be revealed in it's due time. Now this is going to hurt a little."
For the first time ever the wolf bared its teeth at him lowering its head and lunged. Ty stumbled backwards barely having a chance to even raise his arms before it latched onto his forearm biting down hard. So hard it felt like his arm was in a vice. A scream tore from his lips as the wolf growled pulling him into the side of the trees. As quickly as the wolf had lunged, it had let go. Sitting back on his haunches, licking his paw as if he had done thing at all. The wolf just sat there, licking its paw with Ty's blood slicking through his fur.
"What the hell did you do that for?"
"Now you have your distraction, simply tell them that when you got off the train the enemy attacked you from the woods."
Impossibly, when Ty looked down at his arm that had been bloodied and his shirt torn, now his shirt was back in place and there was no blood to be seen. Rolling up the sleeve to his uniform, he saw that his forearm had healed. What appeared was scars in the form of a bite mark, as if it had happened months or years ago and not just seconds. Wisps started to slowly rise from the scarred bite marks on his arm. 'How are they going to see this as an issue if it's already healed?'
As if to answer his question the Wisps spread across his entire forearm where the bite had occurred. Suddenly the sting of pain returned as the Wisps faded away and his torn shirt was once again there, soaked with blood. "Ugh, God that hurts."
"There now, you are in control, young pup. If you will it, the Wisps will obey." The Familiar raspy voice of the wolf in his head Told him.
As Ty looked around for him, he was nowhere to be seen. He thought to himself that he wanted the pain to stop and the wounds to once again go away. Then the Wisps seeped out around his forearm and once again returned them to the state that he saw earlier, where it seemed to have been scarred over for months or perhaps even years.
'I see what he means now. This will totally work. Nobody can say that it isn't a problem if I'm bloodied and hunched over in pain but having, whatever this ability is to simply make that pain vanish, still gives me the access I'll need afterwards. Wait, now that I am thinking about it, how did he do this? You know what, never mind I don't have time for that. I need to get to Cyrus, I need to get to my answers.'
As Ty was about to enter the Ministry compound building he once again used the Wisps to return his arm to the ruined state, bloodied and damaged. He ran into the Ministry compound and put on a theatrical performance. Collapsing onto his knees he utilize the real pain in his arm to enhance the urgency in his voice. Yelling at the top of his lungs.
"The enemy, the enemy is here. They attacked me in the woods just beside the train station. Someone help!" The four guards out front responded immediately
"You two follow me, we're going to go find these enemies so we can pin them down until backup arrives." Just like that, the four problems that Ty had to deal with dwindled down to only one.
"Ahh this hurts so bad. Can you help me? I can't get the bleeding to stop." Ty said to the final guard who remained at the entrance.
"Here come with me, I'll take you to the medical room to get some treatment."
As the final guard used his own pass to access the entrance helping Ty through the entrance and into the Ministry compound, a smile crept upon his face. He was in now. All he had to do was ditch this guard and he could search for whichever room they were holding Cyrus in.