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Devil Seed

By

Gemma The IceWolf

4

Garrison High School

Wednesday 2:35 PM

After what had happened Monday night Aaron was relieved to have at least Tuesday to himself. No other sightings of carriers had been reported, at least not yet, and it gave him the chance to get more than one homework assignment finished. The jocks had stopped bothering everyone. In fact they hadn't shown up in the cafeteria since Aaron scared the hell out of them. They were probably afraid to show their faces. At least that's what everybody assumed. Now as he was heading to study hall with Mia, Tracy, and Gary, Aaron almost wished he had more uneventful days. He had a special assignment tonight, and had to meet up with one of his teammates that afternoon. Already his day was shot. The chief said he would give him more info later that day so for the time being he had to keep the anxiety from getting to him. At least Gary's dirty jokes kept things interesting.

"How do you confuse an archeologist?" he asked.

Aaron, Mia, and Tracy just shrugged in anticipation for the answer.

"Show him a used tampon and ask him what period it came from."

All of them burst out laughing. Gary just loved making people laugh. Tracy said it was part of his charm. Aaron wasn't so sure. As they stepped into the library, Gary cracked another joke.

"What do they give Tickle Me Elmo before he leaves the factory?"

"I'm afraid to ask." said Aaron.

Gary grinned.

"Two test tickles."

Again the four of them burst out laughing.

"Gary, you should be in show business." Mia stated.

"I could if Hollywood ever quits being a bunch of specieists."

Aaron chuckled.

"Don't worry Gary, you'll get your chance."

"Yeah, but in the mean time I have you guys to practice on."

"Better cover your ears folks," Tracy started. "This is gonna be a long study hall."

They sat down at a table in the far back and started on their homework. Once the bell rang they had to quiet down to a whisper. Aaron started the conversation.

"Hey Gary, can you do me a favor?"

Gary nodded.

"Sure what is it?"

"I have to go to the airport this afternoon. Can you give Mia a ride home?"

"Yeah sure."

Mia's ears perked up hearing this.

"That's right, your old friend is arriving today isn't he."

"Old friend?" asked Tracy

"Yeah, my old buddy Terry. I haven't seen him in a couple of years. In fact he plans on moving to an apartment around here soon."

"You'll have to introduce us to him later." said Gary.

Aaron nodded.

"Trouble is, his flight arrives at four thirty and it's gonna take me a good hour and a half to get to the airport with all the traffic."

"I'm sure he can forgive you for being a little late." said Tracy.

Mia agreed.

"Absolutely. He must know what the traffic is like around here."

Aaron sat back in his seat and started chewing on the back of his pencil. He stared up to the ceiling for a moment and then back down to the table where his worksheet sat.

"I just wonder what he's been doing these past couple of years!? We keep in touch by e-mail but he doesn't tell me much of anything."

Tracy giggled.

"The secretive type huh?"

"Terry? Hardly. Nothing's a secret with him. At least, not any more. Hell, we grew up together. I don't think there's anything I don't know about him."

"Well, either way I'm sure he'll be glad to see you." said Mia.

Aaron laughed at this.

"You have no idea."

LAX Airport

Wednesday 5:23 PM

The traffic that afternoon was a lot worse than Aaron had anticipated. There had been an accident on the southbound and it seemed to take forever for the wreckage to get cleared. He finally made it to the airport, but it was later than he wanted. Pulling into a parking space he ran for the door and into the airport lobby. It wasn't very busy right now. Hopefully Terry wouldn't be too upset about him being late. Sitting down at one of the benches, he kicked back and waited. It was another twenty minutes later that his cell-phone started ringing. Reaching into his jacket pocket, he took it out and answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey Aaron." came a voice. "You here yet?"

"Yeah, I'm sitting here in the front lobby."

"Awesome. I'll be right there."

With a short beep he ended the call and put the phone back in his pocket. He leaned forward clasping his hands together. Another ten minutes went by. What was Terry doing? Taking the scenic route? He was ready to get up and go look for him when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Hope I didn't keep you waiting long."

Aaron turned around to face a slender, six foot tall, male, leopard. He was wearing a levi jacket with the sleeves rolled up, a red t-shirt, black leather gloves, blue jeans, and a pair of red sneakers. He carried a backpack and two duffle bags. He put down one of the bags and gave a salute to Aaron.

"My God, Terry! You're lookin' good buddy."

"It's good to see you."

Aaron approached him with his arms out. The two embraced for a moment and stepped back. Aaron gave Terry the once over.

"I see you've already took up the California look."

Terry shrugged.

"It's comfortable. I actually like this style."

"Good to know. You ready to go into the big city?"

"Ha! I've been ready for the past hour."

Aaron picked up Terry's other duffle bag.

"Well then, let's get a move on. The night is young and the two of us have an assignment."

They started for the front door.

"Already? Jeeze, I was at least hoping to get in a few sights before then."

Once outside they headed for the parking lot. Aaron took out his keys as they approached his car. Going to the back he opened the trunk and put the first bag inside. Terry put his other two bags in and closed the trunk while Aaron got in the driver's seat and started the car. Terry climbed in and put on his seatbelt just as they pulled out, now heading for the freeway.

"It's been confirmed." said Aaron.

Terry shook his head.

"You mean the carriers right? The chief told me about what happened Monday night. I only wish I could have been there."

"They're already full grown Terry. It's a nightmare just waiting for the right time to rear it's ugly head. I had to tangle with a mother carrier by myself."

Terry turned to Aaron. He looked ready to jump out of his skin.

"Already? Jesus Christ on a crutch! We just arrive and immediately we've fallen behind. Why the hell weren't we dispatched sooner?"

Aaron shook his head.

"I asked the chief that last night. He didn't give me a straight answer. He told me that the sightings were just hearsay and that there wasn't any reason to worry until they had sent someone to check it out."

"So they waited until we were finished with our last assignments before sending us over here, instead of sending someone ahead of us to check things out in the meantime. Thanks a lot guys. So what's our assignment?"

"I just talked to the chief an hour ago. We have to go visit a weapons dealer. Our cleaners found a collar belonging to one of the carriers I killed."

Terry was gritting his teeth by this point.

"One of the originals. So the last freeze tanks ended up somewhere here."

Aaron nodded.

"And some idiot let one of them loose. Intelligence managed to trace the tanks through the black market. Apparently the guy that we're looking for bought them and currently has them in his stock waiting for any interested buyers."

"Harboring bio-weapons. That's at least a life sentence now, isn't it?"

"Yep. But the guy we're after isn't even going to get that. This is strictly a C.I.E. (Capture, Interrogate, and Eliminate) operation."

Terry sighed and shook his head.

"Poor bastard, won't even see it coming."

Aaron shrugged.

"It's nothing we haven't done before."

"Yeah I know. Say, before we take care of business, can we stop for a bite to eat. The food on the plane was awful."

Aaron looked at him puzzled.

"Didn't you take one of the Guild's private planes?"

Terry laughed.

"Nah. I decided to fly coach. Thought I'd look less conspicuous that way."

"Hah! Alright then, burgers are on me."

Somewhere in Palmdale

Wednesday 8:37 PM

After a quick meal Aaron and Terry headed to a more rugged part of town. The streets at night wouldn't be busy for much longer. Most everyone was heading for home at this time. It would make things all the easier for the two. The less people around the less likely they were to be identified in the event that the assignment went stale or successfully. Aaron pulled his car up to a curb that was streamlined with shops and businesses all the way down the block. Most of the shops were barred at night. This area wasn't the safest part of town. Terry took a quick look around and scratched his head.

"So Aaron which of these is our target?"

Aaron pointed to his window.

"You see that brown warehouse with the dead neon lights?"

Terry nodded.

"So how should we approach this one?

Aaron shook his head.

"I suggest we be subtle about it. Catch them off guard. That way we can just do our business, and call it a night."

Terry chuckled. Being subtle for them was to act like they were customers and then spring the trap when no one was looking. This would sometimes invoke a shootout or a fist fight. Whichever came first.

"The usual then, huh?"

Aaron just grinned as he stepped out of the car and put on his ammo belt.

"Just try not to slap anybody on the ass. You know most of these creeps are homophobes. I don't want to get into a gunfight before it's necessary."

"For your information I have a boyfriend." said Terry as he climbed out of the car. "So flirting is the last thing on my list."

This took Aaron by surprise.

"Really now!? So who's the lucky fella this time?"

Terry shrugged.

"Joseph, from the admin office."

"The Siberian Husky? Really?"

"Why are you so surprised? You knew he was gay right?"

Aaron nodded.

"Well yeah, I knew that. I guess I just can't picture you two as a couple."

"Ha! You know that's exactly what Cain and Spike said when I talked to them a few days ago."

"Oh yeah, how are those guys. I haven't been able to reach either of them for a while."

The two of them started across the street.

"Well last I heard Spike was after an Italian drug lord. As for Cain, he never likes to discuss his work. The guy is way to secretive."

Aaron chuckled.

"Yeah but, Cain's always been like that."

"You know he still blames himself for what happened ten years ago."

Aaron nodded.

"I know. I'll have to talk to him when he arrives."

He started cracking his knuckles as they went around to the back of the building. Once there they approached the door and Terry knocked. A small shutter on the door opened and a pair of eyes peered through.

"What's the password?" asked the eyes.

"My kingdom calls for war." said Aaron.

The shutter closed and the door opened. A man standing at least six and a half feet tall was on the other side. His skin was tanned and he had a thick mustache. He was wearing a black wife beater, camo pants and army boots. He had a side arm that he gripped in his right hand as the two boys entered. Another man in a business suit came toward them as the big guy closed the door. He was similar to the guard say for his shorter stature.

"Ah good to see we finally have some customers. I was starting to think this was a bad location."

Aaron shrugged.

"It just takes a while for word to spread around now a days. We only heard about this place just today."

The man clasped his hands together.

"Well that's good. I hope you'll tell your friends about this. Discretely of course."

The two boys nodded.

"Of course." said Aaron. "Don't want any unwelcome guests causing trouble for you."

The man nodded in agreement.

"Very good. Well then what can we interest you boys in eh? Firearms, explosives, chemicals, or perhaps something exotic?"

"Well now that you mention it, we were interested in something more in the way of exotic, like strange mechanical materials."

The man's eyes lit up.

"Ah yes. We have a few things that I'm sure will interest you. Follow me."

The man lead the two through a maze full of stolen weapons, and supplies. Aaron continued conversing with the store owner while Terry observed the area. The warehouse had shelves full of surplus guns, bombs, swords, drums of chemicals, gunpowder, and even car parts. There was enough to start a war in L.A. Up above was a long catwalk where several guards were watching, armed with AK47s. As they approached the far back of the warehouse Terry kept an especially low profile, watching for anymore armed men as they passed by. He counted each of them, avoiding any direct eye contact. Terry already had his suspicions about the personnel here, seeing as how most of them were eyeballing the two. That coupled with the incessant whistling of their salesman made him a bit more wary. The last thing would be a dead giveaway. As they were approaching the back shelves, three armed men, all human, came out of nowhere and started following closely behind. He had to warn Aaron. Somehow they already knew. They were just setting the trap now.

When they stopped Terry diverted his attention back to the subject at hand. In front of them stood two large metal objects that stood approximately four feet wide and twelve feet high. There was a small glass window on the front, both of which had been smashed open. Some rather large scratch marks on the side told them that something dangerous had been inside of it once. The objects were silent and gave off no indication that they were functioning. On the side of them were small consoles that were probably used to run them. The consoles however, were damaged as well. It looked like someone had taken a hammer to them both.

"Feast your eyes boys." said the salesman. "This is top of the line. They are a little banged up but that could be expected with floor models right?"

The two just smiled and nodded.

"These are state-of-the-art carbon freezing tanks. You could freeze pretty much anything inside of them."

"How much?" asked Aaron faking interest.

The salesman thought for a moment.

"Well I was looking at about seven hundred and fifty grand per unit but, since they are damaged I would be willing to let them go for say... six hundred thousand each. Also keep in mind that this is a big bargain and there are only two of them left."

"Talk about floor models." Aaron joked. "These things look like they've been smacked to bejesus and back."

"Oh I don't know." Terry started. "Let a couple of our techies and nerds at these things, they'd have them fixed in two weeks tops."

Their salesman started stepping back.

"If you boys like I could give you some time to think it over."

Aaron just nodded.

"Yeah, that would be great."

"Just holler if you need something."

He left Terry and Aaron in front of the freezing chambers. Terry listened carefully behind them until he was certain that their so called salesman was a good distance away.

"So Terry," Aaron whispered. "what's your opinion of all this?"

"Pretty bad." Terry whispered back. "I think they're already on to us. We've got three armed guys behind us and two above, with at least ten more in the far back. All of them have AK's, say for the one at the door."

Aaron nodded.

"I kind of figured as much. The way that guy was acting, you could tell he was just bullshitting us the whole way."

"So then, how do we want to handle this? Just play along or shall we proceed with the elimination?"

"I think we've played with these bozos long enough. Just remember we have to keep the owner alive long enough to get info. Otherwise this whole thing will be for nothing."

Terry nodded.

"No problem. I'll take the three down here if you can handle the two up top."

Aaron grinned.

"I'll see your two and raise you on three."

They both started reaching inside their jackets.

"Three!" they both yelled.

Aaron whipped out his revolver and fired up at the first gunman on the catwalk. The man fell back only firing a few shots at the ceiling. Terry took out a handful of throwing knives and hurled them at the three behind them. Two of the gunmen were struck in the throat while the third was hit in the chest. They all fell dead just as Aaron took his second shot and took out the second gunman on the catwalk above. The man fell from the catwalk and landed in front of Terry with the machinegun still in his hand. Grabbing the machinegun, Terry bounded up the sides of the shelves and onto the catwalk. Three more men were coming with guns in hand while Terry just raised his and grinned as he fired. Plowing through them he headed to the other end of the catwalk and retrieved another pair of guns. Now with one in each paw he continued to the other side of the warehouse.

Aaron meanwhile started a long trek to the other side of the warehouse while ducking gunfire. Taking cover behind a wooden crate he counted to three in his head and peered around the other side and fired as another group of four gunmen came from out of nowhere and opened fire. One of them took a bullet chest. The other three dove for cover as Aaron fired again. He pulled himself back behind the crate and waited there for a moment. He mentally counted to three again and this time peered over the top of the crate. Two of the gunmen had just come out from cover just as he had and fired. Aaron however, got the first shot off and hit one of them in the forehead.

"One round and two guys left. I need to even these odds." he thought.

Looking to his right he spied an open crate turned on it's side. Several hand grenades lay out on the floor and Aaron just shook his head.

"That is one conveniently placed crate."

Grabbing two of the small grenades he pulled the pin on one and threw it where the two other gunmen were hiding. The blast even took Terry by surprise as he looked down below to see a cloud of smoke rising up from were an explosion had occurred.

"Hey Aaron! What the hell are you doing down there?"

"Just taking care of some unwanted bugs. How bout you?"

Terry shrugged.

"Oh, just waiting for the last one."

No sooner had he spoke, the guard at the front door came out of hiding and opened fire on Terry. Throwing down both machineguns. He reached into his jacket and took out a large knife. He wound up, and threw it striking the guard dead center in the head. The guard fell to his knees and collapsed.

"I think that's all of them. How many did you get?"

Aaron came out from cover and waved to him.

"Just six this time. You?"

"Eleven counting this last guy."

"Jesus Terry! I think you're starting to enjoy this a little too much."

"Nah! That's my super soldier reflexes. Now what do we do about our little friend hiding in his office?"

Aaron laughed.

"I'll be right up."

Moments later the two had managed to break into the small office located upstairs. They had tied the owner down in a chair and were just about to begin the process of interrogation.

"I say you let me gouge his eyes out." said Terry. "I know he'll talk if you just let me have two minutes with him."

Aaron shook his head with a laugh.

"I don't think so. Remember the last time I let you do this? You set the guy on fire! Sorry buddy but I'll handle this one."

Terry scuffed his foot across the floor.

"Dang. I never get to have any fun."

Aaron rolled his eyes.

"If you're really that bored, why don't you see what kinds of explosives you can find around here? This a black market shop after all."

Terry got excited.

"Hey yeah. There should be something that I can find around here that I can't anywhere else."

He darted out the door and down the stairs leaving Aaron and the owner alone. Aaron pulled up a chair opposite of the owner. The man wasn't the cheery self Aaron and Terry had been greeted by moments ago. He was now glaring at Aaron.

"You know a little gratitude would be nice." said Aaron. "I just saved you from having to go through a terrible scenario."

"And let me guess, your's is better?"

"Well, I won't set you on fire."

"Humph. You're a funny guy."

Aaron shrugged.

"I get that a lot."

The owner narrowed his eyes on him.

"So what the fuck do you want from me?"

"What do I want?"

"You're too young to be working for the Feds or the CIA. If you were I'd have been dragged out in handcuffs by now. Not to mention you managed to take out all of my... staff."

Aaron nodded with a grin.

"Impressive, he can add two and two."

He leaned in closer to the owner so he was sure he would hear him.

"I want to know what you did with the other three freezing tanks that you bought. Who did you sell them to?"

The owner seemed a bit puzzled now.

"Three tanks? I'm afraid you're mistaken. I only sold two."

Now Aaron was starting to lose his patience.

"Then where is the fifth?"

"I only had four! There were only four of them available when I bought them."

"If you only bought four of them that means that someone else got the fifth. Either that or it's still floating around somewhere. Tell me, who did you sell the others too."

"Are you kidding me? First rule of black market kid, don't ask questions."

"What did they look like?"

"You're damn persistent. I'll give you that. I honestly had never seen the guy before and I hope to God I never see him again. I couldn't see his face. He was wearing a black robe with a hood. Big guy too."

"How did you come by selling them to him?"

The owner shook his head.

"You know it's the weirdest thing. He asked about them immediately. Like he somehow knew that I had them. Technically he bought all four."

"What?"

"Yeah. He paid for all four and then smashed the consoles of the other two before he left. I didn't dare argue with him. Not after he hoisted both of the other tanks on his shoulders and walked out the door. The next day we found them in even worse shape than before. There were these claw marks and the windows had been shattered."

"Yet you figured you could still get away with selling them in the poor condition they were in." Aaron jeered.

"The guy left them here and I didn't think he'd be back for them. It's only natural that I'd try to get rid of the things. But then I thought, what if there was someone else looking for them, like the Feds."

"And let me guess. You had your boys keep an eye out for characters like us that expressed an immediate interest in them. Then you'd have us eliminated. Is that right."

The owner gave him an odd look.

"Are you clairvoyant or something kid? You seem to know more than you're letting on. So what's your story? Just what the hell was in those tanks."

"A nightmare." said Aaron. "The darkest, foulest, cruelest, most terrifying nightmare that could ever possibly exist. This is a nightmare that you can't wake up from. We're the ones that try to keep that nightmare under control before it manifests itself into something that can't be stopped. And of all the people out there, we're the ones that are the most afraid of it."

"I don't understand."

Aaron shook his head and stood up.

"It's better that you don't. Some things aren't worth explaining."

The sound of footsteps coming closer caught Aaron's attention and seconds later Terry stepped back into the office with a small device in his paw and a grin on his face.

"You done here?" he asked.

"Yeah." said Aaron. "How 'bout you?"

Terry held up the device and shook it.

"All set to go."

"What is that?" asked the owner.

Terry and Aaron nodded to each other.

"Well you were right about us not belonging to the FBI or the CIA. Unfortunately for you that's a far worse thing than if we were."

The owner's eyes went wide with worry.

"What?"

"Well you see," Terry began. "since we don't belong to them we can't make any arrests. This also means we can do whatever we want. No moral or legal obligations in the way. And besides, we know that you black market dealers have the most crooked lawyers in the world which means you would be out of prison in at least two years tops. However, despite all of this we are going to give you a chance to save yourself."

He set the device on a nearby desk and pressed a small red button.

"This is a time bomb. I'm sure you're familiar with them. This baby is set to go off in exactly fifteen minutes. If you can manage to break free of your restraints and press the cancellation before time runs out you'll be free to go. I don't think I have to explain what happens if you fail at this."

The two of them walked to the office door. Before they left the turned back to the owner and blew him a kiss.

"Have a nice day." they both said and then bolted for the exit leaving the owner screaming bloody murder.

Moments later outside of the warehouse Aaron and Terry were crossing the street to the car. As Aaron unlocked the doors he looked over at Terry.

"Can I be the one to use the remote detonator this time?" he asked.

Terry shook his head and shrugged.

"What remote detonator?"

Aaron felt suddenly confused. Terry always set these kinds of sophisticated explosives with a remote detonator. It wouldn't make sense for him not to have one unless... He looked at Terry now with a mortified look on his face.

"You didn't?"

His question was shortly answered by an explosion coming from behind him. As he turned around he saw fire and smoke erupting through the roof of the warehouse. The building was nothing but an inferno now.

"Well I'll be damned." said Terry. "It only took him five minutes."

Aaron threw up his hands and climbed into the car.

"Let's just go before the whole emergency crew gets here. I don't want to be around when the cops and news vans start asking people questions."

Terry got in and Aaron started the car. They drove off with the sound of sirens already blaring from far away.