Hank watched the three men leave the yard. He was happy for Tim, Graham and Kelvin; they had bonded together in ways that would be tested very soon. As would Richard and his family, Saul, and the other yard workers if they choose to stand with Tim, things where about to get nasty.
Agent Cosgrove’s report on the ‘Box of Ten Thousand Wonders’ had got some of the higher up’s at the FBM very interested. They might not like the Shifter himself but none could fault his work and Cosgrove’s interest in the Box had raised flags on certain desks at the Bureau. Since the Yard was the last known location for the Box over the last two months magical Intrusion and Assessments had increased. Hank had been very busy keeping out magical assaults, of course that had only made it more active as ‘They’ tried to find out what was causing the blocking. In the end Tal was forced to teleport in (at great risk) a small amount of the magical Subtlewood, (known for its ability to block magic in a great radius), and hide it under a massive pile of junk. It had been discovered by an FBM agent posing as a costumer, and since they had been unable to extract it, it caused the constant Assessing and other magical surveillance to lower significantly- they had their explanation. However that meant more physical examinations and given the Pack patrols at night they could only come safely during the day to pick over and observe the place- that meant more sales as Saul and Tim never missed a chance to sell some ‘stuff’, and then more junk arriving to cover the sales, and that meant more Agents to watch the yard and its growing piles, which meant more sales, and more junk. The Yard was booming!
Hank was working hard at countering the magical and physical effects of the FBM, he was almost challenged by their Agents, but it was not the minions of the FBM that worried him, it was the people behind him. Tal did some physical digging even as Hank dug into the Agents mental pathways. It seemed the Huge organization was riddled by people neither man would consider friends on any world. As soon as they recognised the hand of the Dragon at work in the Agency Tal began worked to bring Allies on board to help work against the Emperor while Hank kept the Yard safe.
Hank swept round the yard again, everything was in its place, the gates locked and Tim’s ward was in place- he had to admit Tim having magic ability had been a surprise, but that was the ‘other’ Tim’s influence; at first he’d thought this Tim different, but he’d quickly realised both Tim’s worked together just fine. The pack was out and roaming and Hank took the time to appear so they could smell him, for some reason the dogs forgot his ‘smell’ and it had taken four days of false alarms before Hank had worked out why. Now the dogs where fine as long as he ‘introduced’ himself to them. That done, Hank resumed his patrol, something was up tonight, he could feel it…….
--xx--
The FBM had forced Cosgrove into coming to the Therianthropy Centre; they wanted him to ‘keep an eye on Tim and the other Shifters’. Sloan was a stickler for the work-play divide and had resented the idea, but the Higher Ups had decided the Shifters needed watching and he was the one to do it, his own time or not. Tonight he reflected his pay stopped at 6pm, the work went back into the folder and when he walked away from his offices that should be it- dedicated he might be, but no! Not every Saturday for the last three weeks! He’d driven out to the forest the Centre was in and talked to all sorts of freaks! Cosgrove relaxed his grip on the wheel, and took some deep breaths. He *was* one of those freaks he disliked talking too and it’s was not that he resented the chance to come and learn about ‘his kind’ – it *had* proved very useful, what he hated was the idea of surveillance on his own time, and surveillance of people it turned out where nice folks. Tim, Grey, Kelvin, Richard, and the others where all seemingly genuine people with no hidden agenda, plus Kelvin had been right- the Centre was helping Cosgrove; he was getting closer to finding out about his folks, he’d actually helped teach some of his methods for keeping the Beast under control., and the Elders had suggested exercises for partial shifting that had helped him gain Bear’s smell or part of his strength without having to shift.
Cosgrove turned into the car park and wondered if he was getting to close, too involved with the Shifters, too much part of the Community, could he remain objective and able to do what his bosses wanted? As he sat there and considered Tim’s beat up old pick up pulled up in a cloud of dust and the three giant Shifters it carried clambered out chatting about something. Cosgrove grinned as he watched them, their friendship obvious- he wanted to be part of that, wanted that belonging, He got out of the car and greeted the men in his firm, but friendly way. He was greeted by a handshake from all of them and then Richard called at them from the door, the meeting had begun.