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Chapter 73: Hostages and Terrorists

Nathanial leaned back from the desk, stretching, then rubbed the back of his neck. The amount of work he did today was incredible. He glanced around the police office, noting he was the only one here at the moment. He'd filled out a lot of forms, minus the signatures, for the officers. After that he analyzed bullet casings, matching them up with known handguns. They were really impressed with how quickly and accurately he did that, it helped that he could look at several things at once. He'd already gone through the faces of the missing persons reports and picked out the ones that were in his house that day. Now, he'd just finished plotting out the areas the bodies could be, based on probabilities. He'd put the most likely places on a map and expanded out from there, delineating the areas with decreasing likelihood. Now that he knew what he was doing, he glanced at Officer Heimdolf's work, knowing that he had a similar problem to do. He quickly worked through it and left his version of the map on his desk, taking a mere five minutes to complete. He looked around the room, staying in his seat, but didn't find anything else to do. He stood up and began going through some Kung Fu forms to stretch his sore muscles. Sgt. Heimdolf walked in, carrying a hot dog and pop, "Stop that, you're going to break something. Take a break, pup, grab something to eat. I just got a call and we're heading out, shortly. There's a case I need to take a look at, out in Shubenacadie, with the RCMP. We're taking a road trip."

Nathanial nodded, "Okay. I'm popping home for a minute, if that's all right. I'll use your office, so keep the door closed, please."

The rabbit rolled his eyes, "Yeah, sure, not a problem."

The sarcasm dripped from his voice, but Nathanial was getting used to it. He smiled and stepped into the office, "I left something for you on your desk, and I finished my 'project'." He closed the door behind him and saw the Sergeant's jaw drop as he saw Nathanial's completed maps. Nathanial opened a portal and stepped out into his bedroom. He ran upstairs as he began making three yoghurt parfaits, Micah would be home in four minutes, or so, and Nicholas would be another five to eight after that. He finished making them just as the gate buzzed, signalling Micah's arrival. Nathanial pulled out his spoon and scooped up some of the yoghurt and berries, when he stopped with a curse, "Damn it!" He put the cup down on the counter with a thump, he'd taken his medicine only a half hour ago, he couldn't eat anything for at least another half hour. He scowled angrily and tapped his claws on the counter.

Micah skipped into the kitchen, "Hi!" He stopped, looking at Nathanial warily, "Um, hi?"

Nathanial sighed, "I made some parfaits, but I have to go back to the station soon. I just realized I took my medicine not long ago so I can't eat." He pouted, "I'm hungry."

Micah smiled and walked into the kitchen. He dropped his bag on the floor and sat on the stool, grabbing his snack, "That sucks, Nats. Thanks for making us some, though." He took a big mouthful, "Mmm. I love these! Why are you job shadowing today? I thought you weren't sure when it'd be."

Nathanial grimaced as he watched his little brother eating while he couldn't. His stomach rumbled. "I stopped by the office this morning to say hi to the principal and Sgt. Heimdolf was there with Mr. Ryhorski. They got it worked out so I could go today, so I went." He leaned against the counter, then grabbed an apple and a pear to take with him. "Dad's got soccer practice, so he'll be home early, I don't know when I'll be home. I'm just about to head out to some place called... Shoe-bin-something, outside of the city. The RCMP wanted the sergeant to look at it, so he's taking me with him."

"The Mounties? Will you get to wear a red coat, too?" Micah seemed happy at the idea, "I like the hat and the red coats, I think you'd look great in one." He jumped up and spun around, his clothes turned into the dress uniform for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It looked a little funny on the smaller pup, but still good. Nathanial thought the uniform was the hottest one he'd seen anywhere, even better than seeing a half undressed fireman. He felt his sheath stirring, both from his mental images and because Nicholas was at the gate. Nick must have rushed home.

Nathanial decided he'd better leave before he started leaking in his underwear, "Nicholas is home, but I got to run. Say hi to him and behave. I'll try not to be late." He tipped Micah's tan coloured hat back and licked his nose, "I love the two of you, Sprite. Pass that on to our brother."

Micah smiled, his tail was wagging rapidly, "Love you, too, Nats."

Nathanial opened a tiny portal into the police station, peeked through, and then opened it fully and stepped into the closed office. He closed the portal behind him, and walked out into the main room. "What do you think of them?"

Sgt. Heimdolf was looking over both of the maps closely, like he was trying to find something bad to say. He just dropped them with a grunt, "They'll do. Let's go." He eyed the fruit in Nathanial's paws, "Not hungry?"

Nathanial grimaced, "Very hungry, but I have to wait another half hour to eat. Medication."

The lioness officer walked around the corner, "Medication? Anything serious?"

Nathanial sighed, "Yeah, heart problems. Inherited condition made worse by the stress, but my doctor says the medicine and healthy living will keep it under control. You know, exercise, no smoking, healthy eating habits, stuff like that."

They both glanced at the rotund rabbit who'd just taken his pack of smokes from his pocket. He pulled a cigarette out, "Shut up and let's go. I don't need some little pup lecturing me, too."

Nathanial looked at him innocently, "I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about what my doctor was telling me I need to do if I want to see twenty." He paused, "But it's good advice for anyone."

The lioness, Officer Fitzgerald, looked a little disappointed, "If your heart is that bad you won't be able to join the force. You need to take a physical to enlist, and such a serious heart problem will disqualify you."

Nathanial smiled, "I was exaggerating some for the sergeant's benefit. It's bad, but unless I go through stuff like last month all the time, I'll have it well under control."

Sgt. Heimdolf put the cigarette in his mouth and shoved Nathanial toward the door as he fished for his lighter, "I said shut up. Move it." They walked out to the parking lot, waited for him to finish his smoke, and climbed into a cruiser.

They made their way out of the city and onto the highway that went by Nathanial's neighbourhood and down toward Lower Sackville. Nathanial looked out the front window to the left at Rock Church, the church that trained the Hunters that wanted him as a sacrifice, led by Pastor Yuke. "Sergeant, would you be willing to tell me how you became a Knight? Why you became one?"

He didn't get an answer for a few minutes, they drove past the turnoff to Lower Sackville and Bedford. Bedford was another suburb, but it lay to the right of the highway, while Sackville was to the left. They began going up the hill directly beyond that, before the Sergeant answered, "A vampire." Nathanial waited, "There was a knock on our door when I was a young teen, my mother answered it and a young looking rat boy was standing there. He looked to be five, or so, and since it was after midnight my mother let him in, trying to find out why he was out so late." He shook his head, "It's none of your damned business, just say I became an orphan that night and was saved by a few Knights that were hunting this monstrosity down. If they'd only been a few minutes earlier, or if more Mages helped them keep tabs on the dangerous beasts out there, I'd still have a family. Knights saved me, the Society let me down."

Nathanial was quiet for a minute, "I'm sorry, the Society wasn't there for me when I needed them, either. But my monsters were Hunters, not vampires. Knights didn't save me, they helped the ones trying to kill me and my brothers."

The rabbit's grip tightened on the steering wheel, "I know. I did some digging after we spoke last time, it seems Pastor Yuke was carrying out someone else's orders. It's passed down from pretty high up the chain, I don't know how far up. I won't be looking into this any more, it's too dangerous, just be aware that the hard line elements in the Knights are working with the Hunters on whatever it is, and they have the support of at least one person at, or near, the top of the Knights Templar. We have ties to pretty much every government, military, and law enforcement agency in the world."

"The Grand Inquisitor isn't a Fur." The Sergeant's big paws cracked as his grip tightened even more. "Do you know what an Ancient One is?" Sgt. Heimdolf took off his hat and tossed it on Nathanial's lap before he scratched around the base of his ears. He shook his head, so Nathanial continued, "It's someone who keeps getting reincarnated, over and over again. They can access all of their previous lives, with some difficulty; their memories, skills, and stuff. The Knights Templar were founded by one and has been run by the same person ever since. There are breaks each time he dies, but he eventually takes over again. You don't belong to a group set up by Furs to protect Furs, but by something else entirely for reasons I don't know, and I doubt very few people know."

"If you're spinning tales to try to get me to leave, I won't. I owe the Knights my life, no matter what runs it. There's a lot of Knights that just want to protect their neighbours and communities from horrors most people only think exist in story books. They wouldn't allow the Grand Inquisitor to pull any crazy shit."

Nathanial sighed, "Do you think the guys calling the shots will tell you the truth about what they're plotting? They haven't told you the truth about who's running the show. If they told you I'm a psycho Mage plotting to blow up the McDonald Bridge during the middle of rush hour and that I needed to be brought in alive, would you question it? Would you stop to wonder how they knew that, or if they actually wanted me as some sort of living sacrifice to kill every magic creature in all the planes?"

The rabbit kept glancing at him silently for a few minutes, before he said, "You told me that the Hunters wanted to kill all of you magic types. Is... that how they think they'll do that? By sacrificing you? Like you you, not any Mage pup? In some sort of occult ritual? Bloody altars, full moons, black hooded robes type sacrifice?" Nathanial nodded. Sgt. Heimdolf sighed, "You magic types are fucking nuts. Why the hell would anyone think, even for a second, that that sort of shit would work? It's like some twisted Temple of Doom thing and Indiana Jones is supposed to swing in and stop it all." He snorted, "Except you're telling me I'm one of the heart-ripping-out guys."

Nathanial ducked his head, "I never saw the movie, I thought it'd be too scary for my brothers. I've heard of Indiana Jones, though." Ten more minutes and he could have his pear; his stomach growled loudly, "I don't want my heart ripped out. Or stabbed."

"Don't blame you, pup. That's damned scary shit." The rabbit glanced down at his dash, "I need to pull into the airport and get some gas, maybe grab a donut and coffee at Tim's." He slowed down and pulled off at the exit to the airport. He drove down the road a short way and pulled in at the gas station, "Make yourself useful and fill it up." Nathanial climbed out of the cruiser and looked at the terminal, poking about as he pumped the gas. Nathanial noticed trouble in the tower structure on the other side of the runway from the airport, where his father said the planes were controlled from. There were two men holding sniper rifles, and another holding a gun pointed at the person on the radio. The men wore dark clothes and had scarves wrapped around their heads, kind of like those terrorists he saw on the news.

He used his telepathy spell, *There are snipers in the tower at the airport holding people hostage.*

The rabbit cursed, "Shit. Does it look like anyone knows?"

Nathanial shrugged and looked at the area around the tower more closely. It was multilevel, with a larger structure at the bottom containing several computer stations and twelve people, all held under guard by two more gunmen. He jumped in surprise, his aunt, Naomi McKay, was one of them. *My aunt is one of the hostages. There are two snipers in the cab and a gunman with a hostage. Two floors down is an office area with twelve more hostages. There no police activity outside, but it looks like someone is unpacking some sort of rocket launcher or something. I don't see anything unusual going on in the terminal.* He looked at the radar screen inside the tower, *There are a few planes coming in, I think, but I can't tell what these guys are targeting. With the heavier weaponry being unpacked I'd say they're targeting a plane, not a single passenger.* He frowned, *But why take over the tower if you just want to shoot down a plane? You could set up the rocket launcher thingy anywhere.*

"Not if they need to find out which plane is the one they want to shoot down." Sgt. Heimdolf's paw twitched toward the radio, "Are they listening to the police scanners?"

Nathanial frowned, *Taking over a tower like that still seems like a lot more work than is necessary. They're all carrying radios, I can't tell if they're listening to a scanner. Make a dummy call, I can hear if it comes over their radios. Just ask about something.*

"Uh..." Sgt. Heimdolf held the radio up to his mouth but seemed to draw a blank, "Dispatch, confirm the address I'm going to." Nathanial heard a slight delay before it repeated in the office space where all other people where being held. The response came across as well, but a bit fainter. Nathanial just nodded to his mentor. "Shit, that makes this more difficult."

*Call it in to 911,* The rabbit's expression indicated that he didn't have to say that. Nathanial just continued talking, *Warn them that they're listening to scanners. Just say that I was talking to my aunt and she hid her phone when they stormed in.* The gas pump stopped, Nathanial put it away and knocked on the window, "That's sixty-two ninety-five."

Sgt. Heimdolf grumbled, "Bloody gouging mother... yes, this is Sergeant Heimdolf with the Halifax Police, we have a hostage situation at the control tower at the Halifax airport. The gunman are listening to the scanners, that's why I couldn't radio this in. We have thirteen hostages, two snipers up in the cab, three gunman, and one more person outside unloading some sort of heavy munitions." He pulled out his wallet and tossed it at Nathanial. Nathanial pulled out four twenties and passed it back, then went in to pay. When he got back into the car he gave the disgruntled rabbit his change and the receipt. "Well, I wanted to know what you can do, now's a good time to wow me. I don't know what plane they're targeting, but if it's one of the ones coming in now there's no way that help will get there in time."

Nathanial shrugged, "There's lots I could try, but it'd be really obvious and there'd be hells to pay. This is the sort of thing one of my friends is a lot better at. I could bring several Knights right into the tower, if there were any nearby." He hesitated, "I don't seem to have really good control of my magic, it's gotten worse, actually. I could kill everyone in there by accident. I know I could stop the plane from being shot down," He smiled deprecatingly, "I just don't know if I could save the hostages at the same time."

Sgt. Heimdolf scowled, "Fat lot of help Mages are, then. I know where we can get some honest Knights, though, we have a bunch of us in customs and security at the airport." He drove toward a hangar near the airport, "In there, we own that one, I'll get some guys on the line and you bring them here. From here you get them into the tower. You said you had an aunt there? Is she a Mage?" Nathanial shook his head, the launcher thing was just about assembled. A plane just landed safely. "Damn. I want more info, anything might help."

"She knows what I am, I can ask if she knows anything." He hid a smile as he continued, "Wait. You said honest Knights? Then you went to say you guys had infiltrated customs and security so you could, presumably, bypass the laws pertaining to air travel? Doesn't sound very honest to me."

The rabbit opened his mouth to respond, but just closed it again with a snort. He shook his head, "Shut the fuck up and work." He muttered, "Bloody smart assed pup. Good point, though."

He pulled out his phone while Nathanial sent his mind to the tower. Nathanial glanced through the tower, it looked like the guys in the tower were getting tense. Nathanial looked at the radar, again, it said ACA610 just came into range. Going by the amount of time it took for the others to land, he probably had twenty minutes... maybe. 'ACA? I wonder what that is?' He sent his mind to his aunt Naomi, no one was looking at her as she sat on the floor at the edge of the crowd. *Aunt Naomi? It's Nathanial, I'm talking to you telepathically.* She reacted as he thought she would, she jumped and stifled a scream.

A gunman stalked over to her, "I said keep quiet!" He backpawed her, knocking her to the floor. The lion had no accent. Nathanial felt his eyes narrow and he growled softly.

Sgt. Heimdolf glanced over at him, "Stop grinning like a fucking maniac when you growl, you're freaking me out."

Nathanial stopped growling, he was a little surprised at the grin, but he put his face into a passive expression, *Just think your answer, I'll hear it. I'm helping the police try to free you. How long have you been held hostage?*

Naomi sat up, rubbing her delicate looking muzzle, *N-Nathanial? Lily's pup? Where are you?*

Nathanial rubbed his forehead, *That doesn't matter. How long? What are they after? What does ACA mean? They got really excited when an ACA610 appeared on the radar.*

*A half hour ago. I don't know what they're after, but they aren't foreign terrorists. Some of their voices sounded familiar. That would be Air Canada flight six ten. It's a scheduled flight from Toronto.* Her eyes became larger, *They don't mean to shoot it down or something?! There must be a hundred and fifty people on that plane!*

*Well, it looks like we have a little time.*

*As long as they aren't cleared for a straight in approach, then you may have five or six minutes! The flight's already running late, and if that's the target then the terrorists may get the controller to bump them up the queue.*

"Crap! Sergeant, it sounds like the target is an Air Canada flight and we have six minutes!"

The rabbit shook his head, "I can get maybe five guys in that time, can you stall the plane, somehow?"

*Naomi, how can I get the plane to divert or delay it?*

*Send a message to Moncton Centre and get them to divert traffic! They may be able to contact the plane.*

"Sergeant, can you get a message to Moncton Centre?"

"That should be standard procedure, but this isn't my field. Damn it, pup, I'm a homicide detective, not a terrorism expert!"

Nathanial ignored him and went back to Naomi, *That should've been done. What else?*

*Block the runway with something!* Naomi was fidgeting and getting very anxious, the gunmen were watching her closely and seemed annoyed.

*Calm down, you're attracting attention. I'm on it.*

The sergeant hung up, "I've got some guys getting ready, they'll call me back when they're done. What's the word?"

"I need to block the runways to buy some time." Nathanial began pacing and tapped his muzzle, looking at the field. He saw a refuelling truck idling by the Esso station. "And I just found out how." He'd played some racing games and saw movies, so he had a rough idea how to drive a standard. He carefully worked the clutch, then took the emergency brake off and hit the gas, sending the truck roaring out toward the runways and the Furs nearby yelling as they tried to get out of the way or get into the cab of the truck. Nathanial had trouble working the gear shifts and the clutch, so he just kept it in first gear. He felt lucky he didn't stall it. He made it rumble down the runway. It was far enough out that he didn't mind if it stalled, he already heard the guy in the tower was shouting orders on several radios, including to the Air Canada flight. Nathanial pushed down on the clutch, eased off the gas and tried to shift to second gear. He pushed down on the gas, and let up on the clutch, it spluttered but settled out and moved faster. He repeated it for third, and as it reached the intersection of the runway, he yanked back on the emergency brake and spun the wheel. The tanker jackknifed and rolled over, cracking the tank. Nathanial pulled a stream of fuel to the engine and let it ignite. He laughed and clapped his paws as the thing exploded, "Whee! I did it! No one's landing just yet!" He noted that the runways were set up as a 'T', and the explosion occurred at one end of the longest runway, so there was still a chance that the plane could land. He just made it harder. He wished he understood what was going on at an airport more.

Sgt. Heimdolf had nearly jumped out of his fur at the explosion, "What the fuck did you do!? Blow a fuel truck up?" He had a paw clutched over his heart and he was panting heavily.

Nathanial put on his best innocent expression, "Yes. How did you know?"

"Shit, pup. Warn a guy! We just wanted to delay the plane, not destroy the airport." The rabbit staggered over to a chair and sat down heavily, he pulled out a cigarette and went to light it.

Nathanial yelled out, "Do you want to destroy the airport!? There's gas fumes all through here and you're going to light a smoke?" He pointed to the door, "Outside!" His mentor for the day glared at him but stomped out. Nathanial sent his mind out to his aunt, *Delay complete.* He noticed the gunmen were very agitated.

Naomi looked very scared, *What happened? We heard an explosion, and there's a huge fuss upstairs. The terrorists are threatening us, there's been a lot more violence. You weren't answering.* Some hostages were sporting bloody noses or clutching an arm or stomach.

She sounded close to tears, with an almost accusatory tone when she spoke about his silence. He sighed, *Sorry, I took a refuelling truck and blew it up at the intersection of the runways. It's a temporary measure, but it should keep the plane safe for a little longer. Help should be here soon.* He looked up as Sgt. Heimdolf came back in holding his phone, *Speaking of, I have to go get your help ready. I'll be out of communication for a bit, but I'll try to keep tabs on you.* She took a deep breath and nodded slightly, glancing fearfully at the masked gunman walking around, watching them carefully. Nathanial looked over at the rabbit, "What word?"

"Four Knights. They're waiting in a room off of the international arrivals, it'll be the one with several guns on the table."

Nathanial nodded and went looking for it, "Things are getting tense in the tower. I think we need to hurry or risk some lives." He found the room, "These guys know a Mage is helping?" The four of them were pretty big, though one wasn't a guy, but a large St. Bernard woman. Maybe it was Helika's mother, the girl in Faelen's history class Faelen jokingly said he'd invite to the dance. If it was true then Nathanial could definitely tell where she got her... physique from.

Sgt. Heimdolf nodded. Nathanial saw the guns on the table and opened a portal. The sergeant waved at the surprised Knights, "Come on, things are starting to deteriorate." The four grabbed their weapons and walked through, a little anxiously, but still bravely, all things considered. "Yeah, this is the Mage pup I mentioned. He's the one that spotted the trouble.

The St. Bernard huffed, "We're taking a risk doing this, Lars. I heard rumours that this is an ordered hit, not terrorists. Orders from our leaders."

Nathanial ducked his head, shifting away from the hostile looks, but he still answered, "If my information is correct then your leaders are ordering the murder of, what, a hundred and seventy people, give or take a pawful. Why? To get a Spirit? A Mage? Is any one person worth the death of so many innocent people? You, all of you, probably joined the Knights to protect your families and neighbourhoods from hostile magic forces. Is this what you signed up to do, shoot down plane loads of people, or even stand aside and let it happen?"

The dog growled slightly, "Of course not, pup, that's why we're here, working with a Mage. Why are you here?"

Nathanial met her gaze, he hoped it was evenly, and that his shaking knees weren't obvious, "Because I can't let people be hurt, not if I can avoid it."

Another Knight spoke up, a short, but very dangerous looking wolverine. He sounded a little sarcastic, "So you have no other stake in this than altruism? No Mages on board?"

Nathanial ducked his head again, "Not that I know of. I just found out my aunt, my non-Mage aunt, is one of the hostages. She's been trying to supply me with intelligence on our foes." He noticed a bunch of squad cars moving toward the tower, "The RCMP are closing in. We need to move fast. We have two snipers and a guy holding a pistol and an assault rifle up stairs. One hostage still operating the radio. Two floors down we have twelve hostages held in the centre of the room with eight computer stations set up. There are two gunmen watching them. The hostages should be our first priority, I blew up a truck on the runway, so we should have more time to stop the plane from being shot down. I can open a portal anywhere in the tower for you, even split you up, if you want. I can provide some assistance, too, but I... I'm not too confident about my control. I can see a lot and move things around telekinetically without problems, anything more than that, well, it's not safe." He thought back to the fiasco last night with a shudder.

The wolverine snorted, "What sort of 'dangerous' could a pup like you do? Rain daffodils on people?"

Nathanial shifted uncomfortably, "I, um, nearly destroyed the Society's offices in Ottawa. By accident. They were testing my magic, and, I, um, lost control. I completely trashed the warded test room and things could've spread from there if I didn't manage to stop my runaway spell." He scuffed the floor, "I'd... rather keep to stuff I know I can control."

The St. Bernard barked a laugh, "Yeah, so would I. It's our show guys, let's move. Leave Nathanial alone."

He looked up in surprise, "How do you know my name?"

She smirked, "My daughter's mentioned you, mostly when she's talking about your friend Faelen, but I bet the whole Hidden World's heard about you, Hunterbane."

He smiled slightly, "Hunterbane? I don't think I like that, I don't want to hurt anyone, I just don't want them to kill me or my brothers. Maybe Nova Scotia is talking about me, but I doubt it's gone much past that." He winced as one of the hostages was punched, "They're getting rough over there. I think they noticed the RCMP. Where am I opening the portal?"

The wolverine growled, "We need a cover story, the floor below the hostages. You can move us again if we need help getting into the cab of the tower." Nathanial nodded and opened the portal. The four Knights slipped through, guns ready. Nathanial followed, despite his mentor's muffled protest. The rabbit scowled but stayed close to Nathanial. Nathanial searched the terrorists, actively looking for medallions, but found nothing. Nathanial tapped the lead Knight, the St. Bernard, on the shoulder. He held his paw up for them to wait and slipped to the side of the stairs. He shifted his paw into a 'ready' position, index and middle finger extended, the others curled up tight, then made a chair on the far side of the room flip over. The terrorists instinctively looked over and one began moving. Nathanial swung his paw down and the Knights moved up, surprisingly stealthy. Helika's mother moved up and grabbed the first terrorist, the lion, by the muzzle and arms. She held him silent and locked his forearms against his chest while another Knight, a younger gecko, placed his gun against the terrorist's temple and disarmed him. The wolverine and otter moved around the sides of the computer desks, crouched low, to flank the other gunman. They slid around, the wolverine moved between the hostages, and cornered him on the far side. The terrorist quickly raised his gun, but dropped into a crouch as the wolverine moved within three feet (one metre) of him, and lashed out with a backward kick. The wolverine blocked the kick and kicked out at the exposed ribs of his opponent, the otter dodged to the side to stay out of the assault rifle's line of fire. The tabby cat terrorist rolled forward to avoid the kick and lashed out with another kick, this time at the otter, while raising his gun at the wolverine. Nathanial unplugged a monitor from one of the workstations, just in case he needed to drop it on the cat, as he watched the fight. The wolverine stepped forward and aside before kicking at the gun to knock it away; the otter jumped over the kick aimed at him, and drew a stun gun. Nathanial figured he thought it'd be quieter. The tabby flipped up into a one paw pawstand and fired his gun at the wolverine before the wolverine's hindpaw connected. Or he tried to fire the gun, Nathanial pushed out on the trigger as the cat pulled in. The otter fired his stun gun while the terrorist was momentarily distracted and the wolverine shifted his target to the terrorist's throat. The cat fell, unable to yell out. Sgt. Heimdolf put handcuffs on the lion and brought him downstairs. The St. Bernard went over to help secure the other guy.

Nathanial slipped upstairs toward the tower cab so he'd stay out of sight, *Naomi, there's more upstairs and someone outside. Get everyone downstairs and keep quiet, I'd like only one of your rescuers to keep watch.*

Naomi stood, keeping her voice low, "Come on, guys," She gestured at her coworkers, "Let's get to the conference room and stay out of their way. We can help keep watch on these two while the rescue team deals with the remaining guys. Otto, grab the first aid kit, we have some cuts and stuff to treat."

One of her co-workers jumped up, "I need the bathroom. I'll meet you downstairs." He ran to the men's washroom. The St. Bernard began dragging the gasping terrorist downstairs. The wolverine, gecko, and otter began to move over to join Nathanial. Nathanial noticed the guy in the washroom pulled out a phone and began typing a text that started, 'Code F'. Nathanial cut the text off.

He growled and spoke telepathically to the wolverine, *There was inside help. Check the washroom, he tried to alert the terrorists upstairs.*

The wolverine changed course, burst into the washroom, and sucker punched the surprised Fur. He dragged the unconscious Fur out to the main room, "He's working with them, he just tried to tip them off."

He tossed the cell phone to Naomi. She glanced at the message and paled, "Garth, help me bring him downstairs. I'll pass the phone off to the police when they get here, we'll keep him secure with these two." She tried to surreptitiously look around as they made their way downstairs. Nathanial stayed out of sight.

He led the three Knights up to the locked door blocking the spiral staircase that went up to the top floor of the tower. The wolverine looked at him, "Well? I don't suppose you know the code or have a super 'unlocking spell'?"

Nathanial shook his head as he opened the door from the other side, whispering, "No, the door is only locked on this side. Top of the spiral stairs, snipers to the left and right, both looking outside. Terrorist right behind you with pistol drawn and pointed at hostage. He's watching the crew dealing with the fire on the runway. Quietest one of you goes first." The gecko began slowly climbing the stairs, followed by the otter. The gecko crept up and immediately began slinking around the edge of the stairwell toward the pistol wielding terrorist, a rat. The otter went to the left after the beaver sniper. The wolverine waited a few seconds before climbing up, his weight caused the stairs to creak slightly. He grimaced but kept moving slowly, staying as close to the centre pole as possible.

The gecko slipped silently next to the rat, who spun quickly and ducked. The rat yelled, "Ware!" and shot his pistol. The bullet went through the cab and cracked the security glass on the far side. The snipers dropped their rifles and pulled out knives, the otter rolled aside as his opponent slashed at him. The wolverine ran up, heedless of noise, and rushed the last Fur. Nathanial followed him up and moved to help the gecko.

The controller was crouched under his work area, a paw over his head to make sure his headset stayed on, and his thumb on the transmit button for the radio, "This is Halifax Tower, all aircraft exit the zone, we have a hostage situation. Repeat, Halifax Tower is in a hostage situation, all aircraft exit the zone!"

The rat cursed loudly. He jumped back and hit a radio on his shoulder, "Take the shot!" The rocket launcher thing rumbled as a rocket shot out of it and began roaring through the air. The gecko took the momentary lapse of concentration to fire his pistol, catching the rat in the thigh. It looked like he hit a large vein or something, judging by how badly it bled.

Nathanial stood to the left of that fight, now, and focused on the rocket. He began pulling it around, fighting the automated controls on it. It wasn't a very big rocket, so it wasn't too hard, however, it was hard to concentrate when the sniper closest to him snarled, "It's the Marks brat!"

He smiled and waved, "Hi, sorry I can't talk. I'm a bit busy at the moment." He had the rocket starting to loop back. The radar showed all the dots were turning around and leaving quickly, including the ACA610 dot. The gecko had his pistol pointed at the rat, who was kneeling down on his good knee, clutching the wound. Nathanial addressed the controller, "Um, controller person, the rest of your coworkers are in the conference room, go join them." He got a quick, fearful, look, before the Fur scuttled out from under the counter and quickly ran down the stairs. The otter was being over powered by his opponent, so Nathanial took the pistol, telekinetically, from the rat. It floated just out of arm's reach and pointed at the rat's head, "I got him, help your colleague. If this jerk so much as twitches, I'll add another Hunter to my tally. It sounds like you guys are Hunters, after all."

The gecko looked at Nathanial nervously, but moved past him to help the otter. The wolverine was evenly matched with his foe. The rocket was starting to fight him fiercely, but Nathanial had it pointed back at the launcher it came from. The rat looked out the window, "What the fuck are you doing!?"

"I'm returning your rocket. What does it look like? I thought you misplaced it, so I was giving it back to your friend outside."

The fighting stopped, the wolverine sounded a little scared, "Uh, Marks? Not... a good idea. Please, put it somewhere else."

Nathanial looked at them in surprise, "Why? Big boom?" He got emphatic nods. "Oh. It sounded like fun." He shrugged, "Well, I could just drop it on Rock Church, save me more headaches." He was greeted by speechless horror, "Joke. Jeeze, lighten up. If I wanted to bring the building down, I wouldn't need a rocket to do it." He tapped his muzzle, then shrugged, "Big boom." He let the rocket continue on as everyone in the tower cab yelled; the rocket zipped by them and headed for the parking lot. Nathanial opened a portal in front of it, sending it into the Plane of Darkness. The expression on the armadillo manning the launcher was priceless. Nathanial giggled and nibbled on the claw of his pinky finger. "I didn't hear any boom." The gecko passed out. Nathanial could feel Snow's amusement and gratitude for the meal. Nathanial put his paw down and quickly pointed the gecko's pistol at the masked beaver, "Drop your weapons and surrender. This is your first and last warning." He looked over his shoulder at the wolverine's foe, "That goes for you, too." While his head was turned, the beaver lunged at him, taking the otter by surprise. Nathanial didn't even turn his head, but shot the beaver in the shoulder, just past the hidden bullet-proof vest, and moved the pistol to rest between the beaver's eyes. "Okay, so you got two warnings. Sorry for lying. Now, you have no more chances." The Hunter dropped to his knees and clutched his bloody and shattered arm. Nathanial smiled at the remaining Hunter, "Three to one, don't make us hurt you, too." He got a sigh for an answer and the Hunter dropped his knife. "Good." He nodded to the two conscious Knights, "Now for the loose end." He closed his eyes and saw the last person running across the road. Nathanial smiled and held his arm out, at throat level, then opened a portal right in front of the fleeing armadillo, "Buenos Dias."

The Hunter tried to stop, but the portal was too close and opened too suddenly. He did manage to lean back and slide under Nathanial's arm; Nathanial kicked at his stomach while he was looking up at Nathanial's arm. The armadillo seemed to sense his movement and blocked it with his paws, then rolled aside and stood in one smooth motion. The portal closed. Nathanial kicked with his left leg, and, when the armadillo stepped toward Nathanial's right, Nathanial hit him with a telekinetic blast. The armadillo was off balance, standing on a single leg, and was forced to make a split second decision: take the kick and resist the blast, or dodge the kick and take the blast. He wisely took the kick, he planted both hindpaws firmly and focused his chi to deflect the magic. Nathanial could feel the hum of the chi in his jaw. Nathanial's kick got him right below the ribs, the armadillo winced, but held his position. The blast split around the focused chi and shattered a computer screen as it sent everything on the counter flying into the window. The wolverine and Hunter reflexively ducked. Nathanial hopped slightly and kicked out with his right leg, the armadillo twisted to deflect that kick, his movements weren't as smooth since his heavily bruised flank resisted the motion. The armadillo was still very fast, he obviously had a lot more training than Nathanial, and slipped forward to punch at Nathanial's throat. Nathanial was expecting that, he blocked with his left paw and shot a Weaken spell at the same time. He felt his leg slide up the armadillo's arm, putting him off balance. The punch grazed his cheek, it still hit hard enough that he'd have a huge bruise and brought tears to his eyes. The unexpected bolt of dark energy from his spell hit his foe. The Hunter's eyes widened as his strength drained out of him, but he kept moving forward and knocked Nathanial over. Nathanial halted his fall partway down and spun himself around, he pulled his right leg back from its kick and went to lash out with his left. The sudden violation of the laws of physics took the armadillo by surprise, yet he barely paused. He grabbed at Nathanial's neck while Nathanial was facing down and slipped farther forward and to the left. Nathanial let himself drop to the floor, while he twitched the pistol that was pointed at the beaver around and shot. The bullet tore through the inside of the Hunter's thigh, and passed over Nathanial to hit the far window. The armadillo fell silently, but in obvious pain. Nathanial rolled aside to avoid being fallen on, then climbed to his hindpaws. The gecko shakily climbed to his feet. "Surrender. It's four on four, but three of your guys are injured and everyone but you has already surrendered."

The armadillo paused, looking around, eyes widening above his scarf as he saw who was working with Nathanial. His voice was venomous, "Traitors! You're working with the Demon spawn against your own people? I was ordered to do this!"

The gecko gasped, "Dave? Is that you?"

The armadillo pulled off his scarf, "Yes, you bloody idiot! You screwed everything up. Get the bloody pup and you'll probably be forgiven. I heard rumours that the Grand Inquisitor, himself, wants the Marks brat."

Nathanial growled, "Not going to happen. That Ancient One is guilty of horrendous crimes throughout history, from what I heard. He's not a Fur, far from it. Now, Dave, why would you follow an order that'd cause a hundred and seventy deaths? There can't be more than a pawful of magic entities on board. You'd take out that many Furs just for a few people who happen to have magic?" With the one Hunter, maybe Knight, unmasked, Nathanial noticed a change in the atmosphere in the cab. It wasn't favourable to him. He levitated a few more guns, but didn't blatantly point them at his temporary allies. Dave kept silent.

The wolverine noticed, though, "Relax, pup. We knew it may be an ordered hit. I don't care. Wrong is wrong, and this was as wrong as you can get. I don't care who's on board, if there was only a single innocent Fur on board I'd fight to save it. That's why I signed up. That's why most of us signed up. We also honour our truces, you're free to go."

Nathanial smiled quickly, then frowned, "So, are all of these people Knights not Hunters? I... was hoping all the blood thirsty guys were Hunters. Sgt. Heimdolf seems nice, so I was hoping most of you would be like him." The Knights that were with him choked or otherwise tried to keep from laughing. "What? He is. He's a little sarcastic and gruff, but he seems to be really nice under that." The rat was beginning to look pale as he clutched his bleeding wound, "Uh, we better get these guys downstairs and patched up. I better get Sgt. Heimdolf and leave, too. I shouldn't be here." He put all of the weapons in the far corner, then helped get the injured people down the staircase. He sought out the sergeant, *Mission accomplished. No injuries on our side.* He rubbed his cheek as he said that.

The rabbit sighed in relief, "Good." The room turned to look at him, "Just got word that the plane was saved, no fatalities among the rescue team, either." Naomi visibly sagged and began to cry in relief as the room exploded in cheers.

Nathanial sighed, *If you think your answers I can hear them. We're bringing the Knights and Hunters down, this, um, was an ordered hit. Can you meet me in the office area? We need to go.* He saw the RCMP pull up to the gates, he let them through.

*Yeah, yeah. Hold your horses.* The rabbit huffed as he hauled himself out of his chair, *I need a smoke and you owe me a box of donuts for this.*

Nathanial smiled and left his temporary allies at the top of the stairs leading down to the first floor, "See you around, guys. Thanks." The gecko looked very uncertain, but the wolverine just nodded curtly and smiled. Nathanial spoke to his aunt, *I'm glad your safe, um, Ms. McKay. I'm heading out, but why don't you call my house and we can have you over for dinner, sometime. You are family, even if there's some, uh, issues between your parents and us.* She was sniffling as she got herself under control, she just nodded. Nathanial smiled and opened a portal back to the hangar, "Let's get you your donuts, sir." Sgt. Heimdolf scowled at him and shoved him through the portal first.