{"sf1_id":858763,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Love and Lycanthropy - Chapter 20","author":"JakeXtraTall","words":22523,"posted_at":"2015-05-09T17:58:00.000Z","tags":["Human","Plot Development","Violence","Wolf"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/858763-love-and-lycanthropy-chapter-20","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/858763","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=858763\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"I wasn't sure how long I'd napped before I finally woke.  I\nwas spooned against the wonderfully furry body of Ben.  At some\npoint while we'd slept he'd turned onto his side and now had Elias\nwrapped up in his warm and powerful arms.  Elias was spooned\ndeeply into his new lover.  They were both still sleeping soundly.\n I'd had nearly eight hours already on the flight in and I felt\nrefreshed enough that I wouldn't be able to sleep any longer if I tried.I got out of bed carefully so as not to disturb them, then I found my clothes and got dressed.I exited the RV and had a long stretch, then I walked over towards the barracks.The\nsun was much higher in the sky now.  It looked to be approaching\nnoon.  I wondered if Grace had got up yet.  It seemed\nunlikely, because if she had, she would have been banging on the RV\ndoor to see me.I entered the long hallway with the intent to\nhead to the mess hall to see if there was anything to eat.  I was\nreally hungry.As I was approaching the end of the hall, a door to\nthe side opened and I saw Grace rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she came out into\nthe hall.She saw me and a big grin split\nher face as she shouted, \"Jake!  Oh my God!\"She raced towards me and jumped into my arms.I\nheld her tight and she said, \"I was so worried!  Elias was beside\nhimself!  We didn't know what the hell happened to you!  We\nwere terrified!\"She hugged me harder and I squeezed her tightly to let her know I was fine and I wasn't going anywhere.She\nfinally pulled back and wiped happy tears from her eyes as she grinned\nat me and said, \"You look amazing!  I like the beard.  It's\nso manly.  I'm so glad you made it back safe.  I was scared\nout of my wits when we lost Cole and you both.\"  I said, \"I'm sorry I scared you.  I was so close to getting\nback to you and Elias at Nazas.  I heard you shout to me, but things got out of hand really quick.  I\ngot hurt and I got attacked by one of the new werewolves and I got\ntaken to a hospital in Jalisco.  I was unconscious for two days.\n I would have been dead if it wasn't for you sending Jesse after\nme.  He saved my life, Grace.\"She beamed and said, \"I knew\nhe would!  He's gonna\nbring Cole back to me too, I know it!  He's really something special, Jake.\"I smiled and nodded and\nsaid, \"Yes, he most definitely is.  He knows exactly where Cole's\nlocated now.  He's right here in Alaska.  He's somewhere\nnorth of us.  I guess that's why he sent you and Elias out here.  We're going after him this evening.  We'll be\npulling him out at sunset when we turn to wolves.\"\"Oh, thank God!  I'm so relieved to hear that.  I knew I could count on Jesse.  Have\nyou seen him lately, Jake?  Do you know where he is?  I want\nto talk to him and thank him for bringing you back to us.\"I\nshook my head and said, \"I don't know where\nhe is, sorry.  I haven't seen him since after we arrived this\nmorning.  He might be resting up for tonight.  Maybe he's in\nthe mess hall.  I'm starving and I was just gonna go in\nthere to get a bite to eat.  Care to join me?\"She smiled and nodded and said, \"Sure.  I could eat.  Where's Elias?\"\"He's\nstill sleeping in the RV.  He was flat out bushed.  I guess\nhe stayed up the whole night pacing and waiting for me to get back.\"Her eyebrows went up.  \"He's in the RV?  The RV's here?\"I smiled and nodded.  \"Jesse probably figured you wouldn't be\nsatisfied with a job half done.  He wanted to bring your home back\nto you, too.  They have a big transport plane and he drove it\nright up into the belly and it's parked outside now.\"She laughed and said, \"Now that's how it's done!  I hope he's in the mess hall.  I really want to see him again.\"I\ndidn't need my wolf's senses to sniff out the fact that she was\nactually physically excited by the idea of seeing him again.  Her\nbody language and the quality of her voice when she spoke of him said\nit all.  She was obviously very much attracted to him and he'd\nbecome important to her and was uppermost in her mind right now after\nCole.  I liked it.  She was feeling enthusiastic and positive\nand it was because of Jesse.  I hoped he'd stick to what we'd agreed\nand not tell her the truth about what he'd done to Cole until much\nlater on.  She was ebullient in the face the hardships she'd had\nto deal with and the fact that Cole was still not back to her, and it was just because she had so much faith in Jesse.\n She needed this right now.  She needed him to be her knight\nin shining armor.I smiled at her and said, \"You really bet your\nmoney on the right horse when you put your faith in him, Grace.  He's a\npretty amazing guy.  Let's go eat and I'll tell you all about what\nhappened to me and how my wolf told me all about Jesse and what he's\nlike.\"We turned to head towards the mess hall and she asked,\n\"Your wolf told you?  How exactly does that work?  My wolf\ndoesn't tell me much of anything.\"I started to explain what it\nwas like for me when I first changed into the wolf, but before I could\nget far I felt her tense up and saw her become a bit flushed as she\ngrinned and said, \"There he is!  It's Jesse!\"I looked over\nand saw him eating with several other of his men.  He looked over\nand saw us and he grinned widely when he saw Grace.  He muttered\nsomething to the men around him and they all got up to go find another\nplace to sit and they took their plates with them.He smiled and\nwaved us over.Grace was almost frozen in place next to me.\n It was like she was a school girl with a powerful crush and she\nwas almost afraid to approach him.I put my hand on the small of\nher back and gently pushed her in his direction and said, \"You go ahead\nand say hi to Jesse.  I'll go get us some lunch and be right\nthere.\"She grinned at me and then turned to go and join Jesse.\n I watched as he stood up and she went right to him and without a\nword she gave him a big hug.  I smiled as I saw her put her face\ninto his neck and he wrapped his arms around her protectively and just\nheld her while neither one said a word.New\nlove was such a\nbeautiful thing to see, and these two were clearly feeling it in a big\nway.  I\nbegan to wonder if Jesse should ever tell Grace the truth.  It\nreally was just one mistake in an otherwise stellar history of being\nthe perfect man.  He was the best possible guy I could ever hope\nto see Grace hook up with and I would hate to see it fall apart for any\nreason.  I suppose in the end honesty would be best, even it\ncaused problems for a while.  I'd have to think about it some more.I went to get\na couple of trays and meals for Grace and me, and then I went over to\njoin them.Grace had sidled up right beside Jesse and they were\nholding hands while they spoke softly to each other.  I wondered\nif I should maybe just drop Grace's tray off and make some excuse to go\neat somewhere else, but Jesse looked up and saw me and said, \"Sit,\nJake.  Join us.\"Grace smiled and nodded, so I placed her\ntray in front of her and went around to the other side of the table to\nsit across from them.We set to eating and Grace asked for the\nstory of how Jesse found me and picked me up.  I let him do most\nof the talking while I ate.  Grace was amazed at how close a thing\nit was that I'd almost died, twice.  I could see her elevating\nJesse higher and higher in her esteem as he described the hospital rescue, and I smiled.  He was playing\nthe role of champion for her perfectly.  She was hanging on his\nevery word.  By the time the whole story was told and I'd added my\nside of it she was almost dumbstruck.  She told us how she'd\nsimply heard that Jesse had located me in a hospital, that I'd been changed, and that\nhe was bringing me back.  She had no idea we'd had such an\nadventure and that I'd been in such horrible shape in the hospital.\"He really saved my ass,\" I said.  \"The\ngovernment agent actually thought he'd killed me.  He pushed the plunger and I\nwould be dead in minutes if Jesse hadn't beaned him with his trusty\nwrench and pulled out the IV.  I was sure I was a goner.  I\nwished he could have been a bit more delicate about getting me out of\nmy casts, but I guess there really wasn't time.  He was having a\nbit too much fun wailing on me with that pipe wrench, though.  I\nthink it was half that he was in a hurry, and half that it was just\nreally entertaining for him.\"They both laughed.We\nfinished our meals and talked a bit more and finally Grace said, \"So,\nJake told me you know exactly where Cole is, Jesse.  How did you\nmanage to find him?\"Jesse\nimmediately started to go red and an uncomfortable look crossed his\nface.  I was worried his conscience might cause him to blurt out\nthe truth of it, so before he could say anything I said,\n\"They've got resources you wouldn't believe, Grace.  It's a really\nprofessional outfit.  They'd already tracked those government guys\nto Nazas.  That's how they were there in such numbers already and\nready to help with the shit storm we accidentally caused.  It was a\nfairly simple thing for them to keep tracking\nthe agents after they took Cole.  We've got a lot to thank them\nfor,\nespecially Jesse.  We'd be screwed if it wasn't for him.\"Grace\nsmiled and nodded and rubbed her other hand on Jesse's hand that she\nwas already holding.  I saw him smile sort of gratefully at me,\nbut at the same time he still looked a bit guilty.  I think he\nwasn't comfortable keeping it a secret from her any longer, but I still\nfelt it was important for him to do just that, at least until we had Cole back, so I tried to change the\nsubject.\"So, Jesse, when you told Elias he couldn't come\nwith us tonight you said you didn't have any gear that would fit him.\n What sort of gear were you talking about?\"He\nsmiled and\nsaid, \"I think you might be surprised by it.  Samuel made sure we\nhad a lot of really clever people converted to werewolves early on so\nwe could make the most of our small numbers.  He's been collecting\nscientists and doctors and computer specialists and engineers and\noffering them immortality in exchange for their expertise.\n For quite a few years some of them have been working on designs\nto help us\ndo better in wolf form.  They've come up with some pretty neat\nstuff.\"Grace said, \"Maybe it's stuff like Jake was working on.\n He built masks that the boys could slip on when they're wolves\nthat let them tap at touch screens and communicate with each other and\nwith us.  They even had a tablet they could use to send us messages when they were out in the woods as wolves.\"Jesse nodded and said, \"Yup, stuff exactly like that.\n That's how they started, anyhow.  They've made a fair bit of\nprogress on that front.  They developed a speech processor that\nallows us to whine, growl and bark with certain patterns that are\nconverted to human speech by their gadget.  It's rudimentary but it\nhelps us when we're in wolf form and we need to communicate constantly\nwith each other while on the move, like tonight while we're coordinating the strike on\nthe facility.\"\"That's incredible!  It must take a hell of a lot of practice to use it,\" I said.He\nnodded.  \"It does.  It takes intensive training, and so far\nonly our officers have gone through it all since we need to be able to literally\nbark out orders while on the run.  We've been using the system for\nyears now, so we're fairly adept at it.  All of our men have\nlearned some of it\ntoo, but they're not as fluent yet.  They primarily use it for\nacknowledgment and for voice activation of other system.\"\"I'm impressed,\" I said, \"I would never have even thought of something like that.  What else have they developed?\"\"Lots\nof really cool toys.  We started to refer to the guys that are\ndeveloping it all as Geek Division, or G Division, which was sort of an\nhomage to the old 'Q Division' after the high-tech quartermasters from\nthe Bond movies.  Their stuff is just that good.  They're\ngeniuses.  I'm constantly amazed by what they come\nup with.  Samuel\nwanted us to be kitted out like full fledged soldiers.  He knew we\ncould ultimately need to defend ourselves against seriously armed\nthreats, and of course we might need to do armed incursions like when\nwe took out that first facility.  He values werewolf lives greatly\nsince we're effectively immortal and he wanted us as safe as we could\nbe if we had to fight.  One of the first things we knew\nwe'd need is some sort of body armor, so that's one of the first things\nthey developed, and it became the framework on which they were able to\nhang all the other great shit they built.  The base for the armor\nis made of a loose, super-stretchy multi-layered mesh of a lycra-like\nmaterial.\n If we had six inches of it between us with me holding one end and\nyou holding the other, we could stretch it out to a really thin two or\nthree feet of material, and it would snap right back.\"\"I get it.  So you can actually wear it as a human, and when you change it stretches and conforms to the giant wolf!\"He\nnodded.  \"Exactly right.  One bonus is that when it's\nunstretched,\nit's thicker and really warm and it insulates us thin-skinned hairless\napes against cold climates like here in Alaska.  When it\nstretches right out it's really thin and the small holes in the mesh\nare exposed, so we don't over heat too much as\nwolves.  Anyhow, once they fully developed that and created suits\nthat allow for easy shifting from human to wolf and back to human\nwithout having to deal with the clothing issue, they started adding on\nto it.  They developed a way of tacking on small plates that are\nmade by covering\nreally thin and hard laminated carbon composite pieces with\nstretched\nKevlar.  The plates make the suits into super light-weight\nbullet-proof armor.  They sew them onto the lycra fabric in\noverlapping patterns like scale mail armor.  We look absolutely\nridiculous with it on when we're in human form, but it works like a hot\ndamn in either shape.  We can move\ncomfortably enough in it as humans, but when we become wolves and the\nwhole thing stretches out, it's like we're wearing almost impenetrable\narmor that covers the most vital areas like under the throat and the\nback of our necks, our chest and our hind quarters, yet it doesn't impede our\nmovement at all.  We're not completely\ncovered by it, but any place where we might be seriously wounded or\npotentially killed by a bullet is covered.\"\"Holy shit, that sounds pretty cool.\"\"It\nsounds cool, yes, but like I said, it really doesn't look cool at all,\nat least not when we're in human form.\n We look like dorks dressed in some sort of lame B movie monster\ncostumes\nfor a sci-fi convention or something.  You'll see.  Anyhow,\nonce they had a base they could hang stuff on, they designed a small\npack to\nhold things in for when we're human, like survival kits and water,\nalong with holsters and scabbards\nfor side arms and knives.  They also designed bigger, heavier\nframed packs for other gadgets and weapons like shotguns or machine\nguns.  They made\nit possible for us to go in and fight as humans, and shift to wolves in\nthe middle of it.  Or even go in as wolves, and then shift to\nhumans, and we'd still be fully clothed with all of our gear attached\nto us.  That's a critical feature, since it means part way\nthrough the fight, when several might have been injured, they change\nand are completely healed and ready to continue, while still carrying\nall of their gear and not just being naked and vulnerable.\"\"How\ndo you deal with the transition phase?  You'd be vulnerable and\neasily taken out if the enemy realizes you're in the middle of\nchanging.\"He\nnodded, \"We always bring along a few like Benjamin.\n He's a pilot so he's never on the ground with us, but there are\nothers who are heavy commandos.  They're covered in regular flak\ngear and carry big machine guns.  They stay back and watch our\nflanks and our rear mostly.  They stay out of the fight for the\nmost part to conserve\ntheir ammo, but when the change hits they watch over us and lay down\nheavy suppressing fire to keep the enemy at bay if necessary.\n These guys are\nbig and their strength lets them carry chain guns that can rip apart\npretty much anything.  Having them with us lets us utilize the\nshift in form if we need to, with less risk.  Usually we don't\nactually use the shift itself during the battle, but rather go in in\none form or the other and use the shift back to heal up after it's all\nover.  It's always an option to do it mid-fight if necessary,\nthough.\"\"That's brilliant.\n You could do a lot with a small force with that sort of ability.\n Go in as wolves to take out the enemy outside while in the most\ndeadly form, lots of casualties likely happen right at the start, then\nheal completely while switching to humans in order to use the guns and to have\nbetter access to the environment like getting through locked doors and\nstuff.\"He\nnodded, \"We don't have to rely on the human shape for that sort of\nthing,\nthough.  Whole missions can be carried out as wolves if necessary\nor if desirable.  We were wolves the whole time when we destroyed\nthat first facility and we'll be wolves for the whole thing tonight.\n Some of the coolest stuff was designed strictly for use as a\nwolf, and those are the really James Bond-like gadgets that would be\nsort of\npointless as humans, but invaluable as wolves.  We have clusters\nof tubes that can be mounted on the bigger pack frame that launch\nsmall unguided, high explosive\nrockets.  We've got bigger tube launchers for RPGs.  We have\nother types of  launchers that throw satchel charges or sticky\nbombs or grenades.  We've got something they call a 'door knocker'\nthat's based on the pneumatic captive bolt devices that are used to\nstun cattle for slaughter, but on a bigger scale.  The wolf can\npress it against any sort of door knob, hinge or latch and it blasts a\nheavy steel bolt into it with so much force it literally blows it\napart.\n It can be reset and reused a lot of times before they run out of\npressure.  They developed robotic systems that can swing night\nvision or targeting systems into place in front of the wolf's eyes,\nthen swing it back away when it's not needed.  Just about anything\nyou could imagine that might be useful they either developed already or\nare actively working on.\"I laughed and said, \"It really does sound like James\nBond.  I bet it's a fun job developing all that stuff.  I'd\nlove to check out their labs some day.  Robotics and electronics\nare major hobbies for me.  It must be cool to think of a problem,\nlike how to open a door with a round handle as a wolf, and then sit\ndown and come up with a solution like the door knocker.  That\nwould be a job I could dedicate my entire days to and never get tired\nof it.\"He\ngrinned and said, \"They're always looking for more\ngeeks for G Division.  It's a pretty exclusive club and they're\nfairly selective, but I could put in a good word.  You're\nwelcome to join it if it interests you, Jake.\"\"I\nmight just do\nthat.  I'll need something to keep myself occupied when this is all\nover.\"He nodded and said, \"A man's gotta stay busy.\"I said, \"So, I would think a major issue when you're a wolf would be\nthe\nweapons.  The wolf shape isn't great for aiming and firing with\naccuracy and you obviously have no hands to operate anything intricate.\n How do they handle that for up close work?  Is it just all\nteeth when you're a\nwolf and guns when you're human?\"He shook his head and said,\n\"No, like I said, we knew we might need to fight whole battles as wolves, so\nthey developed a lot of weapons for us.  Mostly just things that\ndon't require extreme accuracy, like the grenade launchers and rocket\nlaunchers I mentioned earlier.  The high explosive rockets can do\na lot of damage to a vehicle, or a door that's blocking your way or\nsomething.  It can even blast holes in thick walls.  They\nalso made us shot guns for close work.  Ranged combat is\nbetter left to the human shape and rifles for better accuracy, but for close in strikes like the one\nwe'll be doing tonight, the wolf form can be really effective, and\nthere's a certain level of psychological warfare built in that works in our favor.\n Nothing causes a group of humans to wet themselves quicker than a\nhorde of well armed and armored gigantic wolves coming right at them.\"I laughed and said, \"I'll bet.  It sounds awesome.\"Grace\nchuckled and said, \"You boys and your need for all the coolest toys.\n To me it sounds horrible, and really dangerous.  How the\nhell do you keep from accidentally killing each other with all that\nstuff?  How do you control a gun that's strapped to your back when you're a wolf?\"\"It\ncan be\ndangerous, Grace, you're right.  We have to train a lot to use the\ngear.\n Jake won't be using any of our weapons, but he'll have the\narmor and a pack with some weapons he can use in human form if\nnecessary.\n The trained wolves will be handling the real weapons.  The\nonly safe way the geeks could find to control firing a weapon was a\ncombination of voice and muscle control.  They didn't want us\naccidentally launching a rocket or shooting one of our own in the face.\n I don't know if you've ever watched a dog really close when you\nscratched at it, but they have the surprising ability of bunching up\ntheir skin really tightly.  It's like they have muscle control of\nseveral areas of their skin.  The wolves are the same.  Our\ngeeks took advantage of that to develop sensor pads on the inside of\nthe body armor that can detect the bunching of the muscles in several\ndifferent key spots.  They also had already developed the speech\ndevices for use with voice commands, like I said before.  It was a\nsimple thing to combine them both to control firing a weapon.  You\nhave to really concentrate to bunch up the right muscles and hold it,\nthen you bark the specific command to fire the weapon.  Think of\nit like cocking the hammer using your muscles while you aim, and\npulling the trigger\nusing your voice.  It lets us keep moving while shooting\nonce we've practiced enough to get good at it.  There's no way it\ncan be triggered accidentally because of how much focus it takes to\npull it off.\"\"That all sounds so amazing,\" I said, \"Man, I wish\nElias was here right now.  He loves cool gadgets as much as I do.\n He'd be creaming himself over all of this.\"Jesse laughed\nand said, \"What guy doesn't love cool gadgets?  I should arrange a\ndemo for him some time in the future.  I bet he'd like that.\"\"He'd love it!  So would I!  That would be great, Jesse.\"He\nchuckled and said, \"Well, you won't be needing a demo.  You'll be\nseeing it all in action tonight, but we have to be in wolf form so I\ncan't show it to Elias today.  I'll arrange to have someone demo\nit for him tomorrow maybe.  I bet Cole would like to see it all\ntoo.\"Grace said, \"He sure would.  It's so good to think of\nhim being here tomorrow to see it.  I can't thank you enough for\nall you're doing for us, Jesse, especially what you're doing for Cole.\"Once\nagain he got a guilty look on his face and he said, \"You don't need to\nthank me, Grace, it's the least I can do.  We look after our own.\n You're all part of our bigger family now.  The werewolves\nand lupines have to stick together.  We don't have a very big\ncommunity yet so we're all pretty close.\"\"Lupines?\" she asked, \"What's a lupine?\"I\ngrinned and said, \"You probably thought your days of ever being a mommy\nagain were gone when you changed to a werewolf, but that doesn't have\nto be the case if you don't want it to be.\"Her\neyebrows went up,\nand Jesse and I explained to her about lupines, and I told her all\nabout Benjamin.  She was amazed\nand thrilled by the idea of meeting one later when I would introduce\nher to Ben.  Jesse told us we'd see several others, too, that\nhe'd called up from another of their compounds and should be arriving\nsoon.  They would be helping out with the incursion tonight.We stayed in the mess hall and talked for hours.\n Jesse had all sorts of questions about how we all became werewolves\nand how we managed to get by with no help from the established\ncommunity.  We told him our whole story right up until our paths\ncrossed with his at Nazas, and he was impressed with how well we'd gotten by on\nour own.  We peppered him with questions about the werewolf\ncommunity and he explained that they were very well setup with schools\nand doctors and everything a community needed to get by comfortably.\n They were in several large compounds scattered about in remote areas with environments\nthat were fitting for the wolves and obviously well away from normal\npeople.He\ngave us a bit of the history of it all, and told us how he\nwas one of those who had been a werewolf for the longest, that they\nknew of anyhow, along with\nSamuel and several others.  Nobody really knew how it all began or\nexactly how long ago it had started.  Jesse had been in the\nmilitary before he was approached by Samuel and asked to join and help\nthem build up a defensive force.  He'd been a werewolf for more\nthan\nthirty years and had been Samuel's right hand most of that time.\n He'd never had time to settle down with anyone himself, which\nseemed of particular interest to Grace, so he'd never started a family\nof his own.  He hoped to do so soon, which I was happy to notice\nalso seemed of great interest to Grace.Later in the afternoon,\nBenjamin and Elias came into the mess hall.  I introduced Ben to\nGrace and, needless to say, she was utterly blown away by him.\n Jesse excused himself and said he needed to go take care of some\nmore details for tonight's mission, and that he'd get some rest after\nthat.The rest of us stayed and continued our talk\nfor a while.  Grace had lots of questions for Ben.  She\nseemed intrigued by the idea that she might create such an incredibly\nbeautiful person herself some day.  I could only imagine what\nbeautiful lupine babies she and Jesse might make together, and I'm sure\nshe was already thinking the same thing.It felt so good to be\nsitting there talking to the ones I loved and thinking bright thoughts\nabout the future.  I wished Cole was there to complete the\npicture, but it wouldn't be much longer now before he would be.The time flew by as we got to know each other better and before\nwe knew it supper time rolled around and we were still in the mess hall\ntalking, so we simply got up and went to get meals for ourselves and\ncontinued our visit while we ate.  Jesse had come back to join us\nand we enjoyed our meal with all of us in an animated conversation the\nwhole time.After our meals we sort of slowly began to split off\ninto two naturally exclusive lines of discussion.  Grace and Jesse\nhad moved a bit away and were sitting closely and smiling and talking\nto each other and Ben and Elias and I were beginning to think about\nmaybe going back to the RV to enjoy each other some more.Jesse\nsuddenly stood and turned to me and said, \"Grace has agreed to go for a\nwalk with me so I can show her the beautiful landscape out here.\n We're off for a bit, guys.  I'll come get you later on,\nJake.  Try not to let these two wear you out too much before the\nmission tonight.\"He winked and turned to escort a grinning Grace out into the hall.Ben\nwas smiling as he watched them leave, and he said, \"She's awesome!\n I wish those two would get together for real.  I'd love to\nbe a godfather to one of Jesse's pups some day.\"\"I'd say there's a fairly strong chance of that happening from what I could see,\" Elias said.\"Me\ntoo.  I hope it happens.  I've already forgiven Jesse\ncompletely.  He's a great guy.  Grace is walking on air.\n I've never seen her feeling so good.  I think he's perfect\nfor her.\"\"Yeah,\" Elias agreed, \"I guess I was a bit hard on him\nbefore.  He really does seem like a hell of a nice guy.  I\nthink I owe him an apology.  He made a mistake, but in the end I\nguess he made it for the right reasons.  I can't hold it against\nhim for one desperate act to try to protect Ben and his kind, and all that the werewolves have built.\"Ben grinned and said, \"You both are great guys.  I\ncan't believe my luck.  I was so lonely before.  Now I'm\nattached to two of the best people I've ever met.  Can we go back\nto the RV now?\"He didn't need to ask twice.  We all jumped up and hustled out to the motorhome.We\ncrawled all over each other and got to know each other better\nphysically for a while, then settled in afterward to talk softly some\nmore about our futures together as we got to know each other more\nemotionally.The\ntime finally arrived for me to get ready for the strike against the\nfacility and Jesse came and knocked at the door of the RV to get me so we all quickly dressed.Elias asked if he could come along and Jesse agreed.  Ben\nwent off by himself to get ready for the mission.  I assumed that must mean we were going out in the Hercules.\"You\nshould strip down completely before we go out of the RV, Jake.\n You can't be wearing any civilian clothes at all under your\narmor.\"I nodded and stripped back down.\"Christ\nyou're sexy!  If I was gay I'd be all over you, Jake!  You're\nalmost as furry as a lupine, cuz!\" Jesse joked, \"You are one lucky guy,\nElias.\"Elias grinned and nodded.Jesse turned to go out the door and said, \"Follow me, boys.\"Elias\nand I followed him out.  He led us around to the entrance of a\nlong, large supply tent that was right next to the RV on the other\nside.  Inside were long rows of large, dark green, vertical\nstorage enclosures that looked like really big lockers.Jesse\nopened one of them and said, \"Our body\narmor is pretty much one size fits all, but you've got to be bigger\nthan you are, Elias, sorry.  That's why I said it wouldn't be safe\nfor you.  Jake will likely be stretching it close to the limit in\nwolf form, but he'll be fine.\"He\npulled out a big, strange looking bundle of thin,\ndiamond shaped, hard black plates that were all tied together and\nhanging off a sort of stiff frame made of some dark looking, shiny\nmaterial with a sort of woven pattern almost like fiber glass or\nsomething under it's glossy surface.  He moved it around until he\nhad it right side up and facing the right way, and he said, \"You're so\ntall, cuz.  Maybe you\nshould get on your knees for this.  I need to slip it over your\nhead and you need to hold your arms up.  I can't reach if you're\nstanding up.\"I dropped to my knees with my hands up like I was\nsurrendering to him.  He smiled and worked the large opening at\nthe bottom of the armor over my arms and down, with the stiff frame at\nmy back.  He made sure my hands went though the holes at the\nshoulders and then pulled it the rest of the way down until my head\npopped through the neck hole, which actually went up a bit to cover my neck like a turtle neck sweater.I stood back up, and Elias\nimmediately started laughing.\"You look like you're half way into\ndressing like a crow for Halloween,\" he said, \"It looks like you're\ncovered in black feathers.\"Jesse\nchuckled and said, \"The frame is made of carbon fiber.  It's super\nrigid but super light weight.  Those two curved braces that stick\nstraight up past your shoulders are designed to hold snuggly against\nthe wolf's shoulders once you change shapes.  It lets him fire\nweapons or use the door knockers without the pack wanting to slide\nbackwards when he does.  There are several mount points on the\nframe that various pack configurations can be locked onto.  The\nlittle plates all over the suit are made of laminated carbon composite\nwith Kevlar stretched over them to be light weight and bullet proof.\"I looked down to check it out.\n It looked absurd, but was actually fairly impressive.  The\nblack diamond shaped plates of\nvery thin but incredibly rigid carbon composite were laid out in an\noverlapping pattern like scale mail or leaf mail armor.  The armor covered my\nshoulders and upper arms to a bit past my elbows, with a bare part of lycra on\nthe inside of each arm to allow them to swing freely without clashing with the leaves hanging on my sides.  It covered\nthe rest of my torso all the way down past my waist.  It seemed as\nif it was far too long and it actually hung down past my butt to the tops of my\nthighs, but I realized that would likely be so that when I changed to\nthe larger wolf, it would cover me right to my waist.  I would\nstill be able to move comfortably and freely enough with the armor on\nas a human, yet it would likely still protect me perfectly right back to my vital organs when I was a\nwolf.  The whole thing felt like it couldn't weight much more than a few\npounds, yet seemed like it could likely stop a high caliber bullet.\n The plates seemed appropriately spaced in the vertical plane, but\nwere crowded a fair bit in the horizontal.\"Check this out,\" Jesse said, \"Grab that other side and pull, Elias.\"He\ntook one side under my arm and Elias took the other and they pulled.\n The underlying lycra fabric stretched easily and by the time they\nhad pulled it quite wide, the thin plates were still slightly\noverlapped, but no longer crowded.  It was clearly designed to\neasily stretch into the wolf's much larger body.  The design of\nsmall overlapped plates made it flexible so it could conform to any\nbody shape.  The unstretched, multi-layered lycra felt warm and\ncomfortable even in the fairly cool air, yet stretched out it felt like\nit might breath a lot better.\"That's so cool!\" Elias exclaimed.Jesse\nnodded and said, \"There's another piece.  This is where you really\nstart to look a bit ridiculous, but it can't be helped.\"He\ndipped back into the storage enclosure and pulled out the lower half\nand he turned it around in his hands to find the front, and then held them open in front\nof my knees.  \"Step on into these.\"I lifted a leg and\nstepped into the trousers, then I put a hand on his shoulder for balance\nand stepped into the other side.  He stood and slid them up my\nlegs and he pulled the front of it out as he slipped it up over my cock\nand balls and then wiggled it into its final position, which covered me all the way up to my waist.Elias chuckled,\nthen moved around to the back and lifted the back of the upper shirt\nand I felt a sudden breeze back there as Elias started to laugh hard.  \"They're like assless chaps!\"Jesse\nchuckled and said, \"They couldn't figure out anything that would work\nfor the tail that would be growing in when you change, other than to\nleave a big hole at the back around your tail bone for it to come out\nthrough.  It's a good thing the shirt is\nextra long to compensate for body growth, or we'd be walking around\nwith our butt cracks exposed all the time when we're human.  They originally had a\nbig flap there that would hang over the exposed part, and it could lift\nup when your tail grows, but everyone found it really uncomfortable and\ndistracting to have that thing on the top of their tail when they're a\nwolf, so we decided to cut them off.  It also gives us the freedom\nto relieve ourselves if we need to number 2 while we're dressed in the\narmor and we're a wolf and can't pull our pants down.  If you look close at the front there you'll see there's a\nbig flap held in place by a wide section of Velcro.  You can peel it\nback easy with your teeth to let your big fat sheath out if you need to\ntake a whiz while you're a wolf, and then close it back up when you're done.\"I\nlooked down and saw that\nthe trousers only covered down to about the tops of my calves with the\nscale mail armor.  They\nmust be designed to cover only the larger haunches of the wolf, while\nleaving the lower legs exposed.  The area between my thighs was\ndevoid of plates similar to the insides of my arms.   The arms on\nthe shirt also\ncovered only the upper arms just past the elbows which would cover the\nupper part of my forelegs when I'm the wolf, but leave the lower half\nexposed.  I imagined it was to aid with cooling and overall\ncomfort and to allow the joints to flex more freely.\"Bet you ain't never wore a suit of armor before, eh?\" Jesse asked.\"Actually,\nit so happens I have.  It was chain mail though.  It was a lot\nheavier than this, even though I thought it was pretty light for full\narmor.  This stuff weighs nothing.\"\"Well, this shit's\npretty high tech.  I won't even tell you how much it costs us to\nmake one of these suits,\" Jesse said, \"Now come the boots.\"He\nheld out a pair of lycra booties that had an almost circular, wide,\nhard rubber grip at the front part on the bottom, and a smaller one at the\nback for the heel.  I slipped them on.  They fit snugly up\npast my ankles, but they felt really odd.\"It will take a bit to\nget used to the way those feel.  You need something to protect\nyour soft feet from the ground, but it can't be too restrictive for the\nwolf.  These are designed to give you protection, traction and stability under the ball of\nyour foot and your toes, like a platform.  There's another rubber part under your heel, but it's separate so you\nhave no real arch support.  When you change, the front part will\nbe the perfect shape to cover the bottom of the wolf's back paws and\nthe part under your heel will be just up behind his paw and won't\nbother him at all.  He doesn't really need the protection for his\nfeet as much as you do, but we found it's handy anyhow in some cases.\n It gives him a lot of extra traction at the back for pushing\nagainst things when we're on smooth or slippery surfaces.  They\nactually fit the wolf a bit better than they fit you, but you'll find\nyou get used to walking on them fairly quickly.\"I\nmoved around a bit\nand didn't actually find it to be too bad.  The round, hard rubber\npads on the front under the balls of my feet and toes were about\nsix inches wide.  If I stood straight with my feet the normal\ndistance apart there was still a gap\nbetween them and they weren't touching each other, so I found I could\nwalk easily and naturally without them banging together.  It felt\nsort of like having a really small pair of snowshoes strapped to my\nbare feet or something.\n It didn't take long at all to get used to the feel of them.\"Some\nof the guys prefer not to wear them, but I thought I'd let you try them\nout.  I like to wear mine.  I don't like running around bare\nfoot in the forest.  There's lots of sharp twigs and rocks and\nshit out there.\"I nodded and said, \"They feel fine.  I think I'll keep them on.\"He\nreached into the locker again and pulled out another piece and said,\n\"This is by far my favorite part, not.  Elias will love how you\nlook with this on.  Lean down.\"I bent over and he reached up and slid it down over my head.  Elias immediately busted out laughing as I stood back up.\"Holy shit!  Where's my camera?!  We need to go get Grace so she can see this, Jake!\"\"Shut up, you,\" I said, chuckling.The\nhelmet for the suit composed of a sort of  'neck sock' made of the same\nlightweight leaf mail all around with an extra, hard, curved piece of carbon composite\nthat ran up under and just past my chin, and a hard top piece that\ncurved up the back of my head and stuck out a ways over the top.\n It must look as though my head was sticking out of a giant crow's\nopen beak as he tried to swallow me feet first.  Clearly it was\ndesigned such that I could easily see and hear and talk and move around\nas a human, but when I became the wolf it would stretch to perfectly cover the\ntop of his head, under his throat, and all around his neck, and leave\nhis ears free.  No vital area of the wolf would be left exposed to\ngunfire.  It was fairly impressive, but looked absolutely\nludicrous.\"Remember\nwhat I said about psychological warfare,\nJake?\" Jesse asked, \"This shit conforms best to the shape of the wolf\nand it looks pretty awesome.  When a giant wolf comes running\ntowards the enemy\ndressed in this shit, he looks like a sleek, black, terrifying killing\nmachine.  Like something out of their worst nightmares.  It\nscares the crap out of them and their natural\nreaction is to turn and run.  On the other hand, when a human\ncomes at them dressed this way they fall over laughing, so we've got\nthe upper hand again, see?\"I laughed and said, \"I wish I couldn't see.  I wish nobody would see me this way, but thanks.\"\"That\nnarrow bar coming up and forward at an angle on your right is a\nmicrophone.  It's used for the voice commands and communication.\n There's little speakers on either side pointing downward that\nwill be just ahead of where your ears will be when you're the wolf,\ntoo, so you can hear radio comms.  There's a port on the back\nthat's used to connect the helmet to the electronics in the backpack.\n Come on over here,\" he said.We followed him further back and he grabbed a pack from a long table that had dozens of them stacked on it.\"Turn around.\"I\nturned and he fiddled at my back.  I heard several snapping sounds\nas he anchored the pack to the stiff frame at the back of the shirt.\n It didn't weigh much and wasn't very big.\"This\nhere\ncontains some survival stuff, just in case.  There's water and\nbasic first aid.  The upper section is reserved for electronic\ngear.  It\ncontrols the weapons systems and voice activation and translation\nsystem.  I connected yours up, but you'll only be using it as a\nradio receiver so you can hear any commands being broadcast to the\nteam.\"He showed me one of the packs that was still on the\ntable and pointed at various spots around it and said, \"Your sidearm is\nin the holster here, only of any use when you change back to human of\ncourse.  It's loaded.  Have you used one before?\"I nodded and said, \"I spent a lot of time at a shooting range.  I can handle one just fine.\"\"Perfect.\n There's a survival knife in a scabbard on the other side.\"\n He flipped the bottom half of the pack open to show me the\ncontents.  \"Field rations, water, first aid, field radio are all\nin here.\"I nodded.\"So, will you be OK dressed like this?  Are you comfortable enough?\"I nodded again.  \"Yeah, I'll be fine.  It's not as uncomfortable as I would have thought.\"\"Good.  There's just one more thing.  Move on to the back of the tent, there.\"We\nmoved to the back and he followed.  There were more packs back\nhere.  He picked one up and strapped it onto me, but this time it\nwas in front, at my midsection.  It attached\nseparately with wide straps that came from behind to wrap around my waist, and over my shoulders, and\neven between my legs on each side of my groin.  It all buckled\ntogether just under the pack in front.  There was a red D shaped ring\nat the center in the front of the pack.\"What's this?\" I asked.\"That's yer chute.\"\"Chute, as in parachute?  You mean you're gonna chuck me right out of the plane?\"Jesse\nlaughed and said, \"We wouldn't chuck you right out, Jake.  We'd\njust give you a gentle nudge is all, and only if you don't have the\nguts to chuck yerself out.  We'll be\ndoing a HALO jump.\"\"A what now?\"\"A\nhigh altitude, low\nopen jump.  Really, it won't be a true HALO jump.  That would\nbe closer to thirty thousand feet, we'll only be jumping at twenty\nthousand feet.  We do it lower to avoid the need for oxygen and\nthe risk of getting the bends really bad.\n We'll be going up high enough and flying at a tangent to the\nfacility so they can't hear us coming.  We need to free fall as\nfar as possible so they won't see the chutes.  The LZ is well back\nbehind the big hill the facility is built into, and we'll be coming\ndown with the setting sun to our backs so there's no way they'll spot\nus.\"\"What\nthe hell?  You do\nrealize I've never jumped from a plane before in my life, right?\n How the hell do you expect me to be able to get it right on my\nfirst try with no training?  From what I understand, jumping out\nof an airplane isn't one of those 'if at first you don't succeed, try,\ntry again' type deals.  There is no try again if you go splat the\nfirst time.\"\"Don't\nworry, Jake.  Your chute\nis just an emergency reserve.  See that big handle hanging right\nat your breast bone?  Don't pull it unless you hear a blaring\nalarm that comes from the pack.  It's got a sensor that detects if\nyour velocity it too great for the altitude you're at and it identifies\nyour last chance to open the reserve.  You're gonna be attached to\nme and we'll be jumping tandem.\n We'll both be riding the same chute down, so if everything goes\nright you won't hear the alarm.  If anything goes wrong I'll cut\nyou loose and you'll have to pull that handle to open your reserve.\n Don't worry if you bounce real hard and break every bone in your\nbody.  It's one of the reasons we time things the way we do.\n We'll be in human form when we jump.  We won't change to\nwolves until ten minutes or so after we land.  You can be pretty\nbadly mangled and still come out as a perfectly ready to fight wolf\nwhen the time comes to advance.\"\"That's reassuring.\"\"It is!  Many's the\ntime someone broke a leg or twisted an ankle real bad.  None of us\nare parachuting pros.  As soon as you go through the change, it's\nall better.  You'll be fine.\"My shoulders slumped and I sighed and said, \"I guess.\"Jesse\nchuckled\nand said, \"Now that's the kind of enthusiasm we like to see around\nhere!  We'd just use the choppers if we could, but they'd hear\nthose coming from a mile away and they're fat and slow targets for\nshoulder launched missiles.  We need to go in quiet and fast,\nso we need to jump.  The chute's not designed for the change.\n Just\nremember to unbuckle it in the middle here and slip it off as soon as\nyou're on the ground or it'll cause you serious problems when you\nchange to the wolf.\"I nodded.  \"Got it.\"\"Alright then, you're\nset to go.  Go over to the Herc and get aboard.  I need to\ngear up and get ready, and I'll be right out to join you.  The\nothers are already out there and probably aboard the plane.\"I\nnodded and Elias and I went outside.  We walked over to the big\nplane and several men were pulling the netting off of it already.\n The back ramp was down and we could see more men similarly\ndressed in their black scale mail armor with much larger backpacks on\nthem.  Several had large pressurized cannisters attached to long,\nstraight tubes sticking straight upwards, well past the tops of their\nheads.  Those must be the door knockers Jesse had mentioned.\n Some had what looked like clusters of narrow tubes.  Those\nmust be the rocket launchers.  Some had a couple of larger, longer hollow\ntubes, probably RPG launchers.  Those with launchers had wide\nsolid boxes near the top part of the pack that must contain any\nadditional equipment that was needed to support the launchers.\n Most had machine guns attached to\nthe sides of their packs as well, likely there just in case the mission\nisn't over yet by the time we switch back to human form.Ben was\nnear the back of plane at the top of the ramp.  He was talking to two other lupines.\n One was mostly black colored with some brown mixed in and the other was a mix of white,\ngrey and black.  They were heavily muscled and wearing thick,\nplated flack jackets and heavy combat gear.  Hanging down at their\nright fronts was a large looking chain gun that appeared to be attached\nto a rig that would allow them to swing the weapon out in front of them\nto start shooting.  It had a flexible looking rectangular tube leading up and\nover their backs to a hard pack that must contain a long coil of\nchained ammo to feed the gun.  They looked incredibly imposing.Ben saw us at the bottom of the ramp and waved us up.  We walked up and he introduced the other lupines as Joshua and Jeb.\"These\nguys are the best, Jake.  They can mow down a whole forest with\nthose big ass guns if they have to.  They'll have your back when you're changing,\" Ben\nsaid, then he leaned in close to me so nobody else on the plane could\nhear and he said, \"We've been friends since we were kids.  I asked Jesse to call them in.  You can\ntrust them, Jake.\"I nodded and shook their hands.  Ben\nintroduced me to a few other men who were in a cluster together.\n He wanted to make sure I was familiar with all of the ones that\nJesse had selected as his most trusted.  They would all make it\ntheir priority to get Cole safely out, even if Samuel decided to turn\nhis attention strictly to destroying the research and dealing with the\nscientists.  The men all smiled and shook my hand and let me know\nthat Jesse had told them a lot about me and they were happy to have me\nalong.  They let me know to stick with them and I'd be just fine.I\nthanked them and looked around at the rest of the men.  I\nrecognized several of them as the ones who'd been casting disparaging\nglances at us earlier in the morning when they'd seen me and Elias\nkissing and hugging.  These might be the bad eggs Jesse had\nmentioned.  They were all segregated from the others and strapped\ninto the jump seats near the front of the plane.Someone shouted up that the netting was all removed and we were clear to take off, and the four big engines started firing up.Ben told me it was time for him to get ready for work and he turned to walk down the ramp.\"Wait, Ben, aren't you flying us out?\" I asked.\"Nope.\n There's another lupine up there.  Me and one other lupine\nwill be coming later in behind you guys with the Huey choppers.\n We'll be the extraction team.  We use lupines as pilots\nbecause we stay the same shape always.  We can't have a human pilot\nsuddenly turn into a wolf mid-flight.  It's sort of hard to fly a\nhelicopter with no hands.  I'll be coming to get you at the end of\nthe mission, Jake.  I'll see you then.  Good luck.  Be careful out there.  Stick close to Jesse.\"I nodded and he turned and exited the plane.Elias\nand I were about to hug so he could go back out and go find Grace, but\nI heard my name being called and we turned to see Jesse, fully geared\nup, walking up the ramp with another man who's face looked familiar.\n He was older looking.  At least fifty or so.  He was\nextremely healthy but had streaks of grey in his hair and older looking\nfeatures.After a moment I recognized who he was and said, \"Holy shit, that's Samuel Butler!\"Elias asked, \"Who's he?\"\"He's a billionaire who became a recluse close to thirty years\nago.  He built a media and transportation empire from nothing.\n I know you must have heard of Butler Transworld and Butler\nCommunications.  They belong to him.  I remember seeing his\nface on TV a lot when I was a kid.  Mostly to do with stories of\nhis sudden disappearance from the public eye and speculation about why\nit might have happened.  He basically put others in charge of all\nof his holdings and faded away.  There were all sorts of theories\nabout him becoming terminally ill or catching some weird disease, or\ngoing insane, or breaking some law and hiding from justice, or being gay\nand having found a partner he wanted to settle down with in a time when\nthat just wasn't done openly.  Looks like all the theories were\nwrong.\"Suddenly the werewolves' ability to organize and equip\nthemselves so well made more sense.  He must be using his fortune\nto fund them.  No wonder he became alpha.  He didn't look a\nday older than he did when he disappeared from the spotlight.  He\nmust be over eighty years old by now.  It was believed that he was\nstill alive but nobody knew where.  The media simply assumed he'd\ndecided to retire from public life entirely to be left alone and they'd\ngiven up on trying to find him long ago.  I guess his biggest\nreason for disappearing must have been the fact that he couldn't be\nseen not aging as the years went by.Jesse smiled as they\napproached us and he said, \"Jake, Elias, I want you to meet Samuel.\n He's our leader.  Alpha of all of the werewolves and the one\nmost responsible for getting us to where we are today.\"I reached\nout to shake his hand.The look on his face was neutral as he took\nmy hand in a firm grip and he nodded and said, \"A pleasure to have new\nprogenitors among us.  My men informed me earlier that you were a\nkindred, Jake.  Is that correct?\"\"I suppose so.  That's what I'm told.\"He\nlooked me up and down as if to assess my physical size and then he\nsaid, \"I was surprised that Jesse himself didn't inform me of it.\n It's a rare enough thing that I should have thought he would\nconsider it important.\"Jesse cleared his throat uncomfortably and I said nothing.Samuel\nshrugged and said, \"Well, it's no matter.  I trust you'll make\nsure not to get in our way, Jake.  I feel it would have been best\nfor you to stay behind, but I suppose if Jesse's men are willing to\nkeep you safe it shouldn't be a problem.  Our mission to take this\nfacility is of the utmost importance to me, and I wouldn't want anything to\njeopardize that.\"\"The mission to rescue Cole is important to you too, I'm sure,\" I said.His\njaw tightened briefly, then he smiled and said, \"Yes, of course.\n The boy will be removed safely, I assure you.  Now, if\nyou'll excuse me, I'll be joining my men.\"He turned to Jesse and\nsaid, \"Please ensure Jake stays back with your team.  Take the\nlead on locating the boy.  My group can deal with the scientists\nand their research once we're inside.\"Jesse nodded and Samuel turned and went further into the plane to sit with his men.Jesse\nrolled his eyes and said, \"I wish I hadn't shouted out about you being\na kindred this morning with all the other men around.  He's pissed\nthat I kept it from him.  He really doesn't trust me now, I think.\n I guess it'll work out alright, though.  The men I picked\nfor the mission are completely loyal to me.  We'll get the job\ndone more easily now since he's\ngiven us the clearance to focus on getting Cole out.  We won't\nhave to support him in his efforts to murder all those scientists and\ndestroy their work.  I hate that sort of shit anyhow and I have no\nproblem leaving it all to him.  When this is all done I think I'll\nbe retiring my command.  That should make him happy.  Don't\nworry Jake.  This is gonna be a quick in and out.  We'll have\nCole home safe before you know it.\"I smiled and nodded.He\nturned to Elias and said, \"I guess you'd better skedaddle.  Take\ncare of Grace for us.  She was starting to be a nervous wreck\nagain when I left her a while ago.  Try to keep her mind off it if\nyou can.  Let her know we'll be back with Cole in a few hours\ntops.\"Elias nodded and said, \"Good luck, General.  Please be careful, Jake.  I love you.\"We kissed and hugged and I said, \"I love you too.  I'll see you in a bit.\"He chuckled and said, \"I've never hugged a big black turkey before.  I wish Grace could see you.\"He\nturned and walked back down the ramp.  One of the men punched the\nbutton to bring it up and Jesse and I took jump seats along side the\ngroup of his other men.The engines spooled up and the big airplane lumbered forward and turned sharply to begin to get lined up for takeoff.Jesse\nturned to me and said, \"You'll want to hang on tight and brace yerself,\nJake.  There's really no runway here and the trees are not far\naway.  We'll be doing a JATO.\"\"What's that?\"\"Jet\nassisted take off.  More specifically for us it's rocket assisted, but\nJATO is still the general term for it.  It's one of the tricks a\nproperly kitted Hercules can do.  Did you notice the big bulges near\nthe back of\nthe plane on each side?  They're rocket boosters.  We have to use them\nhere\nbecause there's just no room to build up speed the normal way.  I\ndon't know if you've ever seen it at an air show or anything but it's\nimpressive as hell.  Just be ready for some serious acceleration.\"I nodded and braced myself.The\nengines spooled up fully and we began to move forward at a faster and\nfaster pace, bumping and jostling and getting our bones jarred harder\nand harder.  Suddenly, there was what sounded like a small\nexplosion followed by a deep roar that vibrated the entire airframe and\nquickly ramped up to nearly deafening proportions as the plane lurched\nforward at a dramatic increase in acceleration.  We were pulled\nhard sideways as quite suddenly the plane tilted and was rising into\nthe air at an incredibly steep angle for such a large aircraft.\n The rockets continued to roar as we quickly gained altitude and built\nsufficient speed to maintain lift, and then the plane came\nnearly level but continued to climb as the sound of the rockets died\naway.Jesse\nbegan to explain what I should expect with the upcoming mission.\n \"The flight won't be very long.  Less than an hour.\n They'll bring us up to twenty thousand feet.  See the red\nlight above the ramp there?  The pilot will turn it on when we're\napproaching the jump point.  I'll be hooking you up right in front\nof me facing forward.  You'll be tied to me snug and safe while we\ngo down.  They'll keep the plane pressurized while we head out.\n They'll depressurize just before we approach the jump point so we\ndon't get sucked out when we open the cargo ramp.  We'll be in low\npressure for such a short time on the way down that we won't get the\nbends or\nanything.  It'll be a little hard to breathe at first but that\nwon't last long at all as we drop into the thicker air.  Your ears\nmight start to hurt as we go down and the\npressure rises, so work your jaw and do whatever you can to try to keep\nthem from building too much pressure.  The best thing is to hold\nyour nose and blow gently until your ears pop and you can feel the\npressure equalize.  We'll be falling a long way so that our chutes\nwon't open until we're low enough that they won't see us past the big\nhill behind them and the tall trees all around.  We'll be to their\nwest so the setting sun will blind them, too, even if they happen to be\nlooking in that direction.  I'll be steering us down and we won't be\ngoing\ntoo fast when we reach the ground.  Just make sure when we're\ngetting close you bring your knees up high and hold your feet up so my\nfeet hit the ground first, then you can bring yours down.\"I nodded.  \"Got it.\"\"Once\nwe're safe on the ground I'll unclip you.  Take your reserve chute\noff right away.  We'll assemble and start making our way towards\nthe facility in human form to get as close as we can.  We'll\ngather at the ingress point and wait for the change to hit.  Josh\nand Jeb will watch over us while we become wolves.  As soon as\nwe're ready, we'll run the rest of the way.  Samuel's team will\ndeal with getting us inside. They'll take out the guards outside and bust down the door.\n We'll follow them in.  Stick with me, but stay back enough\nto keep safe.  Watch our flanks and our rear.  My guys will\nopen the doors as we go.\"\"Do we have any idea what we're facing?  Do we know how big the complex is?\"He\nnodded and said, \"We managed to dig up some intel about\nthe layout from when it was first built back at the start of the cold\nwar.  It has two main sections\non the same level.  One was the living area for the men stationed\nthere and the other housed the computer equipment and radio and\nsatellite communications gear.  It was built so long ago that the\ncomputers and comms gear took up whole rooms.  Samuel figures the comms\nand\ncomputing section will have been converted to the lab area where the\nvirus research was done and where they'll be working on the cure.\n The living section will likely still be where the scientists and\nguards stay.  The lower level is made up of the mechanical and\nelectric, food storage and kitchen, and an oversized supply area at the\nvery back meant to keep them supplied for a year or more back when it\nwas a secret listening post.  That's most likely where they'll be\nkeeping Cole.  There's a\nset of stairs leading down to it right at the entrance to the main\nbuilding at the end of a long hallway.  We'll be\nsplitting from Samuel's team right as we go in and we'll be heading\ndown.\"I nodded again.\"It's gonna be a cakewalk, Jake.\n We're probably over dressed for the job.  There won't be much of an\narmed presence there.  We'll want to be well away from the site before\nSamuel's\ndemolition guys blow it to hell.  Half that hillside will be\nvaporized if they do their usual thorough job.  Ben and another\nlupine will be coming in to extract us.  Stick to Ben's chopper.\n I don't have a good feeling about the other pilot.  I think\nhe's more loyal to Samuel.  Ben will be more inclined to get us\nthe hell out as soon as we have Cole safely aboard.  We're not\nsure how long it will be before the government sends in a response to\nour attack.  We should have plenty of time, though.\"\"Sounds good.  I'll just follow your lead, Jesse.\"He nodded and we both sat quietly for the rest of the flight.I started to reflect on what we were about to do, and everything we'd gone through to get here and I chuckled.\"What's funny?\" Jesse asked.\"I\nwas just thinking about the day Elias told me the truth about him.  It\nseems like such a long time ago.  My life was so boring before he\ncame along, Jesse, I wasn't sure how much longer I could take it.\n I realized when I'd learned he was a werewolf that it would\nlikely never be boring again.  I could never have imagined I'd end\nup running from government agents, trigger a small scale werewolf apocalypse, and\none day be dressed like a giant crow, about to HALO jump into an\nincursion mission on a secret government installation with a team of\nheavily armed werewolves and lupines with chain guns.  I'd say\nthat's just about the most extreme possible opposite of boring.\"He laughed and said, \"I guess it is, but it's not that unusual for us, Jake.  Trust that we'll get the job done.\"Suddenly\nthe red light came on at the back of the plane and a loud hissing began\nas the cargo area started to depressurize.  Jesse and the\nothers unbuckled, so I did the same.We\nall stood and Jesse grabbed a couple of pairs of clear goggles that\nwere hanging on the wall and then he turned\nto me and said, \"Put these on.  We get to jump first.  It'll be harder\nfor me to\naccurately steer our free fall with you attached to me, so we'll go\nfirst and the others can adjust their flight to stay close to us.\n Don't worry about keeping your arms and legs out like you might\nhave seen skydivers do.  I need to be the only one doing that so I\ncan steer us.  Keep your legs tight together and your arms tight\nagainst you if you can to present as little resistance as possible.\n It's probably gonna be a bit scary for you but it won't be a long drop\nat all.\"He\nwaved me to follow and I put on the goggles he'd given me and we walked\nto the back.  He went around behind\nme and I heard a loud clicking sound as he secured himself tightly to\nthe rig of my reserve chute.  He\ntwisted the lever and punched the button to drop the ramp and we were\nassaulted by the roar of the engines and the massive propellers driving\nus forward and the rush of wind around the edges of the ramp.  He\nlowered it until it was\ndown straight and level and he stopped it.He began to hustle me\nforward along\nthe platform towards the open sky beyond.  I instinctively reached out\nto grab at anything to keep myself from falling to the Earth as more\nand more of it came into view, but there was nothing there to hold\nonto.  I was hesitant to go forward but Jesse just kept pushing at me\nso began to take small steps along with him until we approached the end\nof the platform.I\nfelt my nuts begin to\ntighten up and it seemed like my sphincter could likely snap a pencil\nit was so clenched as I saw the world so far below us with nothing in\nbetween me and it.  I could see beautiful snow-capped mountains and\nmassive tracts of deep green forests interspersed with small open\nsections of tundra.  There were blue glacial lakes and rivers and\nstreams criss-crossing the landscape and at the edge of it all was the\nsetting sun, washing everything in a warm yellow glow and casting long\nshadows everywhere.  It was beautiful, breathtaking, exhilarating, and\nabsolutely heart-poundingly terrifying.I hesitated when my feet reached the end of the platform and I\nlooked down and my heart began to race faster and faster.  I wasn't sure I could go\nthrough with this.  It seemed insane to think of hurling ourselves down from this height.Jesse was snuggly\nagainst me in behind and I could feel the ramp bouncing lightly as the\nothers lined up behind us.  Suddenly the red light began to flash\nrepeatedly and a klaxon sounded.  It must have been indicating we\nwere at the drop point.  I wasn't sure if I should just go over or\nwhat, but Jesse let me know by simply leaning against me and we\nboth fell over the edge.I'd used the toilet just before Jesse\nhad come to get me in the RV and I was now glad of it because if\nthere'd been anything in me, I'd have crapped myself for sure.The sudden sensation of free fall made my bowels and bladder feel like they were about to release and I\nimmediately wanted to scream for my life, but I managed to contain it.Jesse\nalready had us under control as I tried to resist the urge to flail my\narms and legs and I just held them tight together.  He leaned so\nwe were head down and he brought his own arms back more as we began to\ndive faster and faster and the roar of the wind as we accelerated grew louder and louder.The terrifying feeling began to fade after a few moments as we\nkept falling and my body began to acclimate to the lack of gravity.\n It started to become more exciting than scary and I couldn't help but grin widely.The air was incredibly frigid and was a little hard to breathe, but not too bad.We\nfell for\nwhat felt like about a minute or two with the wind rushing deafeningly\npast us\nbefore I finally noticed the tiny features way down there on the ground\nwere getting much larger.  Small bumps were becoming large hills and\ngreen patches were resolving into individual trees.  I felt myself\nslowing a bit as Jesse pulled back so we were a bit flatter as he\ntried to control our decent.  The ground quickly got closer and\ncloser and the excitement began to be replaced more and more by the\nfear that something must be wrong.  We were going to hit the ground at\nover a hundred miles an hour at any moment.  Then I felt Jesse tap me\non the shoulder to warn me he was\nabout to deploy.  I braced myself and quite suddenly I was yanked\nhard to a vertical orientation by the heavy straps of my chute as\nJesse's chute snapped open and\nquite suddenly arrested our rapid descent.  We began to slow\ndramatically as the trees got closer and closer, but we also began to\nturn\nand move forward as Jesse guided the parachute towards an open patch of\nland slightly ahead of us.As we quickly approached the ground I\nbrought my knees up to keep my feet well above the level of Jesse's\njust as he flared the chute to slow us down almost to a standstill and\nwe hit the ground roughly, but in control.  He took a couple of\nstumbling steps but quickly gained his balance as I dropped my feet\nback onto solid ground.Jesse quickly unbuckled himself from me\nand he undid the fasteners for his chute and dropped it to the ground.\n I did the same for my reserve chute.  We both took off our goggles and dropped them with the chutes. Jesse said, \"Let's go over\nby the trees to get out of their way so they don't come down on our\nheads.  I looked up and saw several chutes already opened and\nseveral more unfurling as I turned to follow Jesse.While he waited for all of the others to land he asked me, \"So what did you think of the trip, Jake?  Did you enjoy it?\"I\ngrinned and said, \"I've never done anything that butthole clenchingly\nexciting in my whole life!  I almost wish it was a longer trip.\n I never thought we'd get down so fast.\"He nodded and said,\n\"It doesn't take long in free fall if you dive to offer as little resistance as possible.  If we did a high open\ninstead, it would probably take a good ten minutes or more to get all\nthe way down.\"Before long all of the others were down and out of\ntheir chutes and already forming into two groups, one with Jesse and\nthe larger group with Samuel.I\nnoticed Jesse and several of the others had a massive looking\nwatch with a stretchy strap on it.  It looked sort of like one of\nthose sports watches with GPS, compass and altimeter on it.  He\nbrought his up and fiddled\nwith it a bit, then moved his arm out to indicate our heading and he\ntook the lead.  We moved as quickly as we could through the trees\nfollowing him for nearly ten minutes before he stopped us.\"Comms and electronics on, settle in for the change,\" he ordered.He\nreached behind me and fiddled with my pack at the top right and I heard\na brief electronic crackle come from the speakers on my helmet, then he\nreached behind himself over his right shoulder and flipped the same\nswitch on his pack.  I saw the others all doing the same.Everyone\nthen fanned out and began to lie down on the ground on their sides and\nI suddenly realized this could be a problem.  My wolf didn't know\nany of these people.  They were strangers to me even in human\nform.  How the hell could I stop my wolf from going into a rage\nand attacking?\"Jesse, this might not work for me.  You guys\nmust all be used to each other if you're able to change together like\nthis.  I don't know what will happen if I change in the middle of\nthis crowd of strangers.  My wolf might attack.  Maybe I\nshould go off into the bushes somewhere.\"He smiled and said,\n\"Sorry, Jake.  It never occurred to me that nobody ever explained\nit to you.  If you go into the change feeling calm and safe and\nnothing happens to change that in the middle of it, the wolf won't\nrage.  There's a moment when the two of you cross each other when\nyou're on the way out and he's on the way in.  Just send him happy\nthoughts and I promise he won't fly into a rage.  That must be why\nthings got so out of hand at Nazas.  If Grace and Elias didn't\nknow that simple trick, and they were already stressed out from losing\nCole and you, and terrified about what would happen, their wolves would\nbe in a panic too and completely out of control.  I suppose Grace\nmight still have had a problem since her link to the wolf would be so\nweak, but Elias should be able to control it if he really tries.\n You're a kindred so you'll have no problem at all.  Just\ntell it we're with you and everything is OK and it will understand.\n So long as we're not surprised by anyone or anything it will go\nsmoothly for all of us.  Trust me.\"I thought about what had\nhappened the first time I changed and it made sense.  I'd been\nfocusing on my hatred of the government agent and I was full of anger\nand the pain was all new to me.  The wolf flew into a rage and\nshredded him as a result.  If I thought good thoughts about these\nmen and how they were here for Cole, then the wolf should respond by\nremaining calm.I nodded and said, \"OK.  I'll give it a try.\"Jesse and I chose our spots and lay down on our sides to wait.Josh\nand Jeb pulled their huge chain guns around and stood guard, ready to\ncut down anyone who might try to approach while we were vulnerable.In\njust a short while I heard several beeping watches.  Seconds\nfollowing that the first spasm hit and I hung on tight for the incoming\nstorm of convulsions.It was even easier to take this time and I\nrealized it would likely only get easier each time for the next\nwhile.  Even severe pain can be fairly easily ignored when you\nknow it's brief and doesn't actually mean anything bad, like you're\ndying or something.I\nsoon began to sense the awakening of the\nwolf again and my heart swelled as though I was being reunited with a\nlong lost twin brother.  His presence grew as mine began to fade\nand I\ncould sense his happiness at being given access once again to this new\npower.As I slipped further down and the wolf\nasserted more strongly I tried to think of the others as pack.\n They were here to help us.  We needed them.  They were\nnot the enemy.As the wolf become more aware I sensed his\nunderstanding.  The pain was less of a concern this time and he\nalso seemed to know what to expect and he was not in a rage.  He watched my emotions and thoughts and he\nunderstood.  These were the pack.  They were not to be\nharmed.  He acknowledged what I'd tried to impress upon him.\n I felt relieved, and even that was noted by him as I faded into\nthe depths of unconsciousness while the shape of our brain became more\nhis than mine.The last of my ability to focus faded and I sank completely into the depths of oblivion.Eventually the brain took its final shape leaving\nroom for me to return and I began to resolve back into consciousness.\n I felt the wolf watching and waiting.  Without me he was\nstill just a wolf.  I felt his anticipation at gaining access to\nthis new intelligence once more.  To understand so much more about\nthe world than he ever could have done as only wolf.  I felt a\nsort of sense of him greeting me and releasing control to me as he\nturned to watch from the background.I\nwas already standing on\nall fours.  I looked back and saw that indeed the suit had\nstretched to perfectly cover the much larger shape of the wolf.  My\ntail was\nsticking out through the hole at the back but my haunches were covered\ndown to just above the first joint of my big back legs.  I was\ncovered from around my shoulders all the way to my waist just in front\nof my hips.  I could feel that the helmet fit much better, though\nI couldn't see it.  The large upper arms of the pack frame now hooked\nfirmly over my shoulders with the curved parts hooking slightly inward\nto secure the pack from sliding backwards.I\nlooked over to where Jesse had been and saw\nhim standing and looking over at me.  He looked fantastic.\n He was so much bigger than Elias and Grace had been.  All of\nthem were.  I could see their scale next to Joshua and Jeb, who\nwere stowing their chain guns and moving among the pack to make sure\neveryone had all of their gear still in place.  The muscular lupines\nwho\nhad both looked to be a little over six feet tall now looked much less\nimposing as they walked among the gigantic wolves whose heads came\nnearly to the lupines' shoulders.The\narmor was impressive looking.  Now the leaves were all aligned\nwith the length of the wolves' bodies and it looked black and sleek and\ndeadly.\n They looked like serious killing machines.  The helmets\nperfectly rested on top of their heads and conformed to the shape of their skulls to a point just behind the eyes\nand the solid piece underneath protected the throat up to just at the\nback of the jaw.Now all of those who had weaponry on their\npacks had it horizontal and aiming forward well over their heads.  They could launch rockets ahead of\nthem or shoot their shotguns or launch their grenades forward.\n The door knockers on those who had them had stood up high above\nthe heads of the humans, but now they were horizontal and extended just\npast the end of the wolves' snouts above their heads so they could look up to see the business end clearly.  The\nknockers had large air tanks on either side and a fatter tube at the\nback that likely contained a geared motor to pull the\ntethered captive heavy steel bolt back into the chamber to reload the device for\nanother shot.They all looked like a pack of giant, black, deadly, cybernetic wolves.  It was awesome to behold.The\nwolves had various colors of fur on their lower legs, snouts and tails\nwhere they were exposed, with mixes of browns and blacks and greys and\nwhites.  I looked over towards Samuel and saw\nthat, just as Jesse had said, he had dark black fur in all of the\nexposed areas except the very tip of his tail, which was white, and his\npaws, which were a sort of dappled dark and light grey.  I noticed\nhim looking back at me, at my tail, then at my feet.  Clearly he\nwas seeing now that I was completely black, assuming my muzzle was.\n I still didn't know.He\nturned to move towards Jesse and I heard him whining and barking in a\nstrange pattern, then a bland and low pitched computerized voice said,\n\"Take the lead, General.\"Jesse\nnodded, then he turned and came over to me.  He looked me up and down\nand front to back.  I noticed now that he was closer that I was a fair\nbit higher than him and had to look down a bit to look him in the eye.\n I also noticed\nthe thin microphone I'd seen sticking up beside his head was now\nperfectly\npositioned beside the wolf's mouth.He nodded his head at me and whined and barked and huffed for a moment and then a slightly higher pitched\ncomputerized voice came over the comm system and said,\n\"You're huge.  All black. Impressive.\"He winked and I nodded.I\nheard Samuel growl and bark loudly and I waited for the robotic\ntranslation, but there was none.  I guess he was just indicating his\nimpatience.  He was the alpha and had given the order to move and had\nexpected it to be followed immediately.At the thought of 'alpha' I sensed my wolf take note and begin to appraise Samuel more closely.Jesse\nlooked back at the leader, then back to me, and as if petulantly trying\nto irritate Samuel just a bit by ignoring his growl to get moving, he\nwhined and barked some more and the voice said, \"Ready to go, J-A-K-E?\"The\nvoice system was fascinating.  It must be almost like learning a new language.  It had to take a lot of practice to\nlearn to use it.  Clearly it wasn't able to handle the myriad of\nproper names it might have to deal with so they had to spell them out.I\nnodded my readiness.As\nJesse turned to take the lead again I sniffed at him,\nhalf expecting to see an aura around him just as Ben could do, but I\nsaw nothing with my eyes of course.  I smelled a great deal though, and\nas I looked\ninward I felt that I could see in my mind's eye what I smelled, just\nlike before.\n It was all white and all good.  I could smell Jesse from\nbefore the change all over his armor, and I could smell Jesse the wolf.\n They were both just as good as the scents in the hospital had shown\nJesse to be\nbefore, and the wolf took careful note and once again sent me his deep\napproval of this pack mate.  The hint of grey I'd seen before had faded\nalmost completely to be\nreplaced by a sort of assurance that he would redeem himself.  I\ncould feel his loyalty and it was strong and sure now, but\nit had indeed shifted.  I followed its source to a scent that was\nstrong on him too, Grace.  He was now completely devoted to her\nand his loyalty went to her, and by extension to Cole and even to me and Elias.  He was loyal to her above even his alpha and the wolf took note of that and used it to further adjust its appraisal of Samuel as leader.As\nwe formed up to follow\nJesse I sniffed around at the others, trying to let superfluous\ninformation slip by and focus just on their overall character.\n There was an unsurprising mixture of greys and whites, with some\ndarker streaks mixed in.  These were fighting men so it wasn't a\nshock to see some darkness there.  Those clustered more closely to\nSamuel had very little white in them.  They were more dark, muddy greys\nmixed with black and only small traces of light.  The more surprising\nwas Samuel.\n He had a completely contrasting mix of dark black and bright\nwhite in equal parts.  I wasn't sure exactly what it meant but I\nassumed it had\nto do with the fact that he was about to murder a bunch of scientists,\nbut that he felt that it was completely the right thing to do for his\npeople.  There were no grey areas for him.  It was all black\nand white.I\nthought about the fact that Samuel was a kindred\ntoo.  Could he see these traits of character so easily?  Could he see\nmine?\n Could he see Jesse's shift in loyalty and did he know what it\nmeant?  It must be easier as alpha to keep the ones most loyal to\nyou close, while keeping a closer watch on those who were not.\n That was likely the other reason Samuel floated to the top to\nlead all of the werewolves.  Since he was kindred and likely had the\nsame skill my wolf gave me, it was easier for him to know who to\ntrust and who to exclude from leadership roles beneath him, thus\nstrengthening his position of power.I\nremembered what I'd discovered about how important context was.\n Without it I couldn't really know what the meaning of the colors\nreally was.  It would likely take a lot of practice to get better\nat reading it right.  He's had decades to practice it.  It was pointless for me to spend too much time\ndoing it now.  The time to hone the skill would have to come later.  Right now we had business to attend to.I put away the ability to read feelings and instead turned my focus back to paying attention to what was going on.The\npack seemed to be naturally spreading out into a sort of phalanx\nformation with Jesse at the head of it.  He started out slowly,\nlikely thinking of me and the fact that I was still new at being a\nwolf, but he quickly began to ramp up the pace.  I could sense the\njoy in the wolf at working his body and running with the pack and I shared in it.We flew\nacross the landscape at astonishing speed and I felt the ground begin\nto slope upward.  Jesse began to turn more and more to the side\nand we followed him around the massive hill towards the other side of\nit where the entrance to the facility was hidden.As we\napproached the location he'd been working towards we slowed and stopped.  He turned to the\ngroup and his right front paw came up and he made some odd patterns in\nthe air and then pointed to one of the wolves from Samuel's team.  The wolf nodded\nand turned to the rest of the pack and pointed at four\nothers, who immediately moved in behind him.  He then quietly whined in an\nunusual pattern and suddenly I heard the sound of small geared motors and I saw the side panel of the upper part of\nhis big backpack pop open and a sort of hinged arm unfolded and moved\na set of dark goggles forward and into place in front of the wolf's\neyes.  I could see a sort of greenish glow coming from inside the\ngoggles against the wolf's face as he went low and moved swiftly\nforward to disappear into the forest followed closely by the four he'd chosen.As\nI thought of the robotic night vision and looked around at the\ninteresting assortment of gear attached to the large packs of all of\nthe wolves around me and wondered what other goodies might be hidden\ninside them, I resolved to remind Jesse later on to put in a good word\nfor me with G Division.  I absolutely had to get involved in the group\nthat got to design stuff like this.Jesse\nthen turned to the rest of us and indicated a new heading, and we moved further down the slope of\nthe hill and away from the direction the other wolves had gone, then we\nbegan to turn again with the hill somewhere off to our left through the\ntrees.  Eventually Jesse stopped us again and checked his watch as\nif to confirm his location.  He looked at us and brought his paw\nup and sort of brought it down a couple of times and everyone crouched\nlow, so I did the same.  He began to slink forward very slowly and\nwe all followed.The\ndusk was steadily fading towards complete darkness, so the low wolves\nall dressed in black armor would be extremely difficult to see hidden\nin the trees, but the wolves could see everything clearly.  One of the\nthings humans had traded for their improved color vision, was a greater\nconcentration of color sensing cones on their retinas at the cost of\nlight sensing rods.  Canines have a much larger density of rods than\nhumans, along with larger pupils to let in much more light.  I could\nsee so much more detail in the low light than I could ever hope to do\nas a human that it was surprisingly like seeing as much in the dark as\nwolf as I could previously see on a grey cloudy day as a human.  Before long we approached a tree line and off in\nthe distance at the back of the clearing beyond I could see a guard standing in\nfront of a large, solid looking metal door that was recessed a fair bit\ninto the hillside.  The guard was holding a\nmachine gun and leaning against the wall.This was it.  Cole was somewhere beyond that door.Jesse\nobserved the\narea, and as he looked further up the hill he paused.  He then\nturned to one of the other wolves from Samuel's group and raised a paw\nto indicate him,\nthen turned and pointed up the hill.  I looked up where he'd\nindicated and high up in a tree I could see what looked like a small\nsatellite dish and next to it was a large, metal, high frequency radio\nantenna.\n They were mounted directly to a tall pine tree.  I saw the\nother wolf nod and move off to the side as if looking for a better\nlocation, then he whined quietly in an odd pattern like the other had\ndone earlier, and once again a set of goggles popped out on a hinged\narm and moved to slide into place in front of his eyes and he was\nfaintly lit with a dull reddish glow from the back of the goggles.  I\nthen\nsaw him begin to reposition his body so that it was angled up towards\nthe communications antennas in the tree and then he held steady.\n On his back were several of the small tubes that I'd assumed must\nbe the high explosive rockets.  The pack must also be emitting an\ninfrared laser beam that was painting the spot the rockets would hit,\nand his\ngoggles were showing him the mark so he could aim more accurately by\nplacing the mark on his target.We all waited and suddenly the\nradio crackled to life and a slightly higher pitched version of the\nbland robotic voice I'd heard Jesse use earlier said simply, \"Set.\"Jesse whined into his mic and I heard his deeper robotic voice say, \"Go.\"Right\nat that moment I heard a loud hiss and a swoosh followed quickly by\nanother and I saw two small rockets shooting up towards the\ncommunication array.  One hit the satellite dish directly and it\nexploded into a million pieces as the next rocket hit the tree's trunk\nsquarely and blasted it apart.  The top half of the tree fell and\ntook the radio antenna down with it.  It looked as though the\nfacility was not going to be able to call for help.Jesse\nand the\nother wolves all rushed forward into the open and straight at\nthe guard standing at the door, while I heard snarls and screams of\npain\ncoming from all around.  Off to the side I saw another guard come\nout from the trees, staggering, and one of the wolves who'd split off\nearlier followed him out and fell upon him to finish him off.  I\nrealized immediately that the other wolf with the goggles must have led\nall of the others he'd taken with him to the locations of the guards\nwho were hidden out in\nthe trees, and set one wolf on each of them, ready to take them out\nwhen the\nword was given.  They would have sniffed them out to get a general\nlocation, then used thermal imaging to pinpoint them from a distance in the trees.\n All of the other wolves who'd broken from the pack earlier ran in\ntowards us to join back up after dealing with the guards hidden in the\ntrees.The\nguard at the door had already raised his\nmachine gun when he saw the rockets shooting out of the tree line, but\nas the pack advanced there was another swoosh and I saw the smoke trail\nof another rocket headed right at the door.  The guard moved to\ndive out of the way, but it was too late.  The rocket hit the door\nand the explosion killed the guard instantly as it blasted him out into\nthe clearing.When the smoke cleared the door was still mostly\nintact.  It was damaged on the side where the locking mechanism\nwas, but it still appeared to be secured shut.  It must be made of solid metal.The pack came to a\nstop and without a word another wolf came forward and his goggles came\nout.  There were two longer tubes on his pack.  He was about to launch an RPG.  The wolves all went\nvery low and I copied them.The\nwolf tensed and barked and a\nrocket propelled grenade shot forward across the clearing toward the\nheavy door and the wolf ducked low to avoid any debris from the coming blast.  I\nremembered seeing how these deadly anti-tank weapons work on the\nDiscovery channel in a\nprogram that was describing the weapons of war.  They're designed\nto pierce the metal of armored vehicles with superheated molten\ncopper from an inverted cone in the warhead.  A small explosive\ncharge heats the cone to melting while forcing it to turn inside out\nwhile stretching and expanding forward.  The molten metal slices\nthrough armor like a hot needle and continues to expand to create a\nhole right through the armor\nfor a much larger, delayed shaped charge to go through when it\ndetonates.  The business part of the explosion in effect happens\non the other side of the armor to utterly destroy everything and\neveryone inside the tank.  Sure\nenough as the warhead hit, the heavy door deformed and exploded outward and fell to\nthe ground with a smoking hole at its center.The wolves\nimmediately stood and began to move forward again and I followed. As the smoke cleared we could see into the entryway.  A\nshort way behind it was a set of double doors.  They weren't as\nheavy and they'd already been blasted inward by the force of the\nexplosion.One\nof the wolves\nshoved at the inner set of doors and one opened widely while the other\nfell off its hinges to the floor.  He went into the wide hallway\nbeyond and the rest of the pack moved to follow him in.\n Jesse looked back to see where I was and he seemed satisfied that\nI was staying at the back, but still following.Just before I\nentered I saw Jeb and Joshua taking positions on either side of the\nentrance with their chain guns ready, to stand guard and protect our\nrear.  I realized they were likely under standing orders not to\nengage in combat if unnecessary.  The lupines couldn't self\nregenerate so they were in greater danger than any of the wolves.\n They needed to hold onto their ammo as well for the important\ntask of protecting the pack when it changes back to human form.Beyond\nthe inner set of doors was a fairly long and wide hallway that led to yet\nanother set of doors.  This was likely to insulate the inner part\nof the facility from the extreme cold of an Alaskan winter.  It had\nbeen dug deep into the hill.One\nof the wolves with a door knocker\nmoved to the front.  The double set of doors had a latch that\nlocked them together, and a round handle on each door.  He placed\nthe device against one of the round handles and leaned against it while\ntensing slightly, then he barked and there was a deafening bang as door\nshuddered.  Immediately I heard a whirring sound as the motor wound the\nsteel cable tethering the heavy captive bolt back into the chamber to\nreload it.  The wolf stepped back and I saw a hole where the door\nhandle had been.  It had been blown right through the door into\nthe hallway beyond.  I heard shouts coming from the other side and\nthen I heard gunfire and all the wolves ahead dropped down.  One\nwho had a shotgun mounted to his pack that stuck out well past and\nabove his head moved forward and placed the barrel into the hole.\n He tensed and then began\nto bark repeatedly while his semi-automatic shotgun blasted over and\nover again sending\nspent shells flying out from it to bounce of the wall.  In the middle\nof it all I heard more\nshouting and people crying out in pain and eventually the gunfire\ncoming from the other side stopped.He\npulled his shotgun from the hole and stepped back and\nthe wolf with the knocker stepped forward again and placed the device\nagainst the latch that connected the two doors.  Another loud bang\nand the doors both shuddered and swung loose on their hinges.  Even as they opened,\ntwo wolves from Samuel's team who were armed with shotguns advanced\nthrough them and I heard gunshots and shouting once more, then silence.\n They\ncontinued to move forward and Samuel and his other men followed them.Jesse\nhung back as the rest of us passed through the doors.\n To the right was another door.  Just a single one with\nanother round handle but no lock.  Jesse turned to one of his\nwolves that had a knocker and nodded towards it.  The wolf turned\nand placed the device against the handle and fired it.  The handle\nblew apart, once again leaving a gaping hole in the door and it swung\neasily open to reveal a stairway leading down.  Jesse nodded his\nhead to another of his wolves who had a shotgun and he led the way\ndown the stairs as the others followed.  I was last, and just before I\nturned to enter the stairwell I looked down the hall and saw several\ncorpses of men who'd been killed by the shotgun blasts.  Most were\nguards but at least one looked like a civilian, probably a scientist.\n I heard more gunshots and a great deal of shouting coming from\nfurther down past the end of the hall.My\nwolf smelled death in the air and I could almost sense it pacing and\nanticipating the chance to get involved.  It knew why we were here.  It\nknew these were the ones who held Cole.  These were its prey and it\nwanted blood.  It did not seem to appreciate the idea of following.  It\nwanted to take the lead.  It wanted to make these insignificant\ncreatures pay for what they'd done to Cole.I forced it to maintain its control and I turned to go down the\nstairs and rejoin with Jesse's team.The stairs went down to a fairly large and open area with a bare concrete floor and walls.  There was\nmachinery all around that looked like generators and water heaters and boilers for\nheating the building.  There was an open sort of hallway that\npassed through the middle of it.  At the back end was another\nset of double doors that was easily dealt with by the door knockers.Beyond\nthose doors was a shorter hallway with doors along either side\nlabeled for cold storage, kitchen, utility and maintenance, and\nsupplies.  At the end of the hallway was another set of double\ndoors with an electronic keypad beside it.  The doors looked\nheavy, but once again there was only a single latching mechanism that\nsecured them both.  The knocker had to be used twice before it\nfinally broke the doors apart.  We continued on through and on the\nother side we found a long row of cages to the left, separated by concrete walls.  It looked\nalmost like prison cells.On\nthe right was an enclosed area with thick glass windows in the upper\nsections of the walls.  Inside the enclosure was a man who's eyes quite\nsuddenly went wide at the site of this group of gigantic, armed and\narmored wolves barging in.I\nmuscled my way past all of the wolves and moved down the hallway\nlooking into each cell as I went.  Cole had to be here somewhere.The first couple of cells were empty but the next two were occupied by large wolves that were mostly grey and white.As\nI moved further along to try to find Cole's cell I saw an open section\nto the right beyond the windowed enclosure and what I saw there made my\nwolf suddenly lunge forward to assume control.  At last here was\nsomething it understood well and knew best how to deal with.  Prey.There\nwas a large metal table and splayed out on it, legs tightly strapped at\nthe four corners, was Cole!  He had several electrodes stuck to his\nhead at various points and the bundle of cables from the sensors\nconnected to various machines on the other side of the table that were\nlikely taking readings of his body's response to whatever was about to\nhappen to it.  He was conscious and snarling and snapping as he pulled\nat the restraints to try to free himself.A man in a lab coat\nwith a long rubber apron and a full-face acrylic shield to protect\nagainst any splatter was hovering near him.  He had large heavy rubber\ngloves on.  His back was to us so he didn't see me.  He was wearing\nheadphones and he was bobbing up and down to whatever loud music he was\nlistening to.  In his gloved hands he held what looked like a large\nbone saw.  He was powering it up and getting ready to saw at one of\nCole's legs.I snarled in rage as lunged forward and my jaws\nclosed on the upper part of the arm that was holding the saw and I gave\nthe wolf complete control to do what he felt was best.  I heard the man\ncry out in surprised agony as the wolf lifted him into the air and\nflipped him over and smashed him face first onto the floor.  The wolf\nplaced his massive paw on the man's back and pulled hard, and the man\nscreamed in pain until he passed out as his arm was torn from its\nsocket and ripped from his body.  The bone saw fell from the arm's dead\nhand to the floor as the wolf tossed the arm to the side.The\nwolf then grabbed the man's leg and swung him around fully around and\nflung him at the enclosure with the glass windows and the terrified man\ninside watched as the other man's head hit the thick glass and exploded\nagainst it in a spray of blood and brain matter.I took back\ncontrol and I turned back to Cole and I tore at the straps that held\nhim.  I ripped them loose one after the other and he pulled his legs in\nand wiggled backwards away from me on the table until his back end fell\noff onto the floor and his front end followed.  He was wobbly from\nbeing tied in the awkward position but he managed to find his legs and\nstand.  He seemed confused and frightened by this massive, strange wolf\nwho was facing him, and his hackles went up and his ears went back as\nhe backed away from me uncertainly.I didn't know how to tell him\nwho I was.  I wanted so badly to let him know he was safe and we were\nhere for him and he had nothing to be afraid of anymore.I turned back to Jesse and barked desperately at him, and he loped over beside me.Jesse\nlifted a paw and pointed at Cole, then he put his paw on my shoulder\nwhile he began to bark and whine and huff in a long sequence of\nsounds.  Before long his speakers started emitting his\nbland robotic voice and it said, \"C-O-L-E, this is J-A-K-E.  We're here\nto take you home to your mom.\"Suddenly\nCole stood up straight and his ears came forward and he cocked his head\nto the side as he looked more closely at me.  His tail came up and\nbegan to wag so hard that his rump was moving side to side along with\nit as he began to yip and bark and then he ran towards me put his\nmuzzle against mine and began to rub it up and down as he whined his\njoy.  I whined back and I rubbed at his face with mine and licked\nat his nose and my own tail began wagging like mad.  Cole jumped up on\nhis hind legs and hopped a couple of times, then came back down and\nmoved underneath me and rubbed his back up against my belly, then ran\nback out in front and began to lick at my nose.My\nheart soared at finally being with him again.  He knew who I was and he\nknew he was safe.  The wolf smiled and understood as he watched the\nreunion play out.  This was love.  This was mate.Jesse then barked and whined several times and the voice said, \"We need to go.\"I barked and nodded and Cole nuzzled me one last time and then nodded to Jesse.The\ngeneral turned and walked up to the cells where the two other wolves\nwere being held and looked over into the windowed enclosure at the man\nstill in there, staring wide-eyed back out at us.  Clearly they'd\nwanted to take no chances and must have used Cole's blood to create two\nmore test subjects yesterday during the first change Cole would have\ngone through while in their custody.  That must have been their first\norder of business before they started their experiments during today's\nchange that might put their valuable guinea pig at risk.Jesse\nnodded to the wolf with the door knocker and indicated the enclosure.\n The wolf approached the door and placed the knocker against it and\nfired it.  The man yelled and jumped to the side as the loud bang drove\nthe door handle through the door and into the room to hit the wall\nright beside him.The wolf advanced into the room and the man began to beg, \"Please, don't kill me!  I'll release them.  Look!\"He\nturned and began slapping at buttons on a control panel and we heard\nthe electronic locks on the cells release one after another all along\nthe opposite wall.  The two wolves who'd been held pushed out to join\nus and sniffed at us.Jesse whined and barked and huffed and then the robotic voice said, \"Come with us.\"They both nodded.Jesse nodded to the wolf with the shotgun, who led the way back out to the maintenance area and up the stairs.I kept Cole in\nfront of me where I could see him and Jesse was just in front of Cole\nwith all of the other men ahead.Before\nlong we came up the\nstairs to the main floor and I could hear shouts of fear and pain and\ngeneral mayhem still coming from further in where the labs and\nliving area must be.We turned away from it and went down the\nlong\nhallway, back through the destroyed doors, and out into the darkening\nnight.Jeb and Josh were still\nstanding guard outside.  It was only the second night of the new\nlunar cycle so we would not be wolves for much longer.  Jesse had\nbeen right.  It was a quick in and out.  The heavily armed\nwolves seriously outclassed the limited guard presence.  Just as\nhe'd said, it looked as though the facility's only real defense had been\nthe extreme secrecy of its remote location.As\nwe emerged I saw Cole turn and he began to bark at Joshua over and over\nagain, then he turned to me and cocked his head, then turned back to\nlook at the large lupine.Joshua smiled and said, \"What's wrong little guy?  Never seen a lupine with a chain gun before?\"The\nsmall wolf shook his head and Josh chuckled and said, \"Well, don't worry.\n We're pretty harmless if you don't cross us.  We're here with Jake and we'll watch\nover you and keep you safe when you go through the change.\"Cole\nwhined and barked at him once more and then walked around him as he\nlooked him over from head to toe.  I could imagine just how surprised\nhe might be at seeing Joshua.  I couldn't wait to introduce him to Ben.As though Ben was answering my thoughts I suddenly noticed the thwapping sound of helicopters off\nin the distance and our radios crackled to life and I heard his voice\nsay, \"Extraction incoming.  We're one minute out.\"Joshua\nturned to the two new wolves and said, \"You two need to go well into\nthe trees and change away from us and each other.  If you're new at\nthis you won't have proper control and you'll rage when you change\nback.  Come back and join us when you're done.  If you don't, we'll\nleave without you.\"The wolves nodded and split up as they ran off into the trees.Joshua then approached me and said, \"Come on, Jake.  You and Cole should change\na little ways away from the others.  Cole might lose it if he's among\nall these strangers when the change hits.  It's coming real quick.\"He headed out back towards the tree line and Cole and I\nfollowed him.  We went a little ways into the trees and Josh said,\n\"I'll watch over you, but I'll keep my distance.  Cole, think\nhappy thoughts when you change.  You're gonna see your mom in a little more\nthan an hour.  Think of that.  Everyone is here to help you.\n Stay calm.\"The small wolf nodded and Joshua turned to head\nback out of the trees and then he stopped a little ways away and stood\nhis ground  as he tilted his chain gun to level and swung it out in front of him on its support arm to hold it ready.Just\nthen the radio crackled again and I heard the low-pitched robotic voice\nof Samuel's computer say, \"Jeb, I need you.  Main floor at the\nback.  Everyone else stay out there.\"Jeb\nimmediately disappeared into the facility.  Jesse and the others didn't\nmove from the position they'd taken near the center of the clearing.\n Jesse looked over to where I was, then back at the door.\n Then he barked and whined a bit and his robotic voice said,\n\"Settle in for the change.\"Everyone spread out again like before\nand the wolves lay down on their sides.  There was no sign of\nSamuel or his men.  They must have decided to go through the\nchange inside.Joshua moved a little closer to the rest of the pack to guard over everyone.The\nsound of the helicopters had been growing steadily louder and just as\nthe first spasm hit I saw them clear the trees and settle into a hover\nand then begin to descend to land at the far side of the clearing.\n The two Hueys were armed with chain guns and rocket launchers.\n It looked like we really didn't need Jeb and Joshua out here to\nwatch over us.  The two large gunships would make short work of any unexpected\nthreats that might appear.I\nmoved in closer to Cole before the next spasm hit and I lay right next\nto him as the convulsions began.  He was on his side and facing me\nas he began to tense and jerk.  The change went smoothly once\nagain and before long I was regaining consciousness, still lying on my\nside, and there in front of me was Cole, naked and grinning at\nme.  We waited as the last bit of squirming finished and our\nspasms quieted.I sat up and pulled my helmet off and tossed it\nto the ground as Cole got up and jumped into my arms.\"You\ncame for me!  I knew you'd come!  I knew you'd find a way!\n You came so quick!  I told those guys what would happen to\nthem if you found me!\"We\nboth laughed and cried at the same time as we hugged each other hard.\"I was so scared for you, Cole.  I'm so glad you're safe.\n I love you.\"\"I\nlove you too, Jake.  I love you so much.  How did you find me?  Who are\nall the other wolves?  Who are those big guys who look like wolves and\nmen at the same time?  They can talk!  They look so cool!\"\"It's\na long story,\" I said, \"I'll tell you all about it a bit later.  Let's get\nmoving.  We're gonna go back to your mom and Elias in those\nhelicopters.  They're waiting for us.  It won't be long now.\"He grinned and said, \"I get to ride in a helicopter?  Awesome!\"I picked up my helmet and we stood and he grabbed my hand as we walked out into the clearing.Jesse\nand the others were standing in the middle of the clearing and facing\nthe entrance to the facility.  I saw two naked men emerging from the\ntrees and moving to join them.I came up beside Jesse with Cole in tow and I asked, \"What's going\non?  Where's Samuel?\"\"They\nmust still be placing the\ncharges in there.  I don't know what's taking so long.  I\ndon't know why he called Jeb in there.  I don't really like the\nfeel of this.  Maybe you should get Cole into Ben's chopper and\nget ready to bug out.\"I noticed Cole looking up at Jesse's face while he spoke, and he asked, \"Do I know you, mister?  You look sort of familiar.\"Jesse began to turn red with shame, but before he could respond Samuel emerged\nwith several of his men and they stood right outside the entrance to\nthe facility.  They were holding their machine guns out\nand ready.Jesse turned his attention to the alpha and asked, \"Are we ready to\ngo?  Where's Jeb?\"Samuel said, \"Jeb will be staying, along with me and my team.\"\"What do you mean, staying?  Why did you need Jeb?\" Jesse asked.\"We\nneeded him to watch over us while we changed back, and to put down any\nof the remaining scientists that might cause trouble.  They're our prisoners now.  We need them for a little\nlonger.  We'll\nbe holding this facility until we can get the research and the delivery\nsystem secured to move them safely to another location along with the scientists.\"\"Move them?  That was never the plan.  You were gonna destroy them!\"Samuel\nshook his head and said, \"No, Jesse, I had no intention of destroying\nthem\nthis time.  If we did, we would only be causing the humans a minor\nset back, just like the last time.\n It took them only a few years to do it all again.  If we\ndestroy it now they'll get to work on repeating all of their work yet\nagain, but next time we may not be so lucky as to find out where\nthey're doing it.\n This time, thanks to your friend here and the mess he caused at\nNazas, they'll have all of the werewolves they could ever want to do\nresearch on, so we'll never have another opportunity to use one as bait\nto track them.  It's time to end this once and for all.\n Nazas was a disaster and it exposed us completely to the world, but it\ndid\nhave one good outcome.  It enlightened me to a better possible\ncourse of action for us.  I realized what we did last time was a\nmistake.  We should never have destroyed their work, we should have\nkept what they'd created and used it.\"\"What the hell would you want a cure for?\" Jesse asked.\"Not the cure, the delivery system.  I want the virus, and they've finished it.  It's perfect.\"\"For what?  If you don't want the cure, then why do you want the delivery mechanism?\"\"To\ndeliver a payload.  The opposite of what they'd intended.\n The researchers in there think they've isolated the cause of the\nwerewolf infection.  They needed to do it in order to try to find the\ncure to completely control it all.  Instead of using the cure, we're going to use the cause\nof the werewolf infection as the payload for their wonderfully effective little\nvirus.  It will spread the werewolf infection to the entire world in a matter of weeks.\n A true, global werewolf apocalypse.  Your friend's antics in Nasas made me realize this is the best\nsolution.  His small werewolf outbreak showed me the way.  I realized\nthe only way to beat the humans was to convert them to our side as\nquickly as possible.  The\nhumans will no longer be a threat to us if there are none left.\n Everyone left standing will be a werewolf, and immortal.  It\nwill completely level the playing field so no one country can have any\nadvantage over any other.\"\"That's crazy,\" I shouted, \"You'd be\nwiping out the human race!  There would only be werewolves and\nthey can only ever create lupines.  The human species would be\ngone forever!\"Samuel shrugged and said, \"It would be no great\nloss.  The lupine species is far superior.  The humans have\nhad their chance and squandered it.  They're destroying the world\nthey were given.  It's time to give it to the lupines instead.\"Jesse\nsaid, \"That can't be sustainable!  Think about it Samuel!\n All of the billions of people in the world will suddenly be\nimmortal!  None of them would ever die, but the lupine species\nwould continue what was previously the human expansion when all of\nthose werewolves begin to breed.\"Samuel smiled and said, \"I've thought of that, too.\n There were many fatalities when the new wolves raged in Nazas.\n There will be tens of millions of times that many when the whole\nworld rages at once.  The weak will all succumb to the stronger\nwolves, just as it should be.  The virus causes a very\ndebilitating flu and it will spread like wildfire through the world.\n The elderly and the infirm will die from the virus itself.\n The healthy ones will continue to sicken and the hospitals will\nbecome overcrowded.  The sick will begin to fill schools and\nchurches and emergency shelters worldwide.  When the disease\nreaches its climax and begins to be die off inside the hosts, the\npayload it carries will be released into their systems.  Think of it.\n Massive crowds of people with the disease who are all lying in\nclose quarters will suddenly start to change when the next moon rises,\nand all of those new wolves will be in a rage and completely out of control, fighting each other to\nthe death before their change is complete.  In one fell swoop all\nof the weakest will be wiped out, and only the strongest will survive, to\nbe completely healed by the change back to human form later on.  The world\nwill be instantly purified by the basic law of evolution.  Only\nthe fittest will survive the first nights of the apocalypse.  I would estimate the world's population\nwould be reduced by at least sixty to eighty percent all told.  There would\nbe plenty of room and resources left for the lupines to claim, and\nthere will be a massive gene pool of progenitors to ensure their\nviability as a species going forward.  It's the perfect solution.\"\"I\ncan't let you do this, Samuel,\" Jesse said, \"You'd be murdering billions!  Besides, it's too dangerous.\n What if it doesn't work quite right?  What if the virus kills everyone?\n The risk is too high!  It isn't right to just\neliminate the whole human species!  Who are you to make\nthat call?\"\"I am your alpha!\" Samuel shouted at the top of his lungs, \"You will do as I command or I will end you here and now!\"Samuel's\nmen all raised their rifles.  Jesse's men moved beside him and\nraised there's as well.  The two sides were suddenly in a standoff.Samuel\nasked, \"What's happened to you, Jesse?  You were my right hand.\n My most trusted.  We saw eye to eye on everything.  I smelled you\nearlier when we changed.\n It was the first chance I've had to do it since before Nazas.  I\nlikely would not have even brought you along on this mission if I'd had\na chance to smell you before.\n Something's changed in you.  Your loyalty has shifted.  You used to\nfollow me without question.  It's why I\ngave you the position you now hold.  You used to follow your\ninstincts and trust in your alpha.\"Jesse said nothing, and\nSamuel's eyes narrowed and his voice lowered as he looked over at\nme, and then back at Jesse and said, \"Or is it that you've been looking\nfor a new alpha?\"Jesse turned to me and said, \"Get Cole to the helicopter.  Get out of here.  Let me deal with this.\"\"Do\nnot take one step!\" Samuel warned.  He turned to his men and said,\n\"If they make for the helicopter.  Kill the boy first.\"The men responded by aiming their weapons right at Cole.Jesse moved to block them and protect Cole and I stood next to him.\"Let\nus go, Samuel.  You can do whatever you want here.  I doubt\nwe could stop you.  There's no reason to harm the boy.  There\nare two helicopters.  You only need one.  Let us take the\nother and bring Cole home to his mother.\"Samuel said, \"No.\n I think not.  You've commanded my army too long, Jesse.\n I don't know how many might be more loyal to you than to me.\n I do know of a few that I can trust though.  Jeb is one, for\ninstance.  Many of the lupines see things the way I do.  They\ndon't like the humans.  They have no qualms about replacing them\nwith progenitors.  You're right though, we do need only one\nhelicopter.\"Samuel\nraised his hand and motioned at the Huey\nbeing flown by the other lupine.  Both helicopters still had their\nengines spooled up and rotors spinning while they waited for everyone\nto get aboard.\n They must have heard everything Samuel was saying over their radios.Suddenly I heard the engine whine on the helicopter Samuel had motioned to as the pilot added torque to\nthe collective and the helicopter began to lift off and turn to face\nBen's chopper.Ben saw what was happening and reacted fast.\n I heard the turbine engines strain as he added collective to his\nown Huey and it began to lift off the ground.The pilot of the\nfirst helicopter squeezed the trigger and I saw the chain gun mounted\non the side begin to spin and it spewed fire as it began to shoot at\nBen's Huey.  Ben was already on his way up so he avoided most of\nthe gunfire, but I heard the staccato clang of bullets hitting the armor\njust as he popped up out of the line of fire.Ben deftly maneuvered his Huey as he kicked the\nrudder and the tail of the chopper suddenly swung around as he nosed it\nover to face the first helicopter.  There was a hiss and a swoosh and a pair of rockets shot\nout towards the other chopper.  There was no time for the pilot to\nreact and one of the rockets impacted just below the rotor while the\nother went into the cockpit.  The Huey exploded into a fireball as\nit's own fuel tanks detonated and the rotor was blown apart as the chopper crashed to the ground.  I\nsaw a piece of it  zoom out and ricochet off of Ben's chopper and\nI saw a puff of smoke go up, but it didn't seem to do any serious\ndamage as Ben was able to maintain control and he kicked the rudder\nagain to bring the tail back and face the helicopter towards Samuel and\nhis men.Samuel roared and his men brought their rifles around to\nshoot down the Huey, but I heard a loud whirring and suddenly there was\na different and much louder roar as Joshua's chain gun began to unleash\na hail of bullets that swept towards Samuel and his men.  One of\nthem dove to the ground and began shooting at Josh and he was hit in\nthe neck and went down, blood spewing from the wound.Several\nof\nSamuel's remaining men began to fire on us and everyone hit the deck\nand Jesse dove right on top of Cole as several bullets ricocheted off\nhis armor and I heard him cry out in pain.Samuel's other men quickly dragged him back into the facility to protect him.Jesse's men\nbegan to return fire, but it was too late.  The last of Samuel's\nmen lunged into the facility as we heard Samuel's voice shout over the\nradio, \"Jeb, we need you at the entrance!\"Jesse\nstood back up and I saw him bleeding from a wound on his leg as he\nshouted to me, \"We've got to get Cole out of here before Jeb gets here\nwith that chain gun!\"Ben\nwas already bringing the chopper to the ground as everyone stood back\nup, and I hustled Cole along\nas we all ran towards it and began to pile aboard.  Jesse was limping\nas he followed us in and he moved to the front and hopped into the\ngunner's seat next to Ben.  I secured Cole in one of the seats in the\nmiddle of the large helicopter and then I moved up between the two\nseats at the front.Just as Ben\nwas beginning to lift off we saw Jeb emerging and his chain gun began\nto spin up.  Before he could get a shot off Ben thumbed the weapons release and I heard the familiar\nhiss and swoosh and Jeb suddenly dove back inside as a pair of rockets\nrushed towards the entrance of the facility.   They impacted just\nshort of the entrance and they blew a crater in the ground.\n Before Ben could get another shot off Jeb emerged again, but this\ntime he was running at an angle toward the tree line at top speed.\"Get us the hell out of here!\" Jesse shouted, \"If he finds a good position he'll be able to shoot us down!\"Ben\nnodded and he pulled the collective higher as he pushed the stick\nforward and the engines roared to compensate for the sudden increase in\nload as the chopper began to rise and slide forward towards the hill at a faster and\nfaster rate.  Down below I saw Jeb stop and turn and his chain gun\nbegan to spin up again, but it was too late.  Just as the flash of\nfire erupted and the first few bullets hit underneath us at the back we passed over the tops\nof the trees and out of his line of fire behind the hill.  I suddenly heard the\nengines change tone, then they recovered.\"Shit!  He hit a fuel line!\" Ben shouted.\"How bad is it?  Can we make it back?\" Jesse shouted.Ben\nlooked at his panels and nodded and said, \"I think so.  We're\nloaded down heavy, but I think at the rate we're using it we should have enough to make it back.\n It'll be close.\"Jesse said, \"Radio to base.  I need\nto talk to someone out there I can trust.  We need to lock down\nthe armory and the vehicles.\"Ben shook his head and said, \"Can't\ndo it.  I got hit by a piece of that other Huey's rotor.  It\ntook out the radio transceiver.\"Jesse shook his head and said, \"Shit.  Well, we'll be back soon enough.\"He\nturned to me and said, \"That fucking crazy bastard!  I told you he\nwas starting to get flaky, Jake.  I had no idea he'd gone right\nover the edge.\"\"What now?\" I asked.Jesse thought about it\nand said, \"He won't be able to use the short range comms to get help.\n We destroyed the communications array for the facility, so he\ncan't call out for help that way unless they can get it working again.\n The satellite dish is toast but they might be able to repair the\nhigh frequency antenna.  We need to get Cole back safe first, then\nwe need to head back here and finish what we started.  We need to\ndestroy that facility before Samuel can get that shit secured and transported out of there.\"\"What if he manages to get that radio fixed?  What if he calls out for help before we can get back there?\" I asked.\"We\njust have to hope that doesn't happen before we get back to base.\n Nobody else will know what's happening\nyet.  I'm still the general of our militia as far as they're\nconcerned.  I'll need to get on the horn and try to secure all of\nour other compounds before we head back out here.  I need to get\nthose who are loyal to me to lock out everyone else.  We can't let\nanyone get hold of an aircraft that could carry Samuel out of there\nbefore we can get back to finish them off.  It'll all come down to how\nmany are with him in his crazy plan, and how many will follow me,\ninstead.\"Ben\nsaid, \"I can't\nbelieve they killed Joshua.  I can't believe Jeb sided with them!  He's\nalways had bad feelings about the humans, but I didn't know it was that\nbad.\n I'm not a big fan of the humans, but I don't see any need to\ndestroy the whole species!  Whatever progenitors Samuel makes, that's\nall there'd ever be!  There could never be any more, because there\nwould never be any more human babies!\"I nodded and said, \"The\nwerewolf numbers could only ever go down from that point on.  I\nthink his biggest concern is the lupines, though.  He just wants\nto give his children their best chance.  It's insane to do it at\nthe cost of the whole human race, though.\"Jesse said, \"We'll\nstop him, Jake.  Don't worry.  He's the alpha, but I've been\nthe commander of our army for a lot of years.  In a way I've got\nmore power than he does, but It'll be hard to figure out exactly who to\ntrust from now on.  We'll need to be careful.\"We settled in\nfor the flight back.  It would take longer to get back in the\nslower Huey than it did to come out in the Hercules but at last I'd have my whole family back together again.With any\nluck, Jesse would be able to send someone back to destroy the facility\nbefore Samuel could slip away with the research and the scientists.If not, the whole world might be in for a very sudden, and very dramatic change.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/856961-love-and-lycanthropy-chapter-19.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/906340-love-and-lycanthropy-chapter-21.json"}