Brisa had never expected to follow Jaquan and his crew all the way to Bear Gate. The city had a very dangerous reputation; surrounded by dense dangerous woods; impossible to reach by air. Only a relative few people knew how to get there. Justice seemed to be one of them, but how?
She was surprised the BigBad Crew took the travel plans so well. They were just going to walk through the woods. That was crazy, even for a professional fighter. They were going to that insane city to rest, oddly enough. The tournament was even deeper in the woods!
Mr. Meng, the chief executive of The Champion’s Chronicle, wanted to do a story on the BigBad Crew for some reason. He seemed to know that something especially interesting was going to happen. He wanted to expose all of their secrets or something? Brisa wasn’t sure. She did know that to make an authentic story, someone would have to follow them wherever they went.
Not her.
Her job was getting the information to pass to the brave/foolish reporter. She was supposed to get the information unnoticed, a relatively easy task. It seemed she failed to do even that.
Of course, it was Duard Ban’s fault getting her trapped in all this mess. That idiot always thought too much of himself. Jaquan hated reporters. Everyone, from the fans to the doorkeepers at the hotel, knew that Jaquan Zu hated reporters. Still, he leaped at the assignment without thinking of her position in this. He wasn’t scared of Jaquan. He will be now.
He was bold enough to stand directly in front of Jaquan Zu, trying to get him to stop. He got a good rib-crushing stomp in the chest for his troubles. Now, he’s resting in the hospital. As Duard’s errand girl, Brisa was the only person from Champion’s Chronicle near the scene.
She always wanted to be an ace reporter but never thought her chance would come like the, or be so short lived. She watched her quarry load onto the shuttle, a large white box of a ship. None of them wanted to see her again, their glances made sure she knew as much.
She watched each of them file into the shuttle one at a time. Each of them scared her to death. For the strangest reason, Neely scared her the most. Not so much for what he did; but what he said or, how he said it. His words bore into her consciousness. Even now, she remembered power behind his words.
Just thinking of his words brought the entire torturous scene back. The memory was more powerful than the experience. The fire and frost seeping into her chest while floating helpless in the air. She was unsure that she would ever forget. There was no way she was going to follow them. She wanted to write about safer things.
She was done. The only thing left was to tell Mr. Meng of her utter failure and probably get fired. Her hand slowly lifted her handheld to talking position while she carefully dialed the numbers for headquarters. She wanted to get a good look at her boss perhaps for the last time.
Within moments, she was speaking with Mr. Meng. A hologram of his torso and face appeared just above her handheld. She saw a bit of scenery behind him too. Apparently, he was sitting at his desk. He was heavy set and sweaty. His grey suit was quite disorganized with splotches of food condiments. He had tan skin with thick golden tiger-like stripes all over his face and body. Never mind his appearance; she knew his reaction to failure. He yelled at Mr. Ban enough times, and that was for minor errors. Could she go through with this?
She started slowly trying to sound strong in front of the one Crisho she desperately needed to impress. She failed miserably. “Th… they found me. I don’t know how. It was… it was horrible. I thought th… they were going kill me,” Brisa was at the verge of tears by the time she finished. As she heard herself talk, she realized that she really had no idea how they found her. She was recording things on her handheld; there was a bright flash; then she was staring into the most frightening pair of eyes she had ever seen.
“Kid, listen to me,” Mr. Meng sounded strangely understanding, “they’re bluffing you. Don’t fall for it.” He spoke to her in a calm but firm tone. “I know these tough guy types. They put up a good front but when you get to know them, they’re a bunch of softies.”
He spoke like he had been there, but Brisa knew better. The BigBad Crew was not bluffing, nor were they softies. They knew who she was. They knew why she was there. If they saw her again, they would stop her from doing it. “B…but.”
“No buts kid,” the chief executive almost started to sound frustrated. He corrected himself immediately, “Our star reporter is out of commission because of this guy; Zu is hiding something, I know it; and you’re the only one we can tag on his trail right now,” his argument made a small amount of sense. “You want to be a news star, you need a big chance. This is your big chance. I’m not asking you to do anything dangerous. All you have to do is follow him. I’ll get a reporter to meet you at Bear Gate and you’ll come home. It’ll be easy. Just stay out of sight.”
That was easy enough. All he was asking her to do was follow them. The shuttle had no windows, there was no way they could see her. All she had to do was stay out of sight for the shuttle ride to Bear Gate. Once she was there, the new reporter team would be there, and she was done. It was an easy job. “Okay,” it seems a little too easy though, “I’ll do it.” This could be a bad idea. Despite her doubts, she boarded the shuttle.
—–
The BigBad Crew rested in their private cabin on the shuttle. They had their own aircraft but Justice insisted they travel like this. No worries. Jaquan only had to sign a few autographs for the fans and then ask to be left alone. The fans knew to give him his space. Justice filled Jaquan and Liana in on the details of the city and made reservations for their trip.
Catlin sat on a couch right next to Neely and rested on him while he read. Neely didn’t mind her head on his shoulder. They had been good friends for a long while now. Also, with her close to him there was little chance for her to turn wild. Sometimes it happened while she slept.
Catlin’s Thermal and Motion talents were very active even while she rested. They were amplified by her Unholy talents. Each person had a heat signature that moved with them. Using this skill, she watched all the passengers and crew on the shuttle for a while. However, she was tired from enchanting the huge jug of healing water for Neely and the activities afterwards on the shuttle pad.
Catlin was on the verge of falling asleep when she noticed a particular heat signature moving towards the back of the shuttle. This one was altered slightly; it had a unique pulsing signature that only someone using the Thermal and Motion Talents could place. It also had the shape of a bow-tie. She spoke just loud enough for Neely to hear, “Brisa Gan from the Champion’s Chronicle is following us.” She decided to sleep anyway.
“Oh well,” was his simple response.