FSE

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.A/N -Well...only three months this time.

All characters & locations fictional.

Chapter 8 - The Ace on the Table

"When truth is buried underground it grows, it chokes, it gathers such an explosive force that on the day it bursts out, it blows up everything with it. - Emile Zola

Miami, FL

August 9, 2012

A heaving breath escaped my mouth as I shook my hand, a look of shock and anger on Morse's face as I knelt atop him, pinning him to the ground as a quiet snarl finally escaped my lips, my eyes fading back to their normal green as I heard the door slam open and was pulled back in a powerful grip, Witters wrapping his arms around me and pulling me to my feet and off of Morse as Becker went to the side near Morse.

"What the hell was that about?"

I struggled for a moment in his grasp as the captain pulled Morse to his feet and out of my reach. I took a deep breath as I shook off the officer holding me back.

"They said to read you in..." I sighed, not looking forward to having to introduce them to mythos this way as I moved toward the door. "I'll be right back. Stay here." I looked pointedly to Morse. "That includes you."

"You fuckin-"

"Shut up and stay!" I stifled a growl as I stormed out the door, heading for the control room where the tapes were held as the local agent grabbed my shoulder.

"What the he-"

"Give me fifteen minutes. We'll go from there." I took a deep breath. This was going to come back and bite me, but...it had felt good. It only took a moment to quickly replace the tape for the interrogation room as I turned back to the local agent. "Keep people out of these two rooms for fifteen minutes. My authority under Cunnington as a member of SCTF. After that knock on the door and if I tell you to, replace the tape. Tape will be for approved personnel only."

"What the hell-?"

"I'll face that later. Same with Morse and the shoot. Just do it." I scribble Jerry's number onto a post-it and hand it off to the agent. "This is Agent Simpson, head of SCTF. Give him a heads up of what is going on." With that, I headed back into the interrogation room, shutting the door behind me as I pulled off my tie and belt. Hopefully I could defuse all of this, but I did not feel like ruining a good tie and belt.

"What happens in here does not leave this room. You have all been asking what has been going on and why there is so much secrecy around all of this. I guess it's time to tell you."

"What the hell is going on, Hart?" Came Witter's voice. "Seems more like some sort of black op than law enforcement."

"In all honesty, Paul..." Came Captain Becker's voice, "It sort of is. You remember the Palm Frond nightclub case?"

"The drug case that got Morse into the bureau?"

"It wasn't drugs." Morse answered as he glared at me. "It was apparently a zombie den. Some necromancer wanted an army and decided to build one. Most of them got killed in the Frond with that fire from those mercs...but a few got out. I managed to run into them."

"Detective Morse ran into them and was forced to shoot. It was a chance encounter that got him onto our radar." I started. "Here's the long and the short. Of the group of people that you are supposed to serve and protect, some are not Homo Sapiens. Approximately five percent of the US population is what we call a mythos. It's kinda a catch all for various forms of mythological creatures. I personally have dealt with Lycans, vampires, wights, ogres, trolls and Ruamano. There are dozens more of...I guess species."

I smirked as I saw Lt. Witter's face growing more and more disbelieving as every word left my mouth. Just a year ago I would also have found it was hard to believe. Hell, I had spent half my life thinking I was crazy from when I found out.

"It's true. Werewolves and vampires are real." Morse almost spat. "Lots of those damned creatures that we read about in fairy tales and horror movies, the ones that we use to scare our children straight, exist. That's why I shot. Because the kid was one of those monsters."

"Morse," I growl as I toss my jacket against the wall, moving so that my body was blocking the door. "Stop. Now."

"No! How are you so fucking stupid that you trust those monsters? Their entire lives are a lie and they are made to be murderers. It's like if you or I was born with our sidearms."

A soft growl echoed through my throat as I grabbed my phone, punching in my lock code and pulling up the photograph of Thomas, my mate and I before I tossed my phone to Morse.

"A Lycan does not need to be a monster. We are the same as you." I punctuate the 'we' with a snarl as my eyes flash amber as I move closer to Morse. "In fact, some of us are better than you." I grinned as I saw Morse's eyes widen as he saw the photo on the phone. "Every single time our task force comes out we need to come with the expectation that everyone we deal with. Every. Single. Person. Human or Mythos. Is a life to be saved."

"Why do you have...who...Wait....We..." He glared toward me, not fully understanding what I was telling him, but he was going to have to find out, and he had pushed it to happen the hard way, the scent of someone else's anger starting to tweak at my senses. That was all it took.

I growled, my wolf smashing through the last feeble mental barrier holding it back from reality as I saw Morse looking quizzically at the phone as Becker and Witters shrank away from my feral snarl, Becker's fear on his face as plain as Witter's disbelief. 'Great...another department that would fear me.'

The change was upon me, that godawful stretching and itching spreading across my body as my rage pushed my wolven form out of hiding. Twitching and stretching, short black fur started to push out from the skin of my ears, the human flaps growing and becoming a wolf's proud shells as they twitched their way atop my skull. For just a moment I was hearing each breath, each heartbeat, each murmur of fear as my form started to shift from a royally pissed off human to a royally pissed off Lycan.

"You fucking bastard!" Came Morse's voice as he threw the phone at me, anger and venom dripping off his voice. "That's why you hesitated. You're one of them. "

I growled at his outburst as I dodged instinctively, my phone crashing against the wall with a plastic clatter, the screen smashing. "The reason we came out was because the call was related. The reason we could help is because I understood where the kid was coming from. The kid was a Lycan, and he caught something that his hostage did not." I growled as I felt an itching cover my chest, fur pressing against my shirt as my chest grew stronger and wider as my shirt strained before I gave in, grabbing at the seam of the shirt, ripping it off in one fell swoop and tossing its remains beside my jacket.

"He turned to come after you. He had those claws. Those teeth. How was I supposed to know you two were in it together?" The burning pressure of a growing muzzle clouded my mind as scents came into vibrant focus, my enlarged nares sampling the heavy air, the fear and anger a cloud saturating my mind as I changed. An involuntary snap of my jaws from the pain of my changing maw sent a shudder through the three officers, the clack of the impact making me drop my ears for just a moment in shame before they were back erect and twitching about the room, the distracting buzz of the recording apparatus in the room overwhelming for a moment before it faded away as my mind fully adjusted.

"He turned toward me." I growled as I kicked off my shoes, my nails extending into powerful claws as my feet warped into paws, increasing my height as my stance moved from my heels to my newly padded toes as I growled, my body growing more powerful and aggressive. "You knew that I have dealt with Lycans before in New London. It was part of the foundation of your preconceptions that you brought up in the car. If you had actually looked in detail, you may have noticed something important. Both of the Lycans I encountered had law enforcement training in hand to hand. Even without being on even footing I knew what I was doing and could protect myself. This was a kid. A pup. Shooting him was like shooting a three legged dog with a wagging tail." I smiled a grim canine grin as I looked down at Morse as I moved closer, my body fully Lycan as I grabbed Morse's collar, hoisting him to his feet as I pressed him against the wall. "You jumped the gun."

I sighed as I loosened my grip a bit. "You jumped the gun because you were afraid. Because you were new. Because you thought you knew more than you did." I locked gazes with Morse as I let go, hearing him thud to his feet on the ground before he locked his gaze back at me, his brown eyes locking with my ambers, a snarl playing across his features.

"You fucking lied to me, you bastard. And you're a fucking monster." He snarled at me.

"Who is the monster here? You jumped at shadows. You shot a kid who was not threatening me. The goal I had walking in there was to have all four of us walk out. And but for your prejudices we would have." I drilled my clawed finger against his chest, tapping for emphasis as I held his gaze.

"Then you should have told me. I would have..." He shot back, although there was a little fear in his voice and quite a bit in his scent.

"You would have what, Morse?" A short snarl punctuated my jab. "I have one expectation of my partners. They remember what the job is. The job is not to just be the enforcer and destroy mythos. You came to me with the mindset of kill them all. You let that control you. You should be gone...but that is not my call."

"I wanted to protect you."

I pulled Morse's shield from his belt. "This little piece of tin, while it gives us authority, it stands for something. It's a shield for a reason, and it is not to protect person wearing it. We are supposed to be peace officers. We need to enter the scene and whenever we can de-escalate it. For us today that entailed some cajoling and talking and listening. You got caught in the mindset of 'All cops go home'. I need you in the mindset of 'We all go home'. Remember, the police is the public and the public is the police. The force we can carry is one big ass hammer. Not everything is a nail." I tossed the badge back into his lap as his eyes darted from mine for just a moment.

"The decision was bad. The outcome could have been a hell of a lot worse. You're in for a rough ride, Morse. I can understand the mindset, but we are supposed to be the team that has the answers. You acted like some local department flunky-"

"Hey!"

I snarled as Witter's interjection, seeing him shrink into the wall for a moment. "Let me finish! Most people have no clue about the world where we walk. They see something different and want to attack it or use it. We need to be the ones that rein that in and can use the knowledge of these shadows to help. You fell into the trap of falling back on that mistrust and second guessing a situation that you were not fully up to speed on. Regardless of whether you stay on the task force or not, that stops today. If Lycans were the beast you feared, you would be in lots of little pieces. The only thing in danger of that right now is your career."

I look to Morse, our gazes meeting before he slowly nods, still angry but smart enough not to talk back at me for the moment being

"If you are one of these...Lycan things," Came Witter's voice, my ears swiveling toward him as I swung my gaze toward him, still angry but slowly cooling off. As my eyes met his, I could see him start softly, getting a lump in his throat that he fought to clear as I tried to look more personable for a moment or two, gently rolling my paw in a 'come on' motion. Mawfuls of teeth and smiles just seem to go together poorly. "Why didn't you just shift to get him to follow you? I mean, wouldn't he have trusted you more? Why not use all the tools in your toolbox, to steal your phrase, in that case?"

"Actually..."I chuckle. "I somewhat did and didn't. Most of the time, Lycans can pick up the scent of another like them. Add in the fact that I have not changed from what I was wearing when I left New London this morning, a Lycan can get a pretty decent idea of whom and what I am from that. Plus I used as many clues as I could for the kid. I'd rather not shift if I can. It's somewhat dangerous if you get seen, plus I then have no defensive tools other than tooth and claw. Against firearms that does not work well."

"So what happens next, Agent?" I smiled as Becker tried to get us back on track.

"Morse has to give his statement. We need to do this under section 4 of the Cunningham Act. The local agent should be briefed so just need to make sure the DA is aware. Basically it is a top secret case. As of now, Morse is restricted to either the precinct I am working out of or the local field office. I need to talk with the SCTF commander. I do not have authority to pull him completely but this was a serious incident. That kid could have easily died. I want him out of the field completely."

"Hart, I-"

"Shut up, Morse."

"Captain, you mind staying here as the second witness. I want to see how the kid is doing and give a heads up to my superior. I'll have our local take the statement since I am compromised since I was directly involved and the rest of the SCTF is probably just finishing up their debriefs. I'll take Witters with me, if that is okay. I'd like to get him up to speed early." In the back of my mind, I could not help but think, 'I want to make sure this whole display didn't scare him too much.'

The captain simply nodded and motioned for Witters to move toward the door.

"Uh...one other thing." I tried to grin sheepishly, my ears folding back against my head. "Do you have an extra large shirt I can borrow. I kinda ripped mine when Morse pissed me off." I glared quickly at Morse before he had a chance to make any stupid comments, shutting him up quickly as the Captain laughed.

"We do, but you may not like it." He smirked as he looked to Witters at the door. "We just got a new set of JAFO shirts in the supply closet. Grab one from the desk sergeant before you come back."

I chuckled, the sound deep and gruff, but recognizable. "That's fine. I still got my shield and jacket in the car. Go for it, Witters. I promise I won't tell you to wear the JAFO shirt since you are the one observing." I wave him toward the door, a semblance of a smirk on my muzzle as the anger clears from my mind.

"Sorry to have to show you the hard way. But hopefully that proves that not all of us are bloodthirsty monsters, Morse? Captain?"

Morse simply glared at me, obviously still pissed at me and mistrusting as he just kept his mouth shut. The captain merely chuckled, a bit of fear underlying his voice, but not as much as he had been showing before.

"I'll admit, Hart, if you had done that on scene someone would have shot you."

"I know. It's the other reason I didn't shift. That fear reaction is why you want to defuse the situation versus escalating it. More chance for everyone to go home. And I'll admit we look fucking scary. Hell, I clocked the first Lycan I met with a frying pan; he was pissed off and was thinking more like the wolf than the human. I know it is extremely scary but I hold people read in to a higher standard."

"I may need a change of drawers from your demonstration, Hart, but since Agent Tanner introduced me, I've been dragged into a few scrapes with the local pack. Mostly stupid stuff. They seem to need that adrenaline kick sometimes so the younger ones can be a bit...reckless. Never seen a shift, though. Would be fascinating, I think, if I wasn't scared I was going to be eaten"

That gruff chuckle again escaped my mouth. "From what I hear, people are too stringy...now if you are part deer...well...Om nom nom." I tried to lick my lips playfully, and apparently succeeded, seeing Morse soften a bit, his eyes still pissed but a bit of mirth held deep inside him.

Two quick raps at the door sounded before it opened, forcing me to quickly jump out of view, a quick chortle coming from the chief as I heard the door slam and Witters walk right by me. A silent grin passed my face as I put a finger in front of my mouth in the 'ssshhh' gesture at Morse and the captain before I pounced and wrapped my arms around Witters, my hot breath playing in his ear. "Bad officer. No donut"

I felt Witters stiffen in my grasp for just a moment before he relaxed as I took the shirt from his hands, quickly pulling it over my larger frame as Becker laughed at his officer and even Morse cracked a smile.

"Dammit, agent. You startled me." I could hear the soft grin in his voice as I moved around so that all three could view me.

"Sorry, it was too easy. Plus I do that when I train, too. You get surprised, you make mistakes. You get complacent, you make mistakes. You make a mistake that gets you dead, well it's your ass. You make a mistake that can get someone or even everybody else killed and it's just plain irresponsible and if you survive...I may just kill you." My demeanor had switched from playful to serious in just a heartbeat. "We fucked that one up today, and it nearly cost a kid his life." I take a deep breath as I feel my furry features starting to retreat into my human body, the pain there, but tempered for once.

As my body finished its reversion, I slipped my belt back on, quickly followed by the shoes and rest of my accoutrements. Slipping toward the door, I opened it, waving the local agent to the door.

"What the hell happened-"

"Long story. I Introduced the lieutenant to the purpose of the Cunningham act...the hard way. Sorry for the runaround. Agent Michael Hart." I offered my hand.

"Agent Glenn Wilson." I took his firm grip, shaking quickly.

"Alright. Head on in and introduce yourself. Get his statement. I'll give one when I get back. Gotta put this fire out. I'll go replace the tape and I'm gonna grab Witters. I'll leave Becker in there for your witness."

"Sounds like you have done this before, Agent Hart."

"Too many times. At least it's not me for once." I grouse as I head into the A/V room, grabbing a blank tape and labeling it, pulling the one that had my...secret identity on it and marking it for SCTF only. With that done, I head back toward the interview room.

"Alright, Agent Wilson. Have fun." I motion toward Witters. "Come on, Witters, you're with me."

It took only a few minutes for me to grab the raid jacket out of the back of the Charger before I headed for the driver side door. A quick attempt at getting hold of Jerry from the desk sergeant's landline was fruitless, so in initial silence, I put the car into gear, pointing it towards the gate as I looked toward Witters.

"Mind giving me directions?" I huffed. "I usually use my phone but it is currently not in a talkative mood since Morse got pissed off."

"Uhh....Sure" A quiet stutter underlay his voice, a dark thought deep in my mind seeing him as nothing more than scared prey. "Turn right and head straight until you hit Harding Blvd. Then it's a right and another straight shot."

"I ain't gonna bite, Witters. Calm down." I sigh softly as my hands clench on the wheel as I follow his directions. "I promise, I'm not some movie monster unless you take away my coffee..." I try to grin disarmingly and chuckle softly at my joke as he sighs.

"I'm fine"

"Bullshit! What's up?"

He sighs softly before he looks over at me, the corner of my eye catching him as he shrugged gently. "Sorry, just a lot to take in. I have to second what Cap said. If I had seen you shift outside here, I would have shot you. I mean, hell. What is a werewolf Tueller? But here I was just too scared to even try and stop you. You scared the hell out of me. And you're supposedly one of the 'good' ones."

I smirked. "The trick as always is to get mobile fast. But in reality it's about thirty feet. But, just like an orc or dryad they have to be treated like anyone else. I've gone hand to claw with Lycans more than once, and, honestly, they are as dangerous as any other cornered person. They're...rather we're stronger and faster in our Lycan form and have some more alert senses even in our human skin...not to mention the teeth and claws, but about as dangerous as anyone else. The weapon is the mind, not just the body."

"But why..."

"As I said, I have fought full grown Lycans before. Plus I can read them better than most...non-Lycans. Even without the language of scent, there is a lot of subconscious body language that we try and have our people read. "

"But if he had-"

"If he had done anything I would be going home sore, but that's more because shifting still hurts than any injuries that pup could give me. This was a scared kid, not a criminal. In all honesty, I could understand you or another cop being afraid, but that is why I gave the order to only shoot on my order...if that makes sense. It's a screwy situation, but then again, none of you knew the whole story." I sighed softly. "It was a bad situation, but...we get called in because we are supposed to be better than you in these situations-"I caught Witters bristling and tried to extricate myself. "No offense, I know what a mythos can do, you did not. And neither did Morse so I took away some of his authority and freedom...he...Well, he stepped on the landmine I was trying to keep him from."

"What's gonna happen to him? I mean, he shot a kid."

"I don't know. Under protocol, he can make an argument that he thought I was in danger and that any reasonable person would...the issue is that we are not reasonable. I don't know. I want him off, but it's not just that."

"What do you mean?"

"You're sitting here talking to me. He threw my phone at the wall when I showed him my family photo. He does not trust Lycans...And he may be the same with other mythos." I sighed softly. "If he is...he has no place in the group...and I don't know if he still has a place in the field."

Silence filled the car for the remainder of the drive to the hospital. My mind was racing, trying to figure out just how I could mend fences with the local pack after nearly killing one of their own. Thankfully, Breckenridge, for all I had met him, seemed calm and even keeled. Hopefully that wasn't just a façade.

"You know this Breckenridge guy?" came Witter's voice, still shaky but less so.

"No. My mate does, but only that he is the alpha of one of the local packs." I shrug. "I cannot guess much myself. Typically, pack power comes from respect and inner strength, not might. But I am still new at this. I don't know him personally, so I can't say anything for sure."

"Ok...guess that makes sense." He shrugged as we pulled into the hospital, pulling into one of the spots in front of the emergency entrance.

"Damn, I hate this humidity!" I grouse as I step out, the hot, wet air wrapping around me as I walk toward the sliding doors, hitting the intercom to get buzzed in, the cool air wrapping around my body as the doors slid shut behind me, heading toward the charge nurse station.

"Where's the boy from the officer involved this morning?"

"He's up in CT. Mother and a family friend are in trauma 1."

"Alright. Thanks."

I head toward the trauma room next to the door and gently knock, a terse command of enter greeting my knock. Entering, I recognized Breckenridge, but not the woman in green scrubs next to him. If she hadn't been sobbing softly, I would have guessed her to be a hospital employee, but...

"Agent Hart?" Came Breckenridge's voice. "Why are you here?"

"Well, two things. First, I wanted to know how the pup was doing. Second, I owed you an apology."

"Did you shoot my son you bastard?" I saw her eyes flash amber as she lunged at me, Breckenridge wrapping his arms around her, holding her back as I put my hands up in front of my chest, trying to make sure she saw I was being defensive.

"It wasn't Agent Hart, Sharon. He saved him." Her struggling slowed as I slowly put my hands down. "Agent Hart, he's up in CT. He'll be here for a few days but hopefully it's all precautionary."

"Thank God. I really wish I hadn't let this happen."

"What? You let it-"

"Stop, Sharon."

"He nearly killed-"

"He did not. The pup made a situation where he got everyone stressed, and lots of people are not used to us. If it hadn't been for Agent Hart, Neil would be dead."

I sigh softly. "Ma'am, Neil is already in a heap of trouble. He could be spending five years in the state prison for the false imprisonment. I can work with him on the case that brought us here, and maybe we can help, but he made a lot of dangerous choices today."

"Bullshit. You are just pushing your anger out on us."

"Sharon, stop. He's a good guy. He's the pup from New London. He is one of us, and, from what I heard from his alpha...a damn good guy."

"Wait...He-"

"You checked up on me?" I chuckled as I leaned back against the wall.

"Yeah. I kinda needed to. See who I was working with. I could tell you had a clue about our kind...plus I could smell your family on you. The Doc remembered your name and told me to look around the northeast." He grinned. "I say that name to a friend of mine up in Boston and he immediately directed me to this...Seamus?"

"I guess I cannot blame you. I would have done the same. But yeah. I'm the one that got stuck into that whole cluster with the terror group up north. And yeah...I'm also an abnormal wolf and guinea pig. Apparently I had some Lycan blood on my mother's side." I left out the part where that blood was from a serial killer.

"Sharon, let's give Agent Hart the benefit of the doubt. We'll go from there." He held her close before she just nodded.

"I've gotta head back and deal with the fallout. Suffice to say there is going to be a full investigation and I'll be making certain that every member of my team learns from this. This is Lt. Witters from Miami Dade. He's one of the local cops that are assigned to this case. He's new to this, so be nice. Neil's gonna be with a cop until he is released and he'll end up in front of a judge for preliminary stuff here. We're gonna try and get it all through quickly."

"If you don't mind, Agent," Breckenridge offers me a small card, eliciting a small chuckle as I see it. "My card."

"Luther Breckenridge and Associates. So...a Lycan law firm?"

"Yeah. Do mostly real estate and IP law, but some minor criminal stuff for pack members." He put up a hand. "Only ones that I can trust are being truthful. I'll be defending the kid."

"As I said, have him help us and we can probably get this all nice and neat. I'll give the DA a heads up though."

"It all started because he wanted to get information to police. That is still the plan. It'll just go through me from now on."

"That's fine. He's still in custody for the unlawful detainment. We'll get him in front of a judge as soon as we can when the hospital releases him if that is good with you. He's not what worries me around here and I want the distraction gone."

Luther smirked. "I like the way you think."