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Reunion: Chapter 10

They were looking for him. No, they were hunting him and were very close to getting him. There was no escape anymore. Nowhere to run. He was tired of running, physically exhausted and mentally falling apart. The small part of his brain that controlled his ability to reason and make him control himself was giving in to his anger at being followed and prodded for days now.

Adrian was beyond pissed. Cornered inside the recently vacated canning factory which was located in an entirely unfamiliar part of the slums, he waited for the military to come. It may have seemed that they were pulling back since he had been able to rest up a bit, undisturbed, for nearly an entire day, but he knew that they were just biding their time.

Using his ability to know where all living things were in a large radius, he could almost see them just waiting. Waiting for what though. Normally drones had been sent in, semi-sentient machines of war that were invisible to his scanning ability since they weren't alive at all. Not even those had been sent out and that worried him.

He was completely surrounded. The building and the surrounding area had been forcible vacated. The people who worked and lived around the factory had packed their things and left. Some left when it became clear that the military was moving in, they were able to bring along most of their belongings. Others were either stubborn or unaware of what was happening and they were forced out with little time to gather their belongings.

Now the military, a mixture of Dog Catchers and Marines were settling in for the long haul. It was a bone-a-fied siege of the building. Every street, every escape route and opening was covered with guns, all pointing at the building. They didn't have orders to kill, just to contain and they were happy to do just that.

Over the past week, many of the soldiers had experienced what it was like to hunt a class 5 Canis. People being lifted off the ground for apparently no reason and flung about. Random from the size of toasters to entire buildings were flung about. So far there hadn't been anything that the Canis couldn't lift and fling at the soldiers chasing him and those lucky enough not to be maimed knew that keeping their distance while still pressing their target to move was key and their persistence paid off. Now with orders to sit tight, they watched the building.

The chase had cost a few lives, but not nearly as many as had been expected by the military. People lost limbs and had bones broken, but due to Adrian's resolve to not become some mad killer, deaths only came rarely. It was unavoidable when a small part of town experienced an 8.5 earthquake. Now that was going to change. Adrian did not want to be taken away to where ever they planned to take him. While it would have been easier for everyone for him to just lay down and give up, he wasn't that kind of person. Very few Canis gave up, living under the thumb of oppression and poverty had created a hardy breed of people that were persistent in their goals and determination. This attitude was driving Adrian and now that he had no escape, he was going to fight back. Like a cornered animal, he was at his most dangerous now.

He mentally prepare himself. There was a lot he could use inside of the factory to help him, lots of lose objects to be used as projectile and if he had to, the whole building, maybe more. He didn't like picking up people because that made him invade their minds and it was often filled with fear. He had yet to probe into a mind of a soldier that was being lifted up by him that wasn't filled with fear and confusion. It made him feel dirty and wrong. It was that human aspect of killing that got to him so he began to favor the use of projectiles. He didn't have to delve deep into the head of anyone to throw something at them, he didn't need to see their thoughts about vengeful gods, mothers and loved ones as they prayed to be saved or sent regard to loved one in what they believed to be their last moments. Luckily, he wouldn't have to worry about that in the next batch of Dog Catchers that were coming for him. Even if he were able to read their minds, he would only get images of sick and perverted minds.

A ship darted overhead. Adrian looked up at the sound of it from his hiding spot in the manager's office that was in the heart of the factory. He had known that it was coming for some time. He felt the minds of the people inside of it, though it was fuzzy as if someone had raised up a distorted glass screen over it. He couldn't tell how many people were onboard, nor could he lock onto any of them which confused him slightly, but he quickly blamed it on fatigue. There was no point in him lingering on it, he couldn't bring down the ship unless he could see it and it never came into view so he just hunkered down, occasionally looking out the window down onto the wide open work floor where he had a great field of view of anyone who tried to get close.

Near the edge of the perimeter that had been set up, the ship that Adrian had heard landed in an empty city square that was being used as a temporary landing pad. When the shuttle doors opened and revealed its cargo to the on duty officer, he was surprised at the sight. Instead of professional soldiers in crisp combat armor, he was met with a group of 30 raggedy men and women who wore a mix of mismatched military armor and tattoos. He had been told to expect something different, but nothing prepared the man who had spent a decade watching nothing but professional soldiers come and go from his landing pads.

"Sup." A scrawny man in a pair of jeans and no shirt stepped down. He hefted a combat rifle that was half his size and grinned at the officer. He had no hair and a plethora of tattoos on his upper chest and back which he loved to show off whenever possible. The military had insisted that he wear armor so that he wasn't just killed by some random thing, but he had quickly disposed of the chest piece that was given to him. His name of Jean Luc Perri, arrested for the murder of eighteen people through arson, he was a diagnosed lunatic, but then again, everyone that rode in on the ship with him was.

The thirty got off the ship and stood before the officer. They had been told very clearly that they were not to harm any government personnel and most intended to keep that promise since being given guns and freedom was more than worth not touching the people in uniforms. They were there for one reason, getting the Class 5 that was holed up half a kilometer away.

"I'll handle this." General Corrin walked to the speechless officer and dismissed him. He was slightly disgusted that he was handing the job of his Marines to convicts that had been put under the scalpel to make use of their mental instability. They may have been resistant to the powers of psionics, but they would always be criminals to him.

"You in charge around here." Jean spoke up and got uncomfortable close to the general that fought an urge just to have the people shot right then and there. Jean, who had been rated as the most capable of representing the Elite Dog Catchers was the man who did all of the talking. By no means was he considered the leader of them, they were too egotistical to listen to any one person, he just spoke for them.

"Yes I am and you will address me by sir." General Corrin glared down at the man who was more than two heads shorted than him.

"Alright, ssssir." He would play along for the time being. "Where's this mutt that's been giving you so much trouble. We're all itching for some action." Some in the group giggled with anticipation. For many of them, this was the first time they had been outside in years.

"The target is just down that way. You'll know it when cars begin to fly at you." General Corrin pointed down a long road that went straight to the factory. "I am to give you full access to any supplies you need." Though he didn't think they would raid his supply depot. They came with plenty of weapon that fitted their own kind of combat. Some carried knives, others guns, one that was in a rather expensive suit carried a pair of machine pistols. The general was wondering how such undisciplined people ended up before him. Though he wanted to Class 5 for his army more than he didn't like the Elite Dog Catchers.

"Cool." Jean quickly said and began to walk down the street along with the rest of them.

Something was wrong but Adrian couldn't quite figure out what it was. That strange presence of people that he couldn't lock onto was getting close now. A blanket of fuzziness was entering the factory and that scared him. The military was sending something new to him. Even though drones were able to sneak right up on him due to their lack of life, this was something that chilled him to his core. The fuzziness seemed to radiate darkness and horrible thoughts.

"Attention mutt." An amplified voice echoed into the factory. "You've probably heard all the stuff about how you need to surrender and shit, but I'm not going to say any of that." Adrian listened closely to the voice. It had an air of brash confidence that he didn't like. "We're going to come in and get you. Ready or not, here we come." The voice stopped and the fuzziness began to rapidly get closer.

Adrian peaked outside of the window and saw nothing. He knew that whatever had been speaking was inside the factory, but he didn't know exactly where. His senses were entirely useless.

Down below, one of the Elite Dog Catchers had rushed ahead of the others who were taking their time in sweeping the area. They knew exactly where Adrian was due to extensive scans that had been done on the building. This one Dog Catcher was just a bit overzealous and just too impatient. He had been arrested for mowing down a spaceport. He claimed a little voice in his head told him too when he got caught up in a long line and got bored. He had little patience to wait for anyone else, he wanted to see the dog and show him who the master was.

Adrian barely had time to react as the door he had barricaded was blown in with explosives. He had no idea that someone had been right outside of the room.

Scraps of the door and the desk that had once blocked all entry flew by and a few imbedded themselves into Adrian's arm that he raised to shield his face. The pain was intense and it was the final straw for him. He fell back in a daze, but before the craze man was able to come barging in, Adrian sent a bookshelf flying though the gaping, burning hole at very near the speed of sound.

Hearing the explosion, several of the Elite Dog Catcher hurried. The sound of destruction pulling them in like flies. They quickly came across a bloody mess.

Not anticipating much resistance, the man who had rushed ahead had been hit by the flying bookcase full on when he rounded the corner. Unable to move out of the way fast enough or even hope to deflect the object that was made of metal, he essentially evaporated on impact, leaving only a splatter on the wall behind him that was soon itself destroyed an instant later as the bookshelf went through several more walls before finally coming to a rest, bent, mangled and the books replaced with an arm that sat limply on its top shelf.

Even if he had no idea how many or who was attacking him, Adrian was still the most dangerous person there. He would show them what happened when he was pissed. Filled with rage, Adrian marched out of the room to meet his new foe head on.