Prologue
Levina Devine was never one who thought about having kids or a family at all. She was destined to bear the Infinite her whole immortal life and spend her days fighting the evils that prowl the universe. It sounds really cliche but thats what she did and have been doing for over 30 years. So when her boss, the Dragoness, signed an anthro child to her against her wishes and strong protests, she was forced to be a mother. It would have been easier if the child was a normal orphan from a orphanage around the universe. But he had to be a computer genius who was wanted by multiple galactic sectors for massive hacking, digital robberies and identity thefts all in the name of survival. Not to mention, he is only 12. Lev spent hours battling the craziest nutcase the universe can throw at her but when Rei, her adorable anthro husky son comes home from boarding school for the summer, Lev is about to experience the most blood boiling time of her life.
The lock mechanism in the door clicked and the door opened slightly, I pushed it the rest of the way and entered the dark cavern of my hall. My arm stretch out to the wall next to the door and found the palm scanner within seconds. Years of living in this house has made it easier to locate anything after all I barely move stuff around because I am barely here. I would not call this place home, its more of a dolled up house for me to store stuff in and sleep at night. Sometimes, I would be at my office several nights a week and out of town during the weekends, So no, this is not a home, it is just a bed with four walls. The scanner beeped and all the lights came to life. I could hear the water boiler buzzing as its program kicked in and the bath tub upstairs being filled. To inhabitants of other planets, these are marvels they have yet to see while to others, it may just as well be outdated. The universe is filled with planets and races that advances at different rates and in my job, I have been to both sides of the spectrum and everything in between. Nothing really amuses me anymore. I think thats what each agent feel after 30 years of service to HQ.
I walked to the living room and toss my coat on the couch and headed upstairs to take my bath.
"Remember to pick your son up at the terminal tomorrow at 10am Lev" Houx reminded me as I climb the stairs. He was the only other 'person' in this house but he was everywhere, all the time. I had forgotten about needing to pick Rei up tomorrow and that is why I have Houx around to remind me of such mundane things. Not that having a son is mundane or anything. In fact, it was a lot of work. After we left that island, I was searching for a good home to put Rei in but none of the systems would take in a wanted criminal and no family wanted to give him a chance but I made a promise with the kid and Dragoness would not let me live it down.
"You insist on the deal with the kid Lev, you had better see it through." "It was the quickest way to get the rest out of danger!" I had protested endlessly. "We are talking about all the lives on that island! I couldn't take any chance when the solution was right in front of me!" "Well, then keep your end of the bargain and find him a home. If you do not find him one, you will have to take him in yourself." She looked at me with those soul sucking eyes of hers and I swear I caught wind of a smirk. I had stomped out of her office and spent the next 3 days calling and conferencing every system in the universe that takes in anthro kids. It was fruitless and by the third day, the Dragoness signed the kid to me as an early Christmas gift. Sometimes, I hate that woman with all my immortal being. Of course it did not end there, I was in the business of fighting evil and did not have time to mother an ex criminal, I pulled some strings and got him into a prestigious boarding school on this planet and shipped him out the following week. It was one of those computer science geek schools for geniuses. Rei would fit in perfectly, given his past records and exploits. Bouski thought I was being heartless and spent the whole month giving me attitude and preaching on how to be a good parent. I couldn't care much, I had other things to worry about. We had to tie up loose ends from the mission on the island and chase down leads. There was also a huge galactic conference going on which the Dragoness was attending and all hands was on deck to make she no one targeted our boss. Who else would sign our pay cheques right?
I took off my clothes and stepped into the bath, the lukewarm water surround me like a blanket of bliss and I just layed there for a while. I conference Rei weekly to just check up on him, an occasional text to see hows he doing and if he needs anything. The replies were always the same, "I'm ok." "Cool" "Great" and so forth. Of course, you would think, sending a computer wizard to a school for others like him would make him oh so happy and complacent. The amount of calls I got from the dean proved otherwise. It seems Rei thought himself smarter and more capable than everyone else and caused mammoth amount of trouble for everyone. It was only because the Dean was a good friend of mine whom I helped in the past that he was still there and not kicked out. That is when our conferences was mostly me going on about how he has to behave and he is no street rut anymore and that sort. He would just sit there and keep quiet while looking down. Never did he say anything back or argued with me. Usually after 10 minutes of ranting, I let it go and we say our goodbyes and I go back to my work. Bringing a child up was tough work.
I combed my hair and walked to my bed. The heater was on and floor was warm and soothing. I do not wear shoes in my house and mostly walked barefooted. I just love how the floor feels against my bare skin. Climbing into bed, I check some email while my hair dry. Short hair was my way to go since I was always out in the field chasing someone or crawling through overgrowth. Soon, I drift off to sleep hugging my wolfie soft toy while Houx turned off all the lights.