Blood Sisters
Chapter 16

Paul had been biting his tonguefor several minutes now as Deputy Attorney General Carl Welkowitzcontinued his phone call reprimand. “This whole operation has beena debacle, Paul. I have to admit I am having some lack of confidencehere” Welkowitz said grimly. “All of your Marshals have failed,three of them injured to one degree or another, with nothing to showfor it”. Paul was steamed, but just sat and took it like a goodsoldier. “We have all kinds of property damage, bad press, and fourdangerous fugitives still on the loose”. The DAG just kept venting“and somehow, Jenny Goldstar has gotten even more caught up inthis, which means Miss Liberty and Marty Goldstar are going to getinvolved whether we like it or not, and with the goddam New Humanroyal family in the mix, there will be even MORE media coverage ofthis mess”.

Paulfinally got an opportunity to speak as Welkowitz took a breath. “Sir,you are absolutely correct, the Special Marshals were unprepared forthe challenge presented by these fugitives, especially consideringMiss Goldstar's unanticipated involvement”. The DAG grunted. Paulpressed his moment “I can only do so much with four agents, sir...”Welkowitz broke in with annoyance “That again, Paul, your bringingthat up now?!” Paul kept on calmly “If anything, sir, what isoccurring illustrates the need for it even more. I have thought of acompromise sir, give me the authority to deputize more marshals on atemporarybasiswhen we have a crisis like this”. On the other end of the line theDAG grimaced “...and naturally, your going to want more budgetallocation to pay for them”. Paul snorted “Well, sir, I don'tthink I could get many qualified volunteers”. Welkowitz sighed.“Okay fine, D-Day, I will authorize that. We'll work out thedetails later. In the mean time, I am sending in a man from the JoinMeta-Human Task Force to coordinate the current situation. I orderyou to give him your full cooperation, do you understand, Marshal?”.Paul gritted his teeth and muttered under his breath “son of a...fuck”. “Do. You. Understand, Marshal?” the DAG repeatedinsistently. “Yes, sir”. “Very well, Paul. Keep me posted.Don't let me down”. Paul sighed “I wont sir, thank you sir”.“Goodbye Paul” and the click struck like a gavel in Paul's ear.

Paul sent a message over the Commsystem to his marshals to assemble at Ft. Miles for debriefing laterthis afternoon. Then he began searching through his database andRolodex for New Humans he might be able to call in to help. The hoursdragged on. D-Day started to wonder he had not heard from MissLiberty yet. Something about that worried him.

More time passed and Paul keptworrying about Allison. It was getting too distracting, and he had alot of work to do. He finally picked up his headset and sent out acall to Allison. Several moments passed, there was steady beeping inPaul's ear as the comm system tried to connect. D-Day was just aboutto give up when he heard the signal go through. “This is Liberty,hello D-Day”. There was a cool tone to her voice that Paul hadrarely heard. He hesitated, trying to decide how to approach this.“Um... Liberty, have you heard from... Jenny at all?”. Silence.“I am told that she has started going by Miracle now, D-Day. We mayas well get used to it”. Paul raised a brow at that, he wasn'texpecting that reaction. “OK, have you heard from Miracle,Liberty?” he asked. She replied coolly “I'll let you know,D-Day”. Paul grunted, for Allison Ashton, that was downrightevasive. “I... Allison, I am sorry that your family has gotten somessed up in all of this”. Paul could hear the wind whipping byMiss Liberty's earpiece, she was in flight, somewhere. “Paul, Iknow none of this is your fault. Your a good man. Don't worry, we'reokay, more then okay. Jenny is alive because of you. When thingssettle down, we'll have a talk”. Paul sighed “I didn't knowanything about...” Allison interrupted “I know you didn't Paul,please, lets save it for later. Liberty out.”

Paul sat in the quiet for severalminutes. He got up, made a fresh pot of coffee and got back to work.D-Day had just gotten his focus back to the task at hand and wasfeeling productive when his inside line buzzed. “What now” hegrumbled. “What?!” D-Day snapped into the phone. He winced whenhe heard his own voice. “Sorry, This is D-Day, how can I help?”.“Um, Sir this is Sargent Bales at the West Gate. I have... well,Mike Dallas' brother is here, he wants to see you”. Paul closed hiseyes and took a breath. “Yeah OK, have him escorted to theMarshal's Ops center”. There was an unexpected silence. “Sargent?”Paul said. “There is one other thing, Sir. Mr. Dallas... flew here,under his own power Sir. He was... on fire Sir”. D-Day's mouthdropped open. Mark Dallas is a New-Hum? What the hell... hethought. “That's all-right Sargent, we have a few people like thataround here. Have him escorted up”. “Yes Sir” the phoneclicked.

Fifteen minutes later, a Ft.Miles MP escorted Wildfire into Paul's office. Mark was wearingnothing but a standard issue poncho. Paul missed a beat at that, thenstood. “Hello, Mr. Dallas. Please have a seat...” The MP cut in“Sorry Sir, but I have to bring to your attention that this man hasno identification, we only have Srg. Bales recollection of this manfrom several years ago sir, when Mr. Dallas visited his brother,Sir”. Paul asked “Well, how does Srg. Bales know you... Mr.Dallas?” Wildfire smirked and answered in his Texas twang “We allwent out for beers and bowling mister”. Paul nodded. “Do you haveanything that can help us verify who you are?”. Mark shook his headyes “Why, yes I do sir. You see, we got quite a drunk on, and,well, we all got these tattoo's on our backsides”. Mark showed himbefore Paul could say anything. The MP shook his head, somewhatbewildered. “Srg. Bales can speak to it mister D-Day, shur-nuff”.Wildfire said, completely at ease.

Paul suppressed a laugh, andbesides, this man looked a lot like his brother. He waved off the MP.“Its okay Corporal, I'll take responsibility”. The MP noddedaffirmatively and took his leave, shutting the office door behindhim.

Paulmotioned to Mark to have a seat at the table in his office andoffered him a cup of coffee, which he declined. Paul went to sit nextto Mark at the table. “Mr. Dallas” Paul began”. “Please callme Mark”. Paul gave a quick nod “Please call me Paul”. The twomen shook hands. “Mark. I wish I has something more to offer youthen just to say how much I am sorry for, and regret, your brothersdeath. I did not know Mike that well. But perhaps you can help mewith that”. Wildfire gave a small shake of his head “shur-nuff,we'll go have a beer for him together, I'll tell ya some goodstories”. Mark gave a grim smile. Paul continued “I can tell youMark that, well. To be honest, we are doing our best to track downhis killer, but she has fallen in with some other criminals that aremaking that difficult for us. That said, let me also tell youthis...” Paul swallowed and let out some of the rage that he hadbeen stuffing. “Mark, that cold bitch from hell killed sevencorrectional officers, including your brother, on my watch. It willBE a cold day in hell before I stop hunting her down like a mangy,rabid dog. That I promise you, Sir. That I promise”. Mark sniffedonce, and said “Good man, that's how we do it where I come from,friend. Speaking of, Paul. That's the reason I came here to see yout'day. I want to help you out with that. I got a nice fat can ofwhoop-ass right here for that thing, that I just can't wait to openit, if ya follow”.

D-Day automatically started todecline, but then stopped to consider. He rolled his lips up for amoment then leaned forward, looking Mark in the eye. “What is ityou do for a living Mark, do you have any kind of field experience?”.Wildfire said “Well, when I's young, my daddy taught me to shoot,and I helped take care of things 'round the ranch where he worked. Mydaddy also taught me how to fight, but not like ya might think”.Mark had a sour look at that. “I's in the Army, like my brother fora spell, infantry. Did a tour in the Gulf”. Mark smirked. “Now Isell the in-surance”.

Paul took a long look at theother man, taking his measure. “An insurance agent huh, well letsjust skip that part” Paul gave the side of his head a scratch.“Okay, Mark. We might be able to work something out. I am going tohave my assistant give you a little tour, then you can get yourselfcleaned up and get a little rest while I consider this”. Paul gavea small grin “We'll also get you some clothes that wont burn”.Wildfire gave a lopsided smile at that “Well, that'd be muchappreciated, Paul, thank ya”. D-Day nodded and spoke into hisintercom “Private Sanders, come in here please, I have a guest I'dlike you to look after”. Paul filled Sanders in, then said to Mark“We'll talk more later, Mark. I'm glad to meet you”. Paul shookhis hand, then nodded to Pvt. Sanders. He led Wildfire further intothe Ops center.

D-Day sat back in his chair andstarted to think about how to handle this turn of events. He wasstill sitting there a half-hour later when he saw Peregrine hadarrived, early and first as always, for the debriefing, which wasstill more then an hour from now. Paul perked up and signaled her tocome up to see him, then he went back to sit behind his desk.

Lisacame into his office right away in full armor, closed the door, tookoff her flight helmet and had a seat, resting the helmet in her lap.D-Day could never quite get used to how streamlined and beautifulPeregrine's flightarmor was, he took a moment to look it over, thenlooked up at Lisa with a friendly smile. “Hi Paul” she saidwithout preamble “whose the guy in the poncho?”. D-Day gave asmirk and a shake of his head “possibly a new teammate, and...”Paul added grimly “He's Mike Dallas' brother, Mark”. Peregrineclosed her eyes and bowed her head sadly “ah, okay” she saidquietly. “Lisa” Paul tapped on his desk to get her to look up “Ineed your help on another matter. As you know, I have been working ona prototype for an upgraded D-Day armor. Something has come up, and Ineed it ready sooner then expected, much sooner”. Lisa started torespond “um....”. Paul interrupted “I want to replace thearmor's hydraulics with something more like your flightarmor's solidstate system, and I want to improve the efficiency of the jump jets.In addition to all of that, I want your help to finish the design andengineering of a new weapon system that I have on the drawing board”.

Lisa took all that in, then said“Paul, my flightarmor systems are classified... I can only help youso much...” Paul laughed, leaned over and tapped Peregrine'sarmored forearm “Lisa, who do you think came up with the originaldesign of this titanium alloy outer shell here, and the compositekinetic dissipation layer behind it”. Lisa's small mouth opened insurprise “No shit? But your armor is thick steel alloy, and onlyhas a bullet resistant synthetic rubber backing. Don't even get mestarted on your hydraulics and your lousy solid fuel rockets”. Paulnodded with a slight grin “Lisa, my armor suits are OLD” helaughed. Peregrine smiled “Then I would definitely say its wellpast time for an upgrade”. Paul replied “This is true, however,my new set is going to have to wait. The prototype that I havepartially built in my lab, were going to prep it for a full sizedpilot, and that's just the start”. Paul handed over a USB drive“Here are the specs I have come up with so far, look them over, andwe'll get started after the debriefing”. Lisa took the USB driveand stood up, her helmet under her arm “Okay then. Get us sometake-out Paul, sounds like its going to be a long night”. She gavea sly little smile and coyly blinked her big brown eyes. Paulsmirked “you got it kid, now get lost until the meeting”. “That'sCaptain Kid to you, rookie” she jibed back. Lisa left with a bouncein her step, it had been a while since she got to build anything. ToPeregrine, engineering was fun.