Dark Empathy by Archibald Bradford (inspiring books for teens TXT) 📕

“Oh no! But they are alright now?”

Grant smiled at the Minotaur’s concern.

“Oh they’re fine, living the good life actually! I’ve met them a couple times. The pair of them run that compound by themselves, serving mostly to resupply teams passing through on their way someplace else. Not much happens in Fairbright so when Kyle isn’t checking to make sure the locals’ taming licenses are in order he’s either fishing or telling war stories to the kids in the village.”

Seeing the serious look on Milly and Nameless’s faces as they absorbed all of the information, the training officer couldn’t help but chuckle.

“This should be a good assignment for you to cut your teeth on. No indication of lost-tech in the report, and once the bad guys see my Bruti they tend to fold before they get in over their heads.”

“Fuck off.” Volka said at the same time as the grumpy Grizzly.

The big bear girl rumbled a deep growl at the smirking angel, but Volka simply drifted over to stand in front of her.

Before Bruti could react, the Valkyrie stood on the tips of her toes and leaned in to give her a peck on the end of her nose, her golden aura washing over her.

Though they barely knew her, the bashful smile that lit up the bear’s face from the Valkyrie’s presence seemed wrong somehow.

“You are not the first Grizzly I have met, dear Bruti. I befriended a few of your ancestors, long ago, I’m sure you and I will likewise be friends. Won’t we?”

The enormous monster never stood a chance against the angel’s sincerity, the smitten girl nodding slowly, but earnestly.

Though she had to take two or even three strides to keep pace, Nina and the others had caught up to them by that point, the giant giving a little wiggle of her hammer as she voiced her opinion.

“Even if the bear somehow isn’t enough for this shit, I’m here.”

Grant’s pursed his lips in thought as he considered the powerhouse.

“Nina, I don’t doubt that you can handle just about anything we might come up against. But this job is about keeping the peace, not disturbing it. So I’m going to give you a standing order to adhere to whenever you’re in the field with me and my team.”

Her eyes narrowed dangerously and she pointed at Nameless.

“I only take orders from-”

He interrupted her with an agitated wave of one hand.

“Fine, don’t call it an order. But you have to realize that if you screw up, your master gets blamed for it. Right?”

She didn’t say anything, just stared at him with her eyes wide enough for the whole of her red irises to be visible.

The same look she gave anyone she was planning on hurting.

Her glare was deeply unsettling so he didn’t push his luck waiting on a response; though technically his subordinate during Nameless’s field training, she was still a Gigas.

“A-anyways.” He continued with a nervous hitch in his voice; “Going forwards I want you to follow Bruti’s lead. Unless you spot some sort of imminent danger, you are to hang back and just observe.”

She crossed her arms over her breasts, her glare intensifying as her eyes narrowed again.

“Nobody puts baby in a corner.”

He shook his head in bemusement.

“I don’t know what that means.”

The tiny Gigas didn’t bother to clarify, the standoff lasting for another ten seconds or so before Ophelia stepped in, ever the diplomat.

“Dearheart I think what Aegis Semper is getting at, in his own clumsy way, is that you’re our backup for when things get serious. There’s no need for you to deal with every little thing that comes our way, after all.”

At her bond-sister’s words Nina relaxed almost immediately.

“Oh, why didn’t he just say that?”

The senior operative blinked as the weight of the mountain’s glare eased off of him and his eyes went to Nameless for a moment.

“I… thought I did?”

Nameless let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding as the tense situation was resolved and without a word he reached out and gave Ophelia’s shoulder an appreciative squeeze, grateful that she interceded before he had to.

With the standoff over they continued on their way, passing through the city of Garland, only stopping once at the Bastion for some last minute provisions before leaving the city behind.

Chapter 29:Wrong Address

While Nameless and his people were well on their way out of Garland, all the way in Algrade Rebecca was literally running way behind schedule; her delay in the sorting center to find Carol’s parcel had set her back when she already had a full bag of deliveries to make.

As such she wasn’t as careful as she should have been when she arrived at Renaldo’s bakery to deliver Cordelia a parcel from her family in Kettering.

Another innocuous mistake.

“Becks wait! This isn’t the right parcel!” Cordelia called after the bunny’s heels.

She had opened the box without thinking, the weight was close enough to what she had come to expect.

Rebecca turned back, already halfway out the door.

“Oh, whoops, I guess I mixed them up in the sorting center, that one is for Carol! Sorry Cordy!” She giggled.

But the young baker didn’t answer, her attention locked on the metal pieces wrapped in a worn rag that she had pulled out of the box.

A cold weight had settled into her gut as she realized what she was holding.

“Rebecca, you know that Christine studies lost technology?” Cordelia asked slowly, cautiously.

“Yup!”

The bunny nodded blithely, not really paying attention as she rooted through her bag looking for the correct package.

“I’ve seen her text books and I recognize some of these parts.”

“Pieces of a coffee machine?” The bunny joked.

She was still flying high from her success at the sorting center that