Receiving the call from Rickle, Dean had left his home almost immediately. He had only taken a small backpack filled with just enough to last him five days or so.
Then in his wallet he carried a photo of his family all out together at a fast-food restaurant. Gary’s mouth was covered in ketchup, while Amy was pointing and laughing as a child.
Dean himself had a disgruntled look while Maya had a beautiful smile, she was laughing at the whole situation. It was one of Dean’s most treasured photos.
Eventually, before he knew it, his feet had taken him back to the tier 2 city, where one of the bases of NIRV was located, where he had met Rickle.
‘NIRV sure has grown in a short time, they have these facilities in some of the tier 1 cities now as well. I wonder why Rickle, one of the founders, is here in a tier 2?’
Dean hadn’t kept up with a lot of news regarding the world. They were in a tier 3 town, and he was too focused on just his family and trying to get by.
It made him realize why the general public would complain about the situation all the time, yet doing nothing to try and change it.
It was simple, they had too many problems and their families as well as themselves to take care of. There was no time to try and make a big change.
Only those that had the financial means and great power could afford to do such things.
Entering the facility, Dean didn’t know what to do. He was three days early leaving his family, knowing it would be harder for him if he stayed.
‘Should I just stand here until something happens?’
“I thought you would do this.” A voice said from behind.
Turning his head it was as if Rickle had appeared out of nowhere. Knowing what this man was, and what he currently wasn’t, it scared him.
“We worked together for a while, and I got to know your personality, so I thought I would be seeing you soon. I was just sitting in those seats by the side of the building over there.”
“Anyway, come on, we have important things to work on.”
Dean followed, curious as to just what this important thing was, and what would happen that would tear him and his family apart from each other for so long.
When Dean had entered the private lab of Rickle, he noticed that most of it looked the same. There was a familiar feeling as the layout was just like it was before.
The various equipment that was littered around the room were at various stages of development, some looked to have come along more than others.
The sign of a genius man that had too many ideas that he was working on at once.
Then finally, Dean saw it, the container. The large fur was floating in the container just as it had before. He imagined it had been this way for many years, but there was a large difference in this compartment.
Several prodded wires seemed to have been injected into the fur. While next to it there was a giant server of some kind on the outside with a terminal, and then oddly a large glowing container.
Which looked to be the same as when the fur had been removed from him, a vat of glowing liquid that came from that of a nest crystal.
“Is that why you called me here, is it to do with that?” Dean asked, and gulped.
His promise was to do anything for Rickle, and he lived a great life because of that, so he agreed he was in debt.
However, as a human and not a Werewolf, how could he help?
“That.” Rickle shook his head. “No, the reason I called you, it doesn’t have directly to do with that. I’m sorry though, I will have to remove you from your family for a while.”
“You know I have a family?” Dean asked.
It didn’t come as a surprise, but Dean wanted it to be, to still show some type of reaction.
“I needed to keep tabs on you in case I needed you, and besides, part of experimentation is to continue to observe for a period of time after results are completed.”
“Alright, I guess I can accept that.” Dean answered knowing that he really had no choice. If anything, he was sure he had made the right choice in not trying to run away.
“The reason I have called you is because you and I are going to be quite busy for a while, and I’m going to need an assistant to stay by my side.” Rickle explained.
“Wait, what?” Dean replied back. “But, I can’t fight, and I’m not a researcher, surely someone else can help you other than me. I would be less than useless.”
“All of what you said is true.” Rickle replied with no hesitation. “But what I need your help with only you can help with.”
“For you see, this matter is something that concerns your race and mine.” Rickle explained.
Thinking about it for a short while, Dean finally came up with an answer.
“Vampires and Werewolves?” Dean replied.
“Correct, you see, right now there is high tension between the two, and a battle is imminent between the two races.”
“Although the vampires are a larger force and perhaps stronger than the Werewolves at the moment, there is no doubt in my mind that both sides would take a significant hit, which is something that we can’t afford.”
“Which is why we will get involved. I know a lot about the vampires and how they work. While you, the brother of the current Alpha leader of the Werewolves, know a lot about Lupus and his group as well.”
“The two of us will work side by side from the shadows, intervening in ways that neither side can understand, and do whatever we can to stop a war from breaking out!” Rickle said. There wasn’t a hint of hesitation in his voice, he was dead serious about the matter.