Chapter 69: Friends in Need I

  “Marcus?” Marcus looked up from his breakfast and into the surprised face of Mrs. Sato. “Hello! Nice to see a familiar face. I already thought nobody I know was left.” Marcus said and offered the woman a place on his table, which she gladly accepted. They exchanged pleasantries and Marcus asked about the general situation “As you can see a lot of people from the first wave are already gone, writing papers and getting famous, no doubt.” she laughed. “I and the other translators are still here for obvious reasons. You are here to give your blood, if I had to guess?” she said with a smile.

  “Already done that, Azaa told me to stay to watch today’s event. But she did not tell me what it was.” Marcus said and Mrs. Sato explained that it was some kind of regular communal event, but the humans had not seen it yet. “You no longer follow Azaa around? When I meet her she was already speaking English so well, I was shocked.” Marcus said and Mrs. Sato exhaled heavily. “It is soul crushing how quickly Azaa has learned English. I’m considered a quick learner but I’m still a beginner in “ginghi nama”. She, on the other hand, is already fluent and did it on the side while still taking care of all her other duties.” Marcus nodded, Azaa was really something else.

  The big event started two hours later in the largest square of the city. The whole place was packed with people, maybe ten thousand. Marcus and Mrs. Sato went there together but stayed far in the back, not sure what was about to happen. There was a large stage and Marcus expected a performance of sort and when a few minutes later half a dozen ginghi walked on stage he felt he was on the right track. All of them wore ritualistic robes with red symbols and their faces were painted white. Marcus remembered this get up very well, and now Azaa walked on stage too, under the applause of the people. Even with her face painted Marcus could easily recognize her. She was tall and had a longer neck and a more petite body than most around her.

  Azaa began to speak and the crowed went absolutely silent. Her voice easily carried over the square and while she spoke the other painted ginghi presented objects and also large paintings. “This is unexpected.” Mrs. Sato whispered next to Marcus. “This is some kind of public information performance. They explain and teach things.” She said and Marcus nodded without looking away from the stage. He could not understand the words but eventually humans were shown on pictures and information about Earth was shared. The whole event lasted for over two hours and in that time many topics were explained, including knowledge of the past and other worlds.

  As the performance came to an end Azaa spoke up once more and a massive cheer went through the crowd. Marcus was about to ask Mrs. Sato what Azaa had said but then he saw and understood. The Great Protector walked on stage and waved to the people. He looked even more powerful now, compared to last time, and he wore deep red clothes and some kind of silver crest around his neck. The white material that had covered one of his arms and his neck had vanished and he looked very healthy.

  The ginghi were ecstatic and shouted and waved but the tall man raised his hand and spoke. His voice was like thunder, deep and powerful. Marcus got goosebumps and the crowd was silent again. But it was a feverish silence, each ginghi staring unblinkingly to the Protector and listen to his words, afraid to miss even one syllable. Marcus turned to Mrs Sato who looked like she had been turned to stone. Understandable, Marcus thought. After five minutes the performance was over but the large man did not leave but stepped right into the crowd and lifted up two kids and put them on his shoulders. He walked towards one of the large streets leaving the square and now the sound of instruments filled the air and the crowd was following him. It was suddenly a festival.

  Marcus stayed back because he felt this was a very important moment for the ginghi and he did not want to disturb their joy. Besides he could see that there was a lot of tasty food he could not eat. What a bummer.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Marcus said goodbye to Mrs. Sato and prepared to leave the city. He had hoped to say goodbye to Azaa too but she had vanished in the crowd and Marcus had a hunch she would be very busy for the rest of the day. He put on his armor again, you can never be too cautious and made his way back. No doubt some humans would have made recordings of the Protector and Marcus wondered if this was as much for the ginghi as it was for the humans. Now, humanity would know for certain that the ginghi had an incredible protector. Maybe he interpreted too much into this, Marcus thought.

  The trip back was quick and without problems, and less than twelve hours later Marcus payed a taxi driver a lot of money and carried his bags into the estate. The gravel under his boots crunched and Marcus enjoyed the rich smell of the evening air. It also smelled like fried sausages and burger! He increased his pace and walked around the villa instead of going in. On the back of the villa Marcus found a large fire place with comfy chairs and his clan. “I really hope you left something for me.” He said with a smile and the gang cheered and waved to welcome him. As he walked closer he realized that there was somebody else with them. At first he did not recognize the man in his light clothing but eventually “Mr. Cullen! What are you doing here?” Marcus asked pleasantly surprised. The older man got up and greeted Marcus with a hearty hug. “You are looking very good Marcus. Your friends have been so kind to invite me to stay while I was waiting for your return.” He said and Marcus looked around. People were happy and relaxed but Janette’s face showed something else. Worry.

  Marcus got rid of his bags and changed into proper “relax at home” clothing and joined the rest at the fire pit. Luckily they had planed for him and besides sausages, meat, bread, they also had salads and soda drinks. After he had a good amount of food and shared the news from the ginghi (Cullen had already been informed by the team...its gonna be public soon anyway) he sat down next to Cullen and waited to be told the bad news. Eventually Cullen focused on Marcus and Janette moved her chair up too. “To be honest, me being here is a desperate action. There are not many people I can trust right now, especially in the LCPS. I know you two and I hope you will hear me out.” Cullen said and Marcus quickly asked “Is Russo okay?” Cullen nodded “Luca is fine, for now. He was the one who advised me to search you two out. But I can not drag him into this. It is too dangerous.” He said and by now the rest of the clan had gathered around them too.

  Cullen looked around and then told his tale. “A few weeks back my team encountered an interesting monster on a defense mission and after we killed it I was interested in researching it. I hoped it might hold valuable ingredients for my class or for general use. As you know corpses are being gathered and automatically sold off by the LCPS. But before that happens they are stored in special facilities. High security, cold storage, that kind. When I tried to find the corpse in storage it was gone.” Cullen took a gulp of water and Marcus and Janette shared looks. “At first I thought it had been sold off already but after investigating I found out that it never reached the facility in the first place. According to documentations it did not exist. Following this revelation I started to make some calls to unit leaders and compared their statements with the inventory. Dozens of corpses did not show up in the listing.” He said and Marcus mind started racing. Something like that can only happen if there is large scale corruption.

  “That was when somebody tried to kill me for the first time. They obviously failed, I did not get the chance to identify my attacker, but it was a class holder for sure.” Cullen said without showing any reaction to the fact that a killer was after him. “The first time?” Janette asked. “Yes, after I tried to raise awareness of the problem I was told the situation would be investigated. But all that happened was my car being blown up and later a masked person tried to cut me in half. That was the moment I went underground together with my whole team. I honestly do not know who I can trust in the LCPS right now. But I, well my team and I, need help to figure this out. I have enough money to hire you two but it is dangerous and to be honest-” Cullen said as Achara stopped him “What do you mean two. We are not going to sit here while you risk your lives.” The clan members all nodded and Marcus was not surprised.

  “We will all go.” Janette said and looked at Cullen “Don’t worry about the payment we will take all the loot from the cold dead hands of those corrupt bastards.” The clan cheered. One thing came to Marcus mind “What about Brahms? You should be able to trust him, not?” he said and Cullen shook his head “Ron is officially off world for months now. I have tried to find out what he is doing but only found dead ends. It is more than unusual that a LCPS commander would leave Earth for months. I fear the worst.” and Cullen looked sad. “The people behind this are ruthless killers and if they think you know too much they will silence you, no matter how far you run.”

  “Well, that makes it easy. We will just kill them all.” Grace said and there was a cold fire in her eyes that told Marcus she meant every word of it.