Left alone for several agonizing moments, overhearing some far off conversation in the distance, Jeremy was left squirming in his chair. He was  searching through the cameras for any sight of the Mystic to occupy his time, the recent attack put him on high alert.

 

He would occasionally see a moment of colored fur before it was gone. It did seem like it was testing for a way in, though he was left without any idea. The doors here were air tight, and if it tried to get through the air vents it would be caught in the purifiers as a forigen particulate. It’s best chance would be to get through when the drones left the hanger.

 

As he thought about how he would prevent the lupine sneaking in, the conversation suddenly stopped. The taps of boots on carpet

 

“Friend Jeremy is fine,” Cecil finally answered back, a long sigh coming from Jeremy as he could cross off another stresser. Now he just had to deal with the infernal scratching coming from one of the cameras. Jeremy could only guess what the Mystic was trying to do. “What are you doing?” His voice was lowered yet sharp, like an MP seeing the end result of an unwise night on the town.

 

“Can’t say right now,” Jeremy responded. “Get on a secured line, then we’ll speak more on it.” He knew there was no way that didn’t sound suspicious, but he was comfortable in the knowledge that Cecil wasn’t going to go around his back on him and rat him out.

 

“This isn’t like the shopping cart, is it?” Cecil asked with a cheery tone and Jeremy flinched. A pregnant pause left the two in flux as the ranger thought how to answer that. He sighed - there was no way of talking out of this one.

 

“Yes. Yes, it is,” Jeremy said with a defeated tone.

 

“Cecil will call you in an hour. Don’t die before then. See you then, friend Jeremy.” 

 

“See you then, Cecil,” was all Jeremy got in before the call was cut. He placed the phone back into his pocket, looking at the screen in his hand as he watched the animation for an ended call tell him to have a good day. Cecil was a good friend by him, and he didn’t like playing these kinds of games with him. In an hour, he could say with certainty that he would have answers.

 

Down a narrow hallway from the main room were more doors, most of them part of the minimal requirements to shelter a small party in emergency situations. Despite the advertisements for the sunny days and crystal clear night time skies, there was no shortage of inconvenient storms. A closet armory was his first destination, a little bit of giddiness overtaking him as he had full access to that deadly arsenal, and beside that was the garage where the drones laid dormant and awaiting orders.

 

As Jeremy put thought into how he’s supposed to deal with the monster still trying to make its way inside, his eyes drifted farther off down the hallway. A wooden barrier had been left there -crisscrossing two-by-fours held up by long barn nails imbedded into the concrete. It separated the rest of the base from a stairway leading down to the empty hallways below, a perfect place to get lost in. Although nothing could have gotten inside the tunnels below, he still felt a chill go down his spine as he thought of some monster wandering the maze. Searching for prey.

 

The ranger pulls his bloodied knife out of its holster and examined the slick ichor across the serrated blade. It could be wounded, which gave Jeremy some relief from the dread that had buried into his chest. His mind wheeled as he mused over it, he realized that the lupine did have a physical form when it was trying to push through the front door. Meanwhile, the Mystic seemed hardly desturbed by the .45 ACP round that passed through its mist like body when it was chasing him through the brier patch. 

 

But there was an effect. The mist dispersed when the vivid monster was hit and it acted like it was hit by the round. It was not invincible to physical effects, but its mist-like body meant it could only be shaken by force. If he had a way to force into a physical form, then he could put an end to this cat and mouse game.

 

Jeremy chuckled at the mental image that the lupine beast could be defeated by a particularly large fan. He wiped the bloodied blade on his blue jeans, and made a mental note to wash out the holster as soon as he had access to spare water.

 

The armory did have an answer, thankfully. Locked in a cabinet, an ammo box with a yellow painted-on with a symbol on the front of a black circle violently breaking apart. He didn’t need to see the side to know “explosive rounds” was written in big black block lettering. The cabinet unlocked as he swiped his identification card over it’s keypad, and he hoisted one of the boxes out to dig into the shells. 

 

Jeremy gave a manic grin as he stole a few of the shells from the box and fitted them onto his vest’s bandolier. If there way anything that was going to force the Mystic to a stop, it was the rending force of these miniature bombs fired into the lupine’s skull. He just needed to make sure to not frag himself in the process. 

 

That still left how he was going to get it to hold still for him to reduce its face to a puddle. Despite their rabid, single-minded hatred for humans and even their reckless actions to kill them, Jeremy would not call the Mystics stupid. Tactless and mad, sure, but they were capable in hunting their prey and seeing traps. There wouldn’t be such a demand for their service if it any two-bit weekend warrior could do it.

 

If there was a way to get the mad beast’s guard down, it would be while trying to catch him. Jeremy’s frown reached a zenith as he had dark thoughts about staring down the technicolor monster and the grizzly demise one false twitch would result in, and a storm cloud of annoyed anger and resigned hopelessness settled in. He hated being the bait. He didn’t work so hard on this job just so he’d end up being the bait again.

 

That would come later. He left the armory and walked toward the hangar.