298 285: A Plague of Phantoms: Black Crescent Moon I

Logan

"FUCKING! FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!" Cross bellowed as he punched the wall of the hotel, over and over. The traditional Japanese woodwork splintered under the force of his repeated blows.

I was in the presidential suite with the remaining members of my squad: Cross, Oliver, Tyme and Alex. As well as my Dad and President Beaufort. The later we're seated on the couch, my dad hunched over and expressionless while Beaufort sat with a glass of whiskey in his hand while tapping his toe impatiently.

"Cross enough!" Beaufort snapped finally making everyone jump. Cross froze mid-punch and gritted his teeth before turning to face Beaufort.

"You're right enough! We had our asses handed to us! Our people killed! We were fucking humiliated by a fuck shit-cursed splicer!" Cross snapped back. He pointed to the window and glared at Beaufort. "We should be gathering our people and attacking this fucker! Opinion of these puffed up crystal-tards be dammed! Our pride as American's is on the line!"

"And how the fuck do you suggest we do that Cross? You saw that fight between that bastard and the Egyptian queen…how in the hell do we fight against something like that with the forces we have!" Beaufort snapped back and threw his whiskey glass against the wall near Cross head. "HIS EVOS WERE ALREADY TOO FUCKING STRONG BY THEMSELVES AND NOW THE FUCKING BOY CAN FLY, SHOOT FIREBALLS FROM A FUCKING FLINTLOCK, AND FUSE WITH FUCKING EVOS!"

"Lets calm down everyone…" Dad said, getting up and stepping between Cross and Beaufort in case they came to blows.

I highly doubted it would come to that, Cross was a soldier and while he would poke and prod his superiors, he would never go too far. And there was no one more superior than the former General, current president. Cross did the predictable thing and turned on my dad.

"It's your fucking fault! You should have killed the cursed bastard when he was a baby instead of keeping and raising it like it was a fucking human!" Cross growled, pointing a finger accusingly at Dad. I curled my lips into a snarl but didn't say anything since I agreed with him.

'You should have killed him the moment you saw the crystal, dad…why didn't you?!' I thought. It was a question I asked myself many times. Dad looked at Cross calmly but I could see small tics twitching in his jaw.

"What's done is done. All we can do now is plan and think of ways to work around Chase's interference." Dad said.

"Interference? He's our target! We're supposed to kill him!" Cross snapped.

"Is that even possible?" Tyme muttered under his breath. Regardless of that I heard him and worse of all Cross heard him. His head jerked to the face Tyme and a look of pure unadulterated rage stretched across his face. He was in Tyme's face before anyone could react, pushing him against the wall.

"OF COURSE IT'S FUCKING POSSIBLE! HE'S A SPLICER! NOT A FUCKING GOD!" Cross roared in his face.

"CROSS!" I barked and grabbed him by his shoulders, meaning to yank him back. However instead of being able to yank him back like I did basically all day he shrugged my arm off then reared back and slugged me.

I saw stars as I stumble back, managing to catch myself before I fell and hurt myself. I turned to face Cross and saw a large fist flying towards me. I dodged it but only barely, Cross' fist grazing my cheek. I spun on my heel and brought up my elbow, aiming to hit him in the chin and knocking him out in one hit but Cross anticipated this and ducked. My eyes shot downward and I saw the lieutenant glaring up at me and poised to hit me with an uppercut.

"ENOUGH!" Beaufort bellowed, another whiskey glass sailing through the air towards Cross and I. It missed both of us but just barely, and shattered against the wall.

Cross and I both stood up and stepped away from each other, neither of us taking our eyes off each other as we moved. Alex and Oliver moved between us with Oliver standing defiantly in front of me.

"Instead of fighting each other we need focus on fighting the real enemy! Chase Kingston! He is the biggest threat to us and our country! Unless he is killed and his company decimated, all the hard work and sacrifice that our forefathers have made will be undone! By a Filthy splicer! Do you want that?!" Beaufort snapped at both Cross and I.

Cross clicked his tongue and looked away. Beaufort glared at Cross for his insolence, the intensity of the president's glare made Cross shrink slightly.

"No I don't sir!" I replied. Beaufort glanced over at me briefly then locked eyes with Cross.

"Reagan is dead! He died as your subordinate, before your very eyes and all you can do is snarl and growl at everyone around you! I would expect a member of the boarder guard to do better than that. To BE better than this!" Beaufort said firmly. Cross' eyes widened a little and he gritted his teeth at Beaufort's statement. He let out a huff and stood at attention.

"Sorry Mr. President. Won't happen again." Cross said. There was a seething look in his eyes that oddly enough didn't seem like they were directed at Beaufort. Beaufort eyed the lieutenant for a few moments then turned and looked at Dad.

"Can you think of any weakness we can exploit with Chase? Splicer or not he is your son." Beaufort asked. I gritted my teeth at that remark, at the reminder that Chase and I had the same blood.

"After the Ascended's rampage I haven't had any contact with Chase. The Chase I knew from back then is nothing like the Chase we've seen these last two days…he's a whole new person." Dad said.

"People don't change…at least not that easily or that readily." Alex spoke up. Dad turned toward to Alex and nodded.

"I agree but two years isn't a short amount of time." Dad said.

"Are we going to ignore the fact that all this magic bullshit seems to be normal to splicers?" Cross asked, looking to Dad and Beaufort. "The few splicers we have back home in the states could be capable of doing shit like that!"

"I highly doubt that…" I spoke up. Cross turned to me and frowned.

"And what makes you sure of that?" Cross asked in a demanding tone that made me want to slap him but I swallowed that reflex.

"If they were then wouldn't they have done it already. My guess is that they need to be trained on how to use magic or else…" I stopped mid-sentence, letting the unspoken words hang silently in the air.

"Or else he would have killed you years ago…" Dad finished for me. I didn't respond and instead looked away from everyone. Oliver sneered at that comment.

"Impossible…" He muttered under his breath.

I wanted to reprimand him for no reason other than to keep him quiet for a little while but I froze when I heard the sound of running outside the room. There shouldn't have been anyone running up here on the floor. The presidential suite was on the top floor of the hotel and was the only room on the floor. The space outside the room was a hallway that wrapped around the room and had a dozen soldiers stationed outside. I turned and started towards the door and quickly opened it

I was greeted by a handful of panicking soldiers who looked to be arguing amongst themselves over something. Seeing me they all jumped and quickly saluted me. There should have been more soldiers.

"Lieutenant Kingston!" One of the soldiers exclaimed.

"What's going on?" I demanded.

"Intruder sir! In the lobby!" Another soldier explained. My expression hardened and I glared at the soldiers.

"What intruder? Who?" I demanded in a sharp voice. The soldiers all shared a apprehensive look. I heard footsteps coming from behind me and rationalized it was either Alex, Tyme, or Cross. Ignoring whoever was approaching I slammed my fist against the door frame. "Report soldier! Who is the intruder?!"

"Y-y-your brother! Chase Kingston!" The first soldier exclaimed.

"WHAAAAT?!" Beaufort bellowed from inside the room. I heard him stomping towards the door and looked over my shoulder to see Alex standing close beside me and Beaufort barreling towards us. Alex and I both stepped to the side and Beaufort got in the soldiers face. "KINGSTON IS HERE! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT BASTARD DOING HERE?"

"H-he's demanding to talk with you. Mr. President!" The poor soldier replied. Veins bulged in Beaufort's forehead and neck as his face turned beet red in fury.

"THAT CRYSTAL CURSED FUCKER IS WHAT?!" Beaufort bellowed then turned to Dad inside the room. "THOMAS I'M GOING TO MURDER YOUR SON! CROSS, ALEX, TYME, OLIVER, AND KINGSTON WITH ME! THAT FUCKER HAS THE NERVE TO COME HERE AND DEMAND TO SEE ME! I DON'T GIVE A FUCK HOW POWERFUL HE IS!"

Beaufort stormed out of the room and towards the stairs, heading down towards the lobby. My squad quickly kicked into gear and rushed to follow after the president. Beaufort took the stairs two at a time and I had to move just as fast just to keep up with him. For a guy as fat as Beaufort was he moved surprisingly fast.

As we descended to the lower floors of the hotel I saw more and more soldiers rushing down the stairs towards the lobby. More than a couple of the low ranking infantry stopped and saluted Beaufort, Cross or I only to get yelled at by older and more experienced soldiers for stopping in an emergency situation. Beaufort reached the bottom of the stairwell before anyone else and confidently stomped into the lobby.

"CHASE KINGSTOOOOOOON!"