Chapter 353: Tucking in your chairs

Esper Denvers turned out to be the woman who was carrying Kellen, and the woman leading the team inside. No, they weren’t sisters, they were married, and when Kellen and the woman who had carried him were landing inside of the building, the woman in charge was explaining that to the crew there.

Kellen and her wife just happened to arrive at the perfect time. Instead of being strange, Kellen nodded, gave a thumbs up, and asked no follow up questions. He was glad that the two married women were working together.

Why the fuck would it matter to him? As long as they were good at their jobs, he didn’t care.

The second Esper Denvers was a brunette to the blonde of the Flying Esper who had brought him in. She had short hair, shorter than even Hill’s hair, in a buzz cut style and piercing eyes. She’d broken her nose a few times, and she was just as ripped as Hill. Her eyes were orange as well, and Kellen wondered if maybe she was one of the women that Hill was competing against when it came to being the strongest in the world.

He asked, because he was curious, and her eyes lit up at the mention of Karen Hill.

Turns out, yes, they were competing, and Hill was often trailing behind her. The Flying Esper Denvers chuckling, seemingly amused by how happy her wife got when Hill was brought up, and Kellen was glad that he was able to make her laugh in these trying times.

Because everything after that was no laughing matter.

As soon as the Healer arrived, curtesy of Sergei and the Flying Esper Denvers, things were moving. The team that they had worked together often, so it was only Kellen and the Healer who weren’t familiar with the group. That was fine, Kellen was often the outsider when it came to leading groups, so he was able to adapt well.

The Healer? Not so much, but that was fine. They were being cared for.

Kellen seemed to impress the other Esper Denvers with his ability to adapt, and as they made the slog upwards towards where almost everyone he cared about was stuck, she watched him closely. It was clear that she had been informed of who Kellen was, and that she had probably watched the assassination attempt, but he hadn’t worked away from his front lines. So unless her people and the people around her had come there, he’d never worked with them.

She watched as Kellen tended to the others from the sideline, protected others even if it was something as simple as tripping, and picked up the slack when it came to watching their backs. They had no intruders jump out at them, but Kellen was careful. The Healers had set up traps after all, who was to say that someone else hadn’t?

Over all, she was impressed with him, and so maybe that was why she dropped her guard. Kellen had, after all, promised Sergei that he wouldn’t cause problems and would be on his best behaviour. Kellen had agreed, He had wanted to follow along with what he said to Sergei too, but something in his gut told him that something wasn’t right as they went up to the third floor, only two floors away from where everyone was.

Kellen looked around, his gut beginning to tingle as his head went up and he began to scan the area. They were clearing out rooms as they went, doing the same methodical clearing that Kellen and the others had been doing, but something felt...odd. Strange about this place.

They had every reason to be justified in their worries that Kellen was going to act without the group.

Kellen split off between one second and the next, disappearing into a room that they had already cleared but Kellen didn’t think that was the case.

It was an office space. Simple. Regular. Had a desk, office chair, a bookcase and a small chair in the corner. It was more functional than anything else. It wasn’t a place of comfort like the other offices he’d found in Guild buildings, but then again, that was fine. It was okay.

But that wasn’t what was bothering Kellen right now.

The air felt electric as soon as he stepped inside. Something was making his hair stand on end, and as Kellen moved around the room, he couldn’t put a finger on why. He’d only been in there 30 seconds when Esper Denvers, the leader of the group, stopped in the doorway.

"Guide Woods. You promised that you wouldn’t do this." She warned and Kellen grunted in agreement, his expression focused.

"I know. I do, but..." Kellen swallowed. He looked around the room. Trying to figure out what was wrong. What wasn’t he seeing? "Something’s not right." He said seriously. She laughed. She shifted her weight, leaning on her hip as her grip adjusted on the gun she was holding.

"Something feels wrong? Are you crazy? Or is Captain Thatcher’s powers rubbing off on you?" She joked. Cass frowned, knowing that she was completely right to think something like that. It was honestly his family, friends, and everyone around him who were crazy for believing Kellen for as long as they had.

That was a normal reaction to Kellen’s strange behaviours.

"Probably." Kellen answered cryptically. Kellen paced around the room before he moved towards the desk. The chair was pushed in but it wasn’t until Kellen was going to turn back towards the door to leave that he realised something. Something that was so minor that it was expected to be overlooked.

The chair wasn’t pushed all the way in.

Feeling a shiver run down Kellen’s spine, he gulped and reached for the chair.

Carefully, feeling like the world might end if he wasn’t holding himself in absolute control, Kellen pulled the chair out just a few inches and froze.

"Esper Denvers." Kellen called, and she stared at Kellen as he stood perfectly still.

"What’s wrong, Guide Woods?" She asked, the humour still in her voice, but quickly fading at the seriousness in his face.

"Do you know how to diffuse a bomb?" He asked. Esper Denvers froze, before she swore.

"Don’t move, Guide Woods! Stay right there!" She barked and Kellen didn’t even nod. He stayed where he was, staring at the bright red light under the table, staring at him like a glowing eye. He knew one person who could deal with bombs, but he wasn’t here right now. Kellen blinked slowly, controlling his breathing, being as even and calm as possible as he heard Esper Denvers order more thorough checks of the lower floors and also bark orders to get someone from the ground who can diffuse bombs here immediately.

All the while, Kellen stared, stock still, at the bomb before him.

He’d seen bombs before, of course, but never active ones. After all, who the fuck would think to use bombs in gates? It wasn’t exactly the most reasonable thing to do, especially if you were mining the resources and wanted to do so for a long time.

No, the bombs that Kellen tended to deal with were the human-shaped ones, those that Surged instead of ticked down in silence. Kellen couldn’t even see a timer on this one, which only made things worse.

What was this for? What was the purpose? And how long had this been planted here?

Kellen was beginning to think two things at this moment. One, his Aunt Dina had let a little too much slip in her grief, and two, she needed a smaller, more secure building after this. Everyone was probably of the same mind as well.

This was a good warning to all of the Captains in the area. If you leave too much open, there is a high chance that the E.A.G. will take advantage of it.

Kellen knew that it was going to be an awkward conversation, but hell, at this point, he’d take awkward over another incident like this any day.

Kellen had to wait a while, frozen in place, before anyone showed up to help him. Of course, Esper Denvers was checking on him, along with the Healer. Both were making sure he was okay, even if Esper Denvers’ checked on him with a frown. It was fine, Kellen had gone back on his word of not acting on his own, but if he hadn’t found this, who knew what could have happened?

It turned out that there was a bomb on each level below them as well, which then had the rest of the crew down below panicking because maybe that meant that there were bombs on each level. Kellen couldn’t soothe them, dealing with his own crisis, but the good news was that they prioritized getting Kellen and the bombs on the upper level dealt with because if they could free Rhys from whatever was going on, he could potentially freeze the bombs and they would have more time to handle the situation.

So, it was only a long 20 minute wait after Kellen found the first bomb that a squad actually showed up to disarm the bomb that Kellen was protecting. They had to deal with the two bombs below him first, and apparently someone else had found a bomb on this level as well.

Kellen hated that, but it was the E.A.G. that they were dealing with after all. Kellen just did as he was instructed when the team came in, swapping places with a professional, and he was finally escorted out into the hall where he had a moment to rest, before he moved towards where the other bomb was found.

That bomb was also tucked behind the desk in the room, and Kellen waited with them in the doorway while the team dealt with his bomb, and then came to help disarm this bomb.

Moving was going to get slower, more methodical, but at least they were able to deal with the problems as they arose. Kellen’s skin itched. This just...it didn’t feel like they were even scratching the surface of what was going on.

What was he missing here?