“That is true, but I do have quite the skilled Rat Shifters under my command as well,” Marban said.
“Not as good as me, Marban!” Wally wagged a finger at him.
“But, surely, you could have two Rat Shifters or--” Rose began.
“We don’t want to expose people to danger. If one person can do it, then it should only be one,” Wally interrupted. “Plus, let’s be honest here, we don’t know who we can trust outside of ourselves.”
“Are you sure you should be playing hero when you’re now a Councillor?” Marban asked.
“Caden’s largest concern is this wall. As his Councillor. I need to take care of it,” Wally answered as he lifted his chin. “And, besides, Landry was my friend, too. I tried to help her and it didn’t work. I can, at least, stop other people from suffering the same fate."
In a way, it was almost comical to see this little Rat Shifter with this much gumption, but Valerius appreciated that Wally was a Shifter of action.
“We need to set up a camera system as well,” Marban said, stroking his chin. “You cannot be on 24/7, Wally, no matter your skills.”
“I can easily set up small cameras. My rat-hands are the best!” Wally held up his human hands.
“I have equipment that will work just for this purpose,” Marban said and nodded. “We can start whenever you’re ready, Wally.”
“Now, I’m ready now.” Wally quivered with eagerness. “Can you lead me most of the way there, Rose?”
“Absolutely,” she said with a nod.
Valerius felt Caden stiffen again. Yet another of his friends was going near a wall. Valerius held him tighter.
“I know you want to come down with us, Caden, but you can’t. Your face is pretty famous,” Rose said.
“Yeah, yeah, just keep in touch all of the way, okay? And come back as soon as you can,” Caden told her and Wally. “Don’t take any chances. If there’s even a chance you’ve been spotted, get out of there.”
“We’ll be careful, kid. Don’t you worry.” Wally nodded.
“I will wish to have access to this video feed immediately,” Valerius said. “Marban, make that happen.”
“Oh, it will be done.” Marban’s eyes glittered. “That this enemy has moved into my territory… well, it shall regret it.”
Know Yourself
Wally scuttled through the secret back passages of the Below. His nose twitched as he took in the myriad scents of this place. The dry smell of dust. The faint reek of garbage. The acidic burn of urine. Nothing surprising for the places between the walls where those who had little hope lived.
While the Below was thought where the poorest of the poor went, that wasn’t exactly true. Here in this nowhere place were the most desperate driven. Often they were mad, out of their mind due to biology or drugs. They avoided even the amber, dirty light cast by the construction lamps that were strung every dozen feet or so along the passages. Some of these places were so narrow that even Wally had to turn sideways to slide through. His belly sometimes caused a little drag and he grunted as he sucked it in and slid painfully along.
“You need to lay off the cheese,” Marban chuckled in his ear.
Wally frowned. The old Swarm Shifter always had the hearing of a bat. After all, Wally was only wearing a bluetooth earpiece in his right ear. Marban was on the other end, even though it should have been Rose. She was the person after all who knew where he was going. But Marban had insisted on being in charge of this.
“You need to focus on the plan,” Wally muttered. “How far until I shift?”
They had decided that he needed to stay in human form until he was almost at the wall so he could keep in contact with them in case anything went wrong. Unlike Valerius and Caden, he couldn’t psychically connect with anyone in his rat forms.
He could imagine Caden at that moment. The kid would be standing up, rigid, by the couches in the tower, looking intently at Marban and Rose. Valerius would be beside him, rubbing his back and trying to keep him calm. The kid’s concern for him before he left was throat clenching.
“Wally,” Caden’s voice had caught as he had clasped Wally’s shoulders. “You have to be careful, okay? I mean like uber careful. The careful-lest.”
“Kid, I’m not a stranger to danger,” Wally had assured him.
“I know, but… your crime-lord past is… well…” Caden cast around as if for help.
“It’s in the past,” Marban murmured.
