(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 84

Chapter 84: Are you ready for it?

Kellen was on his way to go pick up Brent when he got a phone call from Casper. Worried, Kellen picked up the phone in the elevator just as the doors opened for the research wing.

"What’s up, Casper?" Kellen asked, moving towards his office, a pit in his stomach.

"I’ve got good news and bad news." He warned, and Kellen braced himself.

"Okay."

"Good news, we haven’t signed the contract yet." Thank the powers above that they hadn’t. So what was the bad news? "Bad news, the contract between the Saturn Guild and Nemesis Guild was leaked somehow to the public, along with the fact that the first scouting team hasn’t returned from the gate yet. The public has begun to panic." Fuck. That was the one thing you never wanted to happen. As soon as the public got involved, it would always blow out of proportions. Stoking fear in the general public was how some rules and standards were set, but given what this could turn into, Kellen really didn’t want them to panic so soon.

"How is the general reaction? What did Pamela say?" Kellen asked, waving to a researcher that he knew as he passed them.

"Well, she said that for the most part, people were excited that the two Guilds had come to a mutual agreement, which was nice to know, while everyone who understood what it meant that the scouting party hadn’t come back yet panicked. The others? No reaction. People who have had no or little interactions with Guides or Espers had no reason to panic because they had no information to fall back on. But panic did seem to be the general response. No photos of the gate have leaked to the public yet, but we both feel that it could happen at any moment." He sighed over the phone just as Kellen got the door. Kellen fumbled with his key card to authorize his entrance with one hand.

"Well, we can try to brace for when it releases. At least there are no protests or anything yet." Kellen commented, managing to get the door open. He found that on the other side, the researchers and scientists seemed calm, which meant that the true horror of the gate hadn’t spread to them yet. At least, he thought that, until he met Maeve’s eyes. They were wide, bloodshot, and it looked like she hadn’t had a good sleep last night. She gave Kellen a weak smile, which told him that at least the Captain had been keeping her up to date. That thought should have made Kellen upset, at least, he was pretty sure it was supposed to, but he couldn’t find it in himself to get mad. Kellen was new to the Guild, and Maeve held a very important position in said Guild. Of course the Captain should keep her informed before the new Field Guide was added to the Guild.

"Yeah, we can try to do that. The Captain has called the other Captain’s together to discuss what you found out. He also reached out to your mother for confirmation and is holding a meeting up in the first conference room. I was calling to tell you that’s where I’m going right now as well. Are you finished speaking with Green?" He asked and Kellen nodded, heading for his office door. The lights were already on in the office, and he could hear Brent whistling.

"Yeah. I’m almost at my office now. I’ll grab Brent and we’ll both head up." Casper’s sigh could be heard over the phone, along with the ding of the elevator doors.

"I hope that this goes smoothly. I also hope that we’re overreacting. The first time that the Captain wants the rights to a gate and it’s potentially one that could explode? What kind of luck is that?" Kellen chuckled.

"Well, as Taylor says, I apparently have a lucky rabbit’s foot. Maybe I can get us out of the worst of it." The door Kellen was about to open swung open and Kellen was greeted to the sight of Brent in his uniform. He wasn’t wearing his prosthetic today, and had pinned up the sleeve of his uniform to draw less attention to it. Kellen wasn’t sure if that worked. There were very few Guides who were missing limbs, especially with the advancement of medical treatment through Esper powers, but Kellen felt that it wasn’t a topic he could broach. Brent had come to the front lines without an arm, and he’d never spoken about it. Even when drunk. That told Kellen it was probably something deeply traumatic, and since he wasn’t an Esper, it wasn’t Kellen’s job to force him to deal with it. But he could support Brent through it.

Kellen froze.

Fuck. Like he was trying to do with me.

"Hey Kellen. Glad to see you up and running this morning without any difficulties. Who are you on the phone with?" Brent slid past Kellen and made a beeline for the snack pedestal, grabbing a handful and shoving it into his pockets before grabbing another. When Kellen stared at him, Brent gestured with his chin for Kellen to grab some too.

"I’m on the phone with Casper. We’re going to go meet up with him. Where are we going, Casper?" Kellen asked.

"Oh, right, you don’t know the tower that well. So much has happened that it feels like you already know your way around here. It’s the floor below the A Class gym. Conference room 1, but you can’t really miss it. It’s the largest room. The others are usually only used for overflow." Kellen nodded, reaching into the snack bowl and grabbing his own handful. Brent shoved his handful into one of Kellen’s pockets, before grabbing another. By the time the two stepped away, the snack bowl was nearly empty.

"Thanks. We’ll see you there shortly then." Kellen said, hanging up on Casper and turning to Brent. "I had a meeting with Taylor to go over the guiding sessions the Captain and I have been doing. She said I was fine." Brent’s eyes brightened at the mention of Taylor.

"Oh, is that all she said? No other comments about what you two get up to that she has to clean up?" One of the researchers started coughing while Kellen glared, rather unsuccessfully, and Brent. His face had gone red, which took away the punch from his glare.