PotH: Revolution (NSFW)

"Dissension in the Baudoin ranks... What did the wolf mean by 'back to the way things were'? Do you know any details?"

"Um... Before the lady traitor and the secret Baudoin got married. They're hiding in America, but the wolf hasn't been able to find them yet. He's looking, though." She put Nat in her lap, smiling at him as they played. "And he's very mad at them, too. He said that they ruined everything. The others are incestuous and disgusting. But the Baudoins are pure. Now there's so much intermarriage all sorts of things are happening.

"I remember that Geoff was very mad, too. Not enough of the others joined his side of the revolution. He wanted the others to join him and fight against the joining, but only a few did."

"Fight against the joining?" Nova's eyes narrowed. "That's funny, considering he was pretty intent on an alliance between the Baudoins and Laroche."

"No..." Aurélie shook her head. "He was all for the revolution. Constance and Roland both feared that he would try and take over... It sounds as though he did, but the Laroche reacted more peacefully than he expected."

"Hm... Well, we know what the wolf wants. But what does the Coward want? I'm sure just working with the Laroche isn't his master plan."

Cross put a hand to his chin "So, we need to start figuring out friend or foe. The wolf is definitely foe... So, what's the coward like? I mean, his personality?"

"Maybe the coward doesn't want anything," Star pointed out. "Maybe he just wants peace. Danny, did you ever meet him?"

"I only saw a picture."

Nova shook his head. "I got a feeling, whoever this coward is, if all he wanted was peace, he'd be dead by now. The wolf would've made sure of it."

"Not if he's a celeb," Shine pointed out. "If he's well known and respected, he would have a lot of allies. If the wolf went and killed him, there'd be a massive uprising, and he'd have more enemies than he could keep up with."

"Sounds like this 'Coward' is someone that should be found and talked to..."

"Mm... What does 'e look like?"

"He has a white, heart-shaped patch over his left eye. He also had white patches on his tail and his hands. I couldn't tell how tall he was from the picture alone, but he had a little girl with him that the wolf ripped out of the picture. They laughed about it. I met her; she was only a little bigger than Nat, but very scared. She didn't stay very long and spoke French. Most of the wolves that came spoke French."

Star's eyes widened. "He kidnapped a little girl," she realized. "Do you... do you know why she didn't stay long?"

"He wanted to send her back in a box, to show the coward that he meant business. I don't think she would have fit in the box he showed me unless she was very flexible."

Horrified, Star put a hand over her mouth. Sunny and Aurélie looked sickened.

Danny looked up, frowning. "I'm sorry... What did I do?"

"Nothing," Star whispered. "Not a thing."

Damien's eye twitched, yep, it was official. They were going to die...slowly.

"My God..." Mani brought a hand to her mouth, horrified. "He killed an innocent little girl?..."

Nova's fangs bared, his fists clenched tightly. "This just got real."

Cross looked down at his grandson. A tear crossed his eye. "...We need to get over there. We gotta put a stop to these Baudoin psychos, for good."

"When do you want to leave?" His voice was dark, laced with malice. "I can have us there in fifteen minutes."

Danny blinked. He'd killed her?! But she'd liked the little girl! She made a softly distressed sound. Nat just seemed confused. What could be going on? "Go where?" he asked. "Can I go?"

Star knelt beside the two of them. "No, sweetie, you're going to stay home with me. Danny, honey, are you okay?"

"I didn't know he was going to kill her. I told her she'd be okay."

"Don't worry," Cross said, fist clenched. "We're gonna stop all the bad people over there, so it won't happen again."

"So, let me get this straight." Dart stood from his isolated corner, walked up to the echidna. He still retained his bored expression. "You're going to rush blindly into battle, with an enemy you know virtually nothing about, in an area where the enemy knows far better than you, against who knows how many numbers, on the premise that you're gonna 'stop all the bad people'? Meanwhile, you're going to leave all the innocent people here, to possibly end up like that poor girl? Is that the jist of it?"

Danny looked at the wolf for the first time and it did something strange to her heart. She hugged Nat and hid her face in his hair, very suddenly shy.

Star frowned. "He has a point, Cross... We need more information."

Cross saw his fist spark. Of all things, he couldn't stand for the slaughter of innocent children. It was too much...

He sighed. As much as he hated it, Dart was right. "...Okay. So, where do we start?"

"That's simple," Shine said. "The Web. We gather information on our mystery characters. The Coward, first. If he is a celeb, then we can easily find out if he's friend or foe."

"I think anyone 'oo gets 'is child slaughtered - merely for working with my family - would be friend."

"Your family?" Danny asked and Aurélie sighed.

"Danny, my 'usband and I are the one's 'oo this wolf is after. I abandoned the Laroche and 'e... Well, 'e is a Baudoin by birth."

She blinked. "Wow..."

Nova's eyes narrowed. "Shit. Of course."

"What?" Cross asked.

"That's why they attacked Trip and Yue. They know they were connected to you and Sol, and thus to me and Aurélie."

Star's eyes went wide. "I didn't even think about that..."

"Nor did I," Aurélie said quietly. "Bof..."

"In other words," Dart said, scratching his head idly. "Europe, as a whole, is a dead man's zone."

"Damn it all..." Cross was not going to admit defeat so soon. "But we have to figure out a way to get in contact with the man! He could be our only hope of ending this! His relations with the Laroche could mean the end of this mess!"

"Which means contacting a Laroche would get us to 'im... Try and look this so-called coward up. See if we can attach a name to 'im. 'Is daughter went missing, and we all 'ave access to European case files. This would 'ave been reported."

Briggs nodded. "I'll see what I can dig up. Maybe even get some maps of key areas."

"That'd be perfect," Sol said. "I could study those maps, and get some good knowledge of the terrain. C'mon!" The hedgecat led the wolf out the room.

"There is something else," Armande announced, getting to his feet. "I need to return home and retrieve it. Shine, if you would accompany me?"

Shine nodded. "Right behind you."

Star smiled softly as they walked out. Something had happened there, but now wasn't the time to ask - or say finally, for that matter.

Scowling, Sunny got to her feet. "No use hanging around here waitin' for the other shoe to drop. I'm gonna go practice. Z, you wanna come?"