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7. The Rescue

7

THE RESCUE

“C’mon, quit staring. This is fucking weird.” Telos painstakingly shoved himself into a sitting position, cursing the weak muscles of this form.

He’d shifted into a baby—roughly nine months old—and they’d fashioned his spelled shirt into a makeshift diaper, wrapping that around his hips. That part was fine. What wasn’t fine were the five alphas towering over him, gathered around the queen-sized hotel bed.

“It looks and sounds really weird when you speak in full sentences,” Ace said. He was a dragon shifter, muscular with black hair and sharp eyes. His brother, Raptor, looked almost identical to him. “Do you remember how to be a baby?”

“Ugh.” Telos scrunched up his face and wailed.

“Sounds fake,” Raptor said immediately.

Telos curled his fingers into fists and flipped him off. Ace snapped a picture of Telos.

“More gasping breaths,” Crush said. He was tall and muscular too, with chestnut-brown hair and a quick smile. “Throw in some warbling, more forcefully. Like you’re trying to cough out a lung.”

“I’m going to deafen myself, ” Telos growled squeakily. But he scrunched up his face and wailed, sucking in air and crying until he could feel his face flush red.

“Better,” Mav said.

Telos was so surprised, he stopped crying. Mav, praising him?

Mav raised an eyebrow.

Fuck, he had better not be staying behind to riffle through Telos’ bags.

“You’re just saying that to shut me up,” Telos grumbled.

“No. I have no wish for you to jeopardize this mission,” Mav said dryly.

Ah, there he was. All sunshine and rainbows.

Duke clapped his hands to get their attention. He’d made himself mission leader, all bossy and righteous, but he sure helped them focus. “Looks like we’re ready to move out. Mav, you’re on car duty. Ace, you’re with Telos. Crush, Raptor, and I will leave this room slowly.”

“Aye aye, boss.” Ace saluted. He scooped Telos up and checked that the spelled shirt was tied on tight enough. Then he set Telos into his stroller, and showed him two flimsy cardboard boxes. “We’re out.”

Ace pushed Telos out of the room. Mav left by the back window somehow, and Telos kept his ears out for the kidnappers.

For the first hour, he stayed quiet. Ace took him through a pet store, then a farmer’s market. Ace’s phone buzzed.

“Looks like we’re about to have some fun, baby T,” Ace said after a moment. He reached around the stroller to wipe off Telos’ spit bubbles.

Between the folds of Ace’s washcloth was a small, round pellet. Telos took it into his mouth and held it there, kicking his legs and flailing his arms.

When Ace began pushing the stroller again, Telos soaked the pellet with saliva. The hard shell dissolved into something peppery; it stung his tongue and he coughed.

Orange embers flew out of his mouth. Telos held it in for as long as he could, then coughed out more embers.

The thing about joke shop pranks was, no one expected a baby to be using them.

“Aww, you sweet summer child,” Ace cooed, petting Telos’ face. He turned them down a busier street and kept on walking; Telos squirmed and kicked. Then he babbled loudly, reaching for a bright yellow duck hanging from the hood of his stroller. Had anyone else seen the embers? Maybe, maybe not.

When Ace turned them around, Telos saw a black car on the other side of the road.

Mav was in it, watching.

Telos picked out the others, too—Crush under an umbrella eating a hot dog, Raptor fiddling with his phone some distance away, Duke with a book of crossword puzzles on the other side of the road. They followed him and Ace around, moving one at a time so they were always surrounded.

Ace slipped Telos another fire-breathing pill. Telos held it in his hand, playing with it, waiting for some time before pretending to grab something from his seat, and smashing the pill into his mouth.

Hopefully it looked real.

He coughed out another handful of sparks. Ace laughed and crouched next to him, petting his head. Then he dropped Telos a different pill, and pushed Telos all the way up the street.

“I think we’re going to get some hotdogs,” Ace said, walking toward the hotdog stand where Crush was now polishing off some chili cheese fries. “Some people have real big appetites.”

Crush coughed lightly, but didn’t look in their direction.

Telos yanked on the threads of his baby blanket and tried to put a corner of it into his mouth. He popped the third pill, too.

This time, bubbles poured out of him. He hiccupped and scrunched up his face, starting to cry.

“Ah, crap. Baby T! What did you do?” Ace crouched next to him, his horrified expression so real that Telos almost believed him. “Why are you spitting bubbles? What the hell?”

He scooped Telos out of the stroller and rocked him until he stopped crying. When he replaced Telos in the stroller, he looked especially concerned.

“I’ll make an appointment with the doctor. We’ll have to find out what’s wrong with you.”

He pulled out his phone and tapped into it. Then he wheeled Telos to the register, placing an order for three hotdogs and a drink.

Telos saw the hooded figure approach. Ace must’ve noticed, too, because he dropped to a crouch and turned away from the stroller, retying his shoelaces. “When we get home, I’m going to buy you lots of milk,” Ace rambled at his shoe. “We should bring Teddy and Dino out for a picnic—”

Someone grabbed the stroller, pushing it rapidly away from Ace. Telos’ heart leaped.

Ace gave them a few seconds. Then he leaped up and yelled, and the kidnapper began to push Telos along faster.

It was exhilarating, actually. Knowing he had the upper hand, knowing he was perhaps one step closer to meeting Estie.

Telos kicked his feet and babbled, listening to the sounds of scuffling, of people yelling.

Ultimately, no one caught up to the kidnapper. Rough hands plucked Telos out of the stroller; the kidnapper yanked open a car door and shoved Telos into a black canvas bag.

Telos began screaming then. He kicked weakly and didn’t cry as loud—he didn’t want to get a broken arm if he could help it. Someone slapped him through the bag anyway, and it hurt. Telos cried and kicked harder.

“That’s not the way to shut a baby up,” one of the kidnappers said, voice oily.

“The other way’s to give them a concussion,” the other kidnapper replied.

Telos almost shut up, but he wasn’t supposed to understand any of that. He continued to wail, bracing himself for—

Thud.

Pain burst through him. He took the chance to fall silent, pretending to be unconscious.

“There,” the kidnapper said. “Easy as pie.”

Fuck you, Telos thought. He clenched his jaw and tried not to smell the bag—it reeked of various dried baby fluids. Instead, he reached out with his hearing, listening to a car start up in the distance.

The kidnappers began to drive. Telos listened to them, filtering out the chatter for vital information, trying not to think about the rest of it because it made him want to hurl. Or peck their eyes out with his pterodactyl beak.

They drove for a while. Then the car stopped and they grabbed the bag holding him, carrying him somewhere else.

“New ‘un,” said the one who’d snatched him.

“What species?” a different voice asked.

“We think it’s a dragon and mermaid hybrid,” the first man said gleefully.

“Put him in with the rest. We’ll transport them to the next facility in two days.”

Aw, fuck. Telos held still, listening as the kidnapper unlocked a heavy metal door. The quiet whispering behind the door fell silent abruptly.

“Feed this one too,” the kidnapper said with a distinct threat in his voice. He reached into the bag and grabbed Telos roughly; Telos wanted so badly to break his hand. Instead, he pretended to be unconscious, keeping his eyes shut when he was scooped out onto a thin mattress. “I better not come back to find him dying.”

You could’ve broken my neck, you piss stain, Telos wanted to snarl. He waited for the footsteps to leave, for the door to clang shut and the key to turn in the lock.

For a while, no one spoke. The footsteps drifted away; the kidnappers didn’t appear to be listening.

Something shuffled closer to Telos. Heavy metal dragged across the floor. Telos cracked his eyes open to find two men much closer than they were before.

There were four men in total, pale and wide-eyed. Omegas, judging by their small bodies and lack of muscle. Heavy iron shackles were wrapped around their ankles.

“Is the baby okay?” A worried omega peeked out from behind the closer two.

Telos blinked. They were going to pick him up, weren’t they? Except now wasn’t the time to engage with them; he had to find Estie first.

He rolled over onto his hands and knees, surveying the room. Four concrete walls closed them in; there were no windows to the outside, and two buckets sat in the corner. Empty bowls were stacked in another corner. Ten or so babies squirmed around on thin mats, with another five cradled in the omegas’ arms—one each, although the omega with missing fingers had two in his lap. None of their babies had red hair.

By the time he’d finished his survey, all four men were stiff, eyeing him warily.

“Ivo,” the worried omega murmured uncertainly.

“Yeah,” one of the closer omegas said. He had one eye scarred shut, and he was covered in mottled, silvery scars. He grabbed the friend who had gotten up with him, pulling him a step back from Telos.

The friend hobbled and stumbled; Telos realized there was something wrong with his leg. That was Walren, then, with a short leg and no knee. Ivo with the scars and blind eye, Nat with the missing fingers, and Killian was the worried one with some kind of PTSD.

Telos turned away. The omegas watched him and didn’t move, although the tension in the room ratcheted up when he approached the babies.

There were two children here with red hair. One with black eyes closer to him, and one with blue eyes further away. His heart thumped. Was either of them Estie? Samantha had said Estie had been changing herself.

Telos watched both children for a while, freezing when the baby in the far corner switched her eyes from brown to blue. He crawled carefully over to her, hands smacking against the cold floor. She looked up curiously.

“Estie?” Telos whispered.

The baby blinked at him. She had his nose, he realized. And his eyes. Estie didn’t recognize him, but when Telos turned his eyes blue and his hair red, she began babbling excitedly.

“You recognize me?” Telos’ heart swelled. Fuck. This was his daughter. His blood family. Someone he’d accidentally created, but loved anyway. He shuffled closer and hugged her to himself. Estie wriggled in his arms, and they both toppled over. “Ah, fuck.”

Metal chains dragged against the floor. All four omegas were closer now, watching him suspiciously.

“You’re not...” Ivo gestured vaguely with his hand.

Telos shrugged. “You knew the moment I looked around.”

“Who are you?” Walren asked.

“Telos. Estie’s dad.” Gods, he’d never been prouder to say those words. “She’s my daughter.”

Estie grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked. Telos howled. “Ow, fuck! Estie, no. Please. Not my hair.” He scrambled to loosen her grip, but his own wasn’t quite strong enough to pry her fingers off. “Estie.”

Estie yanked again, giggling.

“Ah, damn it. You’re going to give me so much trouble,” Telos muttered.

“This is really strange to watch,” Killian said quietly.

“No kidding,” Nat said.

With great effort, Telos dragged Estie upright, along with himself. He held her hand and kissed her cheek, before turning to the omegas. “So, Pinks sent me.”

The omegas gasped. They glanced at each other, then at the door.

“Are any of those guys able to hear us?” Telos asked carefully. In his excitement, he’d forgotten to check that first.

But no one came charging up to the cell; no one even sounded remotely suspicious in this place. He reached into his makeshift diapers and pulled out a tracking device, sliding it across the floor to them. “This is a tracker. They’re moving all of you in two days. Keep this with you somehow.”

Nat, with the missing fingers, frowned. “Us? What about you?”

Telos sighed. “I’m going to report back.”

“You can’t take us with you?” Ivo looked indignant.

“Not without knowing the risks.” Telos shook his head. “I’m here to plant a tracker with you and gather intel. My team can’t storm this place without any information. Well, we can, but we’d like to minimize the damage. I can’t secret an adult away with me.”

“You’re taking your baby.” Ivo glanced at Estie.

Telos shrugged awkwardly. “If I can. We’re coming back for all of you, though. We gave Pinks our word.”

“Fine,” Ivo said, his eye narrowing.

Telos hugged Estie again. “I’m going to scout around. Be back soon. Don’t make trouble, Estie.”

Telos shifted into a mosquito and flew to the heavy steel door, dropping to the crack between the door and the floor. When he saw no movement beyond, he left the room, following each hallway until he knew the layout of the building. Then he slipped outside to count the number of guards. The building was in a thickly forested area with a gravel road leading away. Some of the doors were shut, some weren’t.

When he’d found out all he could, Telos returned to the room and shifted into a pterodactyl.

The omegas jumped.

“What—?” Nat frowned at Telos, looking confused.

“I like being a pterodactyl. Dinosaurs are cool. And you’re going to learn that they’re super cool,” he told Estie.

Actually, Telos couldn’t wait for Estie to grow up and get all excited about dinosaurs with him. They could be a pair of triceratops, or T-rexes, or stegosauruses, or...

“Anyhow, I need to find a set of keys. Any requests while I’m out there?”

“More food would be nice,” Walren said.

“Gotcha. I’ll see what I can do.” Telos had found a pantry, but without the keys, he couldn’t get food into the cell.

He turned back into a mosquito and began tailing the kidnapper with the keys.

Waiting was boring work. Telos flitted from room to room, watching as the man grew steadily drowsier. When hours had passed, the man began to stand in one spot in his patrols, nodding off.

The other kidnappers were in similar states of drowsiness. They hadn’t had reason to be watchful. Telos needed to keep it that way.

When the key-keeper had sat on a chair and dozed for five full minutes, Telos shifted into a small black monkey. He crept up to the kidnapper and carefully eased the keys from the man’s belt loop, straining his ears the entire time in case someone else walked in on him.

No one did. He clutched the keys tight against his chest to minimize their jangling, then slipped into the pantry and shifted into his human shape.

The bottles of water crinkled on his way back to the cell. The loaves of bread got a bit squashed, but there wasn’t time to feel bad about it. Telos returned to the cell and unlocked the door, stepping inside quickly.

Four curses sounded behind him. When he turned, he found the omegas staring at him, mouths hanging open.

Walren cleared his throat. “Wow.”

Telos set the food down next to them. “Hide the bottles if you can. It’ll look like too many if they look closely.”

They were staring at his naked body, he realized.

He huffed amusedly. “Sorry, guys. There’s someone else I’m interested in.”

“Lucky them,” Ivo muttered.

Telos shrugged. “He doesn’t know. It’s been two hundred and eighty-nine years, and he doesn’t return my feelings.”

At that, they looked horrified.

“How could he?! You should look for someone else,” Killian said.

“He’s a jerk if he doesn’t realize how good you are,” Ivo said.

Telos smiled wanly. “We’ll see. I have to get going. Thanks, you all, for taking care of Estie. I’ll catch you soon. Be careful.”

“Thanks,” they said, watching as Telos unraveled his makeshift diapers. The spelled shirt wrapped around Estie with some to spare, and Telos bundled her into his arms.

At the door, he listened for footsteps. Then he slipped out, locked the door, and hurried back to the room where the key-keeper was still dozing.

Telos crouched and gingerly clipped the keys back onto the man’s belt loop, then hurried out through an unguarded door.

Footsteps approached from the corner. Telos bit down his curse and shifted into a giant black pelican, catching Estie midair in his mouth.

He took off with a flutter of wings, a gunshot ringing out behind him.

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