(BL) Taming the Field Guide

His Mom honestly didn’t have much to say. It was incredibly disappointing, but what was done was done. She said that it wasn’t that different from when she’d worked for the D.E.C.

It was just a bunch of people pretending to help her while attempting to keep her in the dark. She’d been prepared for an ambush and instead of finding out that they were just embarrassed to admit how bad their situation was and not the fact that they were working with the E.A.G. was a perk. She considered it a successful mission, no one was hurt, and she wasn’t stressed anymore.

Kellen felt slighted that the issue was solved so easily, but given the issue of the Guides...maybe he should be happy with that.

She suggested that they all share a meal together for some bonding time, and then, because she knew her people, they should work together on researching the next cities. Kellen and everyone else was all for it, and while Kellen knew that the issues that Rhys had revealed to the others weren’t gone, they could poke them more later.

~

The next nine cities had been pre-selected after they had used the system to select the first three. They hadn’t divided them up between his Mom, Uncle Parker and Rhys until now, but during their meal, they did.

After they had completed the first attack and it had gone off without a hitch, the energy in the Guild alone was elevated. Sure, they had to deal with spies and they had to worry about if they were going to be attacked by the E.A.G. or groups supporting them, but they were allowed to celebrate small victories.

The whole time, Kellen kept his hand in Rhys’, holding onto the man and making sure that his guiding levels were at a normal level. Part of it was because of his words earlier, the other part was the fact that the Guides had been all over him and he hated that. He wanted to make sure that his man knew that he cared about him most.

Kellen wasn’t usually the one to be affectionate in public, but Kellen didn’t hold back today. He held Rhys’ hand, raising his hand to press kisses against the back of his hand, stroking his fingers along Rhys’ arm. If he had to leave Rhys’ side for a second he made sure he hugged him from behind and pressed a kiss against his temple.

Rhys looked shocked, as did everyone who caught sight of Kellen being so openly affectionate, but Rhys wasn’t questioning it. Brent even gave Kellen and Rhys two huge thumbs up whenever he caught it.

It was a simple thing, a sweet thing that continued into the next week, and into the next mission. Kellen and Rhys didn’t stop being intimate with each other, but Kellen could tell how the little actions that Kellen was taking were affecting Rhys positively. The man was reacting to them well, and his shoulders were more relaxed.

He didn’t bring up his thoughts as often, but that didn’t mean Kellen thought he stopped having them. That was when Kellen came up with the big idea that he could speak to Gunther about them.

So, he reached out to Gunther the night of the first successful mission and one, asked about Charlie, and two, asked him to reach out to Rhys.

It had worked spectacularly.

Rhys was speaking to Gunther more, which was good for both men, and Charlie had been helping them manage the new Guides while also giving Charlie something to do. Kellen knew that Charlie liked feeling like he was capable, that he was important, and having this role helped fulfil those desires.

Kellen was also able to continue researching the cities, continue to train the Guides and Espers alike in the morning, and honestly, Kellen was feeling like everything was going very well.

As the second mission approached with no hiccups but also no word from their double agent, Elder Ellis, Kellen was almost foolish enough that the E.A.G. was going to just sit back and let themselves be destroyed. He was delusional to think that an organisation that had been operating as the scary boogeyman that chased down countries would sit back and let anything hurt them.

~

It was the morning before the second mission. They hadn’t used the same day as the first attack because that would be too coordinated. They had changed the date to two days after the first time they had attacked to throw them off of their rhythm.

Kellen was in his second set with his people when an alarm began to blare throughout the building. The Guides who were from the Phoenix Guild paled, while the others who weren’t, also paled.

Kellen felt his jaw harden as Sergei helped Brent put his weight back on the bar and the other Espers in the gym stopped what they were doing.

The alarm didn’t stop, and then Kellen’s phone lit up.

Get to the basement for safety

It was his Aunt, and given that she knew he was probably in his workout lesson, Kellen knew that was a general instruction for everyone.

"Everyone, gather round. Guides of the Phoenix Guild, over here. Espers from the Phoenix Guild, over here as well." Kellen called. Calm, collected, even as his heart was thudding out of his chest.

Rhys wasn’t with him this morning, in a meeting with his parents, Aunt Dina, Uncle Vance, Uncle Xavier and also Taylor and Pamela. They were discussing the next steps for the Guides, plans for what they were going to say publicly, things of that nature. Sergei had stayed behind since someone had to be with Kellen and Brent, and the two men had been rotating who would go with them.

This just had to happen on a day when Rhys wasn’t at his side.

The groups gathered quickly, the Espers faster than the Guides.

"Have you heard anything?" One of the Esper’s asked and Kellen nodded.

"We’re to go to the basement for safety." Kellen informed them and the Esper frowned.

"The basement? We don’t have a huge basement, Guide Kellen. Ours is smaller, mostly used for the jail." The Esper said and Kellen twitched.

"Well, what are the protocols if the alarm goes off?" Kellen asked and one of the Guides answered.

"Go to the nearest safe location." He then explained the several ’safe’ locations throughout the building. The jail was considered one of them, but it wasn’t anywhere near where they were.

Kellen frowned. He wanted to listen to his Aunt, but at the same time...his gut was tingling. Something wasn’t right, and while Kellen was still adjusting to some aspects of his new powers, there were some things that he could trust.

"Alright. Who’s the fastest here?" Kellen asked. An Esper two down from the previous Esper raised his hand. "Okay, you’re going to ran down to the basement as stealthily as you possible can. Check the safe route, I’m sure you know it, and if it looks safe, come back. If, for a second, things do not look safe along the way, come back. We can discuss the next step." Kellen said.

The Esper nodded in agreement. Kellen paused to give him a second to ask any questions, but he didn’t. Kellen glanced over to Sergei and Brent who were scouting for weapons amongst the weights and had no doubt they were listening in.

"For now, we are going to go to the safe location on this floor, and we’ll go from there." Kellen said. "Any questions?" He asked. No one nodded or raised their hands. He even got a few head shakes. Now that everyone had a mission, they were calmer.

The Esper moved, leaving the group after he confirmed where he would be able to find them after this, while Brent and Sergei showed up with items that could be used as weapons.

The group moved quickly after that. They had to. They were about 20 strong and would need to get to safety. Kellen didn’t think for a second that if they were being attacked that they wouldn’t be targeted. Sure, they had Espers with them, and had Sergei, but they had no idea what the attackers had as well.

It was a grim situation, one that Kellen was kicking himself for not anticipating. He didn’t have a gun with him, or even a knife. He was a fool to move through his own Aunt’s Guild without preparing. He wouldn’t be doing this again, that was for damn sure.

Kellen stayed near the front of the group as a guide, even if he didn’t know where the safe room was. The Guide who was leading them needed his support and it was while they were moving that the lights went out in the building.

"Powers cut." Sergei whispered. Kellen’s face was grim. That was not a good sign. Back up lights, bioluminescent in nature, lit up the hallways in strips. Nothing wasn’t completely dark, but vision was limited.

"The room should still be accessible." The Guide whispered. "Back up generators keep them safe, as long as maintenance has been upkept." The Guide sounded hopeful, and all Kellen could do was pray that was the case.

Now that visibility was lowered, Kellen was moving quicker. They were out in the open and in a large group. If someone had already infiltrated the building, like the cut power was suggesting, they were in danger.

Kellen kept his senses heightened, and finally they entered into a small room that hid a bigger secret. The Guide found the secret keypad and Kellen’s senses were tingling. For one, the keypad didn’t light up. He worried, watching their back as they typed in the code.

A long, heavy pause as they waited, for a doorhandle showed up and Kellen and the Guide let out a deep breath. What made things worse was the fact that the safe room on this floor was...small.

There wasn’t enough room to hold all 20 of them.

Kellen could tell that the others were panicking, but Kellen felt a cool wash of calm overcome him. Sure, this was a shitty situation, but this was manageable. He could do this.

"Guides and imprint partners, in. We’ll add a few Espers once they’re in, and you’ll write down the next code for me." Kellen ordered the Guide who had already gotten them in.

They nodded, no one kicking up a stink because Kellen spoke with such authority. Brent and Sergei remained in the hallway, ready to act, ready to move.

"Quickly!" Kellen whispered, motioning for everyone to go. Now was not the time to be slow.

Kellen could feel something coming.