(BL) Hunting The Field Guide - Chapter 84

Chapter 84: Are you ready for it?

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.  “Eat your fucking marshmallow treats and shut the fuck up.” Kellen muttered and Brent’s boisterous laughter followed him into his own office.  “Yes sir.” Kellen rolled his eyes at Brent’s response, and instead took in how Brent had taken over his office.

The space was small, and littered with papers everywhere.

The laptop was open, and instead of being at the desk, Brent had jerry-rigged a small table made out of a bag and it balanced precariously on that.

Kellen sighed, shaking his head and stepped over the atrocity to place the folder in his hand down on the surprisingly clean desk.  “You are a slob, and you haven’t changed at all in the six months I haven’t seen you.” Brent giggled, and Kellen gave him a disgusted look over his shoulder.  “Awe, Boss, how sweet of you to care about me.

I promise, I’ll make it even dirtier so you feel reeeeeeeal good when you clean it up.” He winked, and Kellen shuddered.

He had forgotten all about this habit of his.

He had probably blocked it out because of his own trauma response.

He hated messes.

Both physical and mental.

If it could easily be put into a box and cleaned up, he was all for it.  “What have you been working on for it to get this messy?” Kellen asked, and Brent dropped the handful of snacks he’d picked up on the couch, grabbed the laptop, and placed it on the desk with one hand while he chewed on a marshmallow treat like Kellen had ordered.

“Oh, this and that.

I looked over some of the data points you had entered and restructured the whole system so it was more user friendly.

Then I made a bitch ass spreadsheet that would get even your panties wet.

I changed the format of everything, added some cool effects, and then redid the schedule for the accelerated program, and the regular program.

I didn’t change any of the core things, but made it easier for the normies to understand.

You used too many insider words and phrases that I felt others would get overwhelmed with.

You can thank me with food.” Brent told him proudly, and Kellen sighed.

This was the reason he wanted Brent.

Brent understood how his brain worked and was able to work alongside him without hindering him.

Kellen would have never thought to restructure a perfectly fine program so that it was easier for others to understand.

He’d just make them understand.

Brent added a piece of humanity to everything he did that Kellen knew he was lacking.

He could fake it, as he had in Guiding Center B, but why should he?

He was now hired as a Field Guide, and not a general Guide for the public anymore, and the Captain seemed to like Kellen as he was.  “Well, that’s good.

Maybe I’ll make dinner tomorrow and you can come over.

Beyond that, pack up your things.

We’re heading up to conference room 1 for a very important meeting.

What do you know about the Ramses Guild?” Brent gave Kellen a strange look.  “The Ramses Guild?

That kinda famous one near old Egypt?

I’ve heard of them, but I don’t really know much.

Why?

What did they do?” He asked, growing suspicious.

Kellen put the handful of snacks he grabbed in his other pocket as he began gathering up the papers all around the office.  “Well, I wouldn’t quite blame them.

They did their best, but it wasn’t good enough.” Brent’s jaw hardened.  “Ah.

Was it a gate explosion then?

How bad?

What rank was the gate?” Kellen chuckled to himself.

It was awful.

Well and truly awful what they were about to walk into.

And he wasn’t sure how they were going to manage it.  “It was a D Class gate.” Brent seemed confused.

He paused what he was doing, and turned to face Kellen.

He glanced at the open door to the office, before back at Kellen.

“Are you serious?

A D Class gate exploded?

That almost never happens.

They must have fucked up somewhere.” Brent insisted, and normally, Kellen would have agreed.

If only he didn’t have such an interest in gates, and gate anomalies, he probably wouldn’t have batted an eyelash.  “Well, I can promise you, they didn’t.

It was a new type of gate.” Brent full on stopped, marched over to the door, and slammed it shut.  “You’re fucking lying.

There haven’t been any new gate types for years!

They’ve all been classified, Kellen.” Kellen glanced at Brent, and raised an eyebrow.  “Brent, are you telling me you actually fully trust the government?

To tell the whole truth?” Brent’s face heated, and he placed his hand on his hip.  “Why the hell would they lie about something like this Kellen?

And to the people who are going in?

It would be dangerous.” Kellen shook his head.

“It would be dangerous if more of them had kept popping up, but none have.

Well, they hadn’t popped up.

Until now.” Brent, a smart man, connected the dots.

He gasped.  “The new gate!

The one the Captain is bidding on!

What the fuck is wrong with it Kellen, and why do you know?” Brent was asking the right questions.

Kellen sighed, turning to face the man and leaned against the desk.  “We have several types of gates, many of which mimic our own biomes on earth, right?

Well, this new gate type kind of does that.

Only, it’s very dangerous.

So dangerous they weren’t able to clear a D Class gate and it exploded, causing several thousand deaths, maybe hundred of thousands.

” Kellen met Brent’s eyes rather seriously.

“We are dealing with potentially a poison gate.

A B Class poison gate that was almost A Class.” CREATORS’ THOUGHTS CalyB Thanks so much for reading!