Beast Soul

"Someone who isn't exactly normal, huh?" Detective Harry whispered softly, and Agent Alan shook his head as he let out a long and heavy sigh. "I may have understated it." "You think?" Detective Lewis said with a slight grin.

Agent Alan tilted his head, giving the impression of someone who was helpless. "He's definitely a character, but he's good at his job. That's why he's in the position that he's in right now. Don't forget that." Agent Alan patted the two detectives on the shoulder as he slipped his cup of coffee, and the two detectives nodded their heads in unison. "Understood, Special Agent Alan!"

"Great! Well then, I guess it's time for a briefing from the commander himself." Agent Alan smiled as he gave a slight slap on the back of the two detectives and pointed at the commander. "Commander Niko! We're ready for you in the conference room!" "Got it!" Commander Niko gave a big smile and a thumbs up as his response.

The two detectives and the rest of the police officers who were on duty headed towards the conference room, and Agent Alan walked up to Commander Niko Larsen, who was looking through his opened briefcase, pulling out bundles of paper and notes, with a tablet placed right next to him on the desk.

"Commander Niko," Agent Alan said as he sat down opposite the Commander, who nodded his head slightly with a faint smile on his face before shifting his gaze back at his briefcase, as he began arranging the paper bundles. "Special Agent Alan! How are you doing these days?"

"I'm doing fine." Agent Alan nodded back with a smile. "Although the death of Agent Edgerton really did make me reconsider the situation that we're caught up in."

"Oh, yes. Such terrible news to hear. I cannot believe we lost him." Commander Niko spoke with a serious expression on his face, and Agent Alan squinted his eyes for a split second before returning to normal.

"Oh, I almost forgot! Thank you for finding a place for my soldiers to stay until we brought the situation under control. You really helped us!" Commander Niko raised his head up, shifting his gaze from the briefcase placed on the desk onto Agent Alan's face. 

"Uh, yeah, you're welcome." Agent Alan waved his hands dismissively. He glanced back and forth at Commander Niko and the briefcase, his expression shifting constantly, as though he was hesitant about something. "Commander Niko, may I ask you something?"

"Uh, sure, I guess? Go for it. What do you want to know?" Commander Niko nodded his head quickly as he grabbed the bundle of papers in one hand and the tablet in his other, and he turned to look at Alan. 

"You are aware that although you have been assigned a squad that is supposed to only be under your supervision, you aren't effectively allowed to work on your own, right?" Agent Alan squinted his eyes as he spoke, his gaze studying Commander Niko's facial expressions. "I'm sure Calvin Hoover briefed you before the mission, but I call the shots. I hope you know that."

"Oh, of course! You don't have to mention such an obvious thing to me, Agent Alan!" Commander Niko shrugged his shoulders and let out a loud chuckle, showing off his white teeth as he did so. "Trust me, Special Agent. I'm not planning on stepping on anyone's toes. You do you, Alan. I won't interfere with your business."

"Good. I'm glad to hear that." Agent Alan nodded his head. He then pointed his hand towards the conference room and said, "Well then, I guess you should be heading over to the conference room. It's that room over there."

"Thanks. Wish me luck!" Commander Niko said with a beaming smile as he walked past Agent Alan, who's faint smile disappeared in an instant as soon as he passed by him. Alan's gaze followed the back of Commander Niko, and he waited for a few seconds before deciding to follow him towards the conference room.

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"It appears that the lock has been broken by someone."

"What?" Peter, who was surprised by Henry's words, suddenly yelled out loud. "What's the matter, Peter?" Henry asked, and Peter scratched his cheeks before replying, "I saw the kids enter through the window on the other side. Not the front door." 

"Someone else got in..?" Henry whispered softly under his breath. He then turned around and waved his hands at the crowd of people who had completely surrounded the house, and he screamed. "We're heading in, people! Be ready! And be careful!, We don't know who else got in the house, and who else knows our secret! So keep an eye out for anything suspicious!"

"Aye, chief!' The crowd screamed loudly as they raised their arms up into the air, revealing the machetes, knives and chainsaws that they were holding in their hands. "Good! Now.." Henry pushed open the door and entered the house. "... Let's hunt some children!"

The small crowd that consisted mostly of old and middle-aged people slowly entered Mr. Carrick's House in an orderly manner, with Henry leading the group and Peter and Linda following right behind him.

The group scanned the surroundings as they slowly made their way towards the living room, studying each and every corner of the building, looking for anything suspicious that could perhaps help them find the intruders.

Henry slowed down a bit and mixed in with the front row of the crowd of people, positioning himself right in the middle of Linda and Peter as the people behind them spread out, each of them picking a different spot and carefully inspecting the living room. 

"Look for anything useful that may lead us to the intruders! Since we know that some of them might be children, look for any name tags that they might have accidentally dropped!" Henry ordered the people who had decided to inspect the living room and he got an instant response from them. "Aye, Chief!"

Peter, who was standing right next to Henry, leaned towards Henry a bit and whispered softly under his breath. "Who do you have keeping an eye on the neighborhood border?"

Henry glanced at him and smiled. "Or course, I have not forgotten about that, my old friend." He whispered softly in response. "The younglings and their wives are keeping an eye out. They'll notify us if something unusual is happening."

Peter nodded his head. 

"I guess we'll move forward!" Realizing that the intruders aren't in the living room, the group of people headed towards the bathroom.

"Do you think they figured out how to open the secret door?" Linda asked Henry with a look of concern on her face, and Henry shrugged his shoulders in response. "I don't know, Linda. But maybe we'll be able to figure it out once we open it."

Henry then turned around and looked at one of the men who was standing right behind him. The man flinched at first, confused as to why the chief was staring at him, but once he realized what the chief wanted him to do, he nodded his head and stepped forward.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

He walked towards the mirror right above the sink and lifted it up, revealing the hidden switch underneath it.

Flip!

The man flipped the switch up, and all of a sudden, the walls of the bathroom began to shake violently. 

The crowd of people, however, didn't seem to even care about the trembling underneath their feet. Instead, their gazes were focused on the wall of the bathroom, which was now being separated into two sections, slowly moving away from each other, revealing the secret passageway.

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Inside the cavern.

Noah's, as well as the rest of the group's ears twitched slightly, and everyone turned around to stare at the direction that they came from.

"They're heading down…" Noah said with a serious expression on his face, and Alphonso turned to look at Max. "The stage is all yours, dude."

Max nodded his head, and he closed his eyes and waved his hands up in the air. The others tilted their heads up at the roof of the cavern, which they could see shaking violently. 

"Careful, we just want to move the boulders. Use the roots to block them from falling down." Alphonso spoke softly as he glanced back and forth at Max and the roof. 

"I know, I know!" Max said with a frustrated voice as he grit his teeth and began concentrating. 

Alphonso then rubbed both his hands together and walked towards Max, standing right behind him as he stretched out his hands, lightly pressing on Max's shoulders, which soon began to glow brightly.

The rest of the group watched as various roots began to sprout out from the roof of the cavern, forming a layer of roots underneath the roof, right after which the boulders and the dirt began to be displaced to the sides as bigger and bigger roots began to burrow through the roof, making a huge hole above.