(BL) Hunting The Field Guide-Chapter 433: What an asshole

The dual press conferences went without a hitch, and the point was made. Across the city, and internationally.

Uncle Tom had fucked up, and the S Classes that were ’listening’ to him, were breaking their chains. They had also selected the person that they wanted to take his place.

It was surprisingly peaceful after that had been announced and Uncle Tom? Well, it turned out that he wasn’t on the front lines anymore. Had probably escaped during the fuss with the general store. That was the theory at least, since Sergei and Sakura’s people had been looking for him with a vengeance.

Rhys didn’t appear to be too worried. Nor was Kellen’s Mom or Dad. They all seemed to know that he was going to come back, especially since he had left his wife behind. His precious wife, who Kellen’s Mom had made sure to bring her to the tower to keep her safe, while also letting her know what he had been up to.

His wife was horrified at the treatment of Kellen. She was even more horrified after Rhys had had a conversation with her in private, and through her tears, she apologised on behalf of her husband and was willing to help them bring him to justice.

Kellen was pretty upset on her behalf that Uncle Tom could just leave her behind. As was his parents. The man had no idea what it was like to have an imprint, but he had watched lots of his employees, ’friends’ and others around him care for the people they had selected as life partners. The fact that his wife knew nothing about what he had been up to?

Terrible. Awful. He might have gained a small amount of respect back from everyone if she had known, but the fact that she was blindsided by his actions? That was another mark against him. He was treating her as if she was disposable, even though they had been married for 20 years.

Everyone was disgusted with his behaviour, but Kellen could tell that everyone wanted him to be associated with the E.A.G. so that this betrayal could feel justified in some way. Kellen could tell that people were getting upset the more that they dug and the more they were unable to find a connection except for the most recent one.

Kellen just shrugged. Uncle Tom was a classic case of a power hungry man, not necessarily a bigot in the same way as the E.A.G. He just took advantage of a situation where what he needed and what they needed aligned for a heartbeat, and then he fled.

Where had he fled? They would find that out rather shortly. Kellen had no doubt about that. Rhys had this little twinkle in his eye when everyone asked where he was. If Rhys knew where he was. Rhys wasn’t even telling Kellen about it, but Kellen was looking forward to it the same way that Rhys was. Wherever Uncle Tom was going to surface, it sounded like Rhys thought it was a terrible enough situation for him to be caught up in that Rhys didn’t want to search for him.

He wanted Uncle Tom to truly lie in the bed that he made.

But, even with Uncle Tom missing, life continued on. Hill was still trying to get any information possible from the people that she had caught, the Peach Guild was getting closer and closer to creating a perfect antidote, and with how stable everything was feeling, Rhys, Hill, Kellen and Brent were discussing when to send out the newer new recruits and the second round of Field Guides.

Kellen and Brent, in the week that followed the dual press conferences had begun the arduous journey of speaking to each of the Field Guides one by one and letting them know of the plan that they were stewing up. They wanted to do it one by one so that they didn’t feel pressured in a group environment to make a decision.

This appeared to be going well. Everyone was coming to a decision for themselves, and Kellen was a bit surprised by the results. He actually expected most of them, or at least half to want to go towards becoming teachers. Most of the second class, if he was to be specific since they had come back from their trip to the front lines quieter and more subdued. That wasn’t a mark against them, he just assumed that they had had a bad time.

Instead, it was more of a 60-40 split with more people going towards being actual Field Guides instead of instructors. That wasn’t a bad thing, but it also meant that they had to look at their plan a little more.

Initially, Kellen wanted to offer people the option to go to the front lines. They had done the mandated time and now it was time to volunteer. The problem came from the fact that everyone who wanted to be a Field Guide wanted to go, and the other group didn’t. Kellen was only at a loss for a little bit, before he spoke to Brent. What if, this time, they did a round of two weeks on, and then two weeks off with the group who wanted to commit to being Field Guides? freeweɓnøvel.com

It would still get them more experience, they would get to go to the front lines, and they could draw lots again. Brent agreed to this, even if it meant that the groups that he had were a little bit bigger, but it was clear that he was feeling confident after making it through a whole month. He agreed pretty much right away.

Which meant, when the leaders all got together, they just needed to hammer out the final details. When everyone would be leaving, how much to beef up security both at the tower and on the front lines, all the little things that both Kellen and Brent needed to be there for as well.

It took up a whole afternoon. With Miro video calling in when he was back in service from his most recent trip to the front lines. He offered some plants as protection, and while Kellen might have scoffed at anyone else offering it, Kellen knew better than to do so when it came to Miro.

The man had been working closely with Carlos to help breed the plants that he needed for his antidote, and had been tirelessly going from the front lines and back to the Guild this whole time. He was doing a lot, but quietly. It made sense that people forgot about him, and Kellen had decided that once this was all over he deserved a nice vacation to somewhere that had a lot of plants for him to relax.

Rhys had agreed with him, along with everyone else when Miro dropped out of the call from lack of service again.

Speaking of the other Lieutenants, no one had heard a word from Gunther. He hadn’t stopped by any of the Guiding Centers either. Everyone was getting worried, specifically Casper and Rhys. Hill was also worried, but she had her hands full with her interrogation and with the soon to be influx of new recruits on the front lines. She was hoping to get the interrogation done soon. Hopefully before the new recruits arrived, but they were being difficult.

Which meant that no one knew where Gunther was, the E.A.G. members that Hill caught also weren’t talking, and the last anyone had seen of him was probably when Rhys had seen what he had done to the generators. Kellen wasn’t diminishing how concerning it was that Gunther hadn’t made contact.

That was very concerning.

He was just also trying to put some trust in Gunther. He hadn’t been Rhys’ right hand man for so long for no reason. He was resourceful, which was part of the reason why he had suggested Gunther for the position in the first place, and he had gotten a warning to Rhys. It was just...the follow up that was concerning.

Casper was doing his best not to show how concerned he was, but everyone could tell. Kellen didn’t believe that you could just go cold turkey on feelings that you’d had for so long, and Casper’s behaviour was proving that. Especially if Kellen remembered the conversation they had before Brent had come back from the front lines.

He was jittery, nervous, and looked like he hadn’t been sleeping properly since he’d heard about the generator situation and what hand Gunther had to play in it. He’d been putting up a good front for everyone else, but when it was just the upper members of the Guild? He was crumbling. Kellen felt terrible for the guy, but he wasn’t sure what he could do.

Hill also looked terrible. She was also not sleeping, but that was due to all of the things she had on her plate while being on the front lines. Kellen and Casper asked if there was anything that they could do to help her, but she had laughed them off. Kellen was asking with genuine concern, while Casper was doing the same, but also implying that he could send a Guide or something to help her out.

Hill had just smiled, a tired look in her eyes as she shook her head at his antics.

"Casper, look after yourself first, alright? I can figure myself out here, and it’s a great discredit to Kellen’s former colleagues if you say that." She said with a wink, her gaze sliding to Brent and Kellen. Casper scoffed.

"I just wanted to make sure you had what you needed, alright?" Casper shot back, moving his glasses up to rub his eye. "And I don’t look that bad, do I?" He asked, glancing around the table and no one would say anything. That was an answer enough.

It was after that that they wrapped up the meeting, letting everyone get back to their regular day. Kellen and Brent headed back to the office, making the sticks for the draw as they had discussed while also looping Rhys into it to make sure that there were enough spots for their students on the way over to the front lines.

They were about a week out from sending everyone over again. They could have waited a bit longer, but at the same time...having such a large delay from harvesting gates was having a financial impact on the whole city. They couldn’t really afford to be away from the gates for that much longer, and it was also messing up scientific studies as well.

They needed to get back to work. Safely, of course, and with each passing day they were getting closer to being able to attempt to go into the new gate again.

Prepared. Ready. Not like the first time. Kellen was almost excited for it, since once the first roam of the gate was done, Kellen and Rhys were going in. He would be able to go back to the front lines for the first time in months.

He was almost beginning to feel restless with excitement.