# Part 11

At the camp, Echo was sitting by the lake, looking out over the still water. There was a mist rolling from the mountains and settling itself over everything. It was gorgeous…like something out of a dream. She swished her tail along the grass and smiled softly, imagining Blue and Charlie back here…and Delta too. They could all sit here together and laugh while they watched the mist drift along and the sound of birds chirping could sound them to sleep.
But could that ever happen? Echo frowned as she thought that chilling statement to herself. Her mind drifted back to the island…the place they were born and where they’d lived before meeting Alpha. There were no pretty views like this in the island base. There were no birds chirping. In fact, the more she thought about it, Echo didn’t remember much of what the outside of the base looked like. She remembered stuffy rooms and large running spaces with little to see or look at. She remembered observation windows on all sides where men in military uniforms and lab coats watched her and her sisters while bickering. She’d remembered a time she’d wanted their approval…wanted to prove something to them. She thought back to those days with no small degree of contempt as her hand gently ran along the scar on her face.

“Who says you get to be our alpha?” She’d mocked Blue. “Just cause you’re the oldest, you get to be in charge? I’m every bit as tough and as knowledgeable as you.” Charlie had been hiding behind Blue then. They were still young…Charlie being the youngest. She hadn’t wanted to make a scene, and she hated being watched. She often stayed close to Blue or Delta. Delta just smirked as she observed. She knew Echo wasn’t fit to be leader…but she thrived on the competition. Always one for a bit of action, perhaps the thought of a little sibling rivalry would shake up the mundane for her?
Blue hadn’t budged. “If I thought those things were all it took to be leader, I wouldn’t care about handing over leadership. But they aren’t all that matter.”
“What else does?” Echo asked.
“Patience. Humility. Wisdom.”
“There you go again,” Echo laughed, “holding yourself over us with your self righteous bullshit.”
“Echo stoppit…Blue’s a good leader.” Charlie whimpered, not wanting to see her sisters fight.
“Yeah she is…but we need a better one.” Echo took a step forward, flashing her foot claw. Now Charlie was scared and quickly stumbled away. Delta backed up too, but didn’t take her eyes off of them. “Let’s see if you can fight your way to the top, Blue.”
“…Don’t do it, Echo.”
“Don’t tell me what to do!”
Echo remembered it all. The vicious attack she made on Blue…the ferocious striking at the hip, which Blue had evaded. How Blue had not thrown the first strike but kept dodging and weaving out of her way. It made Echo furious…it was ridiculous. Fight back Blue, she’d thought. Show me you deserve to be leader more than me! Do something with your useless hide. We all wanted off that island, so why not prove you could be the one to take us there!? If you wouldn’t help us off, she had said to herself, then I’ll take the lead…and leave you here to rot.
But it was her own arrogance that did her in.
The last thing she remembered about the fight was her making a flying kick at Blue. Blue pivoted to dodge and brought up her leg in a round house kick, which struck Echo across the face with the claw of her foot. Echo had meet it with the full force of her own momentum and was knocked back several feet, her face practically ripped open. Charlie had screamed. Delta had gasped and run to her side. Blue…she stood there stiff as a log, unable to believe what had happened. As for her…as for Echo…she faded out of consciousness.
The stiches took weeks to finish healing, and the scar would never fully heal. Every day she looked at that scar, it broke her internally. It was a reminder that Blue had given her, even if not intentionally: You’re not fit to lead us. She’d taken that message to her heart and soul, and it broke every ounce of confidence she had. She didn’t resent Blue…she loved Blue with all her heart…and she followed her willingly as her leader from then on. But nothing would ever bring back her old confidence. Delta had tried to spar with her to bring it out, but little worked. Charlie had tried playing with her and cuddling close at night to make Echo feel better…but it never made a difference. She was broken. The old Echo was gone, she thought.
Was it a bad thing though? She wasn’t entirely sure.

“You okay out here?” Echo spun around in surprise to see a tall young man standing on the hill. He had brown hair and deep brown eyes. A full beard covered his chin and sides of his face making him resemble something like a lion of a man, but he had a handsome smile and he didn’t look especially dangerous. He reminded her a little of Alpha. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. Name’s Baloo.”
“Baloo?” Echo asked.
“Yeah, my staffer nickname. But if you wanna know my real name, it’s Garth. Just don’t tell the kids.” Echo blinked a few times, amazed this person would be so open to talking to her. “If I’m interrupting anything…”
“No I was…just thinking.”
“The Lake is a fine place to do that.” He agreed. “But you know, the campers are done with lunch and the staff has plenty of leftovers…Honcho wanted to know if you and your sister would like to…you know…have some?” Echo didn’t answer at first and Garth walked closer, sitting down beside her. “Guess you’re not that hungry.”
“I would like to but…I don’t want to impose.” Echo replied shyly, trying to cover her face. She didn’t want him staring at her scar. Garth laughed and shook his head.
“No imposing around here. You and your sister are our guests here.” When she didn’t answer he shrugged and grunted. “Well, in that case, I may go for a swim.” He stood up and took off his shirt and Echo glanced up. The first thing she saw as his shirt came off made her gasp in horror.
Three long scars ran up from his hip to his left bicep. They were long, ugly, and dark red. One looked massively torn up and rigged and she quickly looked away. Garth paused and flushed a little.
“Oh right…you’ve never seen this before. It’s why I got my nickname. This right here I got on my first year as a staffer.” He explained.
“What happened?” Echo asked. Garth laughed and threw his shirt down, shaking his head.
“Everyone always asks…alright alright, guess you can hear the story.” He stands in front of Echo and starts speaking loudly and clearly. He’s obviously become used to telling this.

“So when you’re a first year staffer, you have to go on a hike for three days with your other first year staff and Honcho. We hike out into the mountains and camp among the wildlife, we share stories, get our nicknames…all that fun stuff. Well on our second night it’s raining really hard and I see a cave up ahead and say we should camp out in there. Why set up a tent in the rain when a dry cave will do? Honcho says we shouldn’t because bears live in caves…and…well bears are crazy.”
Echo giggled, and Garth continued.
“So I’m too full of myself to listen. I was excited, arrogant…maybe even a little stubborn, and I go up to investigate the cave. Sure enough, I take three steps inside when a huge old black bear suddenly roars at me. I scream and start to run, when that beast takes a swing at me and cuts me wide open.” He pointed to his scars. “I fell down the hill a bloody mess. Honcho had to run over and shoot at the bear to scare it off, and as for me? It looked REALLY bad.”
“What’d they do!?”
“Well I faded in and out of consciousness a few times, but I remember they carried me as far back to camp as they could and called for a rescue chopper. Soon I was being hauled out of the woods by a bunch of medics and carried off to a hospital.”
“That’s horrifying!” Echo cried. “I’m…I don’t know what to even say to that. Are you really okay now?”
“I wasn’t for the first week or two. I could barely walk or move. I was bed ridden for a while. And worse was the wound got infected so I got sick for a while too. It was…really awful.” Garth sighed. Echo sighs long and low and curls up on the grass.
“I got my scar in a fight with my sister…” She admitted. “I was kind of…arrogant too, I guess.” Garth nodded.
“I kind of guessed that might be the case.”
“How could you guess that?”
“I dunno…just…sort of the way you carry yourself. You look like someone who was on top of the world and got knocked off.” He explained.
“Well…you don’t.” Echo growled, darkly, feeling a little insulted. “What’s your excuse for not being timid and miserable?”
“Me? Heh…I guess I don’t have time to be miserable.” He laughed. “These scars on my gut are just a reminder of the fact that I ate myself a slice of humble pie and lived to tell about it. Not everyone can say that.”
“But you’re mutilated…scarred for life.”
“Just a reminder not to be an arrogant moron.” He laughed. “I’m glad I have these. For one thing, they’re a fun story to tell. And for another reason…a lot of people are arrogant or full of themselves these days and they have to work hard to remember to be humble. Me? I’ve got three nice big reminders I can look at every day. Saves me a lot of trouble.” Echo just laughed to herself and shook her head.
“I never thought of it that way. I always saw this as…well…a reason to be ashamed.”
“Sure, I feel ashamed of what I did back then, but I also am proud of myself for getting over it.” Garth beamed proudly and then walked to the water. “Anyway, I’ll let you decide if you’re hungry or not. The mess hall is back that way.” He pointed back up the road towards the center of camp. Echo smiled as she watched Garth dive into the freezing cold water and then ran a finger along her scar across her face and flushed deeply.
“…Proud of it, huh?” She whispered. “Could I be proud of this? Would Alpha…be proud of me?” She asked.
From the edge of the forest, Delta watched Echo get up from where she sat to walk to the mess hall. When she’d seen that councilor guy walk over to talk to her, she’d stuck around to see if anything happened. Nothing seemed to be wrong, and she hadn’t heard what was said…but the smile on Echo’s face told her she had nothing to worry about. What was it they’d talked about, she wondered.

At the courthouse, miles away, Owen Grady was finally being called to the stand. The courtroom was silent as he approached the bench and sat down. Blue and Charlie both sat stiff as they watched their Alpha prepare to be interrogated. He’d told them not to say or do anything during this…not to move a muscle if they could help it. As Hammond had said, his testimony would be critical. The prosecutor walked up and smiled politely, but with as much civility and kindness as a pit viper.
“Lt. Grady, do you know why we’re here today.”
“To judge whether or not the Raptors should be considered sentient and responsible for their own actions. That they aren’t just tools or weapons.”
“You think they are sentient?”
“I’ve lived with them and trained them for quite some time now…I can tell you honestly they are perfectly sentient.” Owen answered.
“Why do you think this?”
“Because they think for themselves. They can be stubborn and hard headed and there are times they won’t do what I tell them to do. They have their own interests and dislikes, like any normal person would.” Owen replied.
“Certainly, so they make decisions for themselves…what about for you?” He asked.
“Objection, the witness is not on trial.” Hammond called.
“Lt.. Grady is the raptors handler. He bears a degree of responsibility to these events.” The prosecutor replied.
“Sustained.” The judge replied with a nod.
“I’ll reask the question: The girls can make decisions for themselves, but what about for you?”
“I don’t think I understand the question.” Owen answered honestly.
“What’s the relationship between you and the girls?” He asked.
“Relationship? It’s like you said, I’m their handler.” Owen laughed.
“Anything more?” Owen paused a moment, taking in the question. Now he understood…now he realized what angle this was going. He stiffened and his eyes shot to Blue and Charlie, both now curious to what he said. He was trapped….and he knew it. His eyes spun to Hoshkins in the back of the room, smirking to himself. This was his doing too, wasn’t it?
If he answered that they were nothing more than his squad that he handled, the girls faith might be shaken in him, and it would ruin the years of hard work he’d done with them. But if he said it was more complicated…said that they were more to him than just his agents that he worked with…then his ability to be objective and professional would be called into question publicly and they might be removed from his care. There was no way out of this…no way out of this trap.
“Goddamn you…” Owen hissed.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear that, could you speak up?” The prosecutor asked.
“Answer the question, Lt. Grady.” The judge urged.
“I’ll ask one more time…what is the relationship between you and those raptor girls?”