Present day 8 years later
Ashley's POV.
The night was well into its typical cycle, the half moon was high up in the sky surrounded by countless sparkling freckles of stars across the night sky, some more clustered together than others, varying in size and even colour. The sky had been much clearer with the lack of light pollution thanks to the werewolves taking over, their abilities to see in the dark rendering most street lights unnecessary most of the time.
But this made it the perfect environment for a specific 'ghost' to make her way towards a specific stronghold of supreme alpha Micheal, or as Ashley liked to call him, the arrogant prat, as he had quite the ego despite only being the fifth in his ranking world wide, just one above the lowest supreme.
He was also the alpha that had been keeping a large number of rebellion members captive after a mission went wrong.
Not all missions went well, especially considering there were dozens of packs under each supreme alpha, this helped to spread the responsibility of keeping balance between all the common wolves.
Each alpha often handed over rebellion members to their supreme alpha, as they were considered a threat to wolf safety, sometimes being referred to as terrorists for some of their more violent attacks.
It was where the most secure prison holds were built, as each rebellion member had to be checked if they had a mate to a wolf, as they couldn't risk killing a mate to one of their own.
I personally thought it was a fate worse than death.
And I wasn't alone in this belief, many rebels would keep a poison pill on them in case of capture, I would have ones as well, but I couldn't leave Samuel behind, not after losing our parents 8 years ago.
I was 26 now and my little brother was 21, sure he was an adult now but I couldn't just abandon him in a world like this, not while we were still fighting for justice, I still had to take care of him.
My role in this fight for freedom started small, I got lucky finding out my parents were actually pretty important members despite what they told us growing up. I'm not sure why they lied but I know it must have been for a good reason.
Me and Samuel were placed in the care of Mr McClang, he had lost his home too that day, and was an old friend of our dad's.
With his help and the surprisingly highly respected reputation of my parents I started working my way up the ranks. I wanted to make those monsters pay for tearing my family apart, first my sister then my parents, they had the audacity to say it was in the name of 'peace' and 'order' that they continued to try and crush our resistance.
I started out just as a simple helper around the base I was sent too, it was on one of the Spanish islands near the mainlands, as islands weren't that valuable to large packs.
It was a fine home for me and Sam, a collection of cabin homes that had been built and buildings that had been abandoned. It was pretty well
Hidden and there were plenty of escape routes in case of being found, we would leave no trace of ourselves if possible.
After a few years my skills in stealth and being light on my feet were starting to be noticed, I could get around easily without much trouble.
I had always been a difficult child to keep an eye on.
I was fast, agile, flexible, quiet with my steps and could blend into the background, even unintentionally, which is how they discovered my talent in the first place.
With that under my belt I shot up to scout, then spy, then one of their best thieves.
I could sneak my way into wolf occupied areas, make my way to their buildings or homes, sneak inside and grab whatever was my target before quickly getting out again.
Sometimes it was Information like on document papers or from devices, to which I'd use data collection plug-ins that would extract what was needed. Sometimes I'd steal other things, like valuables, money, important items with either traditional or business importance.
Honestly I was quite a versatile member.
It wasn't until I was 21 that I was assigned my first kill target, I'll be honest it made my stomach turn at first but, I found the more I did it the more numb I became.
I tried to only killed from afar, I could never handle face to face confrontation, it's how I gained the code name 'ghost'.
But that's enough on me for now, I have a job to do.
....
It didn't take me long to use the shadows to make my way over to the arrogant parts of the prison building, of course as expected it was swarming with guards.
I was pretty thankful for Robin's little invention of scent masking spray, it eliminated any and all natural smells from wolves and humans, which was perfect for me to get around undetected.
I spotted what I assumed to be a weak spot in their chain fencing, they had it surrounding the building with lights flooding the area.
I'd be a sitting duck if I tried to just jump the fence or sneak through the front entrance, but luckily for me these beasts seemed to have something for keeping areas filled with nature.
Keeping in the trees I hopped from branch to branch staying light on my feet, moving slowly to limit the movements I caused, I was glad I was extremely skinny, purposely keeping myself as physically light as possible but just enough to be healthy.
I was agile and fast, but for the life of me I didn't dare to build too much muscle, too dense, I couldn't risk it.
Didn't mean I didn't know how to throw a nasty punch.
Using the overhanging branches of the tree I managed to hop the fence, barely missing the flood lights, I could feel my heart racing, the start of a new mission was always terrifying.
Slowly making my way to the side of the building I stayed low, making my way to some of the fire doors, but before opening it I made sure to use some wire cutters to disable the alarms for this door.
The supreme who runs this place was always too confident in his security, leaving some well appreciated gaps for me to exploit.
Making my way inside I stuck to quiet halls, I didn't exactly need to get to the cells, but a control room would be perfect. Disabling cameras was easy, I used small needle like blades shot from a small arm crossbow like contraption, another invention of Robin.
Making my way down the halls I kept my eyes peeled, the control rooms were always kept on the first floor.
"And bingo was his name" I mumbled to myself under my mask, a smirk on my lips creeping over my face, just as expected the room was right ahead of me, and conveniently the door was unlocked.
The beast who was supposed to be here must have been on break, that only gave me more time to get my work done, if they came back while I was busy I was prepared. A fire arm attached to my waist, it was the same one I shot during the raid, I had decided to keep it as my lucky charm.
Not only that but I had wolfs-bane powered, silver powder, silver laced thin blades and a stun taser.
I couldn't take on a wolf with my bare hands, even with natural skills I wouldn't be able to hold my own, but with these weapons and little bits of assistance I could take down a full grown wolf, though I really shouldn't test my luck with trying to take on more than one at a time.
Making my way to the control panel I started looking around, I closed the door behind me and watched the security camera, using the keyboard to flip through the screens to find what I was looking for.
"Jack pot" I mumble as I find the camera watching the cell block with the Rebel prisoners, at least a dozen cells and heavily guarded on the outside. I took a deep breath and looked at the keyboards then at the power box behind me "ok....ok, breathe, you got this Ashley" I mumbled to myself as I got to work.
First, I moved to lock the doors into that cell block except the fire exit, then I turned off alarms. It took a few minutes with shaky fingers, I hated staying in the open too long.
Once that was done I began locking other doors to that section, to ensure everyone could get out safely.
But before I could finish I heard movement down the hall, the sound of hard leather shoes and the distinct sound of slurping a drink, probably coffee.
panicking a little I quickly hid behind the door staying low, I just needed to knock this guy out and not make a scene, he walked in and looked rather confused at first as he studied the screen. I knew it wouldn't take long for him to realise something was off, meaning I had a short time to attack before he did that freaky mind thing to alert the others.
Honestly that's so weird, others in your head, like a hive mind, part of me was convinced they were secretly part bug.
Slowly pulling one of my sleek, extremely sharp blades from my best, i coated it in some wolfs-bane poison, i needed to incapacitate him quickly, though I wouldn’t mind if this killed him too, I’ve already got blood stained hands, one more won’t change anything in me.
Slowly sneaking out, I know sneaking up on a wolf is impossible, but thankfully him being so distracted gave me just enough time before he noticed my heartbeat so close behind him.
Before he could act properly I had already sunken my blade in between his ribs from behind next to his spine, normal steel couldn’t easily penetrate their skin, but with my blades coated in silver it glides like butter with a deadly accuracy. His eyes widened as he stared at me, eyes filled with shock, disbelief, pain, confusion and just complete speechlessness. His deep brown eyes staring back into my own light blue eyes, though mine were just filled with a deep seeded hatred and anger, I watched his eyes gloss over for a second before going back to normal, his confusion only growing.
A nice little advantage of wolfs-bane is that it blocks regular wolves' little mind tricks, though I’ve learned it doesn’t do the same with alphas even with stronger doses of the poison.
He fell to the floor, the blade in his back keeping most of his blood contained, I didn’t want to make a mess yet, the smell of blood would quickly alert these vile predators.
And I honestly didn’t need to get myself mauled by them.
He collapsed soon after face first into the cold tiled floor, the wolf's-bane working its sweet poisonous magic allowing me to drag him backwards and prop him under a desk, using some zip ties in the security room to tie his arms behind him and to the desk leg.
Satisfied with my work I dusted my hands off and headed back to the controls, finishing off locking certain doors and sectors, the more I locked the more noticeable it would be so I had to move quickly now.
Once everything was in place I headed to the main power box and started shutting down the power to the cell block where the other rebels were, turning off the alarms made it easier to get out, then it was the lights, first turning them off then slashing the wires so they couldn’t be turned on quickly again.
I could hear distant shouting and commotion of those monsters running around and barking orders at each other like disobedient dogs.
My work here was done, so I made my way out a window on the room, unlocking it from the inside, now with the floodlights off my black outfit concealed me better, and with all the commotion inside I managed to slip away climbing the fence and back into the trees.
Leaving the chaos behind me that started to unravel, I felt an unsettling cold shiver slither its way down my back and all over my body, they sounded like hellish beasts that had lost their minds.
"Stupid mutts....always just a little too confident" I whispered with a smirk, meeting back up with some others before quickly driving away.
We had a few hidden vehicles set up to pick up the escaping rebels, some driven by humans, some driven by sympathetic werewolves that were helping us. I personally wasn't a fan of being around these mutts, but it gave us more of an insight to the pack and info we needed, as long as they stayed useful I could tolerate them.
"Well if it isn't the little ghost, out for a late night stroll tonight milady?" A very chirpy and happy male voice spoke as I got I to the back of the car, rolling my eyes with a smirk pulling down my mask. "Ha ha Andrew, very funny" I say, a smirk on my lips as I buckled in "oh brother this is a day for the history books! The ghost! She spoke" a now female voice cried with an obvious dramatic flare.
"Oh shut it rose, you Two are insufferable Together" I teased as we started driving off.
These two were twins, Andrew and Rose Jones, but they were fantastic getaway drivers and mission partners, though they typically stuck to helping from afar, both being human.
"Awww come on we're just having a little fun, you know we love our teasing ash" Rose said with a smug smile but putting on the most innocent voice.
"Yeah ash, we sit here for sooooooo long, we've got plenty of time to come up with little jokes" Andrew said confidently with his eyes on the road.
I rolled my eyes with a chuckle as I relaxed into my seat.
"Hey wanna hear some new jokes I came up with?" Rose asked with excitement spilling in her voice, "noooooo you have dad joke humour rose" I pleaded only to have Andrew smirk "sure sis, let's hear it" he said with a smug grin.
"Oh my god you are evil Andrew!" I cried with a laugh covering my ears as Rose whipped open a notebook and pencil.
"So, you ever heard of the one where-"
"Nooooooooo!" I cried dramatically as we drove off through the forest back towards our base here, trapped with these two clowns for the next 4 hour drive.
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By the time we had gotten back to our base of operations I felt numb to the incredible amount of corny dad jokes that Rose had listed off and Andrew had so kindly encouraged her behaviour.
Traitor.
I'd get him back for this at some point, maybe some salt in his coffee instead of sugar.
Or maybe I'd steal all his left socks and right shoes, the possibilities were endless and I could be quite the petty person, I held a grudge, and these two morons were playing with fire.
I was grateful to throw myself out of the car once we were back.
"Freedom! Finally!" I cried with joy and ran into the building sighing as Andrew and rise followed after me.
"Come back here ash! You will learn to love my puns if it's the last thing we do!" Rose yelled laughing, running after me though her and her brother weren't as quick as I was.
"You can't escape your fate ash! Accept it!" He added as we raced through the base camp past some of the buildings and homes, heading straight for the main office building to report back from our mission.
"Never!" I declared as I burst through the doors and slowed down quickly hearing the tap of an old leather boot and the sight of weathered green eyes, a growing wrinkled face with messy grey, stubble covering half his face. I gulped looking at him with a nervous smile on my face as I stood at attention.
"Mr McClang" I stated.
"Ashley.... you're 4 minutes later than you promised" he said with a gruff voice, clearly a smoker in the past, a beer lover still though, which was evident by the ever so faint smell of beer on his dark brown flannel shirt.
"Well I can-"
I didn't get too far before rose and Andrew barreled in behind him kicking me to the ground, a domino effect as we all tumbled to the floor
More laughter escaped us from the stupid scene we had just caused in front of who essentially was the man we all referred to as 'sir' or 'chef'. He was responsible for a lot of the kids who joined the rebellion once of age, and had taken me and Samuel under his tattered wing especially.
Always keeping an eye on us, he was kinda like an old gruff uncle to us all, and no one dared question him, he'd served more time fighting then most here.
There's a reason he's allowed to live in a quiet hut and not be bothered unless absolutely necessary.
He watched us and sighed, rubbing his old tired face with his scared rough hands, he watched us before putting his hands behind his back.
"I'll expect an explanation over coffee when you're done fooling around with your riffraff friends...10 minutes on the dot" he said and started walking, heading to the door behind her "don't keep me waiting, little ghost" he said.
A smile gracing just the corner of his lips as he left.
"Ooooo someone's getting lectured" rose cooed as she got up, I chuckled getting up with Andrews help.
"Oh shut up, riffraff" I said with a chuckle at their dramatic gasps and protests as we went to fill out our reports Together.
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Hello everyone again!!
Hopped you liked chapter two and a couple new characters added! I had a lot of fun with this one!
I know Ashley is my MC but honestly I love writing Mr McClang! He's definitely the dedicated gruff old man here.
I finished this on just over 3000+ words so hope you enjoyed this!
I'll see you in the next chapter! Have a great night/day💖
Byeeeeeeee👋