149 Not cool!

Brandon stood in the middle of a large hall and began to boil inside from the long wait.

"Useless trash!" -He spat, kicking one of the last dead shifters with his boot, who managed to reach the end of the maze. - "Who trained them at all? They are absolutely useless! Clark, are any of yours among these?"

A tall, dark-skinned man, a couple of meters away from him, did not even look around and shook his head, spitting on the floor.

"My guys know pretty well their place. They are at least smart enough to understand who the boss. This one and those three by the wall from Pavlov's squad. This damned hobo has long been behaving like a loner. Today did not come, because surely lying drunk somewhere in the alley." - He grumbled with disdain, gazing dismissively at the faces of the dead shifters on the ground.

"Commander, can we not kill everyone?" -Asked a short guy with curly black hair down to his shoulders. - "Still, we need 12 people. Let's leave at least a few just in case."

Brandon snorted leaving the corpse alone, which he had been beating for some time now and turning to the guy.

"If everyone else is as worthless as these, then what is the point of taking them at all? What will I do with them next?"

"Among those who entered were three from the Sein squad, a pair of shifters from those sent abroad on special missions. And I also saw one familiar face that I never expected to see today." - The man that was silently standing by the wall all this time said quietly. His whole appearance was so unremarkable that any gaze literally had nothing to cling to. Gray ordinary hair, a standard face that you could find anywhere and a nondescript figure. But as soon as he spoke, all the shifters instantly turned around. Even Brandon became serious when he heard the words of this man.

" Who are you talking about?" - asked the leader of the Watchers, carefully looking into the face of a man.

"You may not know him. He served only a year and was all this time on several missions abroad. He appeared two or three times in headquarter. And then he went to work in Winter Corp. To his Alpha, his uncle, Mr. Winterborn." - responded the shifter in a colorless tone. - "But I was lucky to see him once in action, and it is difficult to forget such a show."

Brandon squinted digesting the information. Mr. Winterbourne's nephew? He knew about Brian, his son. But that one, despite the impressive figure, was unbalanced and a total disappointment for his father. Rummaging through his memory, he finally was able to recall some images.

"Ryan ... something like Grand or Brand. Right? I did not know that he was a Watcher though. And Mr. Winterbourne did not warn me that he would be here. Maybe you made a mistake?" - He asked suspiciously, coming closer to the guy. But this man only grinned in response.

"Mr. Winterbourne doesn't tell you much anyway." - He said barely audible. Brandon immediately clenched his fists, but the man did not give him a chance to continue the dialogue. Flinching back from the wall, he took off his jacket and began to fold it neatly. Then, just as carefully, he laid it down on the nearest stone and turned to one of the entrances to the hall.

"I think you should meet him yourself. Fortunately, the boy yearns for this meeting, too." - He replied, winking at Brandon. The leader of the Watchers frowned in confusion and turned his eyes to the tunnel not hearing a thing. But his attention was immediately distracted by the sound coming from another entrance. Foot stomping. Two or three people. And it seems they were chased by some more guests.

Brandon's companions, obeying his signal, immediately took up their positions, awaiting the new arrivals. And they didn't have to wait long. Just a couple of seconds later, three shifters flew into the hall. Rather, two guys dragging a wounded comrade. Seeing the people in this place, they immediately stopped. Their faces were all tensed, like a beast in the corner. But as soon as they noticed among the people their leader, Brandon, the guys relaxed a bit.

"Chief!" - Started one of them. - " Did we make it? Gosh, I can believe that! Help us, quickly! Thomas has a broken leg. Need to set the bone. These freaks trapped us in one of the dead ends and attacked without warning."

Brendon closely examined the three but did not move from his spot. Meanwhile, the new shifter has already taken a couple of steps in his direction, dragging a wounded friend behind him. The guy was still very young and did not even pay attention to the cold eyes of his boss. The second one was a bit slower, but the pounding that came from behind made me follow as well.

Only a couple of steps remained to Brandon when the four pursuing people poured out of the tunnel. Realizing that in addition to their prays in the hall there were others, the shifters also stopped, looking around.

"This is these freaks!" - Screamed the guy pointing to the foursomes and approaches closer to the leader. But Brandon only frowned in disgust and moved aside.

"What are you waiting for? I seem to have explained the rules. Or is it that you don't have guts to the end the job?" - Sounded his cold voice in silence. The expressions on the for shifters that just came immediately changed. The understanding downed, and they bared the fands all at ones.

The first of them issued a wild roar and immediately rushed to the nearest victim, who could not even dodge, as he supported his wounded friend. The boy only had time to throw the comrade away and get ready for the strike.

Boom!

The attacking shifter's body flinched in flight before it even had time to turn into coyote form completely. Splashes of blood spread in different directions, and he was thrown to the side. Only in the place of the muzzle now a huge wound gaped, from which pieces of the skull and whitish brain fluid could be seen. Everyone froze trying to figure out what had happened.

The silence pierced a muffled, hoarse laugh. Brandon turned in surprise, realizing that it was his shady companion that was laughing like crazy. The one that all this time stood in front of the entrance to another tunnel.

"What the hell is this?" - The man croaked barely holding back his laughter and looking with surprise at the figure opposite him.

Brandon did not even immediately understand what he saw in front of him. At first glance, it was a bear. Only he looked somehow strange. Oh, and this thing also had a shotgun in hand! Only a second later, he finally realized that this was just a costume. Although their guest did not waste time on the presentation and silently pointed his weapon to a new aim, ignoring the merry man near him.

Bam! And another shifter from among the pursuers was thrown aside. His face turned into an incomprehensible mess.

"Who allowed you to bring weapons here !?" - Brandon roared and immediately shut his mouth, seeing that the man in the suit was aiming at him now.

"Who are you? Do you think with such methods you can earn at least someplace among us?" - the leader asked in much calmer voice this time.

"I don't give a rat ass about your places and ranks." - Came a mocking voice from under the mask. - "I'm here as a cheerleader. I just don't like your methods. You stand here and baiting your guys to fight each other. Not cool! And these guys who prey on their own comrades and attacked the wounded. Also not cool. You're a shitty boss, and you're boys are trash!"

While the man in the suit spoke, Brandon sniffed and immediately snarled.

" A human!" - He growled. - "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm telling you. Cheerleader. I'm f*cking fangirling! You are deaf or just a retarded?" - he answered calmly. - "My friend wanted to fight with you. And here I am, came to shake pom-poms."

Having spoken it, the uninvited guest intercepted the shotgun with one hand, and the other one fished out a pompon from his pocket.

" Ryan! Go! Hey! Hey! You're da best! And all this shit!" - He shouted, waving by it, and doing a few lazy jumps.

" Gash! You're an embarrassment!" - Came a grunt from somewhere above. - "You enjoy the situation too much. Just stop it!"

Everyone immediately looked up. It was almost impossible to see the figure wholly covered with scales on the cave's ceiling, and only when he moved Brandon finally could discern the strange creature. A huge humanoid lizard with a long tail ran along the sheer wall and the next moment slid down taking a position next to a man in a bear's skin.

" Is that a freak circus or what?" - Spat out Clark, who was standing behind Brandon. He did not have time to finish the sentence as another shot sounded. The wall exploded to bits in a mere centimeter from his head.

"Don't hurt my friend like that. He is very touchy. A gentle soul, you know?" - Warned the guy with the shotgun.

"I think he was referring to you." - shot back the scaly one.

"So you came here to fight with a leader?" - Asked an inconspicuous man. All this time he was standing a little apart from others and watching with interest what was happening.

Ryan moved forward and nodded affirmatively, never taking his eyes off Brandon.

"Hmm ... Interesting." - Drawled the leader with a grin, coming a little closer and unleashing his claws. - "I have not yet fought with such freak. I've heard people like you were all massacred a while ago. Lucky me, your head will look good on my wall in the living room."

"I do not keep garbage in the house. So you can not hope for the same honor on my part." - The guy hissed, watching Brandon begin his transformation. Although The Night Watchers leader could not attain the form of Alpha, his animal form itself was huge, almost three-meter-tall grizzly bear looked quite impressive.

"I told you that your costume looks like shit." - Ryan threw over his shoulder mockingly.

"Oh, alright. Whatever! Try to make as few holes as possible in this guy then. His skin looks fabulous! I have a couple of ideas!" - replied Frank with a voice full of excitement.

Ryan just grinned and shook his head, stepping into the middle of the hall, where a were-bear on his hind legs was already waiting for him.

"Well, Fluffy ass, let's dance ?!"