Chapter 118: A Field Guide far away from home

While the conditions of Brent’s living arrangements got a lot better after Aunt Dina got destroyed by Henry and Ellie, it was still a week later before he heard anything from the outside world.

Well, he heard a lot from the outside world around him, like how he was a failure, how he was ruining the James name, how he was an imposter, blah blah blah from his family, but not from the people that actually mattered.

In fact, the people of the city were being slowly turned against Brent because of his stupid fucking brother and the reach that they had. He was being painted as a mad man, someone that the family had written off because the general public hadn’t heard anything about him for years.

Brent didn’t think that was his fucking fault. His family had iced him out, and his grandfather had thought that was the best course of action at the time. Do as they wanted, since it would give him time to escape when he wanted to. It was fucking rude that they were using it against him all these years later.

Brent was going to have to do a press conference soon. There was no way to avoid it. Especially since the will had been finalised, everything had been transferred to Brent and he had also been meeting with the people he needed to with the help of Mr. Caulder and Esper Gardner.

Having two lawyers was better than one, it seemed, and it also appeared that Henry had reached out to his contacts in the city as well.

Smaller, but still important Guilds in the city were also coming to speak to Aunt Dina and Brent, attempting to form connections with Brent who was nothing like his family. Everyone knew that was the case since he had Henry, Ellie and Kellen’s backing.

So while the public was being turned against him, the other powers in the city were coming to unite behind him.

It was all leading towards the confrontation at the Chronos Guild.

Brent couldn’t avoid it any longer. He had to go and see what was going on in the Chronos Guild. As someone who had been helping run a few Guilds now at this point, with most of his experience being with the Saturn Guild, but he had helped out a bit with Sergei when it came to running the Nemesis Guild on the front lines.

He tried not to blush as he thought about the implications of that statement. There was no time for him to be a blushing violet right now.

Brent had to go see the mess his brother had made of one of the most powerful Guilds in the area, and see how fucking corrupted it was. He had already come up with a few drafts of a contract that he could give to the members that he thought were ’decent’. Anything else?

That was the gun was for. And he’d been able to get some practise in at the firing range that the Phoenix Guild had, since Aunt Dina had been told that was ’enrichment’ for Brent.

Brent really tried hard not to think about that too deeply, since he knew that she came from a different era, and that he wanted to remain in good standing with her. She was just doing her best, and none of the other Espers spoke to him or about him in the same way. He did notice how a few of them looked at him like that and Brent was kicking himself for throwing out the prosthetic that his brother had gotten him.

He just didn’t feel right having it. Aunt Dina had agreed, if not reluctantly, to burn the thing. Brent was sure it was tracking him, and was sure that there was something not quite right with it. That was proven when the damn thing EXPLODED when they were burning it.

None of the prosthetics that Brent’d had before had ever done that, even in gates. Fucker. They malfunctioned, sure, and could be dangerous, but never ’this could explode’ kind of dangerous.

Either way, Brent had contracts drafted, had some better armor on under his clothes which he knew had to have been sent by either the Saturn Guild or the Nemesis Guild simply because it was in his size and was his normal Field Guide outfit.

Aunt Dina was still pouting about that, and Brent was just not humouring her about it. She was getting rather possessive of Brent, even if she wasn’t planning to be anything more to Brent. Brent blamed it on the fact that all other Guides were being tucked away somewhere safe, while Brent was loud and proud and in the open.

However, she was bending to Brent’s will. He was thinking that all the visits from other Espers was really putting her on high alert, and she was realising that Brent was important and caging him anymore then she already was doing would lose him. So, she provided him what he needed, including Espers for when he needed to raid the Chronos Guild.

Brent didn’t really announce that he was coming, but he didn’t need to. He’d borrowed one of the flashiest cars he could find. Well, borrowed wasn’t exactly the right term. He’d taken a page out of Rhys’ book and rolled up to a car dealership and bought the fanciest, most expensive car he could find.

A bright red thing that went too damn fast for Brent’s personal comfort, didn’t have the protective parts put into it, and would make him an easy target. It would get the job done, however, and it wasn’t like he had to drive it back to the Phoenix Guild. He just needed to get to the Chronos Guild in one piece, that was it.

Brent had also decided to dress up. He didn’t cover up his scars, or hide his lack of an arm, but he did dress to impress. He didn’t wear the uniform of the Saturn Guild, nor did he fully show off the Field Guide uniform he was wearing like a second skin. The pants he’d been given were made of the same slinky, protective fabric that the tops were normally made of. It clung to Brent’s skin like protective underwear, allowing Brent to easily wear clothes on top of it.

As soon as Brent put it on, Brent realised he was going to start recommending that Field Guides get this for the bottom half as well. It was easy to breathe in, kind of self regulating so he wasn’t overheating in the custom three piece suit he was wearing. He felt…good. Not as uncomfortable as he thought he would be in this situation he found himself in.

The suit itself was plain, black with a green satin interior, a subtle nod to Brent’s eye colour, while the dress shirt was plain white. It wasn’t obvious to anyone but himself that he was wearing the colours of the Saturn Guild. A silent way of drawing power from Kellen and Rhys while they were away from his side.

Esper Gardner wasn’t traveling with them. She was traveling with Mr. Caulder, keeping him safe with Esper Tracer. The other person who was traveling with them was Esper Harris, the Pamela of the Phoenix Guild. Unlike Brent, all of the Espers were dressed in the uniforms, showing off their ranks easily since here the Lieutenant uniform was slightly different from the average Guild member. Whereas back home, it was just the Captain who had a slightly modified uniform.

Esper Parker was, of course, at Brent’s side. He wasn’t about to let Brent drive the car with only one arm, even if Brent would have attempted to figure it out.

“How are you holding up, Brent?” Esper Parker asked and Brent shrugged. He had managed to leave Aunt Dina behind only because if she came right away things would get bad, fast. Brent just knew that since she had such an awful relationship with the Chronos Guild already.

With just the Lieutenants, things could potentially be okay.

“Fine, I guess. I’m just worried about getting blood on my new suit.” Brent admitted, telling the truth. He’d rarely gotten fresh clothes like this, and this expensive. He already felt bad that he’d bought a car as extravagant as this one, and he was already aware that it was a write off.

It was probably going to be destroyed by the end of the day.

“That’s a rather serious worry. Are you expecting things to get violent?” He asked, glancing at Brent as he continued to weave through the traffic heading downtown. No matter how scared a city got due to terrorism, life still went on. People still had to work. Life didn’t stop just because some people were filled with hatred.

“I can’t exactly see things not getting violent, knowing who my brother is and knowing who Colby is. Honestly, please stay behind me, Esper Parker. I know that’s going to feel strange to you, but it’s Colby’s favourite way to grab me. From behind.” Brent told him seriously and Esper Parker’s expression hardened.

“I see.” He commented. “Understood. I’ll make sure that your back is covered. Shoot him if he gets too close, alright? I’ll make sure to take care of everything else.” Esper Parker told him and Brent appreciated that he didn’t diminish Brent’s concern. He didn’t think he would, but with everything he was about to do, he needed to know that Esper Parker at the very least listened to him and took him seriously.

He was about to storm the enemy’s territory with very few Espers, no other Field Guides, a civilian, and a dream. He was practically doing the impossible, or as close to raiding a Poison Gate on his own, just like Kellen. God, he hoped he was as successful as Kellen was.

~

Esper Parker warned Brent that he was going to put on a show about five minutes before the show happened. He told Brent to hold on and shortly after, Brent found the car moving at a speed that was not human, and he had no idea how the man was able to control the vehicle. Brent was holding on for dear life before the man swung the car around, shifting and twisting the car until they came to a screeching halt.

Brent had left his heart and stomach about 4 blocks back, his eyes blinking as he attempted to compose himself.

When he looked over at Esper Parker, the man was grinning like a little kid. As if he’d only done something impressive and not something extremely dangerous. Esper Parker gave Brent a moment to compose himself as he got out of the driver’s seat, slamming the door and going around to the passenger side to open the door for Brent.

Brent took that much needed moment to school his expression. He was relying heavily on the training that Kellen had given him, schooling his expression so that when Esper Parker opened the door no one knew he’d been terrified only a few seconds before.

Brent realised that Esper Parker had pulled the car up in front of the Chronos Guild. He was illegally parked, but that was the least of their worries at the moment. Instead, it was the security that was coming towards them, hell in their gaze, as Brent realised that fuck, this was a great place to get shot.

Brent snorted. It would only be one more thing that he’d share with Kellen. He kind of…liked the idea, honestly.

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