-12:00pm-
"It's time to go."
The two red wolves and the silver wolf took off towards Niklaus and the men with him while the rest of the rescue team headed towards the pack house. The three wolves from Atlas's group had shifted, the silver wolf was bigger than the other two, he's what the pack called a tank, a wolf who acts as a frontline defense or offense, generally when a battle or surprise attack ensues they're the first to go in, as such the silver wolf was in front leading. The two red wolves were slimmer in stature, they're what the pack called knights, wolves who protect the other pack mates in battle, knights are highly trained in battle and attack formations, they're the second line of defense during an attack. In order for a pack to fully succeed in battle every tank needs at least two knights. With great speed, the trio attacked Niklaus's guards.
***
'I could make a run for it.' Niklaus glanced at the guards around him. 'Eight against one, terrible odds. I'll never get out on my own, even if I could, Neil is still at Blink's mercy.' Niklaus looked through the corner of his eye and saw three wolves running at full speed towards him. In an instant the three wolves had each taken down one of the men in front of him.
"Three down, six to go." Marcos, the silver tank, was eyeballing Niklaus and the other wolves with him.
The two red wolves were still shifted, they circled around the group, both keeping an eye on Niklaus's position.
'Why are they all staring at me?' Niklaus had a bad feeling in his gut.
At the same time the three wolves started fighting with the guards surrounding Niklaus, the tank easily took down two of them while the red wolves handled the other three together. You could tell that these three had worked together before, they moved fluidly around Niklaus and quickly defeated all of the men that had been with him.
"Atlas has questions for you!" The tank grabbed Niklaus and manage to tie his hands together before Niklaus even realized what was happening.
"Wait, wait! I thought this was a rescue!?" Niklaus's face had the look of pure shock. He didn't know what was happening, nor did he know why.
Marcos and the two knights ignored Niklaus's pleas for answers and led him back towards the pack house. They quickly met up with Atlas's group before they had the chance to go in.
"Atlas! What is this!?" Niklaus almost felt like crying. He felt betrayed somehow, he barely knew these people but still it pained him.
"I'm the one who should be asking questions." Atlas's face read anger, he didn't know if he could trust Niklaus and he felt anger towards himself for trusting Niklaus to begin with. "Why are you being allowed to leave? I thought you were a captive here!?"
"I-I am!"
"So why didn't they have you restrained in some way!? Why'd it look like you were leading them?"
"I made a deal.."
"A deal! What kind of deal? You help him capture Neil and you lead your own squad?"
"No, no." Niklaus really felt like crying now, he didn't know what to say, he just wanted to try and make the captivity better for Neil.
"Then explain!!"
James grabbed Atlas's shoulders and pulled him back slightly.
"You need to calm down." James stared into Atlas's eyes. "Calm down. Let me talk to him."
Atlas sighed and reluctantly agreed.
"Niklaus, we'll worry about all of that later."
"But-" Atlas wanted answers now but realized they were in the middle of something more important. "Fine"
"For now, Niklaus, tell us exactly what you know about this pack."
"What exactly do you want to know?"
"Who's their alpha?"
"Blink, you'll know him when you see him. He's eccentric in every way."
"Tell us about the security."
"Blink has ten men with him at any one time. The pack house is spelled, there's cameras on each corner of the buildings."
"Niklaus, slow down." James looked at Niklaus. "You said the house is spelled?"
"Yeah. When you go in you won't be able to shift. He had a witch put a spell on the entire pack so when an outsider comes into the pack they can't change."
"Atlas, that'll put us at a severe disadvantage." James turned to face Atlas who was burrowing holes in Niklaus.
"As long as we manage to get Neil before the entire pack is alerted, we should be fine."
"Niklaus tell us which building Neil is being kept." James turned his head to see Niklaus.
"The main one." Niklaus stood up and turned towards the pack house. "There, in the center." Niklaus tried using his chin to point towards the building.
"He's not being kept in the dungeons?" James pointed to the two buildings at the back of the pack.
"Those aren't dungeons.." Niklaus turned his head to James. "Where did you get your information?"
"We managed to gain a hostage when we were scouting potential places you two could be."
"Oh, so that's what happened to Tran." Niklaus let out a little chuckle.
"What's funny?"
"Anything Tran told you is most likely false. After all, he told you that the guard chambers are the dungeons."
"So, I'm guessing you know our hostage?" James glanced over to Niklaus, his face had changed, like he was thinking of something from his past.
"Tran was my main torturer.." Niklaus sighed. "He's smart and demented... Could you untie me so I can show you something?" Niklaus moved his wrists to face James. James agreed and used one of his claws to cut the rope.
Once he was free Niklaus rubbed his wrists then slowly rolled up his sleeves.
There were long gashes and small punctures going across his arms.
"He did that?"
"Yeah. Among other things." Niklaus had a dark look on his face that James was almost afraid to ask about.
"Anyways, are you sure about the lying thing? We had a strong witch go through his head.."
"Like I said, the entire pack is spelled. Along with making sure they're the only ones who can shift inside, their minds were protected." Niklaus looked at James who had a glowering, annoyed look etched onto his face. "Blink has an old flame who's a white witch."
James sighed, dragging head hand across his forehead and massaged his temple.
"Is this witch currently in their pack?"
"No but her spells are still very strong."
"Great. How are the defenses in the center?"
"Two guards at the door, two in each room and hallway."
"How many rooms and hallways are there?"
"Twenty rooms and six hallways."
"Great, so there's 52 guards inside."
"Yeah, shift change lasts for about ten minutes, each shift changes on the hour."
"So our best shot to save Neil would be at 1:00."
"Yeah, once inside I can lead the way to where Neil is being held." Niklaus shifted his gaze to Atlas who was still glaring at him. "I can also show you where Blink's room is but you'll need a bigger group to take him out."
"There's ten of us here, is he really strong enough to take out all of us?"
"Yes."
"Okay, we'll just focus on Neil for now and should we be forced to, we'll take out Blink in the future." James turned towards Atlas and waved for Niklaus to walk over with him. "We're going to wait until their next shift change to save Neil."
"Okay." Atlas paused for a moment, staring at Niklaus. "When is that?"
"1:00." Niklaus scooted a little behind James to make sure Atlas didn't have a clear shot if he decided to go after him. "We'll have a ten minute window before the next shift is in place."
"1:00, we'll have Neil back at 1:00."