The Standard Disclaimer: Characters belong to Mirisch/Trilogy Productions/CBS etc. I make no claims upon them. I'm not making any money off this, so please don't sue.
Date of Creation: July 28, 2002
Rating: PG-13 (Violence)
Warning: Contains Wiccan elements. Anybody who is offended shouldn't read this story.
Author's note: Ok, now I've seen The Return of the Magnificent Seven and Guns of the Magnificent Seven along with the pilot for the series. (The video store didn't have The Magnificent Seven Ride or any other episode of the series). Good movies, although my husband and I both liked Yul Brynner as Chris better than George Kennedy. Yul Brynner was more intimidating. I also missed Vin in Guns. I liked Robert Fuller in the part in Return, although my husband disagrees. He thought Steve McQueen had more dimension, whereas I think Robert Fuller was more in tune with his place as secondary character.
This is the third in the series "The Supernatural Adventures of Cuervo and The Seven". I've gotten good feedback on the first story (thanks Elizabeth and Rowan) so as long as I have ideas, I'll write stories in this series. However, if anybody else can think of anything to write in this same vein, please feel free.
Also note: This story contains general Wiccan/Pagan theory and information. It is not intended to accurately represent or portray any one particular tradition or pantheon.
This is set in the ATF AU, and thanks to Mog for creating it.
This story hasn't been beta-read, so any mistakes you can blame squarely on me.
Cuervo didn't know why he felt the need to stay in Stern Leader's Dodge truck that morning, but he did. So the small orange and white tabby crouched down on the floor behind the front seat, trying to make himself even smaller to avoid detection.
Suddenly, the door opened, and Stern Leader and Quiet Hunter got in. Cuervo was a bit dismayed because of the chance that Hunter would sense him there. He tried to will Hunter not to.
It seemed to work, because they traveled for some time and no one realized Cuervo was there. They left the familiar smells of the places the cat knew, and traveled to a place where the smell of decay abounded. Cuervo wrinkled his nose and tried not to sneeze. He buried his face in his paws.
Soon, they came to a permanent stop (unlike the many short stops they'd made along the way where all the cars moving alongside, in front of, and behind the truck stopped and cars going in another direction moved), and Leader and Hunter got out. Cuervo remained where he was for some time before daring to come out of hiding. He peeked out the side window.
There were several large buildings around. Most of them had broken or boarded-up windows. There were many straggly weeds and a lot of glass on the broken pavement. The smell of neglect and garbage wafted through the air. Cuervo sneezed.
He slithered out the small opening at the top of the window, and down to the ground. Now what, he wondered.
At the same time, the members of teams seven and three were getting in position. JD and Nathan were in the surveillance van parked a block away. Vin and two members of team three were on surrounding rooftops. "Ethan Stanton" and his "bodyguards", Buck and Josiah, were getting ready for their meet.
Vin shifted his position to relieve a cramp, and tried to dismiss the feeling of foreboding. He felt something was wrong, but both teams were well prepared, all contingencies planned for (hopefully, including the "unknown scenario"), and Vin had confidence that everything would turn out all right in the end.
He settled down to wait.
Cuervo sensed a gathering of Power. It came from one of the buildings down the street from where the truck was parked. Curious, Cuervo went towards it.
When he got there, he quickly bounded around to the side of the building. Thankfully, no one noticed him. The cat quickly found the best route into the building. He jumped up onto a stack of boxes and climbed up to a fire escape. He climbed the fire escape to the broken window and looked in.
Just under the window was a catwalk along the long side of the building with stairs near the corner where the long side met the short side. In the corner was a stack of boxes. And behind the boxes was the spot where the power was.
Ezra, Buck and Josiah went in. They were there to meet a man about smuggling cigarettes into Canada. As they entered the building, Josiah began to notice a feeling of... something not right, somehow. There was something... bad... in the building. But, then he noticed a feeling of something... good... too, and decided to simply be even more alert, and prepared for anything. Ezra was his first priority, and Josiah would not let his oft-betrayed brother down.
Cuervo climbed through the broken window and onto the grated metal platform. It was a catwalk, so he did. The cat walked down it's length and to the stairs at the end. He stealthily descended the stairs and peered around. Inner Warmth, Boisterous, and Wise Oak were gathered at the other end of the building, along with people who smelled of Likes-to-Hurt-Others. He wanted to help, but he knew the three should be able to handle anything physical that was necessary. Cuervo's job was Protection from Likes-to-Hurt-Others Energy that might play a role. Just for good measure, therefore, Cuervo used threads of the three's energy to create an additional bubble of Protection around them.
Then he went towards the stack of boxes behind which was the spot of Energy. Cuervo liked Energy; it felt good. However, as the tabby rounded the end of the stack, he suddenly became aware of the strong smell of Likes-to-Hurt-Others. Then he saw the woman. She was dark-skinned like Healer, dressed in black jeans and a yellow shirt, and was crouched behind the boxes.
LaTonya Beaudroux spotted the cat as it came around the corner. She immediately recognized it as a familiar, and smiled. She quietly beckoned to the animal. Ah, good! The cat would enhance her Power. She'd already sensed the faint Power in Ethan's bigger bodyguard, and the cat's Power, combined with her own, would make it easier to kill them all.
Cuervo approached the woman, whom he mentally labeled "Sweet Pain". Sweet Pain gathered the animal to her, stroking his head and cooing at him. Cuervo enjoyed it - except for the smell of Likes-to-Hurt-Others on her. Still, being a cat, Cuervo ignored the badness and collapsed happily onto the cool floor, allowing Sweet Pain to pet him. He started to purr.
Suddenly, Cuervo felt Sweet Pain drawing Power from him. He came to full alertness, and watched intently as she created a Spear of Energy. She made to throw it, and Cuervo realized, to his horror, that her target was the three of The-Seven-Who-Have-Attractive-Energy-And-Treat-Cuervo-Well!
Cuervo attacked immediately, leaping up to rake both sets of front claws down Sweet Pain's face. She screamed and staggered backwards. On the way down, Cuervo grabbed the Spear of Energy in his paws. He slammed it, point first, into the ground as he came down. The Spear was shunted into the ground, where the Energy dissipated harmlessly
The meeting was going well. Francis Marseilles had already given the money to "Ethan", who was rapidly doing a mental count. Suddenly, a scream echoed throughout the cavernous warehouse, and, as all whirled to see what was happening, a woman staggered out from behind some boxes at the far end of the warehouse. She was still screaming, and had her hands in front of her face. She dropped to her knees, the screams fading to a keening cry.
Marseilles's bodyguards drew their guns, but, instead of pointing it at the "unexpected intruder", they drew on Ezra, Buck and Josiah. Josiah immediately stepped forward and swept Ezra behind him. All hell broke loose.
Cuervo, after dispensing with the Spear of Energy, figured he'd overstayed his welcome. He bounded to the stairs, leapt nimbly up them, ran across the catwalk, and out the window. Still moving as fast and as quietly as possible, the cat bounded down the fire escape, jumped down the boxes, and into the street. As chaos reined, he made his way out of the alley, and down the street, carefully threading his way through the many running men - including several of The-Seven-Who-Have-Attractive-Energy-And-Treat-Cuervo-Well. No one noticed him in the confusion. Finally, he reached Stern Leader's truck and wearily pulled himself inside. He crawled behind the front seat and onto the floor — and laid down to nap.
The next morning, Chris gave everyone a final report on the previous day's bust. Francis Marseilles and his men were now behind bars, and one million dollars in untaxed cigarettes had been confiscated.
"Hey, Chris, who was that screaming woman in the warehouse, anyways?" Buck asked.
"Her name is LaTonya Beaudroux" Chris replied, reading off his report. "Claims to be Marseilles girlfriend. As to what she was doing behind those boxes, we don't know. She didn't have any weapons on her, so I guess she wasn't a shooter for Marseilles."
"And what, pray tell, was her motive for the unusual method in which she made her appearance, Mr. Larabee?" Ezra put in.
"Looks like she tangled with a stray cat back there. Had claw marks all down her face."
"Huh." Buck chuckled once, drily. "Got into a cat fight, did she?"
The others groaned.
The End
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