Guardians Of The Northern City: Chapter 55

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After everything that had taken place, there was a lot of paperwork that needed to be filled in. The commanding officer of the facility was slightly annoyed by this but it was still better than if Henri had been killed. At least with the root of his problem taken care of, his temperament would improve over time.

Like with Elizabeth and Serena, the Commanding Office too had watched the creature known as Henri go from a thrashing beast to an overgrown puppy the instant that Louise had showed up. That was completely bizarre as far as he was concerned and he was simply glad that the situation had been resolved.

Even while he sat at his desk and was writing his report, he had a monitor that displayed what was happening within Henri's enclosure. He could see the creature being given a belly rub by Louise and how he was reacting positively. Even one of Henri's legs was twitching while she was doing this. If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn that the creature that within the enclosure was a completely different being to the one that he knew.

The Commanding Officer's attention was quickly distracted when he heard some footsteps heading towards him. From the sound of the footsteps, whoever was heading towards him was heavier than the average person. This caused him to look up and within moments he saw the towering figure of Elizabeth heading towards him.

The Guardian had some authority in her step and from the expression on her face, there was clearly something that she wasn't happy with. He had heard about her reputation and the fact that she wasn't here by choice. But he was still cautious as he had witnessed the undeniable strength.

"Is there something I can help you with?" asked The Commanding Officer. "The situation has been resolved so your presence at this facility is no longer required." His tone was slightly condescending but he was careful with his words. Regardless of her situation, she was still a Guardian.

"I don't think that's the case," replied Elizabeth. She leaned down and placed her hands down on the table in front of her. "I find it hard to believe that you or those under your command failed to notice that the creature had a gum infection. One of your responsibilities is for the safety and wellbeing of it. So right now, there's one of two reasons why this happened. Either you and everyone in this facility is incompetent which I seriously doubt. Or you knew and simply chose to ignore it."

"And if I did?" It seemed as though he wasn't denying what she was saying.

"Then you would have purposely failed in your duty. You and everyone in this facility are supposed to be ensuring the wellbeing of that creature. Yet you've chosen to let it suffer unnecessarily."

"Why should we care about the wellbeing of a monster? You saw yourself, when it appeared in the city, it caused untold destruction. It was nothing short of a miracle from the heavens that non one was killed. If I had the authority, I would order that thing to be terminated immediately. Unfortunately, that's not something I can authorise without cause. From what I hear, you have no love for it either."

"That's true, I don't like that creature, hell, a part of me even despises it. But it means a lot to my apprentice. From what I can see, she's the only one that has shown him kindness and the last thing I want is to see her upset. I wish, no I demand that you take your responsibilities seriously. If anything happens to that creature, I'll hold you responsible and believe me. You don't want to make an enemy of me."

The Commanding Officer said nothing as he simply nodded once to acknowledge her statement. It would reflect poorly on him and he preferred not to get on the wrong side of a Guardian. Especially one that could throw a car over the horizon with almost no effort whatsoever.

Not another word was said between the two as Elizabeth simply turned around and walked away. The Commanding officer sat there in silence and then glanced at his monitor. There he could still see Louise laughing and stroking Henri who seemed to react very positively to her. It seemed as though he was a completely different creature to what he had seen before.

All he could do was groan after that and continue on with his paperwork. It was likely that there might have been a few questions from his superiors but for now, he was just happy that Henri had calmed down. Although he did question what would happen when Louise would have to take her leave. Would Henri remain the puppy like being that he was now, or would he revert to the savage that he knew.

Meanwhile within the facility itself, Louise was stroking Henri but she was being careful with what she was doing. Although his infected tooth had been removed, it was still possible that it was causing him some discomfort. It would take a little time for the infection to subside although now he was missing a tooth.

The events of the day hadn't exactly gone the way that she had expected but spending time with Henri did make her feel better. Especially since she still felt guilty about being able to be with her son Thomas. She still wanted nothing more than to be by his side and raise him as she felt that she should.

Louise knew that his wellbeing was in good hands but even so, she would have preferred to be back in France and physically in his life. But this did make her wonder one thing that she couldn't help but feel was a little comical. She considered what would happen if Thomas saw Henri in the flesh. There was a good chance that he would be terrified of the creature, however she also thought that he would find Henri to be very cool.

When she glanced over to the ground not too far away there was something that she noticed for the first time. There was something that could fit into her hand but was gigantic in comparison to a regular person. Slowly but surely, she began to realise that what she was seeing were the sunglasses that she had been wearing to hide her glowing red eyes from the citizens.

It soon dawned on her that ever since Henri at first lunged towards her, Louise hadn't been wearing her sunglasses anymore. This meant that everyone who was present could now see her glowing eyes, including Henri. However, the creature had seemingly not been bothered whatsoever about this and had still wanted all the affection in the world from her.

This only got him another extra cuddle from the giantess as she simply appreciated his unwavering loyalty to her. Even if she didn't visit him as often as she liked, she wanted to make sure that this changed. At least then, it would make his misbehaviour diminish significantly.

Suddenly Louise felt her scaled up phone begin to play some upbeat J-Pop music. A clear indication to her that someone was calling her and although she was giving Henri a hug, she still answered it. She was sure to be pleasant as she hadn't had the time to check exactly who was calling.

"Bonjour," said Louise in her usually upbeat tone. There was even a smile that had appeared on her face as she spoke.

"Louise, I know that you're enjoying yourself there but we need to wrap things up," replied Elizabeth from the other end of the call.

"Can I just have another few minutes s'il te plaît?" Although Elizabeth couldn't see her, he was sure that she was attempting a puppy dog expression. "Henri is still recovering from his opération."

"Ok, but only for a few minutes. Then we have to go back on patrol. I'm sure that you'll see your friend there soon enough."

"Oui Lizzie. merci beaucoup."

With that, the phone conversation came to an end and Louise put the phone down. She then looked down to Henri who had his head on her lap and had allowed her to stroke him. If he was able to smile, he certainly would be now. Especially when he felt her soft touch and simply gentle demeanour.

Unfortunately, the time did come for Louise to have to leave along with Elizabeth and Serena. The two fully qualified Guardians remained just outside of the enclosure as they thought that it was best for the apprentice to finish things off in her own way. Although it was going to be a little upsetting, it would be something that needed to be done.

Eventually, Louise did get up to her feet and made sure that she had her flip flops on properly. However as soon as she had done this, she went down to one knee so that she could be more at Henri's level. He had also gotten up to his feet and was looking at his favourite person.

"I'm désolée Henri but I have to go now," said Louise as she did give the dinosaur like creature a hug. "But I promise that I'll come and see you again demain. Then I can teach you how to play fetch."

Henri seemed to respond to this very positively and even tried to get as close as he could to Louise. This only made her hug him that much tighter and he was simply happy to be in her embrace. There was even the gentle glow from her but this time it wasn't because she was numbing his pain.

Instead, the aura that surrounded Louise was simply a loving one and it was something that was hard to miss. As far as Henri was concerned, he just wanted this moment to last forever, although such a thing was impossible.

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