To Serve and Protect...

It took Rene for almost two hours to arrive at RCMP HQ. Paul had called his uncle and let him know that they were almost at the front gate.

Pierre told his nephew that he would meet them at the gate. Security had been tightened due to the current crisis. The security at the gate wouldn't let them through just on his say so.

Rene would have had to go a thorough screening and Paul would have been left in the SUV.

Five minutes later they drove up to the security gate. Pierre was already waiting for them.

Rene left the vehicle and registered with security. Paul did the same when Pierre told the security officer to register the teenager as a civilian volunteer.

The security check was quick after the registration was out of the way.

A pickup truck honked its horn and a security officer left the heated hut to check it out.

"Let's get out of the way. Rene just parks your SUV near my F150. I'll take Jean-Paul with me. Meet us at my office when you're done." Rene bumped fists with his youngest brother and left to park his vehicle.

He found Pierre's pickup near the fence bordering Sts. Peter and Paul church. The RCMP rented the church parking lot. Rene knew this because he was the church volunteer IT.

Rene made his way through the accumulated snow without any difficulty. In less than a minute he was in Pierre's office on the third floor.

Rene knocked softly and walked in. "Hey." He greeted his brother.

"Hey. Take a seat. I'm just finishing up your security cards." Pierre tapped a few more keys on his keyboard and a printer spit out a couple of RCMP volunteer cards. "These are temp cards until you get your permanent re-assignment. All Essential Service personnel has been drafted until this crisis is resolved. Come with. We've set up the processing station in the cafeteria. I stayed behind so you guys can be assigned to my detachment."

"That's cool uncle Pete. Does this mean I get to arrest criminals and stuff?"

"Yeah No! J.P." Pierre smirked at Paul's crestfallen expression. "Now let's go."

They took the stairs down to the first floor and went to join the rest of the draftees in the cafeteria.

[[Rene I'm detecting an energy leak from you.]]

[It is excess exotic energy. When the merger between us is complete I will be able to stop the leakage.] Scarlett told Rene and the avatar.

'Is this dangerous?' Rene asked.

[[Shouldn't be. Not at the level, you're leaking. How about it Scarlett? You're the expert here.]]

[Avatar is correct. The energy is not dangerous. It is normally used as a catalyst to empower a skill or ability.]

'Please keep an eye on it. Let me know when the merger is complete and the leakage is dealt with.'

[[Will do.]]

[I will keep you informed of our progress towards unity.]

Rene sighed. He felt a headache coming on. He just knew this was going to bite him on the ass somehow.