DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. If you are offended by 
sexually explicit material or are under the age of 18, stop reading 
now. This material cannot be reproduced for commercial purposes 
without the consent of the author.



John Carter
By
Lazlo Zalezak
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezak, 2003


Part 2: Mantle Of Aries
Chapter 2

John sat in his jeep staring at the main entrance of the Federal 
Building in Phoenix. He didn't want to enter, but knew he couldn't 
postpone it any longer. For the past three days, he had been driven 
by the urge to come to this place. He got out of the car slowly and 
looked at his walking stick. He wouldn't be allowed to bring it 
through security, but he decided to try it anyway. Rover leaped out 
of the car and sat next to him. He closed the door.

People stared at him as he walked to the building from the parking 
lot. He cut an imposing figure at 6 foot tall and 200 pounds. His 
snow-white beard reached the middle of his chest. His hair, brown 
with the exception of two white streaks, hung down to the middle 
of his back. He wore his cloak over his blue jeans and blue work 
shirt. Rover glided along beside him.

He entered the building through the regular doors. He had no idea 
how Rover would deal with the revolving door and didn't want to 
chance a major scene. Walking to the security gate, he handed his 
walking stick to a surprised guard. He stepped through the metal 
detector without causing a beep. Rover followed right behind him. 
The guard stepped up, "Excuse me, but animals are not allowed in 
here."

John held out his hand for his walking stick. The guard 
automatically handed it back to him. John stated, "You try telling 
Rover that. He doesn't listen to me."

The guard frowned, "He's supposed to be on a leash."

John laughed, "That's a wild animal, not a pet. You don't do 
anything to that animal unless it wants it."

"It's with you."

"Yes, but I don't own it. It followed me out of a forest and hasn't 
let me get out of its sight."

Rover sat down and stared at the guard. It licked its paw. The 
claws were clearly visible. The guard stared at the cat in fear. John 
headed towards the elevator. The cat followed along, pausing only 
once to look over its shoulder at the guard. 

At the elevator, John studied the directory. One office stood out 
from all of the others. He pressed the up button and was surprised 
when the elevator door opened immediately. He stepped into it, 
followed by Rover. He pressed the button to the fifth floor. The 
elevator door closed. Rover looked around at the sensation of 
moving up and made a funny chirp. The chirp was repeated when 
the elevator stopped. The door opened to three people waiting to 
get on the elevator. They all jumped back in surprise when they 
saw John and Rover moving towards them. Rover pushed one of 
the people out of his way in order to walk beside John. 

John walked over to the receptionist’s desk and looked at the 
young lady seated there. She was talking on the telephone and 
from the sound of the conversation it was a personal call. John 
waited patiently, looking around the room as he stood there. Rover 
wasn't quite so patient. He put his front two paws on the desk and 
stood on his back legs looking at the woman. She started in 
surprise when she saw Rover, but didn’t loose control. Calmly, she 
put the call on hold and looked at John. In a very matter of fact 
voice, she asked, "May I help you?"

John nodded, "Yes, ma'am. I'm here to see Agent A. Moore."

"Is she expecting you?"

"I doubt it." John now had a clue as to the gender of the person that 
he was about to meet.

The receptionist was taken by surprise by his answer. She had been 
expecting a yes or a no. She replied, "I doubt she will see you."

John smiled, "Ah, I am positive that she will see me."

The receptionist stated, "If you give me your name and nature of 
business, I'll see if she is available."

John replied, "My name is John Carter. I’m here to include her in a 
conference call with Mike Holden."

It only took a few minutes before John was led into the office of 
Ann Moore. Rover took a seat in the corner of the room. Without 
rising, Ann greeted him, "Mr. Carter?"

"Yes, I take it you are Agent Moore." He looked at the name on 
her badge and saw that her first name was Ann.

She nodded, "You stated that you have some business to discuss 
with me and Mike Holden."

John nodded and then looked at the telephone on the desk. He 
asked, "Do I have to dial 9 to get an outside line?"

"Dial 8."

John turned on the speakerphone and dialed a number. The 
telephone rang once before it was answered, "Director Holden's 
office."

Rover got up and looked on the desk to see where the voice 
originated. John answered, "This is John Carter, may I speak to 
Mike?"

"Oh, Dr. Carter. He's in a staff meeting. Let me see if he'll take 
your call." The receptionist put them on hold. Elevator music 
played from the speaker. Ann stared at John as he sat there and 
smiled at her. 

Rover was sniffing at the telephone. His head jerked back when 
Mike's voice broke the silence. "Hello, John. How are you?"

Rover looked at John and decided the speakerphone was safe 
enough. He got down and went back to the corner. Ann stared at 
the cat with a look of incredulity. It acted more like a bodyguard 
than a pet.

"I'm fine. I'm talking to you on a speakerphone in agent Moore's 
office here in Phoenix. She's here with me."

Mike stated, "Hello Ann."

Ann snapped back to the conversation at hand. She was surprised 
that he knew her first name. Mike Holden was several levels above 
her in the FBI hierarchy. She replied, "Hello sir."

"What can I do for you, John?"

John paused for a minute, "Do you remember the item that brought 
us together?"

There was a long moment of silence. "Is there a problem with it?"

"Not really. I now have two of them."

Mike was quiet for a moment. Then he asked, "Ann, would you 
describe the item to me when John shows it to you?"

John reached under his shirt and pulled out the medallion. Ann 
looked at it for a moment. She looked confused, "It looks like two 
coins fused along a single side hung on a chain."

"Did you say two coins fused together?"

"Yes, sir." Ann looked confused. She didn't understand a word of 
this conversation.

“Could you try to remove it?”

Ann attempted to remove the medallion, but it slipped out of her 
fingers. No matter how many times she tried, she couldn’t get it 
off. She stated, “I can’t, sir.”

Mike's voice answered, "Excellent. John what can I do for you?"

John was quiet, "I really hate to ask for you for this. However, I'm 
being driven to it."

"What is it?"

"I need credentials that will allow me to investigate things. I need 
to be able to call on law enforcement back up. I also need to be 
able to leave once the action is over."

Mike was silent for a moment. He then stated, "I guess FBI 
credentials should suffice. Ann, I want you to meet Special Agent 
John Carter, our newest volunteer agent. He answers to my office."

Ann looked shocked. This was not how someone became a FBI 
agent. She stared at John. Mike waited for a reply, "Excuse me, 
Ann. Did you hear what I said?"

"Oh, yes sir."

"I'll need you to set up credentials for him."

"Excuse me, have you seen him?" Ann asked.

Mike laughed, "You mean the long hair and weird colored beard?"

John interrupted, "It's now a white beard and weird colored hair. 
Oh, and I dress weird too."

Mike laughed, "I should have known. To answer your question, 
Ann, yes I have seen him."

Ann was even more shocked. She asked, "Does he have a 
clearance?"

Mike answered, "Yes, he's had a Top Secret issued from this office 
for four years."

John looked surprised, "Really?"

Mike answered, "really. I put the paperwork through after our first 
meeting."

"Gosh, I didn't know."

Mike laughed, "Well, I figured that it would come up sooner or 
later. Might as well save time."

Ann asked, "Is there anything else I should know?"

Mike answered, "Not that I know of."

John answered, "No."

When the call was over, Ann turned to John. She stared at him for 
several minutes, her eyes flicking over to Rover. She asked, "Who 
are you?"

"I'm John Carter. I thought I introduced myself already."

Ann looked up exasperated. "No, I mean who are you that you can 
call a director of the FBI and have him drop everything to talk to 
you?"

John thought about it for a while. He realized that he didn't know 
how to answer that question. His urge had been driving him to this 
action. That it might be unusual never occurred to him. He chose to 
answer the question with a question, "Rather than me tell you, why 
don't you check it out yourself?"

Ann picked up the telephone and dialed a number. She called down 
to her assistant to start the paperwork that would be necessary to 
get him identified as a special agent. Once the call was over, she 
looked at the cat. She asked, "What is his name?"

"Rover."

"Isn't that the name of a dog?" Rover uttered a low growl and 
stared at Ann. 

"It is his name and he likes it. So do I," replied John. Rover moved 
closer to John and rubbed his head against his knee. John rubbed 
him behind the ears.

The assistant, a prototypical looking FBI agent, came up to get 
John. John and Rover followed him down to a conference room 
where a stack of paper was waiting. As they went, Rover paused 
and looked in every office they passed. Once there, the assistant 
pointed to a chair, indicating where John was to sit. 

John sat in the suggested chair. He looked at the assistant. "I'm 
John Carter. My friend here is Rover. Who are you?"

"I'm Agent Fred Hopkins."

"Okay, give me the papers and I'll fill them out."

Fred pursed his lips. Ann had requested he take as much time in 
filling out the forms as possible. Towards that end, he was to verify 
as much information as he could. She wanted time to find out more 
about this guy. He replied, "Ann told me to fill out the paperwork 
and perform as much of a background check as possible while we 
work."

As Fred asked questions that appeared on the form, he made 
telephone calls to validate the information. A simple form that 
could have taken five minutes to complete took close to two hours. 
Finally, they reached a question that concerned identifying marks, 
including tattoos and scars. Fred asked, "Do you have any 
identifying scars or tattoos?"

"Yes."

"Describe them."

John frowned, "I think it might be much quicker for me to show 
them to you and let you describe them."

"Why do you have that many?"

"Yes. Just about every inch from my neck down to my ankles is 
scarred."

"Okay. So show me."

John proceeded to strip. Fred stared as the shirt came off and the 
number of scars on his chest was revealed. John stripped out of his 
pants and Fred really stared. He stated, "I think we had better take 
Polaroid pictures of this rather than try to describe them. We often 
do this when a subject has a full body tattoo. Would you please 
stay here while I get a camera?"

"No problem."

Fred stepped out of the room to fetch a camera. As John stood 
there, he heard Ann's voice at the door. She was saying, "If this is 
Mike's idea of a joke, I'm going to kill him. Nobody can survive all 
of that shit he's been through."

She stepped into the room and saw John standing there. John 
turned to face her. He stated, "Fred left to get a camera. He decided 
it was easier to take a picture than to describe all of the scars."

Ann stared at the scars realizing that everything she had read was 
true. Her eyes flickered down to John's cock and she took a deep 
breath. This guy was built. Realizing that she was staring, she 
looked back up at John. She was surprised that he wasn't 
embarrassed by her examination. She stated, "Excuse me, I'm sorry 
I didn't know you were undressed. I'll come back later."

"No need. Say what you wanted to say."

Her eyes kept sliding down his body. She cleared her throat. "I 
don't want to make you uneasy."

John looked at her funny, "Uneasy? Oh you mean because I'm 
nude. Don’t worry, I don't embarrass easily. I may be nude, but I'm 
not naked. I would understand if you were uncomfortable though."

She shook her head. She stated, "I was going through some of the 
information that we have on you. I didn't know rescued the head of 
the secret service, a congressman from Texas, the aide to the 
Senator from Colorado, and two FBI undercover agents. That's just 
the people in Austin. You wouldn't believe who your team rescued 
in the earthquake."

John looked surprised, "I did? When?"

She looked up at his face and shook her head. She asked, "You 
don't even know the people you saved?"

"No, there are too many of them and usually things are pretty wild. 
Sometimes I'm rushed off to the hospital."

Ann looked down at his cock again, "Well, I now understand how 
it was that you were able to call Mike."

Fred returned to the room. He left the door half-open as he ran into 
Ann. "Oh, excuse ma'am. I just needed to take a picture of his 
scars."

Ann answered him without looking. "Don't bother. I have the 
actual medical history. You can finish the rest of the form without 
verifying the information now. When you're done, prepare the 
identification card and issue him a gun."

John laughed, "Sorry, I don't need a gun."

Rover bored with the proceedings, wandered out of the room to 
explore the offices. Nobody noticed his departure. 

Fred stated, "Well, if we don't need photographs, then you can get 
dressed now. As far as a gun, you will have to meet minimal levels 
of proficiency with one. Many agents don't carry guns."

“No I don’t.” John started to dress. Ann watched him the entire 
time. She was a little disappointed that he was dressing. She smiled 
to herself as she decided that her husband was going to get a 
workout tonight. John finished dressing and sat down at the table.

Fred sat in his chair. In less than ten minutes they were done with 
the paperwork. Ann sat at the other chair. She was trying to decide 
what to do with John. She didn't know if she should consider him 
assigned to her office or not. Her instructions had been rather 
vague. 

Fred left the room to check on the ability to create the credentials 
at that time. Ann looked up at Carter, "Do you want a desk here?"

John thought about it, "No, too much hassle trying to get in and out 
of this building with the cat and my walking stick."

Ann looked at where the cat had been seated. She stated, 
"Speaking of which, where is your cat?"

John looked around puzzled. "That's strange. I wonder where he is. 
This is the first time he's ever let me get out of his sight."

"Don't you think you might want to go find him?"

"He'll either come back or he won't. Maybe he finally got tired of 
me."

Ann looked at him as if he was slime. "He's your pet."

John stated, "I keep telling people this and nobody believes me. 
He's a wild animal that has been following me around. We've 
learned how to accommodate each other, but he is not my pet. 
When he is ready to go, I will not stop him."

Ann really looked shocked, "You mean that is really a wild 
animal."

John smiled, "Yes."

"Oh, my God. We had better find it."

"If you insist."

The two of them headed out of the conference room. John went 
back in the direction towards her office. She went in the other 
direction. John was halfway down the hall when he saw a tail 
sticking out the door of an office. He walked up to the room and 
stated, "Hello Rover."

The cat turned and looked at him for a second. Then it turned back 
to study the black dog lying on the floor. The dog was wearing the 
harness of a seeing eye dog. Rover was confused by the clear 
interdependence between man and animal without the hint of 
magic. The man seated at the desk indignantly stated, "Her name is 
not Rover. Her name is Missy."

It was only then that John observed the harness on Missy. John 
performed the introductions, "Missy meet Rover. Rover, that is 
Missy. Missy is a seeing eye dog."

The man behind the desk was surprised to learn there was another 
animal in the room. He had not heard it approach and that was odd 
because his hearing was very well developed. He asked, "There is 
another dog in here?"

"No. A cat."

The man behind the desk thought that Rover was a weird name for 
a cat. However, he didn’t make an issue of it. Instead, he asked, 
"May I pet it?"

The cat jumped on the desk with a considerable thud. Some of the 
papers flew off the desk and the dog jumped up. The man reached 
out about eight inches above the desk and encountered a leg. He 
slowly moved his hand up and up.  His face was wrinkled in an 
expression of confusion. "What kind of cat is this?"

"It's a cougar. I think he was rather curious about your seeing eye 
dog."

The man’s hand finally reached the head of the cougar. With a 
gentle touch he examined the cat. Having heard of cougars, but 
never encountering one, he was amazed at the size of it. The man 
inquired, "It was curious?"

"Yes, Rover adopted me. I guess he was curious about another 
animal that appears to have adopted a human."

"You don't think there might be another explanation."

"No, I don't. If Rover was hungry, I doubt that Missy would still be 
alive." John looked at the man for a second, "Well, I guess I better 
let Ann Moore know where Rover is. She was kind of worried 
when he wandered off."

"You're not leaving him here, are you?"

John shrugged, "I don't really tell him what to do. I don’t think 
he’ll bother you."

"If you haven't noticed, I'm blind. It makes it rather difficult for me 
to defend myself."

Rover purred for a second and then jumped off the desk to stand by 
John. John stated, "Well, I guess he wants to go with me. Take care 
of yourself. Nice to meet you Missy."

The man behind the desk reached down and petted his dog. He 
shook his head wondering with whom he had just talked. He 
guessed that it wouldn't be that difficult to find out, after all, how 
many guys were there in the office with a cougar.

John returned to the conference room with Rover. Fred was 
waiting for him. "Where did you go?"

"Oh, Rover wandered off. Ann was a little nervous about that."

"Well, we are ready to make your badge."

John smiled, "That's great. Let's go."

The two men went down the hall to a small room in the back of the 
office complex. There was a camera, a backdrop, a fingerprinting 
station, and a desk with laminating equipment on it. It was a 
functional room with no décor or furniture beyond what was 
necessary. 

John stood on top of a pair of footprints on the floor facing the 
camera. Jeff stood behind the camera and took the picture. A 
positive with four identical pictures of John slide out of the 
camera. Jeff cut out one of the pictures and placed it on a card. 
John walked over to where Jeff was laminating it. 

Rover watched the whole process and then went to where John had 
been standing. John noticed, "Hey, Fred, I think Rover wants an ID 
too."

Fred snapped a picture and laminated a card for Rover. When he 
had finished, he slipped the cards inside carrying cases with badges 
and handed them to John. John showed Rover his card, but Rover 
didn't look too interested.

John returned to Ann Moore's office where she was waiting for 
him. They went through a very quick swearing in ceremony. 
Despite the informal manner in which it was performed, the 
ceremony affected John emotionally. 

After the ceremony, Ann asked, "Anything else that you need?"

John frowned and thought about the question. He wasn't sure 
where the words came from, but he heard himself say, "I need a 
copy of all of the files on the amputation murders."

Ann sat back surprised in her chair. She asked, "How did you 
know about them?"

John shrugged, "I just knew. Don't question it."

"They aren't in our jurisdiction. The Salt Lake City office has it."

John leaned forward and stated, "Well, have them send copies of 
the files to my house. He's going to strike again. I need to know all 
that I can before I go after the guy."

Ann sighed, "I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks. Anyway, I've got to go now."

Ann stared at him as he stood. He carefully adjusted his cloak and 
grabbed his walking stick. With a nod and a smile, he headed 
towards the door. She wasn't quite used to being dismissed by an 
agent in her own office. She was about to say something, but she 
glanced down at the cat. She swore it smiled at her.

John went directly to the elevator and pressed the down button. It 
opened immediately and this time he wasn’t surprised. He stepped 
into it, followed by the cat, and punched the button to the ground 
floor. Rover didn't react this time to the sensations of moving. 
When the elevator reached the ground floor and the door opened, 
John held it open until Rover had exited. He then followed the cat 
to the exit.  

He had taken a large step today. He had gone from saving 
individuals from their problems to saving society from individuals 
within it. He didn’t even try to predict the consequences of his 
action.