Splinterbark: Chaos of the Coyote Crew

[Lovetheangelshadow]

Chapter 1: Halloween Hijinks The Silver Guardian landed on top of the nearest roof to catch a small breather after the long hours of flight. It was surprisingly warm for a Halloween night though he counted the rest of the city would provide plenty of chills. He stretched his tired wings and checked the satchel at his hip. There were still quite a few candy bars left in there and the time was soon approaching when all children would be in bed or chomping on their hard earned candy. For the last four years his father, the Golden Guardian, used to fly around the city just at the right height so kids might spot him and if they called out to them-he came down and gave them a full sized candy bar for their reward. Silver reasoned that this would be perfect to get some positive attention. It was not like anyone at the house would even notice he was gone. His mother would be by the door passing out candy while Marco would dress as a big scary monster for the older kids. He had no idea what his father was doing now that he was not the Golden Guardian. That, and Reed just had to get out of the house.

Silver stood up and craned his neck. What was he going to do with all this candy? He had practically bought up everything he could at the convenience store near school just to keep it secret from his family. Luckily the manager seemed to be both amused and understanding of the situation. Now what he was going to do with practically a paycheck’s worth of Snickers, Musketeers, and Kit Kats? He didn’t even really like chocolate himself. He glanced out onto the residential street watching the kids go by. There were many dressed as the latest princess or superhero from that one animation company while others were generic dollar store monsters and heroes. There were several Golden Guardians scurrying around as well. Silver grumbled and rolled his eyes as a group of them walked right up to the door of the house he himself was sitting on, take their candy, and turn to leave. Silver wanted to shout out for their attention. He could damn the rules. A flash of his father’s disapproval formed in his mind and he didn’t know if he could take another “That silver winged thief ruining everything” dinner lecture.
He stretched and something almost fall out of the inner pocket of his coat. He nearly caused a gouge in the roof as he frantically snatched Splinterbark’s googles mid-air before they skidded off the roof. He signed with relief as he brought them up to eye level. Silver was not even sure why he kept them on his person. He tried to make them work-but failed to do so. When he had asked Splinterbark once just how it all worked, she just shrugged and said she just concentrated and thought about it. There was no point in him even hanging on to these. Twice he tried to give them back to her and they kept circling backing to his possession. Finally he just gave it up. Angrily thrusting them hard back into his coat he muttered repeatedly the same mantra he had been repeating to himself for weeks: the Golden Guardian did not need a partner and neither did he.

Silver’s phone beeped 8:30 pm. He figured he might as well pull up stakes and head home. If he was fast enough he could just make it home and offer to hand out the rest of the candy. At least it would be some way of ridding himself of these snacks. He had just unfolded his wings when he heard someone whistle and yell out “Mister Silver Guardian!” Silver glanced over the back of his right shoulder and saw a girl next door waving her pumpkin bucket like a train lantern. He fluttered down to where she and her mother stood to hand out her reward. She was dressed up in a white jacket with white pants with cardboard wings wrapped in aluminum foil and taped to her back. When he approached her she blurted out, “Wow, you’re really really big!” The mother clamped her hand over her own mouth in embarrassment while Silver unconsciously rubbed his forehead. He had to admit even after more than a month he was still not entirely used to very notable different in height between himself and Reed. He almost always managed to forget to stoop to get inside buildings. He bent down and passed out the candy to her. The Silver Guardian cosplayer then tugged on one of the belt loops of his coat and sheepishly asked if she could take a picture.
The sparrow angel bit his tongue to hold back his overenthusiasm. This was the very first time someone actually wanted to take a fan picture.
“S-so how do you w-want to take it? Some k-kind of cool pose or pointing our guns at the sky or…” he managed to stammer out.
“Sweetie, I’m sure the Silver Guardian is busy. Let’s go. You have school tomorrow.” The girl whined and begged for just one picture. The mother seemed indifferent to the whole thing and Silver thought she muttered something about it being bad enough her daughter insisted on dressing like him. The girl whined and pleaded which was starting to grab attention from others walking down the street.

“Madam, it is no trouble. I can take one quick photo if you want.” The mother rolled her eyes and he supposed she decided it was better to capitulate to her daughter and the fact half the neighborhood was staring at her. Silver knelt down to one knee and the girl stood on his thigh and used his shoulder to keep her stable. They both raised their pistols to the sky and the mother just tapped the shutter button on her phone a few times before shoving it right back in her purse and grabbing her daughter’s hand insisting that they were going home and she need to go to bed.

Silver Guardian watched them walk off to the next block over and scratched the back of his head in slight defeat. He hoped he didn’t get her in too much trouble. Then he felt a hard tug on his wing-hard enough he was certain someone his just plucked a few feathers in the process. A group of older kids shoved their open palms in his face-or about as high his abdomen. A pair of them demanded in the most entitled grunt, “Gimmie candy, Guardian!” Silver wanted to punt the pudgy brat but that might send him right into the pickup truck across the street and his reputation was subterranean at best.
“Hey, you deaf or something? I want the candy! I want it!” The Silver Guardian inhaled roughly through gritted teeth and was about to reach into the bag when he heard a pair of screams behind him. At first he ignored them. It was Halloween after all and he had seen a haunted house over by the next block. But then it happened again in quick succession with cries for help mixed in with the wails followed by an odd gurgling noise. Silver figured he should be safe than sorry so he tossed out a handful of candy and let the piglets fight over themselves while he ran down the road.

He was thankful with his instinct. Sure enough there was a house decked completely out with coffins, spooks, and fake bloodstains. Only now the hosts dressed as monsters were running past him from something far more horrific. Standing on the roof was a thing that certainly not part of the décor. It roughly the size of a large steer though its bovine head was much wider than your average bull. It had six large crab-like legs that were exceptionally thick, bulky, and covered in bulbous spines. The beast had no eyes-just a wide open mouth with a long slimy cow tongue that was dragging along the tiles it was clinging to. Saliva was drippling from the corners of its mouth creating a steady sticky dripping into the ground. The mother-daughter pair he had just seen were caught up against one of the false tombstones and immobilized by the beast’s saliva. The beast was now scuttling down the side of the building to inch its tongue steadily closer to them.
The creature’s tongue had just graced them when Silver grasped both hands around the thing and jerked it to the side. He was trying to avoid smashing it into the house but he could not avoid the prop house facades. The silver angel heaved the thing by its horns and chucked it squarely onto the road-narrowly missing a passing car. Silver groaned as the occupants had gotten out of the car to yell at him. Luckily for him, the bovine licker had rolled its rotund body back onto its belly and slapped its lower jaw onto the hood of their car and letting its mouth organ taste the roof. They were smart enough to run. As everyone else had managed to flee, the only target bovine licker had was the Silver Guardian and it seemed satisfied with that as Silver saw the corners of its mouth turn up and the tongue gracing its lips in sloppy fashion.

The licker snapped its mouth wide open with a loud sharp crack followed by an unpleasant slap of flesh onto the ground. The Silver Guardian could hear an unsettling hum of clicks and gurgles come from within the maw before three other tongues lashed out of the depths and stuck the Guardian with a powerful thrusting force. The guardian shrieked out as he felt one of them strike him hard in the shoulder and a searing pain grasped his flesh. His body tumbled in the air before landing against the face of the haunted house in a loud sickening thud.

“Get up Mister Guardian! It’s about to hit you again!” the girl shouted. The pair had managed to move somewhat but not by much. As if this annoyed the monster, the beast raised one of its tounges and the appendage began to crackle with energy. It flayed out at the girl only for Silver to shove his body between them and receive the full force of the strike sending surges of excruciating energy through his limbs. He fell down to one knee while grasping his injured shoulder and trying to stop his body from spontaneously quivering and spasming. He was feeling noticeably weaker but not enough to revert to Reed Altamiri. Maybe those weeks under probation had been a good thing after all. He did not have much time to recover as two tongues snatched him by an arm and leg and dragged him across the dirt before tossing him into the telephone pole making the wood crack sharply in the middle. Before Silver could even hit the ground the beast had grabbed the upper and lower halves of the pole and cross-pinned the guardian between them. With two tongues wrapped firmly on both ends, it dragged Silver by his face across the concrete towards its mouth. The silver sparrow had half expected for the thing to try and eat him but instead it pressed a foreleg on top of the log to keep him pinned down. A tongue hovered over his head and began to sway in a rhythmic hypnotic fashion.
He tried to look away but he couldn’t as he felt drawn into following the shining tip. Then he sensed something odd-he felt a flurry of emotions out of nowhere. He felt angry, angrier than he ever recalled feeling before. He felt so mad he wanted to smash everything-his father, his brother, everyone. Silver was not even aware of the red haze that was surrounding his body and being vacuumed up in greedy delight by the beast. Reed! Reed, snap out of it! His Guardian’s voice ran loud in his head. It was just barely enough to bring him out, but not by much. He was feeling frailer than before and he could feel that all too familiar twitch down his spine telling him he was about to transform back very soon. He tried flexing his chest muscles to open up the clothespin trap. He could feel the wood giving slightly but it wasn’t enough. The beast could tell just what he was trying to and it plunged newly gained weight down hard breaking Silver’s focus and almost his back at the same time.

Then he heard it. It was a small crack at first-and then a rush of similar pops began to surround him. The wood exploded and the beast reeled back in surprise and releasing its prey. The creature twisted its neck around even while still stuck on its back and thrashed out to grab its meal again. Silver effortlessly grabbed two of them with his hands and tied them into a hard knot. While it screamed he grabbed the other two and smashed them together to make one solid ball. The monster was not entirely done. It took advantage of its appendages knotted into a ball to smash Silver upside the head to make him let go. Angered it slapped its tongues back into its mouth and charged full force at the angel. The Silver Guardian hardly moved and just as it was a foot away he struck it with one rage filled punch. The beast bubbled and then exploded in a mass of black goo that splattered all over the road. Silver suddenly felt numb seeing what he had just done. He didn’t feel good about it even as he saw the goo sizzle away much like that slug monster.

There was not much time to dwell on that though. He had almost forgotten about the mother and child pairing behind him. He held out a hand to assist in pulling them out from the goo when the mother slapped his hand away and shrieked for him to get back. Even the child had started to scoot back from him.
A crowd had started to surround him-some with phones and a clamoring of voices both congratulating him and admonishing him. He hadn’t paid that much attention about it though because something else caught his eye. He thought he saw Shelly from across the street with a hand in her pocket. Silver tried to move towards her but several parents got in his way shoving either their kids or phones in his face. He had to flap his wings hard to get airborne and out of there. Any other time he would have loved this. He deserved this-but he was not in the mood for it right now. Even in the air he could not see her anymore. Then again, why would she stick around?

He landed several houses down. He was feeling sick but it was a different kind of sick from before. It was not that ever lovely feeling that every atom of his being was going to collapse at any second. It was as if something had been forcefully pulled from his core and now he felt a gaping hole the size of Altamiri Towers. Just what had that monster done to him?
“Hey! Sparrow Brain!” He knew that accented snark anywhere. Hunter was dragging the tip of his sword along the ground as he stomped towards the angel before swinging it up and holding it effortlessly right at Silver’s nose.
“You don’t see me interfere with your ‘save the city from the bad guys’ schemes. It’s called Professional Courtesy!” Silver felt a latent twinge of ire and had to take one long deep breath to suppress it.

“Oh sure I should just let a monster rampage through the city and hurt half the neighborhood just so you can be the hero.”
“I believe we have established I am no hero.” OH don’t I know it, Guardian hissed under his breath. Then he saw something off with Hunter.
“Where’s Jinn tonight? Isn’t she your partner?” Hunter’s sudden cackle caught him off guard.
“Partner? Jinn is not my partner. She’s just some witch chick who follows me around and nags on me. Unlike you, I don’t need a partner.”
“What did you just-“

“Oh pul-lease. I watched the fight. You didn’t get out of that trap on your own.” Silver deflated a little. Hunter was right and he knew it. It still did not make it less irritating to hear it from the devil. He was going to counter back when he felt his strength almost leave his body for a moment and almost collapsed off the roof. Hunter caught him by a wing and dragged him back up. Silver felt a cold shiver pass through him just as; to his surprise, Hunter knelt down to his level.
“It got quite a taste of you, did it?” Silver was unsure how to process this. Was Hunter…actually sounding concerned?
“Take my advice. Go straight home, get come hot coco or a good stiff drink-anything to relax and go to bed. The feeling should pass by morning. Got it?” The angel was not sure about this odd change of mood of his hated enemy, but some unknown instinct he’d better listen-at least this one time.
Hunter watched the seraph disappear among the clouds and hummed. Too bad the monster was pretty much destroyed. He’d love to know just what kind of dark delicious emotion that angel possessed.

[Lovetheangelshadow]

Chapter 2: The Season Pilot HeistShelly was not even sure why she was out here. It was Halloween night and while normally she would be more than happy to fully deck out and go on candy hunts-this year her heart just wasn’t in it. With everything that had happened she hadn’t even dressed the house for the season. Reed had kept trying to give her back the goggles and each time she shoved them right back into his hands. Frix grumbled and complained the entire time.
“That is not now this works, Shelly”, he would start ranting. She and Frix were connected and the gem in those goggles were attuned specifically to her. Even if

Reed had found a new partner, the gem would not respond to anyone but Shelly.
“Where was all that bravado from before eh? I thought supers were your life. I thought this was something you wanted!” Shelly had no real response for that. Eventually it would end up with her shoving Frix in the closet so she could get some darn sleep.
Tonight something told her she had to just go out. She told her parents that she was just going to check out the decorations in her neighborhood and return shortly. Walking down the road she saw all the numerous costumes of the kids. Her area was a high traffic area for trick or treaters. She had seen the costumes of the latest films and a few Golden Guardian rip-offs. Shelly had a feeling the Silver Guardian was seeing this as well and was probably sulking about it somewhere. As if the fates had decided to respond to her musing, Shelly chanced to see a flash of grey and white above her. Sure enough she watched as the Silver Guardian was flying just high enough to not be spotted easily. So he was trying to do the same candy hunt the Golden Guardian had done. She tried to not laugh at how pathetic but admirable his efforts were to get affection from this city. Well, she had been practically avoiding him for weeks-she might as well at least say hello.
Someone else beaten her to the greeting. She saw a little girl dressed in a makeshift Silver Guardian costume with cardboard wings covered in aluminum foil had had a pair of water squirters painted in white and gold at her hands. Shelly had to stifle her chuckle seeing Silver’s embarrassment. He wasn’t so bad-if he could do something with that temper of his.

“Let’s head back home Frix. Frix? Now where did that bug go this time?” Shelly quietly hissed out for Frix just loud enough he could near, but not loud enough that she sounded like a loony. He could not have gotten far since he was tethered to her position. Shelly was just about to turn the corner when Frix darted right back at her and hid himself inside her hood. She was just about to ask when the growing scuttling sound answered her question. A beast the size of a cow had pulled itself through the wide storm drain in front of the large haunted house. The creature gurgled and clicked as it stretched out its full form before the crowd. At first everything thought it has one of the haunted house’s elaborate illusions and some screamed but most booed and clapped. The reaction from the monster responded otherwise. Its throat swelled up and upchucked a morass of slime at the crowd.

The beast began to approach those it had managed to capture and raised its tongue above its prey. Among the screaming people it slowly sniffed and huffed, but seemed dissatisfied with its potential meals. The creature had heaved itself onto the roof and began to scan its surroundings. That thing was frantically looking around at the other buildings as if searching for something specific. Shelly had a vague idea what it was trying to do. A beast like this meant Hunter had to be nearby somewhere. She did not have much time to dwell on it when she saw the Silver Guardian appearing around the corner. She watched the angel battle the beast before it caught him in between two telephone poles and pinned him down. She saw the red haze envelop the hero and the monster greedily inhaling it in. Suddenly Frix shoved Shelly’s googles in her hands. The things were coated in slime and the sprite was having trouble flying and keeping the eyewear aloft.
“No time to wash it off, Shelly. You got to get the Silver Guardian loose!” Shelly grabbed the goggles and began to focus on the beams-but then stopped. She still clearly remembered him telling her he didn’t need her help and he had well managed to beat Prism Break and would have caught Circus Freak if it hadn’t been for her. Surely such a great and powerful hero didn’t need her help. Another thought came to mind. What if she did do something and just made it worse? Frix jabbed her cheek with one of his talons and pressed his face against the bridge of her nose.

“You don’t have time to play the pity party, you pea brained pixie! If that Oozling drains all of that anger from the Silver Guardian-we’re good as dead!”
“Ooz-what?”
“Don’t think, just do it!” Destroying the beams were easy. The dry and stapled wood snapped easy to her will and it took barely thought for them to shatter-setting her ex-partner free. She watched as the creature attempted to ram its body at the angel and Silver taking it out with one punch. Even Frix seemed to wince at the single blow carnage. Shelly felt like she glimpsed something odd about the Solver Guardian. There had been faint traces of the red haze still surrounding him even when he had been set lose and they all accumulated into that lone strike. Even his face had seemed to have been temporarily transformed into apathetic anger before suddenly falling into terror and unease. She had never seen Silver that angry before except in one instance.
She had wanted to stick around to talk to him, but the crowd congratulating had been quick. There was no chance she could speak to him-at least not on a personal level. That and whatever had just happened had finally made Frix shut up. The only problem with that now is now she wanted to know what the heck he was rambling on about “oozelungs” and “draining” and he was not talking. She couldn’t win here.
*****

Reed did feel better after a long sleep, and he grumbled how right Hunter had been. Even still that was a weird feeling he had to carry all the way home. When he had come downstairs his father was deep in thought looking at an open laptop and Marco drumming the side of his cereal bowl in impatience. Finally Morgan closed the laptop when Reed had seated himself at the table. His father still had his trademark disapproving glare that the boy had gotten used to over the years.
“I got your makeup grades sent to me yesterday. I suppose an 89% average is good enough for you. You’re ungrounded.” Marco playfully jabbed his father in the ribs.

“Ugh fine, since your leg has healed I suppose you’re off the hook, Marco.”
Marco hook his arm around Reed’s shoulder and gave a squeeze.
“All right. Looks like you and me are finally free from Father Warden’s control, old buddy.”
“Thank god, I couldn’t take another week of you”, Reed grumbled under his breath. Marco gave another squeeze and mussed up his already unkempt hair.
“Aw it wasn’t so bad. It’s practically the longest we’ve hung out together in years. What ya say I pick you up after school and we get some ice cream from T.Crystalz? You can even get the large size of your faaaave….” Reed bit his tongue to keep from licking his lips at the thought of it much to his father’s audible annoyance.

****
Shelly hadn’t thought much about last night even when she happened to see Reed leave his chauffeur’s car and walk towards the campus. She had an inkling he did see her but deliberately avoided her gaze and hurried himself inside the building. Even inside homeroom he had his face buried in the blank pages of his notebook. She had tried to speak up but something would keep interrupting her. During lunch she had seated herself at the end of “Alucard’s table” even when she still shot a few glances towards Reed.
“You two still not talking?” Alucard uttered to her before taking a long swig from his thermos.
“Oh I’m not allowed to talk to you, but you can talk to me”, she chided playfully before sticking her tongue out. Alucard pressed his fist against his mouth to hide a hint of a smirk.

“Alucard, WHO is she?” Shelly blinked at the blonde girl who had approached the table and brazenly plopped her tray right across from Alucard.
“I asked who she is”, the girl repeated.
“She’s just a classmate, Chelsea”, he snapped rather passively. Shelly had a feeling he wanted to say something else by the way he was gripping that thermos. Chelsea looked down her nose and Shelly and made a shooing motion with her manicured hand.
“Well go sit somewhere else, sweetie. This is a private table.” Frix was surprised Shelly obliging so easily and walking to the other table where Reed was sitting alone.

“That is not like you to just walk off”, both Reed and Frix commented as Shelly took a seat. Shelly just shoved a large piece of meatloaf into her mouth.
“I’m not in the mood. And I kinda promised Dad no more fights at school.” She then handed Frix a cherry tomato from her salad and winked. It was ten seconds later when Chelsea let out a yelp and was now frantically trying to get the cold pearl of vegetation out from the back of her shirt.
“Speaking of, how are you feeling from last night? You didn’t seem too good after that totally wicked single punch.” Reed’s neck flushed red slightly and he rubbed the back of his head at the complement. Frix coughed loudly and roughly gestured his neck signaling between Shelly and Reed. Reed was the only one who seemed to get what the sprite was suggesting.
“Thanks…I guess for last night. But I would have gotten out on my own.”
“Oh really? Totally not like a bovine xenomorph was draining you of your essence or whatever that weird red haze was.”
“So you do not think I can do this hero thing on my own?”
“I didn’t say that.”

“You were thinking it.” Thomas slammed his tray between them while the rest of his pals took to their usual seats at the table.
“Lunch period is short enough without having you two bicker and spoil it”, he snapped at the two of them. Both Reed and Shelly grumbled a ‘fine’ and tried to finish their meatloaf and salad without looking at each other. Bret chanced to look over Shelly’s shoulder towards Alucard’s table.
“Looks like he’s got a new girl. How long do you think she’ll last?” Kirby gave it a month. Sam thought he was being far too optimistic and guessed a week at most.

“Speaking from experience since she was previously your girl”, Vincent jibbed. Shelly glanced at Thomas hoping for an explanation. He just shrugged as if this was supposed to be some kind of common knowledge in the school culture.
“Let’s just say it’s practically tradition for the past two years now. I think he’s dated just about very attractive chick in the junior class at this point.” Shelly rapped her fork on the side of her plate. It was clear she was annoyed.
“That’s just sick. You shouldn’t be making bets on other people’s relationships.”
“Aw relax Shell, we’re not the only ones who do this sort of thing. What? You got a crush on the guy too? Like he is going to think twice about a pipsqueak like you”, Kirby teased. Reed’s hand slowly rolled into a fist but Thomas grabbed it and quietly shook his head. Shelly just huffed as she rose up to put away her empty tray.
“Who knows, boys? I just might surprise you.” She was several feet away when suddenly all the boys jumped yelping they felt something cold and slimy grace the backs of their necks. Reed was not about to explain how cucumbers suddenly appeared under the backs of their shirts.
When Marco had come to pick Reed up from school he was perplexed to find his brother looking even more dour than usual. They drove in silence for a while though the brothers would cast awkward glances at each other. It did not take long before Reed was aware that they were not going the way to T.Crystalz. Marco explained he had to stop at one of the banks on the way and make a deposit for their father. Reed grumbled because it meant they actually go into the bank and not at the atm. Their father had always been finicky with bank transactions and receipts.
The bank they can gone into was one of the smaller branches scattered thought the city. While not as heavily fortified at the banks downtown, the doors were still heavy glass and the tellers were behind super high counters and encased behind thick plastic walls. Even at his great height Marco had to strain himself to just barely see over the counter. Reed just shoved his rail frame into one of the overstuffed chairs near the side wall and picked up the newspaper hoping to see some kind of blurb on his exploits from last night. He thought he caught at least one line mentioning something when an odd buzzing sound whooshed past his ear. If there was anything that he had learned from Prism Beak was when there was a sound that didn’t belong, one should be alert about it. He peeked over the back of his chair and chanced to see a small metallic lump scuttle across the rug. Reed had barely time to maneuver around the back of the chair when the metal lump suddenly shot up in the air and burst into a flash of white hot light.

Reed heard the doors get flung open and several fast paced raps of footwork among the shouts and screams of the few patrons inside the building. His sight was still a bit fuzzy from the flash and he had to feel his way to the alcove nearby that used to hold payphones if he remembered correctly. The light had faded eventually and when the crowd managed to get some eyesight back the interior had been flooded with floating spheres with red eyes trained on each and every one of them. Those not locked down on a hostage were just hovering there with a steady sway.
The ones what had entered after the bomb was a trio of costumed girls. They all wore the same skin tight tunic with a V-cut double breasted opening with white turtleneck blouses underneath; tight white pants, and knee high leather boots. The most notable feature was the canine half-masks that had curved slits for eyes and the lower jaw flush against their own jaws. The center one had a green tunic and waist length hair dyed in hot pink, lime green, and white.
“All right, you know the drill, ladies and gentlemen. This is a stick up. Don’t move and no one gets hurt.” She snapped the fingers of her white gloved hand and the free orbs darted without hesitation and attached themselves to the plastic barriers. Some began to glow red as the plastic began to melt about them while others scooped the goop away to keep them free. Once the hole was large enough the heater spheres hovered in front of the employees as the scoopers proceeded to wrench open the cash drawers.

Once the spheres had their mechanical pincers on cash they flew towards the other two coyote masked thieves who had sacks open. Marco was glancing around realizing that he couldn’t see Reed anywhere from where he was standing. The green one cast a sharp look at him and tapped several buttons on her glove making more of the drones turn their attention to him.
“And just what do you think you’re trying to do, hmm? Trying to be a hero?” Marco put his hands in front of him even as the red lights of the machines burned brighter.

“Look, I’m just looking for my brother. I wasn’t…” The tri colored coyote tapped the heel of her boot hard on the floor,
“Oh I am sooooo sure you were. Looks like someone needs to be made an example of.” The one dressed in the red tunic with bright blue hair grabbed the green one’s shoulder.
“Woah there, Captain. Don’t assume…” Captain smacked the red one’s hand away.
“You questioning me again, Blaze?” The last one, who was notably shorter than the other two was dressed in a blue tunic with white hair had gathered up the cash and was trying to sneak away only for a slew of drones to block her path.
“Going somewhere, Star?”

“Um no…nope, just putting the money by the door, Captain. I was just being prepared for us to leave”, Star stammered sheepishly. Captain huffed and turned her attention back to Marco. She clapped her hands like commanding a servant and three of the droids lashed their claws at Marco. Their claws shattered on the Silver Guardian’s chest. Silver swiftly whipped out his pistols and fired several consecutive shots on the robots holding the crowd hostage. He smirked and blew nonexistent smoke from the barrel with a jaunty wink. The response was a singular wolf whistle from Blaze.
“So you’re the Silver Guardian! Mmmhmm those videos on the internet really don’t do you justice. Ow!” Captain jabbed Blaze hard in the ribs with her elbow.
“Focus, Blaze. He’s just another run of the mill costumed goody good. PUPS! Take him down!” The robots compiled themselves together into a large paddle and tried to smack the angel down. Silver dig his heels slightly into the ground and curled one of his wings around him like a shield. The compiled mechanical swarm only shoved him back slightly. As they curled around for another pass, Silver opened his arms wide up and smacked them together hard, smashing a sizeable chunk of them between his muscles. The remaining bots tried to latch back onto the unsmashed halves when Silver grabbed one collection of them and swung them over his shoulder lime a heavy hammer on the other half-effectively decimating the automaton.
The room then become flooded with white smoke. The trio of costumed canines were almost at the door when Blaze ran smack into Silver’s chest and bounced off her other sisters. A sudden gust of wind from the door collided against them and slid them back towards the center of the room and blew away the smoke. The Silver Guardian stood in front of the entrance, arms folded and with a cocky grin.

“Going somewhere, ladies?” The trio had quickly gotten to their feet despite the sudden knockback. Captain snarled as she held her hand over her left hip.
“I wouldn’t be so smug if I were you.” She tapped the palm of her hand and three explosions occurred behind her. The large plastic barrier shoved downward and threatened to flatten the crowd below. The wall was halted as Silver had braced himself against the slab. The trio of thieves had pretty much escaped by then though Captain had stayed for just a moment to yell,
“You heroes are so predictable. Buh bye.”
Silver had stayed behind for a bit to shove the wall back into something of stable position before looking out the door. The thieves had been long gone and where was nothing around showing a trace of where they could have gone. Then he remembered he was technically supposed to still be inside the bank. Several cop cars were already beginning to approach the building and knowing he was still technically breaking the law, he maneuvered into the back parking lot and remerged back as Reed.

He spotted Marco just leaving the door, looking frantically around and calling out Reed’s name. Reed waved weakly from behind the police lines. What he did not expect was the suffocating hug from his brother.
“Oh thank god you’re safe. H-how did you end out here?” Reed paused and pressed his collarbone trying to think of a plausible story. Thomas would have had a better time with this.
“I think I stumbled out here when the flash bomb went off. I was still a bit dizzy so I guess I just hung out here.” He could automatically tell from Marco’s scrunched up face that his brother did not buy his story at all. He just responded with a head pat.
“Well let’s just go and give our statements to the police. I think we both definitely earned that butterscotch with the salted caramel sauce.”

[Lovetheangelshadow]

Chapter 3: Theme of the Coyote Crew“And although the Silver Guardian had managed to rescue the hostages, he failed to catch the perpetrators. This latest disturbing failure following the attack of the mysterious creature on Halloween…” Vivian snatched the remote from Arthur’s hand and promptly shut the television off.
“Aw come on Viv, its still my turn with the tv”, her husband whined.
“I don’t like this. The moment the news of the Golden Guardian disappearing spread, it seems this city is getting no end of costumed creeps.” Arthur shrugged and popped the remote from the underside of Vivian’s hand.
“This isn’t anything too new from what things were before.”
“I envy your capacity of optimism.”

“You married me.” Shelly watched her parent’s jab each other playfully as she had her phone open to the news. They were both right though. They had just barely thrown Prism Break back into King’s Island Prison and now these three show up. When she had gone back upstairs, she had noted that Frix had dragged her Splinterbark costume out from underneath the best and was trying to beat the accumulated dust bunnies out of it with a ruler. Shelly kicked the helmet back under the bed.

“Hey! I just finished cleaning that! Do you know how hard it is to use a spray bottle with pincers?” Shelly flung herself on the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.
“They have robots. Just what is wood going to do against laser robots?” Frix groaned and tugged on the collar of Shelly’s pajamas.
“Well if SOMEONE hadn’t destroyed almost all of my powers, we could have put that silver sparrow to shame.”
“Or just end up accidentally destroying the city”, Shelly hissed back as she shoved the rest of her costume further back under the bed. She should just throw out the thing but last time she tried to toss out a bunch of old sketchbooks and her dad noticed. She often wondered if he played dumb on purpose. As Shelly lay there she pulled out the news footage of the robbery. The CCTV had managed to get some decent footage of the crime even with all the smoke and explosions. She could not shake the feeling that there was something very familiar with the costumes of the criminals.
She found out the next day that she was not the only one with the same nagging inclination. At school she chanced seeing Thomas walking out from the school field with a slight hint of sweat on his brow from his morning run.

“Saw the news last night?” was his greeting.
“The same verse as usual. You’d think they’d come up with some new lyrics”, she responded. Both of them half expected to see Reed leave his chaffer’s car in a grumpy mood and neither were interested in dealing with that.
When he had arrived he was walking practically past them and towards the main building; head down and his knuckles pressed against his chin. They ran to catch up with them and Thomas gave him an unsure ‘good morning’. Reed seemed to snap out of whatever stupor he was in and muttered a greeting before going back into his trance almost immedately. Thomas and Shelly glanced puzzlingly at each other.
“Is he…all right in his head”, Frix questioned Shelly. Reed frowned at the inquiry.

“You forget I CAN hear youm Frix? And I am fine. I just…I am trying to remember something. Something about that bank heist feels familiar.”
“You too? Weird we’re thinking the same thing. Another one of your dad’s previous villains?” Shelly inquired. Reed shook his head slowly. This was not like Prism Beak. This memory felt older. As if on cue both of their phones chimed with a text notification.
“See me after school. I might have some information regarding the thieves you went against yesterday by then. –Blackbird” Neither had much time to mull on it as the first warning bell rang reminding them they still had to go to school.
*****

Blackbird raised an eyebrow when it was only Reed who had come to his office that afternoon. Thomas had accompanied him despite him not being explicitly invited.
“Shelly’s still not getting involved?” he queried. Reed’s answer was folding his arms and scoffing haughtily. He folded slightly under Blackbird’s gaze, but the counselor did not pursue the matter further.
Down below he pulled up several images from various locations. There were also links and fan art of the thieving trio. An insignia of a triangular ship soaring across a starry sky was in the center of it all.
“You’re getting quite the attention from outside the local riff raff. It didn’t take much to identify these people. They call themselves the Coyote Crew. They based off a television show called…”
“From the Earth to the stars, through heaven and Mars, no matter where evil will try to brew, the crew of the Firefall Arcade is coming for you!” Reed finished the sentence in song. Then almost immediately he turned a bright red and gripped his collarbone tightly as Thomas and Blackbird stared blankly at him.
“So, you are familiar with the show.”

“Marco used to watch it with me when I was a kid”, Reed mumbled.
“I can’t say I’m familiar with the show so can someone get me up to speed here?” Thomas asked.
“Really? It was the biggest show ten years ago.”
“I...mom and I moved a lot so I didn’t get to watch a lot of tv.”
“Really? You’ve never mentioned that before.”
“ANYWAY, so what does this show have to do with the bandit furries?” Blackbird showed a clearer image of the three clearly posing for a security camera.
“They’re called the Coyote Crew. They specialize in high dollar robberies. For some reason their entire ensemble is based off a television show from the early 2010’s called Firefall Arcade. Once they get enough funds they disappear for months at a time-part of the reason they haven’t been caught yet.” Thomas whistled at the fan work more out of surprise than affection.

“They seem to have one heck of a following too.” Reed was too busy studying the map on the screen to notice. Hollywood, New York, Chicago, Orlando…they were all major places compared to Cadric City and far more profitable. Reed could not put his finger on it-but something felt off, but he could not think of why. He paused long enough half expecting to hear Shelly shout out a Eureka and suddenly point out the obvious pattern. Instead he was met with silence.
“You have an idea”, Blackbird asked him. So Blackbird did not know anything further either. No, he was going to figure this out on his own. He had to. His father could figure this out and he was going to do the same thing.
****

Three women were currently wading their way through the muck of the Underground. The eldest was in her early thirties with shorter gold brown hair and a cold sour expression that seemed to be permanently fused to her features. The excess makeup made her much older than she appeared. The second was only a few years younger but with a more boyish bob haircut and a lean muscular build than her sister. The youngest was still in her teens, her hair notably a lighter shade than her elder sisters but with a face haggard with stressful age.
“Ugh a fine place for the Fixer to pick. We never had to lower ourselves to rats in the other rendezvous points”, the eldest griped.
“Oh quit bellyaching, Jessie. We were lucky enough to escape with enough money to actually pay the guy”, the second eldest snipped. Jessie glared back at her two sisters.

“Well Jamie, maybe if a certain someone hadn’t dropped most of the haul thanks to that second class winged showoff…”
“Oh I am soooo sorry. It is totally not like I could have slipped away without the Silver Guardian noticing if you hadn’t blown my cover!” Jessie smacked her younger sister hard and would have struck again if Jamie had not intervened.
“Jessie! Maria! Enough! Let’s focus on why we’re here, okay? The sooner we get the package-the sooner I can get a rematch with misuser Silver Guardian. Mmmmhmm.”
“That winged poser is not why we’re here. We almost got thrown in the clink thanks to your last infatuation.” The two elder sister continued to gripe and argue the entire trek down deeper underground. They had to squeeze their way through a crevice in the wall before falling face first into one of the older chambers down below. The place was barely lit save for a single portable light hooked to a generator illuminating a table underneath. The Fixer was seated on the edge of the table casually balancing his cane on the tips of his fingers while two masked burly men stood on either side of him.
“Ladies, how nice it is to see you again. And such a lovely coincidence that you wanted my services once more just as I was packing up to leave Cadric City. Going to vacate this place for a while. Oh and word of wisdom? Never do business transactions with clowns.” Jessie grumbled as the man shook her hand with mocking enthusiasm. Her sisters showed more manners.

“We have your money, old man. Did you get what we asked for?” The Fixer wagged his finger.
“Such impatience and rudeness. That is the problem with you young generation of villainy. No sense of class. Ah, but you pay well enough. Now allow me to show you just what I have for you.” The Fixer eagerly opened his briefcase and showed the contents inside. The three were unsure what to make of the device and its accessories.
“A remake of an oldie but goodie. Powerfully humiliating just as the Captain ordered, but will minimize hostage complications as you suggested Blaze. This will help your Guardian problem.”
“The Golden Guardian maybe, but I hardly think this tin angel is going to be too much trouble”, Jessie scoffed. The Fixer frowned and uttered a ‘fine, learn the hard way’. As he packed away the money given the Fixer decided to give one last piece of advice.
“I recently told this to another pair of costumed weirdoes a few weeks ago. I know what you three are here in Cadric City for. I suggest you drop it and do what you three are known for. Nothing good will come from it.” Jessie let out a shrill laugh that Jamie and Maria were sure was going to make the chamber collapse upon them.
“You stick to playing with your toys old man. I have finally found the one I am looking for. You think I’d be too stupid to pass this up? Ta ta.”

[Lovetheangelshadow]

Chapter 4: The Premiere YachtThe singular largest body of water near Cadric City was the Henson Lake that rested on the fringes of the city. It was mostly occupied by campers and fishermen in the summer and fall and a popular skating location in the winter. A small rowboat was cruising along as a man was preparing his rod to enjoy a weekend of lake fishing. Just as he cast his line his boat was nearly toppled by a wave as a large cruiser boat passed by. As his pole began to sink into the water he yelled up at the large white yacht to watch where they were going. Passengers who had gathered by the deck edge just laughed and snorted that he should buy a bigger boat is he was so concerned. He hadn’t much time to argue back when his equipment inexplicably bobbed up to the surface and practically jumped back into his boat of their own will.

Desmond was gazing half interested out at the trees that surrounded the lake. The dense sea of foliage made him think of a natural barrier from the world outside of Cadric City. He’d rather be out there with some kind of hint of roughing it even if he had to drag his unwilling kids to do it. Anything than being on this stupid boat feeling queasy and having his ear assaulted with gossip chatter. Irene insisted he needed a day away even has Lynn made a loud complaint that she couldn’t go on the party.
“You have a research paper due on Monday. And if you get stuck, you can ask your brother for help,” was his response to her whining.
“Humph, I can write some stupid four page paper on some dumb battle from a century ago on my own without Alucard”, she had griped. Alucard, as usual, made no fuss. Parties never seemed to interest him; and the only ones he attended were the ones Desmond dragged him to for public reputation. Desmond could not even remember the last birthday party they had for him. Irene touched his shoulder trying to shake him out of his repose.
“You know, you never did mention to me ever that you get sea sick. I wonder what other secrets you hide”, she jibbed playfully. Desmond put a meaty hand on his wife’s head and shuffled her hair playfully.

“Now now you never asked. Soooo enjoying the party?”
“Honestly, this thing is a real bore. At least at those hotel exhibitions you know how to make things amusing. Too bad we have to suffer for a couple more hours. Unless you can turn us both into fish and we can swim away from this party.” Desmond laughed nervously. Maybe he could do something to make things a bit more tolerable. It was crowded enough he could get away with just a few little tweaks. He had made his way over the punch bowl and casually leaned his hulking frame against the table. Desmond folded his arms and pointed his finger underneath his armpit. A few small sparks danced from his fingertips and circled around the bowl before seeping into the liquid. Right on cue a guest had dipped the ladle deep into the punch and sloppily filled their cup. They had barely left the table before downing most of it two gulps. Desmond silently counted to three before the guest erupted into a fit of giggles. Another guest who had been talking to them sniped at them for the inappropriate response and smacked them with their handbag. This caused the drinker to spill what was left of their beverage onto the second person’s face. They had only licked a droplet of juice before they too also began to laugh. Desmond managed to hide his smirk under his great beard. Giggle Bubbles were always a classic.
He did not have much time to enjoy his private show when there was a loud blasting noise near the DJ station and the sudden halt of music shifted everyone’s attention

Three garishly garbed ladies were standing over the tangled mess of the music stand-each hovering on individual triangular shaped platforms. The rockets that kept them almost drowned out the panicked yells of the guests as the trio maneuvered down to the center of the deck. Captain twirled her firearm between her spindly fingers with a joyous sneer.
“Alright folks, you know the drill. Wallets, fancy watches, jewelry, the works. Kindly toss them into the bag when Star gets to you. Because if you don’t…” Captain pointed her pistol at the satellite at the back of the boat. And one little press of the trigger and lightning spewed out of the barrel and encompassed the metallic array. The satellite snapped in two and bounced down the sides of the cockpit. The guests lined up to comply when a shot from outside the boat and stuck the underside of Captain’s hover board. Captain slid down the flat side of her board and scrambled to catch the center control orb. She missed and touched the hot sides of one of the rockets instead. She yelped and fell straight down to the water. Just before the oncoming splash a large hand grabbed her wrist and jerked her upwards high in the air.

The Silver Guardian had her by one arm and his firearm in his free hand.
“Oh how oh so clever of you to attack from behind. Let’s see how much your muscles defend you from this!” Captain slapped her right shoulder with her free hand and a drone emerged from the water just behind Silver. Its body split open and a swarm of smaller drones latched themselves all over the Guardian’s body. Silver’s grip on the Captain slipped and she fell downwards. Blaze swooped underneath and Captain landed effortlessly on the edge of her sister’s hover board. They had barely gotten out of range when the drones encompassing the Silver Guardian exploded and sent the angel careening straight down into the lake.
Hoping back onto her own board, Captain smoothed out her tunic and sneered,


“Anyone else want to try and be a hero? Blaze, go help Star clean up. This party is starting to bore me.”
Blaze sneered at her sister and glanced uneasily back at the water where the Silver Guardian had fallen. Aside from the small hint of bubbles and the fading out ripples there was no sign of him. Captain lightly punched her in the shoulder and commanded for her sister to focus. The red coyote groaned and maneuvered towards the rear of the boat where people had gathered near the cockpit. She unenthusiastically held out her hand and droned out the whole ‘hand over the valuables command’. Within the gathering near Blaze were Irene and Desmond. As she approached the pair, Blaze gulped uneasily at the giant of a man. This wouldn’t be the first large victim of robbery she had dealt with before-but her instincts were telling her to tread carefully. This guy practically oozed the ‘could snap your spine over his knee if he wanted to’. Unfortunately the Captain’s barking orders outranked her gut notions. She turned the dial down to the lowest setting just in case.

“Come on, let’s just get this over with, okay?” Irene folded her arms and blazingly turned to her side with a snort.
“Nothing doing, haggit.” Blaze jabbed Irene’s shoulder with the barrel of her gun.
“I don’t know what you called me but I won’t ask again.” She pulled the trigger and a small bolt of lightning stuck Irene’s shoulder. Both Desmond and Blaze were caught off guard as Irene shrieked out in agony and clutched her shoulder hard. Blaze could have sworn she had changed the settings correctly-it should have only been a minor buzz. Desmond snarled and slammed the punch bowl in Blaze’s face. Blaze tried to wipe out the punch that had dribbled into her mouth and suddenly fell into a spasm of laugher. Desmond grabbed her arms and jerked them behind her before pinning her down under his knee.
Star dropped her sack and rushed on her board over to her sister. She bent downward and ran her hand over a few commands on the panel. A plate dropped down and a metallic tentacle wrapped itself around Despond’s forearm. Star forced her board back and dragged him across the deck. Captain maneuvered behind Star and aimed her firearm right at Desmond’s back.
“I warned you about being a hero.” Star shoved Captain’s hand down just as she fired and the bolt hit the deck instead; sending Desmond overboard and into the lake.
****

Silver couldn’t think straight. All he was aware of was that he was sinking deeper into the lake and losing air. He tried to move upward, but everything felt heavy and his mind was blurred with thoughts trying to understand the situation he was in. He was sure he wasn’t dead-at least not yet. Maybe the Guardian form was temporarily keeping him from drowning? He didn’t know. He couldn’t even recall his own father ever being in this situation before. All his instincts were telling him to get out of there but his body couldn’t or wouldn’t move. Then he thought he was losing his mind. He thought he was seeing an octopus swimming towards him. Either way it grabbed him by the chest and hurled the angel up to the surface.
The small fishing boat was watching the commotion aboard the yacht with karmic pleasure when he was now almost toppled over again when an 8ft angel was tossed onto the edge of his boat. Silver puked water from his lungs as he clutched to the sides of the boat. He gargled out an apology just as both of them saw police boats now maneuvering their way across the lake. One of them maneuvered towards them and was piloted by Sierra.

“Taking a swim? Okay okay don’t need to get grouchy about it. Hop on.” As Silver dragged himself out of the water they heard another voice from near the boat. Desmond signaled with one hand while trying to keep his hulking frame afloat.
Aboard the boat the Coyote Crew had gathered up all their loot and was splitting it between their hover platforms. They could hear the police boats surrounding them fast, but Captain was unconcerned.

“Oh I wouldn’t do that if I were you, troopers! If you try to follow us, I’ll set off the little bomb on the bottom of the boat. Take your pick-momentary loss of funds for the wealthy or the permanent loss of their lives?” She hovered her hand over a button on her belt with teasing anticipation. That would prove futile as an energy pulse graced past her side shattering the button into pieces with only a bare scorch on her uniform. Silver Guardian hovered at level with them with his guns trained on their position. Blaze let out a loud whistle and complemented on his aim. Captain reprimanded her for the comment and then jeered for the Silver Guardian to try and catch them before speeding off. The trio were fast and were experts in the air as they turned towards the forested area of the park. Silver dove lower beneath them and sped faster to block their path. The girls had to make a sharp turn towards the highway to miss colliding into him. They sudden course correction slowed them down and Silver almost hand his hands on the Captain’s board.

“I will not be caught by some no account pretty boy!” Captain shrieked before twisting a cuff on her wrist. Silver began to hear a weird buzzing sound but nothing else seemed to change. He ignored it and tried to land a punch on the hover board’s jets. He completely missed and got shot with a face full of exhaust for his efforts. They made some distance and the buzzing ceased. He could still see them and resumed the chase. Again when he was close the buzzing resumed. Silver tried to grab Blaze but again his grasp went wide. Blaze grabbed him by the wrist and performed a one armed shoulder throw throwing his balance. Captain then turned her vehicle briefly and went a full blast electric shock at the angel. Unprepared Silver slammed hard on the road where he just barely managed to not be flattened by an oncoming truck. Unsure if it was the concussion of the electric blast or him hitting the concrete, Silver felt nauseous and all he could do was watch the Coyote Crew escape. He could hear above the din of the highway traffic Captain cackling in his direction.
“How does it feel to be bested by a woman, loser! Ah ha ha ha ha!”
****

Reed’s headache had more or less gone by the evening; only for the news to give him a new kind of pain. The people aboard the yacht were griping how what they had lost and how the Silver Guardian had failed to protect their valuables. There were even accusations of him letting them go on purpose. Somehow someone on the road caught footage of the chase and it looked like he was deliberately missing every strike. And investigation did, in fact, reveal that there had been a bomb attached to the boat. The only one defending him was one of the detectives that we’re technically hunting him down. Reed’s phone rang and the screen of his phone stated Thomas Payne.
“You here to chastise me for this afternoon too?”
“Now why would I go and do a thing like that? I’m not dumb enough to piss off the guy who can turn into an 8ft bara angel who could punch my ribs inward.” Reed had to admit, that made him chuckle slightly.
“There we go. Still not like you to hold back on a crook like that. I hope you are not pulling punches because they’re girls. You’re making that angry frown right now, aren’t you?”

“I am the Silver Guardian, NOT the White Knight. And…I do not know what happened. I know aimed right at their jets but all my shots went wide. Maybe it was because I almost drowned. It messed with my head more than I thought.” He was still trying to rationalize that octopus he saw in the lake.
“Hey that’s a good thought. Folks still don’t suspect?”
“Marco and father are at work dealing with the last of the Black Friday requests and mom is out with friends. I do not believe even the staff was aware I was gone.”
“Hey don’t sound so depressed. I’ll see you at work tonight, okay bud?”
“Yeah sure.” He disconnected and slumped on the chair with the news playing on loop on his computer. He was going to find those harpies even if it killed him. They were no better than Hunter. They didn’t care who they hurt to get what they wanted and he was not going to let that happen again. Not while he now had the power to do so.

[Lovetheangelshadow]

Chapter 5: Monster at the DiscoAlucard was speeding down the highway perhaps a bit faster than was safe. Lynn was gripping her seatbelt as she felt the car slide and swing with her stepbrother taking the turns a bit too sharp. She had barely had time to even get into the car the moment her stepbrother had gotten the call from their father that his mother was in the hospital. He also almost ran the red light turning down the off-ramp and pounded the dashboard in frustration as he impatiently waited for the light to change. Lynn leaned back in the leather seat and took this moment to soak in the panic and vexation written all over her stepbrother’s face. He seemed to be aware of her enjoyment as he forced his lungs to inhale and exhale deeply until he was finally calm.
“I’m impressed you’re not even worried about your dad. Didn’t he get tossed into the cold lake?” he said to her with an icy tenor. Lynn flashed an all confidant all-knowing grin.

“Don’t underestimate dad. You’d be amazed just how tough he can be in these situations. Unlike your mother…” Her face slammed into the window as Alucard took a sharp right turn onto the expressway the moment the light changed.
They were led into one of the smaller exam rooms where their parents were sitting on separate beds. The nurse had just finished dressing up Irene’s shoulder and Desmond was under a thick blanket with a large cup of coffee. Once Alucard had finished stammering out if his mother was alright, she smiled and held her hand up.
“I’m fine, Alucard. That stun gun hit the plate in my shoulder. This burn is not the worst thing I’ve endured.” Desmond had taken another long sip of coffee methodically.
“Not the worst thing she says, but enough to swear up a Scottish storm the entire ride. And you never told me you had a plate in your arm.”
“Didn’t I? I could have sworn I did. Guess I’ve had it for so long I forgot.” Lynn looked at her stepbrother and muttered under her breath if he knew about it. Alucard responded with an honest shrug but he was not surprised given her occupation outside of writing.
****

Alucard was not going to lie-he had actually did forget. Chelsea had called him while he and Lynn were waiting in the lobby for their parents to be released and they could go home. Their butler insisted that he could take them home, and yet Alucard wanted to stay just to be sure. Lynn’s sadist joy was turning into small grades of guilt. She imagined if it had been her own mother burned she would have stayed up all night in the lobby if she had to. When the call came in, Chelsea reminded Alucard they had a date that night and for him to pick her up at 6. He hesitated in his answer. He started to explain he couldn’t and why when Desmond happened to walk into the conversation. His stepfather insisted he go. His son needed something outside of school to relax. He did not say it directly-but Alucard could hear perfectly well from his stepfather’s attitude to actually put some effort into making a steady relationship this time. He may not exactly see Desmond as a father, but he found his perception impressive.
When he picked up Chelsea at her house that evening she sauntered out the door and brushed her hand against the side of the car as she took her seat. He raised an eyebrow in an attempt to mask an annoyance. As he pulled down into the street she asked where they were going.
“Well there is this ramen place I know about I would love to show you. A bit hidden from the main traffic but the broth there…” Chelsea huffed and began swiping at the computer screen on Alucard’s dashboard despite his protests. She typed in the address and hit go. The name of the location began scrolling across the top of the screen.

“Toonz Boom? Are you crazy? That place just opened. It’s going to be packed.”
“Hey, Brittany and Charles are going there next weekend and I want to beat them to the punch. Besides, I’m sure getting in will be no problem for the smart and handsome Alucard Dougal”, she cooed as she stoked his chin. “Bleh, I vill suck yer blood if you don’t let me in”, the last part she said in a big overexagerated accent.

“What did I tell you about the vampire jokes,” Alucard barked, his voice immediately dropping in a heavy accent. Chelsea’s mouth dropped briefly. She had never seen him that angry before or ever hear that garish inflection in his voice. Her disgust of it she openly vocaled. Alucard cleared his throat and his voice snapped right back into American apologizing for the outburst. Immediately Chelsea snapped back to herself and pouted still insisting to go to Toonz. Alucard relented since he knew he’d get an earful if he came home too early. This whole socialization thing was a waste of his time.

Toonz Boom was a large rectangular building with wide tinted glass windows and the brickwork had been painted with garish colorings resembling paint splashes. A Not-Mickey Mouse character was holding a giant round cartoon bomb under the title of Toonz Boom. The windows were drumming with the vibrations of the music and faint flashes of colored lights were breaking through. Alucard paused uneasily and unconsciously raised a hand to one of his ears. His girlfriend was unaware of his growing discomfort as they approached the long line to the front door. She insisted they push in front of the line and he use his name to get in. She was shoving him not too subtly in his back. He gripped her shoulder and insisted they play by the rules. The line was moving at a steady pace and the longer he was away from the approaching deafness that he was going to endure the better. That, and his stepfather once lectured him hard about abusing position and this harlot had never seen his stepfather angry.

It was 45 minutes later and a lot of sighing and grousing from Chelsea when they got inside and Alucard had to use all the will he had to not clap his hands to the side of his ears and run out of there. A loud blast of a base drop before the electronic wail of the song began had hit them hard when they got inside. The place was mostly black and lit up by a combination of black lighting and colored LED rods along the sides and edges of the ceiling. From one side where the stage was a DJ was seated on a raised platform with spinning colored lights and spheres making the stage appear like one half of a space station. The not-Mickey was plastered in various poses on the walls surrounded by neon edging.

Chelsea dragged him to the dance floor before he had a chance to take in his surroundings and mentally prepare himself. The music pounded against his skull, but he bit his tongue to prevent any showing of that in his face. Alucard Dougal couldn’t show a hint of weakness even if it was something as minute as hyper sensitive hearing. His dancing was stiff but Chelsea seemed unaware. She kept sliding and twirling against his body in sensual motions even if she was quite out of rhythm. He wasn’t stupid. He was perfectly aware what she was suggesting and Alucard was not interested. She actually thought she would be different than the other times? Cute. He pushed her off slightly and she pouted in annoyance. Chelsea had not noticed it until now but his eyes seemed to unusually shine in the dim lighting. The peculiar fire orange coloring had always thrown her off a bit but now they appeared to physically light up like two small jack-o-lanterns. His pallid face and elongated limbs enhanced the spectral presentation. It was also her first inclination that he was not exactly there on the dancefloor. Though clearly annoyed, she suggested they go to the tables and order drinks and some snacks. For once she actually had a selfless idea, Alucard thought.
The music was noticeably quieter near the bar lounge as they ordered two drinks and a platter of beef and chicken sliders to share. Chelsea frowned noting that her boyfriend seemed to keep looking behind him while they were seated.

“Sorry. I feel like someone keeps staring at us. Frankly I don’t like it.”
“Well of COURSE people going to stare. You’re Alucard Dougal. How many times have people seen your handsome face on TV? You act like all the attention is awful or something. You’re one lucky guy. Now, forget about it and focus on what is in front of you.” Her hand had reached across the table and she jerked his chin in her direction. Alucard hissed under his breath but thankfully the drinks arrived before he said something crass. He had to admit the food was actually pretty good for what appeared as a cheap dance club and he did feel a little more relaxed after half downing a sweet and sour green apple with pineapple juice with a frozen cherry juice ice cube. Maybe he could make this work and actually have a little fun.

The music did not bother him as much now as he had gotten a little more used to it and he relaxed noticeably. Chelsea was enjoying the more fluidity of his movements and responded in turn. He seemed to slip into another personality as he teasingly graced his fingers though her hair and a slight spirited smirk. She was starting to go over in her head just how much she was going to brag to Brittney at school. Alucard was just getting into the atmosphere when he suddenly gripped his shirt above his heart and let out a sharp exhale of pain. It was a pain he was all too familiar with. It felt like someone drove two sharp needles into his heart; one glacier cold and the other hellishly burning. Followed by the proceeding sensory tugging in a specific direction. No matter how much he endured it on an almost regular basis, it was not a pain he ever got used to and this one really really hurt. Chelsea stared puzzled at him. No one ever mentioned this about the guy and it was weird. Alucard suggested she kept dancing while he was heading to the bathroom to splash water on his face.
Alucard glanced around while inside the lavatory and yelled a guttural howl. Any other day he would have welcomed the sensation, but he actually having a good time without needing some stupid monster to make him to vent out frustrations. The sensations were strong. It meant the beast was very close. If he had not been so distracted before no doubt his senses would have kicked in long before. His best guess was his Hunter Sense decided an extra big jolt was necessary to catch his attention. The bathroom was empty so he could do this without much interference. He reached over his right shoulder and hovered just above the scapula. A faint outline of a handle began to materialize near his fingers. As he grasped it, the spectral shape took more solidarity and a strange outline began to glow across his back. The outline formed the insectoid sword and as he drew it out it made an uncomfortable scluge noise as it slithered out from his skin. Alucard winced slightly; routine as the stinging responsiveness was.

He peeked out from behind the door and slid out into the darkened hallway. The presence was pulling him towards the back-away from the main stage where the patrons were gathered. It was just as well. It was annoying enough to have to wear an extra shirt everyday to keep the guys in the locker room from seeing a demonic bug sword tattooed on the back of a 17 year old. He pressed himself against the hallway just past the stage and towards the double doors of the kitchen. His ears picked up the sound of an unusual grumbling from beyond the doors. The tug was super strong here. He inhaled and readied himself to make this quick and fast so he could down the rest of that drink. Alucard pushed the door open and sure enough the staff had been pushed to the back of the kitchen where a creature was holding them hostage.

It was a monster that was unusual even for him. It was almost entirely spherical save for a pair of long rabbit like feet and small flappy stumps for forearms. Its flesh was a translucent bone color that stretched and squeaked as it waved back and forth on the heels of its feet. It had one of the staff members pinned to the ground and the whooshing intake noise indicated it was currently busy draining its victim. Alucard brushed back his hair from his face and whistled for the monster’s attention. The beast turned revealing its misshapen face. The creature’s eyes were wide and a solid back. It had no nose but a long grin that stretched from almost half its body. Red puffy lips protruded around the mouth and yellow humanoid teeth chattered together in its annoyance. A shock of green hair stuck out from the top and almost twitched and twisted as if alive on its own. Suddenly its arms and legs pressed almost perfectly flat against its body and it barreled towards him like a grotesque bowling ball. Alucard easily side stepped and its body squashed against the all like a mass of putty. The misshapen mass slid down the wall and reformed on the floor.

“That all you got, Jokeypuff?” Alucard lingered on himself. Jokeypuff? He never named the monsters he fought before. That pixie was rubbing off on him and it made him laugh. His demonic cackling appeared to annoy the beast and it lunged at Alucard’s neck. Alucard tried to twist out of the way but his elbow caught on one of the counters and he ducked left instead of right. Jokeypuff’s teeth snatched onto the lapel of his denim jacket and it began to twist and tug-throwing Alucard backwards for a moment. It swung itself to the other shoulder and it chomped hard where it landed. Alucard hissed out an indication of pain and rammed his shoulder into the counter to get it loose. Foam fizzled from the corners of the beast’s mouth but only briefly and it scrapped away Alucard’s blood like it was rotten milk. It rolled away out of the kitchen and towards the main stage taunting Alucard with cackling snorts and offensive gestures with its arms.
The monster was fast and Alucard was restricted in his movements. He had to sheath back his blade as he chased the beast into the open. Jokeypuff was scuttling along the ground and keeping its eyes on Alucard as if daring him to do something. If he was dressed in his Hunter garb he would be charging right at the creature no problem. As of right now-it wouldn’t do for the news that Alucard, boy genius, was also a monster hunter. He had to think a little smarter this time. The answer came when he saw the power box nearby. Alucard stretched out his hand and tiny wisps of lighting danced along the ground towards the wall. He focused the lighting like a disconnected limb as the sparks opened seeped through the keyhole and felt around for the Master Switch. One good tug and the entire stage was bathed in darkness.

There were shouts of confusion and anger and the rousing stumbling of feet. The pitch blackness was nothing to him. It took nary a second to see everything clearly in the darkness. He grinned and pulled out his sword once more. He wagged his finger tauntingly and tsked. Jokeypuff slapped its tongue against its teeth and bounced at him. Alucard ducked back early and caught the balled form of the beast with the palm of his left hand. He twisted himself forwards and slammed the creature like dunking a basketball. Jokeypuff balled up again and rolled along the edges of the stage with incredible speed and slammed against the back of Alucard’s right leg. Alucard jammed his sword into the ground to regain balance and used it to pole skid along the ground. He misjudged and slipped hard onto his face. The beast chattered at the opportunity and latched onto one of the other patrons. Its eyes and face lit up showing a horrifying visage at its victim. The patron screamed and Jokeypuff inhaled the yellow mist it was conjuring from the prey. The draining was quick and it latched onto another target. Alucard pushed up to his feet as the beast’s body began to stretch and bloat out as it drained a couple more panicked customers. Its spindly limbs squeaked as they lengthened and twisted into stronger, though lopsided, limbs. The monster was almost Alucard’s height now. It’s once high pitched cackle had deepened to a distorted chutter and it was clearly laughing at Alucard. A thick slimy ruby tongue rolled out and it was headed right for Chelsea.

Damn reputation. Both their parents would kill him if he came home with Chelsea in a comatose state. He slid between the beast and his date and trust the long edge of the sword against the gross appendage. With nary a breath he leapt at incredible speed and ran his blade alongside the full length of the tongue. A puffed-up arm caught him against the side of the head and flung the boy to the side slamming him hard into the DJ stand. Alucard bounced up and ran across the celling just as the engorged balloon had tried to squash him with the same bloated arm. The devil boy flicked out a few sharp wisps of dark flame at the speaker system above and went it crashing down on the beast’s arm. With its back turned towards him, Alucard pushed out from his positon and drove the blade to the hilt deep into the green mane. The creature screamed and howled as Alucard used the slight rest of his falling weight to pull the sword along its backside and effectively splitting it open like a watermelon. Black ooze gushed and spluttered from the wound as the creature wailed in its death throes nauseating deflating before finally lying on the floor in a heap of stretched flesh and fur. Someone yelled they finally found the power box and a loud thunk echoed as the light slowly hummed back to life. By then the ooze had fizzled to nothing and Alucard had returned back his sword.

That was when Chelsea saw him. And her first reaction was to slap him hard across the face.
“So you had a headache huh? Who’s the girl?” Maybe he was still recovering from the adrenaline rush because Alucard was not entirely processing her words.
“What are you talking about” he asked. Chelsea grabbed the collar of his jacket where the beast had bit him and pulled it down to reveal his neck. There was something resembling a hickey mark very clear on his porcelain skin. She also pointed at his hair that was clearly tussled. He was finally understanding what she was mad about and it annoyed him.

“It’s not what you think. I got assaulted when I left the bathroom.” It was not technically a lie.
“Oh I am so sure that is what happened. Just like I’ve seen you drifting eyes to that puny chestnut haired brat in the lunchroom. That new girl?” A slight anger at her slander of Pixie made his already sour mood worsen.
“You know what? I am getting really annoyed at your jealousy. And you barely listen to me. I’m paying the tab and I’m taking you home. We’re done here.”
“I’ll say you’ll pay. When I’m done, no girl will want to even want you as tutor. But I’m finishing my drink first. Go sulk in the car or something.”
Alucard paid for the food and Chelsea finessed an additional dessert out of him. He really should have let the beast drain her. It would not have taken it much effort to evoke her vanity to devour. He hadn’t gone straight to the car and instead leaned against the railing that overlooked the canal that cut across the street. He slammed his fists against the rail and hissed as the pain traveled up his wrists.
“Bad date, huh?” A girl was also leaning against the rail starting at the water below. She was a demure lady, not as small as Shelly but close. Her white blonde hair graced her thin shoulders and she was dressed in a simple skirt and sweater ensemble. She only now looked at him and her eyes went to the tear in his shoulder.

“That looks like it hurts. Did she do that to you?” The cold wind was whistling against the bite mark and it tingled slightly. He wasn’t sure why this girl was making him feel talkative.
“No. Some chick got me outside the bathroom, but she doesn’t believe that. What are you doing out here? Bad date too?” The girl turned her back to the water and turned a downward gaze to her boots.
“Don’t know anybody. I’m new in town. I heard this place was pretty cool but the music is too loud for me. I don’t do well in loud places. But the sky is actually kinda pretty out here. What you think?”
Alucard looked up. He hadn’t really bothered while out on the town as Hunter. The low light street lamps and the closed shops around really did make the sky surprisingly clear.
“Yea, it is. I’ve never really noticed.”
“I’m Maria, by the way. Maria Rochet.”
“Alucard Dougal.”
“Alucard? Really? Was your dad Bram Stoker?” she giggled. Alucard flashed a glare at her and Maria winced.
“Oh, yeah that was inappropriate. You must get those kinds of jokes a lot, huh.” Alucard muttered a yeah. Maria nodded in understanding and glanced back at the water.

“It seems your date is taking a while.”
“She’s doing it on purpose. As if that’s going to make me jealous and beg for mercy. What a dope.” They laughed and continued chatting for another half hour or at least tried to. Both of them avoided talking about themselves and answering any questions. Maria seemed to often drift off into talking about the stars with an excited enthusiasm and he let her. There was something he found honestly adorable about it. He would occasionally interject with a factoid, but she seemed to be aware of all of them and yet didn’t chastise him for it. Then Alucard heard the distinct wailing of Chelsea demanding to know where he was.
“You’d better go. Your date is waiting to go home.”
“A shame. It was actually nice talking to you. Maybe we can take it up another time.” He handed out one of the small cards he kept on him but Maria declined.
“I’ll meet you here. Maybe tomorrow around 10? Let’s just say my sisters aren’t…the most generous of caretakers.”
“I know what you mean. Okay, 10 then. I’ll make sure to be here.” Alucard left reluctantly and kept glancing back at the strange girl. She had been lying. She had been in the club. He was certain of it now. Maria had been the one who had been staring at them while they were eating. And she got his interest.

[Lovetheangelshadow]

Chapter 6: Chasing the White RabbitLynn was gallivanting down the stairs in her blue and green pajamas with her phone in one hand and scrolling back and forth of the same batch of texts. The name Chelsea was the sender and Lynn was grinning as she skimmed paragraph after paragraph of grievances from last night. A cold pleasing grin curled up her cheeks and she hummed in the future delight she was about to witness. Hoo boy did her stepbrother really blow it this time. Though his girlfriends hardly lasted at most a month most ended casually. He seemed to have a talent of breaking it off without much drama. She often hated that charismatic charm he could turn on and off at will. Heck, he had convinced her father to buy him a new car last year just after he got his license two days after his birthday. Lynn was lucky if she convinced her father to get her the latest dress in style. She was going to enjoy the moment she showed these to father. And then her dear oh-so-smart stepbrother was in for a world of a lecture. Maybe even a grounding to sweeten it.

A sweet smell reached her nostrils the moment she stepped into the small dining room used for the immediate family. Followed by the most peculiar sound of all: singing. Or at least a low humming kind of singing that she could only make out a few lyrics. It did not sound like any of the staff either. When she looked completely up from her phone she saw her stepbrother assisting the maid setting the table and serving himself a sizeable stack of pancakes. The shock to Lynn’s senses made her drop her phone. The device almost crashed to the ground only for Alucard to effortlessly catch it with his free hand and wordlessly hand it back to her before finishing his setting of the table. His stepsister was still standing there dumbstruck as if all reality had broken in the Dougal household.
First off her stepbrother was never up this early-not by choice. He was a lousy morning person and she sometimes thought he was in a half sleep state until the first school bell actually woke him up. Second he was completely dressed even if it was something as simple as jeans and an 80’s band shirt. Thirdly he had made a full breakfast when his usual meal was almost dry cereal or toast. And finally-he was singing. He was not a bad singer-but he was not good either.
“Mornin’ sis”, were the first words she spoke to her. Lynn slowly sat down still processing this scene before her. He hadn’t called her sis since they were eight.
“You’re in a chipper mood”, she replied uneasily. “Your date…went well?” Alucard’s face flushed slightly and he rubbed the back of his head with the spring point of the tongs he had been using to serve. Then he shrugged nonchalantly and seated himself.

“We didn’t click too well I’m afraid. Toonz Boom actually had pretty good food. Music a little too loud for my tastes, but you and…Reggie right? You and Reggie might like the place.” Lynn glowered her eyes as Alucard stuffed a big cut of pancake into his mouth. His casual response matched nothing that Chelsea had said. Her story was that she cheated on him by the restrooms while pretending to have a headache and he stiffed her on the food.
“You two did break up, didn’t you?”
“Not going to deny it.”
“You know father isn’t going to be happy about that.”
“Mmm hmm and he’ll probably have another chat about it. Your point?”
“Why do you seem so happy?”
“Aw, is sissy wissy mad about something?” If her stepbrother did not drop that smug stupid grin off his face in five seconds she was going to…
“Ooh pancakes! So that’s what the chef was babbling about this morning”, Desmond’s voice thundered into the room. Their parents were busy thanking Alucard seemingly unknowing that self-assured glare Alucard was passing his stepsister. Desmond looked over at his daughter rather confused at the cold glances between his children.
“Is there something either of you want to say?” Both children responded with a nope.
****

The Valdus Academy seemed to have an enteral grim aura in the darkness. The streetlights that surrounded it nary touched the stone walls as if the rays themselves were loath to touch it. Three figures hovered just above the fence and keeping to the shadows cast by the lamps as best as they could. Once above the roof the Coyote Crew lowered down and crawled along the graveled surface until they could slide down into the darkened side of the building and huddle near the door. Blaze ran her gloved hand along the sides near the door of the Administration Building until her fingers felt the cool surface of a metallic panel and the keyhole. She shone her penlight above the lock and flipped through a series of skeleton keys that crowed a massive keyring. As she flipped through looking for the right one, Star was leaning against the door and was constantly pulling up the edge of her glove to look at her watch. It was 8:15. Toonz Boom wasn’t too far away and she could easily shove her costume in her duffel bag that she had smuggled onto her hover board behind her sisters’ backs. It took five minutes for Blaze to find the right key and she unlocked the flat panel to reveal the burglar alarm. Captain hissed for Star to quit looking at her watch and have her disable the alarm. It was impossible to see behind the darkened visor of her mask, but Star was rolling her eyes hard. As she looked she saw that the alarm was surprisingly sophisticated for a school. She supposed that since Cadric City was a bit of a hotspot for unusual criminal activity though who in their right mind would break into a school?
“Don’t screw this up, Star. We have all the time in the world.” Star again glanced at her watch. 8:30. Sure. Sure they did.
****

Hunter and Jinn were bouncing their way through the suburbs of one of the fancier residential districts. Truth be told he had not sensed a single beast this night and he was hoping it would stay this way. Jinn noted that Hunter kept pushing back the large cuffs of his coat to look at his watch and that he was wearing an empty black knapsack under his cape. Strange was her first thought when she tracked him down tonight for their usual hunt. Hunter never cared about time before. In fact he was notorious about dragging it out on purpose until he got bored.
“Have a date tonight?” She quipped. Hunter smirked at her and playfully ran his taloned glove along the underside of her jaw.
“Jealous?” Jinn tapped one of the spikes hard on the back of his hand making him wince a little.
“As if. Seems quiet tonight. What do you say we split up and go home?” Hunter was about to consider it himself until a small crash down below caught their glances. Some guy chucked a rock at a liquor store and was pushing his way inside. Both of them shrugged and walked to the other side of the building. It wasn’t their problem. A loud rumble from the opposite street seemed more interesting. A peculiar gold object sped down the roads with three police cars in hot chase. The witch and devil glanced at each other as both of them were confused what they had just seen.

“You didn’t see a guy in a red and white bunny suit riding a gyro cycle that looked like a pocket watch too, did you?” Jinn asked her partner. Hunter hesitated and his eyes darted between the direction of the police sirens and the direction home. He cringed trying to make a decision. 8:45. It couldn’t hurt for them to take a quick peek.
Jinn’s staff was faster in the air even with Hunter gripped the back rung tightly and was dragged in the air like the tail of a kite. The gyro cycle had twisted and turned though the residential streets until exited out into the parking lot of what appeared to be a high school. The White Rabbit hopped down with an odd shaped bundle in his puffy arms. The bundle squirmed and Hunter heard loud and clear the cries of a small girl yelling for help. The White Rabbit squeezed tighter and snuffed out the noise to muffled gurgles.
The police cars had to screech to a halt in front of the school lawn but they were quickly exiting and on track. The rabbit was quick and had bounded superhumanly quick into the central arcade tunnel and vanished into the shadows.
“Well that is certainly the weirdest thing I’ve seen all week; and that is comparing to the living Jack-In-The-Box we had to deal with last week. But it looks like they’ve got it under control, eh Hunter. Hunter? Where did that devil go to…oh no.” She chanced to see a flash of Hunter’s insectoid cape disappear behind a roof’s edging.
****

The Coyote Crew walked inside once Star had felt satisfied that she had bypassed the alarm. She had to resign this was not a model she was entirely familiar with but she was not going to mention that to Captain. Her cheek still felt a little raw when she got home after her chat with that Alucard fellow. She smiled thinking about it. Such a strange looking boy and so dodgy. If he was whom she thought he was, things could work out just perfectly for her plans.
Blaze shuddered when they walked inside. She hadn’t been in school in over a decade and it felt creepy. In fact, the whole place felt icky like a ghost was going to come out at any moment. Captain hissed for her to not be so stupid and they had a job to do. Star’s penlight happened on a glass trophy case and a name and photo caught her attention. So, he went to this school did he? The Captain found the room marked Records and ordered for Blaze to get the lock open. Once inside they maneuvered to the back and towards the long rows of filing cabinets.
“You know what we’re looking for. Let’s get to it.”
“We could have saved us the trouble of just hiring some guy to hack into the school’s records”, Blaze fussed as she picked the lock open on the first set of C shelves.

“It’s not as fun though. Besides, I like to think he’s currently stewing in panic right now.”
“And when we do find him, what then? Stealing is one thing but this just feels…wrong.”
“Oh shut it! You hate him too. Now quit yapping and find that address. Star! Quit looking at the D files and help us over here.” Star hastily shoved a sheet of paper into the inner pocket of her tunic before helping her sisters. She was still trying to see the face of her watch in the search. 9:15. Maybe he’d forgive her a little if she arrived a little late. She could just say she was just helping her sisters. It was not a complete lie. Blaze announced that she got it and opened up the folder.

“Hey he looks pretty good after all this time even if the photo is kinda lousy”, Star commented. Captain snatched out the part where the address was filled out and grinned.
“He’s managed to elude me for ten years. I am going to make sure he does not slip away from me.”
“If I might ask, how”, Star piqued.
“I don’t know! I haven’t thought of it yet!” Her shriek echoed through the hall and it seemed to grow louder the further it traveled. There was a long silence before her cry was answered with a loud whoosh. The air itself seemed to groan and Blaze frantically shrieked it was a ghost and shoved past her sisters to get out. She had her hands on the door when flashes of red and blue lights pierced the window.
“Police! Put your hands up and come out slowly!” Captain shoved the address inside her coat and began to type a few commands into her gauntlet.
“I thought you disabled the alarms, Star”, she hissed. Star just snapped her mouth shut. She was smart enough to know when and when not to talk back to her sister.

Sierra held one hand on her gun and the other resting on the hood of her car. And here she was thinking it had been ridiculous with the mayor having these overcomplicated newfangled burglar alarms that would send a signal to the police when just one connection failed. Boy had it been a mess when they first rolled out and the dozens of false alarms they had to deal with. Still who and why the heck would anyone break into a high school?

Her question of who was the culprit was answered immediately when a loud whirring noise pulled up from behind her followed by a spitting hiss. A trio of drones had spat out a metallic claw and latched onto the back of her vehicle. The cable attached began to wind up and drag the metal mass unto the edge of the bumper and then flipped it over where Sierra had been standing. A close side roll kept the detective from having her leg crushed under the car though she bumped into one of her other officers and made them misfire in the air. In the distraction the Coyote Crew had leapt onto their hover boards and then began to take flight. Sierra snatched one of the claws of the retreating drones as it followed its captain. The orb buckled under Sierra’s weight and its motors screeched and groaned trying to keep aloft. One hard tug and the thing bounced down hard on the concrete. Sierra wheeled it up by its cable and spun it before chucking the projectile at the red coyote’s board.

Blaze yelled out for her sisters as the drone had smashed one of the engines and spent her hover board spiraling out of her control. Blaze hunched down on all fours and gripped the emergency handles trying to steady the thing. She shoved her weight to the side trying to course correct when the hole in the jet sputtered and caused the thing to twist from the alley and right towards the face of a building. She braced herself for the crash thinking this was the closing scene of her life when something grabbed her and jerked her up. Her hands were still on the hover board and instead of a direct impact the device scrapped up the sides of the brick wall and then twisted downward and bounced along the street like a dropped coin.

Blaze was still in the air and was not aware of the large arms holding her tight. A glimpse of silver wings fluttered in and out of her peripheral vision and everything clicked for her. Still holding on to her tightly the Silver Guardian turned and started carrying her to the cops below. He was wondering why Blaze wasn’t even trying to struggle to get free. She almost seemed…relieved?
“Behind you!” Blaze shouted when she happened to see the shadow of her sister’s hovercraft pass above her.
“Let go of Blaze you cur!” A claw released from her vehicle and grasped hard around Silver’s neck. His reflex actions made him release with one arm while still trying very hard to keep hold on Blaze. Star grabbed her hand and tossed a jumbling sphere in Silver’s face. The ball exposed and the guardian choked on the red powder. Captain was aware of Star’s actions and released just in time for Silver to let out a large sneeze and lurch forward. While still in a dazed state Captain fired several electric shocks at the stunned angel and he crumpled onto the hood of another police car-his massive form make a sickening slide on the metal before collapsing on the tar. Captain yelled for them to move and left to escape.

A couple more thunderous sneezes occurred as Sierra helped Silver to his feet and rubbed some of the red powder from his face with her coat sleeve. A quiet thanks and Silver took to the air after them. The trio had not gotten far. Star’s hover board was slowing down carrying both her and Blaze and Captain had forced herself to fly slower just in case the cops or the Silver Guardian got too close. He and the police had closed the gap sooner than she expected. She yelled that they had made a big mistake twisted the cuff on her gauntlet to the halfway mark this time. Silver heard that peculiar beeping drone in his ear again. Then the buildings started to twist and bulge around and under him. He wasn’t even sure what was happening as he tried to dodge a rising hill of sidewalk that had come up to smack him in the face. Below him the cars were careening and colliding before finally stopping. The police were staggering out of their vehicles and a couple were trying hard to not vomit. Silver flapped and floundered to the roof of the building to get his bearings. The further away the trio was from him the less the effect was on him. The floor finally stopped moving as they were almost half a mile away from him now. So there seems to be a limited range to whatever the heck they did. Looks like you’re going to have to think a little more ranged. Silver chuckled while frowning how the voice somehow sounded exactly like Splinterbark in his head. He gripped his pistols and took back to the pursuit.

[Lovetheangelshadow]

Chapter 7: The Coyote and the HareThe White Rabbit held his captive tightly as he moved to the center of the quad and pressed deeper into the dark labyrinth of the school buildings. He saw the building marked GYM and the door heavily chained shut. The rabbit pulled up a pant leg to reveal a slick mechanical appendage. The chains smashed from one swift kick and barely made a sound in doing so. He closed the door and he felt his way towards the opposite side deeper into the shadows. There was very little light save for the row of transoms on the long edges of the building. So far it was all quiet. The police footsteps were going more silent and he was soon satisfied he could escape. The girl in his arm struggled and sobbed begging though her muffled gags to be set free. White Rabbit patted her head like she was some kind of abandoned puppy.
"
Now don’t you worry, my dear. Your mother is not going to take you away from me again. I spent two years to find you and I will not lose you again. Not even the devil will separate us.”
“Then why don’t you ask the devil for his opinion?” Hunter’s cold dark growl echoed inside the room. Both the rabbit and girl huddled together joined by the sudden grip of terror that came upon them. A pair of unemotional purple eyes lit in the room and steadily slid toward them. The closer they came, a strange purple haze began to outline a tall gangly figure. The horns were first to become visible, followed twisted claws, and finally long dragonfly wings that flapped in steady but silent rhythmic fashion. The figure raised over its shoulder and drew out a long twisted blade and began to drag the tip on the ground as it came ever closer.

“What…what are you? No one said anything about a demon in Cadric City. Only some second class angel.” The demon’s mouth open in a cocky grin reveling long vampire fangs with purple smoke dripping from his thin lips. He cackled and the room was flooded with his mirthful noise.
“You should be happy it is not the angel you’ve crossed. Now I am in a bit of a hurry so let’s make this quick, hmm?”
The White Rabbit shot two bullets at Hunter but the devil had managed to melt back into the shadows. Then suddenly the devil bug appeared right at his side and the White Rabbit yelled out as claws raked across his upper arm forcing him to let go of the girl. He roared out in anger as he saw his daughter melt into the blackness. He felt behind him and found the light switch. Hunter yelped as the room was suddenly flooded with the florescent lighting. The sudden change of illumination made him temporarily go blind and he covered his visor with one hand and lost his hold on the girl. Then the sound of a metallic click struck his hearing as the hammer of the White Rabbit’s firearm dropped down.

“If I can’t have her! No one will!” Time seemed to slow down to almost a crawl as the gun fired and Hunter saw the flash of the bullet. He tried to pull the girl away, but was too late. The bullet stuck the girl in the side. Hunter’s body slammed against the hardwood floor as he grabbed the girl before she hit the ground. The wound was a notable tear against her oblique and she was bleeding out. Hunter was desperately trying to stop the wound with his hand but the blood was seeping through the ringlets of his battle claws.
Then his hands dropped to his sides and he slowly stood up. The faint haze that had surrounded him before began to churn and swirl into angry black fire.
“That…was very stupid on your part.”

“Oh no, it was yours.” Hunter had not bothered to notice any real detail of the kidnapper when he had decided to interfere. Only the top half was flesh. His rabbit costume reached only to just below his waist and was adorned with a tweed red coat. The most notable thing of all though were the pair of cybernetic legs that had been tailored very acute to a jackrabbits.

Hunter didn’t care who or what he was facing. He wanted this guy to hurt and hurt plenty. Ebony flames erupted from his palms with full intention of burning the guy to ash. White Rabbit was faster than Hunter had judged and sprung vertically upwards just out of the slice of flame. The embers exploded on contact with the wall leaving a sizable scorch mark in its wake. The rabbit’s legs curled back and slammed against behind the upper part of the wall and propelled him across the room over Hunter’s head. Hunter threw repeated volleys trying to bring the cottontail down. White Rabbit swung from rafter to rafter completely dodging the sloppy assaults of the devil. He landed beside the girl and was reaching for her when Hunter slammed his body hard against him and the two tumbled until the stands. Hunter was the first to recover and he pinned the bunny between the gaps in the bleachers. The glow in Hunter’s eyes shone brilliantly even though the visor of his helmet as he placed his ungloved hand on White Rabbit’s neck. As his bare fingers dug into the White Rabbit’s neck a sickening muddish swirl began to form about his victim’s body as Hunter proceeded to drain him. This was not slow and careful as he had done with Splinterbark. This was ravenous and malicious. As Hunter began to inhale he made sure this creep felt every sting and sense of agony as Hunter began to devour all his negative emotions. The rabbit face started to become a bit sallow as Hunter’s own muscles began to press against his coat with the raw power they were consuming. Then a spike slapped him hard on the back of his hand-breaking his focus. Jinn was glaring at him and slowly shaking her head. In her arms was the girl now asleep and the color had returned to her face. Hunter chanced to see it was the green orb in Jinn’s staff.

Hunter pulled himself out of the benches and left the White Rabbit there-his own hands shaking as he struggled to put his gauntlet back on. The rabbit was still alive and conscious though his face now matched his hood in color and a slight line of drool was hanging from his lips. The police marched inside the gym and held their guns at all three commanding them to raise their hands. Jinn was a little astounded to see Hunter comply.
“My partner and I are not part of this. But this girl needs help. Someone needs to call an ambulance”, Jinn called out to them. What appeared to be the leader at least seemed to have some sense and yelled for the one in the back to radio for one immediately. Then they commended for the two to bring the girl over slowly with their hands still raised. The two complied silently as the two groups walked closer together uneasy of what the other was going to do. Finally the captain told someone to take the girl while she booked these two for violation of the Zero Tolerance rule. The other policeman had the girl in their arms but the two didn’t even get bracelets on them because there was an unholy scream from the seats.
The benches were shuffling and rumbling and then sounds of metal were screeching as they started to bend outwards. The room echoed with loud pops and cracks. A hand raised up to their viewpoint and before their eyes twisting into a bizarre shape as black ooze dripped from the pores. A vial dropped from the fingers and rolled towards Hunter’s feet. He picked it up and sniffed the insides and then a sharp hot-cold pain grasped his chest tightly.
“Run”, he finally managed to gasp.

“What did you say”, both Jinn and the captain asked him. Jinn saw Hunter’s face was awash with panic and if he was afraid-that was not good news.
“We have to run! Now!” He shoved the captain and the other officers towards the door while still looking behind him.
The White Rabbit had dragged himself out of the bleachers; his form twitching and spasming out with each new change. His costume was barely in tatters as the secretion formed into large puffs of fur about his chest and arms. As he dragged himself across the floor still in throes of agony and rage his metallic legs were peeling apart and recombining into grimmer twisted echoes to match the new body. Spines burst from his neck before furling out into a lizard like frill. The last thing Hunter saw was the White Rabbit’s eyes begin to shift and budge out while his ears continued to lengthen.
They were outside the building and into the quad when the doors exploded as the White Rabbit shoved his new physique through the smaller entrance. His face had been morphed into a narrow faced hare and the ears were long and coated in spines much like his forearms. He screamed a shrill “SKRRRREEEEEEEEE” before leaping over them and bounding towards the commercial streets completely ignoring the police. The terror of a bulky rabbit monster was a big enough distraction for Hunter and Jinn to slip away.

Jinn was trying to follow the rabbit as best as she could with Hunter clinging to the back of the ring. Their speed had been slowed thanks to her partner’s new current weight.
“Can’t you fly any faster”, Hunter yapped.
“I would have if a certain horned moron hadn’t helped himself to a bad mojo protein shake”, was her snappy response.
“Well I could vomit it up right here and now”, he joked.
“Don’t be so gross!” Jinn snapped. She knew it had been a mistake to letting him use his draining ability on Splinterbark. He had a renewed taste after spending months of nights to ween him off of the habit. She then heard an uneasy gurgle from Hunter’s stomach. Well at least he was currently suffering some consequences. He let her go and managed to roll his landing and still keep going. His currently enhanced strength allowed him to jump greater distances than before and without the dead weight of her partner Jinn could keep up with him.
****

It took a few attempts but the Silver Guardian managed to gage the rough range of whatever effect the Captain was using against him. He had a plan. There was a risk but they had to be stopped. Hopefully his guns had enough range. He raised both of them and aimed exactly at the two engines keeping Captain in the sky. Only one shot hit its target. One struck right through the left engine but the other hit her against the side of her thigh. Even with the injury, the Captain was in a lot more control than Silver thought. The drones caught her and the remaining ones she ordered to swarm around the angel. They were trying not to strike him down but rather keep him from moving forward. The moment he swapped one away another got back in his face.
Down below the police cars had followed from the ground. The driver of the car in the lead asked Sierra what they should do.
“We back Silver up. What else do we do, ya dumbass?” Sierra grabbed the radio mike and ordered for two cars to keep on the trail of the Coyote crew while she and the other car blasted the bots holding the Silver Guardian. Once they pulled over Sierra told them they had to specifically aim for the drones.
“The Chief isn’t going to like this or Mr. Foxwell”, her companion remarked.
“And they can both kiss my large ass. Now get firing!”

Silver was caught off guard when he saw a laser blast though one of the drones who had latched onto his face. Then another one that had been tugging on his wings exploded. Down below Sierra was commanding them where to aim while she herself had a notably larger blaster. With fewer bots to deal with he could take care of most of them on his own. He floated down as he dusted off the scraps from his coat.
“I appreciate the help. At least someone appreciates my work here.” Sierra slapped him on the back and cackled.
“Oh don’t flatter yourself, sweetie. But let’s focus on the bigger problem at hand.”
“Right. Whatever weird device they’re using to throw me off balance has a range of 3 yards. We’re going to have to think from a ranged perspective.” Silver inhaled a bit sharply realizing he said ‘we’ without even thinking about it. Damn it, he was supposed to be able to do this on his own.

“Got it. And I think I have an idea.”
Captain hissed with the blood dripping from her leg as she was carried uncomfortably by her drones. Blaze mocked that the Silver Guardian was starting to figure out Captain’s little trick and one of the ears in her mask got shot off. The Captain had one more little trick to escape but she needed the right spot. The familiar swift flapping of wings could just be heard over the whining of her drone’s engines. And down below were the growing increase of sirens from the police cars. She was aware of the two that had been trailing them so far but now the other two had joined them. They were lucky no helicopter had been after them yet. The guardian angel had something in his arms but he was too far away for her to see what. Then a claw grabbed her by her good leg and then two more latched on to Blaze and Star’s waists. She saw the design of the contraption as she was being reeled backwards. These claws and cables were from HER drones! That jerk was using her drones! She could turn up the vertigo device all the way up, but Fixer told her it was extremely dangerous and should only be used in the most absolute emergency. Plus if she did the thing would overload and he would not be building her a new one. Star and Blaze were gripping to the hover board the best they could and the engines were straining to release. Blaze turned up her firearm and regretfully shot a blast directly at Silver. He cringed and twisted slightly but still held firm.

Then there was a crash below. Brick and concrete flung out in an erratic spray and Silver had to let go of one of the cables to cover his eyes. It was a 9 foot rabbit monster with a giant frill and spines. Everyone was stunned at the appearance of this creature. Suddenly it turned its eyes to Star and wailed, “MIIIINNNEEE!” The White Rabbit scrambled up the building using its massive claws and spikes to assist the ascension. In one bound it snatched Star in its paws and knocked Blaze aside. Blaze twisted a bit in the air but managed to steady the craft. Blaze fired her blaster at the monster but the electricity just rippled off the White Rabbit’s flesh without it even noticing it shot her. Blaze did not see Captain in her sights either.
Silver had dropped the cables and headed off towards the beast. He managed to grab the thing by the ears and jerk it backwards onto its side. But when he let go he grasped his right wrist in pain. Several holes where the barbs had struck had cut into his flesh. Obviously this thing was capable of hurting him and it had a hostage. White Rabbit hissed and held Star close to its chest. Silver hovered his hand over his gun. He could shoot the thing right in the head but he’d have to be quick about before it tried running away again.
“Silver wait!” Jinn and Hunter had managed to catch up to him though completely out of breath.
“That rabbit…is…human”, Jinn gasped.
“That rabbit is what? You sure?”

“Dude, we just saw him drink a vail of ooze and morph into that overgrown pet. And since you’re a ‘good guy’ I’m sure you want to be the hero and cure the beast”, Hunter spat. Silver did not like the mocking tone of his voice, but he didn’t have time to feel insulted. It had been almost a month since he had last done that purifying spell and he really didn’t feel very calm at the moment.
“We need to get that thing to hold still and get Star away from that thing.” And just how the heck was he going to do that? It could be so much easier just to shoot him. As if the divine heard his thoughts when a small but very familiar voice came from behind them.
“Leave that to me.”

Splinterbark held out her hook staff and smacked several blocks of wood towards the feet around White Rabbit. The blocks began to pop and clatter on the ground. The beast was confused and curious by the action and snatched one of the blocks with his free hand trying to process this mysterious crackling wood.
“I’m only going to say this once because that won’t distract him for long.”
“Wait, what are you doing here Splinterbark?” Silver Guardian demanded.
“We don’t have time for that Silver”, she snapped.
“What can I do to help”, questioned Blaze. She had come up to them on the last intact hover board and everyone seemed stunned she was even here.
“I don’t care what happens to me after this, but I have to save my sister. If I can help, please tell me.” Splinterbark rapped the brunt of her staff twice and nodded.

“Okay I have an idea Miss…”
“Blaze. Splinterbark-though I doubt you’ll remember it. Okay focus. Blaze you use that blaster to keep the White Rabbit corralled to this roof. Silver, Hunter…” Splinterbark paused for a moment. Did Hunter seem…bigger somehow? No, focus on the task at hand.
“Hunter, Silver, keep it distracted. Jinn I need you with me. At my signal I need you to grab the girl with one of those protection orb things. We got it? Let’s go!”

The White Rabbit began to turn as it saw three people approaching him from different directions. He tried to jump away with his prize but a bolt of energy forced it to twist back in the air and curl backwards on the roof. Once on the ground Hunter attempted to swipe at the bunny’s shoulder while Silver tried to grapple him from behind. The beast ducked and Hunter’s talons lashed through one of Silver’s shoulder plates; the same moment Silver had gripped one of Hunter’s horns. The angel’s sudden jerk snapped the devil’s horn in two and the both fell onto each other as they hit the pavement. The monster attempted to bounce away and was only halted by the combination of Blaze shooting her blaster in a line before it and Jinn summoning a concaved shield to block it.
“What the hell just happened?” Silver snarled. Hunter snatched the broken horn from Silver and shoved it onto his belt.
“Well rabbits do technically have nearly 360 degree vision. And…you are pretty slow.”
“Well then, let’s make it 180!” Silver grabbed a fistful of smaller feathers from his wings and flew just past White Rabbit. The rabbit seemed to make a move to dodge what it expected to be a fist and Silver tossed the feathers about the beast’s head. A light flap of his wings caused a large portion of the feathery dust to cling to the monster’s bulbous eyes and it screeched at the loss of sight in one eye. Hunter gave a small praise for Silver’s idea and ripped another fluffy handful from Silver’s other wing and shoved it hard into the other rabbit’s eye. Blinded the White Rabbit rose both fists and his arms began to raise up from his chest and lessen his grip from Star.

Splinterbark rolled underneath the creature and shoved the handle part of her staff between Star and White Rabbit’s forearm and used it to pry it loose even further. She yelled for Jinn. Jinn had jabbed her staff in the air and a large purple bubble shot out from one of the spiked tips. The bubble slid itself around Star until it completely cocooned her. One hard tug and Star was wrenched free and flung slightly a little hard across the roof. The bobble had protected her from the ensuing hard bouncing but she had almost fallen off where they were stood. With Star free there was nothing holding the two men who were holding the rabbit by his arms at this point. Hunter struck the rabbit’s left jaw hard nearly breaking his neck in the process. Silver finished with a knuckle drive on the top of the head and the rabbit slammed hard enough into the cement to cause a dent. It wheezed and groaned, but he was alive. Unconscious-but alive.
Blaze gripped her sister hard and was sobbing.

“Star, are you alright? It didn’t hurt you? Let me see your face and arms.”
“A little scratched up, but I’m fine, really. You can let go, Blaze.” Blaze was repeating how thankful her sister was safe and was just happy she was alright. She then stood up and faced Splinterbark and Jinn directly. She held out her wrists indicating her intentions much to Star’s surprise.
Hunter rubbed his knuckles as he held the White Rabbit’s neck under his boot and flexed a bicep.
“Huh, punching something directly actually felt rather good. No wonder it’s your preferred method.” He then nudged Silver in the side reminding him of a certain special something he was supposed to do. The angel wasn’t going to admit he had almost forgotten. He held his pistol at the beast and took several deep slow breaths. He was trying to calm himself and think of only positive thoughts though Hunter standing not four feet from him was not helping. A white haze began to surround his firearm as the spell began to charge. The Silver Guardian was already exhausted and he could feel his own energy start to sap out. He had forgotten how much this purifying spell drained his strength. Try not to think about that now, that odd voice in his head whispered. He was about to pull the trigger when a loud piercing screech erupted in his ears.

Suddenly the ground began to twist and turn and he feel to his feet trying to keep steady. The gun in his hand still glowed with the charged shot. He tried to guess his aim at what he was sure was the rabbit and fired. There was a yell that followed but he was not sure where. Hunter was already nauseous from before, but this sensation made everything worse. His gut had already been cramping and twisting from the negative emotional energy he had initially drained from the White Rabbit, and now his body had enough. He proceeded to vomit a sizeable mass of black ooze and his form began to deflate back to his original size. Apparently it also was not done punishing him because he continued to retch the remaining contents of his stomach making his throat burn. His ears screamed with agony and it felt like a hundred hands were gripping and clawing at his head. It was made even worse when he felt something white hit streak across his back. It sent a ripple of shocking pain thought his body and he twisted and writhed trying to not scream just how much this hurt.
Jinn weaved and bobbed with the noise that rung in her head. She pointed her hand at her own face and drew a symbol in the air around her head. A faint outline of a decahedron surrounded her head and the woozy feeling ceased. She could see everyone weaving and staggering as if they were trying to keep balance on water balloons. Blaze and Star were on the opposite side of the roof and had gathered around the unconscious rabbit. A series of drones had wrapped their coils around its limp body and were carrying it off. The Captain had been directing the drones and was riding on top of a cluster of them. Blaze and Star were following right behind her. She was about to hop onto her staff when she saw Hunter on the ground thrashing in agony and scratching at his helmet trying to get it off. She had never cast Head Cage on more than one person at a time, but it wasn’t like she had much choice. Hunter and Silver were the only ones who could vanquish the rabbit-dead or alive. Jinn moved to a rough center between the two and jammed her staff hard into the concrete. She squeezed her eyes tightly and concentrated what little magic she possessed into the staff. The orb in the top rung began to hum and spark weakly with magic. Her body shuddered slightly and she was trying to not buckle under the strain. Her power was not enough for both of them. She had to choose one. She knew it she was basically signing a death warrant but she let go of the staff with one hand and traced the symbol over Hunter’s head. His body twitched slightly and he let out a disgusting belch, but he did manage to stand to his feet. Hunter’s face was paler than before and it was clear he was not his full self and she hoped she had not made the wrong decision. Hunter nodded silently at her and then bounded after them with sword drawn.

The Captain looked behind her to see the devil in close pursuit of them. And just behind the others were getting to their feet now that they were getting out of range of the device. She sneered but was not worried. While everyone else had done the hard work for her-she had prepared a little surprise. Captain tapped a button on her tunic and down below a storefront exploded.
A scream from Splinterbark caught Hunter’s attention. He had turned to see her pull the Silver Guardian down to the ground and run straight towards the inferno. He was trying to understand why until he happened to see the name of the store though the growing flames: Holmes. His body suddenly ceased the chase and before he knew it he was running back towards Splinterbark. He grabbed her from behind and was dragging her back while she kicked and screamed.
“NO! Let me go! Dad’s in there! Let me go, Silver! Let me go!” She was in such a panic she was not even aware who was trying to keep her back. She was squirming so much his talons were unintentionally jabbing her in the underarms and the sides of her chest. Thankfully both he and Jinn saw a flash of silver and white plunge into the inferno. Sierra yelled for someone to radio the fire department and the other two try to race the Coyote Crew down. She also noted that the wooden structure of the building was starting to crack and split threating to explode and it was not because of the fire. She skidded on front of the two and put
her hands on Splinterbark’s shoulder.

“You have to calm down! That building is going to explode if you don’t stop!”
“She’s right! Silver Guardian went inside! It’s going to be okay, pixie!” Hunter yelled. Splinterbark was still struggling and kicking as if she had heard nothing. Despite him still feeling sick from whatever he had devoured from the White Rabbit he didn’t think he had much other choice. It took a little more concentration but he managed to cause a small yellow mist to form about Splinterbark. He had extracted only a little when Jinn yelled for him to stop. Her face was cold and angry like a disappointed mother.

“You’ve had enough”, she snarled. Splinterbark’s squirming form had lessoned though and she hiccupped and sniveled. She was staring at the ground now. She wasn’t sure how it happened but it felt like something just pulled her anxiety right out of her soul. It felt rather creepy and a little invasive, but she didn’t know why. Frix had been watching. Strange, he thought since he knew for certain what Hunter was. The building stopped huffing and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Silver shoved his way through the front room of the building. The sprinklers had gone off but it was not entirely enough to keep the flames from the display window from seeping in.
“Mr. Holmes!? Is anyone here?!” He heard coughing from behind the counter. Arthur was staggering out from the back room and while soaked from the sprinklers, he appeared unharmed.
“I was all the way in the back. What’s going on?”
“Long story short, three crazy dogs blew up your store front as a distraction. I can get you out. Just stay close!” Arthur kept to Silver’s cupped wing until they had gotten to the front window. The fire had managed to eat its way halfway through half of the room by now. Silver ordered for Arthur to keep near to his body and he grabbed the man before running right into the flames. He curled his wings about him like a shield until they were finally out into the open air. Upon seeing them, Splinterbark almost ran up to give him a big hug; but Frix tugged her on the collar of her jacket and reminded her that her father was not supposed to know.

The four, five if you counted Frix, scattered in opposite directions. Jinn had never seen Hunter so eager to leave and he had vanished while her back had been turned when looking at the arriving firemen down below. She tried to hide her worry. Even with the Head Cage spell, she noted that his balance was still staggering like a lightweight who had his first booze. She had never seen him that sick before-then again as long as she knew him he had never drained anyone that much before. It made her shudder what sick thoughts and emotions he had taken from the White Rabbit.
Silver guided Splinterbark to her bike where it had been hidden in an alley. Again he pressed her why she was out here. Her face was red and a little puffy from the crying and screaming and though hiccups she simply said she had a bad feeling. Silver felt that was not the whole story. Even back up on the rooftop she seemed troubled. Something had scared her before she arrived. However Splinterbark was deliberately avoiding his questions and said she was tired and was going home. He offered to at least escort her home and she snapped back she was fine and unlike him she did not need his help. Silver was fully aware of that jab and impatience began to mix with his concern. He spat out a fine and took to the air. He kept aloft for a bit and watched her bike away. He did make sure she got home safe before a small spasm reminded him he better hurry home himself.

[Lovetheangelshadow]

Chapter 8: Know What It’s LikeAlucard had run, leapt, glided, and bounced as fast as he could across town. He bounded from rooftop to rooftop, latched on to passing busses that were still running at this late hour, and scampered though alleys. All the while he was shoving most of his costume into his knapsack. Alucard had glanced at his watch several times and panicked as the minutes ticked past 10:30. It also didn’t help his stomach was still trying to recover from the recent heaving experience and his head was still slightly spinning. Jinn’s spell had only ebbed pain. Jinn could have done something for his present malady, but he had no time. When he had finally reached the front bridge he was panting and wheezing to near collapse. Toonz Boom had closed almost an hour ago and the street was dead quiet. The large illuminated dial above the club’s logo said 11:15. He was too late. Alucard collapsed on one of the benches and threw his head back with his palms pressing hard against the sides trying to quell the rising headache and not scream in frustration.

Then he heard it. He heard footsteps coming from down the street. At first he had thought it might be one of those midnight joggers or maybe a burglar. He could care less which though he might be tempted to take his now stewing anger out on the robber. As they came closer they were light and airy and Maria came into the spotlight. She was also gasping for breath and wiping the sweat from her brow when she got to the front of the club. In her hand was a stuffed duffel bag. She looked around and not seeing Alucard fell to her knees in defeated deflation. Alucard approached her in an exhausted fashion and placed his hand on her shoulder. Her eyes light up when she saw him and her tired haggard appearance brightened. What he hadn’t expected when he got her to her feet was for her to hug him and squeeze tightly. He thought he heard her cry a little too.

The two just walked together down the street along the river and were pretty much silent. The only thing really said was Maria shoving a pack of breath mints in Alucard’s face and remarked a little sharply that his breath reeked. He honestly laughed at the slight. He deserved that. It was almost midnight when they reached one of the other canal bridges where they had a nearly perfect view of the sky above and the river below.
“Thank you”, Maria finally muttered.
“For what?”
“For…not talking.” Alucard was unsure if he should be flattered or insulted, but let out a loud cackling laugh nonetheless. Maria took a few paces back because this was something she hadn’t expected from him. When she asked what was so funny, his response was a curt ‘private joke’ before reeling it back in with a few hard breaths. A nearby clock struck midnight.
“Midnight. I’d better get home. Mom will kill me if she finds me gone. And stepdad would turn me into a pumpkin-at least that’s what my stepsister keeps telling me.”

“Sounds like a lovely family”, Maria cooed sarcastically.
“Yeah…sure.”
“I know my sisters will kill me if they find out.”
“Your sisters? What about your parents?” Maria suddenly started quaking and her hands were gripping the railing hard.
“I hate them. They only loved me for what we could give them. We had to always be perfect. But then…we messed up. We made a big mistake. It wasn’t entirely Jessie’s fault! Simon…Simon ruined everything! Because of him we lost everything we built. Our parents just washed their hands of us! If they stayed we could have fixed it! And everything could have been happily ever after just like on tv!”
“That’s a dumb thing to wish for.” She then turned and glared at him, her eyes starting to turn red and puffy from welling tears.

“But you wouldn’t know anything about that would you? Everything must be perfect for you, Alucard Dougal! Yes, I looked you up. Perfect grades, excellent stats in baseball, and son of one of the wealthiest people in Cadric City! You wouldn’t know anything about struggle! You wouldn’t know anything about being under pressure. So don’t lecture me on what’s good for me!” She screamed and cried and pounded Alucard’s chest while he just stood there blankly. It was not the first time a girl was angry at him though it was usually after he broke up with them after being bored or frustrated with them. But usually all it took was a smile and a few soothing words, and occasionally a little bribery, to get them off his neck. Maria finally ceased with her arms dropping to her sides and her face buried in his torso. Alucard glanced back into his backpack. Sure, he couldn’t possibly know what she felt. He pulled her away and said they should both go home. Maria agreed and rejected the offer of being escorted even before Alucard even offered it. She did apologize for her outburst. It had been a very long week, but it was going to be all better soon. Things were going to be really good and she flashed a tired smile.
****

Shelly was trying to keep up with the Silver Guardian, Hunter, and Jinn as she ran down the street. She kept yelling for him to slow down and her Splinterbark costume felt hot and heavy. They only glanced back at her with an annoyed look and deliberately flew away faster until she was finally left behind in the shadows. Shelly collapsed to her knees and started sobbing. They left her behind. After everything she had done for them they turned their backs to her and left her all alone.
“They think you’re worthless, but you have my attention. Your desire for greatness, your craving for battle, your angry soul. It’s like honey to me”, a cold, dripping male voice echoed behind her. Shelly looked behind her and demanded to know who was talking. She could just barely make a figure out in the darkness. Wide thin eyes and a torn crooked mouth glowed with hues of reds, purples, and blues. A pair of black oozy hands emerged from the shadows and began to cup themselves around her.

“Your shadows call to me. You’ve already taken the first step, Shelly. Accept me”, it spoke again but this time in the voice of a woman. The hands dripped their mass upon the girl and the ooze began to grow across her skin. Shelly tried frantically to pull it loose but it spread faster and faster until she was almost cocooned before finally drowning into the shadows.
Shelly woke up with a start. She pulled back the sleeves of her pajamas to check her skin. She was relieved it was still that very faint tan skin tone and not a spot of black slime. Frix groaned from his pillow and mumbled what the heck she was yelling about. Shelly muttered it was just a bad dream. However as she described it, she noted through blurry eyes that Frix seemed to shrink under the bed covers of the small bed she had made for him from an old Easter basket. What could talking about some weird blob monster terrify him for? She informed him she was going to make them some hot chocolate before going back to sleep.
Shelly was surprised to find the kitchen light on. Her mother sitting at the dining room table with a large pot of coffee before her and the pot was almost completely empty. She was dressed in her nightgown and tapping the locked screen of her phone in concern.
“Shelly? What are you doing up?”
“Bad dream. What are you doing up?”

“Your father. I love that man but god sometimes his mind has the strangest tangents sometimes. He just HAD to go to his workshop because he got an idea for the catalog and it could not wait until morning. How does Sam put up with him?” Vivian groaned. She then resumed to tap her phone again.
“It’s weird. He should have been home an hour ago and he’s not answering his phone. I bet he can’t hear it….again.” Shelly went back upstairs after a gulp of cold water. Frix demanded to know where his cocoa was. Shelly ignored him and pulled out her Splinterbark costume. It was wrinkled and smelled a bit of hardwood, but she had no time to straighten it out. She had a feeling something was wrong or at least a premonition something was going to happen. Frix thought she was overreacting but was dragged out of bed with no voice in the matter.
When she had arrived in front of the store she saw the police gather on the street. Just then a monster rabbit revealed itself underneath the streetlamps before kidnapping the blue coyote girl and Silver and Hunter chasing after her onto the roof. At least there were cop cars in front of the store. Shelly could take a bit to run behind the cops and up that fire escape.
****

She knew the Silver Guardian had followed her home. Frix suggested that she should give him an earful when she saw him at school the next day. Shelly thought it was sweet. She also had a feeling there was something Frix wanted to tell her. When they saw the rabbit-her partner again muttered that word Oozling. He even seemed warily cautious of Hunter. She was too exhausted to think of it now. As she flopped onto the bed, her last thought before she fell asleep was where she could get one of those personal flying devices the Coyotes had.
Baa na na na naaaaaa Baaaa na nan naaaaaa Shelly mumbled and grumbled into her pillow for her alarm to shut up and let her sleep. With her face still buried in her pillow she felt around and thought she had tapped the head of the cartoonish caricature of Songbird but instead squashed the head of Frix instead. Both winced in hurt as a sharp pain slapped the tops of their heads. It was enough to at least wake up and turn off the actual alarm. Her parents were in the kitchen and there was already breakfast on the table. Her father had a large bandage on his cheek and his arms were wrapped up in gauze. His hair was slightly singed in the ends but aside from that he appeared to be his usual morning bird self. The television was on with a report standing in front of the Holmes Housing store roped off by police tape.

“And while the police continue to investigate these seemingly unrelated events caused by the Coyote Crew we must continue to question the Silver Guardian’s continuing streak of failures to protect this city…” Arthur shut off the tv and stuck out his tongue.
“Continuing streak of failures to protect this city”, he repeated in a childish mocking tone. “Bah, I’d like to see one of them put on some tights and tangle psychos with laser guns.” Vivian just hummed.

“This isn’t good, Arthur. I don’t know how much our insurance is going to cover the damage to the store.”
“Hey, I’ll work with that I’ve got. Holmes Housing! Now with Battle Damage!” he announced and it made Vivian groan at the terrible pun. Shelly stifled her giggle. She could always count on her father to think optimistically.
At school Shelly was forcing herself a big smile. As she entered the building she heard some shouting from down the hall to homeroom. She could just see Alucard and that rude blonde girl having a one sided shouting match. Chelsea was standing on her tip toes and wagged a finger in his face.
“Listen up and listen carefully”, she began her threat. “I’ve been thinking hard over the weekend and I will not be thrown over like the rest of the girls. I told you I’ll make you pay and trust me I have ways of making your life hell.” Alucard rubbed the spot where she had struck him more annoyed than hurt. A slow dark smile curved his lips and he leaned over. He ran his finger along her chin and smirked.
“Aw, how cute. It’s so adorable you think you’re so special.” He pressed his hand against the wall and closed the gap between them.
“Don’t play dumb. I only indulged you because it amused me. And you only wanted me to bring yourself up. I’d laugh if you weren’t so pathetic.” His voice had lowered to almost a wispy growl making Chelsea feel smaller by the second.

“Now, we could break this off placidly and go on our merry ways. Or we can play your game. I hope you choose the later. It sounds like fun.” Chelsea shoved his arm away sobbing all the way to her homeroom. Alucard tilted his head and made a mock pouting. What a shame.
Inside the homeroom Reed and Thomas were in deep debate and neither seemed to notice she had sat down. Reed looked even more exhausted than she was. Then Lynn and Alucard entered the room. Alucard had an unusual swaying stagger and his usual light footsteps up the stairway to the back of the room were replaced by unsteady footfalls. She half expected him to fall down the stairs any minute. Lynn was silent and didn’t even give Shelly her customary morning sneer. Nonetheless the day seemed to drag on forever. Shelly had only one thing really on her mind.

At last the final school bell rang and she made her way right to Blackbird’s office. She texted her father to come pick her up a little later because she had an appointment with her counselor. The singular eyebrow emoji her dad sent her was all she needed to know what he didn’t entirely buy her excuse. But there was a quick ‘k’ and a ‘see you 5:15’ that followed. Blackbird was at his desk doing through several papers. When he looked up and saw her, he did not even seem at all shocked to see her. Without looking that much up from his paperwork he pressed the secret button to let her inside.

Reed, or rather the Silver Guardian was already down below. He had fired a few more shots from his pistol before a loud buzzer rang and the targets ceased moving. The computer beeped as it calculated a few numbers before displaying the score total of 97%. Blackbird clapped slowly.
“Congratulations. Your aim is improving.” Silver puffed out his chest at the complement but deflated almost immediately as he put his weapon back in its holster.
“Still doesn’t do any good against that weird weapon the Captain Coyote’s got. Shelly? What brings you down here?”
“Well I am not here for your sake, feather breath.” Blackbird sat down and pressed his hand underneath his chin. He asked why she was down here then.
“I want every piece of information you have on that Coyote Crew”, she snapped. Silver glanced between her and Blackbird. There was something in her voice that worried even him.
“Don’t look at me like I suddenly grew horns. I’m being serious!”
“I am not appreciating your tone, Shelly. There is anger in your words.” Shelly turned a bit red and she stomped her foot hard.
“Angry? Angry?! My dad’s store got blown up! And my dad was almost killed and I didn’t do anything! I am going to find them and make them pay and pay up good! You get it, don’t you? You get why I need to do this? You have to help me, Mr. Blackbird.”
“No”, he answered simply.
“But…”

“I will not have your training tainted by the desire for revenge. That is not a path you want to drift down because it is hard to turn back.” His hand unconsciously pressed against his stump arm.
“It’s not…I…do you know what this feels like? Do you have any idea how it feels to watch someone you care about get hurt because of someone else’s actions? Do you know how it feels to be helpless being unable to save them? How much you want to make those people hurt for what they’ve done?” Silver winced slightly at her words.
“Mr. Blackbird, she’s right. We should…”
“Absolutely not to both of you!”
“Hey! Unlike you I get it! Those three don’t care who they hurt. I can protect…” Silver started to begin but Shelly cut him off.
“You don’t need to repeat how you think I can’t handle myself.”
“I didn’t say that!”
“I don’t need YOUR protection just like I didn’t need you escorting me home last night. Yeah I know you did. I think that little magic ring of yours has gotten to your head.”

“At least my fighting style is not as sloppy as yours! I have been training practically every single day unlike your lazy-”
“Sloppy? If it weren’t for your magic muscle suit I could mop the floor with you right here, right now!” Silver thrust up his hand and a quick flash of light surrounded him before Reed stood in his place. He rolled up a sleeve and tightened his fist.
“I’d like to see you try”, he responded coldly. Blackbird’s training mech snatched the pair of them up and jerked them hard apart.
“Enough! You don’t have time to be fighting each other! You’re running out of time to prove your worth because if you don’t shape up soon, Vincent will…wheeze…both of you need to take a deep breath and cool your heads. The Coyote Crew is still out there and they now have a new weapon to utilize. Now get over your childish egos and figure out how to work together to stop them.”
“Tch, the Golden Guardian didn’t need a partner so I do not need a hot headed punchhead like her.”

“Well screw you too! I don’t need your fancy powers or Blackbird’s special computer to hunt them down. I’ll take care of things on my own like I originally started!” She wrenched her coat from the training mech’s grapple hook and marched upstairs. When Reed was set loose he punched the robot’s torso in anger and then immediately flinched as the shock of pain rang up his arm. In the heat of everything he had forgotten he had turned back from the Silver Guardian to plain Reed. He kept glancing up the stairs and shuffled where he stood. Part of him wanted to run after her. An expression of both worry and frustration tore at his face as Blackbird sat back and watched.
“Reed, I think you and I need to have a talk-as counselor and patient.”

[Lovetheangelshadow]

Chapter 9: Seeds of DoubtMaria had squeezed past the door into the main chamber where they had made their hideout. She used her penlight to navigate to where they had made makeshift sleeping quarters and tip toed as quietly as she could hoping her sisters were still asleep. Suddenly the stage lighting flared up and she covered her face to keep from being blinded. Slow footsteps approaching her direction could be heard until she felt a firm grasp on her shoulder. Jessie smirked a mirthless grimace in her direction.

“And where have you been?” she asked with sweet menace.
“I…I went out for a walk. I needed some air.”
“Must have been some walk”, was her sister’s retort flicking a few droplets of sweat away from her.
“It’s humid outside.”

“Indeed it is a little hot isn’t it? Say Maria, might I show you something before you go to bed?” Maria could not refuse her sister’s command and uneasily followed her behind. As they walked down the hall she could hear growing sounds of metallic slashing and high pitched shrieking. They entered another large space. Fake purple and green rocks had been sculpted into strange and alien formations and the carpet swirled with peculiar colors. Above them planets flickered from their hangings while spaceships twirled about their cores. The whole set brought back a flood of memories, both good and bad. In the center of the space fake rocks had been formed into a ring with long tendrils curling over resembling a cage. Under the archway another large cage came into view. Inside was the monster rabbit they had encountered. It was banging and lashing at the bars trying to escape. And then it paused upon seeing Maria and it reached for her. Maria tried to back away but Jessie held her form.

“It seems to like you, doesn’t it Maria?” Jessie cooed as she pushed Maria closer and closer to the monster. Maria tried to break free but her sister was stronger than her and continued to drag her ever closer to the cage. White Rabbit latched onto her shoulders and tried to squeeze her through the bars. Its mouth hovered over her and yellow haze began to pool about the crying girl. Maria felt something being torn out of her and it was a mix of terror and euphoria. Jessie just stood there tapping her chin like a depraved researcher watching how a cat kills a bird. Jamie skidded into the area and rammed her fists down hard on White Rabbit’s nose. As it reeled back, Jamie grabbed her sister and carried her effortlessly far outside the rocky ring. Maria’s face had sunken in slightly and she had curled up into a tight ball shivering.

“Fascinating”, was Jamie’s response.
“Fascinating? Fascinating?! What the hell is wrong with you?” Jessie appeared to be not even listening. Instead she just glanced between her huddling sister and the creature whose stomach now distended slightly.
“I think I know now the perfect way to handle Simon.” Jamie shook her head frantically.
“Woah let’s dial things back here. You’re not serious.”
“Oh grow a spine, Blaze. You were all fine on this before.”
“Yeah because I thought we were going to scare the shit out of him or break into his house or something. Not…this.” She held Maria close to her and shivered how cold her sister felt to the touch. Before Jessie would reiterate her point the rabbit suddenly became excited. It bounced and hopped around in the cramped space as the bars began to twist and bend under its weight. It was trying to get somewhere from the side of the cage and reached for whatever figure was suddenly standing there.

All three girls gasped at the woman who was now wadding out under one of the colored lights. She was not much taller than Maria though significantly heavier. Her gait was just supported by stocky cloven hooved legs that dented the ground slightly underneath them. The woman’s sizeable gut and chest were just barely stuffed into a purple and rose pleated gown decked with shimmering jewels and golden edging. The most notable part of her was the face. The face was that of a boar. Gold bands had been fastened around broken tusks and streaks of color dotted her face and mane. In her hand was a long black staff with two rungs on either ends and framed by long twisted spikes. Orbs hovered in the center of each rung.
Captain raised her gun and fired without hesitation. The boar woman had to barely wave her staff when the two electrical blasts split apart and fizzed against the orbs. She tapped her staff once and all three girls were suddenly thrust into the air and kept aloft. Snorting with annoyance, she shuffled to the rabbit there she casually patted its head.

“So this is where you went. Not as pretty as his work but you’ll do.”
“Hey get away from my rabbit! Who do you think you are?!” Jessie yelled. The boar woman curled her finger and forced Jessie to come right to her face.
“Who do you think you are? This is my property. I made the deal with him. Boarcelina is the name and helping poor luckless souls is my game. All the White Rabbit wanted was to reunite with his child and desired a means just in case someone tried to split them apart again. Oh well I did forget to tell him the potion was going to turn him into an Oozling. Oopsie.” Jessie punched and thrashed in the air trying to reach for this witch. Boarcelina chuckled and pinched Jessie’s cheeks with hooved fingernails.

“But perhaps we can come to a beneficial accord?” She snapped her fingers and let the Coyote Crew fall hard to the ground. Jamie grabbed Jessie’s shoulder and shook her head indicating that they should not hear this witch out. Her sister flicked her hand off and told her to go finish preparations. When Jamie tried to protest she was cut off by the sound of Jessie’s blaster warming up. Jamie left uneasily and chose to tend to Maria instead. And after that, there a few extra preparations past her captain’s orders that she was going to have to start.
****

Simon Callum watched the latest broadcast of the Coyote Crew. Lines of worry creased his stubbled face that even his wife noticed. When she asked him what was wrong he brushed it off saying it was just general concern about all the crazies coming out of the woodwork since the Golden Guardian disappeared. He couldn’t tell her the truth. The moment he first saw their faces at the bank heist he had known what was to come. For ten long years he had spent rebuilding this new life for himself and eluding them. How stupid could he have been? Did he honestly think he could have escaped her forever? As he drove to work he passed these thoughts over and over in his head. Perhaps he should go to the police and tell them what he knew. But what good would that do them?
His car idled before the police station as he waited for the light to change. Again his fears deepened seeing them at the yacht and now this Valdus Academy heist. They were looking for him and sooner or later they would catch up to them. Someone honked behind him telling him the light turned green. He couldn’t turn into the station as a large truck was now passing by and the driver behind him was growing impatient.

Simon pulled his car into the lot of the Valdus Academy. As he walked down the grassy pathway he noticed not one student or teacher even noticed him. He had honestly been glad. Upon passing the large walls of the campus he saw a small commotion in one of the halls. It sounded like a boyfriend and girlfriend fighting. Ah young love and the heartbreaks that came with it. Sometimes it hurt a little more. He subconsciously gripped over his chest where a jagged scar was just barely noticeable above the collar of his shirt.
“But I need you here, Mr. Callum. Marbury won’t be back for another two weeks and I simply cannot afford to not have a nurse on campus during open hours”, Oliver Jester explained when Simon requested for a two week leave. Marbury had been on leave for most of the fall semester. That old cow should have had her rear back here last month, was Simon’s first thoughts. Then the principal went on about the damage to the track and field lawn and how they couldn’t afford to-Simon rose from his chair. There was no reasoning with the old man. Then a teacher came pounding inside the office asking for Dr. Callum. A kid had fallen down the stairs and wasn’t moving.
****

Alucard’s head felt like his brain had been removed and replaced with marbles now rolling around freely inside his skull. He forced himself to prepare for school and even lied point blank to his mother about his illness when she inquired. It was a miracle he made it to school in one piece.
The dizzy spells came and went thought the morning. In morning baseball practice he missed half of the pitches. His sensitive hearing could pick up the whispers between the other players. Some were snickering and others were making snide remarks. Even his coach reprimanded his performance. It wasn’t like they were currently playing any games. His illness was even worse in the chemistry exam. Alucard’s vision blurred in an out while trying to focus on the paper. He was among the last people to turn it in which caused even more murmurs he could just make out over the mounting fog in his head. At math he stared casually out the window only half listening to the lecture on derivatives. The teacher rapped the top of her desk and yelled out his last name. If he found her class so uninteresting perhaps he should demonstrate how to solve the equation on the white board. Alucard shuffled forward and powered though the nausea and vertigo to finish the problem.

“That’s incorrect, Mr. Dougal”, the teacher informed him once he had done causing the confused mutters to rise even more. Once the class was over he was reprimanded for disturbing the class and apparently being disrespectful. Out in the hall the voices echoed even louder in his head. They started pounding against the sides of his temple and he shoved his hands in his pockets trying to not to show his discomfort. The floor began to twist and stretch under his feet and he tried to steady himself. The last thing he remembered was the stairway and one of the steps rising rapidly towards his face.
The white paneling was the first thing he saw when he finally opened his eyes. He felt stiff and his head hurt even worse than before. Rubbing his face he felt a bandage around his forehead. Alucard uneasily sat up and he felt like vomiting. Someone shoved a bucket under his head and he lost what little breakfast he had eaten. Once clear that same someone passed him a glass of water. When Alucard had finally gotten the terrible taste out of his mouth he was finally able to gauge his surroundings. There were simple medical posters like how to wash your hands or what to do during the flu season plastered on the white walls. He was sitting on a flat cot covered in a large sheet of tissue paper. His backpack, along with his blazer and waistcoat had been folded nearly on the chair beside him.
“Feeling better? That was quite a fall you took. I’m surprised you woke up at all. Principal Jester wouldn’t let me call an ambulance-the old fool.” The only other person in the room was the school nurse. He was in his late thirties with a surprisingly handsome face. His dark brown hair rested in short waves about his shoulders. His broad chin had a light trace of a stubble. In truth, the man did not strike him as a school nurse but rather someone who belonged in photoshoots. From his ID badge, Alucard could just make out the name Simon Callum. Simon…that name struck him hard for some reason. Come to think of it-this man reminded him of someone. Someone he had seen years ago. Normally he could recall things so easily but his brain was so stuffed with fog and a migraine at the moment he couldn’t think straight. Just to amuse himself he tried adding 2+2 and came up with 6.

“How did I even…”
“You fell down an entire flight of stairs. All things considered I am surprised all you have to show for it is some bruising. A cursory examination showed you have inflammation in both of your inner ears. As a school practitioner I can’t prescribe anything but you should…”
“I’m fine. I don’t need some quack…” Alucard forced himself up and he fell nearly face first onto the floor again.
“Typical high school tougher than thou attitude. Now get back into bed! I wrote a medical note for you. I tried calling your parents but I haven’t gotten through.” Alucard wasn’t too shocked hearing that. His mother kept her phone in her locker while teaching HEMA at another school and for some reason his stepfather and cell phones didn’t mix well. While Alucard was stuck in bed he glanced at his phone. School would be off in an half an hour meaning he had been unconscious for almost five hours. Had Lynn been around? Surely she must have heard something by now or did she not care? He would have not been amazed either way.
Lynn did arrive after the last bell for the end of school. There was a ruthless self-satisfied grin on her face that didn’t even fade when she saw him half lying in bed.

“Well well well you’re in soooooooo much trouble”, she berated in a sing song voice. “I heard all the lovely things about Chelsea this morning. And then you failed your exams…your mother is going to flip.” Alucard just grumbled at her. He knew what she was going to follow with next.
“But maybe I suddenly develop a bad memory if…you let me borrow your car for a day or two?”
“You don’t even have a license”, he grumbled with his face buried in the pillow.
“And how do you intend to stop me? You can’t even sit up without falling like a little ragdoll.”

Lynn grumbled when Alucard shoved her inside their chauffeur’s car a half hour later. He told the driver that he would be home late after doing some after school studying. What he didn’t mention was that when they were waiting on the front lawn for pickup Alucard thought he noticed a familiar blonde girl walking down the street across campus and heading for what was dubbed ‘Campus Village’. As their chauffeur drove away made his way down the street on foot.
Campus Village was a street that mostly catered to students and faculty for Valdus Academy and the colleges a few blocks away. Bookstores for the college campuses, uniform shops, and small food places dotted both sides of the decorated broadways. He spotted the girl coming out of the copy store and placing a folded sheet of paper neatly into her purse. He was right. It had been Maria! He called out to her in earnest. At first she shuffled a few steps back like she wanted to avoid him, but something made her change her mind and she smiled and waved back.
“Fancy seeing you here. What are you doing down here?” they both asked each other simultaneously.
“I go to school over at Valdus. You?”
“I was…printing out a letter. We don’t have everything set up in our current house.” She appeared to be a lot happier than last night until Alucard had gotten closer. Her face and hair were paler and her flush cheeks had sunken in a bit against the bone. Alucard caught a faint acrid scent off of her and a small prang of dread rang in his mind. He dismissed it as another symptom of his headache.
“Maria, what happened to you?”
“I…had a bad dream last night. What about you? You’re no basket of fruit yourself.”

“Mild case of vertigo. I also fell down the stairs at school”, Alucard brushed it off lightly. Vertigo, Maria mused over in her head. Then he remembered that boy in the bug costume from last night and how much he had suffered thanks to the Vertigo Ray her sister used to help them take the White Rabbit and escape. No, it couldn’t be him. She chalked up the dreaded thought as terrors from when the White Rabbit had tried to drain her. The nagging emotion didn’t let go.
“Hey um…if you’re not busy…you want to like…grab a drink or something?” Maria giggled with Alucard trying to be smooth but all his words were coming out awkward. She agreed to his offer saying it would be nice to just relax.
She was not expecting for him to take her down a couple of thin winding streets and just telling her to trust him. Maria was starting to suspect he was going to lead her into a cult or something. The place he led her to was a very simple storefront painted pink with a large cartoon strawberry painted on the front. The other stores next to it were either closed or looked worse for wear. Alucard confidently lead her inside. The interior was far more ornate and looked like a cotton candy dream world. Lace tables with smaller doll-like chairs encircled the place and stuffed animals sat causally on the shelves. A waitress dressed in a puffy cherry dress and white apron greeted them.

“Welcome back to the Strawberry Dream, Mr. Dougal. And you have a girlfriend with you this time. No late day studying today?”
Maria wasn’t sure what to think now. Alucard had ordered the tea and cakes for them both. She wanted to enjoy it but kept glancing out the bay window. She was not supposed to be walking out in broad daylight. Jamie only knew she had been out taking a walk. Alucard seemed to be aware of her unease when Maria almost spilled tea on her lap. Their conversation was awkward since again they dodged personal questions of each other. She and her sisters moved a lot because of her sisters’ jobs. She had been all over the states too and collected things from everywhere. Alucard had some mild interest in the supernatural and practiced historical sword fighting as a hobby. Neither of them were completely lying but there was still a self-conscious tenseness in their voices.
“Maria, are you in some kind of trouble?”
“No…yes…it’s complicated. But it’s all going to be okay in a few days! Jessie promised us.”

“Jessie is your older sister?”
“One of them…yes. Truth be told I don’t know if she hates me or not. One day she’s praising how smart and skilled I am and then the next day I’m the bottom of the barrel.”
“Sounds like my stepsister. I don’t think she’s ever been happy with my mom marrying her father. So she takes it out on me.”
“That must be awful to live with.”
“You get numb to it after a while.”
“I wish I could. It’s not Jessie’s fault though. She’s been through a lot and she’s looking out for me and Jamie…really.” Suddenly Maria stood up and said she had to leave. Alucard grabbed her hand to hold her back.
“Maria I…if you need help, let me know. I…well I…”
“Mr. Alucard Dougal, are you asking me to be your girlfriend?” she mused coyly. A brilliant flush passed over Alucard’s cheeks. Maria pecked him on the cheek and waved goodbye saying she’d see him tomorrow.

[Lovetheangelshadow]

Chapter 10: Magic LessonLynn sulked in the back of the car as she was bring driven home. She saw her stepbrother through the back window head not for the school’s parking lot but towards Campus Village. At first she reasoned that he was going off to study. She knew full well about that little tea shop he frequented. But this was different. Ignoring the swaying steps caused by his illness, there was a lightness in his footing. As pale and slightly green his face was, there was a hint of happiness. And she did not like it. That and being cheated out of driving that black and purple coupe didn’t help her mood.
She was actually shocked to see her father home so early. He was in his office looking through several desk drawers and shelves muttering that he could not find something relating to some other thing. The phone on his desk had the voicemail light blinking since her father didn’t do well with most electronic devices. Desmond did not seem to be aware he had left the den door wide open because Lynn saw him walking up to the higher shelves with small traces of magic underneath his feet like he was walking on invisible stairs.

“Irene, where did I put that file for that Clifford property? I could have sworn it was in here.” Lynn coughed loudly trying to get his attention and slamming the door behind her quite loudly. Desmond only jumped a bit from his mystical footing but he did not drop from where he hovered. Lynn admired his skill of concertation.
“Lynn? What are you doing home? Shouldn’t you be at school?” he rapidly questioned her as he casually walked down back to earth.
“Um…it’s 4:30, daddy. School kinda let out a half hour ago.” Desmond pulled out his pocket watch and buried his head in his massive mess of hair in embarrassment.

“Huh, so it is. Which means Irene is out teaching kids to beat each other up with sticks still. Where is your brother?” Lynn opened her mouth slightly perfectly ready to rat her stepbrother out as Desmond casually waved her off.
“No matter, knowing him he’s studying in his room.” Lynn pouted and made a very audible grunt. But then another idea same to her.
“Say daddy, since Irene and Alucard are busy, maybe we could…have another magic lesson?” Desmond seemed to be ignoring her by the continued shuffling of papers.

“Don’t you have homework?”
“But daddy, I really wanna show you what I can do. And we haven’t had a magic lesson in so long. Pretty please?” She opened her eyes wide and leaned against him. Desmond sighed heavily and slapped the folder closed. A knowing smile shined though his beard.
“Alight dear, let us see what you have learned.”

The Dougal Estates had many secrets since its erection almost 150 years ago. Chambers and secret passages between rooms honeycombed the castle-like estate and not even Desmond knew all of them. The den in particular had its own secrets. He twisted the head of a griffon statue and a very thin slit appeared between two of the bookshelves. Lynn followed him down the winding staircase into the basement. The underground space housed several rooms ranging from a library to a storage room and finally a singular almost barren chamber. Desmond clapped his massive hands and the orb lanterns of the chamber flickered to life. A circle of standing candelabras had been placed around a center dais. Lynn pulled from under her shirt a pendant. It was a circle with black spines jutting out from the rugs and a crystal hung in the center. She raised up the pendant and the crystal projected light before her. The light flickered and danced as it formed into a long black staff. She swallowed hard and stood upon the dais.

Desmond twisted his fingers in the air and the candle holders danced to various spots in the room like those animated brooms from that moue cartoon. Then several lights flickered from his palm and they bounced from candle to candle until the entire room was how bathed in a peculiar blue glow. On a table next to him was a sparkler candle that he lit immediately. Lynn know exactly what he had wanted her to do. She braced her feet hard against the dais and stuck the ground hard with her staff’s spike. She closed her eyes briefly and the purple gem in the top half of the staff hummed with energy. The sparkler had only run down in less than two minutes when it exploded and a thousand dark light shards struck out every which way. Lynn felt several of the slivers slice against her skin, but she had to fold that focus. When the smoke cleared a quarter of the candles had been burnt out. The others were protected by violet orbs though some were half cracked and just barely holding on. Lynn would have fallen to her knees if it were not for her staff to keep her up.
Her father surveyed the candles and hummed something to himself. Then he gingerly grabbed her arms and looked at the cuts and tears in her uniform.
“We’re going to be going that again.” Lynn groaned and let her staff drop to the floor with a loud audible clank.

“Can’t we like learn something else? Something cooler than shields? Maybe shoot lighting or turning teacups into toads…”
“You’re not ready for that. Now again!” The candles flared back to life and the sparkler flung to existence again. Lynn barely had time to think before the magic attacked again and she barely shielded the candles this time around. Desmond told her do repeat it again, and Lynn forced every able sliver of energy she had left to keep her shields intact. She was panting and wheezing before her father let up. She had managed to protect every single candle this time, but now the cuts on her arms were seeping through her blouse. Then Desmond shot a bolt of magical energy that curved around the edges of the room. Lynn swiped the staff to her left erecting a nearly perfect shield around her back. Some of the sparks had managed to break through and singed the ends of her hair but she still stood. She was exhausted and sweaty, but still on her two feet.

Desmond patted her back and congratulated her.
“You’ve been practicing, most excellent!” A beaming grin managed to make its way on Lynn’s tired face. Of course she had been committed. She had to keep that handsome idiot Hunter alive after all-and anyone else unfortunate to get in his way.
“So…what’s the next lesson?” she gasped. Desmond was commanding the candelabras to stand against the wall and he stroked his beard in thought.
“Next lesson…next lesson…I think you might be ready to learn the basics of disarming your opponents. Or maybe more advanced healing spells? Learning how to set bones is actually a lot more tricky…”
“Actually I was thinking about something…more interesting?”
“Define interesting”, her father glared at her as his voice slowed.

“You know…more cooler stuff. Like turning yourself into an animal or telling the future or making statues comes to life!”
“Sorry, but the answer is no.” Lynn’s face drooped.
“But…but it’s not fair! I’m just as much of a Dougal witch as my cousins! They get to learn awesome spells not lame things like shields.”
“You think knowing how to protect yourself and others is lame?” Desmond growled. His voice rumbled inside the chamber and Lynn created a shield out of reflex.
“No…no I…they’re nothing to brag about through.”

“Is that why some of my orbs are missing?” Lynn’s olive color dropped almost matching her stepbrother’s. So he knew. Which means he knew about the missing mysterious green orb she had borrowed for Club Day. A bell rang above their heads signaling that someone had entered the house. Desmond gipped Lynn’s shoulder tightly as he lead her back up the stairs hinting they would be talking about this later. Back in the den Lynn still saw that the message unplayed was still blinking. She tugged on her father’s sleeve guiding his attention to it.
****

Alucard had arrived later than he had anticipated. He hadn’t even looked at his homework. It was a miracle that he made it home in one piece with his ever present migraine.
“And where have you been?” was the first thing he heard. Irene was leaning against the center railing of the front room tapping her phone against her shoulder. There was still a ringing in her son’s ears and he groggily asked her to repeat.
“I asked, where…have…you…been? And is there something you want to tell me?”
“I was out in Campus Village doing homework”, Alucard answered curtly.
“He’s lyyyyiinnnggg”, Lynn sung from the second landing. Irene held out her hand commanding for her backpack. Alucard glared at his stepsister. He was starting to slide off his backpack when another spell of vertigo gripped him and gripped him hard. Desmond caught him before he face planted on the floor again and the contents of his bag scattered on the floor.
“And one more thing. How long have you been sick? Why did you go to school and not tell us?” Desmond admonished him. Alucard bit his lip but said nothing.

“Alucard was out with a girl”, Lynn cooed out from the landing. Desmond yelled for her to go to her room. Alucard just sat there until the voices started to become more than droning clamor. How could he have been so reckless? His grades were going to hurt for this. He could have hurt someone driving in the state he was in? Didn’t he care about his future? Most of the lecturing came from his mother. Desmond only interjected when it came to his son’s health. Alucard had heard it all before since middle school. By now it had just become noise until they were done and sent him to his room. Then it came to Maria. Or rather his behavior towards Chelsea and apparently ‘cheating’ on her according to Lynn. How it was bad form and as a Dougal he had a name to upkeep. Again he was trying hard to not react. As he dragged himself upstairs he passed by Lynn’s open bedroom door. She was casually lying on her stomach on her bed looking at a magazine and cheerfully humming to herself.

“You just had to do that, didn’t you?” Lynn rolled onto her back playfully.
“You should have let me borrow the car, Alu. And Chelsea told me everything. She saw you with another girl at the club. I didn’t think being a two timer was in your blood”, his stepsister teased. Alucard could only muster a deathly scowl at her.
“You’ve never cared about my romance life before. Why now?!”
“Oh ho, you’re mad? Why yes, yes you are.” Lynn rolled to an upright position and seated herself with her legs crossed underneath her and she began to sway back and forth with a low mocking cackle.

“I could have told so much more, Alu. Shall I tell them about certain….escapades you’ve had? Oooh I bet your mother will love that one.” Flames sparked from Alucard’s fingertips and he hastily shoved his hand in his pocket. Some days he wished he could burn every strand of that wine colored hair of hers. Though it seems someone had done that already. He slammed her room’s door and sequentially slammed his own door shut before throwing the school worksheets onto his table.
****

Maria sat at her desk twisting and running her fingers over the paper she had printed from the print store. She had cut letters out of several of the magazines she had found in the closed gift shop and then photocopied that. It was a ransom letter for the return of one Alucard Dougal. She had everything planned out. She had Alucard’s information that she had managed to steal from the school without her sisters knowing. All she had to do was call him, lure him out, and keep him unconscious long enough to get the ransom. He wouldn’t even know it was her. As far as he would be aware, it was Star of the Coyote Crew that had captured him. So why she was she hesitating?

If you need help, just tell me. He was not the first boy she tried to date, but did he really care about her? Of course, she reasoned. Even if he did find out, he’d understand. He’d understand why she had to do what she was about to do.
“Well well well, is little Star trying to outshine her place again?” Maria had been so wrapped up in her quandary she hadn’t even notice Jessie, Jamie, or that horrible pig witch enter the room. Boarcelina was swaying gleefully where she stood.
“See? I TOLD you someone was planning a mutiny.” Jessie snatched both the ransom note and the school paper from Maria’s desk.

“No…No I was going to tell you. Really, Jessie! I…I would never…” Her speech was halted by a loud smack across her face. Jessie then grabbed her by her blouse and hoisted her up a couple inches in the air.
“Who saved you from the pressure from mommy and daddy?” Jessie said deliberately annunciating each word.
“Y-you did,” Maria squeaked.
“Who keeps you off the streets?”
“You do.”
“Who teaches you in academics and our trade?”
“You do, Captain.” Jessie dropped her hard on the ground and began to examine the note.
“Perhaps we can still follow your little idea, but with a few tweaks.” She and Boarcelina walked into the exhibit room where the White Rabbit was curled up in a tranquil ball inside the cage. Jessie could finally stand right next to the cage and not feel threatened herself. The White Rabbit had already tried to drain her when she first forced it into the pen. The following hollow sensation frightened even her.
“So, do we have an accord, now?” Boarcelina clucked. Jessie folded her arms tightly. She still couldn’t believe it. Her own sister conspiring behind her back. Didn’t that brat understand everything she had done for her? She should have suspected when Maria tried to escape with the money from the back during their first Silver Guardian encounter.

“So you’re saying I can use this beast without danger to myself in exchange for my sister?”
“This cannot be taken back, just so you know. But how else will she learn to respect you? Like you said, you’ve done so much for her and this is how she repays you? All I ask is a small token. The most precious thing she values.” Jessie thought hard. Why did Maria value the most? Well, her parents always said she was the most beautiful one. Maybe her looks? Maria always had been the most finicky when it came to her appearance. Jessie could look past that after everything was said and done.
“You have a deal.”

[Lovetheangelshadow]

Chapter 11: The Unknown StoryReed could not concentrate. Perhaps it has because he had spent the last three weeks going thrice the normal amount of math homework. Maybe because he could not figure out just what the Coyote Crew were up to. Or possibly it was his argument with Shelly. He threw his head back and groaned tugging at his coifed bangs in defeat. Didn’t that stupid girl understand how dangerous those three were? If anything happened to Shelly… He had to stand up and get some air. The math equations were starting to dance to the rhumba on the page. Outside in the garden he inhaled deeply and tapped above his collarbone in nervous rhythm trying to clear his head.

First they attacked a smaller bank. According to Blackbird they were more known to strike larger banks and make one or two big hauls before disappearing for a few months. Then they struck the yacht. That was more their style. The flashier the venue the better. Then they were spotted at Valdus Academy. Blackbird’s sources said the file cabinets for C and D were forced open. Did schools even keep physical records anymore? They were looking for someone, the voice in his head uttered. But who? Who could three thieves dressed as the leads from a decade old television show be looking for? Maybe there was a clue in the show itself?
Reed only barely glanced at the wiki when he went back to his room. He knew most of the stuff such as plot, characters, etc. The plot itself was fairly simple. Three young girls; the brave and clever Captain Coyote, the kind and empathic Blaze, and the curious and optimistic Star, had hijacked a mysterious ship known as the Firefall and was trying to escape the clutches of the space demon Dark Ghost and his son Prince Specter. Each episode they met different races either enslaved, fighting against Dark Ghost, or neutral and there was some kind of moral lesson at the end. Reed tried looking up footage but most of his searches only gave him clips of low quality or heavily edited to avoid copyright. Reed grumbled but then a thought came to him. He and Marco used to watch the show together and Marco had a habit of recording shows to physical form just in case.

He went down the hallway to the far end of the house where his brother’s room was. The name Marco Ceil Altamiri was engraved in a plaque on the door. The door was locked. It made sense as Marco had his own safe he used for business papers. His mother was out again and he didn’t expect his brother and father home anytime soon. Reed returned to his own room and pulled out a key he kept taped to the underside of his desk. He had gotten a copy of the key to his brother’s room a long time ago and only occasionally used it if he felt a little malicious. He was surprised Marco had not changed the lock yet. He could not be that stupid. This was also how Reed had stolen the ring in the first place.
Marco’s room was notably more professional looking than Reed’s. Marco had a large roll top desk and a luxurious four poster bed. Several shelves lined the walls and what was not covered by shelf were posters of various racing cars-some even signed. The shelves were stuffed full of movies and TV show box collections. A sizeable portion were of mainstream and obscure anime ranging from DVD’s, VHS, and even Laserdisc. Others were cartoon box collections. Marco was also fastidious person when it came to organizing. He kept all of his recorded shows on one shelf and kept in longboxes. Reed traced his fingers along the boxes looking at the lettering for the F box. He just had his hands on the box when Marco whispered in his ear,
“What are you doing in my room?” Reed had gripped the edges of the box and dunked it hard at the surprise; causing all the discs to fly out and scatter all over the room. He sat there on the floor gripping his collarbone and the longbox resting haphazardly on his head. Marco picked up one of the discs and thumbed over the title.

“Firefall Arcade, huh? Feeling a little nostalgia with everything that is going on?” he tossed as he plucked the box of his brother’s head. Reed grumbled something akin to a maybe. He started gathering the DVDs from the floor trying to put them in some kind of order. Marco smirked a little as he helped clean up the mess.
“So what do you say you and me chill for a bit and watch some episodes eh? I’ll make the popcorn and we can chill on the smaller TV in the old game room…”
“No thanks, I’m sure you are real busy and…” Marco plucked the discs out of Reed’s arms and promptly dropped them into the box haphazardly. Reed tensed at the motion. As meticulous as his brother was known to be, the moment he stopped caring about organization, Reed know it wasn’t a good sign. Marco wagged his finger in front of Reed’s hatchet nose and smiled devilishly.
“Nuh uh, you play this my way or I’ll tell Dad you broke into my room.”
“Blackmail, huh? You would not dare.” Marco puffed out his chest as he breathed in a large intake of air.
“Hey Dad, Reed br-” he started shouting.
“Alright! Alight! You win!” Reed grumbled and hissed through clenched teeth.
“Ha ha, I knew you’d be a reasonable little angel. Now help me get the rest of these off the floor.”
One of the smaller rooms that had once entertained guests had been converted into the boys’ personal game room. Several consoles were on shelves and there were two televisions inside the room. One was a larger flat screen and the other a much old CRTV for older systems and the VHS. A small lump occurred in Reed’s throat as Marco had to set up the older screen for playback. He really couldn’t remember the last time both he and Marco were in this room together.
The show was actually better than he had remembered. For a space show in a television budget it was surprisingly well made for something from the 2010’s. The aliens were actual costumes or puppets though the CGI could be a bit laughable. Even the acting and writing was pretty solid for what it was. When Prince Spector finally came to the scene Reed thought he looked familiar. Maybe older but he could have sworn he had seen that face before. No wonder it had the following it did. For once Reed felt like he actually could relax and forget that right now there were three crazy cosplayers out there or that he was even the Silver Guardian that no one appreciated. They were about halfway through the 1st season when Morgan knocked hard on the doorframe and barked,
“So this was where you were, Marco.”

“Aw, let the boys have a little fun together, Morgan.” Lenora teased. She had been fully aware that the boys had been watching the show for the past two hours and neglected to tell her husband where they were. It had been nice to see her sons actually talk to each other without tension. She didn’t understand why Reed acted so hostile somedays to his brother these past several years. Morgan just grumbled saying something along the lines of them wasting their time before shuffling off to the dining room with his wife close behind.
Marco shrugged and clicked the DVD back in its case.
“I suppose we should please the all mighty father. Eh?” Reed paused a little before humming in agreement. As Reed followed down the pathway Marco mused aloud,

“A shame the show got cancelled before the third season fully aired. Heh heh I remember how upset you were too. You used to have the biggest crush on the Captain.”
“I don’t remember any such thing!” Reed barked. He cringed as he actually remembered trying to dye his hair once in the triple colors and his hands twitched slightly recalling the bullying that came from it.
“What about the show? It got cancelled mid showing?”
“Yeah you were too young to really be aware of it. But there was a huge scandal and the whole production got axed.”
“Any idea what happened?”
“Hmmm, it’s been over a decade but I believe the two actors who played Captain and Prince Spector or Jessie Rochet and Simon Crete were dating until they broke up. The break up I guess was bad enough that Jessie attempted to kill Simon on set during a shooting.”
“Seriously?!”

“I don’t remember exactly what happened after that. It’s been a long time and I guess most people have just moved on. You know, most of this stuff can be found on the wiki.” Reed slapped his forehead accosting himself at not pursuing the site further and how could he have not done something so obvious. Marco wrapped his arm around his brother’s shoulder and squeezed a little.
“Because you actually wanted to spend time with your big bro.” Reed pouted and folded his arms tightly.
“I did not!” he shouted with a not entirely sincere tone.
****
Shelly had followed along the same lines as Reed only she looked at every page of the wiki. Or more correctly, Frix did the research. Shelly had to finish an essay so she, reluctantly, let Frix use her computer to read the pages to her. She had learned these past few months that being stuck inside a sphere for years made one curious and she caught him looking at things that would have made her father build a gallows for her in a fortnight. It look her a good chuck of the night to put restrictions and passwords in place.

“This story is not anything new to me. A girl scorned and she seeks to destroy all around her regardless of innocent or guilty”, he mused. What Reed hadn’t read or known from Marco was that the three Rochet sisters disappeared for a few months after the scandal occurred and before Simon’s parents could issue a lawsuit. After those months the studio that had made the show, Pangea, was burned to the ground by three unknowns dressed as the three main characters and the safe had been stripped clean. A fan page that followed these three had several articles of the various crimes that had committed through the years. Many speculated it was the three sisters, but there was no proof. As for the Cretes, they pretty much vanished. There were theories abound they were murdered by the Rochet sisters. Hopefuls thought they might have left the country. Shelly looked at the picture of Simon Crete without the purple prosthetics and false horns. She had seen that face before. She tried to think about it-but it wasn’t coming through. Her thoughts then went to Reed and she tensed up thinking how mad it made her. It was her brains that allowed them to beat Metilla. She figured out where Circus Freak had been hiding. She saved Star from the rabbit monster. She could have very well beaten Reed up outside of his Guardian form. The thoughts made her angry enough to slam her fist on the ground and right on the handle of her compass instrument. The razor thin handle sliced into the side of her hand and she yelped a bit louder than she meant to. Frix screeched as blood began to drip from his own wrist.

“Looks like we’re going to have to go downstairs for Nurse Holmes.” Nurse! That was it! Ignoring that there was an open cut on her hand Shelly pushed Frix aside and took over the keyboard. She pulled up the school’s website and opened the facility page. It took a bit of scrolling down until she pulled up medical staff. There were two members. One was an older prune faced woman and the other was a younger man in about his late thirties. She screenshotted the picture and dumped it into Paint before finally drawing horns and scribbled purple splotches on his face. Since she had been coming to school early, she had often noticed the man pulling into the driveway and waved hello.
“Coincidence”, Frix asked. Shelly didn’t want to think so, but it seemed at least a start where to go. She tried to call Blackbird on her thoughts but the line was busy for some reason. Fine the, she’ll just figure this out on her own. Also she should probably stop bleeding on the computer.
****

Jinn flew casually along the night sky on her staff not really in any direction-just to feel the autumn wind in her face. She had no real reason to be out. Hunter could easily take care of things on his own, but since last night she was worried. It would soon be two years since she first met Hunter while flying about on a night like this. And yet not once in that time had she seen Hunter act so violently to anyone. Sure he had drained people before and she managed to convince him to not to-but not once had she ever seen him with the intent to drain someone of their emotions completely. Hunter once told her he could only take negative emotions as positive ones seem to actually cause him real harm. He was also rather dodgy of why he had this ability just like the monsters that appeared at night. As much as Hunter liked to boast of his abilities and triumphs-he was never one to talk about himself as a person.
Jinn’s thoughts then turned to the White Rabbit. She knew they would need to find the creature and fast. Those girls had no idea what they had gotten their hands on. The witch shuddered remembering one time a ganglord nearly shot them down as they took a Cerberus like monster as a prize. It was almost sunrise before they managed to track the thing down and by the time they did, every single one of them had either their throats cut or their souls emptied and cackling in a euphoric insanity. Also it was a lot harder to take the beast down not that it helped the victims any. She turned down a date with Reggie to be out here tonight even when Hunter didn’t really need her. In Jinn’s staff there was a purple and black chunk of stone in a crude fastener. The stone had been made from the remains of one of their kills and acted like a compass towards other monsters of the same nature. It was not as acute as Hunter’s own natural senses and was a little like playing Hot & Cold especially in a city as massive and labyrinthine as Cadric City was. Jinn hoped it was the rabbit and where the rabbit was-she’d find Hunter.

It was not the White Rabbit. It was an emaciated creature scuttling along the bridges around the canals and was sniffing the air for prey. The beast bore the body of a lizard with long scaly ears and a horse snout. Jinn was thankful it was still in its shrunken state which meant it had yet to feed on anyone and likely just crawled out of whatever dark hole it spawned from. Hunter and Jinn once tried to find the source of the beasts only for it to end in an experience that sometimes still haunted Jinn in her nightmares. They had followed an engorged beast down deep into the Underground near caverns even they hadn’t explored yet. But then Hunter suddenly changed the deeper they got. He began to behave irrationally and attacked her. Jinn was lucky enough to outpace him where once they gotten halfway back to the surface he stopped. Hunter told her it was like some switch flipped in his mind and the only thought that dominated was “find and devour”.

They both agreed to never do that again.
Jinn held back for a time. If a monster was here than Hunter would be along and he hated when someone else interrupted his hunt. The lizard horse was almost across the bridge now. On the other side was one of those late night trucker cafes and from the faint sounds of music-there was enough people inside for the beast to make its time. It was crossing the street. No Hunter. Its tail curled around the door and was opening inside. No Hunter. Jinn couldn’t wait any longer.
“Don’t even think about it!” she yelled at the thing. She tried to imitate that cocky taunt Hunter was known for but it came out more like a squeak toy. Horse Lizard was unimpressed and ignored her with a flick of its tail. In the same motion it struck its tail out and snagged one of the legs of a surprised patron. Even with the customer’s girth, the monster managed to heave him into the air and dangle him high above the floor. The horse’s jaw disconnected open wide enough to attempt to swallow the customer. The tail released the prey and let him drop into its mouth. Or it would have if it were not for the sudden bubble to engulf its head and the customer bounced off it. Now she seemed to have the monster’s attention. It leapt and scratched towards her with its slack jaws striking along the tile floor and causing sparks. Just as its jaws hovered just above her head, Jinn conjured another shield around her. The moment the beast had latched onto the magical barrier Jinn struck the staff into the ground and caused the bubble to explode. The concussive blast caused the monster to be projected high into the air and splash hard on the surface of the canal river. The creature screeched and snarled as its minuscule limbs trashed and swirled about as it clumsily kept itself just above the water. Jinn didn’t know if these monsters could drown-Hunter never let one be alive enough for them to know.

Jinn was not going to leave anything to chance. Strange that Hunter was not here right now. Maybe he was busy with another monster? It was not the first time they encountered more than one beast in a night. She flew close behind on her staff as the slow flowing river was dragging the beast down the street. She got too close. In its flailing, the Horse Lizard snatched it’s forepaws onto the rung and nearly dragged her down into the river with it. Jinn kicked the back rung of her staff and forced both of them up. She flew up higher and tried to make quick twists and turns and rolls as she attempted to get the monster off. The lizard almost managed to get its claws on her face. Jinn ducked backwards to avoid it and caused the staff to rise up backwards. The sudden shift in weight caused the two to spin erratically in the air and twisted crazily downwards towards the street. Her mind spinning from the lack of air control kept interfering her focus and every shield that came up with fizzled out. Jinn braced for the impact. Something big grabbed her and wrenched her off her staff. The monster and staff crashed hard with a cacophony of snarling grunts, tearing flesh, and hard metal screeching.

The witch finally managed to open her eyes. The Silver Guardian was holding her around her chest and was descending before where the horse lizard had landed. The beast’s flesh had been half mashed by the impact and a couple of its limbs had been dislocated. The mass suddenly quivered and the pieces dragged itself together back into a misshapen resembled of its original form. It also had Jinn’s staff. Chittering and snapping it mimicked the movements it had seen Jinn do but the staff did not respond. However, it was smart enough to know what Jinn was powerless without it and then it ran off with it.
Or rather it tried to when a baseball bat smacked it hard in the face and nearly snapped its neck in two. While it was busy putting its head back on, Splinterbark snagged Jinn’s staff. She tried to run away with it, and the beast’s tail caught her leg and made her fall. On her back the beast wanted to snap her neck in return. Splinterbark, without much thinking, used the points of Jinn’s staff to repeatedly stab it in the chest. The creature reacted with each wound but it was not enough to kill it. Jinn yelled a reminder that Hunter was the only one to be able to permanently end the monsters. Ignoring the flesh cut in her leg, Splinterbark tried to shove one of her wooden shards into its mouth. The thing snapped onto her arm and the padding just barely saved her. It was not going to let go and was about to thrash to tear her arm from her torso.

A light struck right between its eyes. The blast went straight through its brain and it staggered backwards with its mouth still on Splinterbark’s arm. Both of them fell onto the street floor as the beast began to melt and fizzle away. Silver and Jinn approached with Silver holding a smoking pistol in his right hand.
“Thanks for…humph, I could have handled that on my own”, Splinterbark pouted.
“Oh I am so sure you would have”, Silver sneered with no jest in his tone. Jinn picked up her staff and gazed puzzled at the two. Also that Silver was also about to kill the monsters.
“How…how were you able to…I thought Hunter was…” she stammered out. Frix rolled his eyes and tapped Jinn’s staff.
“Well of course he can. Guardians have always been able to kill Oozlings.” Splinterbark spoke up that was the third time he mentioned that name and just what was an Oozling.
“Never mind that. What are you doing out here, Splinterbark?”
“I am following a lead on the Coyote Crew. And you?” Silver was slow to respond and grumbled a ‘same’ like he was reluctant to agree with her. Jinn looked around her. Hunter was still not around and her growing dread gripped to her mind even stronger than before. This was not like him. Sure, him going solo was not anything new-but some shred of intuition told her something was wrong. She didn’t have much of a time to muse on it. A loud explosion could be heard from two blocks down and they saw a column of fire spew into the sky above the buildings before shattering into colors and fluttering to the ground.

[Lovetheangelshadow]

Chapter 12: FirefallSimon Callum had made up his mind. He had paced on the problem up until the school bell had rung for the last class and all the students from after school activities had gone home. It had gotten a bit dark before he left. He pulled his car in front of the police station he had passed before and told the lady at the front desk he had information regarding the Coyote Crew. He was taken into a small office that had been divided between the two desks in there. He was now facing a thin faced man with a pencil mustache and his arm in a sling. The slight swaying coupled with his eyes not blinking reminded him of that one story arc in the show where the crew had to free the serpent people from the enslavement of Dark Ghost. Focus, Simon! Now was not the time to dwell on the past.
The thin eyed man introduced himself as Bruce Phyrus and casually asked if Simon needed anything like water or coffee. Simon declined both. He was tugging hard at the sleeves of his coat as he told Bruce whom he suspected the identity of the three women were and what they were after. It sounded ridiculous as he told it. Three disgruntled former child actresses with super tech looking to go after a fellow former actor for revenge because he dumped one of them almost a decade ago? Even at its low points Firefall Arcade never made an episode this incredulous. And yet Bruce made no hint of ridicule. He only interrupted twice to clarify a point.

“It is apparent then that police protection will need to be provided to you immediately.” Just as Bruce reached for the phone Simon grabbed his wrist to stop him.
“I don’t care about myself. It’s my wife I’m worried about. I know Jessie Rochet is unstable and she’ll take down whatever she needs to get to me. If those rumors about the director and producer of the show are true…” Bruce dialed a number and a loud brisk female voice shouted on the other end, “Sierra, here. What’s up, Bruce?”
“Sierra I need you to escort a Pamela Callum to this station immediately. We have reason to believe the Coyote Crew will be after her soon. I’ll send you the address.” As he texted the address Simon gave him there was an uncertain hum on the phone.
“You sure about that address?”
“Sierra, don’t mess with me.”

“I’m serious! I stopped by to see an old buddy at fire station 491 and they just got a call. The apartment building that address is on…is on fire.”
Bruce had little time to react. Simon had already torn out of the room and was racing down the hall-shoving every officer in his path. Bruce was trying to catch up to him and getting toppled over with the people being shoved in his path. He was trying to tell Simon to stop and for someone to catch him. At least a couple officers were smart enough to actually hear him and tried to grapple the witness. Perhaps it was from the rigorous training he had endured from his old days on the set or a ramped up flight or fight instinct and panic, but Simon was able to duck underneath the first officer and then grabbed the second one with an over the shoulder throw. He was already in his car and violating so many traffic laws by the time Bruce had even gotten outside. He was trying to tell the guy that it was trap and for him to stop. He shoved his way into dispatch and yelled for the officer there to call out an All-Points Bulletin for Simon Callum and fast.
****

The Silver Guardian, Jinn, and Splinterbark raced down the street towards the blaze. Silver glanced at the street signs as they went down. This was the address that Blackbird had given him when Silver asked if there was a way to track Simon Crete down. When he sent the picture though Blackbird thought it looked a lot like one of the school nurses and had a hunch. Silver was just supposed to check it out and report back.
Right now it was only the roof that was on fire. People were shoving and screaming at each other trying to get out. Splinterbark pointed up at the sky to three triangular shapes that were being lit up by the flames. Silver ordered for Jinn and Splinterbark to check to see if everyone had gotten out and he’s go after the crew.

The trio didn’t seem at all surprised to even see him. Blaze congratulated his intelligence. Captain yelled at the angel down below,
“I would not come any closer if I were you, Silver Guardian. Come further and you won’t be able to save our new friend here.” Captain hovered down a bit lower and showed a limp body in her arm. Silver could not see the face clear enough to distinguish just who they were but he did stop. He kept one hand over his holster just as Captain maneuvered her hostage so she could have her own hand over the button for the Vertigo Device.
“Well what are you going to do now? Come after us and lose the life of this one person? Or will you let us escape again and save the people down below? You cannot do both and you cannot win no matter what you choose. I’ve read up on you. I know the city despises you because you’re not good enough. You will never be enough.” Her words stung more than he wanted to admit. And in that moment he lost his head. He shot his gun right at her head. His momentary burst of anger had made his aim sloppy and all it succeeded was blasting off one of the ears of Captain’s mask. The Crew lingered in that moment-even the Captain was actually surprised he took a shot at her. Like actually at her. She was smart enough to realize that their best bet right now was to run. She jabbed her finger behind her and ordered for them to split up and retreat.

Their hover platforms took off in three directions with Captain having the Silver Guardian right on her trail. She plunged her device downward and shot through the canal tunnels. Water sprayed upwards under her jets and waves crashed repeatedly into the guardian’s face. When she was near one of the bridges she typed several commands and a dozen drones soared from the shadows of the bridge. Half of them latched themselves onto his wings with small pincer claws and small rocket motors helped them tug or twist the feathers giving them almost complete control of his flight. Their first action was to dunk Silver into the canal river before drudging him up again and then doing it again. Silver managed to curl the lower half of his body upwards into a tight ball. The shift in weight threw him and the drones off balance and they careened into one of the supporting pillars of a bridge. Some of the drones were dented and broke down. The others actually sped off. Silver attempted to follow when his own wings jerked him back. The primary feathers on his right ring had been pinned to the utility walkway thanks to the debris of stone and rebar. The Captain was still in view.

“Thanks for playing, loser!” She kicked her hostage off her hoverboard and took off. Silver wrenched his wing lose, losing a few feathers in the process, and just barely caught the falling body. Both of them tumbled against the opposite wall before slumping into a tangled heap on the walkway. He had his eyes closed for a moment but they snapped open when he heard the sound of tearing cloth followed by a soft sandy thud. The “hostage” was nothing more than an adult sized fabric doll. Angrily he hurled the doll into the water until he saw something flutter from the back seam of the doll’s torso. Silver scrambled for it and just snatched it before it hit the stream. It was a note with letters cut and pasted together.
“Where earthlings can pretend to be aliens.”
****

Jinn waved her staff and a pale blue haze surrounded herself, Splinterbark, and Frix.
“It is a fire immunity spell but it’s only going to last about fifteen minutes. I haven’t quite mastered elemental shields yet.” Splinterbark rapped her hook against her palm and pulled down her helmet’s visor. They didn’t have time to be self-apologizing. The two rushed inside as they pushed their way through the building. The flames had yet to come to the lower floors and almost all the doors had been flung open from the escaping residents. Frix soared up ahead to where the fire was concentrated. One of the doors on the upper floors was closed and he thought he heard something on the other side. He called out but the muffling didn’t change. Of course whomever was on the other side could not hear him. He yelled for Splinterbark and tugged on her collar to hurry once he found her. Much of the fire was snaking along the floor now and all of Splinterbark’s instincts were to run. The sprinklers had come on and soaked the floor plenty but it did little with the flames still swirling about angrily above. The haze surrounding her was starting to fade and she could feel the heat against her costume. Frix showed her the lone door still closed. The crackling and popping of the wood was loud against her ears and she couldn’t hear any voices. But Frix insisted that someone was on the other side of the door. Well it wasn’t like this place was going to get any less damaged.
She felt the heat through her gloves and it made concentration difficult. The loud wailings of the fire alarms and the combination of the cold sprinklers and the melting floor didn’t help things either. Splinterbark had to squeeze her eyes tightly and tried mentally to block everything out as much as possible. She could feel the wood creak a little and finally gave into thousand shards into the room. Inside; most the room was still soggy but the fire was eating its way through. She could just hear the faint rumblings coming from the closet. When she threw it open, Splinterbark saw a woman that had been shoved in the closet. Her wrists and legs had been bound behind her and a stocking had been used for a gag. She didn’t have the time or the tools to cut the woman loose so she clumsily heaved the women from underneath her arms and tried to drag her out into the hall. The roof collapsed into the room just as the pair had shuffled out. A sudden blast of heat in their faces made Splinterbark drop the woman hard. The hot soot and smoke spat out from the room making Splinterbark wretch as if that would expunge the smoke from her lungs. Frix yelled for her to focus as he pointed to the ceiling above them that was now starting to buckle and creak from the heat.
Then a loud crack struck from above and the planks gave away. Splinterbark tried to focus on shattering the wood into smaller pieces but her focus was scattered and only half of the wood erupted into fine dust. The rest was about to bury them alive when a purple shield just saved them. Jinn was half covered in soot and her own fire barrier had mostly fizzled out as well. It was then they could hear shouts from down below yelling if anyone was still inside. Splinterbark called back and were met with a pair of firefighters. One grabbed the woman while the other managed to heave both girls out on his own. Once outside Splinterbark silently vowed to never take fresh air for granted ever again. They were both given oxygen while the woman was cut loose. The familiar police sirens were coming close and technically they were still criminals. Jinn tried to get aloft but casting all those shields was more than she was used to doing and she faltered. From behind the firetrucks they could hear someone shout to not let the two girls in costume leave. Splinterbark wasn’t exactly in a shape to escape either and a using a flash bomb would interfere with them taking out the fire. She thought she saw Sierra among them too. From above energy shot from the sky and struck between the girls and the approaching officers. Silver Guardian grabbed them and flew them out.

None of them had stayed long though to see Simon nearly crash his car on the sidewalk. He had to skid to the right to avoid directly crashing with a fire engine. He stumbled out of the driver’s seat and was tried to shove his way through the crowd that was gathering to watch the fire and sill more were adding to the growing mob. He pushed and screamed to be let through as the view of the top floors now engulfed in flames came to focus. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder jerk him back. Then another hand clamped over his mouth and he tasted fabric and something both sweet and archine. He muted all his strength trying to resist and just turned his head enough to see Blaze out of the corner of his eye.
“Nice to see you again, Prince Specter”, she whispered in his ear as he passed out.
Silver Guardian staggered with the loss of his larger feathers and his own exhaustion, but he managed to take them far enough where they could all collapse on the ground and try to catch their breaths.
“Captain got away? What happened to the hostage?” Splinterbark gasped though long pauses of air. Silver shook his head explaining there had been no hostage-just a dummy. Splinterbark rubbed her arms and winced a little. Some of the building’s structure had managed to come into contact and had burned parts of her outfit.

“I’m sorry, my shields weren’t strong enough. Let me do something about your arm.” Jinn swapped the orbs for a green and light blue one. She hovered first the blue gem before turning the rung and finish bathing Splinterbark’s arm in a gentle turquoise light. Splinterbark felt a tingling sensation ripple through her arm as the skin pulsed and then pinched slightly as the burns began to retract themselves back into the rest of her skin. It stung as it did so, but the feeling did not last for much longer. Even the fabric had woven itself back into place.
“Wow you’re really good at that.”
“I have…had a lot of practice with Hunter. You’d be amazed how often he gets torn, scalded, burned, and shot at. Sometimes I think he does it on purpose, but even he knows my powers have its limits.” Silver Guardian scoffed showing obvious disapproval.
“So you’re fine with being his nursemaid? Sounds more like he just does whatever he wants because he knows you’ll just patch it up.” There was obvious venom in his tone-he was not even trying to hide it.
“Look, I don’t know what your deal with Hunter is, but it’s not what you think! Hunter is…complicated.”

“Sounds more like an excuse.”
“Hey, enough you two. We’re kinda batting zero here which is really really bad for our public image”, Splinterbark pleaded as she stood between the two of them trying to increase the distance between them with her cant hook. Frix sat on the handle with a piece of paper in his hands.
“What you have there?” Splinterbark asked him. Frix turned the paper around to show words cut and pasted onto printer paper. The words were “Where you can see the stars even in the sun”. Frix had found it tucked behind the woman’s neck and in her shirt. Her hair concealed the paper until the fireman had picked her up and the paper fell from her. Silver’s hand went towards his coat pocket where he had stored the paper he had found from the dummy. Splinterbark mused that this might have been some kind of taunting challenge from the Coyote Crew or a trap. Either way there was not much they could do now. None of the trio had the current strength to search an entire city on a vague clue and decided to part ways. Jinn was about halfway home still wondering why Hunter hadn’t appeared tonight and why should she not get rid of this feeling of dread.
****

Alucard had his homework done early without much difficulty. The college workbook his mother made him work on every night was a bit more challenging but his heart wasn’t in it. He would have finished this mathematics chapter only for the workbook to be flung with a lot more force than he had intended and it crashed hard against the terrariums he had lined on the wall. The terrariums rattled a little causing Alucard to apologize profusely to the various species of beetles inside. His steady but agonizing headache and knowing that an insane rabbit monster was on the loose out there was stressing him out. Maybe a quick run in the cold morning air would help.

He went to his closet that was built into the wall and shoved the hanging uniform to the side. He pressed his hand on the left side of the bare wall and the wall began to turn. The back finished the turn on its own revealing his Hunter outfit. He pulled the helmet from the hidden shelf and a loud clank bounced at his heels. The broken half of the horn rattled on the floor for a bit. Alucard groaned in annoyance as he picked up the piece and carried it over to his desk. He had forgotten that stupid angel had snapped it off. If that sparrow brain only knew how long it took to reshape the armor he had stolen to fit him. He pulled out the glue and plastic putty from a drawer on his desk and began fitting the piece back onto the helmet. Thankfully save for a slightly miniscule chunk in the front it had been a clean break. It took a good half hour before he glued the horn back on and filled the gaps with the putty. At least it now matched the gash along the visor on the other side. He had just put the helmet back on the shelf to cure when his phone rang. Alucard didn’t recognize the number and normally would have ignored it, but was curious at it. Who would call him at this hour?
“Hello.”

“Alucard, it’s me…Maria.” Her voice sounded off like she was over excited about something but was trying to reel it back in.
“How did you get my number?” he responded suspiciously.
“You gave it to me the other night, remember? On the bridge?” Her response was a little too quick and some dark thought began to wave a red flag. He knew he had been exhausted, woozy, and still on a bit of adrenaline high that night-but his memory was not that shaken up.
“Oh right, I forgot”, he lied. “Anyway, what’s up?”
“I…I need to talk to you, like right now. Can I meet you somewhere?”
“You can’t talk to me over the phone?”

“It’s…something I need to say to you directly. Alucard, please.” Her voice was shaking now. She’s afraid of something, his instincts disconcerted. They were also the same instincts that were telling him to hang up and hang up now. Jeez, pick one, Alucard grumbled.
“I can’t leave the house right now. Can this wait until tomorrow after school?” Well that was sort of a lie. He could just leave the house as he did as Hunter. But his parents had taken his car keys and locked the garage. It wouldn’t stop him since all it took was a little magic, but somehow his father would know. How even his genius brain hadn’t figured that out yet. There was a long pause and the shuffling of feet for a few moments.
“It…it can’t wait. Can I at least talk to you in front of your house? It’s just for a few minutes. I promise.” In front of the house huh? That couldn’t hurt. He agreed to it and she said she’d be there in ten minutes. Before Alucard could ask how she’d get here, Maria had hung up. He tried calling her back but the call didn’t go through.

After putting away his helmet Alucard leapt through his balcony window and landed in one of the apple trees that dotted all over the castle grounds. He glided effortlessly from tree to tree keeping well to the shadows until he finally got to the iron gates. He easily jumped over the ten foot fence and waited for Maria to come. It felt odd to be out here in the dark not dressed as Hunter. He was used to escaping the castle-like structure ready to prowl for another monster to take down. As he stood his heart stung a little. A monster was out there. His body though reminded him that he was in no shape to tackle any dark beast as the sidewalk decided to spin like flag dancer and he staggered back into the fence. Then a strange sound came to his ears. It sounded like engine and a faint smell of hot metal reached his nose. That was not a scent common to here. Or maybe he was being delusional because of the vertigo.

“Alucard, are you okay? You really don’t look well.” The dizziness had stopped by the time Maria was right in front of him. Her hair had been pulled back and she wore a long heavy coat. Alucard assured her he was fine and he was just exhausted from too much homework.
“So, what did you need to tell me in person?” Maria threw her arms around him and hugged him hard. He was not sure how he should react. He didn’t like sudden hugs even from his own mother and his instincts wanted him to shove her out of his personal space. The other half of him almost welcomed it.
“I’m sorry”, was all she said. Then Alucard felt a sharp pain in his back. It had been quick like a swift knife had plunged into his skin and released just as quickly. He felt a burning feeling course through his veins as his limbs felt heavier by the second. His legs buckled underneath him and it was only from Maria’s help that his face didn’t slam against the concrete. His vision began to darken and the last thing he saw was a mask-a coyote mask.

[Lovetheangelshadow]

Chapter 13: BreakheartLynn grumbled at her alarm clock. Though normally a morning person unlike her stepbrother, her body felt like liquid as she flopping out of bed and pulled voluminous strands of her red hair from her mouth. She was not used to using that much magic at any given time. All those movies that made magic look as easy as flicking a stick and chanting some words as many times as you please could go to hades, was the foremost thought in her mind at the moment. Magic required a lot of self-fortification, energy, and sometimes sacrifice. There was always one common rule no matter your path. Magic always had a price. Once to her feet she dragged herself over to her stepbrother’s door and knocked loudly. Any normal day she would hear him grousing to go away and then she would keep knocking until he was annoyed enough to throw open the door and yell at her that he got the message. When she knocked this morning there was no answer. She pressed her ear against the door and knocked again. Again no response. She called his name. Nothing. She only just now recalled he had fallen down stairs yesterday.
A grip of worry took ahold on her mind. What if he was lying in bed half dead or something? Alucard often locked his door especially at night. She pointed her finger at the keyhole and inhaled before muttering a small incantation. Lynn heard the tumblers click and give way and the door slowly creeped open. As Lynn went inside the room felt rather cold. Sure it was expensive to heat up the castle, but it should not have been this chilly. Her stepbrother’s bed had not been slept in and the balcony windows were wide open. Fearing the worst Lynn ran over to the outside stage and looked around. She sighed with relief that there was no sign of a dead body from where she could see.

Did Alucard leave the house when he was clearly grounded? No, he practically did everything his mother had him do and as tense as it could be sometimes-he respected his stepfather. Respect him enough to not pull something this stupid. Lynn did not have enough time to think about that now. She heard the heavy footfalls of her father race up the stairs and him screaming Alucard’s name. He nearly barreled his daughter over when Lynn had moved over to the doorway when she heard him. Desmond’s eyes were wide with panic as he searched the room. Irene was close behind him. When she saw the vacant room, her covered her mouth and started sobbing. Uneasily Lynn asked what was wrong. In Desmond’s hand was a sheet of paper. He reluctantly showed it to her. The letters had been cut out and the sheet was roughly crumpled from her father’s massive hands.
Desmond Dougal,
If you want to see your son again, have 2 million dollars ready at 3pm today. Instructions to follow
****

“Does that make any sense to you?” Reed showed the paper to Thomas as they walked towards homeroom. Thomas shook his head. If you wanted to know anything historical about Cadric City-he was your plum haired guy, but this was out of his league.
“Funny, Shelly showed me another paper just like this one earlier this morning.”
“Oh she did, did she?” Reed scoffed.
“For crying out loud, Reed. Are you two are still mad at each other?”
“Well she’s being stupidly reckless and getting in my way.”

“And you have a bit of a temper problem.”
“I do not! I just…” The first waring bell rang. Shelly was almost in the room and was preoccupied with her copy of the riddle. She warmly greeted Thomas and coldly acknowledged Reed. Lynn was a few feet behind him. Next to her were three girls and one guy comforting her and talking in low voices. Shelly recognized two of them from the Magic Club booth, but the third and the guy were new to her. Even from the distance her eyes were clearly red from crying and she was shaking from panic. Thomas excused himself and walked over to the group. Reed and Shelly could not hear what he was saying or what they said to him, but Lynn was talking calmly to him. Thomas gripped her shoulder and even hugged her, much to the girls’ surprise. Surprisingly, the guy didn’t react. They did exchange a few more words before Thomas joined back with Reed and Shelly.
“Alucard was kidnapped last night. The family got a ransom note this morning.”
“What?! That’s horrible!” Thomas shushed Shelly and said that it was not something Lynn wanted known throughout the whole campus. She was already freaking out because how angry this was making her father.

“The ransom is set for a 3pm pickup.”
“Do you think the Coyote Crew is behind this”, Reed asked.
“She doesn’t know. I’ll check with Blackbird between classes since I have to deliver some club documents to the head office. Maybe he can figure something out. You want me to give him those riddles of yours too?” Reed and Shelly cast cold glances at each other and grumbled in agreement that it would perhaps be a good idea to get another brain in on this. In the meantime they were to not say anything to anyone about the kidnapping, even to Lynn.
****

Alucard groaned when he finally managed to actually shake himself awake. Mornings were not his thing and now it was even harder fighting off the dregs of the sedative he had been injected with. Whatever drug Maria used on him was strong because while his eyes were open, his whole body was still lead. Not to mention it was only making his vertigo worse and he wanted to heave up whatever miniscule contents here left in his stomach. His dark vision and his Hunter sense snapped on as he shook his mind awake. He was in a darkened room that was unlike any room he had ever been in. The ground was slightly squishy where he was sitting and smelled like rubber. The “rocks” his back was against were hard foam and smelled like paint. When he tried to stand up he found it was not just the aftereffects of the tranquillizer that was keeping him grounded. His arms had been tied behind him with a zip tie. His feet were also tied together and tucked underneath him. He could possibly melt them with a little dark fire even if the plastic would burn against his skin for a bit.
“So, you’ve finally woken up” someone across the space muttered. Simon was across the cave with his arms and legs bound the same way. There was bruising across his face and Alucard smelled small traces of blood somewhere around him. He seemed rather calm for being tied up.
“Doctor Callum? Where are we? Did Maria drag you here too?”

“Maria…I haven’t seen her in a long time. Jamie is the only one I saw before I passed out. Which means Jessie won’t be far behind.” He seemed aware that Alucard was not following what he was saying. Simon had managed to maneuver his legs into a more comfortable seating position.
“You might know them better as Captain, Blaze, and Star: The Coyote Crew of the Firefall Arcade.” He said it dramatically and yet Alucard still didn’t know what he was talking about.
“You didn’t watch a lot of tv as a kid?”

“It’s…complicated.” Translation: his mother didn’t really let him watch a lot of TV growing up having him focus more on his education instead.
“I see. Would you believe I actually played one of the primary villains on that show?”
“You were an actor?” Simon did not have a chance to answer when the room was flooded with sharp light that made Alucard wince. Star sauntered in alone. Alucard bit his lip hard to not snap at her. He hadn’t realized it before but her scent matched Maria’s. How could have he not realized it sooner?
“So, you’re awake. I was starting to think I used too much sedative. Boy were you a drag on the hoverboard.” Her voice was cold, haughty, and smug.
“Maria….you…this was all a set up?” Alucard stammered. Maria forced a cackle.
“Well of course! What? You think I actually liked you? Aw, how cute. Did you think you were so special or something?” Alucard suppressed a rising panic and began to take rapid breaths much out of his conscious control.

“Aw, you gonna cry? Oh puh-lease! I know boys like you. It’s all a game to you. You don’t really actually care about anyone but yourself. ‘Oh Maria if you’re in trouble pwease tell me. I wanna hewlp’. Bah! I never believed a word of it!” Alucard was not sure what to say. There was an uncomfortable tightness in his chest. He could feel the ice heat stab which meant the White Rabbit was near. But this other feeling…a mix of panic, anger, and numbness he was unfamiliar with. And he hated it. His hands were shaking and some dark part of him wanted to burst out and burn everything. To be honest, it took everything he had to reel it back in. It would not do exactly well for his reputation if it came out he was secretly a fire wielding emotion sucking monster hunter. Not even his own mother knew about it-as far as he was aware. Maria stepped back. Aside from Alucard curling up tighter in his bonded position nothing outward seemed different. And yet she felt a growing sense of unease like a shadow threatening to tear her to pieces. She looked behind and around her and her face softened slightly. Maria was about to say something when her sister’s entered the room.

“So you two finally woke up. About time. What a couple of pathetic so called strong boys. You’re looking good, Simon. But how pathetic see you now. One of the handsomest young boys in the showbiz, all the girls you could have wanted…and yet you have reduced yourself to being a nursemaid for a bunch of spoiled, selfish, brats.” She said the words quite forcefully and even tore off her mask to show the full fury of her expression. It had been the first time Alucard had seen the face behind the Captain’s mask. She might have been a beautiful person, but the venom of over a decade of bitterness, anger, and insanity had mostly concealed it in a twisted cold masking. Even Simon seemed horrified at the visage but not for himself. Was it pity? Alucard was not sure.
“Jessie, what happened to you?” Jessie kicked Simon hard in the stomach and then again in the back when he was on the ground.

“Shut up! It’s all your fault! You turned your back on me! Everything was great until you ruined everything.” Simon wheezed a little but even with his hands bound he still stood up.

“At least I moved on. Looks like you never grew up. And dragged your sisters down with you.” Jessie snarled as raked her fingers across Simon’s face. She tried to grab his throat but Jamie dragged her back. Jessie struggled but forced herself back into calmness. She slicked her hair back casually and put her mask back on.
“You’re right, Jamie. Besides, we have something far more suited for you. See you later, Prince Spector.”
The two were left alone in the dark again. Alucard could hear Simon quietly sobbing a little.
“Sounds like you two have quite the history”, Alucard mused coldly. “What did you ever see in her?”
“She…wasn’t always like that”, Simon choked once he got to his back.
“Jessie and I used to even joke about a fanfiction of a romance between the Captain Coyote and Prince Spector. But…then the show got popular…too fast. The pressure really wore on all of us and I think it hurt Jessie the most. I told her to try and get help, but she took it as an affront. I still have nightmares when she tied to kill me with that scenery. Maybe if I tried harder…if I didn’t turn my back…”
Simon kept rambling on and Alucard sort of just tuned him out. Maria being just as late as he had been for their first night together? The acidic smell of the monster on her clothes? Even her dodgy behavior talking about herself? How could he have been so stupid? He had let himself get distracted. He was an idiot. A stupid weak idiot.

****
“For the last time officer, I want you and the rest of your team off my property!” Sierra walked in to find Desmond Dougal yelling at one of the detectives. The man was a mountain compared the demure officer who was shakenly holding his notepad and his knees buckling underneath them.
“Desmond, I’m sorry. I called them. I got scared. I was so afraid I’d lose him again I…”
“And I told you to trust me!” Sierra blinked at the exchange before making a loud cough to notify her presence.
“Mr. Dougal, I understand your fears. But there is reasonable cause to believe that the Coyote Crew may be behind this and with your cooperation we may be able to…”

“I don’t care about your arresting of those candy colored lycanthrope bandits! My son is in danger because neither you nor that silver sprite can do your jobs! Now out! OUT!” Sierra motioned for the detective supposedly in charge that it would be advisable for them to take the man’s advice.
Outside Bruce was sitting in the passenger side looking at a tablet.
“I could hear him from out here. That bad, huh?” Sierra waited until the rest of the patrol cars had started to move past the front gate.
“Mr. Dougal has never been this uncooperative before. Remember the bomb threat a last year? Or that crazy riot from a few years back?”
“I don’t believe anyone thinks clearly when their own family is in danger”, Bruce hummed. He turned his tablet towards her. On it was a map of the city and red and green shapes were drawn in MS Paint over it.
“You have an idea?”

“Maybe. A lot of their appearances seem to have a central location and I’ve narrowed it down to about a 2 mile radius. There are about three places they could hide. I just wish I had something more to go on.”
“Mobilizing that much manpower might take time and we’re still reeling a bit from that gorilla siege and the breakout. What about the Callum woman?”
“I couldn’t get much out of her. According to her, the Coyote Crew broke in through the sliding window and demanded to know where a Simon Callum was. When she couldn’t tell them, they said they had ways to get his attention and shoved her in the closet. Then the explosion.”
“The firefighter’s found his car on the curb. Drag marks and scorched grass were found at the scene. And I was thinking the story he told me was out of a bad soap opera.”
“So what do we want to do? You know the chief is going to make us ignore Dougal’s request.”
“Focus on the Coyote Crew case and we might be able to accomplish this without politically stepping on people’s toes. Let’s get back to the office. The Wi-Fi in your car is awful.”
****

“I have an idea where they might be hiding”, Blackbird responded to his two students. He typed onto the computer and an old dome shaped building appeared on the screen. Under the caption was the headline “Cadric City Planetarium’s repairs on hold due to lack of funding”. Shelly slapped her forehead and remarked with a loud ‘DUH’. Reed tugged on his bangs silently. It made sense. The planetarium had an interactive exhibit where kids could pretend to be on what an alien planet could theoretically be like. The place was closed because a supervillain calling himself Extrerrorestial had holed himself up in there while trying to steal the lab samples and the fight between him and the Golden Guardian had gotten a bit messy. His father did anonymous donation for the repairs but progress was slow.
“I could storm in there and take them down”, Reed boasted.
“Yeah and get your brain scrambled by their vertigo device. Plus they have an evil rabbit monster too. Remember what Crocodile Rock did to you?” Shelly reminded him snidely.

“Do not test me, Shelly.”
Blackbird slapped his cane on the ground between them.
“Enough! Reed, go upstairs and wait in my office. Shelly, remain here. We need to talk” His voice was loud and made the two teens shiver in their stance. When Reed was upstairs, Blackbird told Shelly for her to sit down.
“Shelly, I don’t like you and Reed antagonizing each other. Neither of you can afford these petty squabbles.”
“He started it! He thinks he’s so special because some stupid magic ring…argh he just makes me so mad sometimes!” Shelly struck the punching bag hard and felt a shockwave through her wrist. Blackbird sighed heavily.
“Your stance is sloppy. Your feet are too far apart and your knuckles are facing the wrong way. Now strike the bag while you and I have a little discussion.”
Shelly’s knuckles were sore, but she had managed to calm down. She found talking angrily while hitting the bag a lot easier than fidgeting uneasily in the chair. Why does it make you angry? Have you tried to think about it from his perspective before? Have you tried other approaches? Most of it didn’t exactly sink in. Frix was not helping either. What did this old fart know? Clearly he was in favor of the boy. You didn’t need the Guardian. Either way, Shelly did feel a bit calmer. Technically he was the face of what should have been their partnership so the media loved to rag on the Silver Guardian. She and Blackbird went upstairs, but Reed wasn’t to be found. Maybe he had stepped out for a drink? Shelly dialed his cell and they heard “Obsolete” playing from underneath the chair used for students. Reed’s bag had been stuffed underneath the chair.
“You don’t think he…”
Blackbird sighed and shook his head.
“You’d better hurry.”

[Lovetheangelshadow]

Chapter 14: The Series Finale Part I: Star ChaserSilver Guardian knew he should have said something before leaving. No, this was something he had to do on his own. Splinterbark would have just slowed him down and gotten in his way. He then thought about when they had blown up that hardware store. They could have killed someone and they didn’t care. As aggravating as Shelly could get, he’d never forgive himself if he couldn’t protect her from them. Besides, he just had to be smart when dealing with those three. It was the rabbit he was worried about. If Crocodile Rock would harm him, who knows what the bunny was capable of.
He knew where the Cadric City Planetarium was. His brother had often taken him along on his school field trips and a couple summer camps. That and his father was a notable donator; even if Marco claimed it was just to outdo the Dougal’s donations. The building was towards the outer circles of the city. A stone’s throw from Cadric City Lake and a straight shot from downtown. He the place was surrounded by a thick crown of oak trees. Aside from leaves and fallen branches lying strewn about on the roof and grounds, the place looked mostly pristine.
The Guardian landed carefully on the domed roof and trying to flap away the twigs under his feet. He had some trouble moving along the slick and slimy surface trying to find a way in. The windows were shut tight and most were too large to not sneak in. The only stealthiest way to get inside was through the air duct and there was no possible way his ginormous body was fitting inside there. At least-not as the Silver Guardian.
****

Lynn had tried to convince the chauffeur to get her home quicker. She knew she had to get home in time to try and follow the ransom. Sure she was not very fond of her stepbrother, but she would never wish this upon him. How did they even capture him in the first place? It was a well-kept family secret but the Dougal castle walls had been enchanted since its construction-unless he had been lured out? What could possibly lure her academic obsessed stepbrother outside at night? When she finally got in, the only person she saw was her stepmother, Irene, pacing the parlor back and forth. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and her normally perfectly kept hair was frazzled. Of course she would be worried, Lynn reasoned, it was her son who was kidnapped. If Lynn had been the hostage she would not be as worried.
“I’m home, Irene”, she said quietly. Normally Irene would flinch slightly from not being called ‘mother’, but she was preoccupied wiping her nose. She had even wrapped her burly arms around Lynn and hugged her tightly. Both must have realized how awkward this was because they clumsily pushed themselves away from
each other.

“Oh…welcome home, Lynn. Did you have a good day at school?” She was obviously forcing the pleasantness, but after the hug even Lynn couldn’t muster her usual mild malice.
“It was okay. Where’s dad?”

“A drone came in while you were at school with the instructions. Your father went to the lakeside park to drop off the money. You just missed him by five minutes.” Five minutes, Lynn mused. It took at least a half hour to drive to the lake. She could get there in half the time on her staff.
“It’s been a long day, Irene. I’m going to do my homework and sleep a little.” Irene muttered a ‘sure’ without much protest but definitely disappointment. Lynn practically wanted to tell her that she was going to follow the pickup money and rescue her stepbrother, but she could not exactly tell her stepmother she was a witch. That was one of the biggest rules in the family and the last thing they needed was the Council knocking on their door.
Lynn used her staff to transform her uniform into her Jinn outfit. Clothes transmutation was one of the spells she had learned on her own and had taken almost an entire year, trial and error, and a lot of dollar store shirts to master it. If it would not obviously tell her father she was Jinn, she would have been more than happy to show her self-taught skill. Riding her staff she flew a little higher than normal to keep out of sight from day view public. Flying to the lake took less time than she expected. The lakeside park was a large place. Finding her father was going to take a little extra focus and a lot of luck. Floating among a clump of trees, Jinn rotated the front rung until the large spikes made an ‘X’ and then traced her fingers along the spines. She focused hard on her father, conjuring up the clearest image of him she could think of and putting a strong desire to find him. She had tried to use this spell once on Alucard before when she caught him taking the car out on a Sunday night, but her tracking spell always seemed to fizzle out. The spines flashed red and then one point began to glow brighter than the others. Jinn turned her staff to the left and the right, but the spire remained on point. Good, that meant the spell was focused on her father and was pointing to the eastside area of the park.

Jinn slowly followed the spire until she saw the familiar car of the red coupe come up the highway and pull into the parking lot. Well at least he and Alucard seemed to share in interest in gaudy looking cars. She watched her father pull out and had a large briefcase in his hand. He looked around him and began to walk towards the lake shore. Desmond paused and looked up in Jinn’s direction. Jinn almost darted out of there from her hiding spot as she felt something cold and icy pierce through her. Crap, did he know she was there? She cut off the spell and held with bated breath. Her father seemed to shrug and move on. He kept walking until he was at the very edge of the water. He slammed the suitcase hard on the ground and then began to trace his finger on the front face of the casing. Then he backed away and went to his car. The car didn’t move. What was her father thinking?

She did not have to wait long as the all too familiar whirring hum pierced the malaise of the lake. Just how many drones did those three have? The robot latched hard onto the case and with some struggle managed to lift it. Jinn waited until it was far enough to follow it. The bot must have been programmed with the mind of a rat the way it scurried through the air from left to right and around. Jinn was able to follow it easily enough over the highway and the expressways until it got into the more populated areas of the city. Then the mechanical courier began to dart down one street before turning onto another and then double backing on a closer street. Jinn tried her best to keep up, but her staff was made for straightforward travel and not intricate flying. Sometimes Hunter would do the same thing just to test her patience. At one point she made a left when she should have turned right and flew right into the front facing path of the drone. The mechanical marvel paused and claws sprouted from its chassis. The claws snapped and slashed at the air around her. Jinn nosedived her staff and a claw slashed against her back. Jinn spin a bit as the cold autumn air bit hard at the thin open wound and the pain made her lose the temporary control of the staff. Jinn had to jerk her staff to the right to keep from colliding into the face of the news building. The back tip of her staff clipped against the glass and twisted her course and she skidded into a tree. Jinn slipped out of the tree and landed hard on her rear. The staff was struck in the branches. Rubbing her sore rear, Jinn tried to climb the tree trying to reach for it. She tried to call the staff to her hand, but she could feel head splitting in pain from the concentration required. Suddenly the branches that held it up shattered and the staff landed on the sidewalk with a loud metallic clank.
“Bad day?” Splinterbark inquired. Jinn slowly picked her staff up from the ground and told the pink pixie to shut it. Both of them saw the drone disappear among the buildings. Jinn started to breathe hard through clenched teeth and her hands were shaking.
“Hey Jinn, you seem really upset. Look I can…”
“I don’t need your help! I’ll find those three girls and rescue…forget it. You wouldn’t understand. You’re just an ignorant little sprite playing superhero dress up.”
“Hey! One: I am going to pretend you did not just say that. Two: I know where the drone is going. Besides, I…kinda need your help to get there fast.”
****

Reed was shoving himself through the air vent. Even for his waif-like frame it was still a little bit of a squeeze. He had to not laugh at the sheer irony of his current situation. Apparently there was something Reed was useful for-if it was to just either stand and be unnoticed in the background or crawl through air ducts like a sneak. Then another sound of erupted though the vents and echoed even louder inside the metallic tunnel. It was a scream. It was impossible to tell where it came from but it was definitely masculine, twisted, horrible, and long. As it continued to wail; the scream slowly died out like something was choking the life out of it. Finally there was silence. Reed gripped his collar tightly and took deep and slow breaths to try and steady the sudden spike in his heartbeat. Was he too late? Did he fail again? Stop thinking like that, Silver Guardian, he reprimanded himself. Just focus on making sure those girls get arrested. It was quite a few minutes before he finally found an opening just above the hall near the restrooms. Pushing the grate open was a little more difficult as it was shut tight from the other side. Well, so much for stealth.

The Silver Guardian’s body busted through the roof with an explosion of screeching metal and crumbling wood and plaster. He chanced to look at the gaping hole his sizeable bulk now created. This was not going to do good for his public reputation. Dusting off the plaster from his shoulders, Silver pressed against the wall trying to keep to the shadows of the hallway. There was only one place where he saw light inside the darkened building. Silver pressed both hands against his holsters ready to shoot at the first sign of movement. He knew he would have to draw faster than the Captain would activate the Vertigo Device. The light was coming from the auditorium. It was an enormous room with a large domed ceiling and five rings of chairs surrounding the edges. In the center was the projector still under a heavy tarp. There was a lot of room around the projector mostly to help with filtering large school groups. He saw there were three sleeping bags on the floor and a scraps of food wrappers around them. Silver moved slowly to the opposite side of the room to the second door leading to the exhibit halls. Then he heard a small faint noise of shuffling from up above. His eyes turned up to see Blaze.
“So, you found us. I was right.” There was a curious tone to her words as she said that. She almost sounded….relieved?

“I’m sorry I have to do this though”, Blaze announced before revealing a remote in her left hand. When she pressed it the tarp from the projector fell to the ground and three drones busted from where they had been perched. Their backs split open revealing speaker like devices. Silver wasn’t going to take any chances and fired three successive shots. The speakers had gone off the moment he had pulled the first trigger and two of his shots went wild before his whole body was racked with an assault of vertigo. This was not like the previous times before. Now not just the floor began to rumble and deform at his feet, but the walls and ceiling as well. Silver dropped his guns and pressed his head against his hands as it felt like his skull it was going to burst open.

“Well well well so somehow the loser got lucky in finding our little hideout.” His brain may be currently swimming in gelatin at the moment but there was no mistaking that haughty crowing of the Captain. Through his twisted vision he could see a streak of pink, green, and white flutter and slide towards him. There was some kind of sparking blue hovering around her abstract shape and there was a curious humming surrounding her. The sparking blue object then rose up higher before plunging into his back. He was invulnerable to harm, but that didn’t mean he still didn’t feel it. A shock of electricity racing along his spine and his body arced and spasmed upwards and then collapsed hard onto the ground. Captain cackled wish sadistic delight as she turned up the power on her electric prod. She struck hard again and then kicked Silver over onto his back.
“Some hero you are. Can’t even beat three little girls. I wonder how much you’ll take before you fall straight to hell.”

[Lovetheangelshadow]

Chapter 15: The Series Finale Part II: Star BreakerAlucard had to be subtle when using his flame to burn the zip ties around his wrists. He kept his body almost flush with the wall and carefully pulled his wrists apart as the plastic stretched. He probably would have burned them a lot faster if Simon was not in the same room with him. Simon appeared to be in his own world just staring at his knees and muttering the same phrases over and over. Alucard could feel the ties starting to give and just need a little more time before his hands were free. His brain was also coming up with at least ten possible excuses he could use in case Simon questioned how he got free. Then the crew had returned.

“Time to pay before the Galaxy Court, Prince Spector”, Captain grinned coldly. Simon did not resist when the girls forced him to his feet. Star was hesitant to follow her sisters back-almost afraid to even go along with them.
“I’ll…stay behind here and guard the other hostage”, she said stoically. Blaze seemed to agree with Star and told Captain that it would be best since the drone hasn’t arrived yet. Also they weren’t supposed to be being the judgement until Boarcelina came back.

“I think I know what I’m doing without that pig faced witch interfering. And if Star wants to be a little coward, let her.” Blaze and Captain dragged Simon to another part of the exhibit area. Star was trying to avoid looking at him, but she couldn’t help but smell an odd musty smell of burning plastic. Still not looking at his face directly she bent down and pulled Alucard’s wrists to the side. The zip ties were almost melted through. How was he able to accomplish this? Unless….
Both of them jumped when a horrible scream pieced the silence. It was long and sorrowful before slowly wailing downward until it faced back to nothing. Alucard saw the color drain from Star’s face and tears were starting to drip from underneath her mask. She staggered back trying to get away from the sound and tripped over Alucard’s leg. Alucard thought back to the previous meeting and her weakened state. So, the White Rabbit had a taste of her. He was then thrown off when Star had gripped his arm shaking and sobbing. He snarled and kicked her off yelling at her to get away from him. Star didn’t fight it back at first.
“Alucard I…I didn’t…”

“I said get away from me!” In his anger he hand managed to pull the ties apart and raised both fists. Fire sparked from his hands and he tried to strike her. In his haste he forgot his feet were still tied together and he fell on his face. Star fully realized it now. He and that devil kid were the same person. Footsteps were coming from the opposite end of the room. Star shoved Alucard back into an upright seated position and forced his hands behind him while making a motion for him to be silent. Alucard was stunned by her action, but was smart enough to play along.
The two sisters returned with the now stumbling body of Simon between them. Captain happily tossed his body to the floor. Her mouth was perversely formed into a half smile and her voice was a slow cackle.

“Justice…served”, she giggled as it morphed into an uproar. Alucard blinked and stared at the flopped body. Simon was still alive, but hardly resembling the man he had been previously. His dark hair was now devoid of color and his eyes were glazed over. His face had sunken in and almost as chalk white as Alucard himself.
“What…what did you do to him?!” Alucard demanded. He knew full well what they had done-he just didn’t think they were going to go that far. Blaze and Star looked away while Captain threw her head back into another laughing fit. She wheezed in air trying to steady herself.
“The same thing we’ll do to you if you don’t behave, or maybe we’ll just do it anyway.” The drone then arrived carrying the suitcase. Captain patted the drone on the head like it was a puppy.

“Well now we have the money. I’d say we leave pretty boy here for that witch. If she has an issue, she can take it out on him.” Blaze opened her mouth to protest when a beeping noise came from Captain’s wrist and she tapped it silent.
“Blaze, head to the auditorium. Someone seems to be trying to get in from the south side. Star, you and me will get the weapons.”
“Captain, what about…”
“I told you I don’t give a rat’s ass what that pig thinks! Now do what I ordered you to! I am the captain and it’s your job to follow my orders.”

Alucard was left alone in the room again. As much as he would like to tear into the Coyote Crew, namely one Maria/Star, he was going to let his anger out on one White Rabbit first. He wasn’t sure where the sisters had gone and had to wait before releasing his weapon. His Hunter Sense easily directed him to the rabbit. The beast was sitting in an alcove like a grotesque stuffed animal. The rabbit was three times his size as before. Save for the exponential enlargement the only other change to its form was its distended stomach and black drool dripping from its mouth. Another bizarre creature was stroking the monster’s chin with disappointed pouting.

“You poor poor thing. I shouldn’t have left you out of my sight. And now look what they did to you. Do those harlots have any idea how long it’s going to take me to purify you before I offer you up to my lord? Female villains these days-they have no respect or class. Hmm? And who are you?” Boarcelina’s eyes scanned up and down Alucard’s visage quite scrupulously and he felt rather uncomfortable about it. Her snout curled into a pleased grin.
“Well well well, so you are alive.” She began to walk closer, her hooves pressing deep into the rubber matting and leaving clear marks in it. A strange sense of déjà vu flashed in Alucard’s mind. Didn’t the monster in the sewer seem to recognize him as well? Only this time this beast seemed unpleasantly pleased to see him. Just what was going on? Then he saw the White Rabbit just standing there and he remembered why he was here. As tempting as it was to solve this porcine’s cryptic riddle-his elimination of that beast came first. He tried to reach over his shoulder to summon his sword, but the witch was fast in reaction. A bolt of ice struck Alucard’s palm and almost twisted his arm behind him. The ice clung to his hand and it stung quite a bit. Okay, so he was going to have to think a little more cleverly. Dark flames burst from his hands and he leapt directly towards the rabbit. His body clashed hard against the shield that suddenly erected before it. Boarcelina had hardly even moved as if she had never cast the spell. Her arm only turned slightly as a black smoky tentacle struck from the spiked rung of her staff and wrapped themselves tightly around Alucard’s wrists. She rugged hard as the tendril first jerked him upwards and then slammed his body across the surface of a rock formation exhibit. Alucard grasped the thing and sent fire racing up the smoky mass. Boarcelina shrieked and dropped her staff. He had her now. One good strike across the throat ought to do it.

Alucard never even managed to remove it from his fleshy sheath. It started first as a low singular beep before suddenly assaulting his senses with horrible screeching. This was different than from before. It was not just the nausea and the lack of balance and perspective. It was like a thousand wasps had all conjoined to his head and were sinking their jaws into him repeatedly. He was not the only one it seemed either. Both Boarcelina and the White Rabbit were also twisting and clawing at the floor in agony. Then the witch snatched her staff and drew a symbol on her head. A white decahedron flashed over both her and White Rabbit’s heads. Whatever was still inflicting pain on Alucard no longer affected them. Everything was still distorting in his vision, but he could feel the cloven fingertips of Boarcelina grab his chin and pull his face upwards to hers.

“Incredible, you look so much like your father.” His…father? This hideous pig-snouted witch knew his father? His mother would never speak of him except for the same words that Boarcelina said now. He was still too disoriented and sick to form any coherent words to give questions. Then something red struck her hard across the face and she released him. She rubbed her sore jaw and bellowed at the scorched pieces of fur that had fallen into her hand.
“Who dares?!”

“I am here for my son”, Desmond Dougal announced as he entered the room. Alucard was half passed out and could only make out the vague shape of his stepfather. But something felt different about him. This was not the mountain man who had a way of getting everyone to notice his presence, but not feel threatened. No, this was the opposite. Something angry and…magical? Don’t be stupid, Alucard thought. You’re just mixing it up with the boar witch. Boarcelina just huffed and snapped her fingers together and commanded the White Rabbit to deal with him while she took care of extracting her payment and the additional surcharge.
****

Splinterbark was having a hard time staying on Jinn’s staff as they sped between buildings towards the planetarium. They had just reached the edges of the forested area surrounding the building when Splinterbark was almost hit in the face by a passing sparrow. She looked behind her and saw a least two more spiraling in the air trying to stay aloft. Songbird’s Finest #252 flashed in her mind and she yelled for Jinn to halt. The blue witch didn’t hear her and was quickly coming closer to the building. She was starting to wobble and Splinterbark could feel the effects as well. She tugged on Jinn’s hair hard and shouted for her to stop. Jinn’s hands were wrenched from the front of the staff sending the two into a wobbling spiral that she only just got control of a foot from the ground.
“What the hell was that for?”
“Look at the birds, witchy poo.”
“What of it?”

“We still have a mile to go and already the animals are affected. If we get anywhere close to the Fixer’s Vertigo Amplifier we’re just as good as floored. And if Silver went ahead of me…” Jinn frowned but seemed to understand clearly enough. She struck her staff and cast her protection spell on both her and Splinterbark. There was still a bit of ringing, but it should protect them long enough. Splinterbark found the entrance Silver had used judging by the smaller handprints on the air duct. Jinn shrunk her staff back to pendant sized and they both shimmed inside. They easily found the hole that Silver had created. Finding Silver himself wasn’t hard either. All they had to do was follow the screams. As the auditorium came into the view they saw the Silver Guardian flying face down on the ground with Captain repeatedly striking him with absolute glee with her electric staff.
Splinterbark asked if Jinn had any spells that could break something.
“Just a basic concussive blast-but breaking inanimate objects is all its good for. I can break those bots for sure.” Jinn aimed her staff and Splinterbark grabbed the front spire.

“Aim for the Captain’s helmet. Break that.”
“What kind of crazy logic are you…”
“Just trust me.” Well it had been her plan to that took down Metilla twice and she figured out where Circus Freak was hiding. Alright, she supposed the pixie at least knew something of what she was doing.

Silver was just trying to focus on keeping it together. There was only just so much abuse he could take before his Guardian form would fizzle out. His he could just power through that stupid siren noise. Splinterbark could have checked for traps you know, that voice rang in his head again. She could have backed you up. She is supposed to be your partner, isn’t she? Captain raised the Taser staff high above her head deciding to stab it right into his ear much to Star and Blaze’s dismay. Then he heard the sound of plastic and metal shattering. Then Captain began to scream.
“Arrruugh! It hurts! IT HURTS! Blaze, turn it off! Shut it down now!” The wailing faded from Silver’s hearing. Thankfully him being the Guardian allowed him to shake off the disorientation quickly. The captain was on her knees with her head in her hands and shaking. The shatters of her mask were on the floor beneath her. He didn’t think too much on it and fired two quick shots against the other two vertigo bots. And just in case, he grabbed Captain’s right wrist and gripped hard enough to just smash the control panel on it.

“Nice shot, Jinn! Up high!” Jinn and Splinterbark stormed in weapons at the ready. Silver would have laughed at the irony of this situation if it meant he’d admit he was wrong. Well he didn’t intend to do that. Not in front of the Coyote Crew anyway.
“No…I won’t let you ruin everything!” Star wailed as she jabbed her staff hard in the underside of Silver’s wrist and forced him to let go of the Captain. Star caught her sister and asked frantically if she was okay. Captain sneered that she was just fine and shoved her sister to the side before pressing against the control panel in her shoulder. From a secondary hallway the hoverboard streaked through and Captain effortlessly leapt onto it as it passed by. She then turned the board’s grapple claw towards the ceiling and shot them both to tear away a hole in the ceiling. Silver rose to follow her through the hole though he did look back briefly. Splinterbark shouted for him to catch the Captain-they would handle Blaze and Star. He nodded uneasily before escaping.
The Captain had not gone far. She had three drones hovering in a triangular formation around her and the grapple arms at the ready. Seriously, how many of those drones did she have? She had been waiting for him to come outside. She began to rhythmically toss her electric staff between her hands and her eyes followed that than on him.

“You know, you remind me a lot of this one villain we had on our show. If I remember right, it was a five partner. There was this angel who looked like a good guy, but it turned out he was secretly a tyrant. Don’t remember how it ended though. All I know is we won. Things won’t change here. Heh heh heh. I’ve finally defeated Prince Spector! And soon…ha ha ha…soon Dark Ghost will fall before me! The galaxy will praise me and my name will overshadow everyone else! I’m the hero here! Ha...ha…ha…not you! Me…ME!”

“This isn’t one of your silly TV episodes! Real people have gotten hurt because of you! And you…you don’t even care! You’re no hero. You’re just a delusional thief who refuses to grow up because you can’t deal with reality!” Captain’s eyes widened and her lip curled up slightly. The prod on her staff began to burn even brighter and illuminated her form in a sickening blue glow.
“Delusional? You dare spit upon my accomplishments? You, who is nothing but a mere cabin boy before me! You’re going down, angel! Your story arc is done!” The left grabble spun from its casing and snatched Silver’s wing. The claws clenched down hard on his feathers before yanking a sizeable chunk. Silver spun until his back was to the Captain. The drones filed as one as Silver twisted and got tangled in one of the trees below. Another pulse screamed across the night sky. The guardian angel turned and blocked them with his armored greaves causing them to ricochet and bounce wildly. One managed to just catch Captain’s sleeve shattering her already broken wrist controller. She dove her vehicle forward and attempted to pierce him with the staff. Silver shoved himself down just missing the strike. The heavy foliage forced Captain to turn her vehicle upwards back into the open air. He had no super jump like Hunter, but using his wings he flapped hard just as he used his powerful legs to hurl himself up high into the air and latch onto one of the taller trees. Using his legs to grip to the branches, Silver unholstered both guns and fired a series of shots.

Jinn faced Blaze while Splinterbark offered to trade staff blows with Star. Getting up to the upper walkway was easy for Jinn. Blaze was armed with just her blaster. She fired several successive shots, however they barely even came close to Jinn’s position. The moment Captain and Silver Guardian had taken to the skies, Blaze dropped her gun at Jinn’s feet and held up her hands. Jinn was uneasy and kept her staff pointed at Blaze.
“I surrender, miss witch. Sorry, I didn’t catch your name the first time.”
“A likely story”, Jinn hissed as she drove the staff’s spires closer to Blaze’s chest. Blaze did not falter though.
“Who do you think left you those riddles?” To prove her point even further, Blaze took off her mask and let it drop to the floor as well. Jinn was still hesitant. This woman had been an actress before. Who’s to say this was not a trick? Splinterbark let out a loud yell that stuttered.

Splinterbark was doing all she can to not get hit by the prod. Star was a lot faster and her reaction time between blows was incredible. This was not like Circus Freak. Star would predict every one of Splinterbark’s moves and counter each time. Splinterbark kept trying to grab wood from her pouch, but Star would either stab her hand with the prod or use the handle to twist her arm away. She doubted Star knew exactly what she was trying to do, but was not taking any chances. Splinterbark just rolled out of the way as Star thrusted the prod into the ground trying to stab her in the chest. Splinterbark swung her staff low to the ground and used the hook to catch Star by her lower leg and try to force her down. Star tossed the prod staff to the side and bent over backwards to catch herself and backflip to a stable position. She then grabbed Splinterbark’s cant hook by the handle and twisted it hard in a clockwise motion. Splinterbark winced and Star kicked her hard in the shin. She was able to wrest the hook free and swung it in a wide arc. The hook caught onto Splinterbark’s upper arm and tore a deep gash into her skin. She was then struck hard across the face with the butt of the handle. As Splinterbark lay floored, Star was screaming how they were not going to ruin everything. How they were going to live happily ever after. And she’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen. A blast shot the weapon from her hands and sent it scattering across the room.

“That’s enough, Maria.” Blaze and Jinn hovered down to the central area with Blaze’s smoking blaster in her hand.
“Jamie? What…what are you doing? We have to beat them! We have to win!”
“Maria, you and I both know we’ve taken this too far. Sure the whole stealing from the hoity toity was fine and all but look at us! Think about what Jessie did to Simon! What is to stop her from doing this to other people? Or even kill them!”
“But…but Jessie said this was the last mission. That we’d stop and we could…we could just be normal.” Jamie put both of her hands on Maria’s shoulders.
“You know Jessie won’t stop. Plus she…I overheard her. She’s promised you to Boarcelina.” Maria’s head began to shake hard. Tears were welling up as she shook in disbelief. Splinterbark noted that Frix dove into the deepest depths of her pocket at the mention of the name Boarcelina.
“No! No she wouldn’t! We’re sisters! She does everything for us! She’d never turn me over to…”

“Aw sisterly loyalty. How sweet. And how foolish.” A red haze surrounded Maria and suddenly she was thrust back to the edge of the center space. She had been pulled towards Boarcelina’s staff and was now transfixed there.
“In exchange for borrowing MY tribute, your dearest sister promised me your most valuable piece of self. But she didn’t listen to my explicit instructions and used the rabbit behind my back! She defiled him with positive emotions and now I have to take even more of your soul for the time I have to waste cleansing the brute for offering.” The pig sorceress grasped her cloven hand around what appeared to be a skull of some kind around her neck but it was only vaguely humanoid and unclear in everything else. The eyes of the skull began to glow and the mouth opened slightly. A thin white mist began to pour from Maria’s mouth and feed rapidly into the skull’s jaw. Jamie cried out for her sister and fired at the porcine beast. The blasts failed to crack the shield that separated them. Jinn slid in closer and tried to fire a volley of her own blasts to break through. Though her magic had some success in cracking the shield, it wasn’t enough. A bat slammed onto Boarcelina’s head. Splinterbark had used the distractions caused by Jamie and Jinn to run behind and strike. The skull’s mouth snapped closed and the mist not devoured by it slithered back into Maria’s body. Splinterbark then shoved a small log into Boarcelina’s snout and made it explode on the inside. As the witch buried her snout in her hands, Splinterbark grabbed the semi-conscious Maria and tried to escape. The boar witch squealed and whipped up a small flurry to freeze their legs in place in place. Jinn tried to break the enchantment only for the spell to hold firm. The spell the pig had used was stronger than her magic and refused to crumble at Jinn’s command.

The beast of a woman was right next to Maria and ready to continue taking her soul when the White Rabbit slung against her body and the two crashed into the projector. The rabbit was bruised all over and heavy patches of its fur were missing. Desmond came stumbling in, a bit out of breath and ragged, but still standing. Alucard’s arm was over his shoulder. Boarcelina forced the unconscious beast off her and snarled. Then it turned into a satisfied grin.
“Well, I have my initial payment regardless. You can thank your boyfriend for the interest payment, little Maria. Ta ta.” She struck her staff on the ground and both she and the White Rabbit disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Jessie held the slightly limp body of her younger sister in her arms. Maria’s eyes had clouded over. Then she squeezed them tightly and shook her head to wake herself up. The cloudiness had faded, but there was something less in her eyes now. Jinn resisted all temptation to hug her father and her stepbrother. She also had to hide how sorry that rabbit must have been when facing her father’s wrath.
“Are you the ones who kidnapped my son?” Desmond bellowed.
“We…we are”, Maria squeaked as she removed her mask. “And…I’m sorry.” Desmond’s angered face softened a little; though more like a father who saw his kid admit his wrongs but was still going to be punished.
“You do realize you’re still going to jail regardless, correct?”

“Yes sir. Alucard…I…what I said back there. I didn’t…”
“Shove it”, he snapped. This was the first time Jinn had really gotten a look at Maria. She had been the first she had seen Alucard with and she read all she needed to in his voice. The battle above could still be heard raging outside. Splinterbark and Jinn were ready to run out the front door to help but Jamie held them back.
“Wait, there’s someone down here who needs your help.”

[Lovetheangelshadow]

Chapter 16: The Series Finale Part III: Star KillerShots were fired in repeated volleys between the Silver Guardian and Captain Coyote. None of them managed to get a hit on the other as they dove and darted through the trees for cover. Finally Captain had enough and commanded the last two drones to set fire the landscape. The trees had a bit of difficulty sparking but the blaze managed to erupt quickly. The mounds of loose dry leaves that had just piled up over the months were the easiest to catch ablaze and they were swarming close to the building. Was she out of her head? Her sisters were inside! He managed to hurl dirt onto the starting flames and stamp out most of the leaves, but there was only so much he could stop on his own.

She was a monster. She was no better than that bug eyed devil! And what did angels normally do with devils? Silver shoved his firearms back in his holsters and flew directly at the captain. His massive hands grabbed the claw devices and he wrenched them free using his weight and impeded flight to shred them down. Captain snarled and turned her hoverboard right at her enemy. She swung hard at Silver’s head and he caught her weapon effortlessly. With his eyes still locked onto hers, he crushed the prod in his hands and barely flinched. She tried to run backwards and shoot at him. The blasts were effortlessly swept aside with his greaves. A deflected shot caught her in the shoulder and she staggered to the ground. Captain screamed and tried to punch him the moment he descended to the earth. Her fists rammed hard into the palms of his own. Despite the pain it shot through her limbs and kept trying to hit him over and over again. The fabric of her gloves began to thin away and her knuckles bruised against the ironlike flesh. Finally she collapsed to her knees and struggled for breath. A cold rod of a gun pressed at her temple. She didn’t even try to look up; just kept uttering how she was the hero. Silver’s finger squeezed on the trigger slightly. He thought about her words how she reminded him of that tyrant angel story arc. Then he remembered how the story had ended and he felt awful for it. Even at his worst, his father never resorted to what he had been about to do. Maybe Shelly was right on a few things.
The heat against his back reminded him that the landscape was still on fire. He grabbed the defeated Captain and flew towards the building. Jinn was examining the body of Simon Callum. Desmond Dougal was there was well and holding Alucard upwards. Blaze and Star had been unmasked but not tied up.

“What is going on here?” he demanded. Splinterbark explained to him that Jinn was trying to see if she could undo the damage the White Rabbit did to Simon. So far he was not responding to her spells. Frix then piped up a suggestion that Silver might be able to do something if they both combined their magic.
“I have seen a Guardian undo an Oozling draining once before. But be warned, there is a risk in doing so. And I cannot fathom what it might so do you…inexperienced as you are.” Frix cringed expecting the guardian to retort, but Silver was just clutching his collarbone.

“Don’t be stupid!” Jessie scoffed. “You can’t save him! I made sure he was drained good and proper! He’ll be a useless puppet from now on!” She continued to laugh until Jamie slapped her hard.
“I don’t want to hear one more word out of you! The mission is over, Jessie! And I hope you’re happy.” Jamie never struck her before. Why was she suddenly so mad? Silver didn’t even know if he had seen his father perform such an action. Why would he be any different? Still, seeing Simon lie there didn’t make him feel that much better. He knelt down and put his hand over Simon’s chest just as Jinn pressed her staff on the back of his hand. He did his best to calm himself and try to only think of positive things. His focus was shaken though thinking about how he had actually considered murdering someone. Focus on what you need to do now. Focus on the preservation of life. He was really going to have to figure out that voice in his head one of these days. Like before with Metilla it felt like some outside force was guiding his hand and once again he traced that star like symbol on Simon’s chest. At the same time Jinn’s staff glowed green and mists began to outline Simon’s body. Color was coming back to his face and hair before there was a slight flash that pushed back both the angel and witch from the body. Simon took a long deep breath before blinking and finally sitting up. His hair was still had flecks of white, but at least it no longer looked like a drab mop.

“Where…where am I? Why do I feel a bit hollow in my chest?” he spoke in a monotone voice. The healing hadn’t been perfect, but at least he had some life back to him. Then Silver felt a sharp prang along his spine and a sudden loss of energy. Splinterbark grabbed him and started dragging him out into the hall.
“Hey we uh got to go. It’s almost midnight and he’s going to turn right back into a pumpkin.”
“But it’s only 5pm”, Desmond called out.

“It’s midnight somewhere!” Splinterbark yelled as they passed through the double doors and outside. As they left they could hear faint sirens coming closer.
Splinterbark was half of Silver’s height and he had to stoop to grip her shoulder as she led them to a small alcove near the employee area. The guardian almost dragged her down when he fell forward to his knees. Thankfully he was in the process of shrinking back into Reed so the force was not as strong. She finally managed to drag his gasping and wheezing self over to the shadow of the wall. The police sirens had gotten louder and both of them pressed against the wall hoping no one saw them. Reed was wiping the sweat away with his blazer’s sleeve as he coughed a few choking breaths.

“You’re not going to vomit bodily fluids and pass out again, are you?” Splinterbark griped.
“Har har…no I am good this time. I…just…just…need to…catch my…catch my breath. I think…I am getting better…or more used to these transformations.” His breath slowed as his heart rate became back to normal.

“I’ll have to admit, I am impressed. The purifications you’ve done for a rookie like you are no small feat”, Frix piped up.
“Yeah. YOU have some explaining to do”, Shelly snapped.
“It appears so. Perhaps later-when our dear angel doesn’t look like a half drowned kitten.” Reed huffed. He didn’t look that awful. Then again he might have not be currently lying in the dirt and sore all over if he had trusted his partner a little more. She had saved his hide after all.
“Shelly…I…about the things I have said before. I am…”
“No, you were right”, she interrupted.
“But Shelly you…”

“I got my ass kicked by two supervillains and both times I had to be saved when I should have managed it. And you, Hunter, and Jinn were really the ones who beat Metilla.” Reed bit his lip. Shelly took off her helmet and began tracing the outline of the shard in her visor.
“Which means I have to start stepping up. You’ve been putting in the work and I’ve just been messing around. While the Golden Guardian is missing, it’s our job to keep this city safe from those the police can’t stop. I’m going to be the best part whether you want me or not!” Reed couldn’t help but chuckle at her enthusiasm. Then he forced himself up and walked a bit into a clump of bushes. He grabbed something metallic and began to drag it across the ground towards them. It was Captain’s flying machine. Aside that the grapples were torn beyond use and the front was a little scratched, it was still intact.

“I uh…thought about giving this to you. You’ll have to figure out how to fly it but…” Shelly hugged him hard.
“Aw you’re so sweet. I promise I won’t let you down. But in return, YOU need to learn to control that temper of yours.”
“I DO NOT HAVE A…” He glanced at the fist imprint on the front and scratched his head.
“Maybe I have a little problem. And there still is a lot about being a Guardian I don’t know about.”
“You can’t ask your dad?” Shelly saw his face drop to a panic.
“If my father ever finds out I am the Silver Guardian he’ll demand the ring back, remind me how worthless I am, and how I…” He stopped himself.
“And how what, Reed?”

“I am sorry. It is not something I like talking about.”
“Oh well if you want to, I’m here. We’re partners after all. So uh…can you like take me home? I don’t have a ride any more right now.”
“Sure. I will hide the hoverboard in father’s garage until I can get it to Blackbird. He never knows what is in his own garage anyway.”
****

The Coyote Crew had been lead into the police van while Simon had been taken away in an ambulance. Jessie leaned back casually like she was just carpooling to the bar for drinks. She was miffed that the angel and witch had found a way to mostly bring back Simon’s mind, but he must have gone though some kind of torment regardless and she was satisfied. And Maria looked perfectly fine. Obviously whatever the witch had taken was irrelevant. Blaze was next to her sister while Maria sat across from them.
“Well at least we’ll be in jail together, right Maria?” Jessie said as the doors closed. Maria’s eyes widened.

“How…do you know my name?” she responded with surprise and horror. Jessie raised an eyebrow. So it wasn’t her voice taken. Why was her little sister looking at her like she was a stranger?
“Ha ha, very funny, Maria. Don’t worry. Your big sis will keep an eye on you in prison.” Maria tilted her head.
“I…have a sister?” Jessie stood up straight. She would have grabbed Maria by the shoulders if her hands weren’t tied behind her back.
“C-come on, Maria, this isn’t funny. You perfectly know who we are.” Maria clenched her eyes tightly as if trying to recall something. Then her face beamed up a little as if she had.
“Oh right! We’re a trip of thieves who dress up like the three heroines from the Firefall Arcade TV show. But you said we were to never to tell each other our real identities just in case we got caught.” Jessie’s lower lip began to quiver.

“Y…you’re joking. You’re just getting back at me for the whole ransom thing right?” Maria just blinked back innocently.
“I told you the mission was over. I hope you’re happy”, Jamie repeated to her sister coldly. Jessie slunked back onto the bench as she realized just what Maria had valued the most. Had she miscalculated? Had she made a mistake? No, it was that boy’s fault. That stupid rich kid corrupted her little sister. He put the idea of the ransom in her head. He made her decide to betray her big sister who had been there for her always. She’d have to be patient, but when the opportunity arose, she’d make Alucard Dougal pay.
****

It had been two days before Alucard could even go back to school. Being beaten around by that rabbit and his vertigo sickness had taken more out of him than he was used to. He would have to think about altering his helmet so it would not happen again. He could hear his father trashing the snot out of the rabbit and he was a little miffed that his vision had been so distorted that he could not have seen the fight. He was restless lying in the hospital bed between exams, but at least his mother and stepfather visited him often. Even his own stepsister checked in on him after school. They didn’t talk much and just sat in the room while Lynn scrolled through her phone and Alucard occupied himself with the homework she brought, but he low-key appreciated the gesture. There was one thing that still preyed on him though. His mother alone came to take him home and the drive was a long one.
“Mom, can you tell me about my dad? My real dad?”
“Desmond is your real father, Alucard”, she snapped. Her words were cold and malicious. She always seemed to get into this tone whenever he inquired.

“You know what I mean, mom.”
“Alucard, I…you know I don’t really like talking about him. There isn’t anything about your father you need to know.” He seemed to keep company with monsters. That is rather something I would like to know as Hunter. Was he a hero? One of them? If that later, what did that mean for Alucard? There was a long silence until they had reached the castle gates.
“Alucard, I left your father for your sake. He…he tried to kill you.”
“He what?! Why?”
“I don’t remember the excuse he gave me, it’s been so long. I don’t even know where he is now. But I will keep you safe from him. And he knows it.” Boarcelina saying she was surprised to see him alive made a lot more sense now. Heh, maybe he was supposed to be some kind of sacrificial vessel for a Lovecraft Ian god or he was just food for the god. He wasn’t sure if that made him feel better or worse.

His reserve had been pretty much eroded by the time he came back to school. It felt like every single student in the school was pestering him. They kept asking him over and over again about the kidnapping. How did it happen? We’re they hot? They heard that they had a monster rabbit in charge? Was it true? We’re they really former actresses? At first he answered out of politeness. By the time lunch had rolled around, his answers were either one word grunts or him hissing for people to leave him alone.
Shelly has just put her tray at his table.
“Hey I heard what happened. Are you okay?” Alucard almost dropped his book that he was forcing himself to read. She was the first person to ask that question. Then again she had been nice to him most of this year. Maybe…no! No it was a trick. She was just trying to get under his skin so she could use him later.
“Shelly, I do not wish to be around people right now. So shuffle off, alright?” He expected her trademark snark.
“Oh sure. I get it. No problem.” He watched her walk to the other table where Reed and Thomas had been sitting. Maybe he had been wrong? Don’t be stupid, Alucard. It was just a ruse. Don’t fall for it.

It was a heavy rain as he waited under the awning for his sister so they could drive home. He still saw Shelly laughing with those two guys. He pinched his arm and told him to stop it.
“You’d think a genius like you would be smart enough have waited in a nice dry car instead of getting damp out here.” Lynn teased.
As they got into his car, Lynn commented,
“I get it, Alucard. I know how much getting your heart broken by someone you liked hurts.”
“Tch, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Uh huh. Say, why don’t we stop at that tea shop you really like before we head home. My treat.” Alucard had not pulled out of the parking space yet. He hesitated before turning to the right to head back to the estates.
“I have homework to do. I don’t have time for insignificant things like tea and scones”, he snapped before driving them both home.

The End