Then the Sphere finally came to rest, its wobbling sound disappearing into stillness. This was the unknown sign all waited for. A moment later, the warehouse burst into motion.
It was the reddish-haired werewolf that was Geddy who reached the Sphere first. One clawed hand scooped the Sphere from the floor as that hulking wolf form turned to run. Unfortunately, he didn't even complete half of his turn before a giant metal fist slammed into his face. Geddy let out a canine yelp and fell back, the Sphere flying from his hand high up into the air.
Like rarely used outfielders in a kids' little league game, all those not currently downed looked up at the Sphere as it hurtled through the air like a forlorn satellite, trying to arrange themselves right under where they thought it was going to go.
"I've got it! I've got it!" said Dane staring up in the air. Unfortunately, one of the still-human bikers was saying the same thing and only looking into the air. As they both tried to catch the Sphere, they walked straight into each other, smacking foreheads together.
"Hey watch it!" said Dane, one hand rubbing his head as he kept the other up to catch the Sphere.
"You watch it!" said the biker with a growl.
Their concentration broken, neither caught the Sphere as it came down on the top of Dane's head, causing him to cry out in pain. The Sphere bounced off his head and back into the air. Where Alastair grabbed for it, his monkey skull temporarily replaced in his bag. His fingers came within an inch of the devilish little device, but then he was then pushed out of the way by a black-haired werewolf. Alastair stumbled away and the wolf tried to catch the Sphere, but the attack on Alastair had put it off balance. The round device rebounded off the wolf's furred shoulder and back into the air.
"Is it made of rubber?" Abby wondered aloud as she watched its path.
The Sphere soared through the air into the claws of a werewolf, who looked down on it greedily. Then he looked around and saw that Dane, the robot, and Alastair were converging on him. Scrunching into the best pitching posture that the modified wolf-humanoid body would allow, the werewolf threw the Sphere across the room before he was tackled by the enormous form of Jaya's GAURISHAKIR robot. Crushed under that metal form, the werewolf let out a wheeze. Dane and Alastair turned, watching the path of the Sphere.
Despite the excellent throw, the errant device was caught not by its intended recipient. The biker on the receiving end was in place, his arms up above his head and cupped to easily catch the round device hurtling right toward him. But this pass was due for an interception. In a surprising feat of athleticism for a university professor, Linda dashed toward the receiving biker and jumped up into the air, higher than he was. She easily plucked the Sphere from the air. Unfortunately, her momentum and jump had her landing on the same biker she had just blocked. Both of them tumbled to the ground, but the biker recovered first, easily yanking the Sphere from her hand and standing up. He made it to his feet with a triumphant grin just in time to receive a running kick from Abby. The location of the kick was lower than would be allowed in any regulation sports, so despite the difference in size and strength of Abby and the biker, it was a disabling strike.
The groaning biker let go of the Sphere as he moved his hands elsewhere and fell over, narrowly missing Linda as she got back on her feet. The Sphere bounced off the ground and began rolling. The Geddy werewolf reached down to grab it, his other claw ready to swipe at anyone who came near him. But when he cast his gaze downward to make sure he grabbed the Sphere, he was blindsided. Douglas charged into him, using his shoulder to body check the werewolf. Despite being a supernatural creature of exceeding strength and size, Mr. Douglas was still a massive slab of muscle. His momentum was still enough to push the werewolf and they both went tumbling to one side. One of Douglas's booted feet kicked the Sphere which went tumbling across the warehouse with new life.
Abby ran after the Sphere. With its new velocity, it went bouncing and rolling toward the wide open garage doors of the warehouse. She wasn't able to catch it before it rolled out into the bright afternoon light. As she ran for it, the black furred werewolf rushed past her, his massive and pointy elbows pushing her out of the way. But that wolf did no better. When his clawed hand was about to close around the Sphere, one of his claws nudging the small Brass device, his entire body froze in place. It appeared as if the wolf suffered from some paralysis, which confused Abby. Then she heard strange words from behind her. She turned to see Alastair chanting in a mysterious cadence, his mouth intoning syllables she had never heard before. His left hand was tightly holding the monkey skull up, as if to make sure it could see the wolf, and his other hand cut his silver ritual knife through the air. Darkness trailed wherever the knife cut and seemed to flow from those cuts to the werewolf, encircling his arms and legs. In a second the wolf was completely covered with dark shadow. The werewolf howled in pain then fell forward, no longer paralyzed but now very unconscious. Abby looked back to Alastair to give her thanks and then turned to run after the Sphere. Alastair nodded and then looked over the unconscious werewolf, using the back of the hand holding the knife to wipe sweat off his brow.
The Sphere was heading toward the street, as if possessed with its own will to escape. Abby ran after it, trying to gain enough speed to catch the little device before it went over the curb, but she wasn't quick enough. She had to pause in her run, as she had some flash of intuition or simply saw the shadow - an unconscious biker body was thrown through the air and came down a few feet from her, punched by Jaya's robot. She hopped over the body and out into the street, but the biker wasn't the only thing flying through the air. A large werewolf fell from the sky in front of her, landing from an enormous pounce that started at the warehouse doors.
"I didn't even know they could do that!" she said breathlessly.
Rather than immediately chasing the Sphere, the werewolf turned to growl at her, hoping to slow her down so that one of the bikers with firmer hands could catch the seemingly slippery Sphere. Standing here in the middle to the street, it could cut off her and anyone else running from the warehouse.
Abby shrieked, rearing backward. Despite her bravery so far, these were scary beasts and she was now up very close to the gaping, drooling jaws of one of them. She knew that even though they were currently in one very large game of Hot Potato, if the werewolves focused purely on fighting, half of her group would be unprepared, including her. She only had Linda's silver knife to defend herself with and neither the skill nor strength to use it properly. She stepped backward as the wolf growled more loudly and swiped the air in front of her. If it pounced at her...
What happened next was so fast that not everyone was sure what they even saw. Linda claimed she saw nothing. Jaya claimed she saw only a flash, a mere blur. Alastair was more cryptic, claiming only that he sensed a preternatural presence in the area that was quickly gone. Dane happened to be looking at something else at that moment, so he saw nothing, but he loudly expressed his dismay when told about it later. But Abby saw it clearly. Not only because it was right in front of her, but also because she knew exactly what she was looking at. She had seen it before.
Something almost too fast for human vision streaked down the street. It didn't slow down for the wolf man who was standing in the middle of the road; Abby thought it might have even sped up. The werewolf was struck by this high velocity object, the force so great that the wolf was implausibly tossed up into the air. While the high velocity interloper was a blur of motion when it hit the wolf, for a moment after it seemed to slow to a near stop. But nothing in its velocity changed, it didn't really slow down. Instead, it was as if time slowed, as if the speed of life's film braked just for a moment. Abby could clearly see that it was the transparent body of a black Chevelle SS. It was hard to see in the sunlight, probably nearly invisible to someone farther away, but this close to it Abby could make out the details. The window was down, and she saw the Ghost Greaser's face turned toward her, a faint nod in his movement. And then time kicked back into
normal speed. The car snapped back into its high velocity, the vehicle turning into a dark blur as it raced down the street and around the corner.
"Take care of yourself, Red," came a whisper of a voice in the spectral fumes of undead exhaust.
Shaking off the strangeness of the event, Abby ran across the street, grabbing the Sphere from where it rested against the opposite curb. She was glad there was no drainage grate nearby for it to roll down.
"I got it!" she said, raising the Sphere high in victory.
"Don't say that!" said Dane, running toward her. "You're just tempting the universe to -"
He stopped talking when the bad luck he was just warning her about came to fruition. A human biker came running, nearly out of breath, his belly jiggling as he ran. Despite his exertion, the biker was surprisingly fast and Abby hadn't seen him. As he ran past her, he plucked the Sphere out of her hand. She tried to run after him, but the Rebels had wised up. Rather than carrying the item, he threw it at another biker who caught it and then started sprinting. Strangely, this biker was barefooted, wearing a leather jacket and some sagging pants.
All his other friends were either engaged in fighting or trying to catch up, so Dane was the closest. He felt a rumble in the ground as he took off running after the man with the Sphere. This biker was heading away from the warehouses and to the actual docks. The river water seemed placid, but Dane noticed that the sky had inexplicably taken on an orange-red shade. Despite this strange occurrence, Dane focused on the man running ahead of him. There was a limp in the biker's barefooted stride. When he turned, Dane realized why. Clutching his bare abdomen where he was wounded by a bullet, this biker was Rick Hellion, back in human form and hastily dressed.
Knowing that Rick was wounded, Dane quickened his pace, hoping that he could win this chase with a quick burst of speed rather than settling for a long race. They were now on wooden docks, their feet landing heavily, the sound reverberating. Rick kept looking back nervously, dismayed and angry every time he noticed Dane catching up to him. Dane thought about calling out to Rick, saying something heroic or even threatening, but both men were gasping for breath, already using all their oxygen for their muscles and keeping up this pace.
Dane had almost caught Rick when he saw the other man's head turn in delight. Farther ahead there was another of the Howling Rebels, a younger man who seemed far better suited for running. Rick slowed for a moment, raising his hand to line up a throw to his fellow biker. Dane knew that this would start this game all over again, except Dane would be nearly spent and there might not be any of his friends close enough to pursue this new carrier of the Sphere. Trying to avert this game-changing throw, Dane spent all his remaining leg power, leaping forward to tackle Rick and disrupt his throw.
Dane both failed and succeeded. He tackled Rick but he didn't stop Rick from throwing the Sphere. It was a mangled throw with no follow through, but it was enough. The younger biker needed to step forward and crouch to catch the Sphere due to the poor throw, but otherwise he now had it in his possession. The biker paused for just a moment to smile at Rick's prone body and give a thumbs up.
On the ground, Dane was on top of Rick, easily holding the wounded man to the ground. Rick smiled proudly. "You're too late, Funny Guy," said Rick in a weak voice. They both looked to see the young biker taking off across the docks with great speed. None of Dane's friends were anywhere near him. He could easily get away. And in a different world, in a different situation, he would have. If he had been carrying something else, he would have escaped.
Neither Dane nor Rick expected what happened next.
As they watched the man run off, the dock beneath him exploded in a froth of water and a wave of splinters and broken wood. The dock falling apart on either side, in the center there was the rapidly rising body of a gigantic white serpent. Its massive white jaws had opened around the biker as it rose, easily surrounding the biker's body. It took the young man up with it, rising to the highest point of its emergence, about twenty feet above the surface of the water. Then its jaws snapped shut, sealing the fate of both biker and Sphere. Then it plunged back into the water with surprising speed. A moment later, there was no sign of the creature other than ripples in the water, the broken dock, surprised onlookers, and an orange-red sky rapidly returning to blue.
Both Dane and Rick stared at the place where this sudden devouring happened. Their faces went pale and for a moment, Dane was uncharacteristically speechless.
"What just happened?" said Rick finally in confusion, awe, and fear.
Suddenly it all made sense to Dane. He remembered that he found the Sphere seconds before the white creature had attacked. Then it had attacked again outside of Jaya's when the Rebels had taken the Sphere away. And now the beast had just swallowed the poor man here.
"That's what it's for!" said Dane in realization.
"What?" said Rick, confused.
"It's a beacon for the serpent!" said Dane. "The Sphere is a lure for the serpent! It's been following anyone who had it, looking for somewhere it could emerge and... well, eat the Sphere!"
Rick's face paled even more. "What? Why did he let us carry that thing around? That could have been me!"
"Because he doesn't care about you," said Dane. "He doesn't care about any of you!"
Rick slowly shook his head, still staring with shock at the place where the serpent had been.
"Enough!" said Dane. "Now tell us who your mysterious buyer is!"
"Get off me!" said Rick, twisting under Dane. But Dane kept his weight on him, keeping him from moving.
"Tell us about your buyer!"
Rick felt helpless and he hated it. The beast within had been severely wounded by the silver bullet, and he felt like a newborn babe without that extra strength. It had been far too long since he relied on his power, on a strength not fed and augmented by the beast. He was weak. Never again, he had said, but here he was again. Weak. Another loser.
"Tell me!" said Dane.
"Go to hell!" shouted Rick.
Dane punched Rick in the face. It was a little uncharacteristic for Dane, even more so since he had Rick at a major disadvantage, but he had also tackled the man and just saw a serpent devour someone else, so Dane figured some adrenaline-fueled decisions could be excused.
"Alright, alright!" said Rick, hating his weakness, wanting to get out of this situation as soon as he could. "I'll tell you! But there's a problem. We don't actually know his name. I don't, at least. Scar might."
"How do you contact him?" said Dane, pushing his weight down on Rick to make sure he was getting the truth.
"We have dead drop locations!" said Rick uncomfortably. "We drop a note we want to meet and he emails us from a new email address each time! He tells us what he needs to, no more."
"Where's the dead drop?" said Dane.
"They're always in the Husks," said Rick. "Different places each time."
"So here's what's going to happen, you're going to dead drop saying you want to meet..."
"You saw him on the screen! He doesn't want to talk to me!"
Dane sighed. "So here's a message I want you to take to Scar..."
A few minutes later, Dane let Rick Hellion go. Rick's friends, the bruised and disheartened Howling Rebels, were waiting not far away. Though they could have kept fighting, they all realized there was no point, and those that had roused the beast within them had reverted to human forms. Dane's allies were similarly worse for the wear and not wanting to fight, but their spirits were higher. Abby was bruised but excited about their success. Linda was less enthusiastic and more bruised, but she still considered it a job well done. Alastair looked haggard. Jaya's robot was heavily scratched and the right arm hung limply from its side, though Jaya herself was enthusiastic.
Dane looked at his allies - no, his friends - and he was proud. They had come to his aid and fought a whole gang of werewolf bikers. If that did not show off the bonds of true friendship, he didn't know what did (maybe a gang of vampire bikers
?). Dane smiled looking over all their faces.
"Thanks for rescuing me," he said.
Once Upon A Time
It was a victory - of a sort. Though they had ultimately lost the prize of the Sphere, they had still won the battle against a gang of lycanthropically-augmented bikers that they all thought they would have lost. Dane wasn't sure if Rick Hellion would come through with the buyer's address or a meeting, but it was a possibility. All in all, it was a success. His friends were all feeling good and returning to Jaya's garage to celebrate.
Dane did not go with them. According to his explanation, he was going home to shower and freshen up. He had been kidnapped, kept overnight tied to a chair, and then nearly killed. While that was not uncommon for a Dane Monday adventure, it was still a very plausible reason for going home when everyone was celebrating. But that wasn't the real reason and home wasn't where he went.
As they all were leaving the docks, Dane received a text message. It was from a number he didn't recognize, but he was pretty sure he knew who sent it.
We need to talk. I'll explain it all when you get here. Twin Eagles in Egan. Don't tell anyone, especially not my wife.
Dane stopped for coffee along the way to keep himself awake. True to his prediction, there was a Samsara Donuts not far from the docks. While not his preferred cup of coffee by any worthwhile metric, it was good enough when he was in need, and he was in serious need. His veins then properly caffeinated, he hoofed it over to South Egan.
Finding the bar wasn't a problem, since it was coincidentally the same bar he had met the Nowak brothers in when they were making a deal about the expedition below the city. As Dane entered, he looked around for the two monster hunters. Mikkel had said he was out of town, but maybe they were back early. Instead, Dane just saw odd looks from the locals who made this neighborhood bar a regular fixture of their days. Whether it was his disheveled look or not, Dane was not a regular and therefore notable and alien. When Dane sat down with Wong, the other outsider, there was a lot of headshaking, but the regulars finally went back to their own drinks and conversations.
Burning Monday: (Dane Monday 2) Page 20