Insanity
Chapter Seven
~The Tower Breaker is Broken-Part Two~
Day Two
Continued…
The flames lit up everything it touched. The orange glow gave a menacing look to the three dagger wielders that faced Shadow. He had no weapons and felt horribly naked with out the comfort of his daggers with him.
“Well, well, well, who do we ‘ave here?” said a scrawny little man with a large nose, “A lion with no claws?”
The two other larger men laughed.
Shadow smiled. He tilted his head back and opened his mouth. Then he reached into his mouth and pulled out the dagger Fang told him to hide. He looked at the shocked faces of the others there.
“Looks like this lion still has his teeth,” he said before charging at the others.
One of the larger ones was the first to react. He had a long squiggly dagger and he shot it forward, trying to stab Shadow before he got any closer. Shadow dodged and cut the man in the leg. The man fell from the pain. The other large man rushed forward. His dagger was more like a short sword. Shadow stepped to one side as the man slashed at him. As an attack, Shadow ran forward and cut the man in the stomach. The scrawny man was more of an expert.
The man attacked with his arm extended but a little deadly twitch in his wrist. Shadow jumped back but he quickly attacked with his dagger. The man parried the attack and lunged forward. He cut at Shadow’s side but Shadow reacted and the dagger slid past. Then Shadow kicked the man in the chest. The man took a few steps back, stepping on a flame. He shouted in pain and Shadow ran at him and pushed him on to his back. The man fell on his back and lost his dagger under a burning table. On the floor, the man pushed Shadow off of him and tried to crawl to his weapon.
“Oh, no, you don’t!” Shadow shouted as he grabbed for the man’s arm.
The fire in the Club started to grow from the floor to the ceiling. One of the beams over where the two were fighting was already ablaze. The man kicked Shadow in the chest. Shadow backed off gripping his chest. The man crawled toward his dagger and grabbed it. He stood up with his dagger in hand. Shadow was about to get up but the man kicked him in the stomach. The impact forced Shadow onto his back. He lay there in pain, his dagger was missing. He looked up at the man over him. The man looked evilly down at Shadow. He raised his dagger high above his head. Just then there was a loud crack. Shadow looked up and saw the flaming beam falling. He rolled over just as it fell and crushed the other man. Breathless Shadow stood and looked around, looking for any immediate treat. Instead he found Alister running around with a weapon that he had found.
Alister stood back to back with Raven. He had a handgun and she had found a metal bar and used it as a sword. Alister had this wild smile on his face. He enjoyed the feeling of the environment, the danger, the smell of guns going off. Everything about it he loved.
“To your left,” Raven said coolly.
Alister turned and saw the threat. A man with a shot gun aimed his weapon at them.
“Didn’t Fang say somethin’ ‘bout a shot gun?” he said with a smile.
“Don’t ask me,” she responded as she dove forward.
The gun fired and both Raven and Alister dove apart. The bullet shattered a wooden pole. Alister smiled as he got to his feet. Guess it was time for him to do his part. He ran at the man with the gun. The man tried to shoot at him but Alister was quick on his feet. The man with the gun called out to his friends. They aided him and tried to shoot him down. He dove and pivoted on one foot, dodging at least five bullets as he did so. Alister returned a few shots, getting rid of some of the shooters. Unknown to him was that the weight of the unloaded gun helped in keeping him in perfect balance.
The rain of bullets continued however. Alister did a backflip, shooting at one of the gunmen. It took only one shot of course, Alister’s aim was only rivaled by Shadow’s and bested only by Fang. With six gunmen and six shots, his threat was illuminated in a matter of seconds. On his feet again he continued to run to the man with the shotgun. He covered the distance between them fairly quickly. Alister jumped on a chair, grabbed the long muzzle of the gun and kicked the man in the face. The man fell to the ground looked frighten up at Alister.
“Now, you’re quite the lucky one,” he smiled, “this bullet isn’t for you.”
He stepped on the chair again and propped one foot on the edge of the table. Victor seemed to notice him and took a step back from the balcony. Alister laughed.
“You beggin’ yet, Victor?” he shouted and brought up the gun.
His watch was barely audible over the loud bang of the gun. The bullet didn’t hit Victor but it was awfully close. Close enough for Victor to decide that it was about time he left and start a new business elsewhere. He ran into his office, through the hole the bullet made and left out the back way.
Fang sat for a few minutes before getting up and walking out of the bar. He walked casually and waited in an alley at the back of the burning building. Sure enough, Victor and his two bodyguards ran out and stopped in their tracks.
“Those secret escaped are annoying aren’t they?” Fang asked, “Especially when you put large items on top of them.”
“What do you want?” Victor shouted.
Fang shrugged, “My paycheck when I bring you in. It isn’t easy feeding seven people, you know. And the Island is going to be getting after me with property takes.”
“Don’t just stand there!” Victor yelled at his body guards, “Kill him!”
The guards ran forward, guns drawn. Fang sighed. Why couldn’t criminals just give up when the odds were overwhelmingly against them? But then again, not everyone thought about the odds.
There were twelve shots fired but not one of them reached Fang. Out of nowhere, an ice barrier appeared. The men stopped firing. Blue jumped into the scene. He landed in front of the barrier. Two long spikes of ice shot out from the barrier and impaled both guards. With a flick of Blue’s wrist, the barrier and the spikes dissolved. Fang walked forward beside Blue. Victor looked shocked and confused.
“Who is he?! Where did he come from?!” Victor asked.
Fang raised an eyebrow, “You didn’t notice me say ‘seven’? I thought I made it clear enough.”
Victor was silent for a moment. He realized that he had been hopelessly out numbered from the very beginning. He took a few steps back then turned and ran. Unfortunately for him he didn’t get very far. A wall of ice spikes jetted up from the ground preventing his escape. Victor fell back in shock and crawled away from the deadly points. He looked at Fang.
“Please, please, don’t kill me! I’ll do anything, just please, don’t kill me!” he pleaded on his knees.
“Funny,” Fang said, “I specifically remember you saying you weren’t going to beg on your knees. Don’t you find that interesting Blue?”
Blue shrugged.
I guess. Don’t know what you’re talking about but sure.
While they were talking Victor reached behind his back and drew a gun he aimed it at Fang and was about to fire when an explosive pain entered his arm and caused him drop the gun.
Alister stood a few yards behind the two. He smiled his usual smile. He got his weapons back after the main fight. The back room wasn’t touched yet by the fire so their weapons were all fine. After a few seconds, the others popped into view.
“‘Ello, Bluey!” Alister said, “Fang!”
Oh, look, it’s him…Blue’s expression seemed to say. He hated Alister’s nickname for him.
Victor whimpered as he held his arm.
“Oh, grow up!” Alister shouted, “I didn’t hit anything that can't heal!”
“I guess I’d better contact the Tower and let them know that we have him,” Fang said casually, “and where to drop him off.”
“That’d be great,” Alister laughed.
***
Transaction Square
Day Three
Fang sat at a coffee table in the market place. Across from him sat Victor, head down, his arm bandaged and in a sling. Fang sipped his tea slowly whereas Victor didn’t even touch his water. At every motion around him, Victor’s eyes darted. He knew why he was there and he didn’t like it but his fear of Fang kept him in his seat.
Since Fang’s team was a Black team they couldn’t be known associates with the Tower so they couldn’t just walk into the Tower and drop Victor off. Instead they would have a meeting place and exchange the ‘good’ for the ‘green’.
The two had been waiting there for quite some time. But Fang didn’t seem to mind. The time here meant he got to drink all the tea he wanted, well as much as he could afford, and be away from the others. The silence was a bonus since Victor hadn’t said a thing all day.
The sun was beginning to set and Fang was about to call it a day. After all, the Tower Agents were busy people and probably had more important things to do at the moment than pick up a lawbreaker who was in good hands anyway. Fang took one last gulp of tea and set the cup down. He was about to get up and leave when someone pulled up a chair and sat down.
“Hey there!” said the man as he sat down.
He had short blond hair and electric blue eyes. His fair skin seemed to have no imperfections. He wore an open white shirt and jean shorts. The flip-flops he wore looked like they were made from a type of plant wound together in a certain way. His smile looked genuine. He looked young for his age, maybe somewhere in his early thirties. He looked at Fang and Victor.
“So how are you guys doing, eh?” he asked.
Neither Fang nor Victor answered.
“Just between you and me,” he whispered loudly to Fang, “but you friend here looks like he’s seen better days.”
That fact couldn’t be disputed. The man laughed loudly at his cleverness.
“Pity it isn’t going to get any better either,” he said, suddenly serious, “But hey, look at it this way, at least you’ll get three hot meals a day, right?”
Victor looked sick. The stranger smiled.
“We’ll take him from here,” he said to Fang.
“Not quite yet,” Fang said.
The stranger looked confused, then a look of understanding dawned on his face.
“You want your cash, right?” the man looked around, “Yeah, it should be under the table.”
Fang looked down. What the stranger said was true. It was there. Fang was impressed. He hadn’t seen the stranger bring it with him. But that wasn’t what he wanted. He knew the Tower would hold its end of the bargain because if it didn’t, they would loose a Black team when they already had so few of.
“Not exactly,” Fang answered.
The stranger looked interested now, “So what do you want?”
“A name,” Fang said, “I feel more comfortable doing business with people if I know their name.”
“Hmmm,” the stranger said as he thought, “don’t know if I can do that.”
His eyes seemed to wander and Fang wondered if there were other Agents nearby.
“I guess it wouldn’t kill anyone,” he said, “Just a name?”
“I didn’t say it had to be your real name,” Fang looked around.
The stranger smiled, “Shifter, I’ve always wanted to be called Shifter.”
“Well, then Shifter,” Fang stood, “It’s been nice doing business.”
“Likewise,” Shifter said.
Shifter stood up and signaled Victor to do the same. Reluctantly Victor did as he was told. Shifter put his arm around Victor’s shoulder and smiled.
“I’ll take good care of you, alright, stop flinching,” he said. He looked at Fang, “A week ago he was gloating about how great he was and now look at him. You and your team did great. You guys have a name yet?”
“Not yet,” Fang picked up the suitcase, “I’ve been way to busy the past few months.”
“I’ve heard,” Shifter smiled knowingly, “You know when a team is going to be great when you hear things even before its formed. Well, I’ll be seeing ya!” Shifter walked off in to the crowd.
Fang made a mental note about the new variable in his equation. Shifter might be an interesting character.
