Insanity Chapter Twenty-Five

Insanity

Chapter Twenty-Five

~Operation Fang – Part Three~

Day Twenty-One

He looked like he was in pretty bad shape. His left hand was across his stomach as if the fall was still causing him pain. The silver gun was to his side in his right hand. Thae looked at him.

“You aren’t in any condition to fight,” he said.

“It only takes one bullet to kill a man,” Fang answered.

The boat suddenly shifted to the right. Caught off balance, Fang fell. A tall pillar of water appeared at the side of the boat. Thae looked up at it. The top of the pillar opened as a little girl jumped out.

“Arisa!” Penelope shouted as she stood over Lire’s temporarily paralyzed body.

Arisa was wet but somehow managed to surround herself in fire. She plummeted toward the center of the ship. Quickly, Thae grabbed Edonya. The ship exploded into a ball of fire. There was a hole through the center of the ship. Shadow and Fang were blown back and Penelope fell overboard. Raven stared as she ran closer to the sinking ship.

The pillar of water changed and looked more like a large angry water snake. Fang looked up through the black smoke and flames. Then he quickly looked around for Shadow. He found him unconscious under a wooden beam.

“Shadow!” he heard himself yell, “Shadow!”

He was in the water, treading for his life. Fang looked at the large snake that towered over head. I opened its mouth and descended on the already damaged boat. Shadow finally appeared near the railing. He gripped his head in pain.

“Come on, Shadow!” Fang heard himself yell.

The snake descended and engulfed the boat. It blew up before sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

Fang shook his head clear. He looked to where Shadow was trapped again and ran to him.

“Shadow! Get up, Shadow!” he yelled as he pushed the beam off of him.

Shadow slowly opened his eyes, “What’s going on? Fang? Is that you?”

“You’re really out of it” Fang commented, he looked up, “We have to get out of here. Blue’s on a rampage.”

“Blue? Here?” Shadow gripped his head.

“You might have a concussion,” Fang draped one of Shadow’s arms around his shoulder.

He stood up and helped Shadow to get to the edge. As he was helping Shadow, the boat rocked suddenly separating the two. Fang stumbled forward and Shadow fell back. After regaining his senses Fang looked up. The snake looked ready to strike.

“Come on, Shadow!” he called.

“You go ahead,” Shadow said, “I’ll be right behind you.”

At that moment, every instinct in his body told him to run but the vision he had just moments before stopped him. He ran back to Shadow.

Fang forced Shadow to hook at him, “I’m not leaving you behind!”

The snake opened its deadly mouth. Fang forced Shadow’s arm back over his shoulder. In a blink of an eye he was a wolf once again. The snake started its deadly decent. Fang ran for the edge, Shadow’s weight meant nothing. Just seconds before the impact Fang jumped through a hole in the railing, big enough for both of them and dove into the water. The explosion pushed them both further into depths of the ocean.

Fang and Shadow were separated through the thrashing of the waters. Repeatedly, Fang tried to swim to the surface but was pushed down by waves and debris. He felt his lungs about to burst and knew that he desperately needed oxygen. Finally he broke the surface and filled his lungs with dearly needed air.

After he waded water for a few minutes he looked for something to hold on to. He saw a piece of driftwood, a part of the ship, and held on. Fang suddenly felt tired. He told himself that he would only rest his eyes but ended up falling asleep there in the middle of the ocean.

***

Few Hours Later

“When you think he’ll get up Reighn?”

A bell rang.

“Soon? Really? Soon enough that he can pull himself on the raft?”

“Neope.”

A sigh, “Oh, well. You should get to work, Reighn.”

A bell rang.

“What do you mean I should do it? I’ve done plenty all ready.”

“Neope.”

“Oh, look! Thank goodness, he’s waking up!”

A bell rang.

“No, I’m not glad that I don’t have to pull him in. I’m glad that he’s alright.”

Fang slowly opened his eyes. He saw and a yellow blob in front of him. His eyes focus and he saw Undertaker sitting in it with Reighn on his shoulder. Undertaker smiled at him and offered a hand of assistance. Groggily, Fang gripped his hand and pulled himself into the yellow raft.

“This is random,” Fang said.

“Well, life is more interesting with random events. Better yet, planned random events,” Undertaker smiled, “Oh, look, there’s Penelope. My, my, she looks pissed.

Fang looked. Penelope was holding onto a flag pole that was attached to the ship. She indeed looked very angry.

“What in the world was she thinking!?” she complained as Fang helped her on board.

“Who?” Undertaker asked.

“Arisa! She almost killed me!” Penelope vented.

Undertaker handed her the ore that he had, “Why don’t you take your anger out on rowing, eh?”

She glared at him, “Is he trying to get out of rowing?” she asked Fang.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“No, no,” Undertaker smiled, “I only have your best interest in mind.”

Penelope rolled her eyes. She grabbed the ore and started rowing. Surprisingly, her focus on rowing calmed her to a point.

They rowed the raft over to Alister and Raven.

“This is weird,” Alister said as glanced at Undertaker, “you always around and we just don’t see you or…”

“Now I wouldn’t tell you, dear nephew, if I was following you or not,” Undertaker smiled.

“Where’d you get this?” Raven asked.

“It was buried deep in the shop. Actually, it was behind a few items. Reingh here just has good eyes,” Undertaker answered.

“Yeap,” Reighn nodded.

“What?” Penelope said, “Okay, there are some things I don’t know but I do know that there was no giant raft in you shop!”

“Well, of course there wasn’t a big yellow raft!” Undertaker laughed, “It was is a small brown box!”

Lastly, they came to Shadow. He seemed much better after some rest. Shadow and Alister helped row the boat back to shore. Once they were close to the Docks, they could see Arisa and Blue standing on the one of the docks.

Fang was the first back on shore. He walked over to Blue. Arisa ran to him and hugged him as he walked. Fang stopped and stood side by side with Blue.

“We’ll need to talk, Blue,” Fang said.

Fine.

He continued walking down the dock, “Come on, we’re going home!”

The others walked past Blue in silence, not even giving him a moment’s glance. Blue looked at Undertaker. The older man smiled his crazy smile.

“Come on, Blue! We haven’t got all day!” Fang shouted.

Slowly, Blue turned around and walked home, far behind the others.

Insanity Chapter Twenty-Four

Insanity

Chapter Twenty-Four

~Operation Fang – Part Two~

Day Twenty-One

“We’re losing altitude!” Raven shouted as the helicopter engines failed.

The helicopter took a sickening tilt to the left. It fell to the earth as it flipped upside down. Raven tried repeatedly to restart the engines. As the helicopter fell its blades drew dangerously close to Alister and Penelope.

Penelope fell after Alister. She reached out to him and he grabbed it. The propellers sailed for them. Penelope fell into Alister and as the blades dew closer they both disappeared.

They reappeared in the helicopter as it tumbled upside down. Alister managed to close one of the doors. Both he and Penelope slammed it to it.

“Uh, guys,” Alister groaned, “I don’t think it’s safe to see the fishes from a helicopter, is it?”

Penelope punched him in the shoulder, “Just shut up!”

She crawled over him and over to Raven as the helicopter turned upside down. Penelope stood as she grabbed the wires and tried to fix them. It took several attempts through the kayos and commotion but eventually it started. Raven immediately took hold of the controls and piloted the helicopter. They were basically skimming the water.

“Let’s not do that again, shall we,” Shadow said breathless.

“Aww, but that was just so much fun,” Alister said sarcastically.

Fang found himself breathing again. He wasn’t sure when he had stopped breathing, he just knew that he needed air. Edonya looked disappointed. She made a motion like she was picking up a large gun and propped it on her shoulder.

“Give it everything you got, boys,” Edonya said.

Riff pulled the whip from his belt. Lire laughed as he jumped around. Vise balled his fists in anticipation. Ibid just nodded. She looked board beyond belief. Thae had no expression on his face. He glared at Fang.

Edonya smiled, “Their bugging me. We’ll have to kill them.”

She raised her imaginary gun and fired.

The others ducked while the helicopter was being riddled with invisible bullets. Raven maneuvered the best she could but since she wouldn’t see the bullets it was difficult to dodge them completely.

“Just get us close enough,” Shadow got out of his seat, “Come on, Penelope!”

Raven nodded and steered for the boat. There was a flash of light and a beam of light shot past the helicopter. Shadow sighed.

“I need a raise,” then he smiled, “Oh wait, I don’t even get paid.”

“W-w-we get room and board,” Penelope said.

“Then I could use a bigger room,” Shadow looked out of the helicopter.

“When you’re down there deal with the invisible bullets! They’re tearing us up here!” Raven shouted.

“Got it,” Shadow said.

The helicopter veered over to the boat as it slowly gained altitude. Leaned out, he smiled.

“Come one, Penelope,” Shadow said as he jumped out.

Penelope followed behind. Shadow pulled three daggers from his sleeves as he fell. He landed on the roof of the boat. Penelope landed near him. Vise crated a ball of light in his hand and threw it. It hit the roof of the cabin that two stood on. There was a large explosion but before that Shadow and Penelope jumped apart. The explosion blew back Edonya and Lire.

As Shadow jumped off of the cabin roof he threw the three daggers at Edonya. Edonya noticed and managed to dodge all three through a series of flips and twirls. Penelope vanished and appeared in front of Vise. Her eyes were narrowed as she punched him squarely in the jaw. There was a crack of a whip and a sharp pain as it wrapped around her neck. Ibid clapped her hands together and two other hers appeared. She went after Shadow.

Shadow grabbed a rope and jumped off the side of the boat. He sailed above the water and appeared down the ship. Shadow jumped over the railing again and pulled out a dagger that was hidden on his ankle. He threw it at the whip. The whip was snapped as the dagger passed through it. Penelope dropped to her knees and gasped for breath. She unwrapped the remaining piece of dagger from her neck. Penelope rolled out of the way as Vise created another ball of light.

Ibid and her two copies went after both Penelope and Shadow. Fang slightly turned to Thae.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where mu gun is, do you?” he asked.

Thae smiled, “I thought I’d be a nice little memory piece after you were killed.”

“I’d like it back,” Fang stated.

“You’ll have to kill me for it,” Thae smiled.

The helicopter passed again. Alister opened a black bag and pulled out a shot gun. He leaned against the metal door post.

“You better duck, Fang,” he said.

The weapon fired. Fang and Thae heard the shot. Fang ducked and rolled away as the boat raining splintered into shards of wood, leaving a large hole in the wooden railing. Thae surprisingly grew black wings and jumped back onto the lower deck of the boat. Fang quickly got to his feet. As Thae descended, he saw the silver gun in Thae’s belt. He had to get that gun back. Fang got up and ran toward the edge.

Shadow threw a dagger and one of Ibid’s copies vanished in purple smoke. He ducked as he felt something sharp brush his face. His right cheek was bleeding from a slanted scratch. He looked at saw Edonya as she made a motion of carrying a gun. Shadow wasn’t sure what it exactly meant but he knew it hurt. He rolled behind a solid surface as it became riddled with bullets. Invisible bullets. It was as if whatever she was miming was actually was there. He heard the helicopter start to fly over again. When the firing stopped he got to feet.

When Penelope got to her feet she reached into her pocket and pulled out a circular object. She threw it at the coming Ibid copy. Spikes shot out of it and gripped on to the copy. A red light shined three times before detonating. Penelope ducked to one side as the copy disappeared into flame and purple smoke. She cartwheeled out of the way of one of Vise’s attacks. It passed her and crashed into the water creating a large explosion of water that towered high above. She pulled out another contraption only this one was a rod. She pointed it at Vice and pressed a button. An electrical current shot from it. But instead of hitting Vise she hit Shadow in the leg on accident.

Shadow fell to his knees, “What the heck!?”

“Sorry,” Penelope said. Then she aimed again and shot the weapon. This time it hit Vise, “Looks like it still has a few glitches”

“You think! I can’t feel my leg!” Shadow complained.

“You’re a strong guy,” Penelope twirled the weapon and put it back where she stored it, “Just rub it off. Unlike him, you can move the rest of your body.”

“Barely,” Shadow muttered.

Penelope rolled her eyes and ran off to where more of Ibid’s copies were gathered. Shadow stood up with great effort. He saw the helicopter

Fang ducked down as Alister riddled the boat with bullets, hitting several of Ibid’s copies. Someone was a little trigger happy. He made a mental note to address that later. Thae vanished into the floor similar to how Shadow would. Fang sighed. This wasn’t going to be easy. When the firing stopped he stood up and ran to the edge. Thae appeared again right below Shadow. Shadow stepped back in surprise as Thae’s hand gripped his neck.

Fang watched as Thae slowly strangled Shadow as he rose into the air. By now Thae and Shadow were at a good distance. Fang backed from the edge and cursed under his breath. He ran toward the edge again. When he jumped, he transformed.

In his wolf form he could jump much farther and higher. When he tackled Thae out of the sky he transformed back in to a human. Quickly, he located his gun and grabbed it. He aimed the gun at Thae’s head. Thae let Shadow go, grabbed the back of Fang’s neck and turned his body just as the deck of the boat came suddenly. The deck splintered but the impact wasn’t strong enough to send Fang and Thae through it. In the pain of the impact Fang cried out in agony. His gun was thrown from his hands. With his ears still ringing, he vaguely heard the sound of the helicopter again.

Thae, who was much less hurt than Fang, looked at Edonya, “Where’s Lire?!”

Edonya propped her effective imaginary gun on her shoulder and pointed. Thae followed her point.

“Lire, shoot that helicopter down!” Thae yelled at the clown.

He grunted as Fang hit him in the jaw. Thae spread his wings and flapped. He soared up about ten feet and landed on his feet as Lire continued on with his job. Lire looked at the coming helicopter. Then he looked down by his feet comically smiled. He picked up a rocket launcher. Lire propped the device on his shoulder.

Fang looked at Shadow. He wasn’t in any condition to be doing anything suddenly.

“Penelope! Rocket Launcher!” he shouted as he turned on his side.

Penelope looked Lire and ran at him. She reached for her rod contraption and aimed. Lire laughed and aimed at the coming helicopter. Penelope pressed the button and the current charged forward. The electricity short forward but missed. Lire launched the rocket.

Raven gasped.

“What’s wrong?” Alister said.

“Can you swim?” Raven asked.

Alister shrugged, “Enough to keep alive. Why?”

“Good,” she said before tilting the helicopter.

Alister lost his footing and fell out. Raven flipped the auto pilot. She got out of her seat and ran to the door. Her cloak unclipped as she jumped out of the helicopter. It exploded just moments before she had jumped out. She was blown forward as she fell toward the water. Raven touched the water, she started running. Using her powers for the first time in a long while she raced across the water with incredible speed. She looked around for Alister.

Raven found him treading water. She slid on the water, not stopping, and in a wide arc she skidded over the water with her hand out to reach his. Their hands clasp each other’s and Raven started running again. She ran for the boat.

Thae landed near Edonya. He looked over the edge of the boat into the water. For a moment he saw something.

“I need to get you out of here,” he said to Edonya.

She just looked at him, “What? Why? We’re just having fun!”

“She’s right, you know. It’d be a shame if you left so early,” Fang said.

Insanity Chapter Twenty-Three

Insanity

Chapter Twenty-Three

~Operation Fang~

Day Twenty-One

The rain fell hard on the Docks. The ships and wooden decks rattled with the large rain drops. The gutters were overflowing with rain waters. Puddles covered the streets and sidewalk. Fang stood in the torrents of rain. His white and black hair stuck to his face. He looked at the Docks, his eyes scanning every motion though the downpour.

He stood at the opening of a street that led to the Docks. The Docks was where people kept their recreational boats, usually the rich people left their boats here. Fang waited. He figured that they would contact him.

There was a motion and Fang’s eyes darted to it. He saw her now, coming off of one of the Yachts. Edonya still wore her pink clothing. A man with black hair and wore black and red clothing held a pink umbrella over her head. He stood to her right. She walked up to Fang with that smile on her face. The clown skipped on her left.

“Well hello,” Edonya smiled, “Fang, is it? You can call me Edonya.”

She offered her hand out for Fang to shake. He didn’t. She smiled anyway.

“I’m glad that you complied with our demands,” she said, “It’s always a pleasure doing business.”

Her gaze passed Fang, “Oh, hello Riff, Vise. Is there anyone following?”

Fang turned slightly. Two men followed behind him. He had sensed them but this was the first time he had seen them. One of them, Vise, was the fire eater in the circus. He too wore black and his hair was a rusty red color. The smile on his face was thin and sly. Riff was a little taller than Vise. He was the animal tamer. His hair was short and blond. He looked at Fang with blue eyes. A whip hung down from his belt.

“This is Thae,” Edonya motioned to her right.

Thae nodded, his eyes were black voids. His features seemed void to emotion. It was impossible to tell what he might be thinking.

“And this is Lire,” Edonya pointed to the clown, “He has no powers but I wouldn’t take him lightly. And that,” she pointed to the boat, “is Ibid with your little Arisa.”

Fang looked at the boat. Arisa stood in the boat in the rain with two identical girls holding her in place. She was one of the acrobats.

“Now, if you would come aboard and we’ll be on our way. Arisa will go free and—”

“What do you mean?” Fang asked.

“Well, all we wanted was you for her,” she looked confused, “Didn’t you put that in the letter?” she asked Thae.

“I wrote what you told me to,” Thae answered, his voice monotone.

“Hm,” Edonya placed her hands on her hips, “Oh, well, guess I forgot to mention it didn’t I.”

Thae barely moved, “It appears so.”

Edonya turned back to Fang, “Well, because we messed up you can go back and talk about out new terms with the others. We want you for her.”

“Why?” Fang asked.

Edonya shrugged, “Ask our boss. He’s the one who wants you.”

Fang was silent. The rain lightened up a little. This was going to change things but not all that much. He glanced at his watch. Five more minutes. He needed a little more time. Fang tapped his watch twice.

“Well, I guess we might as well get this over with,” Fang muttered.

Edonya smiled and hopped. She turned around and walked back toward the ship, “Right this way, if you please. You sure you don’t want to say your goodbyes?”

“There’s no need to,” Fang said.

Thae’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. Fang met the gaze.

“Thae! I’m getting wet!” Edonya complained.

“My apologies,” Thae said and followed behind her with the umbrella, his eyes were always on Fang however.

They walked toward the boat. Arisa saw Fang and tried to squirm out of her captors grasp. Edonya signaled that it was alright and Arisa ran to Fang. Fang kneeled as Arisa ran into him. She cried into his shoulder and apologized repeatedly for all the trouble. Fang reassured her that she had nothing to apologize about.

“You’re coming home, alright,” Fang said.

Arisa nodded. Her tears mixed with the rain on her face. She gripped Fang closer.

“I need to go,” he said.

“Go where,” Arisa face was buried in Fang’s shoulder.

“I want you to go on home, alright?” Fang said.

Arisa looked up at him, “You’re not coming back, are you?”

Fang glanced at Thae who was still staring at him, “Wish I could. But you need to get home before you catch a cold.”

Arisa looked like she was about to cry again.

Fang kissed her on the forehead, “Now, no more of that. No need to be so blue. Now go on home and stay out of the puddles. Oh, and defiantly stay out of the alleys. You never know what kind of shadowy figures might be lurking there. Some might have guns. I want you to be careful, alright, and patient. Our yard is packed with ravens and crows. They can be rather mean so just stick on the path.”

Arisa’s eyes seemed to understand a hidden meaning. She nodded and gave Fang one last hug before running down the street. Arisa was extra careful with jumping over puddles. Fang stood up and looked at Edonya.

“When do we set sail?” he asked.

“As soon as possible,” she smiled, “Thae, prepare the boat, please.”

Before they boarded the boat they searched Fang for any weapons. Naturally, they found the silver gun and confiscated it. The boat was fairly neat and expensive looking. There was no way they could afford all of this on their circus pay. Fang glanced around, committing everything to memory. He felt the boat start to make its way out to sea.

“Pity, you have no way of getting off now,” Thae said.

Fang glanced at him, “What makes you say that?”

He noticed a map with a city circled. Thae noticed and covered the map. He glared at Fang.

“What do you have planned?” he said.

“Honestly,” Fang smiled, “nothing.”

Thae looked unconvinced. He looked out the window as if expecting to see something. The rain had stopped and the sun was starting to peak out of the clouds. Fang looked too. From behind one of the clouds appeared a black speck. Thae squinted. He pulled Fang to the deck.

“What is that?” he asked Ibid.

The girl looked at the speck and shrugged uncaringly. Whatever it was it was getting larger. Fang’s sensitive ears already picked up what it was. He sighed and shook his head.

Edonya came out and squinted, “Thae, what’s going on?”

Thae glanced at Fang, “I’m sure he knows.”

“Oh, Fang,” Edonya said, “I told you not to have anyone follow us. Lire,” she said to the clown.

He laughed as he comically picked up a colored beanbag. Lire then picked up a kind of launcher. He placed the beanbag in it and aimed at the black speck. The launcher fired. Fang had a sinking feeling that this wasn’t going to be a good thing. There was a large explosion and at first Edonya looked satisfied. But she looked at Lire and saw that he was frowning.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“It detonated before impact,” Vise answered.

“What does that mean?” Edonya asked.

“It means they shot it down,” Thae glared at Fang.

Fang smiled slightly, “Well done, Alister.”

“Nice shot!” Shadow called out.

Alister rested his sniper rifle on his shoulder as he stood outside of the helicopter. He held on to the rim of the side door with his left hand. Alister smiled.

“I just hope they send more my way,” he said, “You know what trouble Fang ‘as gotten ‘iself into?”

Shadow shook his head, “No, but we’re way off the plan. How’s it handling, Raven?”

“Fine,” she said as she flew the helicopter, “Thanks to Penelope, it was able to start.”

“Remind me again how you know how to fly a helicopter?” Alister asked as he straightened his arm to aim.

“Child soldier, remember,” Raven looked back.

“Hey, keep your eyes on the…um…air,” Alister fired.

Raven maneuvered the helicopter to avoid the center of the explosion.

“What I want to know is where Penelope learned to hotwire a helicopter,” Shadow glanced back at her.

Penelope shrugged, “I-i-internet?”

“Not buyin’ it,” Alister said as he fired three more times.

Three other explosions appeared in the helicopters path.

“S-s-so what’s the plan?” Penelope asked, changing the subject.

“When we fly over Penelope and I will go and drop down,” Shadow said, “Alister you do what you do with that thing and Raven just keep doing what you’re doing.”

“So descriptive,” Raven said.

“Not quite like Fang’s plans,” Alister commented, “But it’ll do.”

Shadow gave him a look, “Sorry, I could make the plan that I throw you out of here head first.”

“Hey! I said it’ll do!”

“Rocket!” Raven called.

Alister threw the sniper rifle into the helicopter, “Hand me the machine gun,” he told Penelope.

While Penelope rushed to get the weapon, Alister clipped something from his belt onto the roof of the helicopter. It was attached to a string that kept him from falling out. Penelope handed him the machine gun. Alister leaned out of the helicopter again.

“Lean left!” he shouted.

Raven tilted the helicopter left. Alister got a good view of the coming rocket and fired the gun. A stream of bullets fired at the coming theat. The empty shells fell on Penelope.

“Gosh! Will you just shoot that thing down already!?” she shouted.

“I’m workin’ on it!” Alister shouted.

Raven looked concerned, “You’re cutting it close, Alister!”

“Imagin’ David an’ Goliath! I gotta get in it the right spot!” Alister shouted over the rain of bullets.

The rocked grew closer. Raven couldn’t wait any longer. She turned the helicopter sharply to the left. Time slowed. The helicopter barely passed the rocket. As it passed, Alister fired at it. It detonated. The explosion blew Alister back into the helicopter. The string snapped and he fell against the door. The door opened suddenly and Alister fell into open air. Penelope unbuckled from her seat. She reached for Alister as she jumped from the helicopter. Shrapnel riddled their helicopter. Shadow and Raven ducked at the impact, both barely escaped death as the shrapnel blew past them. The engines stalled.

***

To Be Continued…