Insanity Chapter Thirty-Nine

Insanity

Chapter Thirty-Nine

~Alister’s Tower~

Day Thirty-Two

Sage sat in his office. He looked deep in thought. His office was large with a desk in the center. The walls were lined with bookshelves and bookshelves of books. It was late in the afternoon and he was getting some last minute things done before he had to check on some of his Agents.

There was a knock at the door. Sage looked up and sighed.

“Come in,” he said.

A man dressed in a black suit came in, “Hello sir.”

“What do you want?” Sage asked without looking up from his work.

“We have a situation, Sir,” the guard said.

Sage looked up, “What situation?”

“If you would follow me, sir?” the man said.

Sage stood up and followed the man out.

***

The Mansion

“I’m bored!” Alister lay on the couch, “Can’t we do somethin’?”

Fang walked by with duster in hand. He ignored Alister and kept himself busy with the chores that the others seemed to always avoid like the plague. Shadow even seemed to be suspiciously missing when Fang went to ask him to clean the house. Alister just didn’t seem to care either way.

“I’m bored!” Alister complained again, “Is there anythin’ to eat?”

“Keep that up and you might not be able to lift your dead body off that couch,” Fang snapped.

Alister kept his mouth closed. When Fang turned his back he heard a faint “yeah, but at least it would put an end to my boredom” coming from Alister. He let the comment slide. There were more important thing to do than deal with Alister right now. Alister had his own category of problems. On top of that, Fang didn’t have much sleep the night before. There was something bugging him in the back of his mind. He tried the whole night to figure out what it was. Even Shadow stopped by when he saw the light under the door.

Fang glared at a few cobwebs in a high corner. As much as he was pleased that the spiders were getting rid of the other more unpleasant insects, he did wish that they would choose to make their homes in a less attractive corner. He crossed his arms. There was no stool high enough to get him up there. He turned to Alister.

“Alister,” Fang stated.

Alister looked over the couch back. He looked at Fang. His eyes looked guilty, he must have been muttering other things that Fang was wise to ignore.

“Make yourself useful and help me clean,” Fang said.

With a heavy sigh, Alister got up and walked over to where Fang stood. Fang handed him the duster and pointed to the spider webs. Slowly, Alister looked at the duster that up at the corner. He started to make the connection.

“How do I—” Alister started to ask.

“You’re creative,” Fang said as he patted Alister on the shoulder, “You can figure something out.”

“Why do we have to clean again?” Alister asked.

“Would you rather we live in a pig sty with rats crawling around?” Fang responded in a question.

Alister shrugged, “I’d be good target practice.”

“It wasn’t an opinion question Alister,” Fang stared at the younger man in front of him.

“I knew that! I was just sayin’!”

There was a knock at the door. Fang watched for a moment as Alister contemplated the situation he had to conquer. Then he went to the door.

“Who is it?” Fang asked before opening it.

“The man who pays you so you’d better open up before I cut your pay,” a voice said on the other side.

Fang opened the door, “Sage?”

The Tower director looked agitated, “No, it’s Bob. Who do you think it is?”

“It’s just that we don’t normally get many visits from you,” Fang said cautiously, his natural skepticism was in overdrive. He was expecting to overrun by Agents at any moment now.

“In fact,” Fang continued, “This is the first.”

“And I assure you, it will be the last,” Sage angrily crossed his arms, “Are you going to let me in or do you usually let your guests stand here on the front step?”

Fang stepped back and allowed Sage to walk in. Sage looked around briefly before sitting down in a chair. His back was to where Alister stood looking up at the high corner full of cobwebs. Fang sat across from him.

“Would you like something to drink?”

Sage waved his hand, “I don’t have time for that.”

“Well, then,” Fang said, “May I ask why you are here?”

Fang glanced in the back ground. Alister tried unsuccessfully to jump up to the spider webs. After a few tries, Alister stopped and sighed. He seemed to lighten up and walked off somewhere.

“I sent a few Agents to take keep an eye on Zeta at their last known headquarters.”

“You knew where they were?” Fang asked.

“Yes,” Sage stated, “But from what the Agents said I didn’t think of them as an immediate threat.”

Fang raised an eyebrow, “Crazy Other with the intentions of ruling the world didn’t ring any alarms?”

“Let me finish,” Sage sighed, “Well anyway, after the incident at Chicago I had my Agents look deeper into what they were doing. Recently, I instructed a raid on their headquarters. I was just informed that the Agents found nothing.”

Fang sat quietly. Alister came back into the room. The sound of wood scraping against wood broke the silence. Sage glared over at the red head. Alister continued pushing a large desk over to the corner. This took several minutes of off and on scraping. When he finally reached the corner he smiled an apologetic smile and waved at Sage.

“Which one are you?” Sage asked.

“Name’s Alister,” Alister smiled.

“Oh, so you’re the one,” Sage nodded, “Tell me, you really don’t have an imaginary friend named Shifter, do you?”

Alister’s face went plaster white. He looked to Fang for guidance.

“Not really an imaginary friend exactly,” Fang answered, “more like a voice in his head.”

Sage looked at him, “Really?”

“Yes,” Fang nodded, “He’s always muttering about something when I’m around. Talking to this Shifter that we don’t see.”

Alister narrowed his eyes. This was payback about earlier. Little did he know that Fang only really listened to one of his mutterings and not all but he assumed that Fang was getting back at him.

“The company you keep, Fang,” Sage shook his head, “I wonder about your sanity.”

“Let me worry about my sanity,” Fang said, “Why exactly are you here?”

“Right,” Sage paused, “As the Agents were looking through the building, they found evidence of a device. They searched everywhere but didn’t find where it could be.”

Alister walked away and came back with a chair and a small stool. He placed both on top of the desk. Fang started to get a queasy feeling in his stomach. Alister placed them in a way so that the opened end of the chair and the seat of the stool were even with each other. After that, he walked away again.

“And?” Fang asked.

“I had our engineers look at some blueprints they found and analyze them. It’s a unique device that turns normal humans into Others.”

“He said he’d do something like that,” Fang muttered.

Alister came in again, this time with a small filing cabinet. Assuming it was empty, Fang watched Alister place the box onto the chair. Alister stepped back analyzing what he had done. He then moved the stool and chair over a bit before walking away once more.

“Yes,” Sage sounded like he was swallowing something bitter, “You see we can’t have that happen. And quite frankly you…are one of the best teams…out there.”

“Did it hurt to say that?” Fang asked.

Sage glared at him, “Don’t push it.”

Alister came in again with five large pots. He placed one on the desk behind the chair face down. He placed another one on top of that face up. He continued doing that until the five pots were placed. They were collectively higher that the back of the chair. Alister stepped back and stared at his creation. Then with duster in between his teeth, he started to climb Alister’s Tower.

“We need you to go after Zero and stop him before he uses that weapon,” Sage seemed to gag on something.

“That hurt too, didn’t it,” Fang stated.

Alister stepped onto the stool and climbed up onto the box on the chair. He had to steady himself because of unsure footing but then continued upward.

“I assure you,” Sage went on, “It will be worth your time.”

“Well, I guess we’ll have to,” Fang said, “The fate of the world depends on us.”

Sage smiled, “You don’t really care about that, do you?”

Fang shrugged, “Have you seen the news lately? They hate us Others so frankly I could care less. But personally, I would hate being ruled over by someone like Zero. And a kind of like this island. It’s sort of growing on me.”

Alister stepped onto the pots. He reached up and cleaned the corner.

“We’ll need you by tomorrow to discuss some things,” Sage stood up.

“Beats sitting around here doing nothing,” Fang stood as well, “Right Alister?”

“Yep,” he said as he reached for the last cobweb.

Just then Arisa came screaming down the stairs with Blue close behind her. She ran through furniture, not noticing that Mt. Alister was on the verge of collapse already as it was. Arisa accidentally bumped into the magnificent sculpture causing the bot to bump into the chair, making the chair bump into the pots, and sending the pots, plus Alister, crashing to the floor.

“Ow…” Alister moaned as he laid sprawled in broken pottery.

Sage glanced at him, “Will he be alright for tomorrow?”

“He should be fine,” Fang answered.

“Oops,” Arisa said as the unbalanced chair started to topple over in Alister’s direction.

Insanity Chapter Twenty-One

Insanity

Chapter Twenty-One

~My Brain Has Turned To Oatmeal~

Day Twenty

Undertaker lived right above his Pawn Shop. He reclined in bed and sighed. His black rimmed gold eyes scanned the room. It was simple; he didn’t like a really lavish lifestyle even though he could well afford it. He stood up. Underneath all the rags he wore was actually a well-built body. He walked over to a mirror and straightened his hair. The sun was already high in the sky. Undertaker started putting his cloak on when there was a knock at the door.

“Come in, Reighn,” he said.

The door opened and a young man walked in. His eyes were purple and his hair and skin were a pearl color. He wore a white shirt, blue vest and white pants. A gold bell hung from his right wrist. The man bowed his head lightly before walking into the room to help Undertaker dress.

The bell rang.

“Yes, yes, I know,” Undertaker said, “I guess I should have told him. But I did try without saying it out right.”

The bell rang.

“And I’m sorry about that,” Undertaker smiled, “I had to get in one last poke. I didn’t want to have to 'glomp' him so I threw the folder.”

The bell rang.

“Oh, come on, you were wet already. I didn’t make you wetter.”

Reighn walked over to the dresser and picked up the hat. He brushed it a few times before handing it to Undertaker.

“Thank you, Reighn,” Undertaker said, “I’m glad I found you on my last mission.”

The bell rang.

Undertaker placed the hat on his head. He rearranged his hair. With one last look in the mirror, Undertaker smiled that crazy smile.

“Time to get to work,” he said and turned around, “Come one, Reighn. I have a feeling we’ll have guests today.”

He walked out of the room briskly. A Neuw followed him down the little hallway. He walked down a flight of stairs before stopping at a door. Undertaker paused before opening it. He glanced at a clock.

“Looks like it’s later than I thought,” he looked to his right. Reighn sat on its haunches, “You let me sleep in?”

“Yeap,” the creature said.

“Well, I guess it’s time to do my part,” Undertaker smiled, “I love being retired.”

Reighn rolled his eyes. Undertaker opened the door and walked into his shop. His hidden eyes fell on Fang. Shadow wasn’t too far behind. Fang walked up the Undertaker.

“Where’s the folder?” he demanded.

Undertaker paused a moment. He subtly searched though Fang’s mind for facts. Poor little Arisa got kidnapped. Now, he wasn’t expecting that. But while he was searching through Fang’s mind he saw or felt something different. A little light that seemed to be getting brighter, at least it was something that wasn’t there the last time he searched Fang’s mind. He smiled. This was going to be interesting.

“Undertaker! Where is that folder?!” Fang shouted.

“Now, now, no need to get you feathers all ruffled,” Undertaker pushed past him to the large desk, “And to which folder were you referring to?”

“Look, I don’t have any time! Give me the folder or I swear I will shoot you!” Fang was on a short fuse today.

Undertaker narrowed his hidden eyes, “Look, Fang, I know what happened to Arisa is hard but it doesn’t mean you have to chew everyone’s head off,” he reached under the table and pulled out the folder.

“How did you know?” Fang asked.

“I have friends, Fang. A child gets kidnapped in the circus isn’t something that people keep to themselves,” Undertaker said.

Fang barely heard his explanation. He tried to grab at the folder. Undertaker pulled it back, just out of Fang’s reach.

“I’m talking, Fang,” Undertaker’s voice suddenly grew serious, “Don’t let your emotions get all wrapped up in this. Keep your head straight, Fang, and pay attention to the little things.”

Fang was taken slightly aback by Undertaker's tone of voice. Shoot, blew it again. Undertaker smiled.

“Take it from an ex Agent,” his crazy carefree voice returned.

Slowly, Fang nodded and Undertaker released the folder into Fang’s hands. They left quickly. Reighn gave his master a stern look. The bell rang on its tail.

“Sorry, I got a little carried away,” Undertaker smiled.

The bell rang.

“Yes, I might need to check up on things later,” Undertaker nodded.

Reighn rolled his eyes. The bell on his tail rang.

“Oh, shut up,” smiled the Undertaker, “just stick to calculating our profits.”

***

The Mansion

“What do you mean that we aren’t going to do anything!?” Penelope protested.

“I didn’t say we weren’t going to anything,” Fang said as he paced back and forth.

The folder was strewed all over the table. Shadow stood in one corner and stared at the sheets of paper thoughtfully. Raven sat with a worried look on her face. The folder was practically a warning. It was lists upon lists of criminal activities that the police in several governments thought that the circus was involved in. Most of the crimes were kidnappings and were highlighted with a highlighter. That was something that the Tower wouldn’t bother doing. Fang slowly realized that Undertaker was taking it upon himself to warn him before something like this happened. But he had been too stubborn to listen.

Blue sat a little distant from the others. There was a darkness that radiated from him. If the people who did this were in the room, they would never see the light of day again. Fang knew Blue wasn’t going to sit back until he and Arisa were playing again.

“Than what are we doing?” Alister was also getting antsy, he was ready to shoot anyone who knew what happened to Arisa.

Fang paced back and forth. For the first time he didn’t know what to do. He was taken completely off guard by a threat he knew nothing about. His thoughts turned to much the moment he thought he had something. This wasn’t like him. He knew that and he would try to think harder but that only made things worse.

“Earth to Fang! Arisa is probably terrified right now! What’s the plan?” Alister asked, “You say the word an’ we’ll swoop in and rescue her. Just tell up the plan!”

“There is no plan!” Fang shouted.

There was complete silence in the room. Everyone stared at Fang. That only made Fang’s condition worse.

“There just isn’t—I can’t—I mean,” Fang started stammering.

Nothing coming out of his mouth made any sense. Shadow noticed the odd behavior and swooped in. From the corner he crossed the room to Fang’s side. He stood slightly in front of Fang, gaining the attention of the others. Shadow smiled.

“Now, look,” he said, “We’re all a little stressed. But I think we should all calm down. Didn’t they say that they would send demands for Arisa’s release? I’m sure we will find out what they are soon. And when we do we can figure out how to get her back. So for now, I think we should all get some rest. We’ve had quite the day, haven’t we?”

Reluctantly, there were nods of agreement even from Blue. Fang slightly nodded. He still wasn’t quite himself.

“See,” Shadow continued, “We’re all tired. Let’s all get some rest and come back to it tomorrow.”

Blue looked up with a look of disbelief. His mouth seemed to be trying to form words but nothing came out. Strangely, Alister voiced Blue’s words.

“But what about Arisa!?” he shouted and slammed the table.

“Well, Arisa wouldn’t want everyone to stay up nights on end, would she? Wouldn’t she want us to get our rest so we can find her faster with refreshed bodies and minds?”

Shadow looked around and slowly the others saw how he was making sense. But he knew that they needed more than just his words. They needed someone they all looked up to. He looked over his shoulder.

“Wouldn’t you agree, Fang?” Shadow asked.

Fang looked around as if he wasn’t quite sure where he was. He looked at Shadow and saw what he was trying to do. Fang nodded.

“Yeah,” he said slowly at first, “Shadow has a good point. We all need rest. Go to bed. We’ll get together in the morning.”

His voice had found its strength again. The other nodded and reluctantly went to their respected rooms. Everyone except Penelope because her room was still ruined. She slept in Raven’s room temporarily. When they were gone, Shadow turned to Fang.

“You need rest to, you know,” he said.

Fang looked away, “No, I’m fine. I was just a little overwhelmed.”

“Overwhelmed?” Shadow raised an eyebrow, “Overwhelmed is “oh my gosh, I don’t know what to do!” not having a total mental breakdown!”

“Shadow, I said I’m fine!” Fang snapped at him.

“If your fine then I’m Mother Teresa!” Shadow shook his head, “Fang you need rest. I don’t know what’s going on with you but a night’s sleep should get you back on track.”

“I don’t need—”

“You were stammering, Fang! You never stammer! You always know what to say,” Shadow’s voice trailed off in the end.

Fang looked into Shadow’s eyes. There was genuine concern for his well-being. He did feel tired and overwhelmed. Maybe Shadow was right; a night’s sleep would be good for him.

“Fine,” Fang conceded.

He turned around and started to walk to his room when Shadow stopped him.

“We count on you, Fang. If you breakdown like that the rest of us don’t know what to do,” Shadow said.

Fang thought about the words. Shadow had a point. Fang brought them all together therefore it was natural for them to look up to him for help when they needed it. He turned to Shadow.

“I’m glad you covered for me Shadow,” he said quietly.

Shadow smiled, “That’s what I’m here for.”

“Now go to bed,” Fang said as he walked away, “I believe I said that a while ago.”

“Always have to have the last word Fang?” Shadow laughed, “Maybe we can look into that in our next session!”

“Bed, now!” Fang said walked away

Insanity Chapter Seven

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.

Insanity Chapter Six

Insanity

Chapter Six

~The Tower Breaker is Broken~

Day Two

Fang woke up at his usual time, made breakfast at exactly the right time and enjoyed his first sip of tea just before the kayos in the household erupted. Breakfast was better behaved than the day before. They all seemed to be expecting something. Fang knew what they wanted but kept silent as he ate his French toast and sausage links. There was no point in hurrying; the club would only open later that day.

When everyone finished, they brought their dishes to the kitchen to be washed. It would be Raven’s turn to wash them today. After that, Fang walked into a large indoor glass room and sat by the fountain. Arisa and Blue played with the water while the others seemed to hover around him. After a while, Fang said something to get them all to calm down.

“We meet in the door way at noon,” he said.

Alister had a wolfish grin on his face as he though about all the fun he would be having. Raven walked off to do the dishes and Shadow still stayed near Fang. Penelope opened her satchel and read her manga. Arisa and Blue didn’t seem to care either way.

At twenty to noon, the others started going to get ready. Fang walked slowly to the door way and waited for their arrival. When they got there he inspected them.

He started with Shadow.

After checking his weapons Fang gave him another dagger and said, “Hide this somewhere. 35 minutes, cup, back table. 20 minutes, dagger.”

Shadow looked at him with a blank stare, “What?”

“You’ll see,” Fang stated.

He moved on to Raven, “30 minutes 47 seconds, table, left foot.”

Raven nodded but didn’t seem to know what she was nodding to.

Fang looked Alister over, “You’re too heavy,” he took a hand gun from Alister’s belt, looked to see how many bullets there were and took out all of them and handed it back to him, “10 minutes, shot gun, balcony. Aim to miss.”

“‘Ey what’s that suppose to mean?” Alister voiced but Fang moved on.

Fang looked down at Arisa. She smiled up at him.

“22 minutes 30 seconds, table, hands in air.”

Arisa frowned and crossed her arms, “You’re weird.”

“Penelope,” Fang said, calling her attention from her book, “22 minutes 20 seconds, bar, spray faucet. Travel by table top.”

Penelope pushed her glasses up her nose.

Fang moved on to Blue, “Blue,” he paused, Blue looked at him expectantly, “negative 5 minutes, back of bar. I’m sure you’ll know what to do.”

He stepped back a few paces, “You all have watches, set them for 45 minutes,” he waited until they did, “if you do exactly what I tell you, then we will have no issues. If you don’t, worst case scenario is that we all die; best case scenario is that we get by with our lives…barely. Do we understand each other?”

“What is it with stuff like ‘table’?” Alister raised his hand and asked.

“You’ll see,” Fang said, “Don’t start your watches before I say so,” he turned around, “Let’s go get the job done.”

***

The Alleys

Fang and the others stood on a nearby roof, “Blue stays here. Start your watches,” he said before continuing on to the Tower Breaker Club.

On the out side it looked like a well kept rundown building. But on the inside it was full of people at barely past noon. They walked into the club. Everyone there grew quiet as they watched the strangers walk in. The bar tender stopped spraying alcohol into a glass cup though a spray faucet. The interior looked nice in the smoky haze that settled in the bar. There were wood tables dotted all over the place and couches in some of the corners. A flight of stairs ascended to a wooden balcony that overlooked the bar. Two strong looking men stood guard, one at the base the other at the top. A large door stood in the center of the back wall. Supposedly that was where Victor had his office.

“May-e ‘elp you?” the bartender asked in a scratchy voice.

Everyone watched them cynically. A man even took hold of a nearby shot gun.

“We’re here to see Victor,” Fang stated.

“I think we’d all feel more at ease if you were disarmed,” a voice said from the balcony, “Sylvester over there will take good care of your weapons.”

The door to the office was opened but it was hard to get a good look at who was speaking. Fang knew it was Victor. Sylvester, the bartender put down the cup and walked closer to them.

“Set ‘em on de counter,” he said.

The others didn’t move. Shadow glanced at Fang slightly and the tension grew when they didn’t do anything. Eventually, Fang nodded slightly. Shadow unloaded all of his daggers on the table while Alister un-slung his AK-47 and set it on the table carefully.

“You be careful with ‘at,” he eyed the bartender aggressively.

The bartender nodded halfheartedly.

Raven took out her two long swords and set them down as well. Penelope’s eyes narrowed annoyingly as she lifted her pant leg and pulled out a hidden gun. Arisa stood nonmoving as everyone moved around her. Alister and shadow picked her up by the arms and Raven pulled her pant legs up and pulled out two small daggers. They weren’t anything dangerous. They were mostly used for self-defense. After that Alister went to reach for his hand guns. Fang stopped him when he reached for the empty one.

“It’s empty,” he said.

The bartender looked skeptical and asked to see it. Sure enough it was empty. He looked at the balcony. The silhouette nodded and the bartender handed back the empty gun. Alister looked at Fang. Why was it important he had the gun again?

When they were done, the bartender took the weapons in his arms and took them to the back. There was a rather loud crash as he set them on the floor carelessly. Alister seemed broken. He spent hours the night before tending to his weapons and they get treated like that? It wasn’t fair.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Shadow whispered.

“Do you remember what I told you?” Fang asked.

Shadow nodded.

“Then we should be fine,” Fang said, “I calculated all of this last night.”

“Calculated?” Shadow looked confused.

“So, what brings you here?” Victor asked, “Not often we get people with that much lead on them in here.”

Fang went to sit on a stool by the bar. He looked up at Victor.

“We’re here to turn you in to the Tower,” he said.

There was a dead silence both from those in the bar and the others in Fang’s team. Slowly though, the shadow began to laugh and so did the others in the bar until only Fang and the others were the only ones not laughing.

“Oh, really? I guess you didn’t think this though,” Victor laughed, “‘Cause I just took away your weapons. Did you really think that you could waltz in here and you would have me on my knees begging you to let me live?”

“Mostly,” Fang stated.

Victor stopped laughing, “Well, your stupidity has just ended your life.”

All around the bar people reached for their guns and knives, this was the Alleys after all. The only person without any weapon was the bartender. He stood there cleaning a glass cup.

Fang sighed.

“Any last wishes?” Victor asked.

“Well, I guess you couldn’t deny a man one last drink, could you?” Fang said.

Victor looked at the bartender, “I guess we could allow him one, on the house.”

The bartender nodded and filled the cup he was cleaning. He set the cup beside Fang. Fang took it and drank from it.

“You know, Shadow,” he said as he set the empty cup on the counter closest to Shadow, “I’d say it’s been ten minutes since the watches started, wouldn’t you?”

There was a silent beep that seemed to echo though club. Ten minutes had passed leaving the timed watches at 35 minutes flat. Shadow reached for the cup and threw it at the far back table where a man sat holding an automatic weapon. The cup hit him in the face, knocking him out. After that, it was each to his own.

The Black team scattered though out the room. Raven went to engage a large six foot man. He held a club in his hand that was riddled with bits of nails and glass. As she approached he waved his club in an arch over his head. She jumped back as the club landed with a thud! on the floor. She ran up the hazardous weapon and when she reached his arm she jumped, did a min air summersault, and landed behind him. Raven was about to attack when he kicked her and sent her stumbling back. She landed on her back and rolled out of the way when he attacked again. Raven rolled under a table but that didn’t last for long. The giant man smashed half the table. She got to her knees. Splintered wood was everywhere. She used the other half of the table to get to her feet. The man looked at her and raised the club again. She darted left, he situated himself to attack to the left. She moved right, he shifted his body right. Then her watch made a silent beep. Fifteen minutes had passed by. She looked at the table and did the math. Raven pushed the table with all her might and tipped it over. The side that was hit from before was jagged and sharp. That end fell on the man’s left foot, shooting a piece of sharp wood through and though. The man screamed in pain. Raven ran up the fallen table, did a spinning kick and hit the man in the jaw, breaking it. The man fell to the ground unconscious.

Penelope jumped over the man as she dodged bullets, returning some as she did so. Both her and Raven scattered, managing to keep just out of the gunwoman’s aim. She held two hand guns. Penelope knocked over an undamaged table and crouched behind it. She checked her gun and found it was empty. Then she glanced around wildly looking for something to defend or attack with. Her glasses were missing but she seemed fine without them. Instead she saw Arisa crouched under a table. The little girl didn’t look frightened. She was just waiting for the gun fire to stop, in fact she looked bored.

“Hey, shorty!” Penelope shouted over the noise.

Arisa took notice of her and waved to show she heard.

Penelope locked her fingers together and held them open below her palms up. Arisa smiled. She waited for a man to walk by before darting forward. Arisa stepped in Penelope’s opened hand. Penelope stood up giving Arisa a boost.

Arisa shot up in the air. The woman gunman took one look at her and aimed her weapon at her. Arisa placed her fingers in a position as if she was going to snap. She did and a surge of sudden energy shot toward the woman. An explosion blew up in that corner of the building. The curtains were ablaze. The gunwoman, and the others who where around her, were no more.

Arisa landed on a tabletop. Penelope saw the whole thing and whooped.

“That is what I am talking about!” she shouted.

Fang simply observed from his seat at the bar.

“Why you!” a man shouted, presumably the woman’s lover charged at Arisa from deeper in the bar.

Penelope saw the man, stepped on the ridge of the toppled table and started running on tabletops. It was the fastest means of transportation other then teleporting which wasn’t as reliable. She had a ways to go and was ahead of the man by a few seconds. He angrily carried a dagger with him. Penelope headed for the bar at the last closest table she jumped and slid on the back counter. She grabbed the spray faucets, two of them, and then got to her knees. Her watch beeped.

“Hands up!” she shouted.

Arisa looked behind her and saw what Penelope was doing. She heard a gun go off in front of her, dropped to her knees and raised her hands. The bullet missed her by barely an inch and missed Fang by only half that. He didn’t move at all as the bullet rushed past and cut a few strands of his hair.

Penelope pressed the leaver, releasing two streams of pure alcohol, “You don’t mess with girls like us!”

The alcohol flew in the air and when it hit Arisa’s hands it turned into a stream of flames. What ever the alcohol touched it lit everything instantly. It stopped the man from progressing and even take a few steps back. Penelope laughed as the Club slowly turned into a flaming mess.

Fang glanced at the balcony. He saw Victor beginning to get a little uneasy. Fang smiled. He loved it when a plan came together.

***

To Be Continued…