Seizing the Initiative...Part 2

In the end, it was a damn good thing that the captors weren’t actually law enforcement officers. No matter how much Dr. Geek’s Lab Rats would like to think that they too have what it takes to be agents, they showed on that night that they lacked the skills, training, and the ability to adapt to changing circumstances that all good law enforcement officers possess.

My trap wasn’t particularly well laid or executed, since it was pretty much a spur of the moment decision, but it certainly worked well enough to handle this collection of knuckleheads relatively easily.

When the door openned into a darkened room with broken glass on the floor and chairs pushed around randomly, there was some cursing and grumbling mixed with the questions thrown back towards Dr. Geek about whether to proceed or not. After about thirty seconds of debate, one scared looking man was sent in to find a working light switch.

I remained behind the now open door, waiting motionless in the total darkness, knowing that he wouldn’t find anything very easily in this darkness.

Before long, several others were sent in to stumble around in the dark to try and help their comrade. One guy can perilously close to me, but something seemed to guide him off to the side and away from my little patch of shadow.

Dr. Geek stepped into the doorway called out to the men inside, “Never mind about the lights, someone look to see if the Transit Room is still functional.”

That was my cue. I slammed the door shut with a strength that surprised even me, the satisfying thud and groan before it slammed completely shut told me that Dr. Geek was still in the doorway when I acted. The sudden cutting of even the dim ambient light from outside left the 7 or 8 victims inside stunned. Their moment of stunned silence quickly turned into a mini-inferno of pained screams, bone crushing thuds of my batons on legs, shoulders and arms, and the sobs of the still conscious wounded. The poor bastards never had a chance. This part of the battle was over in less than a minute.

As quick as all that was however, I was worried about my friends outside, so I didn’t take any additional time to make sure that no one was in jeopardy of dying, there was no time for niceties. I yanked open the door, bloody baton in hand, ready to leap into the fray outside as well, only to see that my companions were handling things rather well on their own.

Jim had one scrawny fake agent in a wrestling move over his head and was just in the motion of bringing the poor bastard down into another couple who were fumbling around trying to draw weapons that they were obviously not very proficient with.

Herne was busy pummeling a larger goon into senselessness with his bare fists while his wife, Moira, had somehow come up with a very wicked, very sharp knife that she was using with great skill to back down another goon. That poor soul was bleeding from several small cuts on his face and was busy holding his bleeding limp right hand with his still functional left.

John Red Bear was standing over a couple of fallen men, his bruised and bloody knuckles the only evidence of what was used to subdue them. He was now working on taking the hand cuffs and bags off the heads of his two students.

Cerrydwen was standing calmly among three other fake agents, their weapons dropped down at their feet as two of them were sobbing uncontrollably in the face of her dark glare, while the third just stood there with a slack look on his face that I had seen once before, back in Chicago, when she had subdued that bounty hunter.

The Frau was sitting on top of Dr. Geeks chest, his hands pinned at his side, his face a bloody mess from a clearly shattered nose and maybe now missing some teeth from the impact of the door on his face.

The only person of our group who I didn’t immediately see was Ravyn, I was just about to ask about her though when a concentrated bolt of flame erupted from behind one of the SUV’s and knocked me off of my feet and back into the control room. My one baton went spinning back into the room as well, falling with a clang near one of the downed Lab Rats. Luckily the bolt had been more solid energy than actual flame, so the only damage done was to my pride, but then I guess that was pretty well deserved at this point.

I sat up to see her standing in the doorway, an enormous image of the Fierce Phoenix filling the rest of the doorway behind her. Her fiery red glare held me silent as I sat up, brushed at my chest to make sure everything was still there. I could see the remains of the hand cuffs dripping off her arms in little molten drops, but remarkably, the rest of her clothing was untouched.

“I hope you REALLY enjoyed that look back in Chicago, because that’s the LAST such look you’re getting! Now you better fess up as to what the hell is going on around here or we’re gonna find out just how bad Zombie flesh smells when its fried!”

I raised my hands in a defenseive gesture, but dropped them down immediately when she raised her right hand, flame dancing from her fingers excitedly. “It’s going to take a few minutes to explain. I fell into a trap that Drake laid, and the only way I could see out of it, to protect you and the others was to play along with things until I could find a way to turn things back around.”

Her glare, and her flames, were still fierce and angry. “So when was this trap sprung on you, and why didn’t you tell anyone so that we could face this challenge together?”

“When I realized that the man you knew of as Agron was one of Drake’s agents, I didn’t know excactly who I could trust, so I went looking for him before he could try to alert Drake to everything that we were doing. But look, I wasn’t thinking straight, I was scared for you guys, I was scared for myself, I didn’t know what was going on.”

By now Ravyn had stepped into the room, allowing Jim and Cerrydwen to follow. Jim loomed in the doorway, blocking out the light from beyond with his bulk. “So you just let me lay there asleep, leaving a damn note? Do you know the danger you put us into?”

“Yeah, I found out afterwards. Look, Papa Locks has found a way to animate another officer who was killed after I was. I had helped to release his Spirit, so I was pretty surprised when I saw the face of my friend being used by that host of dark spirits that Papa Locks has animated that body with. He used that monster to kill everyone in the suite, making it look like I had done it. He disappeared right after I showed up. When the police came, I didn’t think it was too wise to resist. But even they had been coopted by Drake and his men. I was hoping that they just wanted me, and that you guys would be left alone if I cooperated.”

Herne came through the doorway, followed by Moira and John. “Fat chance of that, man,” said Herne. “I don’t think this Drake fellow is going to let us get away with the damage we’ve done to his network. It’s a war now and he isn’t going to stop until we are gone, or he is.”

“Yeah, I get that now. And I had already made the decision to try and get you guys out of whatever mess was being made, which is why I broke my deal and refused to leave here when they tried to transport me back to Florida.”

“So that’s why they were bringing us here,” said Cerrydwen. “I remember one of them referring to this place as a Transit Point and how they were going to send us somewhere far away, but I was puzzled when they didn’t take us to the airport.”

“I don’t know exactly how it works, but I can show you what I saw the guy do when he used it, although I am afraid I disabled the link to Florida. Can I get up now?” I asked looking at Ravyn.

The fire in her eyes and on her hands seemed to dim just a little during the course of our conversation. “I suppose, but I am watching you buster. There had better be no more nasty surprises out of you, or I’ll toast your circuits pretty damn quick!”

Cerrydwen put her hand on Ravyn’s shoulder, “It’s OK sis, I can see the truth in his words. I knew he wasn’t involved in the killings of the suite, just like I told you before. You know me, I don’t trust easily.”

Ravyn looked over her shoulder at Cerrydwen, “Yeah, that’s true. You don’t normally vouch for anyone. All right.”

John spoke up now, “We need to gather up all of these prisoners and bring them inside. We can interrogate them and find out how to use this device of theirs to send them somewhere far away were they can get medical attention, but can’t get us into trouble. Then we can discuss with more information what we need to do next.”

With those wise words, everyone pitched in, bringing in the wounded from outside, and the one man I had killed while I was in a hurry inside. I was saddened by his death, but resolved to continue the struggle against Drake and his minions.