Josie and Jack went inside the tailoring establishment. Josie inspected the materials, touched everything, asked questions about costs and time to assemble a small wardrobe.

Jack asked if they had anything in his size, and could he grab it right then.

The staff seemed insulted with his callousness, but they doted on Josie. She smiled as she ordered three outfits that were essentially shirt, pants, vest, and cloak in different colors and materials.

“Could you send everything down to the Bell Tower when it’s done,” said Josie. “We’re booking rooms there until we figure out where we have to go.”

“Wait,” said Jack. “You wouldn’t happen to know where Lake Myra is, do you?”

“It’s about forty miles north of here,” said one of the assistant tailors. “Most of the city’s water and fish are from there.”

“Thank you,” said Jack. He handed the man a silver piece. “That’ll save us a lot of work.”

Jack paid for everything, handing over a little more to make sure that clothing would get to the inn as soon as it was made.

“Do we have enough to cover a stay at the inn?,” Josie asked. She tried not to stare at a man turning into an alley ahead. He looked familiar.

“Depends on how much they charge,” said Jack. “We have enough to cover tonight, maybe tomorrow. Too bad we don’t have the Internet. Google would be a big help.”

“The mapping would be good,” said Josie. She tapped the phone in her pocket. “Just being able to text would let us split up to take care of things without having to worry about where we were.”

“After I eat, I’m thinking about flying up and getting a bead on this Lake Myra and see if that guy was right,” said Jack.

“How long do you think that will take?,” asked Josie.

“The Falcon is pretty fast for a bird,” said Jack. “I could fly up there, look around, and be back by nightfall.”

“That’ll give me a chance to take a nap,” said Josie. “I feel tired all of a sudden. Maybe it’s jet lag.”

“Tell me about it,” said Jack. “The time seems almost in sync with our world. Maybe we lucked out with the time differential.”

“We’ll see,” said Josie. “Once we have everything set, we can push these quests over. How hard can it be?”

“Hard enough they drafted two geeks from another world so we have to do some Kunosuba crap to get home,” said Jack.

“Are there other people with watches?,” Josie frowned as she asked the question.

“If there are, are they on our side?,” said Jack. “We don’t need guys trying to get our watches because they couldn’t get the job done.”

“Good point on that,” said Josie. She smiled at the Bell Tower. “Let’s go in and get rooms and food. You can do your recon while I nap, then we can come up with a plan.”

“We’re supposed to meet Ken in a few hours,” reminded Jack. “He might have more information for us.”

“I’ll be ready,” said Josie.

They stepped in the inn. The crowd had thinned out in the few minutes they had been shopping. The waitress smiled when she saw them. She waved them to a table full of empty plates. She whisked the debris away as they sat down.

“I wonder what they have,” said Jack. “We don’t get to choose unless they have more than one thing cooking in the back.”

“Probably some kind of stew,” said Josie. “Anything would be good right now.”

“On one hand, I don’t care whether we stay here, or not, but I would like to know what’s really going on,” said Jack. “I doubt we were picked at random.”

“I was picked,” said Josie. “I think they didn’t expect me to split the watches. What would you get if you had both of them, the Amalgam Universe?”

“What would you get if you had all three?,” said Jack.

“If we knew what was on that watch, we could guess,” said Josie. “There were a lot of comic book companies that folded up at the end of the forties. There might be three different versions of the Black Cat combined into one hero to use.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“All right,” said Jack. “I know there were three versions of Cat Man.”

“Exactly,” said Josie.

The waitress came back with mugs full of beer. She put them on the table.

“I’ll have plates ready for you in a minute,” said the waitress.

“Could I have a double portion, please?,” said Jack.

“That’ll be fine,” said the waitress. “Anything else?”

“Were you able to get rooms for us?,” asked Josie. “We asked the tailor shop down the street to drop our clothes here.”

“We do have two rooms at the end of the hall upstairs,” said the woman. “Master Comb, the keep, said he would charge you a silver a night.”

“That’s good,” said Josie.

The waitress whisked away, dealing with other customers on the way back to the kitchen.

“This beer is a lot bitterer than what I’m used to,” said Jack. He took another sip of his drink. “It seems a little strong.”

Josie took a sip of hers. She grimaced. The taste was bitter, and held on. It didn’t resemble the beer at home at all.

“You could get drunk on one of these mugs if you’re not careful,” said Jack. He pushed his mug away.

“I know,” said Josie. She kept her mug near her hand, but decided to wait until the food came before she tried any more. Maybe it would grow on her.

“If these quests don’t work out, we can start our own distillery,” said Jack.

“Tell me about it,” said Josie.

The waitress returned with a plate of meat and veggies for Josie. A bowl of soup was on the side. She set everything down before assuring Jack his plate would be right up.

“I don’t have anything to cut this with,” said Josie. “Everybody has a knife. We

should have grabbed two from somewhere.”

“Eat it with your fingers,” said Jack.

“I’m not a barbarian,” said Josie.

“Take my pocket knife,” said Jack. He handed over his Swiss pocket knife. “I’ll use my fingers.”

Josie took the knife and cut her slab into sections with a little effort. She stabbed a piece and put it in her mouth. She nodded at the taste.

“It tastes good,” she said. She stabbed another piece and put that in her mouth to chew.

“That’s great,” said Jack.

The waitress returned with two plates of meat and vegetables, and two bowls of soup. She plopped them in front of him and stepped back.

“This looks good,” said Jack. He picked up one of the bowls and sipped at the

contents. “I’m really hungry.”

“I can see that,” said the waitress. “Let me get you a spoon.”

She walked back to the kitchen.

“I guess she thought you weren’t going to eat,” said Josie. She smiled as she stabbed another piece of meat.

“Like the great Wesley Snipes said,” said Jack, sipping his soup. “There’s always some clown trying to iceskate uphill.”

“I don’t think that’s the right wording,” said Josie.

“The sentiment is the same,” said Jack.

Josie smiled.

They went through the meal. She felt loggy the more she ate, and her arms felt stiff when she tried to move them. She needed a nap more than she thought.

“I can hang around until you get through your nap,” said Jack.

“Go ahead and take your look around,” said Josie. “One of us has to stay active to show we’re doing what we’re supposed to do. We can’t let the watches think we’re not going to do anything. We can’t afford to lose them.”

“All right,” said Jack. “Let’s get you up to your room. I’ll fly up and come back

before Ken shows up for our meeting.”

Jack got the room numbers. He didn’t like there were no keys to lock the rooms up when they were out. He helped Josie up the stairs and down the short hall to her room. His room was across the hall. He frowned at that. He had wanted rooms right next to each other.

The inside of the door had a lock bar. He liked that a little better. He helped Josie stagger inside, and placed her on the bed. Then he pulled the bar in place. A pull moved the clothing chest in front of the door.

“Are you going to be all right?,” asked Jack.

“Go,” said Josie. “Let me sleep. Take enough notes in case we need a map.”

Jack went to the window. He eased out on the sill and pulled the window closed behind him. He turned into the Falcon and flew away with a flap of his wings.

Josie woke up to a pain in her face. She blinked. Fog covered her vision. She

suppressed a groan to try to look around.

“You’re awake,” said a guy in a doublet and pants. “Good. I want you to know what’s going to happen to you.”

Josie realized they had taken her clothes and chained her to a wall. She still had her watch. All she needed to do was to select someone and call them.

“I’m going to tell you what’s going to happen to you,” said Josie. She pulled her forearms together. There was enough slack for that. The cuff had been slipped at the edge of the watch. She couldn’t turn the dial much, but she nodded at the choices it gave her. She rolled the face to light the name of the hero.

“What’s that?,” said the guy. He smiled. “This should be precious.”

“I’m going to kill you, all of your friends, everyone that ever dealt with you,” said Josie. A quest lit up in her head and this one had a large number of targets attached to it. “I’m going to take everything from you with a push of a button.”

The guy jumped forward, reaching for the watch. Josie pushed the button. He landed in the arms of a taller woman with longer, redder hair and red eyes. He tried to pull back but she was far stronger than he was.

“This wouldn’t have happened if you had just walked on,” said the Vampire.

Everything that made him what he was went to her in a flow of red. She let a skeleton crumble on the floor.

Josie stepped out of the chains, and went to the door. She heard sounds and screams. She pulled her door open and stepped out in the dungeon. Jack would find her eventually. She knew that. She planned to be done before he got there. He didn’t need to see what was going to happen in her abattoir.

She went from room to room. The screams went with her. Before they had been women and girls. Then they’re were the men she seized. Then the tinkling collapse of bone followed that.

Everyone she killed added on to the time she could be the Vampire. She smiled at that. That gave her plenty of time to clear the building. Then she needed to find her clothes. When she changed back, she didn’t want to be naked.

She pursed her lips as she thought about taking one of them alive. Did she really need that? She decided that she needed someone to talk to so she find the rest of the rats.

Turning on the Vampire would make the rest easy.