The phone ringing paused the 'My Chemical Romance' track Terri was listening to and she jogged over to a park bench to take it. Out of breath, she answered it. It was Lucas.

“What can I do for you buddy?” she puffed.

“Ah, you’re out running? Sorry to interrupt.”

“No… It’s ok. I’ve done ten-k, I can take a break. Go on, what is it?” She probably sounded abrupt but she was catching her breath and wasn’t up for much talking.

“It's about your friend Leonard Patricks. He’s out of jail.”

“What?! How come? He was due to be in there a lot longer!”

“He was broken out last night.”

Terri sword under her breath. “Who helped him get out?”

“We have a strong indication already. Info was a little slow coming through initially because of the perimeter breach causing absolute chaos, but reviewing their footage shows two guys. A one Oliver Hogon, aka Mount Hogon and a Don Walters. It looked like Patricks was in on it too.”

“Bullshit. Of course he was. There’s no way he was going to see his sentence through.” Terri stretched out her calves on the bench. “What do you need from me then?” she asked, knowing the answer.

“I was asked to see if you were able to bring him back in?”

“I thought as much. Do we have any idea where they went? And what do we know about the other players?”

“Not exactly sure on their location. We’re still working on that but we think they went East. I’ve come across Hogon before briefly when Dylan thought he was an Enhanced.”

“And is he?”

“Yeah, we’re pretty sure he very much is. He’s a massive, massive guy. Unnatural muscle tone and the size of a house. Figuratively. The second guy, Don, we don’t have much on our database but I will be doing a wider search shortly. What I can tell you from the CCTV is that he is also a big and solid built guy.”

“So two walking houses break out Mr Metal… but why?” There was no answer for it. “You’re not sure yet?”

“No but this is still a very dynamic situation. If you can get yourself ready we might soon get more information for you.”

“Ok, give me an hour and I can be wheels up. I’ll head to Texas, and maybe cut them off or pick up the scent from there,” Terri suggested.

“Thank you. Holt is going to join you too. Give you a bit of back up. I’m going to let The Rodeo’s know too that you’ll be in their area.”

“Sure, ok. The more the better. Tell Holt the snacks are up to him. I’ll be in touch. See ya.” Terri ended the call and ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’ kicked back in as she took the final sprint home.

***

Terri landed at the far end of Lubbock Preston Smith airport with her trademark truck onboard. Holt was sat waiting outside the private hangar basking in the unadulterated sunshine, wearing a civilian shorts and tee shirt combo. His flame red hair made him look like he was on fire himself. Terri drove down the ramp of her Falcon, the sun bouncing off the bronze colouring of the hood.

“This is the life here,” Holt buzzed, chucking his bag in the back. “I feel so refreshed and recharged in this sunshine. Thanks for having me tag along.”

“No, no worries. It’s strange to see you in normal clothes and without your siblings. How come you heard about this?” Terri asked, pulling onto I-20 South.

“I was with Lucas when he heard about the jail break out. My siblings and I have said we would try things out on our own or with others, so this seemed like a good chance.”

“So you and Lucas, eh?” teased Terri, giving Holt a wink.

Holt laughed. “Don’t read too much into it, Terri. We’re just spending time together. You call it hanging out or seeing each other I think. But that’s all.” Terri raised an unconvinced eyebrow and increased her speed down the Interstate.

“So what do we know about these guys?” Holt asked, changing the subject.

“Well your boyfriend called me on the flight down but nothing new really. Patricks was sprung out by two men. One will stick out when you see him. Massive guy, a fighter and weight lifting God. The other guy is a Don Walters. He was a manager of the fish market in Port Lavaca which closed down after some sort of accident. We’ve not come across him and we have no idea where he fits in with this jail break but seems like he can change his body mass. Looks like they went east out of Nevada to possibly where Don has roots. You, me, a GRAB Team and maybe the Rodeos, we’re gonna get them all locked up. Nice and simple.”

“The Rodeos too?”

“Yeah… They don’t make a good first impression do they?”

“Not really, no.”

“They’re strange, I’ll give them that. They have their own way of doing things but they’re there if we need them for anything so we can’t complain too much.”

“Own way of doing things?” Holt asked, noting Terri’s tone.

“Yeah, you’ll see. We will just need to make it very clear to them that there will be no killing today.”

The road trippers had pulled up on the side of the road opposite a sorry looking motel just outside of a small town called Famridge, waiting for The Rodeos to appear. The sun beat hard, and Holt sprawled out on the roof of the jeep soaking it all in. Terri was leaning on the hood, watching for a sign of their fellow Collective’s arrival.

“I could live here Terri!” Holt called out, enjoying the sizzle of the hot metal on his skin.

“It’s great isn’t it? It’s a lot different than where I live that’s for sure. Oh. Here they come now,” Terri said, pointing out towards the desert.

In the distance on the horizon where desert met sky, a dust cloud rose, created in the wake of the charging animals that The Rodeos rode upon. After a quick five minutes, they charged into range, and slowed on approach so to not cover their visitors in chocking dust.

It wasn’t often that Terri got to see the Rodeos in action and their animals continued to amaze her. Reuben rode on his trusty bull, a bull triple the size of your average bull found in the wild. It was jet black with bulging, sturdy leg muscles that allowed it to out run most vehicles being pushed to their limits. It's skin was thick and almost impenetrable, making it an invincible beast to watch out for.

Effie climbed off her stallion. A horse measuring in at twenty hands tall, it was a pure grey with a white mane and tail, able to keep up and match the speed of Reuben’s bull. The two of them were dressed in a way that they would not look out of place on a Texan ranch, from their hats to their boots.

“Howdy there you two,” greeted Effie. Holt slid down from the jeep roof to say hello properly.

“Thanks for meeting with us,” Terri said.

“It’s no bother. Heard we may have a few heavyweights chancing their luck round ‘ere,” suggested Reuben.

“Yup. Holt and I are going to check out a few leads tonight on Don Walters,” explained Terri.

“The fish market guy?” asked Effie.

“Yeah. So we’re going to be heading there at some point. Can you guys have eyes and ears out for three characters looking out of place?” Terri asked.

“Right on. Don Waters, The Human Anvil and Mount Hogon. Coming right up.”

“And if you do come across them…” Terri began. “Reign it in a bit, if you get my drift. They’re going to jail, not the morgue. Got it?”

“Crystal clear,” assured Effie. But it wasn’t Effie that Terri was concerned about.

In the car on parting with Reuben and Effie, Terri warned Holt to not be fooled by their laid back manner and nonchalant ways, as Reuben was a complete hot head in fights, and their brand of justice did not really completely align with The Collective’s approach. But they were still considered assets.

***

It was early the next morning and the sun didn’t delay in rising and the heat had gone up quickly. Terri and Holt had checked out their leads, knocking on doors, sneaking into places and waking people up but they didn’t come up trump with anything useful or indicative of the three fugitives’ intentions. No one had seen or heard from Don since what was his accident that closed down the fish market.

Terri and Holt had put themselves up in a respectable hotel for the remainder of the night for some rest. That was until Terri’s phone rang early in the morning with news.

Reuben explained how they had been tipped off that three out of towners were eating in a diner in the outskirts of Far Rompton, a town not too far from where Terri and Holt were staying. Terri went to wake Holt in his room and they were soon back on the road, rendezvousing with the Rodeos just before to make their plan.

***

It was show time. Terri and Holt casually entered the diner and on locating the booth that the three out of towners sat in, went to join them. They wondered what the chances were of The Heavyweights simply going ‘quietly’ considering they had been caught.

That wondering didn’t last long before they came up with their contingency plan. The GRAB Team and the Rodeos would be lying in wait in case things went south.

Terri scootched into the six seater booth with Holt following. She swiped at a rasher of bacon from Leonard’s plate before they realised what was happening. He tensed when he realised it was Terri in front of him helping herself to his breakfast.

“Oh hey boys,” Terri playfully started. “How’s breakfast?”

“You tell me. You’re eating it as well,” he responded sharply.

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She turned to the other men. “You must be Don Waters, and you Oliver Hogon.” Oliver remained unmoved and just stared over his pancakes at Terri. Don didn’t react either, like they were in a state of check mate.

Terri picked up a fork, and jabbed another piece of bacon up with it. Whilst chewing, she jabbed it in Oliver’s direction. “You know my friend Dylan don’t you? If I remember correctly he did quite the number on you. I think you were lucky to get away.” Terri grinned and Oliver’s hulking figure tensed uncomfortably. Terri could tell she was already under his skin. “See, what I don’t get Holt, is the link between these three. Genuinely I can’t work it out. What takes you two to go over to Las Vegas to get this low life out of jail? And then be having breakfast with us.”

“I guess we do look like a bunch of misfits, but we do have more in common than you think,” Patricks started saying, taking his turn to speak up.

“Well hopefully they’ll give you adjoining cells so you can continue this budding friendship behind bars,” Terri suggested, leaning back on the booth bench.

“That’s not going to happen, lady,” Don snarled. “I’m not failing now.”

“Shame. We were hoping you’d come nicely with us, and our friends outside could get paid for an easy days work sitting around.”

This seemed to panic Oliver, who reacted first. He stood up, ripping the table in the booth from out of the wall and its fixture to the floor, sending the table and the breakfast plates out through the window.

In the noise of Mount Hogon’s monstrous growl and the shattering of the glass, Terri altered her state, hardening and clambered over the bench onto the table behind her. Holt had dashed out of the way into the aisle.

Don was up and was now looking remarkably different to how he was a few seconds ago. Previously, a slight man with an unassuming physical presence and well-trimmed salt and pepper hair, suggesting a certain age, he was now double the size with incredible muscle mass and definition. That wasn’t the only thing that set him apart from his earlier appearance. In addition to his ballooned size, he had sharp, thin and pointed spines protruding from all over his body.

Holt looked on confused. “Just when I thought I’d seen it all,” he mumbled to himself.

There was a brief pause which seemed to last longer as the two parties judged each other’s next moves. The patrons in the diner hastily left, even those equipped and carrying a gun felt they had better odds if they left.

Pufferfish Man made the first move, turning towards Holt who was nearest him. He picked up an abandoned chair and flung it at him, using it as a distraction to leave, but Holt reacted quickly by catching it.

In return, he flew quick speed at Don, taking him out through another window and rolling out in the parking lot. The spines pierced into Holt’s skin causing him to growl in pain.

Inside, Oliver lunged for Terri, obliterating the bench to get to her. From her height advantage, Terri kicked out, but making little impact, he was able to get close enough to grab her and throw her down with ease. Terri landed on another table, breaking it under her boulder weight. Stunned, she got up.

Reuben and Effie ran towards the diner just as Holt came shooting through the window with a spikey looking man. Through the window they could see a massive mountain of a man make light work of taking Terri out.

Effie struck out at Leonard Patricks with her lasso which hit its mark instantly. Getting him to move though was a challenge for Effie as Patricks was now in his metallic state and proving hard to budge.

Reuben went straight for Mount Hogon, identifying him as the biggest threat. From behind, he jumped on his back with his arms around his neck, but Reuben found it was like trying to squeeze a marble column. He soon found himself sprawled at Terri’s feet.

Terri created a column of solid earth that erupted from beneath Hogon, taking him up and through the roof of the diner- lights and plaster raining down as Hogon was flung up and out. This gave Terri and Reuben the chance to take the fight out in the more open arena of the parking lot.

Holt had misjudged the texture of the spikes. They hurt like mad so he had to let him go. The man’s spikes were equally distanced all over him with smaller ones on his face and head and legs. On his back, shoulder, forearms and chest, the spikes were longer and thicker.

Holt got up and flew at him again, aiming for a swift kick to the face. There was less pain for Holt doing that and Waters went down hard.

A loud crashing noise behind him caused him to look back and see a forty foot column of earth erupt out of the diner roof with Mount Hogon at the top of it. He became unbalanced and fell to the floor with a thud, near to where Effie was going hand to hand with The Human Anvil.

It looked like hand to hand, but instead Effie was expertly dodging the man’s steely punches as none of her own punches were having an effect. She ducked and rolled in harmony as her partner came smashing through a different window towards Hogon. She instinctively knew what was happening, but she had to stick with the metal man.

Reuben careered through the window and out at Hogon who had just got up from his hard ejection through the diner roof.

“Do people not use doors these days?” screamed the diner owner from behind the counter.

The speed at which Reuben moved was enough to knock Hogon back down again and give him the upper hand.

This is what Terri had hinted to Holt about. Reuben was now filled with nothing other than a blind rage and loss of restraint as an invisible emotional trigger switched within him, giving him a thirst for combat and the strength to do it.

Terri came out but stopped when she saw Reuben’s whites of his eyes and his pupils had gone black, indicating that he was in the fury mode he was famed for. She looked desperately around in the hope that Effie would be able to get him out of it and spare Mount Hogon from being totalled, but she was still with Leonard and Holt was whizzing around Pufferfish Man being nothing more than an annoying mosquito.

Time to change this up, Terri thought. With her fists way above her head, she brought them down to the ground, creating violent shockwaves emanating from the epicentre that was her. The shaking caused everyone to lose their balance, and in the case of Reuben, was enough to put a pause on his blind rage.

“Holt, get him outta here now!” Terri yelled.

She had prepped Holt on this eventuality so he knew exactly what to do. He ditched his sparring with fish man and flew at Reuben, picking him up at high speed and continuing towards the desert.

It was a temporary measure.

Hogon was left lying on the floor like a tranquilised hippo, blood pouring from his face. Holt returned, empty handed and blasted a burst of his solar energy at Patricks, causing him to yell in agony, even in his hardened metallic state.

Effie hit out again at him, this time her blow making its mark as Patrick had reverted to a more fleshy, human form through his agony of the solar blast.

While he was sprawled on the ground Terri took her chance and encased him in solid ground, as if he was buried in the sand on a fun day at the beach- his feet and head the only things sticking out. Even in a metallic form, he wasn’t getting out of that.

“Where’s spikey Don gone?” Terri asked, walking towards Holt and Effie, leaving Hogon going nowhere. Leonard Patricks was squirming within his ground cocoon at their feet.

“Err I left him here when taking Reuben away,” answered Holt.

“Yeah, and why did you do that?” demanded Effie. Terri puffed air out of her mouth, and ignoring Effie for a moment, instructed The GRAB Team to come in. They were more of a clean-up squad on this occasion, rather than getting in on the action and potentially getting in harm’s way.

“It was just in case he went berserk- we all know his rage is unstoppable and I wanted them alive.”

Effie tutted and whistled with her fingers. Her horse galloped towards her. “How far out is he, space boy?” Holt told her he wasn’t far and put her in the right direction. She rode off without another word.

“Thanks for stopping by!” Terri called out sarcastically.

The GRAB Teams were by now swarming around tending to Mount Hogon and drilling the concrete around Patricks out. Police and Fire Department turned up to deal with the civilians and the structural damage that had inadvertently been caused.

“So Don got away then?” she asked rhetorically. Holt kept quiet. “Oh well. Two out of three isn’t bad I suppose."

Holt shrugged. “I suppose it isn't.” He looked over at the pile of rubble that used to be a diner. The owner was still stood in the doorway. "What'll happen to her?"

"She'll be well looked after. The Repairs and Relief Insurance Fund will no doubt cover the costs and she'll be up and running again in no time. It's there for anyone who has lost work, their home or business by someone from The Collective in the line of duty.”

The diner owner caught them looking at her and stuck a middle finger in their direction.

"I know that to not be a pleasant gesture," Holt muttered.

“No, not really. Anyway, are you hurt?” she asked, seeing Holt’s skin covered in puncture wounds caused from his contact with Pufferfish Man.

“Oh no, this is nothing. They were crazy sharp though. Where did they even come from?” By the time he finished talking, the wounds all closed up and he looked as good as new.

“I’m sure we’ll find out another time, eh. Let’s go home Holt. Good job out there,” she praised, walking off back to her truck.

----------------------------------------

Coming soon….

Dylan is determined to live a normal life, but a new encounter and a perilous situation may well put a stop to that.

Find out what, in Flip #5, ‘The Trouble With Moving On’.