Crack-crackle crack.

“So this is it, huh… I never would have thought I’d go out this way. Maybe after a totally wicked investigation in a showdown with the bad guy. Funny thing about fiction, it always ends well. That just ain’t true of reality.”

Crackle-crack, crackle-crack.

“What a total fuckin’ disappointment. Roxy doesn’t deserve to go through this, Thali shouldn’t have another friend whacked by some shady wankers… Alan, if you’re somehow still out there, please find her. Mum doesn’t deserve this pain either, first her husband and now her daughter… I hope you’re happy, Dad. I especially don’t deserve this! I just wanted… Wanted to…”

Crack. Crack. Crack.

“Light at the end of the tunnel. Yeah, right. Like whatever’s above would want me to go up into the sky. So much is left unfinished… So much time I could have spent with Roxy, Thali, Yaro, Father, anyone if it wasn’t for you, Shaquia. Ya total cunt. Go to hell, like I will. Dickhead.”

Crackle-crack, crack. Crackle.

“Fuck, I don’t want this… This darkness… That’s it? That’s all I get? That’s all you’re keepin’ me alive for, dammit?! Come on, I’m ready, just fuckin’ take me already! Anything, anything is better than nothing! Are you afraid to burn me ‘cause I’m immune to fire? Well, are ya? I dare you, I DARE you to try it. I need to feel something… Anything but this cold… Please, I can’t go on like this! I can’t…”

Crackle. Crack-crack-crackle.

“I can’t…”

Crackle. Crack. Crack.

“I can’t…”

“Crack... Crack… Crack…”

“I… Can’t…”

CRACKLE.

Lisa was startled awake by the loud thud of a metal door shutting closed. Tied to a chair, wide-eyed with an aching head, she looked at her remarkably dire surroundings. She was in an old, empty room with a concrete floor and brick walls. Before her stood three birds: the buzzard, who was possibly a Metal One, another bird with a long, thin beak, and the owl, smugly looming at the door. Lisa felt her heartbeat quicken as the buzzard approached her and bent down over her. “How the hell am I getting out of this… Concrete ain’t nearly conductive enough. Do they… Even know about my magic? He wouldn’t stand so damn close if he did.”

“Name?” The buzzard’s gravelly voice took Lisa by surprise, or rather, his choice of language. “So they really could understand me.” She took some deep breaths in order to best calm herself. After a few brief seconds, she lowered her head and made her hands into fists, so tantalisingly close to being able to knock the buzzard out.

“What’s that matter to you?” She finally said, trying to sound like she wasn’t terrified for her life. That she would… “Yaro, Alex! Please, please be safe, I don’t care how, just please…”

The long-beak bird looked at the owl, who just shrugged. The buzzard asked something, and it resulted in a conversation much too long for Lisa’s liking. She couldn’t understand a single word. “Even if the floor was wet gold, it wouldn’t mean a damn thing. I don’t know what that owl’s power is, but it sure as hell includes electricity.”

Once the conversation was over, the buzzard asked another question. “Who sent you?” To that, Lisa wasn’t even sure what to say in response. “Massive dickhead or not, I ain’t throwing Shaquia under the bus. What’s the most generic reason to be here… Something bureaucratic, no… Just went for a stroll! Nah, they ain’t that dense. Maybe…”

The buzzard looked over at the owl, who nodded back at him. He then turned back and cracked his knuckles, and it sounded more like a metallic crunch.

“Wait! I can-” Lisa began, and was hit square in the chest so hard that it knocked the wind out of her. She gasped for breath as she was punched twice more in the head with a noticeable clang each time, the latter of which with such force that she fell to the side with the chair.

“Let’s try again.” The buzzard got down on one knee beside her. “Name?”

Lisa struggled for air through the pains in her chest and face, gripping the edges of the chair. “There’s no getting out of this…” The buzzard then stood up impatiently and wound back his leg for a kick.

“Lisa!!” The wolf said after a panicked gasp. “My name… Is Lisa.”

That seemed to please the buzzard enough and he got back down beside her. “That’s better. Who sent you?”

“I…” Lisa began to say immediately, deciding not to overthink it. “I was sent here to look for someone who went missing. Hyena.”

“Police?” The owl’s deep, intimidating voice was heard from the door.

“It’s… Not quite.” Lisa replied.

“Police.” The owl said again, then said something else to the buzzard. To her surprise, he then cut the ropes that kept her tied to the chair. “Oh, you…”

From the owl’s left fingers shot two purple arcs with a crack-crackle and it connected with Lisa’s wrists. Just then, she noticed two things: her hat was missing, and that a metal ring had been put on each of her wrists, as well as on her ankles. Despite that, she could stand up. The owl opened the door and walked outside, leading her by the arcs.

“I can walk just fine!” She complained. The owl then yanked on the arcs hard, causing her to fall over and be dragged on the floor. “You’re so fucking dead once I figure out how…”

Outside the small room, Lisa finally saw where she was. All around her were heavy machinery, conveyor belts, large metal poles and beams, blurry industrial-grade windows, furnaces, everything that made the facility what it was: a steel mill.

The air inside was just as cold as it had been outside, as was the floor, but she noticed how the building actually had some lighting. “Guess some birds can’t see so well in the dark.” She tried her best to look around as she was dragged, and she could surmise that the gang meant serious business. She had a peek for maybe a couple moments through a door that was ajar, and inside she saw guns, identical to the ones Alexander found at the hill, lined up on racks. Lisa’s chances of making it out grew ever thinner with that revelation, as well as each metre of concrete floor she was dragged across. Sure, the clothing protected her well enough, but it still wasn’t pleasant.

She looked up at one of the many sets of conveyor belts, and saw that the gang even did a little decorating. Embedded in-between the gears were metal rods, and their tops, skulls of various species, one of which was missing all of its teeth. Not a single beaked one though. Worse than that, the sheer number of people she saw just ambling about, either keeping guard or going from room to room for reasons Lisa didn’t want to know. All wielding weapons, of course. Lisa tried her best to observe her surroundings, and found that the building itself was so big that she didn’t even see an entrance. She saw many doors, but she couldn’t imagine that a steel mill would have an exit so small. “Doors Yaro and Alex could be behind… Damn. Guess he can finally see what the building he was sent to demolish so often looks like.”

The owl then turned right, and after making absolutely sure that the arcs don’t connect with the walls, dragged Lisa to another metal door. The buzzard and long-beak accompanied him all the way. He then lifted up his hand and with it, Lisa rose up on her feet. With another finger’s purple arc, he opened the metal door and positioned the wolf in front of it. He then let go. Lisa didn’t even have time to think before she felt a forceful kick on her back, followed by the metal door being closed behind her.

Once more on the floor, she got on her hands and knees, unfathomably angry. “Oh, fuck…” She complained and lifted her head. In that dingy room, she saw to her left a bunk bed, and on that bunk bed were two bats. “Oh. Fuck.”

“Look who the owl dragged in.” Rufina said from the bottom bunk, on her stomach, waggling her legs in boredom.

“What are YOU doing here?” Haemon’s side-eyed sneer met Lisa’s gaze from the top one, his red eyes staring at her with utmost malevolence. Or at least Lisa sure felt like it. He wore similar iron bracelets and anklets. Not his sister, though.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“I’m surprised you remember me.” Lisa got up on her feet, putting on a brave face.

“How could I ever forget someone with clothes THAT tacky?” He remarked.

“Oh, it’s on.” Lisa bared her claws with a glare as she prepared for an imminent confrontation. Rufina looked way more concerned for Lisa than her brother.

“Finally! Time to settle this!” Haemon jumped down from the bed and landed with a graceful crouch, then placed one claw against his wrist.

“Stooop!” Cried a slightly higher-pitched voice from behind Lisa, causing both her and Haemon to pause. “Stop! Stoy! Don’t do it, STOP!” A new, rather skinny person then fearfully, yet hastily stepped between the two, holding up a gloved hand at each of them. He wore black winter clothes, as well as the iron bracelets, and a grey beanie hat that covered his right eye. Even then, Lisa could tell one thing: he was a hyena who couldn’t have been more than thirty. “All I wanted was a simple life, and now I’m stuck here with you evil men!” He said, fidgety and anxious in demeanour.

Haemon scoffed. “I’m not evil.”

“I’m not even a man.” Lisa frowned.

“You aren’t?” The hyena asked, then shook his head before Lisa could voice her complaints. “Listen, I don’t care who you are, I need you!”

“Now hold on there, mate…” Lisa began to say, confident that the hyena was exactly who she was looking for.

“Why would SHE be important to you?” Haemon questioned.

“You have history? So what? I can finally leave!” The hyena said more quietly.

“Whoa, whoa, before we do anything…” Lisa took a step away from Haemon. “Your name’s Alexei… V, innit?”

“In what?” He asked in a tone so innocent, Lisa would have found it adorable in a different context.

“Are you Alexei or not?” The wolf demanded.

“I am! Are you done?” He rubbed his hands together, beginning to look impatient.

“Okay… Let me see your hands.” Lisa asked, just to be sure.

“I, you… Okay?” A little more confused, he then removed his woolly gloves. Sure enough, on his hands were streaks of white, unmistakable light for a hyena.

Lisa smiled, finally satisfied. The bats, however, looked at her with disappointment, as if to say “We know that already. Idiot.”

“Happy now?” Alexei nodded at them repeatedly, without leaving any time for anyone to respond. “Good! Get me out and you can kill each other all you want!”

“Oi, who said I’m working with Dracula and his sister?” Lisa felt frankly offended by the mere idea of forming even a rudimentary team with the people who want to take people’s light.

“Watch your mouth, lupine.” Haemon said with a disapproving glare, rage burning behind his red eyes.

“Are you stupid?” Alexei held his hands against the sides of his head, exasperated.

Lisa ignored the hyena. “How about you watch your fuckin’ mouth… Bat… ine…” She said, her voice reaching the exact opposite of a crescendo with embarrassment.

“Well-mannered AND educated, aren’t you?” Haemon said with a mocking smirk, which only made Lisa want to fight him more.

“You’re so done…” She took a step towards him in an attempt to intimidate.

Alexei shook his head in frustration. “Okay. Time’s up. Flash!”

“Wha-” Was all Lisa managed to say before Alexei put up his hands, and then shined his light in a bright flash, leaving both her and Haemon blinded.

“Children! Stupid children! Just listen to me!” The hyena practically begged as the other two rubbed their eyes until, after a few seconds, they could finally see again. The first thing Lisa saw was Rufina, who didn’t get blinded, waving to her in an oddly friendly manner.

Right then, someone banged on the closed metal door, yelling in Russian. Alexei walked up to the door. He walked much like he acted, in an anxious, skulky way, as if suspicious of anything and anyone around him. In the meantime, she noticed another bunk bed on which Alexei likely slept, as well as another door on the opposite side of where she had entered.

“Da.” The hyena replied simply, eyeing the rest as he fiddled with his hands. One more sentence from the bird outside that Lisa couldn’t understand and Alexei skulked his way back to the bed on the left. “Be quiet. They hate noise.”

“Back on topic…” Rufina sat up in bed and glanced at her brother, looking a little too comfortable in her thick clothes. “I hate outsiders as much as you do, dear brother, but they can be useful sometimes.”

“No way.” Lisa insisted, albeit more softly. “You really think I can just not fight you after all you’ve…” She then felt Alexei’s light on the sides of her head. She turned around curiously. “What are you doing?”

“Patching you up.” He answered with a slight smile, slightly swaying with his whole body. “You look terrible.”

Weird or not, the light was definitely a sight for sore eyes, or head, rather. Lisa let him continue and turned back to the bats. “Point is, you guys are total wankers. How could you take people’s light for that deranged fox guy? Vulpine, even?”

“You do what now?” Alexei asked, tilting his head to the side to see them better.

“You may see him as such, but it’s still better than some people.” Rufina argued, seemingly unbothered by Lisa’s remarks. “He actually treated me when I needed it. He was and still is free of your so-called “organisation”.”

“I’m not even with them!” Lisa claimed.

“Then why are you here?” Haemon shot her an accusatory glance.

“I’m an investigator, why do you think?” Lisa said with offence in her voice.

“Shaquie’s standards have really dropped lately.” Rufina remarked.

“No, her…” Lisa paused. “How do you know she’s their new boss?”

“Come on, like the others are competent enough for that.” Rufina waved dismissively.

“If you’re not with them, how do YOU know she’s the new boss?” Haemon asked impatiently.

Lisa had to admit, it was a big mistake to say what she did. She wanted to have more time to think about a good enough excuse, but was met with Alexei in front of her. At least her head didn’t hurt anymore.

“This is going nowhere!” He quietly complained, looking from one party to the other. “You are talking in circles! And too much! Listen…” He pointed at the two bats. “I want to get out. Are you in?”

“Yes.” Haemon said immediately.

“As long as you join us after.” Rufina offered.

“I don’t care where I am as long as it isn't here!” Alexei exclaimed, then turned towards Lisa. “Are you in?”

“You can’t just tell them that-” She said, but was cut off.

“Simple answer!” He put his hands against the sides of her head. “Da or no?”

Lisa opened her mouth, but nothing came out. He looked Alexei in the eyes, or at least the one that wasn’t covered by his hat, then at the bats. No matter what was said, Haemon always had that slight frown in his visage, which creeped her out even more up close. The things Lisa knew and Solomon had told her about what they did for Luxor… She couldn’t excuse that. However, if Rufina offered to help Solomon escape… “It’s not like she actually got around to doing that. Fuck, every part of this is just such a headache…”

“I… I need to think about it.” Lisa finally said, causing Alexei to grip the sides of his head, take a pillow from Rufina’s bed, and scream into it.

“Ha.” Haemon climbed back up in his section and lay there with his arms crossed. Haemon… Lisa wanted to take revenge on him so much after what he had done to Solomon and likely countless others. She couldn’t act so fast, however, not this time. “But he’s right here… It would be so easy…”

“I’ll just lie down a sec, alright?” Pensive, Lisa then went to the bunk bed on the right and for the bottom bunk.

“Hey, that bed-” Alexei whipped around, his tail almost hitting Rufina accidentally.

“Mate, let me tell ya about these beds.” Lisa briefly turned back. “For one, they’re just fuckin’ stupid. Also, if you come home and want to climb a ladder to sleep, well good for ya, but that ain’t for me.” With that, Lisa then sat down, then quickly lay back on the bed—and felt a sharp pain across her back. She practically jumped up from it with a yelp.

“What the hell?!” She moaned.

“I was going to tell you!” Alexei leaned back, arms outstretched in the wolf’s direction. All the while, Haemon chuckled. “I put my… Things. There.”

“What?” Lisa raised an eyebrow and decided to investigate. She removed the blanket, flipped the mattress to its side, and found a zipper. After opening it, she immediately saw what caused her the pain; a broom, which she pulled out.

“Ouch.” Rufina remarked, albeit amused. Haemon was still chuckling, much too entertained.

“...what?” Lisa said to Alexei. “Why?”

“Yeah…” He fiddled with his hands, trying to keep out of direct sight.

Lisa looked back inside the mattress, and found even more items. A pen, chisel, an unused toothbrush, a photo of a car, a bowler hat that Lisa promptly put on, a playing card set held together with a rubber band, one very sturdy lightbulb, three pieces of paper, the spinning part of a fan, empty shell casings, and even some teeth. Haemon’s chuckling stopped by the fourth thing she pulled out and he just became more and more concerned for the hyena.

“There’s so much more…” Lisa said, more to herself, then glanced at the very guilty-looking hyena. “What the fuck, Alex?” Sure, she heard that he was a thief, but this was just overdoing it. “Calling him Alex may get complicated, but I’ll deal with that when I get there. If the other Alex is even alive…”

“I, uh… It’s… Hard to explain?” Alexei said with an awkward smile, swaying.

“Why do you need all that?” Rufina asked with a mix of worry and curiosity.

“Because I… Don’t?” He rubbed the back of his head. “Honestly, I sometimes see something. I know I don't need it. I know I won’t use it. But I just… Have to take it. I have to! And I feel better.”

Lisa finally came to a realisation. “Boy’s a kleptomaniac. That explains a bit.” People called him a thief, she thought he was a thief, but to be fair, Lisa just felt kind of bad for him now.

“Please seek help after this, Alex.” She advised. “How’d ya even get all this here?”

“I can hide things well.” He shrugged.

“Right.” Lisa then cleaned out the mattress enough, made the bed, and she finally lay down to collect her thoughts.

“Okay, we rest, then we talk.” Alexei looked from one bed to the other multiple times before he nodded and climbed up to his bunk. “Don’t kill each other. Please.” He said specifically in Haemon’s and Lisa’s direction before winding down.