Davis lay on his back, buried beneath his blankets. His eyes were clenched shut, mouth twisted in anxiety.
The room was pitch black, no noises from within or outside of his house.
His eyes open. He turned to his bedside table, grabbing and unlocking his phone.
The tracker app showed a red dot pinging smack in the middle of nowhere. It had been like that for the past few hours.
She could have just dropped the collar in the fight. Just rest. You need the energy just in case.
He dimmed the screen, and rolled onto his back. He clenched his eyes shut again.
He tossed and turned. Every minute felt like an hour. Countless thoughts of Louise’s fate bounced inside of his brain.
He put a pillow over his face.
Nothing is confirmed until sunrise.
He groans to himself. His hand instinctively reaches for his phone.
He pauses.
He takes the pillow off of his head, and turns away from the phone.
Hours pass, him tossing and turning. His eyes were shut, but he could never sink into slumber.
His eyes opened wide again. He grabbed his phone, glancing at it.
5:24 AM.
He groaned, slamming his head into his pillow.
A thumping noise came from the front door. The thumping then turned into scratching.
He threw his sheets off and sprinted over. Flinging the door open, he didn’t see anything. Looking down at his feet was Queen.
She had shrunken down to almost half her size, just coming up to Davis’s waist. Collapsed on the ground and shaking, exhaustion was painted onto her face.
Davis glanced around, finding a worrying lack of Louise. A terrible pang in his gut began to build up.
“The plan went wrong, didn’t it…”
The cryptid stared up at him. “Food…” She muttered. “I need to eat…”
Davis inhaled, suppressing the gut pain. He grabbed her by the arm and helped her inside. Bringing her onto the couch, he rushed over to his fridge, digging out any food that she could eat. Fruits, water, peanut butter, cold cuts, jelly, he brought the food in handfuls to the starving skinwalker. WIthout hesitation, she devoured the food, and still stretched out her arm.
“M…More…”
He grabbed frozen burritos, frozen waffles, and other frozen goods, handing them to her.
Not even caring about their state, she crunched and devoured them in a flash.
Her form began to change the more she ate, returning to her normal size.
This continued until his freezer was just about emptied. The now full-sized Queen was laying sprawled out on the couch. She looked like she was putting her all into keeping her eyes open.
“I… Need to rest…”
“But Louise! What happened!”
“She was… Captured…”
The pang in his stomach lightened. She was alive, but captured?
“Mgm… I need…”
Queen fell limp, entering a slumber.
Panic was still running free in Davis’s mind. He sat in an armchair across the couch, as multitudes of paranoid questions zoomed through his brain. Is Louise really still safe? Is he safe? Would the collector track him back here?
As the adrenaline of the situation wore off, he felt fatigue overtake him. He sank further and further into the chair, eyelids feeling like lead weights were tied to them.
The moment they shut, he was out.
----------------------------------------
The early morning sun was shining across the Umbra Pine Woods.
Alone in a small clearing stood Clarice. Her heart was thudding against her chest, but she breathed in and out, steadying her nerves.
A thunderous boom emanated deeper from within the woods. Clarice closed her eyes, steadying her breath.
Then, a screech, from a creature that was not of this world. She felt the ground beneath her shake.
She opened her eyes.
Far in the distance was an UMA. Around the size of a Hummer truck, it was the shape of an egg, tipped over and pointed straight at her. Its skin was covered in thick scales, layered atop each other like an artichoke. A dozen tendrils, similar to tongues, stuck out the front, flailing about different directions.
Chasing the beast was Kirino.
The UMA was half-submerged in the ground, burrowing through the dirt. It crashed through and toppled trees behind it. Kirino bobbed and weaved past the falling timber. As the monster tried to change its course or turn, Kirino sprinted forward, blade slightly drawn and crackling with lightning. This threat caused it to resume its original course: A path straight towards Clarice.
She had been told before, the UMA needed to be captured alive. When in a panic, the beast would continue to storm forward until it loses its predator. Piercing the shell was no issue, but piercing it too deep with her Inquisition could risk killing it.
The rumbling increased, and the beast was just a few yards away from her. Even half submerged, it still dwarfed the well-dressed student.
She took a deep breath. Her sword was still shrunk down, safe in her front pocket. She braced her feet, holding her hands in front of her.
“Tungsten!” She screamed. Her body turned stiff. All over, she felt her body harden, and grow heavy. Her feet sank into the earth.
Her hands collided with the side of the UMA. Her fingers pierced the shell, and it cracked upon impact. She was pushed back by a few inches, kicking up earth and stone as her feet grinded against the earth, but the beast was brought to a complete stop.
She grinned. Her body returned to its regular state.
“Dom, now!”
A block of earth from behind the beast flew up, and Dom leapt out from the hole.
“I-I got it!” He stammered, stamping his feet into the ground. He made a flurry of motions with his hands.
“E-entwining Barrage!”
From the Wonderbuilder sprouted six harpoon launchers. The artifact let out a roar of smoke, revving like a high performance engine.
He fired two of them into the air. Using his hand, he guided the cabled weapons down to form an invisible pulley, and pierced near the front of the UMA. They began to retract, hoisting the massive monster out from the dirt.
He fired the remaining four harpoons, guiding each of them to wrap around each tree. Each with a stable support, they flew around the beast, wrapping it in a cocoon of cabling. He snapped his finger, and the pulley harpoon released, retracting back into the Wonderbuilder. He took a firm step back, tightening the net he weaved for the UMA. Four more harpoons fired from behind, anchoring the web to the ground. He stepped back, shaking and sighing, staring as the creature continued to thrash.
His cables held strong, and the pines swayed, but refused to yield to the monster’s struggle.
It soon stopped its thrashing. The flailing tendrils retracted into itself.
Dom sighed. He turned the valve on his chest, and the artifact let out a long blast of steam. The straps around his chest return into the device, along with the control gloves.
Clarice ran over, waving at her brother.
“Flawlessly executed, just as planned!” She said, turning to face the suspended UMA.
He was still shaking. “Y-yeah. B-but…” He swallowed. “This will hold, right?”
Kirino ran up, regrouping with the other two. She stared at the unmoving monster.
“No doubt it will. Solid work everyone.” She looked at the siblings with a warm smile. “You two are improving much faster than I expected.”
Clarice’s smile turned more stern. “It’s best for all of us. I can’t risk failure at all, it’ll put us all in danger.”
Kirino nodded. “So long as we have the opportunity to regroup and retry, do not worry about failure. Focus on yourself first.” She stared at the short, formal lady, thinking about the feat she had pulled off.
Skating along a patch of ice, Scott skidded to a halt beside Dom, pulling him in by the shoulder.
“You’re already doing the impossible with your artifact here man! Give it a bit more faith!”
He rubbed his hair, Dom chuckling out of nerves..
“I mean yeah, but… These impossible artifacts still have limits? Like I can’t just waste the raw materials and fuel for Wonderbuilder. I don’t want to overwork it in critical moments!”
“Don’t worry about materials in engagements like these. Not like you’re waging a battle of attrition. Plus, we got plenty from the settlement too!” He smiled, giving a thumbs up.
“You’ll get a feel for it soon, trust me! Now more importantly… Entwining Barrage?”
Dom stared up at his friend, with a nervous smile. “I-I was trying to think of something while in hiding… I mean maybe something like, Capture Web?”
Clarice snickered. Scott continued to tap his chin.
“Nah, that sounds a bit strange... Maybe like…”Scott held his hands out, framing the UMA with his fingers. “Homing hexa-harpoons. It’s got that cool ring to it!”
He turns back to his friend. “We’re going to add naming practice to your training as well. Every time you come up with a good move, we’re going to give it a cool name too!”
The student rubbed the back of his head. “I-I don’t think that’s all too necessary…”
He stumbled forward as Scott patted him on the back, laughing. “Look at what you can do with this stuff man! Have a bit of fun with it!”
Everyone froze as Kirino’s phone began ringing an all too familiar violin tone.
She swiped it from its holder and answered.
“What is it?” She spoke in a stern tone.
“There’s going to be some updates to your missions.”
“I just caught the Woodland Parasite.”
A pause. “Well, that was quick. Unfortunately, all cryptid-hunting objectives are suspended. So release it.”
Kirino paused, her stern expression almost breaking.
“Now as for hunting the skinwalker, that is the only exception. It must be killed.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Understood, sir.”
“Now last, as for Louise and Davis. I was able to take care of Louise myself. She willingly entered my compound, and is now in captivity.”
Kirino’s eyes widened. Her heart skipped a beat.
“In her time here, she reveals she knows some information that would be very important to me. If you know of any way to help loosen her lips, let me know without any delay.”
“I know nothing about her, other than she is an interference.”
A sigh is heard over the phone. “I expected as much. But, now all you have left is to find and deal with the remaining boy.”
Another pause. Kirino clenched her teeth. “Understood.”
“Oh yes, one last bit of information. I’ve seen this firsthand, the skinwalker is in league with the two. Perhaps if you find Davis, it will make both jobs much easier. If the monster hasn’t already fled the state yet…”
He hung up.
Kirino gripped her phone tight. She sighed, relaxing her breath. Her friends crowded around her, a worried expression across their faces. Even Scott had a look of concern.
“So, what did your boss tell you?” He asked. “Don’t tell me you’re fired or anything?”
She shook her head. “We’re going to Davis’s home.”
----------------------------------------
Click. Click. Click.
It had been a few hours since Louise woke up. Her eyes opened to the sight of a bland, gray ceiling, alongside a room lit by fluorescent light. A steel door with no handles separated her from freedom. The cell was a little bit larger than a closet, holding the bed, a small toilet, and a table with a pitcher of water, a glass, and a packaged MRE. There was also a small note near the provisions: “This is all you’ll get for the day. Behave well, and you will be rewarded.”
She was still dressed in her same getup from the previous night. All of her belongings were left untouched; Gauntlets, her phone, although its battery was dead, and the most important: The GPS collar.
The moment she discovered it, she kept it in her pocket, clicking it on and off at random intervals. She didn’t know if the signal could even escape, but it was better than sitting around and doing nothing.
Every minute in the cell felt like an hour. There was no way she could brute force her way out of the cell, air ducts were too small.
It’s all up to you Davis… I’m still alive, and waiting for you!
A voice boomed from an intercom.
“Louise, now that you’re staying here with me, you are also going to help me with some work around my facility. I’ll let you know in advance when work will begin. Now, to make sure even that thick skull of yours can understand, you are to listen and obey everything I tell you. I can assure you, if you try to cause any sort of trouble, it’ll make things far worse for you.”
She sneered at the roof. She knew there had to be some kind of camera watching.
“And don’t forget! If you give me the information I want, I’ll let you go home safe.”
----------------------------------------
“He kept asking about a rat. Why would he care about that animal? They are everywhere.” Spoke Queen.
Queen had finished recalling the entire situation. Davis was pacing back and forth. His stomach was tied in a terrible knot, seeing the worst of his fears coming true.
“I’m not sure… Like, a rat? Are you sure-?” He paused. “Rat… He works for P.A.I.N… Rat… She didn’t directly mention the Benefactor, did she?”
Queen shook her head. “He talked about the rat after she talked about P.A.I.N. Then he asked how she knew about P.A.I.N.”
Davis scratched his head. “All right, so maybe he put two and two together about this…”
His heart was racing. It was only thanks to the Collector’s wit and Louise’s big mouth that he found a reason to keep Louise alive. She was, right?
He pulled out his phone, bringing out the GPS app. The signal was now flickering. At first, it seemed like the battery was waning on the collar, but it was brand new. The flickering was random. As if somebody was turning it on and off, almost to send a message. The knot in his stomach loosened, but he still cursed to himself.
“We should have thought of learning morse code together… Maybe then she could help us from the inside…”
His mind turned to getting into the facility. Trucks, guns, patrolling guards, and who knows what else Queen DIDN’T mention. In the dead of night, he could just ghost past all of it, but then he’d have to find Louise. And even IF he could find Louise, how could he leave alive? There was no way he could cover that much ground phased out tugging her along.
He stumbled to a chair across from Queen.
“Davis, are you all right? Are you injured?”
His breathing had accelerated, to a point where he was almost hyperventilating. He thought back to just a few days ago with his fight against Scott. He couldn’t even overcome one person who just got powers.
How could he even get into some government facility?
There was even more. He needed to be saved when cornered by Clarice and Dom. He tricked Louise into the clutches of some haunted cave, almost getting her killed. He almost lost Louise when he was trapped in the bathroom. He needed Louise to survive the factory. He needed Louise to kill the wendigo. A beast he did nothing about for so long…
His body felt like it was going numb. His heart was pounding against his chest wall.
“Davis, are you all right?” She put her hand on his chest, feeling his panicking heart. She glanced around the room like a scared deer, before turning back to him. “Your body is in danger. Are you under attack?”
He stared into his friend’s eyes. His heartbeat began to steady. He remembered.
Both times when Queen tried to attack him and Louise, they didn't overcome her alone. Every adventure they had together, they needed to work together.
But without her, I wouldn’t even have done any of this.
A memory from the previous night shot into his brain.
“Well, regardless of all that happens, I’ll still have your back, all right?”
Louise nodded enthusiastically.
The Hydra didn’t die on its own. The wendigo was finished thanks to his knife. He used his abilities to help escape the mines. His abilities to help trap and defeat Scarecrow.
“Davis?” Queen spoke, feeling his heartbeat steady. “Am I helping you?”
Assisting Louise isn’t the only thing I’m good at.
It was also thanks to his actions that Queen had the chance to escape the Collector. Even if his gut feeling didn’t take him in the right direction all the time, some good came of it.
He inhaled, then exhaled.
Now another friend was in peril by the same man.
“Don’t worry, none of us are gonna die! You’ve seen how many times we’ve laughed in the face of death. If we’re staring it down, we’ll find a way around.” She held her fist in front of her, grinning.
His breathing calmed. He closed his eyes.
"I-i… it's hard to explain." He said, continuing to steady his breath and heart. “How much do you know about the human brain, Queen?”
She cocked her head. “A brain?”
He tapped his head. “It’s a body part here in the head. Other animals have it.”
Despite having the same neutral look, Queen’s eyes lit up. “Ah. Was it a problem with your brain?”
“Kinda. Our brains are really useful. They like… help us control everything we do basically. Like how we make decisions and that stuff. I’m probably explaining it terribly…” He shook his head. “Sometimes, we can be hit with some like, situations. That are really scary or tough and it just causes it to… Shut down. And… I’m really scared. About what happened to Louise, and how I… How we’re supposed to break her free. And that fear caused that shutdown.”
Queen flinched. “Are you fine then? Brains sound very important.”
“Yeah…” He snickered at the statement. “But that fear… It's still there.”
He swallowed.
“Friendship.” Queen said. “That will help you beat the fear. Right?”
“That’s just one half of it.”
Just because she was gone, doesn't mean I am incapable.
He closed his eyes, still trying to control his breathing.
“But it’s my choice in the end. Should I let fear paralyze me, or overcome it and save my friend?”
He opened his eyes to the sight of his concerned partner.
"This is something I need to solve on my own."
Another deep breath. He stood up.
"The odds of freeing Louise seem impossible, but I mean, our existence is impossible too." He swallowed. "We're gonna find a way to get her out, all of us alive!"
Queen looked up, thinking, what would Louise do?
She mustered up an awkward smile.
He giggled. “See, I knew you’d get it.”
He sat back down on the chair, hand tapping his chin. His heart began to accelerate again. Instead of anxiety, each beat was full of passion.
"We like… Need information. The Collector can't be flawless. There has to be some way to get in and out of there. Maybe even a way to do it right under his nose!"
Queen returned to the couch. "Are there others he knows? His guards. Maybe we can find where they live, and follow them-"
Her eyes dilated, whirling over to the door. Every hair on her skin stood up.
"I smell Kirino. She is approaching with…" she snarled, showing fangs. "Clarice. There are two others with her as well."
Davis's heart skipped a beat. The door shook as Kirino banged against it.
"Davis, are you there?" Her muffled voice spoke. "I heard what happened to Louise! We need to talk, NOW!"
Queen had already begun shifting her hands into blades, and was growling at the door.
Davis took another deep breath.
"Well… We needed somebody who knows the Collector." He spoke. "This is as good a shot as any. But if they try to start a fight, we both flee. All right?"
Queen stared with anger in her eyes, nodding subtly.
Davis stood, and walked to the front door.
He opened up, to Kirinos entire gang staring him down.
"So, tell me." Kirino barked. "What the hell did you two do?"
The knot in his stomach was there. He clenched his fist.
He kept his eyes locked with hers for a few moments, before breaking contact. His heart began to race again.
"It's a lot. But you're not here to fight, are you?"
"No. I need to know, what on Earth did Louise do?"
----------------------------------------
Louise was eating a small segment of the MRE, still waiting on the cot. The entire thing looked like an oversized granola bar, tasting like anything but. It tasted like she was eating literal sand. After a few bites, she threw the entire segment into her mouth, chewing as fast as she could, and chasing it with a glass of water.
She stared at the rest of the uneaten meal, gagging at the thought of having to eat any more of that.
It can’t be that bad. You’ll be out of here the moment he lets his guard down.
Moments later, The Collector’s voice crackled over the intercom.
“Your first job will begin soon. You’ll be guided by a few guards. Follow them along, and we won’t have any trouble.”
The girl perked up.
Moments passed, and she could hear the sound of heavy boots outside her door. There was a click, and the steel door slid open. Standing there were two guards. They were loaded in combat gear from head to toe, looking like members of a SWAT team. Assault rifles were slung in front of their chest.
“Come on! We don’t got all day!” One of them barked. Louise got off her cot, walking over to the guards.
She clenched her armored fist.
The moment she stepped past the cell door, she kicked as hard as she could at the knees of the guard.
He let out an agonizing scream, the other guard scrambling to try to grab her.
Louise grabbed the other man’s arm first, swinging him overhead and slamming him onto his partner.
The two guards lay limp, stacked on top of each other, moaning in pain.
The girl smiled, and bolted down the metallic hall.
The path was a dark, metallic hallway, with dozens of cell doors lining the walls. She sprinted around a corner, finding an elevator door.
It dinged, opening.
Out stepped The Collector, holding a rifle, though not the elephant gun that knocked her out before.
She grinned, rearing back her fist.
He took a casual step back, letting the girl fly past her, and fired the rifle.
Two prongs launched out, sticking to Louise and crackled to life with electricity.
She could feel her body tense up, searing with pain, but she could still move.
She turned to face the disappointed face of the collector, struggling to move forward.
The crackling noise increased, and so did the pain. Her entire body tensed up, and she fell over.
The Collector sighed.
“What did I tell you? All you had to do was not cause any trouble.”
He took out two pairs of metal restraints, with a small digital interface on them. He clamped them around Louise’s ankles and wrists.
The girl groaned. Her numb body barely felt the cold metal of the restraints.
He pulled a small radio from his pocket. “Get me a stretcher, and make sure it’s a sturdy one. Some restraints as well.” He glared at the paralyzed girl. “I have a feeling if we give her an inch, she’s going to keep causing trouble.”
Turning off the radio, he kneeled down to her. “You’re still going to work for me. Like I said before: Any trouble you cause is going to make things worse ONLY for you. Listen to me, and things will work out just fine.”
Moments later, the elevator dinged again. Four more guards with a sturdy stretcher walked out. Louise watched as she was lifted up, placed onto the stretcher, and her clamps were locked to the edges of it.
Feeling had somewhat returned to her body.
She began flailing, rocking the stretcher. The guards held onto it tight.
The Collector stared at her with judging eyes.
“What did I just say about causing trouble?”
She returned the same look, continuing to struggle against the restraints.
He sighed, shaking his head. He leaned in closer to her.
“I’m not going to repeat myself. But I will say, you’re going to come face to face with the consequences of your trouble very soon.”
He backed away, turning to the guards.
“Take her to the Smog Stalker. Once she’s in it’s unit, I’ll release her restraints.”
“Yes sir.”
The guards wheeled her into the elevator, but Louise still kept her eyes locked on the Collector’s old, worn out face. All the way until the elevator door closed between the two of them.