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Doug was quite familiar with concussions and thus was certain he had one. He felt both dizzy and tired and wanted nothing more than to just lay where he was. He was also hurting all over and pretty sure he was bleeding, but not so much he felt a desperate need to do something about it. Still, he heard others moaning around him and footsteps nearby and knew he couldn’t just hope things turned out all right.
Doug felt around for one of his weapons, and screamed as a foot stomped down on his hand. “There you are,” said a female voice.
He looked up to see another woman completely covered in body armor, a rifle slung over her shoulder. “What do you want?”
“A spectacle.” She grabbed Doug and dragged him out of the car. Doug struggled to his feet, but she kicked him and sent him slamming into a wall, something striking him in the small of the back before he fell to the ground. The train appeared to have crashed in an abandoned part of town. Most cities had whole sections that had become ghost towns due to the huge decrease in population from the War.
“Haven’t you killed enough?”
“For now.” She punched Doug in the face and then rifled through his coat until she pulled out the cube. “I want you to open this.”
Doug slowly stood up. “Even if I knew how, I wouldn’t just because you psychos want me to.”
“Even if in it is the secret to fighting the Transcendents?”
Doug let go of his anger long enough to become curious. “Do you know what’s in it?”
“We know why we want it. We’re fighting against the Trans.”
“But you work for Elza.”
She laughed. “Well, not against all the Trans then.”
“But why kill all these people?”
She held the cube close to Doug’s face. He didn’t feel the depression and despair as much as he did before but he still moved away from it. “If only you knew how small a matter that was,” she said, “you wouldn’t even give it a moment’s thought.”
Doug pushed backed into the wall and felt the object in the small of his back again. Now he remembered what that was. “I guess I shouldn’t think too much about this, then.” He pulled out his snub-nose revolver and shot the soldier in the face. He wasn’t sure the bullet penetrated the helmet, but she did go down. No one, under any conditions, likes being shot in the face. Picking up the cube, he was about to head back for the train when he saw a group of people walk towards him. His vision was blurry, but he could see all were in black except for the one at front.
The leader made a motion, and the gun was knocked out of Doug’s hand like it had been hit by a strong gust of wind. “We’re not here to hurt you,” the man said. Doug could finally see who it was: Darius backed by a dozen Protectors. “Luckily, Asmod was able to convince Viath of the importance of getting the cube back in proper hands, so he allowed my people passage here. Looks like we were just in time.” He walked over to Doug and took the cube from Doug’s hand and looked it over. “How did it get bunnies on it?”
A part of Doug felt he should snatch the cube back, but he had no idea what he’d be trying to do to fight these people. Plus, there were more important things on mind. “You have your cube. I need help finding my friends now.”
“If you mean Charlene Marshal, she already with us and she’s fine. My understanding is your two other associates are far enough away from this that there is no risk to them. Now, for discretion’s sake, we need to be out of here before Viath’s people arrive to clean up this mess.”
Some Protectors roughly led Doug away with Darius. They soon came to a large transport. They pushed Doug inside where he saw Charlene and Lara seated next to each other. Charlene immediately embraced Doug, tears in here eyes. “I thought you were dead!”
He patted her on the back. “I’m okay. So what’s going on?”
“Did you get the cube?” Lara asked.
Darius entered and shut the door. “That he did.”
Doug let go of Charlene and turned to Darius. “So it’s all good then? We get paid and can go our separate ways?”
Darius looked a moment at the cube in his hand and then at Doug. “I’m afraid our deal has changed.”

“Anything new?” It was perfunctory question, as Lulu had laid her head on Bryce’s shoulder and could see the screen as well as he could.
“Nothing new.” They then had to wait to catch a train back to Avaro. It was now approaching evening and the sun was beginning to set, and all they knew of their friends was that there was a terrorist attack on the train resulting in an unspecified number of deaths.
The handheld computer beeped, indicating a new message. Lulu sat up. “Maybe that’s them!”
“Maybe.” Bryce checked the message, and it was perhaps the most shocking piece of news he had ever received.
“What is it?” Lulu asked with concern. She then glimpsed at the screen. “Holy flipping ninjas!”
The message was from his bank. Three million had been deposited into his account. Bryce slowly regained his composure. “I guess we did it.”
“Go team Hellbender!” Lulu weakly pumped her fist in the air. “That must mean Charlene and Doug are okay if they got the cube and delivered it.”
“But if they aren’t okay, then that just means we get their shares. Good new either way,” Bryce joked weakly. He checked his account again just to make sure it was no mistake. It wasn’t. He was rich. The world was as it should be. The other details were unimportant. Still, one thing nagged at him. “That’s five hundred thousand more than we agreed to. I wonder what that’s for?”
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“Why is this train flying?” Lulu pointed out the window. “There’s plenty of room down there for tracks. It’s only flying because it seems high-tech, and everyone want everything to be ‘high-tech’ whether it serves a purpose or not.”
Bryce sighed and sat down. “I don’t care, Tri-Lu. Should we check around the train once more?”
Lulu didn’t answer and kept staring out the window with an odd expression. Bryce heard gasps and then looked out the window as well. He could see in the distance the other train and it looked like parts of it were exploding. “I guess we have the wrong train.”
“I’m not sure you can call the non-exploding train the ‘wrong’ one,” Lulu answered.
The other train looked like it was descending. “You can when you have millions invested in the exploding one.”
“I hope Charlene and Doug are okay.” She turned and faced Bryce. “I don’t care if Lara is okay.”
“I figured.” Bryce looked around the car. “You think this thing has an emergency brake?”
“It might if it were on the ground.”

For a moment, Doug could only stare in disbelief. The four women with Handler began shooting and stabbing the passengers while Handler just watched and smiled. People pleading for their lives were struck down, and then the horrifying realization hit Doug that this was going to keep happening unless he did something.
He ripped the sword from the hidden sheath on his back and cut through one of the Amazons just as she was about to shoot another passenger. Blood splashed on his face but his mind was racing from too much adrenal to care. The others kept killing, not paying Doug any attention. He stabbed one who was armed with a short sword and then remembered his gun.
He tossed his sword to his left and hand and drew his gun to Handler’s head who looked back at him with amusement. “You seem to be taking this personally.”
“You’re insane!” Doug screamed at her. The two other remaining Amazons paused to watch, allowing those left alive time to flee, but Doug could hear gunfire both in front of him and behind him on the train.
Handler still looked at him as if this were all some big joke. “If sanity is defined as having an accurate perception of reality, then we’re the only sane ones on this train.”
“Stop this or I will kill you!”
She laughed. “You should threaten people with things they’re afraid of, dear.” The other two laughed as well as began to leave the car.
The mixture of confusion and rage was a bit much for Doug’s brain. He couldn’t remember much of what happened next, but his ears were ringing from gunfire when he walked into another car. There were men and women huddled on the floor there, not having anywhere to flee for safety. “Don’t kill us!” one yelled at him.
“I’m with Hellbender; I’m here to help. Stay here.” Doug wrested control of himself again. He couldn’t quite understand what was going on and why, but he was able to break it down into something simple he could understand: He had to kill all the bad people.
A bullet broke the glass to the door to the next car. Doug charged forward. Some vehicle had crashed through the side of the train and was lodged into it. He saw someone in full body armor armed with a rifle standing among dead bodies. “Are you Doug?” she asked.
“Yes.” Doug fired at her, but the bullets only knocked her back slightly as she fired back wildly. Doug dived to the ground and heard more gunfire though no bullets struck anywhere near him. He looked up to see Charlene standing over the soldier fire down. “Charlene!”
She looked at him. “What the hell is happening here?”
Doug got himself off the ground. “I don’t know! They’re after me or something! Where’s Bryce and Lulu?”
Charlene reloaded. “They’re on the other train.”
He saw Lara enter the car, and he ran over and placed his sword to her neck. “You’re behind this! This was a setup!”
“How does that make any sense?” Lara shouted back angrily.
Charlene pulled Doug away. “I don’t trust her either, but she just helped me fight off a couple armed gunmen so let’s keep things in perspective. What we need right now is to get out of here.” She looked at the transport lodged in the wall. “Maybe this vehicle still works.”
Lara shook her head. “Too risky. The train is going for an emergency landing. The best bet is defending this position until we’re on the ground and can make a getaway.” She looked to Doug. “Do you have the cube?”
Doug felt an odd lump in his jacket. He didn’t remember pocketing it but figure he must have during the initial commotion. He felt like just chucking it out the hole in the wall. More gunfire snapped him back to the matter at hand. “They’re going to kill everyone if we don’t stop them.”
“Maybe we weren’t the only ones smart enough to ride the train armed,” Lara said. “To be honest, I don’t really see why we should care either way.”
Charlene grabbed his arm and looked him in the eyes. “We need to worry about ourselves right now. We don’t know how many there are or how well they’re armed. Defending this position is the smart thing to do.”
Doug thought he heard more screaming. “How many times did we need help and there was no one there?”
“Yes, Doug. So what do we owe any of these people?”
He didn’t know how to argue with that, but he knew he was right. He pulled off Charlene’s grip. “I’m going.”
“If you’re going to run off and get killed, at least give us the cube,” Lara said.
“Go to hell.” Doug exited the car towards the sound of gunfire. He was back in the car filled with people who had fled from both directions. He glanced back to see if Charlene was following him, but he was alone again. “Everyone go back a car!” he yelled to the people there. “There’s two women there who will keep you safe.” Doug marched forward.
An explosion shook the train and knocked him to the ground. He looked back to see they were ripped apart from Charlene’s car. They were also plummeting quite quickly. He didn’t remember much after that.
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“They are moving the cube now,” Lulu’s said through Doug’s earpiece. “They are walking it to the train station. We’re heading there now but you’re the only two guaranteed to be there in time.”
“Crap,” Bryce uttered as he rushed out the Chinese restaurant.
Doug was holding their bag of food they just paid for. “What about the food?”
“Forget the food!” Charlene screamed.
Doug dropped the bag and ran out the door after Bryce. “Should we try and slow them down?” Bryce asked.
“Negative,” Lara responded. “We don’t want to spook them and get a shootout in public. We need to tail them to somewhere more private. Let’s just find out what train they are taking and get on it.”
Doug had caught up to Bryce who had slowed to a more inconspicuous pace as they neared the train station. “Tailing them could be a problem,” Bryce said. “Handler could recognize me.”
“Have the idiot do it,” Lara stated. “You can get on the train when we find which one it is.”
“The bug on Handler is getting… well, buggy all of a sudden,” Lulu said. “We can’t rely on it getting the info for us. All we need is Doug to make sure we know whether it’s the Northbound or the Southbound… and he better not screw it up or we’ll strangle him.”
Doug and Bryce reached the train station. “How many are we looking for?” Bryce asked.
“It sounds like they are in a group… five or six maybe,” Lulu said. “They should be there soon.”
Doug and Bryce looked around. “Over there.” Doug tapped Bryce on the shoulder and pointed to a group of five women, Handler at the back carrying a metal case.
“I’m getting out of sight,” Bryce whispered. “Buy tickets, and follow them onto the train.”
It seemed simple enough to Doug. His first problem, though, was when he used a console to buy tickets and it asked for which train and “both” wasn’t an option. He went through the process twice to buy tickets for each and entered the boarding area. Doug got as close as he could to both platforms without committing to either. He then waited for Handler and her group and thought he should look like he was reading something to be inconspicuous. He pulled out the Chinese menu he had in his pocket and looked through it. At this point, Doug was too nervous for anything to look appetizing.
Handler and her group came in. Doug glanced up at them once and then watched them in his periphery as he stared at the menu. They went for the Northbound train. Doug waited a few moments after they passed by him. “Northbound,” he whispered into the receiver at his collar.
Doug walked onto the platform and saw the car they entered. He entered one car behind it. “Did you hear me? They’re on the Northbound train and so am I.”
There was no response.
“Guys?”
Again, no response.
“Guys!?”
A few people in the car were no staring at Doug. Still, there was no response.
“Oh, come on!” he cried and pulled out his phone. No signal. “Crap!” Doug turned to a man near him reading the news. “Could you check if your phone is getting a signal?”
The man pretended not to hear him.
“Jerk.”

“Doug? Doug? Doug!!!” Bryce looked up to see Charlene, Lulu, and Lara running towards him. “What the hell happened to him?”
“Maybe there is interference in there,” Lulu suggested.
“You didn’t see which train they got on?” Charlene asked.
“No. I couldn’t see from here. I actually thought this was something Doug would not screw up.” Bryce nervously ran his hand through his hair as he looked at the clock. “They both leave in about a minute. I guess we can run up and check–”
“No time.” Lara bought tickets off a console. “We’ll just split up.”
They all grabbed the tickets and ran to the boarding area. “Stupid gratuitously flying trains,” Lulu growled.

The train began to move, and Doug felt nauseous. He decided to sit down a moment and collect himself. It was now all up to him, but the money concerned him less that the thought of screwing everything up for his friends.
The train had moved vertically until it was completely above the city. Doug took a glance out the window at the streets below. There was no turning back.
You just have to grab a metal briefcase from five women and get away, Doug told himself. No big deal. You can do this. He started to worry that others might be meeting them at the next stop. He thought about just grabbing the case as soon as they got off and boarding whatever train was leaving the soonest, but they’d probably be able to follow him on if he didn’t time it just right. Still, it was the best idea he had.
He looked towards the entrance to the next car over where Handler and her group were. Doug thought about going over there to try and keep an eye on them, but there was nothing he could do now. He decided it was best to just sit where he was and try to relax while seeing if he could get in contact with the rest of Hellbender.
Handler and the four other women walked into his car. Doug tried not to look at them, but he glanced up once to see Handler was staring right at him. He went back to looking at his shoes, but Handler walked over to him and stood over him while Doug pretended not to notice.
She held a small device in her hand. Suddenly there was a high-pitched squeal in Doug’s radio that caused him to jump to his feet while yanking out the earbud. Doug stared at Handler who smiled back him. “Hello, Doug.”
“Um… who’s Doug,” he said in a quivering voice.
Handler laid her case down on a nearby seat and opened it. She pulled out the cube and tossed it to Doug. He caught it and immediately felt the sense of dread the device exuded. “We know you know something about the cube,” Handler said, “and we want your help with it.”
Doug looked around. Most everyone else in the car was pretending not to notice anything was going on. Jerks. He then looked at Handler’s friends who were all smiling like this was all some big joke. “I really don’t know anything… like at all.”
Handler laughed. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. Now why don’t you sit down and relax while we kill everyone on this train.”
Now people were paying attention. Doug thought maybe he misheard something. “Huh?”
There was a loud crash and the train jerked as if something struck it. Doug was knocked to floor by the force. He then heard gunfire and screaming in other parts of the train as the four women with Handler pulled out short swords and guns. He looked up at Handler in horror. “What the–”
“Haven’t you heard? We’re psychotic,” she laughed. “This is just something we do.”
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Doug did not see the Devil the next couple nights either. He actually had a number of questions now, not least of which was whether they could trust Lara. Still, he figured the Devil probably wouldn’t have given him a straight answer anyway.
After their confrontation, he mainly avoided Lara and she him. He got a bit worried the couple times their schedules put her and Charlene alone together, but he knew Charlene could take care of her self. Doug did get a brief amount of time alone with Charlene when they went to get a couple more arms from a weapons dealer. Charlene got Doug a machine pistol capable of three-round burst (though Charlene told him not use that function). He still kept his sword with him though, having found a long, thin pack he could strap to his back that at least kept the sword somewhat inconspicuous. He knew it was useless compared to the gun, but it still made him feel safer to have it since it was a familiar weapon.
The bug on Handler’s glasses kept working, which made it seem less necessary to keep a stakeout by the research building. They had a decent amount of time to plan for snatching the cube on Thursday, though they hadn’t picked up the exact details how it was going to be moved and where. Still, both Lara and Charlene planned for a number of different scenarios, pretty much all of them involving a certain amount of violence.
“You ever wonder if killing these people to get the cube is wrong?” Doug asked Bryce as walked through the city. It was Wednesday afternoon, and it was their job to pick up lunch for everyone. Doug was out voted on nachos, so they were picking up some Chinese.
“Not really,” Bryce answered. “I guess you can make an argument that killing them without any direct provocation is somewhat wrong… but I’d say that would be thousands of dollars wrong, not millions of dollars wrong. You have to remember the stakes here and weigh it against that.”
“And everyone involved with Elza is like really evil, right?”
Bryce shrugged. “Seems that way… plus I don’t think there is anyone left in this world who doesn’t deserve a bullet in the head for something. Can we talk about something more pleasant? Morality isn’t really my thing; it’s almost a superstition.”
It was about the time for the lunch rush, and the streets were pretty crowded. “Um… I do have something to ask you about. Any advice on how… maybe… um… me and Charlene…”
Bryce sighed. “Why do you even keep trying with her? She’s the most horribly unpleasant person in the world. Plus… I’m pretty sure she’s got the hots for Lara.”
Doug glared at Bryce. “No she doesn’t.”
“You can’t tell me you’ve never suspected she’s a lesbian.”
“You have no proof of that!”
“You have no proof she’s a heterosexual.” Bryce chuckled. “I guess it’s hard to tell a dateless lesbian from a dateless hetero.”
“You’re just upset because she’s never given in to any of your advances.”
Bryce scoffed. “I’ve never even tried with her… at least not in any serious way. Anyway, Doug, if you really want to try and get somewhere with her, you need to surprise her. You are a horribly predictable person, to the point that when you’re trying to be surprising its usually in a predictable way.”
Doug thought for a moment. “I think I have an idea…”
“It’s flowers, isn’t it?” Bryce asked.
Doug nodded.
“See? Predictable. If you want to get anywhere, Doug, you need to be a whole new person.”

Lulu was beginning to severely hate Handler. Lulu had inadvertently positioned herself as the “electronics person,” and thus it was always her job to monitor their equipment. So basically her whole day involved Handler droning on in the background. When Handler was talking about research, it wasn’t so bad, but Handler had an extremely boring personal life and seemed to like telling all her co-workers about it. Lulu was starting to get a fantasy of gunning down Handler while screaming, “No one cares about your cat!”
Luckily, Handler was currently quietly researching which gave Lulu a chance to read while Lara and Charlene were in the next room over plotting their move tomorrow. It was a trashy romance novel that she had pilfered from Lara. It wasn’t quite her cup of tea, but she though she’d give it a try.
“Julia, what are you doing here?”
Lulu dropped the book and shot to attention.
“We have to move it right now.”
“Guys!” Lulu yelled as she pounded on the wall.
“What’s happened?” Handler asked.
Lara and Charlene both barged into the room, each equipped for action. “What is it?” Charlene asked.
“Shhh!” Lulu answered.
“Our group in Sholt were killed,” Julia said.
“All of them?”
“It’s hard to say. They were ripped completely apart. Reportedly it’s just one big mess.”
“Loch?” Handler’s voice was noticeably scared.
“It would seem to be. We can’t tell if anyone talked first, but he might be heading this direction now. We need to get out of here.”
“Where?”
“I don’t even know yet,” Julia said. “A group is waiting outside to escort you to the train station. Just grab the cube and let’s go.”
There was the sound of some fumbling. “Okay. Let’s go.”
“Dammit!” Lara was already heading out the door. “Hopefully we can get to the train station before them.”
Lulu grabbed her gun and followed Charlene. “Otherwise it’s up to Bryce… and Doug.”
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“Morning, Doug.” Doug opened his eyes to see Bryce was already dressed.
The second bed in the room had been used. “Lara kick you out last night?”
“She likes her space or something.”
Doug sat up in bed. “You trust her?”
Bryce checked the chamber of his pistol and put it in his shoulder holster. “Doug, I don’t even trust you, and I’m quite certain you’re not even capable of any significant deception. I made sure she set things up with Darius that no matter what, half the money goes into the account I set up when the job is done. If she kills us all when we have the cube, she won’t get a penny more.”
“Something isn’t right, though; I just know it.”
“Unless you have a less vague concern, things go as planned.” He seemed hesitant for a moment. “Anyway, did you see the Devil again?”
“You think there is something to that?”
Bryce shrugged. “The world is crazy; anything is possible.”
Doug thought for a moment. Usually it was hard to remember what he had dreamt about after he woke up. “Actually, I think I dreamt about the three women who attacked me in the bathroom.”
Bryce smiled. “Fun dream?”
“No. It was exactly the same with them beating me up, but instead of them just running away in the end, one of them pulled out a knife and stabbed me in the throat.”
“Well… that doesn’t help us.” Bryce put on a light jacket, concealing his holster. “If you see the Devil again, tell me everything he says.” Bryce headed for the door. “Anyway, shower and get ready, buddy; today is our day to get rich.”

They didn’t want to go into this situation blind, but speed was important knowing that forces way out of their league were looking for the cube as well. Charlene was able to get out early enough to spy Handler heading into the research lab. The others then quickly got together some resources which included renting a van while Lulu hunted down surveillance equipment. That wasn’t something sold just anywhere, but she knew where to look to find what they needed — though it wasn’t cheap. Lara was also splitting costs with them on equipment, but it still was becoming quite apparent that if Hellbender didn’t succeed, they weren’t going to have much left to fall back on.
Luckily, Handler went out for lunch, and then it was Bryce’s turn. He followed her into a nearby deli while Lara and Charlene waited across the seat in a coffee shop and Doug helped (more watched) Lulu set up the receiving equipment back at the hotel. The bug they gave to Bryce was only about the size of a pinhead, and it seemed a simple task to get it on the target which is why they were a little worried when a half-hour past and they hadn’t heard from him. Doug and Lulu finally got word that Bryce finally emerged from the deli and gave a thumbs up.
Lulu turned on the receiver and recording equipment. She and Doug could hear voices. “Well, it’s working I guess,” Lulu said. She then got a call from Bryce and answered it. “What took you so long? Were you trying to get it on her panties?”
“I can’t rush myself, or I’ll come off as phony. Also, I wanted to make sure to put it somewhere she’ll have it for a while. I got it on her glasses. She has very pretty eyes, actually. Also, I have her phone number if that helps us.”
“Did she seem evil and plotting?” Lulu asked.
“Not really. She’s actually a very interesting woman to talk to if you care about extra spatial dimensions.”
“Well, if this lead is a dead end, we’re going to trick Lara into an alleyway and beat her up.”
“Let’s not plot against each other just yet,” Bryce said. “That’s not conductive to teamwork.”
As it came to the end of the day, Bryce and Charlene waited outside the research center in the van in case something came up where they need to act quickly while Doug, Lulu, and Lara waited back at the hotel listening in. Doug wanted to be on the stakeout with Charlene, but she nixed that.
They had been listening all day, but so far nothing Handler said Doug could identify as of interest other than when she told a co-worker about the cute guy she met at lunch. “What’s a vector? She talks a lot about vectors.” Doug was busy cleaning the blade of his katana with oil as described in the katana care manual.
Lulu was seated near the receiver, trying to stay awake. “It’s a mathematical term, Doug; you don’t care about it.”
“What kind of sword is that?” Lara asked, seated on the bed.
“A Musashi XL.” The blade didn’t seem to have picked up any debris from when it cut Colette and still looked to be in perfect condition.
Lara chuckled. “Isn’t that a Wal-Mart brand?”
“A Wal-Mart exclusive, and it cuts great.” Doug had owned one for a while, though presumably his previous one was destroyed along with Shride.
“And you plan to make use of it?”
“When we fought Colette, bullets hardly slowed her, but this stopped her.” He carefully wiped down the blade one last time with a cloth, removing the excess oil.
“Not going to be of use here, though,” Lara said. “Reportedly, Elza has never ascended any of her followers.”
Doug sheathed his sword. “Hmm… wonder why that is.” Since Elza was such a thorn in the sides of the other Trans, that did make her of particular interest to Doug.
“So how are you guys planning on spending your money?” Lulu asked. “First thing, new shoes… and I think a purse. And then a big tropical vacation.”
“Can I come?” Doug said.
“Sure, if you don’t get in the way.”
“Well, I was thinking of getting a big entertainment systems for playing videogames,” he stated, “but I guess I need a place to put it. I hope we know where we’re going after this.”
“I’m going to get a nice apartment in the city — I haven’t figured out which city yet — you can go where you want, Doug.” Lulu looked at Lara. “What about you? 2.5 million is a lot for one girl to spend… and I assume its tax free.”
Lara looked slightly startled by the question. “Um… I’d invest it. I’m not going to waste it all on frivolities.”
Lulu rolled her eyes. “Yes, but you’ll splurge at least a little. Are you saying you haven’t thought about anything you plan to buy? A few new outfits at least?”
Lara appeared cross. “We’re not friends, Ms. Lui; how about my plans are just none of your business.”
“Maybe you could put the money towards a debitchification,” Lulu muttered as she stood up. “I’m going to grab some sodas. Want anything?”
“I’m fine,” Lara said.
“Wasn’t asking you.” Lulu looked to Doug.
“I’ll have a Mountain Dew.”
She left the room, and Doug looked to Lara who stared back at him. He stood up and held his sheathed sword at his side. “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but I keep getting this feeling you’re up to something… and if you harm any of my friends…” He took a deep breath. “I’ll kill you.”
Lara chuckled. “That wasn’t very convincing.”
“Well… it’s still true.”
Lara stood up and her smile faded. Though Doug was certainly bigger, Lara was actually quite a bit physically intimidating for a woman. “I know, but what if this is all about harming you? Then what will you do?”
“Huh?”
A powerful right hook struck Doug in his cheek and he fell over. The blow opened up a bruise he already had, and blood flowed down the side of his face. Lara stood over him with a disgusted expression.
Doug pressed against the wound to stop the bleeding. “What are you doing?”
“So I guess I can hurt you all I want and you won’t do anything other than stare up at me like a kicked puppy. Even you recognize how worthless you are and that you’re hardly worth defending.” Lara bent over him. “I know you’d come after me if something happened to your friends, because they’re all you have and, with them gone, you’d have nothing left but an impotent attempt at revenge. I’m one of the Last Children like you, Doug, and have been treated like worthless crap all my life because of whatever wrong it was that had them slaughter our parents. For most of us, it’s an unfair treatment, but then there’s you. They can look at you and feel justified. I saw the file Asmod’s government had on you, and then I met you. Someone like you has no right threatening me; you are too worthless to even talk to me. And if you cross me, I know exactly what I’ll do to you. I’ll tie you up and make you watch as I break Charlene’s arms and legs and take a knife and–”
Doug rose quickly at her with an uppercut. She got her arms in front of it, but the force still knocked her over into a chair. She laughed. “Now I believe you’ll kill me.”
“Um… am I interrupting something?” Lulu was standing at the door holding the drinks.
Lara got off the floor and sat back on the bed. “I was just trying to figure out how to explain something to your stupid friend.”
“We use puppets.” Lulu kept a suspicious eye on Lara as she walked over to Doug. “They didn’t have Mountain Dew. I got you a bottle of water.”
“Aww… I hate water.”
“Don’t complain; it’s free water.”
Doug grudgingly took it. “So’s a rainy day.”
“Guys, it looks like about everyone has left by now,” Charlene said over the radio. “We haven’t seen Handler, though; is she still in there?”
Lulu turned up the receiver and could hear the same ambient noises from Handler’s lab. “Yeah, she’s still there.”
“Doris, are we free to talk about it?” a female voice said.
“Wait, we have something,” Lulu said. Lara and Doug came close.
“I’ve only been able to study it a little so far without raising suspicion, but it’s a fascinating object,” Handler said. “Despite it’s small size in the first three dimensions, it is in fact quite immense. Its extradimensional connections are similar to a person, but bigger and more powerful. This could be the key to the downfall of the other Transcendents, Julia.”
“We can hope,” the woman apparently named Julia answered. “So… any idea why there are rabbits on it?”
Lulu giggled.
“I can’t be certain. It almost looks like it was just scratched in there with a crude tool,” Handler replied.
“It was a pocket knife,” Lulu said. “It’s not like I used a sharpened rock.”
Lara glared at her. “Shut up.”
“It’s been decided we need to move it,” Julia said.
“Where?”
“They haven’t told me, just that we’re moving it Thursday. We’ll find out more instructions then.”
“Three days.” Lara smiled. “They’ll walk it out, and we kill them and take it. Simple.”
NEXT

PREVIOUS
“As civilization moves into its next phase of existence,” Doug read aloud from a pamphlet while seated on the floor, “it is of increasing importance who leads humankind into its next and final evolution. Ironically, being freed from the animinalistic handicap of childbirth and childrearing, women are being further made into second-class citizens despite the empty words of equality. The fact is that all the current leaders including the Transcendents — no matter what forms they take — have integrated primitive masculine instincts into their societies. This has to be stopped now, before these out-dated impulses are imprinted into us for all eternity.”
“Makes sense; I wonder if they have a newsletter I can subscribe to?” Lulu was sitting near Doug with an odd pad over her eyes. Lara gave it to her to help clear up her black eyes. After the train ride (which Doug quite enjoyed as it was actually relaxing), they crossed over the Viathian border to the city of Avaro. There, Lara recommended a hotel — not too expensive not too cheap — where they rented three rooms. They were now meeting in one of them, where Lara shared the information she had on the followers of Elza, including recruitment pamphlets. They seemed hard to track down, as Lara was convinced that Elza’s people were made up of many groups only loosely connected.
“You think they would have taken the cube here?” Charlene asked Lara. She was seated in a chair by the bed and also looking over some of the pamphlets. “I’ve heard more of their attacks on Asmod’s territory lately.”
“Viath’s territories haven’t seen much conflict in a while,” Lara said, “and one pattern I’ve noticed with Elza’s people is they tend to attack wherever things get too peaceful.” She was seated on the bed next to Bryce who was looking on her quite fondly. Doug had never seen Bryce tricked by a woman before, and wasn’t sure how he’d react.
Charlene tossed a pamphlet onto the bed. “How much thought do you think they put into these attacks? Most of them seem just random and poorly planned.”
“My theory is that the mindless terrorism and the arch-feminism is all a front,” Lara answered. “I think they’re up to something big and Elza is taking pains to get people to underestimate them.”
“That’s some commitment to pretending to be incompetent,” Charlene said. “The last two attacks they did on military installation had a lot more deaths on their side.”
Lara shrugged. “Just a theory based on my observations. Of course, Elza claims to know the secret to immortality, so perhaps they have reason not to fear death.”
“Maybe we should just behead Bryce as an offering to join up,” Lulu suggested.
“What about me?” Doug asked.
“No one cares about you.” Lulu took the pad off her face. “Do I still look like a raccoon?”
“Washing off the whiskers might help,” Bryce said.
“But I want to look like a kitty-cat.”
Lara held up a handheld computer to Doug. On screen was a woman. “Do you recognize her?”
Doug looked at her a moment. “She was one of the women who beat me up in that bathroom!” He had been too scared to go again until they had gotten back to the apartment. It was very painful.
“She was one of Colette’s hired goons,” Lara said, “and I had some suspicions about her which were confirmed when she went missing today.” She stared a moment at Doug. “Interesting they left you alive. That’s certainly not how they operate. Do you actually know something about the cube?”
Bryce laughed. “Doug doesn’t even know how many sides a cube has.”
“Yes I do! It’s six… right?” Bryce gave Doug his “Shut up!” look, and Doug took the hint. “Or does a cube have eight sides? I don’t remember.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Lara said, “but I’m banking on all of you actually being a lot smarter than you seem.”
Lulu put the pad back over her eyes. “Were going to be such friends when this is all over.”
Charlene pointed to the woman on the screen. “So is she our lead?”
Lara smiled. “I can do better. When she went missing, I went to her apartment, and she forgot her phone. There was a message on it from a Doris Handler. I looked her up, and she’s a research scientist in an interdimensional studies lab in this city. I think that’s where they took the cube.”
“They’re going to secretly study it?” Bryce asked.
“Maybe they’re trying to open it,” Doug suggested.
Lara stared at him with curiosity. “Why do you say that?”
“Because, of…” Bryce was giving Doug a look again. “I don’t know. I was just guessing.”
Charlene had a great amount of suspicion in her eyes. “So let me get this straight. All in one morning, you negotiated this job with Darius, decided to warn us so as to set up Colette, investigated a missing employee, and then tracked us down to help you. You’re quite a busy girl.”
Lara appeared angry. “It wasn’t exactly like that. I’ve been at this sort of thing a lot longer than you amateurs, and I know how to seize an opportunity quickly. What exactly are you implying, Ms. Marshal?”
“We just have so many reasons to trust you.” Charlene’s hand rubbed one of the bruised cuts on her face.
“Girls, let’s calm down.” Bryce put his hand on Lara’s shoulder. “We have a great opportunity here, and Lara is a very lovely and talented woman and it’s quite a boon for us to get to work with her.”
“She’s awesome,” Lulu said, still holding the pad on her eyes. “I’m thinking of having a lesbian relationship with her right now.”
Lara stood up. “Anyway, let’s get some sleep and then try and find out what Handler knows tomorrow. We need to move as quickly as possible because we don’t want to still be around when Loch gets up to speed.”
Lara began to leave, but Bryce walked up to her before she reached the door. “Lara, I feel like I have need to apologize to you,” he said in the nervous, sincere voice Doug often heard him use when trying to get into bed again with a woman who had found out what a cad he was. “If I could talk to you privately…”
“Bryce, I’ve known you were a weasel from when I first met you. I was bored and felt like having sex, so I pretended I fell for your act. I then tricked you and your friends into raiding a military base, so no apology needed.”
Bryce looked disappointed, but soon perked up. “Well, if you’re bored now… I could tell you about how I shot Colette multiple times. It’s a great story.”
Lara laughed, and then motioned for Bryce to follow as she left the room. He quickly complied. Lulu took the pad off her face and looked towards the door with disbelief. “What a slut. I think Bryce is out of his league, though.”
“We’re all out of our league right now,” Charlene said. “Something just seems off. Let’s keep our eyes open.”
Doug took a deep breath. “If you’re not doing anything now, Charlene…”
“Doug, this is our room. Get out.”
Lulu chuckled. “You both could do better.”
Doug slowly got up and headed out. “Wait.” Charlene walked over and handed him a snub-nose revolver. “Five shots. Double-action only. Can be a back up when we get you something better. These are dangerous people, so try not to get yourself killed too quickly if something happens.”
“I have a pretty good record of not getting killed.” Doug put the gun in his pocket. “This could all work out you know. We could be rich when this all over, and frankly I think we deserve it.”
Charlene laughed. “I really can’t see that happening, but I guess we have to try.”
Doug honestly didn’t see it happening either. Somehow, he knew something horrible was going to happen. He also knew there was nothing he could do other than try and be prepared for it.
NEXT

PREVIOUS
Bryce eyes brightened up on sight of Lara. “Hello, doll-face!” He sat down next to her.
Lulu said in a monotone voice, “Oh, hi, Lara; you’re our best friend” and sat down at the table as well. Charlene kept a cautious eye on Lara as she sat but didn’t say anything.
Doug, as usual, was confused. “You had us beat up!” Doug yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Lara.
She chuckled. “There’s that dry wit again.”
Charlene yanked Doug down into a chair and shushed him.
Darius sat as well, and his expression over the outburst seemed to be resting somewhere between confusion and unconcern. “I need something done, and I don’t want Dammon involved. Ms. Skinner here agreed to help and recommend you four. What I’m looking for is a special device. It looks like a metal cube; I understood you four know of it.”
“Oh yes. The ‘bunny cube’ as people call it,” Bryce said. “We know all about it.” He looked to Doug. “What was it you were saying about it?”
Doug stopped searching the menu for nachos to look up. “Oh… um… the cube is supposed to have a key inside to lock something. The Trans fear it for some reason. That’s what I’ve heard.”
Darius looked very surprised. “Heard from who?”
Doug realized this was trouble, so he turned to Bryce. Bryce was better at lying. “It’s just the word out there,” Bryce said. “A lot of rumors are already flying around as it is an odd little thing.”
Darius didn’t look very convinced. “So, I need it, and I need it quickly. I know Elza’s people have it, and I expect not just Dammon will be after it, but Loch as well. Thus I’m willing to pay quite handsomely for it considering the risk.”
“Hellbender doesn’t come cheap,” Lulu lied, twitching her painted on whiskers.
“Ms. Skinner negotiated five million, and that seems fair.”
Bryce was the first to recover from the shock. “Seems fair.”
“I hope we’re agreed then.” Darius stood up. “Ms. Skinner already has all the details. This lunch is on my account; feel free to order whatever you want, and I hope I’ll see you all again soon.”
As Darius left, Doug quickly reached for the menu again. “Free food! Awesome! Do you think it’s too early for beer?” He scanned through the menu for a moment. “Wait. Did he say ‘million’?”
Lara smiled. “I’m guessing we have some talking to do.”
Charlene was not amused. “I was thinking other things than talking.”
“I was too,” Bryce said, “but probably not the same things as her. If we all have a chance to get rich, isn’t that worth making up and being friends?”
“Yes, it was kind of mean what I did to all of you,” Lara said, “but that’s the price you pay for having Bryce as a friend. I then helped you put that bitch Colette in her place, though, and I was quite impressed by your entrepreneurial spirit. I found out that Asmod’s government was going to pay heavily for the cube but knew that was something I couldn’t handle myself, and since Colette tasked me to hunt you guys down I quickly arranged this.”
“If I didn’t look cute as a raccoon,” Lulu stated, “I’d slit your throat right now. I don’t really trust working with you.”
“And what do we need you for, anyway?” Charlene asked Lara.
“I have the contact with Darius,” Lara replied, “and I’ve been studying the Elza problem and am best equipped to find out where her people brought the cube. In fact, since I brought this opportunity to you and have all the knowledge, I’m going to need fifty percent.”
Lulu stood up. “I need to go to the bathroom. Charlene, do you need to go to bathroom? Doug and Bryce, do you need to go too?”
Lara sighed. “I’ll go to the bathroom.” She stood up and walked off.
Lulu sat back down. “I wrote a poem about my feelings about her:

“I don’t like her
She’s a bitch.
Let’s beat her up
And throw her in a ditch!”

Bryce shrugged. “Your meter is off.”
“Your meter’s off!”
“We have plenty of money for now,” Charlene said. “Lets just get out of here. She could turn on us at any point… not to mention you people aren’t really skilled enough to be taking on this sort of operation. We’re doing pretty well right now considering our past history, so let’s not get greedy. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.”
“We’re not talking about two in the bush!” Bryce shouted. “We’re talking about… um…” He looked to Lulu. “How much more than twenty five grand are we talking?”
“Eighty-seven point six times as much.”
“We’re talking eighty-seven point six…” Bryce paused. “That doesn’t sound right.” He thought it out. “We’re talking one hundred birds in the bush, and the bush is only guarded by incompetent Amazons. Didn’t you say they’re not even very good at fighting?”
“I didn’t say you guys were better,” Charlene answered.
“Are we really talking about getting millions of dollars?” Doug asked. “That’s a lot of money.”
“See! One of us has his priorities straight,” Bryce said. “We can do this, and if we do it quickly, then we don’t have to worry about running into Dammon’s people or… Loch.”
Doug shuddered. “If he’s around, I’m out of this. I don’t want millions that bad.”
“And are we agreeing to fifty percent?” Charlene asked.
“Here’s what I say we do,” Lulu stated. “We agree to give her fifty percent, but when the job is done, we say to Lara, ‘Here’s your share!’ and punch her in the face and run away.”
“Maybe we can argue her down a little,” Bryce said, “but I’m sure we can set up accounts ahead of time so no one can screw the other.”
“You won’t want that,” Lulu commented.
Doug looked around. “When is the waiter coming?”
Lara returned and took her seat. “So…”
Bryce stared at her with his intense business face. “We want sixty percent.”
“Fifty it is,” she said. “We better get out of here pretty soon. We’ll take the train.”
Lulu pounded the table. “It’s not a train.”
“Excuse me?”
“It doesn’t follow a track. You can’t just call it a train because it sorta looks like one.”
“It’s a number of segments — independent vehicles — that move together in a line, i.e., a train,” Lara said. “You’d have a case if they called it a flying railroad.”
Lulu looked like she was about to reply, but nothing came out. Instead she leaned back in her chair and muttered, “Bitch.”
NEXT

“So are we taking the train?” Doug asked.

“No!” Lulu said quite emphatically. “Because it’s not a train. It’s a flying segmented transport.”

Bryce rolled his eyes. “Whatever. They call it a train.”

“I don’t care what they call it!” Lulu shouted. “It’s either a train or it isn’t. It doesn’t follow a track — it flies — ergo it is not a train.”

“It follows a virtual track set in its programming,” Bryce countered, “which is about the same thing.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard! You’re now dumber than Doug for saying that! You can buy us tickets, but don’t you dare tell them you’re buying the tickets for their train because they don’t have one!”

Doug walked over to Charlene. “So are we taking the train?”

Charlene kept scanning the people around them in what Doug thought was the train station. “Colette’s people are going to be looking for us here. I think its best we find another means of transport even if it’s slower.”

Doug and his friends wasted no time in preparing to flee now that they had some money. They first stopped at a thrift shop to get some new, more inconspicuous clothing (Lulu’s outfit could hardly be described as “cute” and barely emphasized her chest at all — though she still kept her face paint). Since Doug was already pretty non-descript in his t-shirt and jeans, he got a brown fedora and some sunglasses to hide his identity. He was also going to get a duster, but decided it was too hot out for that. Doug did get a duffle bag to conceal his sword in.

Charlene continued to appear quite concerned as she looked around the train station. “We have some powerful enemies this time, Doug; we have to take this seriously. It’s only luck some of us haven’t been killed by now, but luck isn’t going to hold up against this big a threat.”

“I don’t know; we always seem to do alright in the end.” Doug smiled. “Maybe it’s like there is someone watching out for us.”

“You’re an idiot.” Charlene walked over to Bryce and Lulu. “This is a bad idea. We shouldn’t take the train.”

“It’s not a train!” Lulu shouted. “It’s a–”

Charlene smacked Lulu in her raccoon face and looked to Bryce. “My plan worked with Colette, so why don’t you follow my lead again in getting out of here?”

“First of all, it wasn’t your plan,” Bryce said. “It was our plan. Also, that involved standing and fighting — which is your expertise — while this involves fleeing — which is more my expertise. They’re not going to attack us in broad daylight on a public transport. I kept the sum low enough that Colette can’t justify some huge pursuit of us; she’ll probably mainly keep quiet about it to avoid the humiliation. This is the quickest way to get to the Viathian border.” Taroth and Viath were practically allies and the border was supposed to be easy to cross. According to Bryce, Dammon’s people had had some trouble in Viath’s land, making it harder for them to operate there and a safe place for Hellbender.

Charlene sighed. “Fine. But all of you keep alert.”

“Can I have a gun?” Doug asked.

“I’ll give you one of mine, but not while we’re in a public area.” Charlene looked around some more. “There’s a man in a suit who seems to be looking our way.”

Bryce watched the crowds. “Who?”

“Are you talking about the one waving at us and walking our way?” Lulu asked.

They all tensed as a very important looking man came towards them. “Are you Hellbender?”

“Who is asking?” Lulu responded.

“We’re Hellbender,” Bryce said. He then shook the man’s hand. “You’re Robert Darius, aren’t you?”

“Yes, but I’m trying to keep a low profile.”

Charlene had not calmed down any. “How did you find us?”

“Let’s discuss this out of the public’s view,” Darius said. “I know about your trouble with one of Dammon’s people, and am quite impressed by your handling of it. I can assure your safety for now, though. I know a nice restaurant near here; I’ll treat you to lunch and we can discuss a business proposal.”

“Sounds good,” Bryce said, though he was the only one who seemed certain of that.

Darius led them out of the train station and down the street, but Charlene lagged a bit behind and whispered to the others. “There is something very weird about this.”

“For one thing, it’s a bit too early for lunch,” Lulu added.

“So who is this guy?” Doug asked.

“A very important person in Asmod’s government,” Bryce said. “He’s a Hollow one and a good path to the lucrative government contracts we should be pursuing.”

“And do you think he knows who we are since were until recently Asmod’s citizens?” Charlene whispered.

Bryce scoffed. “He’s way too important to know about the slave labor.”

Doug looked to Darius who was walking a couple yards ahead of him. “Being one of the Hallowed, do you think he has like super hearing and can hear what we’re saying now?”

Bryce looked startled by the suggestions, and all of them now quietly followed Darius until they reached the restaurant that looked fancier than any place Doug had eaten before. “One of your associates is meeting us here,” Darius said as they walked inside.

“Any friend of ours is a friend of ours,” Lulu said, looking as confused as the rest.

Darius led them to a table. Seated there was Lara who smiled as they approached. “Hey, buddies.”

NEXT

PREVIOUS
“That’s a bad trade.” Doug had just claimed one of Bryce’s knights using a rook, and Bryce moved a bishop to take the rook.
“The horses move weird,” Doug said. “I just want them off the board so I don’t have to keep track of them.” Apparently a policy of Taroth’s Republic was to make more cerebral activities available to the Last Children in an effort to improve them. Thus Bryce has found a complete chess set in the apartment building they were squatting in and decided to sit in their room and play a game with Doug while they waited for opportunity to knock.
“So, did the Prince of Darkness visit you again in your dreams?” Bryce asked.
“You mean Stan? Yeah, I’m starting to doubt how much he really knows.” Doug stared at the board for a moment. “He gave me homework, though.”
“He is evil.”
“I’m supposed to look for weaknesses in the Hallowed and the Trans.”
Bryce thought a moment. “Well, the Hollow ones are basically just powerful slaves to their masters. As for the Trans, they’re just way too powerful to even notice people like us. That’s a weakness I like to exploit.”
“So, if there was something more powerful than the Trans, what do you think are the chances it would care about us?” Doug moved one of his pawns forward a space.
“That’s stupid, and you’re stupid for even thinking it.” Bryce claimed the pawn with a rook. “You keep leaving your pawns unprotected; you’re not going to have any defenses left soon.”
Doug chuckled. He then moved his queen to claim Bryce’s king. “I win!”
“Huh? I was in check? You can’t do that!”
“What do you mean?”
Bryce looked quite cross. “When one of your pieces threatens my king, you have to tell me.”
Doug scoffed. “Then you’d just move it.”
“That’s the rules, idiot! Since you violated them, I win.”
“Whatever. You’re always changing the rules of any game we play so you win.”
Opportunity did not knock this time. Instead, it kicked down the door. Colette entered the apartment in a dress that looked a bit too fancy to wear for door-kicking. The three large men with guns in hand accompanying her looked quite ready to kick things, though.
Bryce turned in his seat to face Colette. “You say you want to stay under Taroth’s radar, but guess who is going to end up paying for that door.”
Colette looked at Bryce like she was gazing upon a large cockroach. “We decided we want the bunny cube.”
“Well, that’s a problem,” Bryce said. “After you were so rude to us, we found a much more polite buyer for that particular item.”
Colette bent over Bryce, looking to be about a second from ripping him apart. “Who?”
Bryce was a bit too distracted from Colette bending over him to answer.
“Stop staring down my dress!”
“What? I’m not staring very far down it; just to the boobs.”
She grabbed him by the throat. “I’d rip your head off if I didn’t think your friend here is too dumb to help me. Now, you’re going to answer me, or I will dismember your friends in front of you.” She looked around. “Where are the two girls?”
“Out doing girl stuff,” Bryce coughed.
“When Charlene gets mad, she likes to have a pedicure,” Doug said. “You made her mad last night, so I’m guessing that what’s she’s doing.”
Colette pointed at Doug. “Shut up!” She looked at Bryce. “Who has the cube?”
“I’d be violating our buyer confidentiality policy to tell you.”
Colette let him go and backed away a step. “Kill the stupid one,” she ordered her men.
“You’re stupid!” Doug yelled.
Her thugs started to advance on Doug. “Wait!” Bryce called out. “I have something of interest to you. You don’t have all the equipment from the truck we stole; we took some out for our own use when we first got here.”
“I don’t care about anything other than that stupid cube right now.”
“This is good, though,” Bryce continued. “One thing we have is a very nice, high powered rifle. It has a scope and everything. I think it would be useful to you. Three thousand.”
“You’re not getting any money, Child,” Colette said. “About the only thing you’re going to be able to bargain for soon is how painfully we kill you.”
Bryce’s phone beeped. He looked down at it on his belt. “Text message from Lulu. Says she found some good muffins downtown.”
“Can you tell her to get me one?” Doug asked.
“Now I’m ripping your arm off,” Colette said and advanced on Bryce.
Bryce quickly pulled a small electronic device from his shirt pocket. “I think you’ll be interested in this, though… more so than even the cube.”
“I told you–”
Bryce put on his used car salesman smile. “It’s a remote detonator; very high-tech. Only ten thousand, and it’s yours.”
“I don’t care–”
“It’s really a bargain.”
“I don’t want it!”
“Fine. Then you’re walking home.” Bryce hit a button on it, and there was a loud explosion outside causing the thugs to turn around. Then there was the sound of breaking glass as bullets flew in through the window in rapid succession killing the three thugs. Bryce pulled out a gun and fired repeatedly into Colette. The bullet wounds seemed to spark as the bullets ripped through her but only seemed to stun her slightly as she reached for Bryce.
Now it what time for Doug to do what he had been preparing for. He quickly quickly drew his katana as he leapt to his feet and proceeded to cut off Colette’s hand in one quick motion. She fell to the ground, finally looking like she was in pain. Where the arm was cut, Doug couldn’t see a wound. He couldn’t see anything. Actually, it gave him an odd feeling to even try and perceive, so he tried not to look and instead focus on Colette’s face against which he placed his blade.
“Do you know what we’re going to do to you?” Colette spat at them. “You little–”
Bryce shot her again. “Yes yes. Generic threats. We’ve heard them before.” Bryce’s expression was very dark; actually quite scary for someone who usually was never physically intimidation. “You were right last night when you labeled us desperate losers, which I think would mean a bit more caution when dealing with us. I don’t know where you get off thinking you are anywhere near the most threatening person we’ve ever had the displeasure of dealing with. Now, I understand that cutting you to pieces won’t kill you, but I’m guessing you won’t like it… and who knows how long you’ll be in that condition before Dammon decides to put you back together. I say it’s worth twenty five thousand to you to avoid that.” He took out a small handheld computer and tossed it to her. “Our account information is there. It’s an insignificant sum to you and a big sum to us — desperate losers that we are — so everyone wins.”
“You can’t extort Dammon. You will–”
“We’re extorting you. Keep that straight. I’ll understand that Dammon won’t like damage to his property, but he should have been a bit more careful with his things, then.” He turned to Doug. “I’m done talking to her; you can go ahead and cut off her ears.”
“You don’t need her to smell anything either, right?”
“Fine.” Colette took the computer with her remaining hand and entered in the information. “You better spend it very quickly if you wish to enjoy it.”
Bryce picked up the computer and checked the account. “It was a pleasure finally doing business with you Colette.”
“So where is the cube?”
“Elza’s girls have it,” Bryce said. “If you want us to retrieve it, we’ll have to demand a payment for that job up front given your previous history.”
Colette stood up, Doug still keeping his sword on her. “Can I go now?”
“Yes. We have no more use for you.”
Lulu came in through the broken door, stepping over the dead bodies. She had painted on a black nose and whiskers to go with her two black eyes. “Someone parked a flaming wreck out front.” She turned to see Colette. “Oh, hey, you. Hope you keep Hellbender in mind for your future mercenary needs.” Lulu pulled out a gun, shot Colette in the face, and kicked her hard, sending Colette out what remained of the shattered window.
“That was a little excessive,” Doug commented.
Lulu shrugged. “Well, we were done with her, right?”
Doug glanced out the window. “So she’ll survive that?”
“In a way,” Bryce said, “and she will be really pissed.” He picked up the walkie-talkie that was hidden under a pillow on the bed and said into, “Nice shooting, Charlene.”
“Any idea why Lara gave us the heads up on this?” she asked in response.
“Women are crazy; I don’t try to figure them out.”
Lulu leaned out the window and looked down to the street. “Oh, she’s getting up.” She then screamed at the top of her lungs, “DON’T MESS WITH HELLBENDER, BITCH!” She turned to Bryce. “So we better be a few hundred miles away from here by the end of the day, or we’re like super extra dead, right?”
“Yeah, we’re pretty much on the run again — but this time with money.”
“And you don’t think Dammon is going to hunt us down?” Charlene asked over the radio.
“We’re too insignificant to care about and taken too little money to worry over.” Bryce smiled. “That’s why we’re awesome.”
“Insignificant but awesome!” Lulu pumped her fist in the air. “Go team Hellbender!”
Doug sheathed his sword and put the sheath in his belt. He wasn’t happy about killing people, but he had to admit it was pretty awesome when he cut off Colette’s hand (which seemed to have disappeared as he couldn’t seen any evidence of it in the room). Also, now they had enough money that he not only could get nachos whenever he wanted, he could get guacamole on them even if that cost extra. It was a good feeling. Still, something nagged at him. “Anyone wonder what exactly everyone wants that cube for?”
“No.”

PREVIOUS
“Hello, Doug.”
Doug was once again seated in darkness with the Devil across from him. “Oh. Hey, Stan.” He looked around a bit. “Do we always have to meet here?”
“No distractions; I prefer it that way.”
“Okay. So, you heard what happened?”
The Devil smiled. “I am nearly omniscient. I am privy to every thought that any human has ever had.”
“Really? You like know everything?” A thought struck him. “Like, do you know what dinosaurs actually looked like?”
“Anything in this universe that doesn’t involve humanity is of no concern to me.”
“Oh.” Another, better thought struck Doug. “So do you know who my parents were?”
The Devil’s face turned serious. “They died for a cause they believe in, like many many others have throughout history. There is nothing I can tell you about them that will be of any help to you.”
“Still, I’d like to know.”
“I’m here to help you help yourself, Doug; I’m not here for your whims.”
For the first time, Doug was growing a bit tired of the Devil. “I don’t know what you want from me. Right now, me and my friends barely have money to eat, so I’m not sure how I’m going to fight powerful armies and gods, if that’s what you’re expecting.”
“It’s not what I’m expecting; it’s what I know is possible. I can’t see the future with certainty — not with free will interfering — but I can see the possible futures. Each time you make a choice in life, those possible futures narrow down. I still see one where you lead the way to righting this world, and I will do my best to help you make the choices to make it your present.”
“Can’t you just tell me what to do?”
The Devil smiled. “No. I’m afraid that wouldn’t work.”
Doug sighed. “You know, for someone claiming to be so powerful, it doesn’t seem like you can do very much.”
“I’ll give you a little piece of information: Being nearly infinitely powerful is just as close to infinitely powerful as it is to powerless. The good news is that these ‘gods’ you fear aren’t measurably more powerful than you… from a certain perspective.”
“What perspective would that be?”
“That of the Being of truly infinite power.”
Doug wasn’t quite as ready to be roped in again. “The god my parents worshipped… the super powerful guy I’ve seen even less from.”
The Devil smiled. “I’m glad to see the skepticism, but the works of the one true God are visible to all but those who wish to be blind to them.”
“I don’t even know what that means. Anyway, we don’t have the cube anymore — which I guess you know — so if that was needed to somehow fight the Transcendents, well… that’s not happening.”
“For the time being, it’s good enough that you know the cube is out there; events are already in motion because of it.” The Devil was quiet for a moment, seeming to be in thought. “Let me try and give you some useful advice, though. You focus too much on where you are weak and where your opponents are strong. Try to think of where you are strong.”
That was a hard one. “I’m okay with a sword.”
“That’s something. Also, those you fear: Where are they weak?”
“Well, with the Hallowed…” Doug thought about it. “Well, all I’ve ever met are kinda jerks, so I guess people don’t like them. I guess that’s a weakness.”
“It’s a start. And what of their masters, the Transcendents?”
“I’ve only really ever seen them from a far… and I guess that’s just a projection of them…” Doug was thinking his hardest, but not much was coming. “They’re at war with each other, so I guess they don’t get along very well… I don’t see how that helps me, though.”
“It’s enough for now that you at least begin to deconstruct how powerful you believe them to be,” the Devil said. “Until we meet again, why don’t you continue to look for their weaknesses.”
“I really don’t think I’m the person for this.”
The Devil looked quite serious again. “It doesn’t matter what you think, Doug. As I say, I can see many possible futures, and in all of them you will come into conflict with the Transcendents. The only variable is whether you are prepared or not.”
This finally seemed like some new information the Devil had given Doug, but somehow Doug already knew it.

Colette sat in the back office of the warehouse perusing the lists of recent acquirements and deciding where to move them for various uses and black markets. It was basically accounting and her favorite part of the job as it didn’t require interaction with any people. Not needing sleep, she had been busy at it throughout the night while most of her men slept. She loved the quiet.
Colette felt some hands caress her, and she slowly turned around, “Dammon, I am honored with your presence.”
Dammon always took the human form of an attractive man. His features were young, but his eyes were very wise. He enjoyed the physical pleasures of the world more than the power struggles of his kin, and thus seemed to have more of a like of humanity than Colette who was eager to know more of what lay beyond this universe’s dimensions. “This is but a quick visit to see if you’ve noticed anything out of the ordinary as of late.”
“Why? What’s been happening?”
He paced a bit as if in thought — a very convincing imitation of being an actual human. “I’ve noticed some erratic behavior among the other Transcendents. I think there is more behind the attack on Shride than Serpine trying to display her power. Have you heard anything about this?”
Colette remembered the idiots from the other day, and hesitated to mention them… but, having thought of them, Dammon probably already knew. “Some Children today tried to sell me some cube with bunnies on it claiming it was something Serpine, Asmod, and Elza were all after.”
“Bunnies?” He pretended to be thinking again. “It was a small metal cube?”
“Yes. It looked metal… nothing much to it other than the bunnies. The Children seemed to think there was something special to it that should have been obvious.”
Dammon looked her in the eyes quite intensely. “Do you have it?”
“I didn’t see any point to it. Those Children just seemed to have stumbled upon it and were hoping it was valuable… but it appeared worthless.”
“Go get it. Immediately. Others might be after it, but we need it first.”
“But what–” Colette realized she wasn’t talking to anything. She didn’t see him disappear; it was just like he was never there in the first place. She had her instructions, so there was nothing left to discuss.
Colette walked out of the office to see some of her men playing a card game while others were still resting. She quickly spotted Lara who was sitting on a crate reading a book. She despised Lara, but she was useful. Of course, that was the best she could say of any of them. “Those idiot Children from last night; you know where they are?”
“Yes; it’s in the report I gave you on them. They’re just squatting in an apartment building if they haven’t moved on yet.”
“You four.” She pointed to four of her men playing cards. “Take me to them.”
One of her female employees ran into the warehouse, her face pale white. “Craig and… Raul… they were… I found them…”
It took a lot of temperance for Colette not to kill someone every few minutes. “Spit it out!”
“They’re ripped apart! There’s blood everywhere by the dock! I…” She paused for a moment, and turned to her side and threw up.
Loch. This was how he communicated, and this was simply a warning not to get in his way. She didn’t understand how he did it, though, as agreements between the Transcendents should have made it impossible for him to directly touch any of Dammon’s people. Colette was a little unnerved, but Dammon wasn’t going to accept excuses. Humans were panicky things, though, and she knew she’d have to diffuse this to avoid a mutiny. All the people there looked scared… except for Lara who had gone back to reading her book. “I did that,” Colette told them. “I had my reasons.”
“Why?” the woman asked, looking quite scared and befuddled.
“I don’t have time to explain myself. Now get back to whatever the hell you’re supposed to be doing or you’re next.” She walked past the woman to exit the warehouse. “Now, I believe some of us were going somewhere. Have your guns ready.”
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As they stumbled back towards their apartment, the sparse streetlights of Theed didn’t allow Doug to see too clearly the battered conditions of his friends. A couple of times he tried to help Charlene when she stumbled, but she quickly shrugged him off. So onward they went, walking beside each other but not with each other, none saying a word until Doug felt he absolutely had to say something to break the silence. “Did you see how I got the sword on that one guy before he drew his gun? That was pretty good.”
“Yes, Doug. That was a brilliant display of basic competency.” Charlene didn’t even look at him. He thought she could be a little nicer since he did draw the sword to keep the guy from shooting her.
“I think that’s where things started to go wrong,” Bryce said.
Charlene stopped. “Are actually going to argue this wasn’t entirely the fault of your idiocy?”
“Hey, I wasn’t the one with the brilliant idea that, when I’m surrounded by a bunch of armed thugs, I should punch one of them in the nose!”
“She was a clearly useless person, and I have a least enough self-respect not take insults from such!” Charlene shouted. “You really think being a meek beggar was the way to get respect from that scum?”
“Why don’t we just compromise and say you both were idiots,” Lulu suggested.
Charlene looked about ready to hit her. “Why did you draw bunnies on it Lulu?!”
Lulu rolled her eyes. “Oh right; that was the problem.”
“It didn’t help.” Bryce added.
Doug didn’t like seeing his friends fight, but at least none of them were blaming him for anything. “I think I see a bus station just a little ways away. Do we still have enough money to take the bus?”
“We’re not so financially desperate we can’t ride the bus.” Bryce marched onwards and the other followed. He took a glance at Doug. “How come you look better than the rest of us?”
“I’ve gotten beaten up so many times, I guess I just know how best to take it.”
“Well, that’s a sad good analogy for us,” Charlene said. “We’ve gotten beaten up so many times, it’s become a skill.”
“And I notice you look worse than the rest of us,” Bryce commented. “I’m guessing you thought it was a bright idea to fight back.”
Lulu glanced at him. “How much product do you use in your hair?”
Though Bryce’s face was quite beaten, he didn’t seem to have one hair out of place. Lulu’s hair was quite a mess, though. “Appearances are important, so I spend time on mine.” He checked his clothing. “I’m going to need a new suit again.”
“Frankly, the whole beating was a bit disorganized.” Lulu wrapped her arms around her chest. “Also, I’m all for equal rights stuff, but I still think it would have been more polite to have the women beat up the women and the men beat up the men. The order was to beat me, not to grope me.”
“Those two women who felt slighted by the fact that I gave each of them my time were a bit immature during their physical attack on me,” Bryce said. “They especially got angry when they found out I was wearing a cup.”
“Why were you wearing a cup?” Lulu asked.
“Because I don’t like getting hit in the crotch.”
“Because he probably knew what happened was a possibility from all his screwing around,” Charlene said.
Lulu giggled. “His screwing screwed us.”
Doug laughed. “It is kinda funny how Bryce thought he was using Lara but she was using him.”
“That’s not what happened!” Bryce shouted.
“None of this is funny!” Charlene yelled. “Bryce’s idiocy has left us in a foreign city with no money!”
“Some money,” Bryce corrected her. “A little money.”
Doug patted the sack hanging off his belt. “And we still got the cube.”
They reached the bus station. According to a sign on it, they had twenty minutes to the next bus.
“I thought for sure Colette could have told that the cube was important,” Bryce said. “We’re all in agreement that there is something quite weird about it.”
It still creeped Doug out, even concealed in its bag. “The Devil told me that one of Hallowed wouldn’t feel anything weird holding it, because they always feel that miserable.”
Bryce looked angry. “That’s some important information you kept from us. If Satan tells you anything useful like that in the future, pass it on.”
“He said his name is Stan, actually,” Doug said.
“Did Stan mention anyone else we could maybe pawn it off to for a few bucks?” Lulu asked.
“Shut up, please!” Charlene looked like she was about to cry. “You thought being unappreciated servants of the government was awful, but I don’t think being insulted and humiliated by criminals is quite an improvement in our lives. I’m not going anywhere else with that stupid cube and beg for money. If we’re going to be criminals ourselves, let’s at least be good ones! Lulu was right; you could tell from how Colette’s men attacked us that they don’t work well as a team. With a little bit of planning — real planning — we could do quite some damage to those people and that arrogant bitch Colette.”
Bryce looked quite hesitant. “There’s no money in revenge. You attach a business plan to that, then maybe.”
“I like Charlene’s idea,” Lulu said. “I say we go back there, cut Colette’s head off, and write on the walls in her blood, ‘This is what you get for being mean.'”
“She doesn’t have any blood. She’s one of the Hollow ones.” Bryce chuckled. “In fact, you could say she quite literally a heartless bitch.”
“No. She’s not literally a heartless bitch,” Lulu corrected. “Because she’s not literally a female dog.”
“She is literally a spiteful and overbearing woman,” Bryce countered, “which is an accepted definition for ‘bitch.'”
“Actually, as she’ll tell you herself, she’s not literally a woman.”
“If you two don’t shut up,” Charlene shouted. “I will literally rip your heads off and shove them up your asses.”
Lulu whispered to Bryce. “Charlene properly use the word ‘literally,’ though she did so for the purpose of hyperbole.”
Charlene smacked Lulu. “Anyway, if there are no objections — and even if there are — I’m taking over Hellbender. If we’re going to be a group of losers, let’s at least be dangerous ones.”
“I really don’t want to kill a bunch of people if that’s the plan,” Doug stated.
“As usual, Doug, your opinion doesn’t matter,” Charlene said.
“Fine.” He noticed a convenience store nearby. “I’ll be back in a sec; I need to pee.”
“Careful not to fall in,” Lulu called out as he walked away. She turned to the others. “Do I have a black eye?”
“You have two,” Charlene replied.
“Dammit.”
When Doug entered the store, he turned to the clerk to ask him if he could use the restroom, but saw it was some sort of electronic entity. Another job stealing robot. Doug weaved by a couple patrons to the back where the men’s room was. It was decently clean, and Doug had to admit that some robots were pretty good at their jobs. Frankly, he liked them better than monkeys.
Doug went to a urinal, but as he unzipped he heard others enter. He turned to see three women. For a moment, he though he might have accidentally entered the wrong restroom, but he realized he was at a urinal which he was quite sure women’s rooms didn’t have. The three women stood behind Doug, and he kept looking back at them. “Uh… I think you’re in the wrong restroom. Don’t feel bad; it’s happened to me before.”
They continued to stand there and stare at him.
“Also, it’s kinda hard for me to go with you guys standing there like that.”
Once again, they didn’t react.
“Um… I think I’ll use a stall.” Doug zipped up and started to walk away, but one of the women grabbed him by the shoulder.
“We want the bunny cube.”
Frankly, a part of Doug really wanted to get rid of the cube. Still, it was about all he and his friends had left, and he was curious to find out its secrets.
Doug turned to face them. “Well, you can’t have it.”

“You probably can’t tell from looking at me, but I got beat up again.”
Doug stumbled back to his three friends at the bus station. Bryce looked him over with a little concern. “We were wondering what took you so long… the bunny cube!”
“Yeah; they took it,” Doug admitted. “I think they were more of those Amazons. I tried to stop them, though.”
“Did you try drawing you sword and killing them?” Charlene asked.
Doug frowned. “That seems a bit extreme.”
“You should feel lucky those psychos didn’t slit your throat, then.”
“Where did they go?” Bryce asked.
“Who cares?” Charlene said. “If Elza’s stupid minions want it, I say let them have it. No more trying to get money in realms we hardly understand.”
“Still, at least this proves it was worth something.” Bryce straightened his ripped tie. “Just like I said.”
Lulu shrugged. “I just hope they appreciate the bunnies.”
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Bryce quickly recovered, his shocked expression quickly becoming one of simple confusion. “Excuse me?”
“Armin Corbert.” Colette was quite visibly enjoying Bryce’s discomfort. “That was the name assigned to you as a nameless war orphan, wasn’t it?”
Bryce laughed nervously. “That’s my slave name; I go by Bryce Worthington.”
“I don’t care what you call yourself.” Lara walked over and handed a handheld computer to Colette who took a look at. Now a couple dozen of Colette’s thug were standing around to watch the spectacle. “We’re very much an international organization, so I was able to access the files on you four from Asmod’s government. You were raised at the same orphanage, and the fact that you’re all still together is both touching and pathetic.” She paused a moment to read some more. “I see you change jobs quite a lot, Armin. I’m guessing that was some sort of scam where you avoided doing actual work. Now, Doug Na’s work history seems more consistent with the typical worthless Child.”
“That’s not actually my last name; it’s more of a typo,” Doug said. “They somehow messed up and didn’t give me a last name as a kid, and then once I had to fill in a form and they told me to put “N/A” for my last name, but I though they were telling me how to spell my new last name–”
“Thanks. I’ll wait for the official autobiography. I think I understand quite well now why you were given an IQ test three different times to look for mental retardation.”
“They were all negative!” Doug asserted. “It says that there, right?”
“Next we have the ridiculously named Lulu Lui,” Colette continued. “Whose only value is plain for anyone to see.”
“I kinda like my name,” Lulu said. “Lui is more of a Chinese name, though, and I’m pretty sure I have Japanese ancestry.”
“Finally, there is Charlene Marshall.” Colette took a look at her and laughed. “The little warrior, and perhaps the most pathetic of you four in that her record shows that she actually tried to be a member of useful society. How did that work out, girl?”
Charlene looked enraged. “We get it. We’re the Last Children; completely worthless and not worth the time of someone as exalted as yourself. Still, we brought you useful weaponry, so why don’t you just give us what it’s worth and we’ll be on our way, never to offend your sight again.”
In the blink of an eye, Colette was on Charlene and holding her up by her neck. “Hey!” Doug shouted as he tried to draw his sword on her, but Colette swung out her arm. It felt to Doug like he was struck by a bat, and fell hard against the floor.
Colette threw Charlene into some crates. “Don’t tell me what I should do.”
Lulu helped Charlene back to her feet while Doug got himself standing again. Bryce still looked like nothing had happened. “Obviously, we’ve offended you, and for that I apologize, but–”
“But I don’t think you quite understand,” Colette interrupted. “Taroth allows Dammon to keep a base in this city so long as we keep things quiet. For that, I can’t just have any Child wandering in here thinking he can play big shot gangster. You four haven’t even followed the most basic channels for this line of work.”
“Oh, we have our registration form.” Lulu pulled out a piece of paper.
“I prefer if you submit electronically.” She looked back to Bryce. “So the question is how this Child found out enough about our organization to even attempt this. So, I ask my female employees which one of you was dumb enough to sleep with this idiot? Don’t think I won’t find out on my own, and you can guess what will happen to you then.”
Grudgingly, two women raised their hands — neither of whom were Lara. They first looked at each other with shock and then at Bryce with anger. “You weasel!” Lara just stood back laughing.
Now Bryce was sweating a bit. “I do have an explanation–”
“Here’s the deal,” Colette interrupted. “It’s actually kinda impressive that you stole that weaponry, and it is of value to me. Why don’t I take it as payment for letting you live, and if I have any jobs in the future that are best suited to desperate losers — and that happens from time to time — I’ll look you four up. Deal?”
“How about you let us live plus five thousand,” Lulu countered.
“Three thousand, but I kill you and donate it to a charity in your name.”
Lulu looked confused. “Charity?”
Colette sighed. “Money people give to help poor people. It’s something from before your time.”
“Isn’t the government supposed to handle that?” Bryce asked.
“Just never mind.”
“I know,” Lulu said, “how about four thousand, and you only kill one of us.”
Colette frowned. “I’m no longer amused by you four. Get out.”
“Wait. We have something else that might be of value.” Bryce motioned to Doug. Doug took the cube out of its sack, and he held it out as steadily as he could though touching it made him feel cold and miserable.
Colette was unimpressed. “And what is that supposed to be?”
“It’s what Asmod was trying to hide. It’s what Serpine sent Loch to retrieve. It’s what Elza’s minions were going to steal until we got it first.” Bryce paused dramatically. “And now, we offer it to you.”
Colette now looked somewhat intrigued. She snatched it from Doug’s hand and looked it over. “Why does it have drawings of rabbits scratched into its side?”
Bryce gave a very quick angry glance to Lulu and then looked back at Colette. “We’re not quite sure of the purpose of its symbols, but I bet you can sense what a powerful artifact it is.”
“It’s a metal cube with poorly drawn bunnies on it.” She tossed it to Bryce who fumbled with it like a hot potato until he passed it on to Doug who quickly put it back in its sack.
“Maybe you should ask Dammon about it,” Bryce suggested. “I’m sure he’ll know of its significance.”
“Yes, that sounds exactly like the sort of thing I should bother an all-powerful being about. Well, if I find myself in need of a bunny cube, I’ll know where to find you.”
Lulu whispered to Charlene. “I told you that’s what it’s called.”
“You’ve now wasted more of my time than that stolen military equipment bought you,” Colette told them. She turned to her people. “Before you send them on their way, beat the crap out of them.”
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Doug gripped the handle of his sword with his left hand. “So, do I look intimidating enough?”
“You have nacho cheese on your face,” Charlene said.
“How much?”
Ahead of them was a warehouse by some docks where they could see a number of people and vehicles out front. “So are we just walking up there?” Charlene asked.
Lulu checked her pigtails. “Sorry, but I couldn’t get us a horse drawn chariot.”
Charlene’s hand moved over where one of her guns was hidden under her jacket. “We do not look like violent criminals, and they’re going to see right through us.”
“Being intimidating is all about attitude,” Lulu said. “Your bitchy attitude actually works for this situation.”
“This is a quick business transaction; let’s not over think it.” Bryce had the same confidence he always had before things blew up in their faces. “All this worrying is going to lead to stress ulcers. Let’s just do this.”
“Go Team Hellbender!” Lulu shouted as she marched forward. “Fear is for cowards!”
As they approached the warehouse, they came near a number of large, obviously armed men, each of whom looked like they could easily kill the four of them. Lulu walked right up to one who was a head higher and had more than hundred pounds on her. “We’re here to see Colette, and we don’t abide dilly-dallying.”
The thug looked somewhere between annoyed and amused. “I don’t know who the hell you are talking about.”
“Don’t play dumb with me, stupid. Tell her Hellbender is here and we have business to discuss.”
“What if instead I just gut you like a fish.”
Lulu stood on her tiptoes in a vain attempt to meet him eye to eye. “If you do that, then my friends will avenge my death…” She pointed to the three behind her, and Doug waved hi. “…then neither of us will be very happy.”
“What the hell is this, Rick?” Two attractive young women walked up to the group.
“These guys claim to be here to see Colette,” Rick answered. “Do you even think it’s worth bothering her to see if that’s true, Grace?”
Bryce walked up next to Lulu, and Charlene motioned to Doug to stay close behind. It looked to him that Charlene was ready for a battle, which was a bit disconcerting. Bryce looked unconcerned, but Bryce had a skill of looking unconcerned no matter what was going on. “Colette will be upset if you turn us away,” Bryce told Rick and then smiled to the two women. “I’ll be especially upset.”
Grace smiled slightly and turned to the women next to her. “Why don’t you see if Colette is expecting anyone.” The woman walked off, and Grace turned back to Bryce and his group. “So who are you all supposed to be?”
“We’re Hellbender,” Lulu said. “Who are you supposed to be?”
She smiled smugly. “I’m under the employ of Dammon.” She looked to Charlene and laughed a bit. “I hope you’re not looking to get hired, as he expects a certain level of quality in his women.”
Charlene faced tensed over so slightly into a greater frown. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means the women here have appearance standards, little boy.”
Doug was afraid Charlene was going to get even madder, but she actually seemed to calm slightly. “Well, beauty isn’t just physical appearance; it’s also personality.”
Grace laughed. “Then you better have one hell of personality, little–”
Charlene’s fist hammered Grace in the nose. Grace fell back clutching the injury, blood dripping down her face. Charlene brushed off her fist. “See; if you had nicer personality, you’d be a lot prettier right now.”
It looked like Rick was about to go for gun, so Doug quickly drew his sword and putting it to the large man’s neck. A number of others around drew guns and pointed them at Doug, though.
“I like her; she’s a pip.” Out of the warehouse walked a beautiful redheaded woman in a black evening gown. She looked almost too perfect, and there was something creepy to the slight smile she had. “Guns down, people.”
The thugs all lowered their guns. Doug slowly returned his sword to its sheath. Grace, still clutching her bloody nose, looked outrage. “Look what she did! We should–”
“Go clean yourself up,” Colette commanded.
“But–”
“Now!”
Grace took one last angry glance at Charlene and then ran off.
Colette walked up to Charlene. “She did have a point, though. Most of the women I hire out as bodyguards are basically eye-candy, so Grace is now pretty much useless to me until she heals up.”
“You’re not much of feminists, are you?” Lulu commented.
Colette laughed. “Not really a woman anymore. I’ve transcended my more animal existence, so I don’t see why I shouldn’t be honest about things.” She looked back at Charlene. “Anyway, the point is you just cost me by disabling one of my employees. Not a good way to start with me.”
“She brought that on herself,” Charlene said. “I don’t know what she expected to happen by disrespecting me like that.”
“Fine. Fair enough. Come on; I hear we have business to discuss.” Colette turned to walk back into the warehouse.
Bryce quickly ran up to her. “That we do. I must comment though, you say you’re not a woman, but the form you take is–”
“Please don’t bother; I don’t nor ever will have the slightest interest in you.”
Inside the warehouse were more armed men and women and tons of crates stacked to the ceiling. If it was all contraband, it was quite a lot of it.
“Anyway, in the confusion of the destruction of Shride,” Bryce said, doing his best to ignore the previous slight, “we obtained some military equipment that might be of interest to your organization.”
“Was it in a vehicle like this one?” They turned to see that in one of the rows of crates sat the truck they had fled Shride in. Next to it stood Lara, smiling quite smugly.
“I know exactly who you are and what you did…” Colette patted Bryce on the back, apparently with enough force to knock him off balance. “…Armin.”
Bryce’s face went white.
Charlene once again tensed in preparation for battle. “Crap.”
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When Bryce and Lulu returned, Bryce was wearing a brand new suit and Lulu once again looked like she was dressed for high school. She now had on a small pink jacket, giving her some place to conceal a gun. The outfit she had obtained for Charlene was jeans, a biker jacket with metal studs, and a t-shirt with kittens on it. Doug merely got new pair of jeans and just wore t-shirt he already has on advertising the video game Death Legion 6 (which was no where near as good as Death Legion 5: The Reckoning). They also had a katana for Doug, which he thought was cool but figured the reason they gave him that is because they didn’t trust him with a gun. He didn’t think of himself as irresponsible; he just had some bad luck with firearms that was apparently much more memorable than the countless time he didn’t fire his gun without mean to.
Prepared as they were ever going to be, they headed out, it once again being Doug’s job to carry the weird cube in its cloth sack — something he quite hated. He kept worrying it was going to do weird things to his soul, but he had no one of knowing if his soul was normal or not anyway. They were soon out of the slums into a somewhat nicer part of the city, and Doug realized a sword not only made him feel less prepared for any attack, but also made him more conspicuous. “Everyone will think you’re so awesome, you don’t even need a gun,” Lulu assured him.
“No one is that stupid except maybe Doug himself,” Charlene countered.
Bryce led them to the third floor of a decent apartment building. “Best behavior, people. This is a good contact into the upper levels of Dammon’s criminal enterprise, so we need to look professional.”
Charlene glanced at Doug and Lulu. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
“So is this who you were sleeping with to get all your criminal underworld info?” Lulu asked Bryce.
“Tri-Lu! That’s none of your business!” Bryce knocked on the door. An attractive, tall blond woman answered the door. She was wearing a black pants suit sans jacket, a shoulder holster over her white dress shirt. She smiled. “Bryce, glad to see you made it out of Shride in one piece.”
“In crisis there is opportunity.” Bryce motioned to the other three. “Lara, these are my associates I told you about.”
She took a glance at them and seemed to suppress a laugh. “I imagined them different. Come on in.” She led them into her apartment. It was neat but quite Spartan as well to the point it looked like it could have been decorated by a bachelor. Lara looked over Doug for a moment. “You any good with that sword?”
“I’m adequate.”
“He’s fought the Hallowed before,” Bryce said.
Lara smiled, once again looking like there was a laugh just slightly below the surface. “So did you guys have much trouble getting out of that city in the middle of an attack?” Lara asked.
“Of course not.” Lulu folded her arms and stared at Lara menacingly. “We’re Team Hellbender. We’re badass mercenaries.”
“Hellbender? I like the name. Where did you get it from?”
“When I was eight, I saw in a book there was a type of salamander called a hellbender,” Doug said, “and I thought that was cool.”
“A salamander?”
“It’s like a lizard… but wetter.”
Lara laughed. “I know what a salamander is. Why did you name your group after a salamander?”
Doug thought for a moment. “Because it had a cool name.”
Bryce stepped in front of Doug. “Ignore him; he’s got a dry sense of humor that not everyone gets. So, do you think you’ll be able to get us in to see Colette? I’m sure someone could use the arms we’ve acquired. Plus, we have something of special interest to her.”
Lara giggled. “Ooh! Sounds important.” Lara put on her suit jacket. “Anyway, I don’t think it should be a problem getting you in to see her. You’ll need to show up separately from me, though. I’d rather her not know my relations. Like you guys, I’m one of the Last Children, and any supposed lapse in judgment will be heavily scrutinized.”
Bryce nodded. “Of course.”
“You have spot on your shirt.” Charlene point to a little red dot on Lara’s collar.
Lara looked down and quickly spotted it. “Crap.” She blushed a bit as she looked back up at her company. “You shoot people in the head so many times, you think you get used to the way things are going to fly everywhere, but it can still surprise you. I’ll need to change.” She disappeared into her bedroom.
Doug was now more than a little concerned. “When you lie to women and sleep with them, they usually end up so mad they want to kill you. Isn’t really bad idea to do that to a woman who is actually is good at killing?”
Bryce scoffed. “She’s a professional; she’s not going to let girly emotions get the better of her.”
“You all know that Bryce has no idea what he’s getting us into and this is going to end very poorly, right?” Charlene stated.
“Of course it’s going to be a disaster, Charlene,” Lulu said, “but unlike you, we like to pretend otherwise. It’s called optimism; it makes people more pleasant to be around.”
Bryce did not look amused. “Stealing the merchandise was the hard part, and that’s done. I don’t know why you think selling it will be a problem; that’s such a simple thing.” He turned to Doug. “How does selling work?”
“Um… you give someone something, and he gives you money.”
Bryce turned back to the women. “See? It’s so simple, even Doug understands it.”
Lara emerged from her bedroom, a new shirt under her suit jacket. “I have some work to do, but I’ll see you tonight.” She lead them all out her front door, locked it, and handed Bryce a piece of paper. “Here’s where you’ll need to be. Remember: Colette is above all a business woman, so don’t waste her time or she’ll rip your head off.”
“Like for real?” Doug asked.
Lara just smiled and walked off down the hallway.
Doug turned to his friends. “She’s not actually going to rip our heads off, right?”
“I give us about a fifty percent chance of being shot or beaten to death,” Charlene said.
“Cool. I don’t want my head ripped off.”
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PREVIOUS
“It’s pretty plain looking.” Bryce stared down at the metal cube. “I would expect something important to the Trans to be quite garish.”
“I could put stencils of bunnies on it,” Lulu suggested.
“So what is it?” Charlene nudged it with her foot.
“It’s the bunny cube… or at least it will be when I’m done with it.”
“I just hope who were selling the arms to will know what it is and pay us accordingly,” Bryce said. “She’s a disciple of Dammon… quite important.”
“And when you play dice with it, you always win… because you always roll bunnies!”
“So we’re just going to waltz in, hold up the cube, and say, ‘Do you know what this is and want to pay us for it?’?” Charlene asked.
Bryce chuckled. “We’re not going to do that, Charlene. For one thing, I’m not holding it up because that thing is weird and I’m not touching it.”
“Everyone wins with the bunny cube!”
“It has a key in it.” Doug finally pulled himself off the floor on which he was sleeping of the small, abandoned apartment.
Charlene gave him a dirty look. “Great job keeping guard last night, by the way.”
“I was sleepy! Anyway, I saw the Devil again and he said there’s a key in there.”
Charlene looked confused. “You saw who?”
“Apparently Doug is being visited in his sleep by the personification of evil from biblical mythology,” Bryce explained.
Charlene turned to Doug. “You haven’t been reading that crap, have you?”
“What crap?” Doug realized he could have just said, “No,” since he couldn’t even remember the last time he read anything.
“Religious mythology, because you’re just the kind of idiot that would fall for that sort of thing.”
That stung a bit, but Doug felt there was some truth to it. “I didn’t read anything. I just had some stupid dreams. Forget it.”
Charlene sat on the room’s one bed. She had taken off her uniform’s jacket, but still looked quite military in the pants and tank top. “So are there any plans to get at least a change of clothes, or is a truck full of weaponry hidden in the desert pretty much all we have right now?”
“I keep telling you not to worry.” Bryce checked his tie in the room’s one dingy mirror. “Hey, what ever happened to my suit jacket?”
“I’m afraid I misplaced during one of the gunfights.” Charlene checked the chamber of a pistol. “So what are we doing now?”
“I have some funds tucked away.” Bryce tried to fix his hair with a comb. “I’ll need a new suit, and Lulu can get you some new clothes while we’re out.”
Lulu was busy working at something on the ground. “Children sizes are hard to find these days.”
“Lulu, if you get me something idiotic, i.e., something you would wear, I will hurt you. Do you understand that?”
Lulu didn’t look up from her work. “Blah blah blah.”
“This will all be sorted out soon,” Bryce said. “As soon as we’re ready, we’ll be meeting up with a friend of mine who should be able to get us in to see Colette, Dammon’s head honcho here. We’ll sell the arms to her and have plenty of money until we get our next job. We have a new life; be happy.”
Charlene did not look ready to be happy. “You understand that if people hire us as mercenaries, they’ll actually be expecting us to do those jobs. You’re not going to be able to BS your way through everything.”
Bryce chuckled. “You put too much weight on your weapons skills, dear. This isn’t going to be all about combat, and we all bring valuable skills to the table. I’m good dealing with people. Lulu has tech experience.”
“And Doug?”
“Well, Doug…” Bryce thought for a moment. “…is good at carrying stuff. In fact, had I entrusted him to carry my expensive suit jacket, I’m quite sure I’d still have it. Also, he can throw a good punch when needed. He knocked out some guy for me just last week.”
Doug knuckles were still swollen from that. “What was that all about, anyway?”
Bryce gave Doug a sharp look. “As I said then, it’s none of your business.”
Doug turned to Charlene. “And if you remember, I got an ‘Adequate’ score on my swordsmanship in my military training.”
“And exactly what use is that?”
Doug knew the answer to that one as he had thought about it many times. “Guns aren’t very effective against the Hallowed, but you can defeat them by cutting them apart.”
Charlene laughed. “Except that one of the Hallowed could probably just tear you apart with his mind.”
“See, Doug is useful. Since Colette is one of the Hollow, if something goes wrong it can be Doug’s job to run up and give her a good punch and then cut her to pieces… if she doesn’t kill him with her mind.”
Doug shook his head. “I don’t like the idea of hitting a woman.”
Bryce shrugged. “Fine. Doug is completely useless. But we need four people for our mercenary group, but I’m sure just three of us being skilled is enough for any job. You ready to go, Tri-Lu?”
“Yeah.” She got up from her hidden work and looked to Charlene and Doug. “You two be sweet while we’re gone and guard the mysterious bunny cube.”
“We’re not calling it that!” Charlene shouted.
“Yes we are!” Lulu screamed back. She stormed out with Bryce giving a final wave before following.
There was a moment’s quiet, and Doug decided to sit down on the bed next to Charlene. “You know, it’s been a while since it’s just been us two–”
Charlene sighed. “How many times do I have to tell you that I absolutely no interest in you, Doug? You’re a pathetic loser, and if you ever had the will to stand up to Bryce, maybe he and Lulu wouldn’t feel so empowered to drag me into this crap.”
“You’d rather have been left back in Stride? We’re supposed to stick together, Charlene.”
“Says who?”
Doug just thought that was the understanding they had since they were kids. “What else do we have than each other? The world hates us. They slaughtered our parents for stuff I don’t even understand, and somehow we’re the bad guys.”
“And the answer to that is to be petty criminals?”
The answer, Doug thought, was to fight back. He just wished Stan’s words were true that that was even possible — that there was some power greater than the Trans. He looked towards the cube, now back in its cloth sack and lying on the ground.
“If that thing is actually something the governments want,” Charlene said, “then we better get rid of it quick one way or another. If Elza’s people we fought at the armory survived, they’re probably right now trying to find out who and where we are. Who knows who else is trying to track it down.”
It was a scary thought, but if the Transcendents really did fear the contents of the cube, then Doug wanted to know what was in there.
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