“My parents aren’t in.” The boy had said.
“Do you have any games?” Tyrone had said, “I’ve got snacks.”
“I’m not allowed to have strangers in.” The other boy then replied.
“My name’s Tyrone. See, I’m not a stranger anymore.” Tyrone held out a hand.
“You’re weird.” A smile had broken out across the other boy’s face. “It’s Juniper.”
“Nice to meet you.”
* * *
It had been three years ago. Tyrone was playing one of his many video games. This one was an adventure game. He often enjoyed playing it by himself, but sometimes would crave a sense of community. None of his friends shared an interest in this game so he would go online, discussing with different people anonymously.
He placed the controller down, retreating to his computer. A gust of wind had blown across the room, and his glass was now in his hand. He had smiled, the perks of being a trainee legionnaire. A familiar username caught his eye. Then he had been disappointed. Juniper’s gamer name had been J-Rose, this one was JP-Rose. He hadn’t seen his friend in years and often wondered if he had survived. Still, he had clicked on the name out of sheer curiosity. The birthday matched. Some of the games lined up with what he could remember Juniper liked. JP-Rose…could it be? He pulled up the user’s profile avatar and studied it, it looked like him, but older. He hadn’t been the only one to notice.
A chat window popped up on his display, a simple message from JP-Rose.
“Are you the Tyrone I’m thinking of?”
“Are you the Juniper I’m thinking of?” TySy15 replied.
“Only if you have any puffs to kickstart this conversation,” JP-Rose replied.
“Fucking hell, it is you.” TySy15 typed. “I haven’t seen you since the thing a few years ago. How’ve you been?”
“I’ve been good,” JP replied.
Tyrone started to type another reply, trying to prod deeper when the next message popped up.
“Wanna game?”
* * *
Present Day.
Draekeor.
““Tyrone!” Juniper yelled, running towards his friend as one would when approached by a friend one had yet to see in years. In fact, that was true. Tyrone and Juniper had only ever communicated over social media since they reconnected three years ago. Tyrone hugged him back, years of emotion fueling their embrace.
They were meeting at one of Draekeor’s many bus depots. An undercover investigation would be undermined if they had merely come in through the Shunt Ports, as usual, Eva had pointed out. Avery had agreed, already purchasing tickets for an express train ride from Aslog.
“For a travel blogger, you’re pretty muscular,” Juniper let go of his friend.
“I’ve got to stay photogenic.” Tyrone smiled. “And you’re pretty lanky. Got a few inches on me too.”
“I’m tall.” Juniper shrugged his shoulders, lifting up a hand to brush the hair from his eyes.
Laying eyes on Eva and Lionel for the first time, he winked and introduced himself.
“Any friend of Tyrone is a friend of mine.” To Eva, he bowed, “I believe you’re the lovely lady Eva I’ve heard about.”
When Eva raised an eyebrow, Tyrone rubbed his head. “I tell him about all my fellow writers, he likes to joke that we’re a couple in waiting.”
“I see.” Eva rolled her eyes, irritated.
“I’m just messing around.” Juniper laughed.
“She’s the lovely one? I’m hurt.” Lionel broke the tension with a cocky smirk. “Just what did Tyrone sell little old me as.”
“The fun one, from what I hear,” Juniper said. “Stick with me, I can show you some of the best places around here.”
“I like this guy already,” Lionel chuckled.
“A moment please.” Tyrone excused himself, gathering his team around him.
“It’s just gone noon. We could make use of this day still,” Tyrone said. “Get a good first impression of the city.”
“You’re sure this is safe Tyrone?” Eva asked, “As close as you guys are, we wouldn’t want to mess it up for a mission.”
“The Centurions cleared it.” Lionel replied, “Tyrone wouldn’t do something that would jeopardise his relationship with anyone, he’s too much of a wet rag.”
“Thank you, Lionel,” Tyrone replied. “About half of that is correct.”
“You’re welcome.”
“It’s your funeral,” Eva whispered. “But we need to dump our luggage before we can do much of anything to begin with.”
“How about you two go off and explore, read the tea leaves or whatever.” Lionel said, “I’ll take care of the luggage with Juniper, and take the night shift.”
“Ahem.” Lionel turned around, laying eyes on another woman who stood next to Juniper. She didn’t look like him a lot like him. Long blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, a cheery yellow dress with a smile to match, yet there was something cold about the way she looked at them. Nevertheless, when she looked at Juniper, her eyes warmed up immediately. Lionel figured she didn’t like strangers. Tyrone walked past him, beaming as he did so.
“You must be Beth.” He extended a hand, “Pleasure to meet you.”
“And you must be Tyrone.” She replied. “Pleased to meet you.”
“She’s Juniper’s sister, his adopted one,” Tyrone explained to the others.
“She wishes I was birth.” Juniper winked.
“Only in your dreams,” Beth smacked her adopted brother on the head, laughing as she did so. Their relationship had been good for Juniper, even as he had recovered from a few bad years in his life.
“Listen, Juniper. Eva and I were thinking of heading into the city ourselves, just to have a look around.” Tyrone said.
“The three of us can get to know each other in the meantime,” Lionel draped his arms around Beth and Juniper. “The fun one, right?”
“As much as I’d love to learn more about you guys, I have errands to run.” Beth extricated herself from Lionel’s grip. “If you intend to go out though, I can drop off your bags at the house before I leave.”
“Yes. That would be great,” Eva’s gratitude was palpable.
“Nice! Thanks, sis!” Juniper said. “Alright Lionel, let’s see how much fun a travel blogger can have in this town.”
Chapter 16 - Encounter
The east-end of Draekeor was a very different place from what they were expecting. It was a big city, and like all big cities, it would not yield up its secrets so easily.
Still, Tyrone and Eva trudged on together, simply to get a feel for the place. They separated for a while. Their blog cover was a cover — but Eva did want to take pictures of locale to beef it up. She also hoped to capture something she personally loved for her wall. It was almost evening, and the two of them were both tired. They slowed down in Draekeor’s market district, taking in its various sights and smells. Tyrone didn’t know lamb could be cooked that way, or that chicken could be combined with those spices to create this effect, and so on. Eva passed him some baked treats she had picked up.
“What?” She smirked when Tyrone cocked an eyebrow, “We’re travel bloggers, right? We can at least eat like them.”
Tyrone laughed in response, then pulled out his phone, firing off a quick message to Juniper. They would be going to his house within the hour. Juniper was pleased, and let Tyrone now. Eva noticed her friend’s face light up as he exchanged messages with his. Even if they were here just for a little bit, he was genuinely happy for the link to his childhood, a more innocent time. She couldn’t help but smile too — before something caught her eye.
A man was doubled over near one of the stalls. A few people had gathered around him, people trying to verbally assess his wellbeing. Cries of “are you ok?” and “Sir, what’s wrong?” could be heard. Nothing out of the ordinary about that. Eva would have thought, perhaps he ate something off. Something else clicked about him. He was clawing at the ground with one hand
and swiping at his face with the other.
Eva felt it now.
“Tyrone.”
He looked up, then turned his gaze towards where she was pointing.
The man was now standing, albeit still hunched over, holding his face. He appeared to be in incredible pain, but that wasn’t what had attracted them.
Industria was radiating off him, emanating from his face. A bone coloured mask formed on him, then began to transform his entire body.
His nails turned into claws, a tail ripped itself from his body, and his teeth became fangs. The crowd around him fell back in fear as he roared.
“Eva,” Tyrone started, “that’s…”
“Yeah, Anwanwu.”
Two security men waded through the crowd, hands gripping their stun batons. Whatever they wanted to ask, their questions would forever remain unasked. The first guard’s head was ripped off before he could react. The other, realising what had happened, swung his baton towards the ferocious tiger-man, he was promptly gutted. His baton dropped to the ground. His body followed.
It was as if a dam broke. Screams pierced the air as the tiger man descended on the crowd with animal fury. An arm here, a severed leg there, a slash, he was a fury of claws and muscle and blood.
Tyrone made to move towards the uproar, but Eva stopped him.
“We can’t!” She shook our head, “We’ll be blowing our cover.”
Tyrone didn’t move, staring at the struggle through breaks in the scattering crowd.
“Look, Deidre’s team will take care of this. I just sent out a dispatch with our coordinates.” she continued, holding out her phone, “I realised you want to do something, but we can’t break cover now. We just got here.”
“Eva. We’re right here.” Tyrone said, “We need to do something.”
She started to argue, but a high pitched, anguished wail tore through the air. A child’s terror.
Eva and Tyrone turned back at the same time.
A little boy lay crouched on the street corner. A woman, his mother, lay beside him. She wasn’t moving, one of her legs torn off — the rest of her going into shock. The man stood still as if the beast and man inside were struggling with this decision. But the struggle was quickly resolved. He moved towards the child, his dripping claws betraying his intent. He didn’t see Tyrone sprinting towards him until the latter’s fist collided with his face. The wind, picking up at that point, blew him away from the child, throwing him several meters away.
Tyrone stood, a determined look on his face. The child cried harder, scrambling towards his mother.
The tiger man recovered quickly. Crouching on all fours, he pounced. He was fast, the Sabre was faster.
Wind Slicer!
The wind attack cut through the masked man, shredding his chest open.
He collapsed to the ground, the fight draining out him as he slowly began to revert to human form.
It was over.
“No way,” Tyrone muttered to himself, “Not again.” He patted the crying boy on his head briefly.
Standing up, he slung the fallen man over his shoulder and shunted along with Eva who followed suit after feeding the injured mother woman a regen pill. Behind them the sound of sirens, and the pain of the injured.
Chapter 17 - Blood
As sirens approached, Tyrone and Eva ran away, skipping over fences, ducking into alleyways and under bridges.
They pounded the pavement, running with the man held over Tyrone’s shoulder, and shunting where necessary as they evaded the local Legion.
They had gotten more than a few blocks away from the initial scene when Eva finally motioned for them to stop in an alleyway where they were suitably isolated. They were far away enough that they could afford to stop and question the man — if he still counted as a man at that point.
The masked man was barely lucid at this point, having lost a lot of blood from Tyrone’s initial attack.
The mask on his face had —as if it was alive—retreated into a necklace that seemed to embed itself into his spine.
Dropping him roughly, Tyrone slapped him once, then again. Grabbing him by the remains of his shirt and propping him up against a wall.
“Who are you?” He demanded, “How did you get this mask?”
He slipped out of consciousness once more, his body betraying him.
Irritated, Tyrone let him fall and sank to the ground beside him. He felt slightly ashamed of his behaviour.
Eva wasn’t pleased with his behaviour, the expression on her face made that clear.
“Don’t you think you went a little overboard?” Her tone was curt, clipped.
“We had to do something to get him out of there, do you see Bart and Aiden nearby anyway? Or Deidre? People would have died.” He defended himself. “People did die.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Eva said, “You have no idea whether he’s a victim as well. He clearly can’t control himself, right now, it looks like this was done to him.”
Now that the adrenaline rush had worn off, Tyrone was feeling apologetic.
“You’re right,” He said, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking. I was just — ”
Angry? Scared? He wasn’t sure which. The events of the Four Cities had shaken him, and he couldn’t deny he felt animosity towards any and all beast mask wearers.
A rattle drew their attention. The man spasmed, knocking around trash and cans as he flailed wildly.
“What’s wrong with him?” Tyrone tried to hold him down, but he was still thrashing as violently as possible, frothing at the lip.
“We need to get the mask off him,” Eva said, “His body can’t handle it.”
Tyrone felt around for it, but it had burrowed itself into his spine. They couldn’t separate him from the mask, they could only watch as he writhed, withered, and slowly died a prisoner in his own body.
A chill passed through the air, and the Sabres became aware of someone else behind them.
“You’re the ones who took down Alfred and Quinn, interrupting our plans for The Four Cities. Tyrone Sy and Eva Diallo,” The man said, “You could call me one of Masquerade’s Sabres. My name is Jack. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Eva and Tyrone attacked simultaneously, forcing Jack to evade, flipping to the top of the alleyway as he avoided blasts of wind and industria aimed at him.
Tyrone was shaking with rage as he muttered to Eva, “He’s one of them.”
Jack was sitting on the roof of a building that bordered the alleyway. Staring at them. Their best course of action would be to call for backup and keep together if he didn’t attack them.
Tyrone didn’t share that opinion. The wind raged as his anger increased.
“Wait, Tyrone! Remember Gunne? Do not engage!” Eva warned him, reaching out to grab his arm.
The warning came too late, Tyrone — boosting his jump with industria — leapt to the roof, arm cocked back to deliver a blow that was never launched.
With a swipe of his fingers, Jack knocked Tyrone downwards and into the opposite building, embedding him into the wall. Blood pooled around his abdomen. Eva thought he looked stunned, before looking back at Jack. He wasn’t there anymore.
Shape Shield: Sphere!
Eva’s field only just managed to fully form as Jack’s attack came. His fingers again, he had cracked her shield just as she had formed it.
He grinned and wagged a clawed finger.
Art of Assault: Cutting Beam.
Eva dissipated her shield, launching the spell at Jack. He leapt, using the wall as a springboard to avoid the attack, then bounced off the next wall aiming at Eva again.
Two strikes hit her shield. Once more, she released another assault spell, and then another, and then another. A barrage of industria beams tore through the air, none found their mark. Jack opened his palm again, striking her shield with all 5 fingers this time. Her shield cracked, almost faster than she could replenish it.
“You’re strong, you’re fast, you manag
ed to crack my industria shield with just a few hits, even if it was just a little,” Eva noted. “And you haven’t even used your mask yet.”
No answer. Jack simply raised his arm again, preparing to attack her once more. He didn’t plan on taking prisoners. The wind picked up once more, whipping around them. Tyrone was back in action.
Wind Slicer!
Jack smirked, evading the blade of wind with ease. The wind didn’t reduce. Tyrone had sent two more. Jack spun around in mid-air, avoiding one of the blades, only to be grazed by the other and sent spiralling.
Thinking quickly, Eva closed her eyes and threw a smoke bomb to obscure their movements. Shunting, she grabbed Tyrone and began to pull him away, He made to protest, but she shushed him. “Be quiet, we’re clearly no match for him at the moment. We don’t want this to turn into Gunne 2.0 do we?”
“You’re right,” Tyrone’s face showed the internal struggle he was experiencing. but he knew she was right. They would draw too much attention to themselves. The best thing to do was to retreat and report back to Avery.
Jack stepped out from the smoke, only mildly irritated. He had underestimated them, but he didn’t need to track them down. They had already been stopped.
Tyrone and Eva lay prone on the ground. Beside them, Caine stood, blood dripping from his hands.
“Why did you finish my work for me,” Jack asked, as he stood next to Caine. It was only then that Eva noticed he also wore a necklace styled like the remains of a mask, striped like a tiger. In his other hand, he held the remnants of the other tiger man’s mask — he must have torn it from his corpse. Lifting it to his face, he absorbed it into himself.
“Delicious.” He winked at Eva and Tyrone.
“That was very careless of you, Jack.” Caine did not look at him. “This wasn’t necessary.”
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