Wolf Mask: Anwanwu!
A terrible roar, filled with fury shook the warehouse. The wolfman leapt towards Jack, forgoing strategy for outright power. Jack met his challenge, his transformation correspondingly swift.
They clashed. A short, brutal, bloody battle. Rocky’s blows were checked and countered. Jack’s landed with punishing brutality. Rocky’s claws slashed through the air. Jack’s tore through flesh and drew blood. A final clash shook the air, and Rocky collapsed to the floor in a crimson sea.
Peach simply shook her head. Corran smirked.
“And so, it is decided.”
The wolf man’s transformation reverted. His body was too injured to sustain his Anwanwu form. Jack was unscathed. Not even a trickle of blood.
“Rocky — and this goes for all of you — never try that again.” Jack’s eyes were full of hate and menace. His claws dripped with blood even as they shrunk and became fingernails once more. “We exist for one reason, to serve Caine as Masquerade. Weakness is intolerable, it must be cut down. That man has been your weakness for too long and if you won’t do it! I will.”
“I won’t let you…” Rocky struggled to his feet. His mask reformed. “I won’t let you kill him.”
“And how can you stop me?”
Rocky took a step forward, but a hand yanked him back.
“Rocky. Stop.” Peach emerged, “This is just embarrassing.”
Juniper now noticed her for the first time. “You’re with them? Why-”
“There’s nothing to discuss between us.” Peach simply replied. Now, she faced Jack, “Please spare him. If you kill him, we lose Rocky. He’s still a valuable asset to us.”
“I can rough him up a little more, and I’d be satisfied,” Jack considered her plea, “Hang on. Rocky needs to do it.”
Rocky’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell are you asking me to do?”
“Work him over. But don’t kill him.” Jack said, “You have a delicate touch that I lack. Unless…you want to fight me again…”
“Help me.” Juniper moaned. “Rocky…please…do not do this.”
Rocky’s heart was torn. Either way, he would be taking an unforgivable step. There was no fight here, he would be killed. Then Juniper afterwards. He had no allies, so there was no flight. Peach would shoot him down, Corran and Jack would hunt him down. The Sabres? They would arrest him first, and Juniper would be killed.
“Please,” Juniper wheezed. “Don’t.”
“If I get started,” Jack threatened, “Who knows when I’ll stop.”
“Juniper.” Rocky’s gaze shifted toward his friend. “I’m sorry.”
Juniper struggled to move, reaching into his pocket. The switchblade he had kept for so many years. It wasn’t there. He looked up to see Rocky in front of him. He could no longer read his face. Then it all went red, and then black.
Chapter 26 - Bared Fangs
The sun was setting in Draekeor. From the park, it was a beautiful mix of mauve and gold, with hints of grey here and there. The air, Tyrone thought, smelled of honey. The parks, luscious and green, was slowly thinning out of people.
Juniper had shot a message to him earlier, asking him to meet at the park. He didn’t say why, just that it was urgent.
“Still think it’s something to do with Rocky?” Eva asked. She was sitting on the bench next to Tyrone, Lionel paced behind them.
“Maybe they’ve grown tired of playing games. He used Juniper to lure Lionel before,” Tyrone said, “We did poke at the hornet’s nest a bit too much.”
“I don’t think he’d call us out so soon,” Lionel replied. “It’s probably nothing, but you’d never know right.”
“We did spend the last few days poking our noses here there and everywhere,” Eva said. She wasn’t wrong, they had gone everywhere where Rocky would have been expected to show up, hoping for a glimpse of Jack or any other Masquerade members, but he appeared to have gone to ground, instead choosing to operate through proxies or friends of friends. The week had been frustrating, after a promising start, Masquerade seemed to have retreated into the shadows.
A sudden movement drew everyone’s attention. It was not that Juniper was here, but the how and whys of how he had gotten there. Then there was the matter of who he was with. On one side, Jack held him up, on the other — Rocky supported him. His clothes looked wet, with dark patches here and there. His face had been cut up.
“Catch.” Jack threw Juniper at them, yanking him roughly from Rocky’s reluctant grip.
“Juniper…” Tyrone caught him mid-fall, not quite believing what was going on. “I don’t…who…why are you…?”
“You.” Lionel dug his heels into the ground, preparing to charge, “You’ll pay for this.”
Eva stepped in front of him. The park wasn’t completely deserted. It had thinned out a bit, but there were still enough people that any sort of fight would draw too much attention. “Wait. Not here. Not now.”
“She’s right,” Juniper’s raspy voice came, he struggled to speak, “They’ll kill you, please. Don’t. Don’t fight them.”
“Do what the fool says,” Jack said, “There’ll be time for more later. For now, just rack this on to your list of failures.”
“It’s fine, June,” Tyrone said, he held his friend tightly, “I’m so sorry. It’s going to be OK. We’ll have you back on your feet in no time at all.”
“You’re even more pathetic than before,” Jack said. Then, a cruel smile danced upon his lips, “You can’t even stand up for him. I’ll be honest with you, it felt so good when I laid into him. So good. When someone gets in your way, sometimes you just have to smack em down.”
“There will be time for that later — as you said. Now this, you’ve attacked us several times.” Tyrone’s reply came, “In the Four Cities and In Draekeor. We’re still here. The next time we see you — will be the last.”
Tyrone saw the blow coming, but only closed his eyes in response. Jack’s claws raked into his cheeks, drawing blood. The cut stung, the claws felt like a hot knife. Lionel took another step forward, but Eva stopped him once more. She shook her head. Tyrone simply wiped the blood off his cheek.
“Is that all?”
The two men glared at each other. A contest of wills. Jack hadn’t come to fight, but if he had to — a hand clamped down on his shoulder.
“That will be all,” Rocky spoke for the first time. “Jack, let’s get going.”
“Yeah. Don’t have time to waste here.” Jack sneered. “Tyrone Sy is it? I’ve got your number. Count on it.”
“Likewise.”
* * *
Sheila was not a woman prone to hysteria. When Tyrone and his team brought in her injured son, she had gasped but quickly went to work.
Tyrone had remembered from Juniper’s messages that she used to be a nurse, and her skills hadn’t left her. She ordered the team around, asking them to bring her this item or that.
When Eva offered a regen pill, she raised her hand and shook her head wordlessly. Tyrone knew why. She had been made ill by the Phoenix years back and was distrustful of the Legion in general. He didn’t blame her. They had hurt her in the past, and in the present, she was cleaning up the effects of their intrusion into her life.
After a solid few hours of work, Juniper was stabilised and on his bed. All his cuts and been cleaned and wrapped, his vitals had been taken. He was sleeping soundly. Tyrone watched his mum look at him lovingly, before shutting the door and ushering the trio to her living room.
Tea was made, sandwiches were had, and then everyone sat in silence until Sheila broke it.
“Juniper is a good boy. This sort of thing doesn’t happen to him,” She said, thinking back to a better time, “when I adopted him, he had stopped hanging with that awful Rocky person. I think he went to some boarding school abroad. He came back, and he got worse. He even talks to Beth. I tell her to stop, and then this happens.
“Oh.” Tyrone didn’t know what to say. “I lost touch with Junip
er for a while, as I’m sure you already know.”
“I know you.” She said, “He’s talked about you too, a lot. I encouraged him to message you — we even looked you up. He was very proud of you being a Sabre, even if you did choose to hide it from us.”
“How did you—”
“We guessed a bit,” Sheila said, with a smile. “You dropped off over excited hints, then later you stopped, and he figured out that you had moved on to higher places. We came across a report about a trainee Sabre helping people in his off-duty period, and we recognised you in one photo. We had fun talking about how high you’d reach in there.”
“Ms Rose, I’m so sorry about what happened.”
“I know, Tyrone. I know,” She placed her teacup down on the saucer and walked outside, staring wistfully. “It’s not your fault — entirely. It’s that man, Jack.”
The way she said his name, everyone sat up a little straighter.
“You know about Jack?” Eva asked.
“Everyone does,” Sheila replied. “He came in like a meteor a few years back. Wiped out all the gangs, they went the way of the dinosaurs. The few left — they all answered to him. A year ago, he started pushing his product with Rocky. Beast boost or whatever it is.” Her hands shook. “It’s all so quite silly, the jealousy behind it. Everyone would be safer off without them. It would be like the place Juniper envisioned. A safe place.”
“If everyone knows about Jack, why has no one stopped him?” Tyrone asked.
“The powers-that-be can’t or won’t do anything about him. I know a friend who’s been sending petitions to the Mayor’s office…but there’s been no movement till you guys came down.” She shook her head, “But it’s impossible.”
“Impossible?”
“A few members of the Legion here challenged Jack a year ago. No one ever saw them again.”
“The report we have here say they disappeared,” Eva said. “We reviewed cases of missing Legion members before coming here. Aslog wasn’t told anything about it.”
“There’s a lot you people don’t know,” Sheila said. “I assume that’s why you’re here.”
Tyrone placed his teacup back on the table as he stood. “You’re right, there’s so much we don’t know. What we do know, is that we’ve let this serpent fester too much. We’ll carve it out, and you’ll be able to feel safe again.”
Sheila smiled, “Is that so?”
“Thank you for the tea.” Eva stood, Lionel, followed her. “We have to get back to work.”
“You’re welcome.” Sheila escorted them to the door, then she pulled Tyrone into a hug. “Thank you for everything.”
He returned the hug. “Anytime, Ms Rose.”
“You keep calling me Ms Rose.” She smiled, “Rose is Juniper’s last name, we agreed he could keep it. Only my daughter and I have my late husband’s name.”
“Oh. I’m so sorry.” Tyrone winced. He hadn’t been thinking.
“Juniper Peach-Rose,” Sheila Peach said. “That’s the name my son chose to bridge the gap between his two lives.”
* * *
It was near midnight in Draekeor. The trio had chosen to walk to the motel, rather than shunt over the rooftops. It allowed them time to reflect. This time, the trio wore nondescript hoodies and baggy clothing to cover themselves, just so they wouldn’t be caught out and sniped from the rooftops if they were being pursued. The crowds had thinned out around the West End of Draekeor as everyone was either retreating home or to various restaurants, clubs, fitness centres and so on.
To the Sabres, the passers-by were just a continuous blur of motion.
“Are you ok?” Eva placed a hand on Tyrone’s shoulder. Giving him a gentle rub, she felt some new scar tissue there and frowned to herself. He hadn’t stopped his insane new training regimen then.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Tyrone replied, his back to Eva and Lionel. “I was just thinking we need to reach out to Avery. I think we may be cornering them, that’s why they lashed out. We just can’t see it all the pieces we have yet. Maybe if we collate all the clues we have so far…”
“Tyrone, I think she means that you should have stayed with Juniper. Maybe overnight, it wouldn’t have hurt,” Lionel said. His tone was oddly soft.
“When did you become a mind reader?” Tyrone replied, “Anyway, he’ll get better, and then I’ll go say ‘hi’ and we’ll hang out, that’ll be that.”
“That’s a bit cold,” Lionel said. “And I’m saying that.”
“He’s in this condition because of us.” Eva added, “I thought you cared earlier, why the mood switch.”
“I’m just being practical. The sooner we end this case, the sooner he’s safe. I’m sure you all agree.” Tyrone shrugged off Eva’s hand.
“I agree that we need to see Avery. I’m not sure how that conflicts with you seeing June for a few hours,” Eva replied.
“Well, why don’t you go see him and sleep there if you both care so much.” Tyrone spat.
His back was still to them. That was why he didn’t see Lionel suddenly stride towards him. Not until he spun him around, then his fist collided with Tyrone’s jaw. The shorter man tasted blood on his lip as his head slammed into a nearby wall. Some passers-by stopped to watch, most continued, pretending not to see. Eva cast a discreet spell, and even the watchers began to ignore them.
Meanwhile, the two men faced off. Tyrone against Lionel.
“Explain it to me. Tell me how you can see your friend up there, bruised and bleeding because of you, and not go to him! I’ve spent time with you, he talks so much about you and yet you’ve brushed him off over and over and over.” Lionel was almost shouting now, “When someone’s that much of a friend to you, that’s not how you treat them. Especially when you drag him into our chaotic lives and promise to keep him safe!”
Tyrone simply raised a hand towards Lionel. The air suddenly picked up, gathering and pulsing around his palm. Lionel’s eyes widened as he registered what was happening. Before he could do anything, Tyrone shifted his hand towards the sky and fired. Once, twice, three times, six times, ten times. Tyrone kept firing, kept pulling the wind towards him and shooting it into the sky until he could barely stand. Then he dropped to the ground, his back sliding down the wall Lionel had introduced him to earlier.
Lionel looked stunned. Eva knelt down beside him. He was crying now, his hands around his head.
“Is this really what you think of me?” Tyrone’s shoulders shook, “Do you really think I’m some kind of emotionless monster. Of course I care! But he’s not going to get better just because I stand and stare at him! He’s not in any less danger until we get those bastards so don’t tell me what I feel or not.”
“Tyrone…” Eva said. “I’m sorry…I didn’t realise…”
“Not here,” Lionel said “We’ll draw even more attention. Eva’s spell can’t hold up much longer.”
“You should have thought of that before you punched me,” Tyrone muttered. Lionel started to respond, but a glare from Eva’s brown eyes shut him up.
“I’m sorry for the outburst,” Tyrone said, “I just…I was just holding it all in. You know, after what happened to me all those years ago, I don’t like to dwell too hard on loss. I need time. I’m still thinking of James, that Brad guy, and now Juniper, it feels like it’s all my fault.”
“You don’t control what others do, only they do,” Eva’s was the voice of reason. He knew she was right, but inside him, he still struggled.
“Except this time, if we weren’t here, he wouldn’t be injured. If I hadn’t left James alone, he wouldn’t be dead…”
“And if you weren’t in either place, all of them would be dead sooner or later. We know their endgame.” Eva fixed her gaze on Tyrone’s eyes, “You can’t save everyone, you can’t beat everyone. You just do your best and hope that’s enough. That’s all we can do. If you wanna beat Masquerade first? That’s fine. After that, no matter if I have to drag you by your short hair (Tyrone’s hands flew back t
o his head) we’re going to see Juniper.”
“Hey,” Lionel now joined them on the ground. He squatted next to Tyrone. “Look, if you’re blaming people, you can blame me as well. I was reckless, I went for Rocky even when he gave us some leeway. Maybe they did this to punish him and us at the same time.”
“Two birds with one stone,” Eva said. “Well, I can’t say it’s not efficient.”
“Point is, maybe there wouldn’t have been a stone if I hadn’t gone off half-cocked.” Lionel gave Tyrone’s shoulder a squeeze. “Hit first, think about the consequences later, I think we can agree this is partially on me.”
“I think it’s your best quality,” When Lionel cocked an eyebrow at her, she continued. “At least we always know where we stand with you. Also, birds, not stone. The stone would be Masquerade.”
Lionel’s eyebrow went even higher. It was not a gesture he normally did, Eva almost burst into laughter. She opted for a mocking grin instead.
“It’s a small detail, but even small details are important.”
“Look at us, we’re such a pathetic pity party right now.” Tyrone wiped his eyes, half laughing, half crying. “We need to get to Avery, we need to wrap this up soon. And then we can cry in our beds for as long as we want.”
Lionel shot up as if he had been bitten, straightening his hoodie.
“Yeah, well this ain’t happening again. Why don’t we hurry on home so we can make the call?”
Chapter 27 - Breaking the Spell
Draekeor Case.
Day 11.
Avery, Tobi and Aiden convened a meeting in a room the Centurion had made Lionel discreetly rent the week they had arrived.
Aiden had arrived an hour early before his superiors and set up a workspace where he continued reviewing more documents and connecting his various hypotheses to the facts.
“Aiden.” The man looked up at the mention of his name. He was in his element, sorting through files and chasing trails that seemed to lead to somewhere but would vanish.
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