The Raven Gang (Noble Animals Book 1)

by Brendan Walsh

“Exactly.” said Johnny. “Just another way to make sure he’s safe; keep him away from urban areas.”

  The beeping went off for a second time, indicating that Elder was about to appear, if evening pamphlets were to be relied on. They didn’t want to begin without the detectives, but now they had no choice. They all wished each other good luck. Some of them were really going to need it.

  Before Johnny strapped on his guitar he crouched down near the corner of the stage, hiding whatever he was doing. Patrick tapped him on the shoulder.

  “Johnny, don’t you realize how better things would be if we got Edgar over here?”

  “Dude, I am way ahead of you. I just said all of that stuff so your cousin could hear me agree with her.” His fingers rapidly tapped on the screen of his phone.

  “What? Do you have a crush on her or something?”

  Johnny didn’t respond. He stared at his screen as something loaded.

  “Johnny...?”

  “I can’t help it! She’s hot.”

  He laughed to himself. “So what are you doing?”

  “I’m going to connect my phone to the amplifier. On the first chord I play a supersonic high-pitched frequency will shoot all around us. Hopefully this bat has some incredible hearing abilities, and that no windows break.” He continued rubbing touch screen buttons until a green check mark appeared on screen. “And finished!”

  Patrick leaned over to look at the screen, intrigued by the seemingly complex programing used by the device. “What are you using to do that?”

  “Just a dog whistle app. I’ve added my own touches though, downloaded them earlier from one of the computers at the cabin in case we needed it. I’m more than just good looking you know?”

  He leaned over and gave his friend a tight hug. It wasn’t guaranteed to work, but he was more than grateful for Johnny’s support. Johnny laughed and embraced him back.

  “Okay, buddy.” he gave Patrick a couple pats on the back. “Let’s save the country.”

  He jumped off the stage to join Gary, Slate, and Lindsey. Together the four of them would secretly enter through one of the sides, combating anything that might appear before them. Patrick reached into the open sports bag and retrieved the first blade his hand found. He looked at it with mild fright. Just by the thin, distorted reflection of himself on the neck of the blade he could tell he was scared.

  He positioned himself beside everyone, trying his hardest to look tough. “Ready to see a moron make a fool of himself?”

  Gary smirked and grabbed the handle of his sword. “You actually hold it like this.” his hand guided Patrick’s to the right place. “Besides, nothing is more dangerous than someone with a weapon they don’t know how to use.”

  “That makes no sense.” Patrick chuckled.

  “We’ll soon know for sure, won’t we?”

  “Everyone, I’d like to make an announcement.” Doctor Hullway stood at the front podium with his head buried in the microphone. Everyone stopped their conversations, put aside their platefuls of food, and gave him their uncompromising attention. “First off, thank you all so much for coming. I’m sure I’m speaking for everyone when I say that this evening has been a success, and I’m not just talking about our annual revenue.” an obvious wave of chuckles echoed within the thick walls. “We’ve had a successful year, a lot of new and exciting discoveries, but for now I’d like to single out a special someone. He has been a friend of mine through thick and thin, laughter and tragedy, and he has done nothing but mind-bending research and produced several well-known charity donors such as the late Doctor Black. So please welcome to the podium Doctor Samuel Elder!”

  An loud celebration of applause chorused through the building as the man himself took to center stage. He did his best to provide a friendly smile, which was pointless considering what was about to happen. Just before his name was announced he had conferred with one of his soldiers to make sure everything was still going as planned. They were. All that was needed to trigger the operation was just a press of a small wireless button on the inside of his suit jacket pocket and his army would be released.

  In minutes the world would finally know what he was doing after tragedy had struck his life.

  Elder politely raised a hand, issuing silence before speaking. “Thank you, friends. It’s good that we always do this around the holidays, but not close enough that we have to get everyone gifts. We’re trying to save money here.” once again laughter went around. “But seriously, I have had the great privilege of churning out some mind bending research over the last ten years.” he could feel his grip tighten on the inside of his jacket. He was itching to get the real party started. “And all of you are in luck! Because you get to see first-hand the results of my experiments, and I urge you to kindly welcome all of them as they fl-”

  At the moment he was going to confess his plot the attention of the academic crowd was immediately stolen by the face melting sound of a whammied guitar string. The gang’s concert was live.

  It didn’t take long for Elder to realize what had happened. It didn’t change things too much. He smirked as he watched all the respectable scholars quickly exit the building like moths to a flame. All were surprised that a live musical performance would enchant their evenings.

  “We’ll played, children.” he scowled. The button was pushed.

  Elder’s button, once pushed, generated a short and orderly synchronized chain of events. The two components of his army, one locked up and the other walked freely through the party, like Edgar, had small computer chips in their heads. It was the building blocks of their existence. Those tiny devices wirelessly connected with the button, and chemicals were violently released, fueling their brains with the proper anger and rage to turn them into the fighters they were created to be.

  Outside the party area, amongst the crowd who were gathered by the stage were several young men and women’s eyes grew a blood-thirsty red, and the fur on their bodies began to pierce out of their clothing. In the basements of the building, creatures that were once laying down like obedient pets perked their heads up and psychotically slashed their claws and slammed their skulls against the steel bars. Their leader, named Time Keeper, who held both Gary and Patrick’s watches around his neck, was the first to get out when the bars were lowered to the ground. He and his large mythological pals swarmed through the exit, ready to meet the raven gang.

  From the moment the massive crowd of scientists seeped outside to hear Johnny and the band playing Kickstart My Heart by Motley Crue, Patrick and his squad knew it was time to get their job started. With the loud murmurs of the excited crowd brewing near the front of the building it would be safe to quietly enter through one of the side entrances. He fuddled the blade at his hip as he and the others opened the door and carefully observed the area, watching their own steps.

  Gary slowly moved one foot over the other. “Anyone want to make a guess as to what’s waiting for us in here?”

  “I don’t know. Dragons?” Patrick nonchalantly coughed out. “Slate, Gary, do you guys actually know how to use these things?” he gestured to his sword.

  “We can handle ourselves.” Slate said with a wink. “If it makes you more comfortable we can stay in front.”

  Lindsey took several steps forward, pushing through all three of them. “No way. You saw what I did back there. I too can handle myself.” Together they paced themselves forward, blades tight in their palms.

  The room they entered was more of a thin hallway that was lit by dim overhead bulbs. It’s floor was carpeted and gradually led to the main party room, where the science gala had formerly been raging on. Ahead of them an array of chandelier lights and alcoholic beverages were lined on round white fancy clothed tables. It all looked so elegant, and it was all going to be ruined by the battle.

  Patrick softly grazed the edge of a table as they entered the auditorium. A nearly empty bottl
e of wine teetered back and forth softly, slightly startling him. He wasn’t yet in the full mindset to have a brawl. He was privately praying that Johnny, Jane, and the other musicians would have a successful concert. Not just for them to play well, but for Edgar to arrive as quickly as possible. It was hardly likely though since last time they were all with him it was back in California, and they we’re now three thousand miles away.

  Gary and Lindsey carefully inched themselves between the tables beside him, their blades raised to a ready position.

  “Maybe we came in too early.” Gary thought aloud. “This place is way too quiet.”

  “Or maybe it was all just a trick.” Slate nodded. “Maybe the real threat is somewhere else. Maybe we created the distraction for nothing.”

  Lindsey suddenly turned her attention downward and tapped Patrick on the shoulder. “Wait, do you guys hear that?”

  She got on her knees and placed her right ear on the floor. A soft rumble could be heard, and there was a slight quaking going around.

  Patrick got behind her and looked for anything. “What’s wrong? You think you hear something?”

  “No I’m just putting my face on this filthy carpet for fun. Yes I definitely hear something.”

  Just then, before any of them could think about raising their weapons and attempting a futile attack, a heavy form smashed through the carpet and the metal ridges that held up the building from below. The forceful blast, between the sudden impact and the broken shards of the building flying around, sent Patrick and the others back several feet.

  But there wasn’t just one.

  A couple more flew through the first hole, followed by two more explosions by the far ends of the room where a similar number of the flying monsters slipped through and softly settled on the broken glass and overturned tables. The room didn’t look so classy now.

  Everyone froze, way too surprised and terrified to even think about running away. The giant animals, strong enough to slash through metals, stared back at them without amusement. In their eyes, much like Edgar’s, were nothing but a chilling amount of intelligence. Though none of that was the scariest part. They knew what the names of the creatures were. They had a bright golden colored coat and walked on four legs. Although two of those weren’t really legs, they were supposed to be part of a completely different animal. Their front two feet were talons, long and sharp enough to combat their humble swords. And the worst part: they could fly.

  Lindsey scrambled back onto her feet. “Uh... Patrick. You weren’t too far off when you guessed dragons.”

  Slate scrambled backwards. “We really should have waited for you father.”

  Patrick and Gary blinked several times as they took a few retreating stumbles. With each step they took the behemoths moved forward, crouched down and prepared to attack. Now with the enemy visible they drew their blades forward, pointing them straight at their adversaries.

  “Stay back, gryphons!” Patrick threatened. “We’re armed. We don’t want to hurt you, but we will!”

  Gary joined him at his side; the half-lions were slowly getting closer. “Not sure that’s doing anything, pal. They look pretty determined to kill us.”

  The four swordsmen took several steps back. Behind them there were possible ways to take cover. Lindsey put a palm under the first table she found, ready to use it as a shield, but Patrick had other plans. He jerked himself forward, and before anyone knew it he was only several feet in front of the nearest gryphon.

  His maneuver didn’t go unnoticed by the gang. “Patrick, get back here!” Slate called out.

  “You’ll get yourself killed!” Gary tightened his grip under the table, as if preparing to frisbee it.

  Patrick didn’t reply. He could feel massive beads of sweat making their way down his forehead and his hair grew disheveled. The first gryphon had a slightly darker coat than the rest. There were four in total, at least that he could see. By whatever means the beasts planned they were going to attack, it appeared as though it had been practiced or they were being ordered by an unseen general, which considering what they knew about Elder, was not a wild guess.

  He kept his blade pointed straight at the first one and nervously adjusted his tie on his collar. Confident, nervous, scared as hell, he couldn’t tell what kind of expression he had, but he was going to go through with it.

  “Back! Get back, all of you!” Patrick roared at his four quarries. He violently slapped the end of the blade against the ground, creating a sound similar to a whip. It wasn’t in vain. The gryphons did take a couple steps back, the dark colored one in front of him crouched down lowly, softly growling at him.

  Gary, Slate, and Lindsey were completely silent behind him, watching with shaking nervousness as their friend tried to calm the creatures. For a few moments everything was quiet inside.

  “My God.” Lindsey silently whispered to Gary and Slate. “That man may just be brilliant.” Their courage was building up, and they readied to join Patrick.

  But Patrick’s dominance was about to come to an end. Without warning the dark gryphon dug a claw out from under its chest and like a cat clawing at a dangling ball of yarn, swatted the sword clean out of his palm. The force was so strong that the blade fired like an arrow against a nearby wall, where it stuck itself snugly, so deep that not even King Arthur could have pulled it out.

  Now that he was unarmed and much less threatening than before, Patrick took a few steps back and tried to keep a smile. “Any chance you guys will let me get that?”

  “Get out of there!” all three of them yelled as they charged forward.

  Patrick turned right, hoping that he would have enough time to retrieve his weapon and rejoin the fight with his friends. But something was off. None of the gryphons were paying any attention to anyone else but him. The darker one that had clawed his sword away leaped into the air, knocking everyone else down with a fierce flap of its wings. It sounded like someone was swinging a tarp of some kind. He knew what was happening.

  Before he could get half way to his blade, he felt an angry grip on his shoulders. The massive creature had caught him. Patrick winced as the talons dug through his suit and pierced his skin. The giant catbird seemed to be aware of his pain so it loosened its grip, and took to the air.

  His three friends stopped everything they were doing and watched the gryphon take him away. It began to swirl around the dome-shaped room, just over their heads, as if a roller coaster was zooming over. Patrick did his best to struggle out of its grip, but considering how high he now was, it wouldn’t have been a good idea.

  “Put me down now!” Patrick screamed to his captor. “Don’t you have any sense that you’re being controlled? You don’t have to fight us!”

  If the gryphon understood anything he said, it didn’t give a sign. Instead it circled once more, with his friends shouting out in anger to the beast. By the far side of the room there was another hallway with large wooden doors that signaled the entrance to a new area. It was clear the mythological being was taking him there. Considering its size, Patrick knew there was no way the creature would be able to fit through. As if it had read his thoughts, the beast performed a sudden U-turn swirl, but not before tossing Patrick like a football through the door.

  His impact on the ground hurt much less than he had braced himself for. Slowly he picked himself back up. His nice clothes were already tattered. From the impact form being clawed at to sliding across the floor, they didn’t stand much of a chance. Behind him the large wooden doors he had flown through vigorously shut themselves closed. Patrick quickly turned around and tugged as hard as he could on the handles. Nothing happened. Pounding against them was just as ineffective.

  “Let me out of here! This isn’t a fair fight!” he cried out as he gave the barrier a swift kick.

  “Pipe down, Mr. Buchanan. You sound just like your father.” said a voice behind him.

 
Patrick turned around to see something that was all too familiar. Several large futuristic, motion activated computer screens. Surrounding them was a wide display of strange controls. He had only seen such a format in one place before in his life.

  The cabin the raven gang had made their home.

  The lights moved left, to the center of the room where Doctor Samuel Elder stood with a bag of fencing blades behind his back. “Yes, this is exactly like the underground part of the cabin you guys used. I have a lot of these “secret bases” scattered around the country, so I thought I’d give your friend Edgar one.” He took a few strides closer, wearing the same sinister smile that he may as well had trademarked. “The poor guy needed to feel like he had at least some level of control. He just wanted knowledge, so I gave him the ability to manipulate technology so easily. It was especially handy when I had him kill people. Can’t have alarms going off all the time. If not he would have been bored and realized exactly what he was much earlier. That wouldn’t have been good for anyone.”

  Before he could go on talking any longer, Patrick’s patience slipped away.

  “Enough of this talk! Let me get back out there!” he gave the hefty wood another futile kick. “My friends are probably getting slaughtered out there, I need to help them!”

  “Relax.” the doctor replied calmly. “Nothing is happening yet. Your friends have a clear disadvantage. Certainly wouldn’t be good form on my part to have my pets attack yet.”

  Patrick paused, stopping his assault on the door. “What am I doing in here? Why did that gryphon throw me over here?”

  Elder’s face grew darker. He gazed across the room, as if the full scope of his work was dawning on him. “All this, everything I’ve done since I started my crusade, has been your father’s influence. Especially his stories. Everything about him was optimistic in its own way, and he encouraged me to think differently.”

  “Can we speed this up? There are mythological monsters itching to fight my gang.” Patrick grinned.