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Chapter 4: Of Hangovers and Holding Cells Back at headquarters, David and Ruth were getting impatient.
Aaron had been gone for two hours, and the last thing that the two needed
was for some idiot from the government to know what they looked like.
The other danger (and perhaps the greater danger as well) was that the government
would know of the existence of lycanthropes. This had only happened
a few times in the past, but it was never good. For some reason, governments
always assumed that werewolves were controllable creatures that could be used
as a "super army" to conquer the world or some such nonsense. In any
case, it seemed as if there was nothing to do but sit and watch TV. ************* Aaron had a wicked headache. That was the first thing he noticed. The second thing he noticed was that his side was bandaged, his kilt was intact, and his shoulder ached like it had been stuck with a needle. Other than that, he was unwilling to open his eyes further. The light hurt them too much, and just made the headache worse. He faintly heard voices conversing in the background, but couldn't quite hear what was being said."Ok, so now you've got your specimen, what are we supposed to do with it?" Lydia inquired of Jo. Jo looked a little unsure. "Well, first we should make sure that our holding cell works, then we can worry about everything else." Lydia nodded. "Good point. We'll wait for him to wake up, then we'll see how the cell works." The cell in question was in fact a series of wires hanging from the ceiling. Meshed together, the wires formed a loose net that wouldn't hold any person of any strength at all. That was why the wires were all hooked up to a portable generator, effectively electrifying them. That would definitely hold any species the two former Hunters could think of. As insurance, however, Lydia kept her crossbow with her in case the generator failed. The two sat and watched as the subject slowly woke up from its tranquilizer induced sleep. ************* Meanwhile, in a government building in Washington DC, a computer tech who was sick of his job looked over the last night's surveillance footage from the houses in Minnesota. It wasn't that he didn't like his job, but he hadn't had a vacation in several years, so he was a little burned out. This had led him to be the sort of person who didn't appreciate pranks or joking in the workplace, so this meant that he was strict enough about the rules that he was able to secure a promotion to the rank of supervisor.Currently, the supervisor in question was peeved. Someone, it would seem, had decided to play a prank. Apparently, that same someone thought it would be funny to alter the recordings from one of the houses to include a shot of three werewolves standing around and talking. He was not amused. The real thing about the prank that made him angry was the fact that one of the "werewolves" was in fact a former government employee who had vanished that same evening. So now, instead of knowing where the pesky former employee had gotten to, all they had was a video of fake werewolves. A passing technician looked over at the screen, made a mental note, and continued on his way. Later that evening he made a phone call from a pay phone in Maryland, getting in touch with his real employer. The technician had recognized one of the werewolves before it transformed. Overseer listened to a report from one of his many spies in DC. So, it would appear that the boy was a lycanthrope. How odd. He would have to start looking in the werewolf community for him now. It wasn't that ending the boy's life would do anything anymore, after all, the elder Kenny was all ready dead, but Overseer was always one to keep a threat, and so the boy would have to die. Too bad for the boy. ************* Doc strode down the hall, nervously clutching a carbon copy of a police report. It appeared that there had been an attempted mugging at the electronics marketplace. Seems that the intended victim had "mutated into a wolf" and thrown the attacker across the street. Normally, this sort of tale wouldn't have phased Doc at all. All sorts of odd stories got made up about the happenings at the market, but this time, it seemed the story was true. The description of the wolf included the fact that it happened to have a kilt on. It was Aaron. It had to be. Nobody else wore a kilt, not in Minneapolis at least. Rounding the corner, he entered the TV room where David and Ruth were playing cards."We may have a problem." Doc said. "Huh? What's up Doc?" David inquired, grinning at his unintentional allusion. "Well, we think we know what happened to Aaron." Doc showed the report to David and Ruth. David whistled. "Had to be him. Nobody would think to add in the part about the kilt." Ruth looked worried. "Wait, then why hasn't he come back yet? Wouldn't he have headed straight back here after something like that?" Doc sighed. "Well yes, he would have, except..." He pulled out a photo supposedly taken from the scene, though police dismissed it as a fake. "Do you recognize those two women in the background?" David peered at the picture carefully, then his eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Hey, those are the two Hunters we encountered! How did you know what they looked like?" Doc shrugged. "I didn't. However, the fact that the one seems to be carrying a crossbow made me think they could have been related to your attackers." "Ok, so what can we do? Where could they be keeping him?" Ruth asked, concern in her voice. Doc shrugged. "He's probably somewhere close to the market. At the very least, we need the chip he went to get for you. Otherwise, we've got bigger problems than the disappearance of one of our own. If we can't get to that surveillance footage soon, we could all be disappearing." David nodded, his mind made up. "Right. Ruth and I will go out and find his car. Maybe bring it back here, but at least pick up the chip. If we have more time, I want to look for him." Doc nodded. "Of course, we all want to find him. He's the best computer man we've ever had around here." David nodded and headed off to the garage with Ruth close behind. He was angry now that he hadn't killed the two Hunters when he'd had the chance, if he had, then none of this mess would have happened. He couldn't help but feel guilty about it, but he knew deep down there wasn't anything he could do about it to change the past. He could, however, make darn sure that Aaron was found and that the two pesky Hunters didn't bother them anymore. David was a little surprised at the sudden desire to kill, it was as if something in his being was trying to get him to kill. He thought it odd, but shrugged it off as anger at the situation. Hopping into the mini-van that had carried Bill only a day earlier, David and Ruth headed out to the marketplace. The trip was made in silence, each thinking their own thoughts on the situation. Ruth was hoping that Aaron was ok, he'd been a great friend to her since she had gotten there. She saw him as an older brother, always there to help with any problems involving electronics, and now that she thought of it, he had done that for just about everyone in the compound. Even David had gotten his help in the past months, and Aaron had just met him. ************* Aaron's headache hadn't improved, though he finally had decided to open his eyes. He didn't like what he saw. He was in a cell, and not a very large one at that. A large computer lurked in the corner, along with some sort of scientific equipment that looked like it required the use of needles (like any sane human or werewolf, Aaron distrusted anything with needles). The only other thing he noticed was that his captors seemed absent for the moment. After a moment's consideration, Aaron decided that it would be a good idea if he tried standing up.Shakily, he rose to his feet, then collapsed back on to the bed almost immediately. Maybe that wasn't the greatest idea after all. Feeling nauseated and with his head still pounding, Aaron sat on what seemed to be his cot for the time being and waited for the moment to pass. Or for his captors to show themselves. Whichever came first. He could be flexible. As it turned out, his captors were going to show themselves first. Jo and Lydia entered the room, Jo carrying a bag which Aaron deduced to contain food. That was fine with him, he was a bit hungry. Being knocked out and awakening in a strange room in a cage always made him a bit peckish. Jo waved to the captive. "Hello there. We've brought some food for you. Thought you might be getting a bit hungry. Sorry we couldn't find any Dog Chow." Aaron snorted. "What a shame, Dog Chow's always been my favorite. Oh well. I suppose I'll take whatever you've got." Lydia didn't say much, though she was a bit miffed at the lycanthrope's calm manner. It confused her, mainly because she always assumed that a sudden kidnapping that ended in imprisonment would unnerve most folks. If this werewolf was nervous at all, he was doing a good job of hiding it. Grudgingly, she had to admire that. Jo, on the other hand, wasn't confused at all, mainly because she wasn't even thinking about Aaron or his calm demeanor. She was more excited at the fact that he could talk at all, and in fact, seemed perfectly human. Privately, she had expected the wolf side to show through more in his speech or demeanor. However, the subject seemed resigned to where he was at the moment, and only was concerned with what he was going to have to eat in the next few minutes. She reached into the bag and pulled out a box of crackers and some cheese. "Sorry. It's all we could find at the moment. Hope you don't mind?" Aaron shrugged. "Not at all, as long as it's food. Might I be so bold as to inquire as to why I'm here?" "You're here because we needed a lycanthrope to study. We're looking for a cure." Jo explained. "Cure? You make it sound as if this is an affliction! Let me tell you, other than the fact that we've got Hunters that want us dead running about, I don't mind it at all." Aaron replied. "Besides, it can't be cured. We've been working on that for years." "Is that so?" Jo inquired, a little intrigued. It seemed that werewolves weren't the savage bloodthirsty folk she'd been led to believe they were. "Yeah, the current leader of our little group here happens to be a biologist or something. He's been at it for ages, and he's a darn good scientist." Aaron stated. "I doubt that you'll be able to find anything out about this condition he's all ready found and researched." "Really? I doubt he's learned everything there is to know." Jo responded. "I intend to discover the cause." Aaron laughed. "I can tell you the cause. It's a virus, created by arcane majiks. Anyone who's a lycanthrope knows that." Jo stared at Aaron as though he had just cheerfully sprouted another head. "Magic. Right. I'm sure that is the cause." "Don't believe me? Not a shock." Aaron laughed. "It's not right is it? Makes no sense, does it? There must be a scientific reason, huh? Well, hate to disappoint, but if you ever get the virus under a microscope, you'll see what I mean. It does things that it shouldn't be able to do, or so I'm told. I don't really understand much of the talk. I'm just a computer tech." Jo still didn't believe a word of what was coming out of his mouth. Then again, he was wearing a kilt, so maybe he was a truthful sort. "Ok, so assuming that this virus is magical or something. What does that have to do with it being un-curable?" Now it was Aaron's turn to stare. "If it was made by majik, what makes you think anything but majik can undo it?" Jo thought about this for a second. "Well, couldn't we alter it at least?" Aaron shrugged. "Possible. That's at least what they're trying to do now. We all ready have tons of control over the abilities the virus gives--that's built into it. It's just the first three or four manifestations that cause all the trouble." "Is that so?" Jo inquired, leaning forward. This was an interesting revelation. "Oh yeah, " Aaron said, and began to tell Jo and Lydia (for she hadn't left the room, she was just taking it all in) all about the science of being a werewolf. Well, all that he knew, in any case. Jo listened intently, interrupting every so often with questions to clarify Aaron's explanation. ************* David and Ruth arrived at the marketplace, and began their search for any sign of Aaron. It was obvious he had been there, the chatter still seemed to be centered around the bekilted werewolf. From the odd snatches he could pick up, David discerned that the kilt-sporting technician seemed to have come from the northern area of the market. Finding Aaron's trusty steed, David noted that the passenger side seat had some blood smeared on it."Uh oh..." He pulled his head out of the car. "Ruth? You better take a look at this." Ruth looked in the car and immediately noticed the stains. "Oh no... it can't be..." David tried to look on the bright side. "Well, there's not a lot of blood, maybe he was just cut a little." Ruth considered this for a moment. "You know, you're probably right. The only other explanation would be that he got carried off before the blood got everywhere." "Well, that's also true, but I'm trying to look on the bright side. There's no body, not a lot of blood, and we found the chip at the very least. There's a good chance he's still alive and in the area." David summarized. Ruth was still worried, but most of David's thoughts made sense. "Hmm. Ok, let's get this chip back to HQ so we can take care of that problem. We'll head back out as soon as we can." "Good idea. He may still be alive, but if he is I'd like to find him as quickly as possible." "You don't need to tell me that." The duo returned to their mini-van and headed back to headquarters. David drove quickly, in both cases, time was of the essence. He just didn't know that in the larger problem, he was late by a good 30 minutes. ************* Meanwhile, the police investigation into the disappearance of William Martin and Harold Thorn was going nowhere fast. Once again, Agent O'Davis was called in, for it was thought that the renegade android may have had something to do with the whole matter. Striding into the station once more, and resolving to stay sober this time, O'Davis once again went to confront the station chief."Well hey sweetie, what're you doing back here? Too long away from me?" O'Davis grimaced. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm here to look over the information you've got on the Martin and Thorn cases." The chief got a disgusted look on his face. "What information? We've got nothing on either of these guys. And it doesn't even look like the crimes are related. We've got blood at Martin's house but no sign of a struggle. On the other hand, Thorn's house is a mess but there's no blood. The only angle me and the boys can come up with is one kidnapped the other." O'Davis raised her eyebrow. "Really? And why did you come up with that theory?" The chief shrugged. "Hey, it wasn't my theory. All we know is that the two seemed to be causal acquaintances. Thorn was suspected of ties to organized crime, so we're looking into the possibility of a Mob related kidnapping." O'Davis nodded. "That's not a bad theory. There's also the possibility that it was our runaway android. It doesn't make sense for Thorn's vanishing, but it could explain the blood at Martin's house. The blood looked like it came from a stab wound or something of that sort." The chief nodded. "So what you're saying is that the murders are in no way related like it seems and you've got no idea why one of them vanished?" The agent shrugged. "Pretty much. I don't have a clue about Thorn. Maybe he eloped or something. He have any significant other?" "Nope. And why the heck would he break all of his windows and ruin his furniture beforehand?" The chief looked at O'Davis sarcastically. "Brilliant work Holmes, I'm sure you just solved another mystery." O'Davis shrugged again, ignoring the chief's insult. "Hey, it's not my problem. You wanna spend all your time investigating this, you go right ahead. Or you can just write it off as an elopement with a break in afterwards and then concentrate on more important matters. Namely, government matters. We pay you, after all." "Good point." The chief said, and leaned out of his office door. "Hey Rob! We're ruling the Thorn case as an elopement with a break in as soon as he left." "Yes sir." Officer/Secretary Rob replied. "Right, let's get down to the important things." The chief said. "Mainly, your obviously passionate feelings about a sexy guy like me." O'Davis sighed. Maybe she'd only have one of Officer Rob's beers this time.... ************* David pulled into the garage. Not bothering with getting out of the car, he merely rolled the window down and tossed the chip to a waiting technician."Hurry up and get that installed. Aaron's program should be ready to run once you turn it on." Ruth shouted out from the passenger side. Apparently, Aaron had created a simple program that would hack into the BSDOAA database, he just hadn't had a processor up to the task. The technician raced back to the computer labs, an opened computer all ready waiting. Installing the chip was a simple matter, and the computer fired up quickly. After a brief search to locate Aaron's program (he had named it "Hacking Fun Made Easy" for some reason), the processor began to really go to work on breaking the multiple encryption systems of the governmental database. It took thirty minutes before the technician received a friendly notice on the screen informing him that the database was now under his administrative control. ************* In the mainframe support room of the BSDOAA, a technician looked at the screen with a curious expression on his face. The computer seemed to be operating all on its own. The tech's first thought was that the system had been broken into. However, when he went to check the status, there appeared to be no illegal connections made that the computer could detect. With a shrug, the tech assumed that one of his supervisors was accessing the computer remotely.This assumption was not only wrong, it was idiotic. What the tech had forgotten was that he was the supervisor, and that there wasn't any way to run the computer remotely. This was too bad for the tech, who merely sat and watched the "mystery user" delete all the video surveillance data from one William Martin's file. The tech watched it go, then shrugged. He just didn't understand his government's motivations sometimes. ************* David and Ruth were back at the marketplace just before it closed down for the evening. It had been a hectic 4 hours since Aaron's disappearance, and the trail seemed to be going cold. David continued circling Aaron's car, looking for any other clues as to where he could have gotten to. Suddenly, he was struck with an idea."Say Ruth, I've got a question. Our sense of smell improves when we transform, right?" Ruth nodded. "Yeah, it does. Why do you ask?" As soon as she asked the question, she realized how stupid of a question it was. "We could track him that way, couldn't we?" David nodded. "Might be better to wait until everyone clears out first. After all, if Hunters did have something to do with Aaron's disappearance, they may still be around. Best to wait 'till they're gone." "Good point. But what do we do until then?" Ruth asked. David shrugged. "I don't know. Wanna go look at some technology that we'll never get?" Ruth responded with a shrug of her own. "Not really." David thought for a moment. "Ok, then let's just wander around and look at all the weirdoes." "Now that's a plan!" Ruth said with feigned excitement. "Hey look, I found a freak!" She pointed to David, who gave an annoyed look. "Point taken. So what do we do?" "Let's just sit near here and see if anyone returns to the scene." Ruth suggested. "Fine with me." David responded, and the two found a table to sit at while they waited for nightfall or for everyone to leave. ************* Aaron sat cross legged on his cot, and patiently waited for his captors to leave. Not that he didn't enjoy talking to the dark-haired one, but he did have important things to do. Namely, he had to get out of his cell so he could go back to HQ and get that chip installed. He also had the urge to use the restroom, and that seemed to be something that the constructor of the cell (that would have been Lydia) seemed to have forgotten to include. Admittedly, Aaron wasn't too worried about the chip, he figured that the others most likely ran out and got it themselves by this time, and it wasn't like he hadn't left instructions on what to do. Really, he just wanted to use the bathroom. He strode over to one of the sides of his cell, and had almost grabbed it when he looked and noticed the generator hooked up to it.Deciding to live with captivity until he could figure out a way around the electrified cell, Aaron decided to go for the more direct approach. "Hey, excuse me?" Lydia looked up from cleaning one of her rifles. "What do you want?" Aaron smiled winningly. "Why, just to use the bathroom. After all, I'm sure you don't want me stinking up my cell." Lydia then realized the little problem of the lack of facilities in the cell. "Hmm... use a bottle." Aaron was not amused. "Don't think so. I'm your research project, it's your responsibility to take care of me. After all, you wouldn't let your hamster die would you? Guinea pigs, maybe if you were tired of their squeaking, but I don't squeak. Well, I do howl, but that's just when I'm bored." Lydia pondered this for a moment. Then, she decided that she would let Jo deal with it. It had been her idea, after all. "Jo! Our guest has inquired about using the facilities. What are we supposed to do about that?" Jo had been napping in a chair next to the blood analysis machine, and jerked awake, bumping her head on the overhang. "Ow!" She exclaimed, then turned to Lydia. "Now what were you saying?" Lydia sighed. "I said, the werewolf wants to use the bathroom. I seem to have forgotten to install one, and he's not too keen on using a bottle." Jo was still half asleep, and the knock to the head hadn't done much to help the feeling. "So let him out to use it." Lydia stared back at Jo in amazement. "What are you thinking? He'll run!" Jo waved a hand airily. "So point a gun at him and make sure he doesn't run!" "Whoa," Lydia interrupted. "I'm not going to follow him into the bathroom!" "Yeah," interjected Aaron, "I'd like a bit of privacy!" Jo considered this development for a moment. "Ok, here's what we can do. Lydia, you cover him with whatever gun you happen to feel like handling at the moment. Knock on the door every two minutes. If he doesn't answer, open the door and either scold him for forgetting to answer or shoot him. Oh, and use the bathroom that doesn't have any windows. That'll help too." Lydia nodded. "All right. I think that works." She moved to the generator, shutting it down. Next, she walked to the cage and bent a hole big enough for Aaron to squeeze through, keeping her crossbow on him at all times. Aaron looked relieved. "Well, at least this will take care of things. I'd rather be set free, but I guess there's not a chance of that is there?" Jo laughed a bit at Aaron's comment. "Nope. We need you to study, even if you claim it's pointless to do so." Lydia pointed down a rickety flight of stairs. "First door to your right." Aaron nodded his thanks and entered the bathroom, making sure to close the door securely behind him. Taking care of things, he soon exited, and Lydia escorted him back up the stairs. As he headed for his cell, Jo stopped him. "Wait, hold on a second. As long as you're out here, we might as well take some blood samples." She said, waving Aaron to the blood analyzer that she had just hit her head on. Aaron winced. "Needles? Come on miss, don't use needles! That's just foul play!" Jo looked apologetic. "Sorry. I'm not a fan of them either, but we need some samples. The virus should be in your bloodstream, and I want to take a good look at it." Grumbling to himself, but unwilling to fight about while Lydia had her crossbow pointed at him, Aaron reluctantly sat in the chair and waited for the needle to come. It wasn't as bad as he expected, though the fact that he was being used as a scientific study peeved him a bit. The machine decided that three vials of his blood were enough, and the needle left his arm, leaving a small hole through which blood still flowed. Jo walked over to look at the readouts, then noticed the trickle of blood on Aaron's arm. "Whoops. Sorry about that," Jo exclaimed, grabbing a bandage and tossing it to Aaron, "I forgot about you for a second." Aaron shrugged as he used his shirt-tail to wipe the blood off of his arm before applying the bandage. "Oh, no problem. I'm sure that you'll find some fascinating things running about in my blood. Now can I go back to my cell, or do you wish to stab me with more needles?" Jo shook her head. "Nah, no more needles for today. Go ahead and get back to your.... room." Jo couldn't think of a proper term for Aaron's cage. Aaron shrugged and stepped through, Lydia closing the hole behind him. The generator was switched back on, and Aaron returned to his cot to grab a little shut eye. After all, it wasn't as if he had anything better to do. ************* Overseer set down another report. Seems that one of his spies had spotted the young Kenny at a marketplace in Minneapolis. Pondering the best course of action, the sorcerer decided that the best course of action would be to dispatch another android. Of course, he wouldn't just use an old one this time. Oh no, he had a much better model to use, in fact, it had killed a werewolf before if his memory served him correctly. Giving the order, Overseer decided to take a walk. After all, he hadn't taken a nice walk in a while. It would be good for him, and who knew? Maybe he'd run into someone that owed him money or something and he'd be able to kill him.The android received the order a few moments later. Strapping itself into a small rocket, it blasted out of one of Overseer's secret compounds. It would be over the marketplace in five minutes. Then it would complete its program and return to a nice battery charge. ************* Finally, the marketplace had cleared out. The only people present were David, Ruth, and some easily avoidable night watchmen who were more concerned with watching the TV inside the guard house. David made his way back to Aaron's car, hoping that the scent hadn't gotten too weak during the day. Ruth followed behind, occasionally checking over her shoulder to be sure the watchmen were still fascinated by whatever happened to be on the TV at the moment.David made sure to check the area a second time before transforming. Ruth also transformed, and pulled out an old shirt of Aaron's from the back seat of his car. "Here, take a whiff. It'll get you his scent." Ruth said, tossing the shirt to David after taking a sniff herself. David sniffed the shirt, then recoiled. "Whoo! Did he ever bathe? At least the scent will be easy to follow." Sniffing around the car, David finally caught a small hint of Aaron's scent leading down an alley. "Hey, this actually works! This is a bit odd, I have to admit. I feel like a bloodhound or something." Ruth laughed a bit, and headed for where David was sniffing to help out. It was around the back of the alley that all hell quite suddenly broke loose. ************* |
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