csyphrett

You can use the Bamfs if you change the name. I don't think Marvel will like you using their guys as free roaming swashbucklers CES

The fourth hero for Colby's security force is Popul. This computerized hero creates a landscape that the attacking software has to avoid to pierce the inner workings of the software. CES

Myron Cates is the Case. He looks a place over, plans when to go in, when to get out, traffic patterns, access to safes, or vaults, how to get around security. He never goes in, and takes his ten percent from the loot after the job is done. CES

At 7k so far. I need 4k to catch up tomorrow. CES

You can do it PG. You just need a case of Kickstart, and a movie plot that you like. Just file off the edges. If Jim Butcher can combine Pokemon and Romans, you can too. CES

Revenge of the Scouts 1979- 4 Martin Morgan handed over the ring. He wondered briefly if he was doing the right thing. He decided that Touhanbei had been a good guy. His apprentice should be just as good. “This is the ring Mental gave you?,” asked Ren. He examined the ring with the naked eye. He pulled out a loop, and examined the thing once more. “There might be something there I can use.” “I dusted it for prints when I could, but there weren’t any,” said Marty. “All I could find were smudges.” “Don’t worry about that,” said Ren. He took the ring over to his table. “I can make it say a sentence I believe. That should be enough to give us another toehold.” “So you can find the owner?,” asked Marty. “If I can’t, the next step is to check your old support network to see who could have set up the trap.” Ren took a dish from his shelf. He dropped the ring in it. “And if that fails, we can go back to the memories to see what more we can glean from them.” “That sounds reasonable.” Marty stepped back. He didn’t want the process to blow up in his face. “Trust me,” said Ren. He took two different bottles from his shelf. Marty could have sworn they hadn’t been there before he picked them up. “At the very least, if the man is still alive, I can turn the ring into a compass to find him.” Marty liked the idea of a pointer showing him where to go. He had lived with being the sole survivor and knowledge that someone out there still might want him dead. Being able to lay hands on one of the men responsible would be great. Then he would make the man pay for his part in what had happened. Ren poured the samples of the liquids into the dish. He capped them and set them aside before grabbing a lid for the dish. He covered the ingredients and ring as smoke filled the tiny space. He stepped back to let the chemical reaction do its thing. A face appeared on the inside of the transparent cover. Ren replaced that lid with another. He took the marked lid and put it on a stand to look through. The other lid kept the smoke in the storage plate. “I don’t recognize him,” said Marty. “Any way to identify him from the picture?” “Not really.” Ren put the lid on a piece of paper. “We’ll have to see if he has a mug shot somewhere.” “That might take a while.” Marty doubted anyone would listen to him now. His clearance as a Scout must have been revoked. Maybe there was someone he knew who could speed up the identification process. He couldn’t think of anyone off hand. “Either way,” said Ren. “We’ll still have a way to track the man down. His ring will give us that.” “I don’t understand,” said Marty. “How will it help us?” “I need to add a third chemical to the dish.” Ren went to the shelf and produced the bottle. “When I add this, the ring will want to go after the former owner.” “I don’t believe that,” said Marty. “Nothing does that.” “Watch.” Ren took the second lid off the dish. He poured the liquid in the third bottle into the fog. He closed the lid down on it. The ring had a jewel in it. That jewel pointed southeast of where they stood. Ren picked up the dish and turned it. The jewel kept reaching for the same direction. “So we have a compass,” said Marty. “That’s neat.” “If we can’t find out the identity of the man through normal channels, we can use this to find him.” Ren smiled. “It’s always good to have a fallback.” “Okay,” said Marty. “Where do we get started?” “Let’s start with the radio network.” Ren put the picture and ring in his bag. “If we can find the leak through ordinary means, we might not need the memories we have stored.” “The Scout headquarters is closed.” Marty looked at his hands. “The Foundation is keeping the land maintained. Everything should still be there.” “Let’s go and take a look at things.” Ren frowned at the hotel room. “Let me pack up and we can take the train up there.” “Take your time,” said Marty. “I’m going down to the diner and get something to eat.” “All right,” said Ren. “I will be down to join you in a few minutes.” “Okay.” Marty opened the door. He headed downstairs. He took Ren’s warning about elevators to heart and used the stairs. They were looking for an unknown enemy that had ambushed a seasoned team of powered humans. There was no telling what the bad guys would do to the two of them. He crossed the street to the diner. He didn’t like the fact that his enemy could be anywhere. He wondered how long he had before they came at him. He had no doubt they would come at him once he showed he was making progress in finding out what was going on. They had ambushed his friends and killed them. There was no doubt they would try to do the same to him once he got close enough. He needed a back up plan in case something happened to him and Ren. He didn’t know what he could do about that. He had been on his own for a long time. He stepped inside the diner and went to the table where he and Ren had eaten earlier. How were they going to get down to the base? He had transportation for himself worked out. Maybe he could lift two men the distance to Scout headquarters. He ordered coffee from the waitress as he thought. Maybe he could lift them home. He had been working on new animals to call. One of them should fit the bill. Working on the network should be easy. He had learned a lot of the basics from Barry and Doug. And the equipment had not been updated in the ten years since they died. He should have thought of that. He had abandoned everything to dust. He should have done better than that. The fact that he had been twelve didn’t seem much of an excuse. He wondered what his adopted family would have thought of him. He spotted Ren crossing the street. Once he finished his coffee, they could fly down to the base and get started looking around. Now that he had help, maybe he could finally get things done. He should have thought about asking a detective to help before this, but he didn’t know anyone that fit the bill. The Mark might have helped, but he was too busy saving the world. Ren stepped in the diner. He nodded to the staff. He settled in his old seat. “I’m ready to go,” said Ren. “I thought we could take the train up north.” “I got the transportation covered,” said Marty. “I figured we would fly.” “Fly?,” asked Ren. “I didn’t know you could fly.” “I have some animal friends that I can call that should be able to carry the both of us,” said Marty. “The time won’t be as fast as a jet’s.” “I would like that,” said Ren. “I have never been able to fly on my own power.” “I always wanted to, but being able to ride through the air is almost as good,” said Marty. “Only Jim could fly on the team. The rest of us were ground bound.” “I understand.” Ren asked for a glass of water. “Doctor Tanbouhei has only showed me how to glide. It’s not the same as true flight.” “Let me finish my coffee.” Marty sipped from his cup. “Hopefully we will find a clue at the old place.” “We have multiple lines now.” Ren smiled. “I am confident we will net someone, if not the head plotter before things are done.” “We will have to prove everything in a court of law,” said Marty. “How do we do that with old memories.” “I am sure that by the time we are done, we will have more than old memories to hand over to a prosecutor,” said Ren. Marty finished off his cup. He stood. Ren followed suit. Marty paid for the coffee before they stepped out of the diner. Marty concentrated on his summons. He had been working on his powers the whole time he had been on his own. He could do more than simple animals now. His steed sprang into existence, lifting him up in a natural saddle at its shoulders. It called out its impatience as talons dug into the asphalt around the diner. “Is that a griffin?,” said Ren. He stepped back from the lion bird looking him over. “I didn’t know you could do that.” “It’s an animal. Calling animals into existence is what I do.” Marty extended a hand. “Climb aboard. We have places to go.” Ren used the hand to settle into a spot behind the former Animal Boy. He secured his traveling bag to his body. The griffin made a noise half lion roar and half eagle call. It jogged down the street while beating its wings. Then it was in the air and flying smoothly across the sky. “This is wonderful,” said Ren. “I love this. I wish I could do this.” “It works for me,” said Marty. “I used to not be able to do anything this big. I practiced using a book from the library.” “A book?,” said Ren. “What book?” “It was full of monsters,” said Marty. “Ah,” said Ren. “The library is full of things like that.” “I know.” Marty pulled out a pair of goggles out of a pocket. He pulled them over his eyes. “We should be at the old place in a few hours.” “I haven’t ridden anything like this before,” said Ren. “We might need to land sometime to give us a break.” “Okay,” said Marty. “We’ll aim for a place about halfway between where we are, and where we want to go.” “Excellent,” said Ren. Marty closed his eyes as he rested in the saddle. The bird lion would wake him if it needed him. It gave a call as it headed down for the ground. Marty’s eyes snapped open. He shook his head to clear it. “It looks like we’re going down,” said Ren. “The griffin seems to need to rest.” “Good,” said Marty. “I need to stretch my legs.” “This has been really great,” said Ren. “I have never had such a journey that felt this good.” “It looks like we’re going to land in that parking lot ahead.” Marty pointed at the clear spot. “Good job, Feathers.” The griffin touched down, and shook its head. It faded away as its riders dismounted. Marty stretched kinks out of his back as he looked around. “I see what you mean,” Ren put his travel bag down. He rubbed his legs with his hands. “I didn’t consider how a long ride would affect me.” “You’ll be sore in the morning.” Marty pointed at a gas station across the lot. “Let’s get some water, and something to snack on. Then we can get back on and finish the ride.” “I believe it.” Ren nodded. “I am sore now.” “Can you walk?,” asked Marty. “Yes,” said Ren. “I can manage.” Marty led the way across the lot. His mouth felt dry. He smiled at himself. His power seemed to make him thirsty the more he used it. A Gatorade would fix that. He opened the door of the place. Two shelves of food went to the right, pointing to cooler doors. A middled aged clerk with wiry gray hair and too much weight stood behind the counter on the left. Glasses perched on her round nose. “Hello,” the clerk said. Her voice was scratchy from too many cigarettes. “How’s it going?” “Fine.” Marty looked over the small selection of drinks. He found a shelf of Gatorade. He pulled one out. “How’s it going with you?” “Great.” She smiled. “One drink?” “I think I need some crackers too.” Marty picked up some Nabs. “Do you know how the weather is up northeast of here?” “It’s supposed to rain later.” She rang up the drink and crackers as Ren walked in. “Then sunshine for the next few days.” “Thanks,” said Marty. He opened the bottle and took a sip. “I appreciate that.” Ren staggered into the store. He smiled. He walked back and pulled a Coke from the cooler. He added some cookies and a bag of chips. “Is this all,” said the clerk, as Marty moved out of the way. “I think so,” said Ren. //83961

He's going to be the king someday. CES

he was the answer to a riddle in Die Hard three. CES

Fell asleep at computer. Will try to catch up tonight when I get home. CES

Revenge of the Scouts 1979- 3 “Sir,” Oscar Woz stepped into the office. It looked like most of the other offices Oscar had been in. The only thing that made it different was the occupant behind the desk. “Subject Animal Boy has found an ally.” “After all this time?” The man behind the desk leaned back in his specially built chair. “He hasn’t approached any of the other heroic community before this. Who has he been seen with this late in the game?” “We don’t know.” Oscar winced at that admission. He should have couched it in doubletalk to show they were on top of their game. “The observer was only able to radio a visual contact. Pictures were fogged over.” “That’s interesting.” The occupant rubbed a metal chin plate with a metal hand. “Completely fogged over?” “That is what the observer said.” Oscar winced at that admission. “The description is of a young Asian, dark hair and eyes, black suit, black shirt. Estimated height is at five feet, five inches. Weight at one hundred thirty-thirty five pounds.” “That could be anybody from China to Hawaii.” The occupant closed his eye. One had been replaced with a camera plugged into his brain. “Do we still have contact with the three potential recruits?” “Yes, sir.” That was safer ground to walk on. “We have bases and support networks locked in. We can take them any time we want.” “Have the Squad get ready.” The man behind the desk nodded at the decision. “Pick up all five. I want them in cells and ready for assimilation as soon as possible.” “I’ll pass the order along, sir.” Oscar turned to leave. “Deploy some of our forces with the Squad,” said the occupant. “We want to make sure we take them all and have them under our thumb. We can’t have them looking for us while we are trying to plan another kidnaping for them.” “Understood.” Oscar left the office. He paused in the hall outside of the office and wiped the sweat off his face with a handkerchief. He hated dealing with his boss. He always feared the wrong word would put him in a box. The Squad was just as bad in their way, but he didn’t fear them as much as he feared his employer. If something bad happened to him while dealing with them, he knew things would be done to repay them for what they had done. There were rules for things, and the boss expected you to follow those rules. That was why he had the best network in place, and was standing off the Deathworm, and others with similar business dealings. He had engineered the deaths of heroes across the world and no one knew about it. The Hazard Scouts hadn’t been the only victims of his schemes. They had just been most out in the open. And nothing led back to the organization after it was all over. And now their tagalong kid was poking around the scene of the battle again. Every time they had lost him, he had returned to the battlefield to look around again and again. This was going to be the last time. Once the Squad was done, he would be using his powers for the organization. No one would even know he had been taken and assimilated to use against other heroes interfering with the boss’s plans. Oscar walked the hall until he reached an elevator. He pushed the down button to call the cab. The Squad’s quarters were down at the bottom of the facility. If anything less than an attack by the Mark happened, they were to retreat down to those quarters and use the Squad’s powers to fight their way out. If anything more powerful than the Mark showed, they were to flee as best they could. Nothing could stand up to his power range. Anything close to that would be more powerful than what they had. Oscar rode the elevator down to the bottom level of the facility. He hated being away from the offices on the top. The amount of dirt over his head made him uncomfortable. He didn’t like the thought all of that could be collapsed and there was nothing he could do about it. He stepped off the elevator and walked to the bulkhead keeping the Squad separate from the rest of the place. It wasn’t for anything other than show. Any of the powered minions could punch through the bulkhead if they wanted to enough. Oscar tapped the code number on the keypad to open the door. The metal aperture slid out of the way so he could enter the set of rooms beyond. The Squad had a common room they could eat together, watch television, socialize. There was a gym that led off to the other side of their quarters where they tested their powers. Their rooms formed a semi-ring between the other door and the door to the gym. Oscar only saw one of the members as he walked in the room. He looked around. Where were the other members? “They’re exercising in the gym,” said Thingamabob. He sat at their common table. Electronic parts littered the table top as he inspected them with his magnifying glasses. “What can I do for you, Oz?” “You have a mission.” Oscar didn’t sit down to face him. He wanted to be able to try to run away if he had to. “What are we doing this time?” Thingamabob starting putting the parts together like a man putting together a jigsaw puzzle. “Pick up mission.” Oscar made sure to keep his hands away from his body as he watched the process. “We have five targets we want you to pick up.” “No problem.” Thingamabob snapped the last piece of his puzzle in place. He pressed the button. He smiled at whatever the hum of the device told him. “I don’t how long you have to complete the mission, but there can be no witnesses.” Oscar hated to order that. It led to a lot more collateral damage than was necessary. “No problem, Oz,” said the gadget user. “I can snatch a baby out of a crib at a hundred paces. This will be just as easy.” “Auxiliary troops are to assist your team.” Oscar saw the argument coming on, and held up his hand. “Those are the orders from on high. I would appreciate it if you would get your team together and have them come up to the mission briefing room while I get your army to report to the briefing.” “I’ll get them there, Oz.” Thingamabob stood up. “Is this a one on one thing, or a mass at the same time thing?” “I think that will be your call, Bob.” Oscar turned to leave. “The boss said don’t miss, whichever tactics you use. He doesn’t want the targets trying to hunt us down.” “I’ll see what we can do about that.” Bob turned to walk toward the gym. He held his gadget ready to use. Oscar retreated from the room. He had to get a platoon together, and have their officers at the meeting. He hoped he wasn’t asking for his assigned help to wreck everything they see. He walked out of the quarters and headed upstairs. He had to get the support together. He didn’t want to send the Squad on a mission without someone watching over them. He hoped he wasn’t getting his private soldiers killed. He hated thinking what would happen if they got caught in a crossfire between the powered forces. Oscar rode the elevator up to the sixth floor. He stepped out in what was a wide space where bunks and lockers had been set up. Men exercised at the end of the hangar. A shooting range was set up beyond that. A small office set aside for the officer on duty stood in a square of walls one side of the bunks. Oscar walked across the space to the office. He looked inside. Mr. Mercer sat at the desk, reading a book. The soldier looked up from his book without saying anything. “We have a mission,” said Oscar. “I need you to come down to the briefing room. You will be supporting the Squad on this.” “All right,” said Mercer. “I will come up there to see what the circus is about.” “Don’t call them that.” Oscar grimaced. “The Squad is as dangerous as they come.” “They haven’t had a real fight yet.” Mercer put his book down on the desk. His face of acne scars held two different colored eyes, a busted nose, and small scars across his chin. “Eventually they’re going to run into someone they can’t beat. That will really set your plans back.” “That’s why your men are being asked to come in as a support unit.” Oscar put his hands in his pockets. “The boss wants to make sure the mission is expedited, and carried out free of complications.” “There’s always going to be complications.” Mercer stood up. “We’ll do what we can to keep the complications down. Targets?” “They’re powered.” Oscar winced at the grimace that earned. “That will make the going harder,” said Mercer. “We’ll handle it.” “I’ll go over everything at the briefing,” said the aide. “I’ll have the information ready for you.” “I’ll have munitions and weapons drawn,” said Mercer. “When is the briefing?” “As soon as the Squad gets there.” Oscar shrugged. “Go ahead and get whomever you need to help plan things and come up to the briefing room.” “We’ll be there in twenty minutes.” Mercer frowned at the job ahead. Powered fights could be really messy. “Right.” Oscar nodded. “I’ll go up and get the files ready.” Oscar walked across the space back to the elevator. He pushed the button and waited for the doors to open. He went up to his office and grabbed the files from his desk. His observers had compiled as much information as they could. He hoped they hadn’t missed something obvious. It would be embarrassing to send the Squad in against people that hadn’t been measured completely. He took the files to the briefing room. He pulled the photos to load in the projector. The three subjects looked harmless in their pictures. He knew that was a lie. He added an old picture of Martin Morgan to the others. Animal Boy had been dangerous as part of the Hazard Scouts. He probably hadn’t lost any of those skills wandering around on his own. The only one he didn’t have was of the black clad unknown helping Morgan at Idaville. He frowned that the unknown was the wild card that could spoil their plans. They couldn’t be prepared for him if no one knew what he could do. The Squad would have to use overwhelming force on the unknown so he couldn’t turn the fight against them. He didn’t like that. He didn’t want to take responsibility for a failure based on lack of information. Oscar gathered the files and went over them as he waited for his assault elements to arrive at the briefing room. He hoped nothing went wrong. //81824

Finished Chapter three for 1858. A lot of dialogue as the villains get started. CES

Finally finished Chapter two. Going to try to write chapter three before I turn in. CES

Revenge of the Scouts 1979- 2 Marty and Ren walked back to the field. The former Scout pointed out where the plane had come down as best that he could remember. He admitted that the town had covered all traces of the incident as it had grown out and around the former farms. Ren nodded as they went. His dark eyes took in the landscape as if almost seeing what had happened ten years before. He raised his hand to shield his eyes and they seemed to glow in the shade. “About here is where I found Jim, and Barry’s skull.” Marty looked around to make sure. “The ground had been burned and cratered from the explosion.” “I’m going to do a hypnotic trick.” Ren looked around, dark clothing making him almost a shadow on the ground. “I want you to close your eyes and count back to one from ten.” “All right.” Marty did what he was told. When he opened his eyes, he stood in the past. His younger self stood a few feet away. Jim Marley, wounded and dying, lay on the ground. “This is crazy. I can see everything like it was.” “Doctor Touhanbei taught me this so I could question witnesses with better accuracy.” Ren stepped into the illusion. “This is where your comrade was?” “Yes.” Marty turned. “Barry’s skull was there. The only reason I thought it was his was because it was metal. Could I have been wrong?” “I don’t know.” Ren made a gesture with his hand. The scene sped up, matching to Marty’s memory. A column of fire erupted from the skull, taking Jim with it into destruction. “It certainly killed your friend. They weren’t taking chances he might have gleaned something to tell you.” “If Doug had lived, he would have never given looking up for who did this.” Marty spread his arms at the static scene in the air. “I never could find a lead on my own.” “It might been your friend’s skull set to explode.” Ren folded the image and put it in a wrapper. He put the paper square into a small bag at his hip. “It might been a fake. I don’t like they took his body and left the rest of him.” “At the time, he had the most advanced robot body in existence and was always trying to make it better.” Marty shrugged. “That was the sixties. Ten years might have been enough time to make robot bodies better than that.” “I saw some things in the scene that I need to look at later.” Ren took one more look around the scene. “Let’s look at the plane crash and where Positive Man died. Maybe that will give us some more clues we can follow.” “You saw some things we can use?,” asked Marty. “What did you see?” “I don’t know,” said Ren. “I will have to take the scene apart after we finish our lookaround. If I have something useful, we might be able to advance.” “What if you don’t have anything useful?,” asked Marty. “I will come up with some other line of attack.” Ren frowned at the other man. “I assure you that I will not fail.” “Okay.” Marty wondered if he had insulted the other’s pride enough that they would come to blows. He decided not to test it. It was too early in the partnership. “Let’s look at the plane crash,” said Ren. “That might tell us something about what happened to the jet you used.” “I’m pretty sure the engines blew.” Marty walked toward where the jet had crashed. It was close enough to walk, but far enough away that it hadn’t impacted what was going on with Jim and Barry. The impact wouldn’t have hurt Daryl at all. Being set on fire would have cut through her defenses and destroyed her rubbery body. The plane had went nose down into the field. That wrapped the metal body around her so she couldn’t get out of the trap. Then the aircraft had been blown to smithereens by the blast. It had been a miracle that the plane hadn’t killed anyone when it went down. It was the perfect trap for a rubbery woman. “Jim had been right.” Marty went through the ritual to look at the plane. Watching it crash into the ground and explode froze him in place. He felt depression overwhelm for a moment. He seized control of his mind and directed it to push on. “It was a trap from start to finish.” “You didn’t get a look at the snake killing Positive Man?,” asked Ren. He set the scene aside like he did the first one. He could unwrap them and look at them again when he needed to do that. “They were both dead when I got back from watching Jim blow up.” Marty walked toward the crowded streets. “The diner where we ate was where the snake was nesting.” “Let’s look at the memory of that,” said Ren. “Then we can get out of here. The town is just the starting point. The masterminds don’t live here.” “I suppose you’re right.” Marty spotted the diner in the distance. “No one sets a trap in their backyard. Other parties might want to know what happened.” “And if someone got traction in an investigation, you didn’t want them wandering around looking for your base.” Ren nodded. “Someone might be here to keep an eye out for anybody like us.” “I doubt it’s worth it to try to figure out who the lookout is.” Morgan shrugged. “We can save that for when we’re really desperate.” “Or if we know enough that we can use it trap the lookout so he gives up what we need when do find him.” Ren nodded. “I favor that approach myself.” “This is the diner.” Marty studied the building. “Now that I’m looking at it, it looks different.” “They probably had to add on to it, so they could keep their business moving at a regular speed.” Ren looked around. “Is this where Positive Man and the snake killed themselves?” “Yes.” said Marty. “I should have buried the body, but I just walked away.” “It wasn’t in the museum.” Ren raised a hand. “Close your eyes and count. Maybe something you heard will give us something to look at here and now.” Marty did as he was told. When he opened his eyes, he saw the snake sprawled and flicking its tail around. Its jaw had been broken like he expected. Doug had two fang wounds in his chest. He sat against the still standing wall of the diner. He dug a hole in the ground with one hand as he talked to Marty on his helmet radio. He pulled something out of his chest and placed it in the ground. He pulled a rock over the hole and scooped dirt around it. “What did he bury?,” asked Ren. He matched the scene to the new landscape. The rock stood in place. “Probably his engine.” Marty asked a mole to dig down and unearth the item. The animal returned with something in its talons. It vanished when the ex-Scout took the item from it. “Yeah, it’s his engine.” “His engine?”, asked Ren. He examined the metal cylinder. “What does it do?” “Doug had some kind of machine in his body.” Marty brushed dirt off the cylinder and put it in his jacket pocket. “He dialed up the amount of force he needed using the engine. It made him stronger and faster than a normal man.” “So we have an array of motives, and personalities to investigate.” Ren folded up the scene and put it in his bag with the other two. “We might find more clues after examining the scenes better. We certainly shouldn’t do that here.” “We can rule out Cortez.” Marty looked around. He didn’t see anyone paying attention to them. That didn’t mean anything. “We were trying to find him when this happened. Jim got a look at the goons involved. He said everything was a trap by a guy with access to our report network.” “Makes sense,” said Ren. “How else would someone send you into a trap if they didn’t have that access?” “I have one more thing to show you in private,” said Marty. “Then we can look at the radio logs, if they are still there.” “All right,” said Ren. “I have a room at the hotel. We can go there to plan our next move.” “Are you sure you want in on this?” Marty remembered that the hotel was a few streets over. The way the town had grown, there might be another hotel he didn’t know about. “I have been trained for a long time to solve mysteries.” Ren smiled. “Doctor Toubanhei has said I am almost as good as he is. I have to learn more through experience, but to leave his service, I have to solve a case that no one else has solved. I assure you that I can solve this with some time and patience.” “Even if there is trouble down the line?,” said Marty. “Especially if there is trouble down the line.” The apprentice nodded his affirmation. “All right.” Marty nodded. “Let’s see how good a detective you really are.” The two of them walked across that part of town, heading for the three story Quality Star hotel. The place only had twenty rooms, but it did have a kitchen and dining room on the ground floor. Ren got his key from the desk. There was no mail for him. “I got a room on the third floor so I could see most of the town from my window.” Ren headed for the steps. He started up the staircase. “Elevator?” Marty pointed at the cage a few feet away from the stairwell door. He started up the steps a little slower. “Don’t trust them.” Ren shrugged as he kept moving. “I have had some bad experiences with elevators. It’s better to use the stairs.” “All right.” Marty used the hand rail to pull himself up the staircase. “I do have one question,” said Ren. “Why are you taking this meeting at face value?” “I’ve met Touhanbei before. I think I have met you before but you were a lot younger then.” Marty paused to search his memory. “You were like his sidekick, but he didn’t want you talking to us. Barry did the most talking when we worked together. Touhanbei didn’t want you mixing up in our business. I think he didn’t like me tagging along but Barry spoke up for me.” “I wore a mask then,” said Ren. “I know,” said Marty. “It was some kind of bird mask.” Ren nodded as he pushed open the door for the third floor. He walked down the hall to his room. “If something happens to me, please notify Doctor Tanbouhei.” Ren opened the room door. “I am sure he will take over for me.” “I don’t have a problem with that.” Marty examined the hall before following Ren into the room. “This is better than I expected.” “I made some improvements so I could work,” explained Ren. The single room should have a bed, chair, television, and drawers, and one end table. A bathroom and closet should be separate doors side by side. Instead the room had been turned into a space with a large table to write on, chairs, and a shelf of books taking up a small section of the wall. “Does the hotel know?,” asked Marty. “They can’t see what I have done.” Ren smiled. “You said you had a clue other than your memories.” Marty pulled out the ring he had been carrying for the last ten years. //79964

Got 1701 so far. Need to get started and at least try to get to the first five thousand marker CES

I'm going to be filling in more of my project thread this nano. I have to get my notes and turn them into plot points. CES

You only need 1600 words a day, Hermit. You can do it. CES

Revenge of the Scouts 1979- 1 Marty Morgan looked over the field where he had left Jim Marley to die. He turned in a circle. The damage had been repaired, some kind of grain stretching out of the ground. He would have never known that all of his friends had died around this site if he hadn’t been there. He still didn’t know what he was going to do about it. In ten years, he was no closer to who had killed his friends than when Jim had given him his only clue. An ornate ring meant nothing if you didn’t know who made it, or whom owned it. What was he going to do about it? The place had no new clues to offer him. The town had repaired what it could. They turned the giant snake that had killed Positive Man into a tourist attraction. It was the central exhibit of the Hazard Scouts Museum. Plaques for the dead citizens Positive Man hadn’t saved were also housed in the museum. They lined a wall next to the stuffed snake exhibit. Maybe he should look at the exhibits again. Maybe they would tell him something he had missed over the years. He didn’t have any other options as far as he could see. Mr. Robot and Mental were the detectives on the team. They knew how to track things down, and how to figure out what a clue meant. He had been a kid then, and hadn’t learned enough in the ten years since to be a good detective. His talents had allowed him to get by in case of trouble. The legacy from the team’s trust had taken care of most of the rest. Marty summoned a regular horse to carry him into town. He climbed on its back and let it run while he thought about the events of that day. The Scouts thought they had a lead on a long time enemy, Cortez. They landed the plane and scouted some around the then much smaller town. Mr. Robot and Mental had split from the group to investigate the field where Marty had found Mental afterwards. The giant snake had been under the local diner. Positive Man and Bounce had hoped to bring in the plane to rescue the civilians. The plane had been sabotaged. The engines blew up. Bounce landed in a field not far from the other field where Mr. Robot and Mental had been ambushed. Positive Man had ordered Marty to check on her, and then the others. He found Mental wounded near what was left of Mr. Robot. He had returned to help Positive Man. He was too late to help out. He rode away before something happened to him. Marty spent the next few years trying to survive. The team’s foundation had supported him. He had educated himself as much as he could while living in a bunker away from the team’s headquarters. As far as he knew, it still sat untouched. He doubted it was safe to use the base. Whomever was behind the death of the team was probably watching it like a hawk. He was surprised that he was still walking around sometimes. When were they coming after him to finish the job? He supposed as long as he wasn’t close to finding the man who owned the ring, he didn’t have to worry about being attacked. When he did have something, then he should worry about another giant snake being in his future. Marty rode up to the museum and dismounted. He dismissed his horse after looking around. He didn’t need anyone connecting him to the Scouts while he was trying to look around. He walked inside the building. His eyes tracked the central opening floor. Displays about the team’s old cases were everywhere. He headed toward where the giant snake sat in his stuffed glory. Marty paused when he entered the room. The museum attracted people from all over. A small group followed a guide from display to display. A young man in black studied the snake. He walked around to the other side of the display. The jaw had been broken in the battle. Whomever had stuffed it had fixed that along with the broken bones that had been inflicted on it. “Mr. Morgan?,” said the man in the black. “Can we talk?” “I guess.” Marty called his talent. If things went down, he was prepared to summon something to do things to this stranger. “What can I do for you?” “My name is Ren.” The young man smiled. “I am the apprentice for Doctor Toubanhei. I have to solve a mystery to graduate from my service and set up my own detective service.” “So you want to know what happened to the Hazard Scouts?,” asked Marty. “I don’t know what happened to the Scouts. What do you know already?” Ren gave him an outline of what happened. It was missing some facts that no one but Marty knew. The picture was almost right. “How is the Doctor?” Marty had worked some cases in Japan. He remembered a gruff man in a black suit like Ren wore. He seemed to have his thumb on the criminal world around Kyoto and Tokyo when the Scouts visited that country. “He is well.” Ren smiled. “I didn’t know you had met.” “It was a long time ago.” Marty put his hands in his pockets. He had joined the team a few years before the final case. His encounters with Toubanhei were almost fifteen years in the past. “Would it be all right if I ask you some questions?,” asked Ren. “The more information I am able to gather, the quicker I can solve this case and locate the murderer.” “Getting out on your own means that much?” Marty felt one eyebrow go up. “Doctor Toubanhei is training several other apprentices.” Ren made a gesture to indicate that didn’t matter to him. “He wants to make sure that someone is there to defend Japan as much as possible. If I can graduate, I will be able to pick the district I work in. I will be able to solve cases without having someone looking over my shoulder all the time.” “I understand that.” Marty had been the youngest of the Scouts. His ability didn’t seem that great at the time. He had worked on it in the years he had been on his own. He could do things he only dreamed about doing then. He supposed he wouldn’t have pushed so hard if the others were still around. “Can you find out things about jewelry?,” asked Marty. “I have a ring that I need researched.” “I can do that,” said Ren. He smiled. “It might take some time.” “I don’t have anything but time.” Marty smiled. “Let’s go over to the diner. I’ll buy some lunch.” “Did you see anything on that day?,” asked Ren. “Not really.” Marty headed for the front door. “These people were trapped in the diner. Daryl had gone to the jet to fly over so we could try to save them by lowering a ladder from the air and moving them out of danger. The plane crashed. Doug asked me to try to get Daryl out but the plane exploded before I could do much of anything to help. I went to find Jim and Barry, but I only found Jim. He was barely alive. He told me that his powers had been shut off for the amount of time it had taken to wound him. He wound up burning up his body to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.” “Doug?,” asked Ren. “Positive Man.” Marty realized the road was better paved than it was on that day. “He died fighting the giant snake they put on display in their museum.” “What about Mr. Robot?,” asked Ren. “I saw Barry’s skull,” said Marty. “I didn’t see the rest of his body. Maybe the murderers took it with them.” “Just the skull?,” asked Ren. “That’s unusual. I would have expected that to be gone, and the body left behind.” “I didn’t think about that.” Marty paused in the middle of the sidewalk. “I thought Jim had blown himself up. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe the skull had been some kind of bomb.” “Seems likely.” Ren nodded. “Something had to be done to cover their tracks.” “I admit I wasn’t a good detective, and didn’t learn much.” Marty led the way to the diner. It looked better than it had the first time he had seen it. “You were the Animal Boy, weren’t you?,” asked Ren. He paused at the door leading into the diner, inspecting the place before he walked in behind Marty. “Yes,” said Marty. “My powers were useful for rescues, especially at sea.” “I see.” Ren settled in a booth away from the door. He looked the place over as he waited for a waitress. Marty was forced to sit down where he had to twist to look out the window if he wanted to keep an eye on things. “Doctor Toubanhei said he had not seen any progress on what happened.” Ren frowned. “Professional detectives had learned nothing new after the first reports went out.” “I didn’t think about it at the time but I left Doug’s body when I should have buried it,” said Marty. “I’ll find out what happened to it.” Ren shrugged. “We need to know that if we want to construct a full picture of things.” “Do you think you can find out what happened?,” asked Marty. “I have been trained to unravel the thread of stories,” said Ren. “This is a problem that I feel that I can solve given enough time and information.” A waitress approached their booth. She put two menus down in front of them. She pulled out a pad and pen. “Do you know what drinks you want?,” she asked. “I’ll have water,” said Marty. “I’ll have tea, please,” said Ren. “I’ll be back in a few minutes,” she said as she wrote down the drink order on her pad. “I have a lot of questions when we are done eating,” said Ren. “I don’t have a lot of answers.” //78006

Blue Flames Over San Francisco 2015- 10 Patty sat in her room at the office. She looked out the window. A picture of her husband, Kevin, sat on the sill. She supposed she should get dressed and get something to eat. She decided it was better not to move. Eating didn’t seem that important right then. Someone knocked on the door. She didn’t look at it. Maybe the knocker would go away. “Miss Page?” Dr. Hadron’s voice pierced the door. “Can we talk for a moment?” Patty frowned at the door. She pulled her light blanket around her and walked to the door. She cracked it so she could look out at her employer. “Yes, Dr. Hadron?” She noted he was wearing the business casual he affected when he wasn’t working on something. “What’s going on?” “I just wanted to let you know I’m heading out.” Dr. Hadron’s lip twitched in what might have been a smile. “I’m handing everything over to you.” “Hold on.” Patty pulled her blanket tighter. “You can’t do that. You’re the boss. I’m not really a boss type person. I’m more of a background person.” “You led the others to New York, you picked out where Crenshaw was going to strike twice, and you kept the police from throwing us in jail, as well as handling the D.A. and court.” Dr. Hadron indicated his points with the fingers of his holed hand. “And you’re the one the others look up to to keep them out of trouble.” “I don’t think I can do it.” Patty frowned. “Your backing and weapons did most of the work. The others did the rest. Mostly I loafed around and stayed out of the way.” “You’re the leader, Miss Page,” said Dr. Hadron. “Your friends won’t follow anyone else. Without a crew, this office space will be for nothing. And I have other jobs to look at. I can’t stick around to hold your hand. You wanted to stop Crenshaw. Now it’s time for you to stop anything else bumping in the night.” “I guess so.” Patty rubbed her nose. “Are you leaving now? The others are out celebrating not being in jail. Don’t you want to wait for them to come back?” “No,” said Dr. Hadron. “You might want to hire an office manager to help file your reports. Janie will keep an eye on the finances from her end. Any equipment problems that Jean can’t solve, just call me on the lab computer.” “Let me get changed. I’ll drive you to the airport.” Patty closed the door. She exchanged her lounge around sweats for jeans and a flannel shirt. She pulled on her jacket. Running shoes were last. “Do you really think the city will give us a license?,” asked Patty. “We already have a license.” Dr. Hadron picked up his carry on. “They just don’t want us to break traffic laws again from what I read. You did a good job talking them down.” “Kevin’s friend is a lawyer,” said Patty. “He did the negotiating. The city wanted us to work for free. Jerry got them to agree to a steady retainer and some tax breaks. I sent Janie the paperwork for her to look at and sign.” “Never do anything for free,” said Dr. Hadron. “They’ll want you to take care of anything that closely resembled hunting.” “You’re going to need help in New York.” Patty led the way to the elevator. “How long do you think you have?” “I don’t know.” Dr. Hadron pushed the call button. “A couple of years, maybe. Right now the turbulence is slow and steady. Ghosts and monsters will start appearing in mass, then whatever is behind it will show up. I expect it will be bad when it does go down.” “We’ll handle it.” The elevator doors opened so they could step in. Patty pushed the ground floor button. “How many recruits has Janie gotten?” “One so far.” Dr. Hadron closed his eye. “Most of the people she talked to can’t pass the mandatory tests.” “What kind of mandatory tests?,” asked Patty. She and her friends hadn’t taken any tests. “They can’t pass the eye exam, or the drug test,” said Dr. Hadron. “You can’t use the weapons if you can’t pass the eye exam. And you don’t want to be high when you are dealing with some of things we deal with during a job. That will get you killed, or turned into something that isn’t quite human anymore.” “What about us?” Patty wondered how they had avoided that. “I did a scan the first night we met when you barged into my place.” Dr. Hadron shrugged. “You were all twos and threes.” “What about the drug thing?,” said Patty. She remembered the scan. He had tried to pawn them off with a single copy of the long gun Kathy had selected for herself. “Since I didn’t expect Janie to butt in, I skipped a drug test in the hopes you would go home and not get in the way,” said Dr. Hadron. “Who knew Janie was such a mother hen?” “You did,” said Patty. “She’s the only one you listen to. Everyone knows it.” “Really?” Dr. Hadron’s eyebrows lifted. “What makes you think that?” “If she wasn’t, you wouldn’t have helped us set up.” The elevator door opened so Patty could lead the way out of the elevator. “You would be all frowny, and I can handle everything, and all that.” “You think so?,” asked the doctor. He switched hands for his bag as he walked. “Extra frowny.” Patty smiled at him. “You know me so well.” Hadron almost smiled. “I commend your observational skills.” “The high number on the scanner means we’re psychic, doesn’t it?,” asked Patty. “You’re touched,” said Dr. Hadron. “Something caused your brains to flex. I doubt it was your first run-in with Crenshaw.” “How reliable is this touchiness?” Patty raised her eyebrow. “I wouldn’t bet my life on it.” Dr. Hadron covered the empty socket where his eye used to be for a second. “Depending on it could get you killed.” “But it could be useful if I knew how to use it.” Patty smiled. “I could work on it so I could be the next Mark.” “Number twos will never be able to match the Mark.” Dr. Hadron shook his head. “Better start smaller. Maybe you could be Positive Man.” “Positive Man is dead.” Patty opened the doors on her car. “Didn’t he get bitten by a giant snake?” “Exactly,” said Dr. Hadron. “You have to work up to the giant snake before you can take on the strongest man in the world.” “Okay.” Patty got behind the wheel of her car. “I get it. I’ll work on reaching the giant snake first.” “Good.” Dr. Hadron put his bag in the back seat before settling in the shotgun seat. “Don’t call me. I don’t like snakes at all.” “They’re cute,” said Patty. “Constrictors make the best pets.” “I’ll take your word for that.” Dr. Hadron looked out the window as Patty pulled out of the lot. “The things I have dealt with have turned me off snakes for good.” Some of the things in the casebook were shining examples for the need for animal control in the spirit world. “Which airport are you flying out of, Doctor?,” asked Patty. San Francisco International was south from the office. Oakland International was across the Bay. “SFI,” said Dr. Hadron. He checked his watch. “I’m scheduled for the five, but I like to get there early. If we get there before the departure is called, I’ll buy you some food from the hot dog place there.” “I don’t really like hot dogs,” said Patty. “Maybe a hamburger would be okay.” “Why did you come to talk to me in New York?,” asked Dr. Hadron. “Why the personal interest in this?” “I don’t understand.” Patty nearly hit a sidewalk but quickly pulled back on the road. “Okay.” Dr. Hadron closed his eyes. He had a long flight ahead of him. He didn’t have time to pry a story out of an employee. “I came to you because of Kevin.” Patty found a place to pull over so she could talk without driving into a wall, or another car. “Kevin?,” asked Hadron. “Your husband?” “He’s in the hospital.” Patty refused to start crying. “He’s in a coma.” “This happened during the first attack.” The women had arrived with a video of an attack by Crenshaw to get him interested in chasing down the ghosts. “That’s right,” said Patty. “A piece of the building fell on him. No one knows when he’s going to wake up if he does wake up. He suffered extreme damage to his brain. Even if he does wake up, he won’t be the same man.” “What are you going to do?,” said Dr. Hadron. “There’s nothing I can do about it.” Patty pulled from the curb. “A ton of specialists have looked at him. They say he doesn’t have any hope. He’ll be a vegetable, or mentally disabled, for the rest of his life.” “After you drop me off, take one of the empty lamps and leave it in your husband’s room.” Dr. Hadron glanced at her. “It might help him out some.” “Because of the flame?,” said Patty. She dipped her head in understanding. “Does that actually work?” “Sometimes.” Dr. Hadron looked out the window. “It’s a chance. Even if it doesn’t work, he doesn’t have anything to lose, does he?” “You’re right.” Patty nodded. “Thanks.” “If he comes out of it, he might need the lamp for the rest of his life.” Dr. Hadron shifted in his seat. “The aura might be enough to keep him going.” “It’s better than what he has now.” Patty nodded. “We’ll be ready when you need us in New York.” “Good,” said Dr. Hadron. The car rolled through traffic until the signs for the airport pointed Patty to the terminal. She drove up to let the doctor out. He looked at the terminal with his one eye before he grabbed his bag out of the back. “Remember to hire someone to handle the paperwork.” Dr. Hadron leaned down to talk to Patty through the opened passenger door. “You’re not going to want to wrangle your friends over administrative stuff. Call Janie if you need anything else.” “Be careful,” said Patty. “Thanks for the idea about the lamp.” “It might not work.” Dr. Hadron straightened. “Good luck.” He shut the door and turned away. He walked into the terminal without looking back. Patty rubbed her eye with the back of her hand. What did she do now? She made up her mind and headed back to headquarters. She didn’t have anything else to do. She might as well try Dr. Hadron’s idea out. She didn’t have anything to lose. Patty pulled into the lot slightly faster on the trip back than on the way to the airport. She opened the building and went up to the workshop part of the lab. She glared at the storage lamps still holding Crenshaw in pieces as she looked for an empty lamp. She smiled when she found one. She tested it to see if it worked. The blue flame danced merrily inside the case. She shut the place back down before getting back in her car. She drove to the hospital. She hid the lamp in a gigantic hand bag. She smiled at the size of the thing before she locked her car up and walked into the main building for the hospital. She had been there enough that the guards let her by with a wave. She rode the elevator up to Kevin’s floor, and walked down to his room. She walked in and looked around. The nurses wouldn’t be happy with an open flame in his room. She needed to hide the lamp so it could work without interference. She opened the closet and put the lit lantern on the shelf. She closed the door on it. It should be okay there. She sat down beside her husband and took his hand. Would he ever wake up again? She hoped so.

Blue Flames Over San Francisco 2015- 9 “We should be at Fluke’s,” said Patty as she drummed her fingers on the dashboard of Kathy’s Chevy. “Crenshaw isn’t going to attack here.” “How do you know that?,” asked Kathy. “We have a one in three chance of being in the right place.” “He’s going after Fluke’s.” Patty shook her head. “And Dr. Hadron snatched that up from us.” “So you think Crenshaw is going to hit Fluke’s?” Kathy raised an eyebrow. “If you want, we can drive over an check on the old man to make sure he’s okay.” “Let’s do that.” Patty frowned. “I know I’m right. I can feel it.” “He’s going to be mad if Crenshaw hits this place while we’re driving across town.” Kathy started the engine. She pulled away from the curb and joined the push of traffic. “The air is too clear.” Patty waved her hand. “He’s not hitting here. Not today.” “If he were hitting, you would see something?” Kathy went around a slower moving truck. She wanted a light to put on her dashboard. That would help clear traffic out of her way. “The air gets foggy.” Patty frowned. “There’s a wind effect.” “I think you should tell Jean and Lin in case we need them.” Kathy turned right and paused the car at an elderly woman in the road. She started driving as soon as the woman followed her walker out of the way. “You’re right.” Patty pulled out her phone. “If we can get them moving now, they’ll be in time to back us up.” “If Crenshaw doesn’t hit either one of our locations while we’re following feelings.” Kathy sped up to get through a hole left by slower moving automobiles. “I would have felt better if we could have gotten something faster than cars,” said Patty as she triggered the call function. “Go ahead,” said Jean. She sounded bored. “We’re heading over to the Fluke’s,” said Patty. “Anything going on at your spot?” “We’re clear.” Jean didn’t sound bored now. “I don’t see a cloud in the ether.” “Hook up with us at the Fluke.” Patty brushed hair out of her face. “I think that’s where Crenshaw will attack.” “All right.” Jean didn’t say anything else before the line went dead. “I have shark.” Dr. Hadron’s voice broke in over their phones. “I have one shark fin.” “Okay, so your feeling was right.” Kathy poured on the gas, cutting traffic off as she blew through lights. “I need a siren for this.” “Don’t kill us.” Patty reached behind her. She grabbed her carbine and lamp. She plugged the weapon in as the buildings flew by in a blur. “Get mine ready.” Kathy caused a lot of horn blowing as she sliced around a slower moving van. “I need to be ready to go.” “Got it.” Patty pulled the long gun out of the back and plugged it into its own lamp. The ready light on top turned green. Sirens warned them that the police were not happy with their speeding. Kathy glanced in the mirror. She shook her head. “Don’t stop,” said Patty. “We don’t have time to explain things.” “We’re going to have to do something,” said Kathy. “They’ll try to pit us eventually.” “Let me call Jean.” Patty pushed the contact button. “If we stop, we have to make sure someone is helping Dr. Hadron.” “It won’t matter if we can drive three blocks.” Kathy pointed. Blue flames lit the sky. “That’s our doc.” “We’re almost there, Jean.” Patty looked at the trails of flame. “Where are you?” “About a mile out.” Jean sounded strained. “We’ve hit a traffic jam. Lin is looking for another way around on her phone.” “We’ll try to hold him until you get there.” Patty hung up. “It looks like we’re on our own.” “Let’s see what we can do.” Kathy veered into an alley, cut across a lot, and slid around a car double parked on the street. She turned right and hit her brakes. “We’re here.” “This is bad.” Patty jumped out of the car. She slung her carbine over her shoulder so she wouldn’t lose it. The lamp hung from her belt on a carabiner. Its blue fire danced fitfully. Kathy got out the other side, dragging her weapon with her. She hung her lamp on her belt as she looked at the scene. “This is kind of worse than I thought it would be.” She raised her rifle. “It’s been nice knowing you.” “We’re winning this.” Patty raised her rifle. “Shoot the sharks.” “No problem.” Kathy smiled as she cut loose at the school of glowing green fish. Some of the ghosts, the smaller ones, popped like bubbles under the surprise onslaught. Patty took a moment, looking for the right thing to shoot. The company van sat across the street from Fluke’s. Various cars hugged the curb on both sides, giving cover for both sides at the start. The front of the store was missing some of its brick and glass. The van had holes chewed in it. Dr. Hadron blasted away while he used the driver door as a partial shield. Pedestrians fled in all directions. Crenshaw hovered over the battlefield on the back of a shark, directing his minions with his sword. He laughed at his enemy’s certain doom. The laughter stopped when Kathy started shooting. He turned to glare at the two women. He could still fight on two sides. Patty shot him in the head. She barely had to aim before she pulled the switch. The ghost lit up like a cartoon electrical shock gag before he hit the ground in a cloud of smoke. “Keep shooting the sharks.” Patty blasted two aiming for her before they could try to veer away from her blasts. “We have to make sure he can’t gain strength from them, or spread the damage around so he can keep fighting.” “Got it.” Kathy shot through a cascade, bagging a few with that one blow. Her lamp ticked a little to indicate it was getting full. She might have to dump it in the middle of the fight if she kept blowing up her enemies. She hoped she didn’t lose her car over this. The sharks would try to bite through the metal and plastic to get at her. She didn’t plan to let that happen. Patty stepped forward, shooting holes through any of the sharks in her way. Some of the bystander cars suffered wounds as the fish reacted in a frenzy. Some of them turned on her with empty eye sockets. She kept firing to give them something to chew on. Dr. Hadron kept to the van. Every shot cleared a phantom away from him. He reached into the van and pulled out a set of eight storage lamps with one hand. He put that on the ground as he waited for the right chance to drop Crenshaw. “I’m tired of you meddlers.” Crenshaw stood. He grimaced as he floated off the ground. “You should have stayed in New York, Hadron. It’s time for you to join your friends.” “You’re going to have to deal with me first,” said Patty. She shot at him, but one of the sharks dove in front of the bolt. It kept flying, but there was a hole through it. “I don’t see why not.” Crenshaw pointed his sword at her. “Have at her.” All the sharks turned to face Patty as they cruised through the air. Rotten teeth revealed themselves. They swarmed in with mouths wide open. Patty backed up, firing as she went. Holes appeared in the ghosts as they came on. She was going to get her head bitten off. She could see it. Maybe she shouldn’t have persuaded the others to help her get the real Lamplighters involved. Dr. Hadron fired from the side, punching hole after hole, busting smaller fish. He hefted the lamps in one hand as he walked over. His other hand held his weapon and pushed the activating button without too much trouble. Kathy fired from the cover of her car. She wasn’t leaving it to be chewed up by Crenshaw’s fishes. She still had a year’s worth of payments on it. Sirens preceded the appearance of four of San Francisco’s finest. They got out of their cars with guns drawn. They looked at the flying sharks and took cover. Some of the sharks broke off and smashed through the light bars and roofs of the police cars. One of the policemen stared at the damage and burst into screaming expletives in the air. He turned and shot at the sharks with bullets. Nothing happened except one of his targets turning to do a charging bite on his head. Kathy blasted it with a half turn and trigger pull. “Get out of here!” Kathy waved her hand at them. “Go write tickets.” A SUV arrived at the other end of the street. Jean jumped out from behind the steering wheel. She turned. Lin handed her the multiple barrel device she had picked as her weapon. Blue flames cut through the air. Lin dropped down behind her. She grabbed her own carbine and shot at any shark that came close. Their surprise appearance cut a swath through the school. Crenshaw grabbed one of his sharks by the dorsal fin. It carried him along. He whistled for the rest of his monsters to join him in retreat. “You don’t get to walk away.” Patty shot his ride until it found itself confined in her lamp. “I’m done chasing your dead butt around the city.” She walked forward. Blue flames drove the sharks away from her as she advanced. Crenshaw jumped to his feet with his sword in hand. He stabbed at her as she pulled the switch on her blaster. His sword broke into pieces as the fire ate at his body. Patty ignored the sharks around her. They weren’t important. Their leader was. He had to go to stop the damage they caused incidentally to their robberies. She poured on the blue flame, soaking him in it. Other streams of blue energy joined Patty’s. They ripped Crenshaw into pieces as he was converted into psychic energy and captured in the various lamps. He screamed as he went. The green fog lightened as the Lamplighters readied to deal with the remaining sharks. The glowing fish slipped out of sight, becoming one with the ether. The mist boiled away. “Which one of you want to explain this to the cops?” Dr. Hadron gestured at the policemen still hiding behind their police cars. “I’ll do it.” Patty slung her rifle. “How hard can it be?” //74281

Blue Flame Over San Francisco 9 2015- The four recruits assembled in the conference room set up in the Lamplighter building. Dr. Hadron had already taken the head of the table. He had a tool kit and a jumble of parts in front of him. The police had held Patty and Jean for a few hours over the destruction of The Pearl jewelry store. They had finally let the women go after reviewing the video tape from the store’s camera. The standard warning not to leave town had been applied. Patty had fumed over the delay, but she didn’t have a next move. At least the scanner and lens finder had worked. They just had to be close enough to target before they could confront Crenshaw and his sharks. “What did we learn?” Dr. Hadron slipped a memory card in place before applying a welder to another part of the thing he was working on. “Crenshaw’s sharks have to go,” said Jean. “They draw fire, get in the way when we shoot at him, provide him transport, and can bite through brick.” “They divert the blue flame.” Patty slumped in her chair. She brushed her brown hair back from her ear. “If we shoot at him, he spreads the flame out to the sharks.” “So what do we do now?,” asked Dr. Hadron. He started putting the pieces of his work together carefully as he waited for his employees to suggest things. Three of the women looked at the dejected Patty. She looked back without a clue. She paused before speaking. What could they do against Crenshaw? “Let me get a drink from the fridge.” Patty stood. “You guys want something?” The group no caused her to nod before she left the room. “That lens worked great.” Jean smiled. “Patty said shark fins were in the air before Crenshaw attacked.” “Riding the ether.” Dr. Hadron nodded. “The city is full of energy. Spirits and certain types of monsters can use it to move invisibly along the lines. Some of them use dead end pools to feed themselves on negative emotion. The more turbulence between positive and negative, the more things can materialize in our world.” “How does that apply to Crenshaw?,” asked Kathy. “He’s using these lines to surf across the city?” “And as cover.” Lin looked down at her small hands. “As long as he is inside the dragon lines, we can’t get at him, and he can’t affect the real world.” “So we have to catch him in the real world, without the sharks.” Kathy made an eye roll. “That sounds like a tough row to hoe.” “If we catch him on the ground, he already knows he can roll over any two of us pretty easily,” said Jean. “The Gatling chewed his guys up, but they still kept coming.” “So we have to upgrade our weapons, find Crenshaw, catch him in the act.” Dr. Hadron closed his one eye as he considered. He had hoped his employees would come up with a scheme on their own. He wouldn’t be there to hold their hands forever. He had his own ghosts to fry in New York. “Can you get us a helicopter?,” said Patty from the doorway. She sipped from a can of orange Kickstart. “I have an idea we can use to get things done.” “What’s the idea?,” asked Dr. Hadron. His fingers packed up his tool kit. “The lens finders and scanners will show us where the sharks are.” Patty sipped her drink. “The helicopter will let us search the city so we can track him down faster than driving across the city in our cars.” “How do we catch him?,” asked Lin. “He’s stood up to our weapons.” “He’s only stood up to two of us.” Patty finished her drink. “Not all of us. We need concentrated fire on the sharks while the rest goes into Crenshaw.” “How many sharks are we talking about here?,” asked Kathy. “He might be able to overwhelm the lamps if he can pull up more ghost minions than we can safely drain off.” “We need a way to hold as many of the sharks as we can, which means bigger lamps than the ones that go with the weapons we carry now,” said Patty. The idea had seemed workable when the first drop of energy had hit her brain. “We can rig extra storage capacity in our storage lamps.” Dr. Hadron folded his hands together. “Then all we have to do is put Crenshaw in one of them.” “Scanners and lenses?,” asked Patty. “They can be tweaked for range.” Dr. Hadron nodded. “We still won’t be able to attack Crenshaw while he is in the line.” “We don’t need to.” Patty smiled. “We just have to all be there when he does attack which we will from the scanners. The helicopter will allow us to patrol and watch the lines from the air. The only obstacle I see is how do we get down once we see a robbery happening.” “The helicopter will have to be able to land unless you ladies know how to rappel from anchor points.” Dr. Hadron looked around. Kathy smiled at him. “Of course you know how to rappel.” “Top of the class,” Kathy said. “Let’s take another look at where he hit and what he took,” said Patty. “That will help narrow down the targets.” “All right,” said Dr. Hadron. “Anything else?” “Can the weapons be tweaked like the scanners?,” asked Patty. “The carbine didn’t do that much.” “Miss Lopez and I will work on that.” Dr. Hadron stood. “She’s going to need to be able to do that when I’m not around to show you how it’s done.” “I guess the three of us will hit the Internet and see what we can do to predict where Crenshaw will hit next.” Patty shrugged. “I need another Kickstart.” “Where would I go if I was a dead pirate?,” said Kathy. She stood. “Maybe I would head upstate, or across the line into Oregon.” “Really?,” said Lin as she stood. “Why?” “So I can enjoy the surf,” said Kathy. “Let’s go.” Patty smiled as she headed for their workspace. Computers had been set up for them to use for research. She doubted they would stumble over something useful, but it was better than doing nothing while they waited for Jean and Dr. Hadron to get done. “We need a white board.” Kathy indicated the clear wall. “That way we can write something down for everyone to look at while we’re working on a case.” “I’ll get us one.” Patty nodded. “Maybe we can rig up a big television so we can put our monitor stuff on the big screen.” “That would be great for movie night.” Kathy turned her computer on. “That would be better than the tiny television I have at home.” “I could work on courses from here.” Lin almost smiled. She flipped the switch for her station. “I could get my license.” “I could look at dirty pictures,” said Patty. She turned her on desktop on. “Unfortunately we have to stop our marauder before he does something permanent to some bystander in his way.” “He wrecked that place good,” said Kathy. “You guys did something good to run the guy off.” “We lucked out.” Patty shook her head. “At least Jean blew some of the sharks up with her cannon.” “All right,” said Lin. “The newspaper has a list of places Crenshaw hit. Some of them deal with exotic jewelry from the descriptions.” “How exotic?” Patty searched for The Pearl. How unique was the shop? “They claim to deal with material from the ocean.” Lin frowned at the screen. “Gold and silver are recovered from the Pacific and refashioned into new jewelry.” “Sounds like a scam to me,” said Kathy. “The Pearl’s web site says they specialize in pearls and sea stones,” said Patty. “Crenshaw is hitting places that are dealing in things from the ocean.” “How many stores are left?,” asked Kathy. “That might be just what we need to set our trap.” “Three here in the city, then other branches in other cities.” Lin rubbed an eyebrow with her finger. “This is a pretty niche thing right now.” “This reminds me of the animal smuggling ring busted by the Mark Girls.” Kathy leaned back in her chair. “Remember, those goofs were bringing in giant otters as pets.” “Then they went on a rampage.” Patty nodded. “Is Crenshaw robbing places to find something pulled up from the sea? It’ll be hard to prove with his record.” “Doesn’t matter, Patty,” said Kathy. “He tried to kill you and Jean. He has to pay for that.” “Let’s have those three shops.” Patty walked over to Lin’s machine. “He’s going to hit one in the next few days. We have to be ready to take him when he does.” “Do you think we can?,” asked Lin. “Yes, we can.” Patty smiled. “We just need an edge.” “Let’s see if Jean and the Doc have our guns ready to go,” said Kathy. “We’ll need them to handle our business.” “You’re right.” Patty shut down her station. “Let’s get this done.” Kathy and Lin exchanged a look. They followed Patty from the room. They went down to the shop quietly. Dr. Hadron and Jean had their things in pieces on the work tables. “We think he’s going to hit one of these three places.” Patty held up the folded piece of paper. “How long do you think we have?” “At least until dawn.” Dr. Hadron twisted a screw in place. “That’s when the lines will surge.” “That’s when he can come back to reality?,” asked Kathy. “The lines will lend him enough to manifest.” Dr. Hadron put the carbine back together with short moves. “The extent of his power will be impossible to gauge until we put a scanner on him.” “We’ve added bigger gauges to the barrels.” Jean smiled. “Once we light Crenshaw up, he will have holes punched through him as big as watermelons.” “What about the sharks?,” asked Lin. She didn’t seem enamored of the bigger cannons. “They’ll fry,” said Jean. She tapped her baby with one hand. “They’ll blow up on contact.” “The problem is how much can Crenshaw divert to the sharks to keep from being drained and imprisoned.” Dr. Hadron fitted a new electronic piece to Kathy’s long gun. He weighed it with his hands. “He’s learned some new tricks since we put him down.” “How did you catch him the last time?,” asked Lin. “We set up and caught him in a crossfire,” said Dr. Hadron. “Dyson had an experimental grenade launcher that ripped Crenshaw apart. We burned him before he got away from being blown up.” “No idea how he got out on the street?,” asked Kathy. The question implied the Lamplighters had not been as thorough as they had thought. “No,” said Dr. Hadron. “We think he is able to use the lines to resurrect himself when he is captured.” “That means he can get away from us if we stop him,” said Lin. “I don’t like that at all.” “How long between resurrections?,” asked Patty. “Five, six years,” said Dr. Hadron. “If we knew where he had died, we could do something to get his bones and bless them.” “You think that will do anything?,” asked Jean. “The guy likes siccing his pets on people.” “It’s the best shot at stopping him for good instead of throwing him in a jail he can get out of when the stars are right.” Dr. Hadron put the next weapon together with practiced ease. “But that is out of our reach,” said Patty. “We have to concentrate on what we can do here in the city. Maybe we can ask Dr. Craft to search for Crenshaw’s bones with his Robot Rangers.” “Stan would like a challenge.” Dr. Hadron almost smiled. “Finding a wreck in the middle of the Atlantic would suit his sense of history.” “Let’s test these babies and see how they do.” Jean put her own weapon together. “We want to make sure they don’t blow up when we go to work.” “They won’t,” said Dr. Hadron. “The lamps will blow up before the rifles.” “We need to work on the storage lamps next.” Jean slung her Gatling. “That will be easier than adjusting the rifles.” Dr. Hadron picked up a square carbine and slung it over his shoulder. The group grabbed lamps and headed for the range on the roof. They plugged the weapons into the lamps and the range computer. Dr. Hadron hit the switch. Patty jumped out ahead, but Dr. Hadron was right behind her snapping off shots with ease. The others chased after them. The range computer dinged rapidly as they reached the three hundred mark. “That’s a lot better than the first time you guys tried out.” Dr. Hadron unplugged his carbine from its lamp. “Let me work on the storage lamps, then we can set up on those stores.” “We won’t be able to get a helicopter, will we?,” asked Jean. “Nope.” Dr. Hadron shrugged. “We’ll have to come up with something else.” //72507

Blue Flames Over San Francisco 2015- 7 Patty paused at the stop sign. She looked both ways. The street was empty. Where were the glowing lines that should be there? Shouldn’t she be able to see even a spark? “This survey stuff sucks,” said Jean. She had the passenger seat pushed all the way back and the seat back lowered so she was almost lying down. “There should be a faster way to track spooks down than triangulation.” “We’re almost done checking things over.” Patty smiled. She turned right. “The wolf pack was a good first test. We cracked them in record time.” “Hadron hasn’t figured out how that rock works.” Jean pulled her shades down to cover her eyes so she could drowse in her seat when they weren’t talking. “I’m glad he put it in a lamp in the vault. Who knows what would happen if it wasn’t kept away from air.” “It would probably put another pack out in the middle of the building.” Patty slowed as she inspected the street. Nothing stood out to her. “At least we don’t have any other ghosts secured yet.” Jean turned her face to the door. “They might band together to take us on.” “Do you think Dr. Hadron is right?” Patty paused at the next stop sign. “Do you think we can beat Crenshaw?” “We have to get to one of his targets before he can evaporate.” Jean shrugged. “He doesn’t need a base, or transportation. That limits the way we can do things.” “These surveys don’t seem that useful.” Patty turned left. She was working her way down towards the water. Crenshaw had hit several places along the waterfront. That seemed natural since he was a pirate. The scanner buzzed in the back seat. Patty pulled to the curb to look at the reading. She frowned at the six on the screen. Crenshaw was rated an eight. This couldn’t be him. She looked around. They were in a small part of the city dealing with jewelry and money. One of the stores was named the Pearl. “Let me have the range finder, Jean,” said Patty. She held out her hand for the device. “We have something we should check before we move on.” She took the lens and stepped out of the car. She looked through the device and smiled. The strange lines and mist didn’t bother her. She spotted a shark fin cutting the air before sinking out of sight as if it was submerging in water. Patty nodded. This could be the place. Patty held the lens to her eye again. Lines of force flowed along the street. Some of it washed against the stores and their doors. The lines turned away from places that looked shoddy and unkept. She decided that was Feng Shui in action. She didn’t know how to help the ailing businesses. That was out of her hands. She had to worry about the one store that Crenshaw might have interest in. She handed the lens back and went to the hatch on the back of her car. She opened it and extracted her work overall. She slipped that on, glad she had worn her tennis shoes instead of the slippers she preferred. “What are you doing?,” asked Jean from the front seat. She straightened her seat and looked through the car at her friend. “Are you getting your gun?” “This is the place,” said Patty. She opened the case holding her rifle. She opened the case for the lamp. “Call the others and tell them to come over here.” “Are you sure?,” asked Jean. She got out of the car. “Why here?” “Because it’s a pearl.” Patty smiled. She put the rifle together with minimum effort. She plugged it into the lamp, and lit the flame. Blue fire danced in the cylinder. “We need those hard hats Dr. Hadron promised.” “Are we really going to set up an ambush at this place?,” said Jean. She pointed to the small shop. “Yes,” said Patty. She slung the rifle so she had free use of her hands. “Please call the others. Crenshaw might show up at any time.” “Let me change first.” Jean pulled her folded overall out and put it on. She opened her weapon case and twisted the pieces together. She hooked the multiple barrel weapon to its lamp and draped the sling over her shoulder. She hung the lamp from her waist before pulling on gloves. “The Pearl?” “Yes,” said Patty. “He might not show up today, but he’s coming. His sharks are in the air.” “Sharks.” Jean pulled out her phone. “What is it with pirates and sharks?” Patty shrugged. She closed the hatch on her car and shut the doors. She walked across the street to the store. She doubted that professional courtesy was involved in any personal relationships. She inspected the outside of the store before going in. If they missed Crenshaw, maybe the type of building was a clue in where he was picking his attacks. Was he going after particular places by anything other than the loot they held? The flow she had noted might be what he was using to make his selection. She noted the Pearl had bars over the doors and windows. She pulled on the door. It was locked to keep people like her out of the building. She rang a doorbell to be let in. The manager might not want to listen to her. The best she could do was warn him. If Crenshaw attacked, normal people didn’t have a chance against him. His sharks ripped things in half with their bites. The door buzzed to let Patty in. She stepped inside and looked around. The two men looked at her with the sure knowledge that they weren’t going to sell this woman anything from the cases. “Hi, I’m Patty Page.” She smiled to put them at their ease. “I’m a new hire for the Lamplighters. We’re trying to find the Shark Thief and I think your place is the perfect place for him to strike.” The explanation didn’t improve the two men’s expressions. They frowned at her in silence for several seconds. “I know it sounds incredible.” Patty frowned. How did she break through to them? “I think you’re going to be hit next.” “I think we should call the police, Phil,” said one of the suits. “That should keep our shop safe.” Phil reached for the company phone on the counter. Patty frowned. They were calling the police on her. How did she change their minds? The buzzer went off. Jean stood outside, waving the scanner. She pointed at the screen. She indicated her rifle next. “Gentlemen, you might want to go in the back.” Patty unslung her rifle. “Crenshaw is coming.” Mist crept across the jewelry store floor. It seemed to be seeping from under the front door. Fins appeared in the air as the three humans watched. “Get out!” Patty rushed to the front door. She pushed it open to let Jean into the store. “Kathy and Lin are on the way.” Jean pointed her cannon at the mist. “How do you want to handle this?” “We got to get Crenshaw out of here without wrecking the place.” Patty frowned as more and more fins appeared in the mist. “The place is too small for a fight.” “Let’s see what happens when I open up.” Jean sprayed small streams of blue fire into the green cloud. Some of it dispersed under the fire. “Not much.” “We have to wait for Crenshaw to show up.” Patty fired into the cloud to punch a hole for her to move through. “Take cover behind the counters.” Jean jogged to the closest counter and hopped over the top without breaking the glass top. She dropped on the other side and ducked down. She kept her cannon on the cloud as she waited. Patty pushed through the opening in the counters to get to the other side. She let the lid slam down while waving the employees out of the way. She didn’t have time to make them believe now. “The scanner’s going crazy, Patty.” Jean put the box away. “It won’t be long.” “We just have to keep him busy until the others get here.” Patty frowned. The sound of the sea hitting the beach drifted to her ears. “Aim for the sharks. We don’t want them thrashing around in here and wrecking things.” “Got it.” Jean took aim with her cannon. One trigger pull would spin the wheel of destruction into the cloud. Crenshaw appeared on the back of a shark. His out of date clothes were made from streamers of fog wrapping around his skeletal frame. Wild hair was forced back from his face by a bandana. Parts of flesh hung on to the skull as he looked around the room, laughing loudly. Sharks formed around him, swimming in the air. Giant chompers gnashed as tails brushed against the counter tops. “Take everything,” ordered Crenshaw, pointing at the counters with his sword. “The trove demands more tribute.” “Take this.” Patty blasted away with her blue flame, hoping the counter would protect her. Jean opened up with her own weapon from across the room. The crossfire sliced through the swarming sharks, dragging parts of them into storage as the fire swept through the sales area. Crenshaw laughed as he ducked away from the trail of fire. He dropped from the back of the shark as it went up in mist and smoke. “Lady Lamplighters?” The pirate couldn’t stop smiling. “You should know better than to try to get in my way.” Patty fired at him as Jean worked her way through the sharks. Once he was in the box, the rest would break up. Then his spree would be over until he broke out again. Crenshaw waved his sword. The sharks started taking bites out of the counters, charging the two Lamplighters for a piece of them. Patty dove to the floor as a ghost fish ripped through the counter above her. Jean backed up, firing into the ghosts. They forked around her as the blue flame ate at them. “Hadron should have known better to send amateurs after me.” Crenshaw advanced on the counter that had been butchered by his minions. He shook his head. “I think I’ll give you something to remember me by.” Patty rolled out of the way as his sword punched into the concrete floor. She blasted him with the rifle at point blank range. Part of the pirate vanished under the blue flame. He fell back from the blast with a howl. Jean ducked around the frenzied sharks to fire her cannon at the pirate. The flames ate at the ghost as she smiled. The guy was going down on their first fight. It didn’t get better than that. Crenshaw threw himself through the window of the store. He looked down at his fading body. He shook his sword at the women before calling a shark to carry him off. “He’s getting away with the loot.” Patty blasted at the sharks to clear them out of the way as she rushed to the door. “We have to stop him.” Jean followed, firing to clear some of the beasts out of her way. She stopped when she was directly behind Patty. She joined the other woman on the street. Crenshaw faded from sight, shaking his fist at his new enemies as he went. The sharks followed him. As the last tail vanished, the fog evaporated into the open air. “We had him, and he got away.” Patty gritted her teeth as she tried to get her emotions under control. “Not all of him,” said Jean. “Some of him and his fish are in the lamps.” “That doesn’t do us any good if we can’t use it to track him down.” Patty slung her rifle. “We screwed up. We had surprise on our side and he still got away with the jewels and gold.” “But he didn’t kill anybody this time.” Jean shook her head. “That has to be more important than goods.” “He’s a ghost.” Patty frowned. “What does he want with that stuff anyway?” “We’ll ask the Doc when we get back home.” Jean brushed back her short hair with a gloved hand. “We don’t know how much of a kink we put in his plans, but at least we know we can chase him off.” “Unless we trap him for good, or find out where he’s buried, he can keep coming back.” Patty walked to her car. She opened up the hatch. “We need to do better the next time we run into him.” “So you’re not giving up?” Jean smiled. “Heck no.” //70323

They're trying to look you in the eye. Sometimes they are wanting to bite your face off and can't reach. Sometimes they want to lick your face before they bite it off. Depends on the animal. CES

You can do everything you need except start writing. Come Halloween, it is on CES

I think you should, Hermit. I am doing the same for my own thread. CES

Blue Flames Over San Francisco 2015- 6 Green mist covered the yard. It seemed thickest around where the pool had been. Maybe something was producing the stuff from the bottom of the hole. Patty doubted it was coming from the bay. “I don’t see anything moving in the fog,” said Patty. “Kathy and I will move forward. Jean, get ready to shoot over us. Lin, I’m going to need you to hit anything that Jean misses.” “Why are we going out there?,” asked Lin. “Can’t we wait for it to come in after us?” “It might not.” Patty grimaced. “If we can’t take it right now, we might have to come back if we can figure out when it shows up. That might take months. We can’t wait that long. Kathy has the big gun, and I’m a pretty good shot. Once we get it out in the open, you two can wrap things up for us.” “It sounds okay,” said Jean. “Make sure to duck. I don’t want to kill you by accident.” “Good point,” said Patty. “Right, or left, Kathy?” “I’ll take the right,” said Kathy. She gestured at the corner of the yard next to the house. “That will put me in the triangle so Jean can’t shoot me in the back.” “All right,” said Patty. “Let’s do this before I decide to run.” Patty ducked around the door. She slid down the wall to the left corner formed by the house and fence. Kathy jogged to the opposite corner, long rifle pointing at the disturbance in the yard. Jean and Lin pushed to the edge of the glass doors, taking a side and bracing against the frames as they waited. Patty looked around. Nothing moved in the yard. She frowned. Something had to happen so they could get to business. She move forward, rifle ready to shoot. She had quick reflexes as far she thought about it. She doubted she was a quick draw like Wild Bill Hickok. She didn’t have to be. She just had to lure the thing out so the others could take care of business. The mist doubled up, cutting into her line of sight. The edges of the fence vanished in the green fog. She decided that what they were trying to take care of was doing it. What did it plan to do now that she was in the yard with it? She realized this was what the scanner and lens were designed to deal with. Too bad they were still in the house. Nothing to do about it now. She had to go with what she had at hand. She paused when she reached a point next to the pool. She couldn’t hear anything in the fog with her. She didn’t like that. Why had the others stopped talking? What did she do to move this forward? Why was nothing happening? Shouldn’t there be a ghost threatening her at the moment? “Do you want to talk?,” asked Patty. She looked around. She couldn’t see anything in the fog. “We were wondering why you were producing this green fog?” A low growl filled the air around her. She waited. Her rifle felt cold and slick in her hands. She decided that she should have worn gloves because of the sudden sweat in the palms of her hands. Could the others see her? She doubted it. She might have to drop once she started shooting with her pop gun. She didn’t want to get shot in the back. “I just wanted you to know that we’re setting up as Lamplighters,” said Patty. “You’re going to have to quit haunting this house and move on to some other spot.” Growling answered her words. She looked around. Spots floated in the fog. Was she standing in the middle of a wolf pack? What did she have to do to get out of this? Maybe she should have sent Jean out with her cannon. She smiled. Jean wouldn’t like this. “What comes next?,” asked Patty. “I don’t have all night. Dr. Hadron seems to think we should deal with you and move on to the next training exercise. I think you can clear up out of here if you don’t mind.” The sparks multiplied as she turned in a circle. It sounded like buzzsaws all around her. She decided that maybe she should retreat. She couldn’t see the house. She decided that it would be good to have a wall to her back. She decided that a wall wouldn’t stop a real ghost, but it would make her feel better while she was defending herself. “This is my last warning.” Patty started backing away from the pool. “Don’t make me light you up.” Things with too many teeth appeared to match the glowing sparks in the fog. They glared at Patty as they slowly advanced. It was time for food. This one should last for months. A shape emerged from the pool. It was another wolf, but ten times as big. Teeth jutted out of its muzzle the length of Patty’s forearm. Its growl shook the yard as it looked at Patty retreating from the pool. “I guess we can’t be friends.” Patty pulled the trigger on her rifle as she backed up from the crowd. The lamp bouncing against Patty’s leg glowed brighter with every shot that connected with a target. The struck pack member vanished partially from the impact. She understood Dr. Hadron’s warning as she backed up. The weapons turned their targets into energy that fed the lamps. Trying to absorb too much would blow the lamps up. She had to get back to the shelter of the house if she wanted to keep working as a Lamplighter. The things were trying to surround her. She couldn’t let them cut her off while she was out in the open. She heard a whine and smiled. Jean was getting into the action. That was good. Maybe the big gun would give her cover to get back to the house. Light streams of blue fire ripped through the green mist. They didn’t seem as bright as Patty’s own, but there were so many of them cutting the air. She backed up as the spray sliced across the yard. The wolf pack rushed the house to cut off the hose. Kathy shot the biggest one with her rifle. The beam lit up the yard as the wolf howled. The pack paused at the sound of pain from their leader. She fired again as the green monster plunged toward her. The blast sucked the wolf into the ether as smoke drifted around the long gun. Patty fired bursts as she broke out of the fading fog. She looked around. The fog was streamers fading away. She shot the pool as she hit the wall. A column of water blasted up from the bowl in the ground. She wiped the sweat off her face with the back of her hand. That hadn’t seemed so tough. She hated having to put down dogs, but she didn’t want to be bit by something resembling Cujo. Kathy smiled as she cradled the rifle in her arms. “You vanished for a few seconds,” said Kathy. “We don’t separate during future jobs.” “Sounds like a good rule to me,” said Patty. She slung her shorter rifle. “Did we get them all?” “I hope so.” Kathy walked to the back door. “I could feel the snapping of teeth and bad breath when I shot the big dog.” “You shot the brain.” Patty smiled. “That was a good call.” “There’s an aiming lens on the top of the rifle.” Kathy indicated the piece of equipment. “It helps screen out some of the weirder stuff so you can shoot at something.” “I don’t have one of those.” Patty sniffed. “Why do you get all the cool toys?” “Cause I’m fabulous.” Kathy grinned at her friend. “Someone might want to make sure the area is clear.” Dr. Hadron stood with his hands behind his back. “We don’t want something attracted by the firefight to try to take up residence now that the old resident is stuffed and cuffed.” “I got that.” Jean smiled. She grabbed the psychic lens and headed for the door. “I’ll be right back.” “Go with her, Lin.” Patty smiled. “She might do something reckless without you around to keep her in check.” “Keep her in check?,” Lin said as she jogged after her friend. “All right, ladies.” Dr. Hadron picked up the scanner. “I have to do some readings before we go. You’ll have to write the experience up when we get back to base. I’ll send the reports back to Janie in the morning.” Patty unslung her rifle as she followed him into the yard. They had stopped something in the enclosed space. Was it permanently gone? Would they have to keep coming back to deal with the problem? Dr. Hadron pointed the scanner into the pool. He studied the screen with his one eye. He squinted at the reading. “Hold this.” He handed the unit to Patty. He pulled a knife from his pocket and opened it. He knelt and probed the bottom of the bowl with the point. He pried up a small emerald gem out of the concrete. He placed the gem in a small plastic bag and put it into his pocket. He put the knife away. “What’s that?” Kathy stood behind Patty and Dr. Hadron. She indicated the gem with a finger. “I think it’s the cause of the wolf problem.” Dr. Hadron held out his hand for the scanner. He looked at the screen and nodded at the number. “The background radiation is down. It looks like our job is done here.” “How did you get onto this, Doc?,” said Kathy. One eyebrow was higher than the other as she waited for an explanation. “A friend of mine did surveys for me.” Dr. Hadron carried the scanner into the house. “This place was marked out on his readouts as a likely source of energy. The fence helped keep the wolves in, but anyone walking into the yard might have triggered what we saw.” “How dangerous were those things?,” asked Kathy. “Who knows?,” said Dr. Hadron. He put the scanner in its case. “Basic research indicated a lot of pet deaths when residents were here.” “So we could have been killed,” asked Kathy. “Yep.” Dr. Hadron nodded. “Good thing you weren’t. Janie would be mad as a hatter after all the work we did to get you set up.” “That would be too bad,” said Kathy. “I know.” Dr. Hadron walked out of the house with scanner case and empty box in hand. He paused to look for Jean and Lin. “It couldn’t have been that dangerous,” Patty said. She looked down at the rifle and lamp. “He didn’t draw a weapon for himself.” “Or he’s gone crazy since...,” Kathy waved her hand at her face. “You know.” Patty nodded. The reports on the last case had been written by Janie Hillsmierer after the fact. Dr. Hadron had been in the hospital, getting over losing his eye and part of his hand. It looked like he had never gotten over losing the eye. She didn’t blame him for trying to scare them off after facing something that could have been extremely dangerous and killed them before they got started. “Let’s stow this gear,” Patty said. “We’ll have to write our reports about this and I don’t know what to say.” “I know what mine is going to say,” said Kathy. “Patricia Page triggered ghost wolves that the rest of us had to shoot for her so she wouldn’t be mauled to death.” “I don’t think it was like that at all.” Patty shrugged. She led the way out of the house. “I think that they were protecting their range, whatever that was.” “If you say so,” said Kathy. She went back inside to check if the back door was closed before coming back to the front and locking the front up so they could leave. “All right, ladies.” Dr. Hadron took the range finder from Jean and packed it up. “You’re carrying a charge from all the ghost energy you drained. If you turn off the lamps, the ghost wolves might escape to go back to hunting.” “So what do we do about it?,” asked Lin. She looked down at the lamp burning at her hip. “Disconnect the weapons and pack them up.” Dr. Hadron gestured with a hand. “Hand over the lamps.” The assembled lamps were put in the van. Green fog mixed with the blue flame inside the plastic faces. Dr. Hadron inserted each lamp one at a time into a bigger lamp he had taken from its spot between the front seats. The green fog rushed into the bigger lamp and lit it up. “This lamp gets loaded into the big lamp back at the building.” Dr. Hadron locked the lamp down in the van floor. “Never carry ghost energy longer than you have to. If you think you’re going to be on a big job, bring as many of the storage lamps as you think you’ll need and dump your working lamps as often as you can.” “Will they overload?,” asked Patty. She started taking her weapon apart to be stored. “They’re made to hold one twenty, so you can store a lot of the smaller numbers in one lamp.” Dr. Hadron indicated the top of the lamp. “If this strip turns read, don’t put any more ghosts in the storage lamp. Get a new one.” “That’s good to know.” Jean looked at the house one last time. “Was that it? Will the house be clear from now on?” “You’ll have to do a survey later, but I think I have the culprit here.” Dr. Hadron showed her the jewel he had dug up. “I have a feeling this was acting as some kind of booster.” “So there might be someone behind the wolf pack.” Lin grimaced at the thought. “A monster making monsters.” Dr. Hadron put the jewel away. “Hopefully you ladies have crimped up his plans.” They finished packing up so they could drive home and work on finishing the rest of the duties involved with their job. //68203