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Image Credit: Modified from Quizilla.Teennick.com - Eden. ~Landing

Author's Note: There is no connection between the novel by Harlan Ellison and my story except perhaps that we both just chose something simple that describes the story. :)

This is a fan fiction, the Whateleyverse and all canon characters are the property of their respective writers. If you find your life being depicted in this story you it is purely accidental and you have a hell of a lot more to worry about than suing me. No canon characters have been hurt in the writing of this story...yet.

Many thanks to GinnCaster5 for the editing help, without Ginn this story would probably be unreadable. And to Sleethr and beyogi for their read through.

This is a Whateley Academy fan fiction story, you can find the Whateley stories at http://www.crystalhall.org/ I highly recommend them. ~Landing

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Chapter 14
 

I was losing. I was losing big time. In all my years, I had never lost in such a situation, but it seemed that fate had conspired against me.

“Ooh, that’s enough Brook; I can’t eat another bite, you win!” I groaned to my victorious friend, my stomach feeling uncomfortably full.

“Wimp, you’ve hardly gotten through half of it and you’re already giving up.”

I scowled at her. She was still wolfing down on her own Anthony’s Monster Burger along with a side order of fries. “This time doesn’t count, so you can cut it out already and stop forcing it down. You’ve almost eaten the whole monster as it is.”

“I’m hungry,” said Brook, blushing slightly at her appetite. “And I see no reason this time doesn’t count. You just don’t like losing.”

“You have an unfair advantage!”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“I’m a girl now!” I said, lowering my voice so others wouldn’t overhear.

“Hardly seems like an unfair advantage since I’ve always been one,” she said dryly.

Damn her, bringing logic into the argument. I decided to get the rest of my burger put in a doggie bag, and mentally reminded myself to hide it from one doggie in particular. Harvard loved Anthony’s signature meal and many a burger had disappeared from their plate when the owners grew inattentive.

Brook finally pushed the remains of her meal aside and sighed.

“What’s up Brook?” I asked, catching a troubled tone to her exhalation.

She avoided my eyes as she played with the hem of her skirt. “I... I have something I want to tell you Adam. I’ve wanted to tell you this for a long time; I just never had the courage, but you almost died yesterday, and I realized this afternoon that I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I never let you know,” she looked up, meeting my eyes with an intense gaze. “I like you Adam; I always have. There, I said it.”

“When you say 'like', you mean…”

“I mean really like you.”

“Oh.”

“Did you, do you like me too?” asked Brook hopefully.

“Of course!”

I know I had a silly grin on my face, and I felt excitement rising in my heart before it suddenly sank. “But what about… this,” I said, helplessly gesturing towards my new feminine body.

Brook gave another sigh, and her eyes grew troubled. “I know, that’s where things get confusing.”

“You don’t like girls,” I said in a matter-of-fact tone. She had been teased before by the other kids saying she was gay because she was such a tomboy. But she had always angrily denied it, and I knew for a fact that she liked guys.

“I... I don’t know,” she said, surprising me. “I had thought that I only liked boys but… I’m just not sure. When we were at the mall today, I tried looking at girls to see if there was anything there, and I just don’t know. It’s just all so confusing; I don’t know what to think anymore.”

“Does that mean we have a chance together?” I asked, my hope rising.

“I just don’t know Adam, I mean Eden, sorry.”

I waved away the slip of the tongue.

“Everything has happened so fast lately. I might be okay with liking girls, at least if you’re going to be stuck as one, but I don’t know if I truly do or not. I think I need some time to figure it all out.”

“Well,” I said, feeling confused myself, “You don’t have to decide anything right away, and maybe once I get up to this school, I’ll find someone that can help me get back to the real me and there won’t be this problem.”

“Thanks, Eden. I know I shouldn’t have dumped this all on you, but I didn’t want anything to happen to you and leave me never having said anything.”

I was feeling mixed emotions; on the one hand, I was elated. The hottest girl in my school, at least to my mind, my best friend since I was young, really ‘liked’ me. I had never felt so excited about something in my life. But on the other, I was incredibly worried. What if I could never turn back into a guy? Would Brook still like me that way? And I was going to have to leave for this new school pretty soon; what if she found someone else she liked better? I had to find a way to change back! That was the first step.

I reached out and took hold of Brook’s hand. “We’ll work everything out, Brook. I’m really glad you told me. I always wanted to tell you how I felt, but I thought there was no way I would ever have a chance with you.”

Brook smiled at me. “You’re so stupid, Ed…”

“HEY BITCH!”

We turned at the loud and slightly slurred remark coming from behind us. I groaned. Great, this was just what I needed, as if the heavens had decided I was having too good a time of it, they had sent Ken Lancaster to see to it that things went to the ‘oh crap’ state I seemed to be stuck in. I was pleased to see at least that he had one black eye, though if that was from my punch or Brooks book attack, I didn’t know.

“Ya got me SUSPENDED! You WHORE!”

“Go away Ken, you’re drunkl you’re only going to get yourself in trouble,” said Brook.

“Fuck you bitch!” he shouted before taking in our clasped hands. “I knew you was a fucking dyke, just like your friend Adam is a little fucking sissy faggot. Hey everyone! Look at the little dykes!”

Brook went pale and hastily yanked her hand out of mine. Everyone in the little diner had gone silent, and when I looked around, I saw many people with unhappy or even angry expressions. I prayed that people were upset by a drunken guy harassing a couple of girls and it wasn’t a case of Texas bigotry.

“Shut your face, Lancaster!” I shouted right back at him, my hands balling into fists.

“Shud’up little whore, I’m talking to your dyke friend right now,” he said, walking over to lean on the edge of our table. “You tell your little fag friend Adam that I’m going to rip his face off the next time I see him, he’s goin’ ta go to the hospital wif his head stuck up his ass.”

“Hey! I told you to shut up!” I said, and since he still ignored me, I slammed my balled-up fist down on his hand where it supported him on our table.

“Ow! Bitch, that hurt!” he said, yanking up his injured hand and shaking it.

Unfortunately when he did that, he knocked me in the head and my glasses went flying. I had time to catch one startled and angry glance from Brook before I slammed my eyes closed. Fuck! I did not need everyone to know I was a mutant, and glowing copper eyes would be a dead giveaway. I got on my hands and knees and started groping in the direction I thought I had heard them land.

“You prick, my friend can’t see without her glasses!” yelled Brook. Smart girl, she had thought up an explanation for why I was groping around like a blind man faster than I could. Still, I heard people starting to grumble and get up around us. I had to hope it was because they thought they witnessed a guy hit a girl rather than because they saw a mutant with flashlights for eyes.

“Fucking hell! Her eyes, they…” Ken started to say before I heard a solid thwack of flesh meeting flesh, and then the thuds of someone falling against a table, then crashing to the floor.

There was a moment of silence before everyone in the diner seemed to start talking and moving at the same time. I heard several exclamations of ‘Damn!’ and “Did you see that!’ above the generally hubbub and I was growing desperate to see what had happened. I felt a hand on my back and stiffened, preparing to jump to the side in case the diner had suddenly turned into a mutant lynch mob.

“Here little miss, I got your glasses,” said an older voice that could have fit the bill for someone riding with John Wayne.

I reached up blindly and felt the coolness of the metal frames placed in my hand. I fumbled with them for a second, not used to them, before I had them settled on my face properly. I squinted one eye open, and when people didn’t start screaming I figured my glasses must still be working.

The man who had handed them to me smiled warmly down at me. My assessment of his voice had been right on the mark because he could have played the part of any elderly cowboy Hollywood had on offer. His face was strong, weathered, most likely from a life out of doors, and had laugh lines at the corners of his sparkling brown eyes. He was tall and thin, and if he was playing in Hollywood, he wasn’t either the villain, dressed all in black, or the hero dressed in white; instead he wore earth tones, and his old cowboy hat was brown and weather-beaten.

“Ya got a good girlfriend there, miss. She took that bully out with one punch. Good thing too, or I would have gotten my chance to tan his hide.”

I turned around to see Ken Lancaster laid out on the floor, amongst a broken table and chairs, dead to the world. Brook looked alright, if a little bit stunned but people were quickly converging on us.

Oh great, as if things couldn’t get worse, we were going to get arrested for assault! I quickly thanked the old gentleman and hurried over to Brook just as a man in an Anthony’s uniform reached her.

“I’m so sorry miss! Are you alright? Did that drunk hurt you or your friend?” Translation: are we about to get sued?

“N-no I’m fine… Eden, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine too, I just lost my glasses.”

“We will of course call the police right away, and your meal is on the house. We wouldn’t think of charging you after what happened.”

“Uh, Do you have to?” I hastily asked.

“You want to pay? Of course, if that’s what you want, we will accept your money.”

“No, do you have to call the cops?” I clarified.

“Well, when there is an altercation on the premises we have to call the cops; it’s standard procedure.”

I shot a panicked look at Brook who also looked concerned at this turn of events.

“Now hold on a second, mister…” broke in the old cowboy who seemed to have followed me.

“James, I-I’m the night shift manager.”

“Mr. James, I don’t think we need to be troublin’ these girls with no law men. That will just complicate things.”

“But I have to call the police; I could get in trouble if I don’t!” whined the manager.

“Fine, fine, then what seemed to have happened here is that some drunk stumbled into your diner and passed out on a table. You can call them police to pick him up and let him sleep it off in a cell.”

“But…”

“I’m sure my good friend Anthony would hate to hear that a couple of young ladies were harassed in his diner. It would look bad for his business, besides upsetting him on moral grounds. He could get real upset if he found out someone let something like that happen when he wasn’t in.”

“I…” James, the weenie night manager, looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

“But now, he don’t have to hear about that at all, does he? We can just let him think that there was a little problem with a drunk, somethin’ that happens all the time,” said the old cowboy with a beatific smile on his face.

The weenie manager gulped and nodded his head.

“Good, if you don’t mind too much, ladies, I’ll see ya’s out to your car; don’t want no one else accostin' ya tonight.”

I grabbed the doggie bag, Harvard would never forgive me if I forgot that, and when we exited the diner, Brook and I both started to thank the old man for his timely intervention.

“Think nothing of it girls; just doin' what every gentleman should.”

“Do you really know Anthony?” I asked.

“Haha, nope. Never met him before in my life, but that little piss ant don’t know that,” said the cowboy.

We all grinned at that. When we got to Brook’s car, we stopped and turned to the old cowboy.

“Thanks again uh, sorry, we don’t even know your name.” said Brook.

“Name's John Tinkerton, but my friends just call me Tinkerton,”

“Well, thank you, Mr. Tinkerton…” Brook started.

“Now girl, I told you what my friends call me so you could use it yerself. I would be proud to be considered a friend to anyone who can deliver a hit like that.”

Brook blushed some, “Tinkerton then, thanks,”

“Yeah, thanks,” I added in.

He waved our acknowledgements aside with the swipe of one hand. “Like I said, it ain’t nothin’. You two take care of each other. Now I need to be off; see ya around,” he said, then, tipping his hat to us, walked away into the night.

“We were lucky,” said Brook as we both got into the car.

“Having Ken show up was lucky?”

“Well no, that wasn’t, but having Tinkerton help us was.”

She had a point. And man, what she did to Ken. I knew she was strong, she always had been but I was sure I would never have been able to do what she did when I was a boy. “Yeah, I guess, and you being able to take Ken out like that was something! One punch right to the chin, I wish I could have seen it.”

Brook seemed embarrassed. “I didn’t know what to do! I thought he was fixing to tell everyone about your eyes. I just had to stop him, so I hit him as hard as I could. I didn’t expect to knock him out!” exclaimed Brook as she pulled out of the parking lot.

“Don’t tell me it didn’t feel good to hit him just a little, though,” I teased.

“Okay, maybe,” she said, smiling a little.

“He will never be able to live it down at school, being KOed by a girl. He is going to be the laughing stock of the football team.”

“Yeah, when people hear at school…” said Brook, sounding slightly concerned.

“Is something wrong, Brook?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No, it’s nothing; don’t worry about it.”

~o~O~o~

It had turned dark and we were almost to my house, on Greendale Road to be exact. On either side of us, overgrown wooded areas blocked out the light from the town. Brook seemed to have shaken off whatever had upset her, and we were reminiscing about events in our misspent youth.

“You remember that time your brother was supposed to be watching us and we snuck away and hid in the closet? Your parents were about to be home and he was going frantic looking for us.”

“Oh yeah! The expression on his face after he told mom and dad he lost us, and then there we were playing video games when they looked in the den like nothing was wrong. “Gee mom, I don’t know what he’s talking about; me and Adam have been here all day.” Ha! We so got him that time!”

We were both giggling at the memory, when I noticed we weren’t going as fast.

“Is there something wrong?” I asked.

“No, the SUV in front of us is slowing down is all,” Brook said. She craned her neck to the side. “I’m not sure why, there aren’t any turnoffs on this part of the road. Maybe their kids are acting out or something.”

I looked up at the car. It was a white SUV and something about it tickled my memory. It was only when I saw a yellow ribbon bumper sticker that I thought of the vehicle Kent had believed was following us on the way back from the Watchers headquarters. But that was stupid, just as I said then, lots of people have those stickers on their cars; hell, the minivan Brook was driving right now had one on it. All the same…

“Brook, can you see if you can go around it?”

“Uh, yeah sure,” she said in a puzzled tone. She must have noticed a difference in the tone of my voice.

Brook put on her blinker and started to accelerate into the oncoming traffic lane to go around the SUV. She had to slam on the brakes though, since the SUV swerved to be in front of us.

“What the hell?” said Brook.

The SUV slowed, then came to a stop with the length of the car taking up both lanes of the road, forcing us to come to a stop as well.

“Oh come on!” yelled Brook as she laid on the horn.

“Brook!” I said sharply. “Back up and turn around!”

She looked at me, then slapped the minivan into reverse. But it was too late; the trap had already been sprung. Two more cars had pulled up behind us and blocked us in.

“Damn!”

I looked back at the white SUV in front of us and saw a number of men getting out of it.

“Brook! There are about five men coming towards us from the front!”

“There are even more getting out of those cars back here! What do we do?”

“There’s only one car in front of us; see if you can get out that way!” I said, reaching for my cell phone to call the police.

Brook slammed the car into drive and started burning rubber towards the white SUV, aiming to try and force her way past it on the left. Some of the men in that direction started to scatter, but at least one of them pulled out a shotgun and started shooting at us.

The window shattered, spraying glass at us as one of the shots hit home. I ducked down, and Brook yanked the steering wheel to the side, trying to avoid the gunshots. Behind us, I could hear more gun shots and yelling; other people must be firing at us from that direction, too. The car skidded to the side before the back end slammed into the SUV and snapped us around. With that momentum, we plowed down the steep ditch to the side and through the overgrown woods until, with a mighty crash, the car stopped moving.

~o~O~o~

Back at the Oakson’s household

Veronica and Carl were watching a show in the living room waiting impatiently for Eden and Brook to get back from their date. They had been furious when Kelly revealed that she really didn’t have homework but was instead trying to give Eden and Brook some time alone together. Carl didn’t like the idea of leaving Eden alone right now, no matter what assurances he had been given of her safety. He was worried too about what might happen between Eden and Brook. He had long suspected that Eden had feelings for Brook, and he wasn’t sure how everything that had happened would affect their relationship. But he had known Brook since she was a child, and he had decided to put his trust in the two’s friendship.

As the show ended and Carl flipped through the channels looking for something that wasn’t pre-scripted reality television, which was getting harder and harder to find these days, there was a sudden fierce and angry growling from upstairs that put shivers of primordial fear down their spines, and Harvard practically flew down the stairs, actually jumping over the rail about halfway down as he made a bee-line for the front door. He gave one final leap as he reached it and smashed through the glass inset, the shards exploding out like a glittering fountain around him.

Carl and Veronica scrambled to their feet and raced for the door, trying to understand what was wrong with Eden’s usually easy-going dog, but when they got to the door and looked out, Harvard was nowhere to be seen.

~o~O~o~

“Ow.” It wasn’t very original, but it summed up what I was feeling at that moment.

I waved my hand in front of my face, trying to clear the smoke or whatever it was away from me. I heard Brook groan next to me. “Are you alright?” I asked as I reached down and undid the seatbelt. Thank god I had been wearing it, or who knows what shape I would be in.

“Yeah, I’m fine. How are you doing?”

“I’m good too, but we should get out of here. It looks like the car is on fire; this smoke has to be coming from somewhere, and we still have those guys with guns behind us.”

“The smoke's just powder from the airbags deploying,” Brook said as she unbuckled her own seatbelt and forced her door open. “Let’s get out of here before those guys catch up to us.”

I got my door open with a hard shove and made my way over to Brook’s side. She was bent over by the open door and I grew worried.

“Brook, you sure you’re alright?”

She stood up and smiled grimly at me. “I was just grabbing something,”

She held up what I first took to be a tiny fire extinguisher before I got a closer look and notice the picture of a bear on it. “Bear repellent, a girl’s best friend in a bad situation,” she said.

I heard yelling and gunfire close by and grabbed Brook’s unencumbered hand, pulling her after me. “Let’s see if we can get out of here without your best friend needing to be used.”
Unfortunately, we didn’t get far before there was the sound of running feet and a shotgun being cocked behind us. “Hold it right there, you fucking mutant freak!”

We turned to see a wild-eyed middle-aged man dressed in ragged jeans and a cameo-print T-shirt, oh yeah, and a big gun pointed right at us.

“Fucking mutant!” He said 'mutant' like someone else would say 'garbage'. “You thought you could fucking turn our ambush into an ambush of your own, did you? Well, it doesn’t matter; I’m still going to take you out!”

I didn’t understand what he was talking about, and I didn’t think I was ever going to get the chance to as he raised his weapon and prepared to rip holes in my body with chunks of metal. But just as he fired, a form streaked out of the darkness and launched itself at him. He went down, his scream mixed with the sound of snapping teeth and horrible growls.

I stared in astonishment as Harvard, my sweet, lazy, and somewhat conniving dog savaged the man’s arm until he lost his shot gun. I snapped out of it and ran over to kick the weapon out of the man’s reach. With a final violent shake of his head, Harvard let go of the man and went to stand in front of me, still growling threateningly at the man.

“Harvard! Where did you come from!” I asked in amazement.

-I came from home,- he answered simply.

“But how did you get out here?”

-You needed me, so I came,- he said as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

Before I could try to get more of an answer, there was a scream of horror from Brook and the sound of her emptying her bear spray at something. I turned, and seeing what was menacing her, I let out my own scream. “Brook!”

Standing before her was the same monster I had seen while being held captive by the cult. Its body gleamed darkly in the moonlight, and tentacles writhed about its body. Brook was desperately shooting her bear repellent at its face, but that didn’t seem to be doing anything but annoy it.

Beside me Harvard let out another growl and launched himself at the monstrosity. “Harvard, no wait!” There was no way Harvard could be a match for the insect-like creature, he barely even came part way up to the things crablike legs. But as he leaped at the monster, to what I was sure was going to be his certain death, he began to change.

All along his body in intricate loops and patterns, runes started to burn. As the runes finished forming, Harvard’s body began to change shape. His fur receded and the skin underneath turned black. He then began to grow, his chest and neck becoming almost obscenely muscular and the rest of his body not much better off. He’s head would have been chest high to me if he were standing on the ground. His teeth lengthened to razor sharp points, and his eyes burned red. He crashed into the monster, and his own monstrous growls were mixed with the unearthly screeching of the monster.

The two of them tore the earth as they battled back and forth; the monster tried to hold Harvard with its tentacles, but Harvard savaged them with his teeth, severing two of them. Brook scrambled back out of their way, and I grabbed her and quickly pulled her back further. The monster bled from the wounds Harvard’s razor sharp teeth had given it, its stinking black blood covering the ground and the woods surrounding them. Harvard too was bleeding, and where his blood landed, the ground began to sizzle. Finally, Harvard managed to lock his jaws on the monster's neck, and no matter what it did, it could not dislodge him. Slowly, it lost it balance and fell over, Harvard staying with it down to the ground until it stopped twitching and lay still. Finally Harvard released his grip on the dead creature’s carcass and turned to face us.

***Finally! I, Cochul’relk’thultuland am free! You shall rue the day you tried to confine me! I shall bring death and woe to this world, I shall…***

I felt a cold chill down my spine. I knew that deep maddening voice; it was the voice of the demon that the cult had tried to give my body!

***I shall destroy all who stand in my way! I shall…***

What had been Harvard abruptly sat down, and the runes covering its body began to glow. He cocked his head, and as he did, the deep demonic voice began to grow shriller and shriller until it was a normal if somewhat squeaky voice.

***I shall make all kneel befor... ah, nuts! Damn you dog! When my father finds out you're holding me captive, he is going to be really mad! You are going to be sooo sorry!***

Harvard, for it could only be Harvard that grinned like that with his tongue hanging out, winked at me, and, despite his hellhound-like appearance, I knew he was in charge.

-We need to get going; there are a lot of people in these woods fighting, and I can’t tell who’s who.-

“Right,” I replied before turning to Brook. “It’s okay, that’s Harvard. He says there are a lot of people fighting out here and we need to move.”

“That’s Harvard? What happened to him!”

“I’m not really sure, but my guess is it has something to do with when he rescued me at the cult’s hideout. They were trying to stick a demon inside me, but it looks like it went in Harvard instead.”

“You mean he’s possessed?!”

“Uh…” I looked to Harvard.

-Of course I’m not possessed,- he said, sounding indignant at the very thought.

***I’m the one that’s possessed or something! He’s taken over my spirit! He’s, he’s repossessed me!***

-Can’t you be quiet for five minutes? All you ever do is whine!- said Harvard with a doggie whine of his own.

***It’s bad enough that I have to be stuck in here with you, but now you want to take away my free speech? I have rights you know!***

-Sorry,- said Harvard, giving me an apologetic look. -I’ve been trying to keep him silent since he woke up earlier today, but he just keeps on talking!-

***Everybodys’ always oppressing me! It’s not fair! I…***

I held up my hands. “My god, enough already! Shut up!”

“Who are you talking to, Eden?” asked Brook, real worried in the glance she was giving me.

“Sorry, that demon that Harvard is possessing won’t shut up. Can’t you hear him?”

“I can’t hear a thing.”

“Great,” I said rubbing my head. “Another voice in my head that only I hear, people are going to think I’m crazy.”

***That’s because you are crazy! Crazy if you think my father is going to let you hold me captive like this!***

“Shut up, Relky!”

***Relky? Relky! I, the great Cochul’relk’thultuland, shall not be addressed in such a way! I…***

-We need to get going, there are people coming this way,- cut in Harvard.

“Right, let’s go,” I agreed.

Harvard let the way deeper into the woods with Relky grumbling about how unfair his life was. It must have been hard for Brook to see her way since she kept stumbling and would curse it being so dark, but I could see relatively well. I knew from what people had told me that my eyes didn’t really light up the dark, but it seemed that way to me. Everything looked like it was bathed in dim copper light. Of course, I still missed my footing and got snagged on brambles because, while I might be able to see, I wasn’t used to the odd effects the copper light seemed to have and misjudged things. We stumbled after Harvard, but too much time didn’t pass before he came to a stop and cocked his head, obviously trying to discern a safe path for us from the sounds of fighting that echoed in the woods.

-We go this way,- said Harvard, turning to the right.

But it wasn’t long before he stopped again, his stance becoming uncertain. —I think we need to…watch out!-

I heard the branches snapping behind us, and I grabbed Brook and leaped to the side just as another one of those insect monsters lunged at us. Harvard sprang into motion with a hellish growl, engaging the creature with his gleaming fangs. But there was an unearthly screech, and a second of the foul things broke through the trees, attacking Harvard from the side.

-Eden! Get out of here!- came the mental shout from Harvard as he tried to fight the two of them.

“But…!”

-Go! Take Brook and run, I’ll hold them off.-

Damn, I didn’t want to leave my dog behind to fight those monsters by himself, but I had to get Brook out of here. I didn’t want her to die because of my problems.

“Come on, Brook!” I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her after me.

“What about Harvard?” she asked, slowing for a moment to look back at where the demon form Harvard was struggling fiercely to keep his own against the insect-o-fiends.

“He told us to run; he is going to hold them off.”

We ran through the trees, soon losing all sense of direction. It seemed like the sound of screams and gunshots were all around us, echoing strangely in the woods. I heard something rustling in the bushes to the left, so quickly we cut to the right, fighting our way through a large thicket of tangled saplings. We suddenly cleared them and found ourselves on the edge of a wide clearing full of activity.

There was a group of the same robe wearing cultists that had kidnapped me yesterday taking cover in a copse of oak trees and firing sporadically at a group that looked like the thugs that had stopped us on the road, who were themselves firing back from where they were pinned down in a clump of bushes. All around the edges of the large clearing, more of the insect-o-fiends were battling against a group of individuals dressed in brown and black uniforms. One of the uniformed persons was hurling chest sized boulders, while another was flying overhead shooting rays of brilliant light, still another was speeding along so fast you could hardly see him, but whenever he passed a monster, a leg or tentacle would fly off with a *snick* sound. In the very center of the melee was an absolutely gigantic insect-o-fiend, a nest of tentacles writhing from its back as its huge mandibles clicked together, sounding like steel ringing on steel. Against this monster strode a giant form made of earth and rock, each of its steps causing the earth to shake as it battled against the titanic fiend.

“Eden! Brook! Over here!” yelled an elderly, but still strong country accented voice.

I turned to look along the side of the clearing off to our left and blinked in surprise. It was John Tinkerton, the man that had helped us not long ago at Anthony’s. He was firing what looked like a classic revolver but each time he pulled the trigger a bolt of lightning would roar out of the barrel and thunder into an insect-o-fiend.

“Hurry girls, I’ll get y’all out of ‘ere.”

Not bothering to stop and wonder how the old cowboy at the diner had gotten here, Brook and I raced towards him.

“Stop, you freaks!” came a cry, and out of the trees, between us and John Tinkerton, stumbled the man Harvard had mauled earlier. He brought up his good arm which clutched a wicked looking handgun. “You fucking freaks are going to die!” he yelled madly, flecks of spittle flying from his mouth, and started firing wildly at us. I heard Brook cry in pain and felt a sharp stab in my right hand. Without thinking, I charged the crazed man, colliding with him and bringing us both down to the leaf-strewn ground. I desperately struggled with him, trying to knock the gun out of his hand. But even with his wounded arm, he was stronger than me. A mad kind of vitality seemed to infuse him. No matter how much I tried, my two hands could not stop his one from moving inch by inch. The fact that my right hand was slippery with what I realized was my own blood didn’t help matters. Slowly his hand crept up, and with horror I saw that he had it pointed right at Brook.

Desperate, I tried the one crazy idea that came into my head. I let go of his arm with my right hand and brought it up to his face. Quickly, with my own blood, I started to sketch the frost rune I had practiced earlier onto his forehead. Energy seethed in me and I felt it pour out into the rune, meeting the energy waiting there and becoming one with it, blossoming into something more. The man gave a pain filled cry, dropping the gun and reaching for his head, but before he could stop me, I had finished, and with one last agonized cry, frost began growing over his head and body. His hands stopped moving, and his scream rattled to a halt.

I stared in horror at what I had done. I had surely killed the man; no one could survive with the way he looked now. He was icy pale, frost rimmed his features, and the rune glowed an arctic blue on his forehead.

“Eden! Are you alright?!” cried Brook, as she hurried to my side and reached for me.

I didn’t answer; I was still too much in shock at what I had done.

“Come on, Eden, we've got to get out of here!” she tugged me up, and I stumblingly followed her.

We reached John Tinkerton just as he fired one last shot that blasted into the insect-o-fiend's open maw, causing it to convulse and collapse to the woodland floor. “I’m glad to see you two alright; let’s hurry up and get ya out of this train wreck,” he said before he seemingly addressed the empty air. “I need an extraction team on my position; I got the kids. Call in all the searchers, let’s end this.”

~o~O~o~

Brook and I sat on the tailgate of John Tinkerton’s old beat-up 1940’s era truck as two medical type people cleaned and treated our injuries. It turned out that neither of us got shot when the crazed madman was firing at us. It had just been shrapnel from a stone that he had hit next to us. I had a nasty cut on the back of my hand from one fragment that the medics had put a couple stitches in, and Brook had some small cuts from when the fragments peppered her legs.

Tinkerton had managed to quickly get us out of the middle of what had turned into a three-way firefight. He brought us back to where it had all started, next to the abandoned vehicles of the bigots that had ambushed us. The Watchers, who it turned out Tinkerton was with, had used the location as their secondary base of operations once everything had started to go down. The Watchers had been following me since I left their headquarters yesterday. They suspected that the cult would try for me again, and they wanted to be ready to get them when they tried.

They had discovered that the cult was planning an ambush on our way back from Anthony’s, and they had planned a counter ambush for when they struck. Only things didn’t go down exactly as planned. The cult's planned ambush appeared to be a couple miles further down from where the thugs had attacked us. The Watchers were going to attack them as soon as things started to be set in motion. They had wanted to wait until the last second so they could get the entire remaining cult, especially the leader Whippoorwill. Only their leader had never shown up. And by the time they started to notice that something fishy was going on, it was too late. The anti-mutant group of thugs had stopped Brook and me, and at the same time the cult attacked the hidden Watcher forces. Dozens of the insect-o-fiends had come at them from the rear.

John Tinkerton, who had been following Brook and I, tried to call for backup as he saw the thugs' ambush forming, but it was too late. No one could get to him in time, and we were already veering wildly into the woods when he opened fire on the anti-mutant members from behind. The Watchers, already hard pressed from the cult’s surprise attack, split their forces so some could come to our aid.

The Watchers were forced back up the road in our direction running over the anti-mutant members in the process. The bigots, seeing a group of supers coming at them, switched from hunting us down to attacking the supers who they believed were after them. The thugs seemed to be the only ones besides Brook and myself who didn’t know what the hell was going on, so they went after both the Watchers and the cult equally. It wasn’t until Tinkerton found us again that the Watchers were able to gain the upper hand. With their forces that had been out searching able to join back in the fight, they quickly turned the tide and defeated both the cult and the thugs. They were just mopping up the last of the bad guys now.

“Are you alright, Eden?” asked a concerned Brook, who reached out and took my hand.

“Yeah, it’s just that no one has seen Harvard, and there’s that…other thing that happened.”

“I’m sure Harvard is fine; nothing bad ever happens to him. As for the other thing, it’s not your fault Eden; he was trying to kill you; he was trying to kill both of us. You have a right to defend yourself.”

“I know, but god, I just can’t get that last scream out of my head. It must have been torture. I tortured him to death, god, what kind of a person am I?”

“Stop it, Eden, you did no such thing.” Brook said sternly. “Did you know that what you did would kill him?”

“No, but…”

“Did you in fact have any idea what would happen when you did it?”

“No! I just acted; I couldn’t think of anything else.”

“You were desperate. You were trying to save both our lives. If you hadn’t acted, we might both be dead right now, so you can’t beat yourself up over this. You’re not a bad person,” she said firmly, trying to drive home each point.

“She’s right, girl, you acted to survive. At the end of the day, that’s all any of us can do,” said Tinkerton, coming up on the two of us.

“Have you had to kill before?” I asked.

“Yes, many times over the long years.”

“Does it get any easier?”

“In some ways, yes, it does. You learn to deal with it and accept it, but in other ways, no, it never gets easier takin' a life, at least most of the time.”

“I’m never going to do it again, never,” I said with conviction.

“I hope you don’t have to Eden, I really do, but your life ain’t goin to be a peaceful one. You need to be ready to do what you have to do for survival…and the survival of those close to ya.”

I thought of Brook being shot and killed by a mad bigot, and my conviction wavered some.

“But don’t ya worry about that right now, girl. You survived tonight, that’s what’s important. Let the rest of it ride,” Tinkerton said gently.

I tried my best to do as he suggested, to just not think about it, but I kept finding myself brooding over the events. Tinkerton and Brook filled my silence with quiet conversation that I only half listened to. Tinkerton was telling Brook something about a ranch he lived on with his brother; I really didn’t catch it all. It wasn’t long though before more of the Watchers showed up. I recognized the Sergeant as he strode over to us, his face looking bleak and angry.

“How are things here, Mr. Tinkerton?” he asked.

“About as well as can be expected, Sergeant. The girls are fine, just some minor cuts. We didn’t find nothin' all that interesting in the mutant hater’s cars, nothing that can point us towards who is in charge of this gang anyway. How were things out there?”

Sergeant Earth Mover grimaced. “Nasty, we managed to kill all of the Blood Fiends and capture most of the combatants, both cult and those others. They suffered a number of fatalities and most of the rest of them are banged up, there is one more that isn’t likely to make it. We only had a few casualties. Ralf has a broken arm, and Racer managed to knock himself loopy on a low-hanging branch, damn speedsters. The one I’m really worried about is Birdseye; one of those monsters managed to pluck him out of the sky and pin him to the ground through the stomach with one of its legs. Steelfist is flying him to Memorial Hermann as we speak.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Birdseye is a good kid,” Tinkerton said.

“We’re hoping he’ll pull through,” said the Sergeant, then snorted. “The hard part is going to be keeping all of his bird friends from flying into the hospital to watch over him.”

Tinkerton chuckled in response.

“Thanks again, Mr. Tinkerton, for coming out of retirement to help us with this.”

“Don’t mention it, and I’ve said before, it's Tinkerton or John, if you prefer; you’re not a skinny teenager learning how to shoot anymore, so don’t be calling me Mister. Besides,” he continued. “It does me good to get off that old ranch and see some action; keeps my aim in practice.”

“One of those fatalities,” I cut in. “I…I’m the one that killed him. Do I need to talk to the police or go to jail or something?”

The Sergeant gave me a long look. “No, you didn’t.”

“What?”

“You didn’t kill him, at least not if you're referring to the man with all the ice and the rune on his forehead. He is unconscious, and we don’t know if he will make it, but he’s not dead yet.”

He wasn’t dead. I wasn’t a murderer. I felt a great weight lift from my shoulders, and I let out a sigh. Brook squeezed my hand and smiled at me. “And what about Harvard? Has anyone seen him?” I asked, the worry returning.

“Your familiar? Our reports said it was just you and your friend who went out tonight,” said the Sergeant, shooting a questioning glance at Tinkerton, who just raised his eyebrows in response.

“He showed up after we crashed in the woods,” put in Brook.

“Your dog sure seems to show up when he is needed,” commented the Sergeant. “As far as I know no one has seen a dog out there, at least no one has reported it in.”

“He would have looked a little different than the last time you saw him. He turned into this huge kind of hell hound so he could fight one of those insect monsters. Only we got attacked by a couple more and he held them off while we ran.” A worrying thought occurred to me. “None of your guys got him by accident, thinking he was a monster, did they?”

The Sergeant frowned. “No one reported seeing anything other than the Blood Fiends, but then we haven’t even started a full debriefing yet. Hold on,” he turned and spoke into the empty air. “Watchers, has anyone come into contact with a brown colored dog, or a large demonic looking dog this evening?”

He waited for several moments while I chewed my lip worriedly.

“Roger that, be on the lookout for him. This is a non-hostile, I repeat a non-hostile. Contact me if any signs of it have been seen.”

“Sorry girl, no one has seen him,” the Sergeant said sympathetically.

I felt my gut knot with worry as I looked away from the Sergeant's too caring eyes. It was then that I noticed a car speeding towards us. It was only after it stopped in front of the thugs' abandoned cars that I realized it was my dad’s.

“Eden!” He jumped out of his vehicle and raced to us, only slowing slightly to take in the bullet holes in the cars he made his way around. “Are you two alright?! Harvard ran through the front door, and we knew something had to be wrong.”

“Yeah, we’re fine, we just got ambushed by some anti-mutant bastards and then the cult slipped the Watchers' ambush and attacked,” I said, rather unwisely, now that I think about it. I should really try to lead up to these things more gently with my parents. I can only say in my defense that I was worried about Harvard and didn’t put as much thought into what I said as I normally do.

“What!?!” My dad said, then did something I never thought I would see him do; he hauled off and punched Sergeant Earth Mover, the leader of best super hero team in the whole region, right in the face. “You said she was safe! You said I didn’t need to worry about any more attacks!”

The Sergeant rocked back on his heels, then slowly raised a hand to touch the side of his face. “I probably had that coming,” he murmured shaking his head. “I know I probably deserve that, Mr. Oakson, but…”

He was interrupted by the sound of tires squealing, and in the other direction from the one my father had come in sped a cherry red Ferrari that could only be considered going under the speed limit if it was circling a lap in Daytona. Its tires finished squealing, and it came to a halt, and out of it jumped… Kent. And boy did he look pissed off. He marched up to where we were standing and slugged the Sergeant right in the jaw.

“You promised that you would protect her! I get a call from your organization saying that Eden was in danger and asking if I could come back up the Watchers. What the hell, you said she was in no danger!”

The Sergeant put his hand up to rub the other side of his face. “Mr. Oakson, Mr. Kent, I would take it as a kindness if you would both stop hitting me and let me explain!” he growled.

My father glared at him. “It had better be a damn good explanation,” he said. Beside him, Kent glowered and nodded his head.

“I was trying to set up an ambush so that I could capture the people responsible for what happened to Eden and stop them from ever threatening her again.”

“And just how well did that turn out?!” asked Kent.

“What gives you the right to use Eden as bait for your trap?!” asked my father.

“It was the only way I had available to me to get these guys off the street.”

“So that gave you the right to lie to us about the danger Eden was in?! You said there was no way the cult could attack!” exclaimed Kent.

“Look,” said the Sergeant losing his temper. “I did the best I damn well could. It was better that we took on the cult now rather than later. Yes, we used Eden as bait; would you rather us have done nothing and leave the cult to attack when no one was ready? This is about more than one person. Do you know how many people, men women and children this cult has killed or done worse to? Yes I lied to you; I told you everything was okay. I did everything in my power to keep from tipping off the cult to the trap I was setting.”

“And how did that work out for you?!?” shouted back my father.

The Sergeant grew cold. “It didn’t. As we speak, one of my men is fighting for his life because I screwed up. Even still, he might not have been hurt if, when I learned that Eden and her friend were in danger, I hadn’t split my forces to save them,” he held up his hand. “No I’m not blaming Eden for what happened to him. I just want you to understand that we did everything in our power to protect them. I might have put Eden and her friend at risk, but I did not do it lightly.”

“You still shouldn’t have brought Eden into this,” said Kent, but I could see both my father’s and Kent’s temper seemed to be cooling.

The Sergeant sighed. “Sometimes there are no good options, and you can only choose between lesser evils. I thought I could lure the cult out of hiding and keep Eden safe at the same time. I was wrong; the cult managed to outsmart me and that almost cost Eden and her friend their lives. For that, I’m sorry.”

“Did you at least manage to take out the cult?” asked Kent.

The Sergeant sighed again. “Yes and no. We managed to capture all of the cult members that showed up tonight, but we didn’t get their leader. We are confident, however, that these were the last of the cult members he had in this region. It will take him awhile to build up his following again.”

“So Eden still isn’t safe,” said my father grimly. “And what about these H1 people; where do they come into it?”

Mr. Tinkerton spoke up. “The people who attacked Eden and Brook are part of a group loosely affiliated with Humanity First, though ya won’t find ‘em on any official rolls. They’ve been involved in a string of attacks on mutants or anyone who might seem different from normal people. The mere accusation is generally speaking enough for these folks. The cult must have learned of their plan to attack Eden and used them for their own scheme.”

“A don’t suppose that these guys at least were neutralized?” asked Kent.

“Again, we got everyone who was involved in the attack this evenin’. We might of got lucky and everyone who was headin' their little gang was here, but I’m doubtin’ it. They’re well put together and generally know more in’ they should; that tells me the folks in charge are smart and careful; smart and careful leaders don’t do the dirty work themselves. We’s goin' to have’ta wait and see what the law men are goin’ to be able to squeeze out of ‘em,” said Tinkerton.

“So we have two groups after Eden, and you can’t assure me that either of them won’t try it again,” said my Dad, rubbing his forehead. “How am I supposed to protect her from people like that?”

“Another attack from either group is unlikely after the serious blows they received tonight; that being said, I still plan to have several members of my team on guard twenty-four seven in your area. You might not see them, but they will still be there,” said the Sergeant.

“I’ll stay close by too,” said Kent. “My hotel is too far away, so I’ll sleep in my car at one of those houses under construction or something. That way if I’m needed, I’ll be ready.”

My father shook his head. “You can stay in our guest bedroom. The closer you are, the better protected Eden will be.”

“What about Veronica?” asked Kent.

“If it means keeping Eden safe, she will be willing to put up with it.”

Kent looked a little dubious, but didn’t say anything.

“Right, I think it was time I got the kids home,” said my father before turning back to the Sergeant and giving him a hard look. “We will talk more in the morning; this isn’t over. Come on you two.”

“But dad, we still don’t know where Harvard is. He was fighting some monster and told us to run. He could be hurt out there somewhere!”

-Like anything could hurt me,- said Harvard’s voice into my mind.

I turned in the direction I somehow knew it came from and there was Harvard in his normal form, tail a-wagging.

“Where have you been, Harvard?! I was so worried about you! Are you alright?” I said, sliding off the back of the truck to hurry towards him.

-Of course I’m alright; I’m a lot tougher than I look, and I had to rescue something very important,- he said solemnly.

“Something important? What was it?” I asked, noticing that he had something white gripped in his mouth.

-The leftovers from Anthony’s, of course!- he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. -I couldn’t let them stay out in the woods; something would have gotten them,- he gave me a sad look. -I can’t believe you were about to leave them like that.-

---

 
 
To Be Continued...