Rabid *HF* Chapter 7
By Gene
"Are you sure you have enough people?" Grover asked.
"There's only one of him, and we want to keep a low profile," Mufasa said, adjusting his black battle suit. "Still, just in case, I've arranged for two Grey Court operatives to meet us there.
"Wouldn't it be faster to bring Diablo? What about Gomurr and SHaman?" Nebula asked.
Mufasa shook his head. "Rune and Strider give us plenty of firepower without risking a city block at the same time. SHaman's powerless right now, and we need Gomurr back here to keep the plan together. He's provided a temporary psychic link for us. Like a walkie-talkie. Only works when we need it. We'll get this done."
Grover assessed his cousin. "Good luck," he said. "Don't get hurt, I don't want to feel it on my end."
"Then don't eat anything good until I get back, it's distracting. STick to oatmeal and cheese sandwiches."
"Together? THat's disgusting," Grover said.
Mufasa glared. He touched his ear briefly. "Gomurr says Gene's on the move. He's at a mall in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Let's go."
The group disappeared. When they reappeared, they were in the hallway of a large mall.
"Gomurr's called up a plan of the mall on the Mansion computer. He's watching Gene through some kind of spell, says if Gene or the demon-thing figure it out, they could short the spell out in seconds. In the meantime, we can track him. He says Gene is headed for the food court. I'll teleport us there," Mufasa said.
The trio disappeared again, reappearing behind a rack of clothes at the Hot Topic store. Across from the store was the food court. Gene, dressed in black jeans, black turtleneck, black trenchcoat and black boots, was crossing the court. At close to closing time, the mall was nearly empty except for a few late shoppers and employees wanting to go home.
"Conditions are practically ideal. Let's take him," Mufasa said. "Rune, by the numbers."
"Already begun," Rune said. Tapping some of the life force from those around him, he cast a simple camoflage spell. The three of them weren't invisible, but others just weren't looking in their direction. "It's working. Let's take him."
The three left the store and began to cross the mall just as Gene stepped into an Employees Only door between two food stands. Mufasa began to run.
"What are you doing?" Strider asked, running along side him.
"Something's happening," Mufasa said. "Move!"
The three ran across the court toward the door. Within three strides, Strider assumed the form of a cheetah, changing back just before he reached the door. He threw it open and stepped inside. Mufasa and Rune ran through two seconds later.
"Damn it!" Mufasa yelled. Strider was on the floor taking the pulse of one of the girls who worked at the restaurant. He looked up and shook his head. There had been little hope. THe girl's head whas wrenched from one side to the other. Her spinal cord was almost certainly severed. All three could tell it was too late for her coworker - the boy was leaning head first into the fryer. Rune stepped forward and pulled him out. The boy's neck was broken as well.
"Not a bit of life left in them," Rune sneered. "The Bastard will soon be the same way."
"He knows we're coming," Mufasa said. "He's trying to lure us somewhere." He looked around and sniffed the air, then pointed toward the back of the store. "There. He's leaving through the back door. Going to the corridors and storage areas. HE wants to play cat and mouse."
Strider covered the teens with pieces of plastic sheeting he found and the three went through the door. The doorway let out on a concrete corridor lit by a mixture of bare bulbs and flourescent tubing. The corridor stretched a long way to the left and to the right, with other corridors and doorways intersecting frequently. Strider morphed into a bloodhound and sniffed at the air.
Mufasa sniffed as well. "Anything?" he asked Strider. Strider shook his head, his pale white ears flopping.
"Rune?"
"Hard to say. My mystic senses seem clouded here."
Mufasa nodded. "Something's up. I'm not getting a trace of an energy signature or a scent anymore. We'll have to split up. Rune, go to the right. Strider and I will take the left. Backup is already on the way."
Rune laughed. "Backup! He's a man! He's not even Shaman! He's just a man. What can he do?"
Mufasa stepped in close to Rune and spoke in a low tone. "The man is possessed by a demon. Who knows what the thing can do? And he's a member of the WHite Court. Personal emissary of the King. It takes more than a normal man to be that. He almost killed Shaman. He's personally killed vampires and sorcerors with no assistance. He may know how to kill you. Take him seriously."
Rune nodded, then spoke in an even lower voice. "Point taken, Mufasa. But don't speak to me that way again."
Khalid's eyes flashed. "I'm field commander on this mission. I'll talk to you however I see fit. If you have a problem with it, take it up with Grover, the King. Or you can take it up with me personally after the mission."
Strider morphed back into humanoid form. "I heard something from down that hallway. It may be him."
"All right, let's go. Rune, you still go down the other corridor. No need for three of us to be scaring the crap out of a Gap worker taking the garbage out."
The started down their respective corridors, each straining their enhanced mystical or physical senses, looking for a trace of Gene.
"I'm not picking him up at all," STrider said. "He's never demonstrated this power before."
"He may not have it," Mufasa replied. "It may be a power of the black opal shard in him. Gomurr and Shaman are each familiar with the opals, but neither knows the full extent of the power. Very little is written. What they know is mostly first-hand."
Two minutes into the search, the lights went out. Khalid's eyes adjusted to the light as emergency lighting turned on. He glanced at Strider and saw that each of them was surrounded by a protective energy shield.
"Nice reflexes," Mufasa said.
"Same goes for you," Strider said, looking at Mufasa's photon shield. "THink the lights are his doing?"
Mufasa glanced at the watch built in to his battle suit. "No. The mall is closed. He may have been waiting for it, though."
As if on cue, the air began to fill with cold, inky, blackness.
"Whoa. Be ready." Mufasa said. His photon aura flared brighter as he drew the cursed sunblades.
"Bring it on," Strider said, morphing into a wolfhound.
End part 7
Gene
Original and Longest-Running Editor
White Bastard/King's Pawn--HellFire Club
Knight of the Long-Necked Bottle
Forbidden by Law to Eat Onion Rings
Selectively Sterile
Wielder of Unbridled Contempt for Humanity