danger days 3

 Mycah listened to the story without much thought, knowing he was just relaxing before he had to return to work the next day. Sandy seemed pretty set on finishing the plans for the arm. As he got more and more involved he would speak less and less, sometimes not finishing a sentance until a few minutes later. Mycah found himself nodding off and decided he'd better call it a night.

The next day at work wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. The dark Mushrooms were quiet, and for once Sandy was doing his work instead of goofing off or trying to sneak out. It was getting close to a lunch break when Mycah paused, feeling that someone was watching him. When he turned around, he saw a familiar slim figure waiting at the entrance.

"Spin? What are you doing here?" He kept his voice to a whisper. There was no need to attract attention now... They had decided to keep things between them quiet.

"There was that big earthquake a few days ago? I heard Singer and Spider talking, they said it was caused by you. Is that true?"

Mycah frowned. "I don't know. Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters! We keep tabs on everyone who ever gets a dose of FAME no matter how small. And if you can cause earthquakes, that's one of the most wide-reaching powers it's ever given someone." He could tell as she was talking that she fought against the idea of treating him like a tool to be used versus someone she was close to and trying to help. "In any case, we need to figure out how it works and get you practicing with it."

"But I've got work to do..." He knew he was only making a paltry excuse not to be with her, and he knew she knew it. Spin smirked.

"Let's go~"

Mycah turned to give the other's a bit of a resigned look of apology but they were busy with something else. Taking that as a sign, he snuck out with Spin and they headed away from the growing rooms.

Mycah thought that they would stay underground and was surprised when Spin lead him back to his room and told him to change in to the desert camoflage that he got from the Crows, and bring his gun too. He took Raza- who now was big enough to rest his snout on Mycah's shoulder if he stretched his neck out- and met her at the hidden door to get outside. She was dressed in the same reds and oranges, and once they were in the hot sunlight of early morning he was glad that he remembered to bring the camo hood for the outfit as well.

"So how did you do it the first time?" They were walking towards one of the closer landmarks, a low mound of rock that was deceptively tall, about two miles away. Spin had no desire for an accidental earthquake to send the base collapsing.

"Fucked if I know," he said absentmindedly, watching Raza run off after some creature and trying to remember the FAME hazed night.

Spin stood in front of him and he nearly ran in to her. "This is serious. You need to figure this out."

Mycah rolled his eyes and nodded. "Fine, fine..." He thought back to the way he felt in his room, uncomfortably high on the drug. "There's this... resonance. Like an echo but I can feel it. It's easy to lose it though. Especially around Sandy, holy shit can he talk."

The Jack looked thoughtful as he described it. "So it's good that we're going somewhere quiet too..."

"I guess." He wasn't so sure that the first earthquake wasn't a fluke, but now was the time to find out.

When they got to the large outcropping of rock, Spin led him to a hidden stairway carved in to a crack in the rock. "This is one piece of rock, almost like the bedrock that the base is carved in. This might help you out." She seemed confident as they walked up the relatively cool rock staircase.

Once they got to the top Mycah was surprised at how far they could see across the flat desert plain. Off in the distance he swore he could even see the high walls of Merimar, the city he'd been exiled from.

"Think you could try to do the same thing with The Lookout?" She sat on the edge of the stairs, her back to the slightly domed top of the rock.

"Maybe." He walked a little further towards the apex of The Lookout. After a few seconds of looking around again, he knelt down and put his hand flat on the rock, ignoring how the sunbaked surface burned his hand. It was almost completely silent as he closed his eyes and concentrated. Slowly he was able to feel that strange echo, like the rock was slowly humming underneath him. He put his other hand on the rock and tried to focus more. He wasn't sure how long he sat there listening to the rock, but slowly he could see almost a map of the ground around them. The Lookout really was a solid piece of rock, separate from the surrounding area. It's resonance was different than the other ground, and as he felt where the two types of 'sounds' met, he started to be able to get a sense of the shape of the rock, even the parts hidden underground.

He only stopped when Spin shook his shoulder violently. "Scarecrows were sighted just south of here! Hurry!!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the stairs, practically throwing him in front of her to go down first. Only the fact that the staircase jack-knifed back and forth every few feet stopped him from falling head first down the whole thing.

Spin stopped him about half way down and they peered out of the crack of rock that kept them hidden. "Can you see them?" she hissed.

He strained his eyes looking through the small openning, until he saw the telltale dull glint in anotherwise empty sky. "They're on their way right over us. But this rock should keep us hidden," he said just as softly. It wasn't necessary to whisper or be quiet, at least not when they were doing a high altitude fly-over, but it felt that way to the two of them. In the silence only marred by their slightly panicked breathing, he could hear the quiet thrum of the aircraft as they flew over.

"How long should we wait?"

"It doesn't take long. If they didn't see anything, then they won't turn back." As long as they didn't actually see anything, Mycah added silently.

"So... did it work? You were sitting there for an hour."

"An hour?" Mycah looked at her in disbelief. "I guess it did." He quietly described how he felt the shape of the rock and the way the echo was different from the surrounding earth. With each word her eyes seemd to light up a bit, fighting against the fear of the Scarecrows.

"That's fantastic, Mycah! That's even better than I hoped." He could tell that again she was fighting between being impressed and thinking of how the Clubs could use him to their best advantage. After a few seconds she suddenly pushed past him to peek outside. "Think we can head back now?"

"Probably. We better take it slow though, in case they circle back."

She nodded and they started to make their way back to the hidden entrance to their underground home. It was just nearing noon as they walked back. Raza met them half way there, his muzzle and scales stained with the blood of whatever he had caught. Mycah couldn't help but scratch under the large reptile's jaw, no matter how messy he was.

"You'll have him eating Hearts and Diamonds in no time," Spin said dryly.

"We'll see. But I bet you'd like to get something a little bigger than a wild cat or a lizard wouldn't you?" Raza growled happily and nipped at Mycah's hands before running ahead of them.

It didn't take long to get back. Spin waited a few minutes after Mycah to enter, to make sure no one saw them together. Even though it felt like no one was watching them, they couldn't be too sure. Mycah dressed back in his Clubs uniform and met Sandy and Tor back in the cool growing room.

"Where were you?" Sandy was glaring at him, hands on his sides. He had mud up to his elbows and was covered in water. Tor wasn't in much of a better state. "A water line broke and it took forever for us to fix it! If we get in trouble for this I'm blaming you, yeah?"

"Sorry sorry..." Mycah held his hands up in defense, and let Sandy have his time being angry. He knew that his spastic friend would forgive him soon enough anyway, so he set to helping them clean up the best he could. It took the rest of the day to get the room in the same shape as it was when they entered, draining boxes of soil and fertilizer of extra water and moving some of the poisonous mushrooms from one tray or table to another to make sure they would stay in the best conditions for growth.

Sure enough, by the time they were done Sandy had forgiven Mycah, or at least forgotten about the previous slight. The three of them cleaned up the best they could before heading back to their rooms.

"Listen, I'm sorry about today. I have a feeling you might see a little less of me..." He explained to them why he had left. Instead of either of them being irritated or angry, Sandy looked as excitable as ever.

"Seismic manipulation?! That's fuckin' sweet, yeah? If it doesn't go further than that! Everyone has underground bases here, if you don't then you're either gonna get bombed by Scarecrows or your part of the government. If you can find them and collapse them you'd be unstoppable!"

Tor looked at him flatly. "Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself?"

Sandy paused and then frowned slightly. After a moment he shook his head and looked determined. "Well he won't know 'til he tries, yeah?"

"Will you stop talking about me like I'm not here?" Mycah glared a bit before letting it go. When they got to their rooms, Sandy told him to meet up at the room with the dismantled Scarecrow.

"We're not done with that thing until it can fly again." He had a determined look as he went to change.

The next few days were like that. Mycah felt like he was being pulled in every direction, as he tried to work in the growing rooms, help Sandy with the Scarecrow, and learn more about the strange and potentially devastating powers that the FAME had given him.

All fronts seemed to be improving at least. The mishap with the broken waterline was repaired completely and they even found away to make the room a little more efficient. Sandy could power up the small aircraft without causing an explosion, and even got one of the camo plates functioning, if only barely. Mycah was even able to start sensing the echoes and sounds in the earth around him without much effort now, and the silent 'noise' was in the background of his perception at all times.

But as Mycah was building up knowledge of his powers with Spin, he found himself having to dodge encounters with Singer more and more often. He thought he'd gotten good at escaping the Queen of Clubs until he was heading back to his room to change out of his desert camouflage, two weeks after his first secret outing.

"I almost thought you were Saber for a while there. I didn't know anyone who could sneak around like you."

Mycah cursed under his breath and turned to see Singer standing directly behind him. "What do you want?"

"Oh please. You think I forgot about that earthquake you caused?" He let out a single laugh. "I want to see if you can do it again."

He let out a little bit of a relieved sigh- at least this wasn't about him and Spin. "Here?"

"Of course not! You think I want this place coming down on my head?" Singer gave him a look that read 'are you an idiot?' "We're going out. Let's go."

"What? I just got back-" He forced his mouth closed before he said anything else.

"Too bad. Let's go." Singer didn't give him another choice and he didn't to have to explain where he had just gone before. He stayed quiet with a bit of a discontented look on his face as they headed towards another door.

Waiting just inside the doors were a pair of motorbikes. Singer didn't give Mycah any other chance to object before sliding open the heavy metal hatch and motioning for him to ride out. Once both of the bikes were out and the doors firmly shut, Singer started the bike and Mycah followed suit.

Mycah didn't know if he wanted to laugh or not when he realized that they were heading to The Lookout- the same mass of rock that he had just hiked to and from with Spin and Raza. It was considerably faster on the bikes, though, and they were there in a matter of minutes.

"Show me what you can do." Singer cut right to the chase as soon as the motors cut out.

"Like what?"

"Anything." Singer pinned him with a look until Mycah finally nodded. It looked like it was time to put in to practice what he'd been teaching himself over the last two weeks. They hadn't climbed the hidden stair, so Mycah stood next to the rock and put both hands flat on it.

The resonance was familiar now, and he was able to pick it up and sense it easily. Now was the hard part, what he hadn't tried out much yet...

He ignored the hot sun and burning rock on his hands as he went from just seeing the echoes to actively changing them. He felt the rock tremble under his hands and ignored Singer as the ground started to shake. Mycah distorted the resonance more and more until he heard a deafening CRACK and was pushed back from the rock.

"What the fuck was that?!" Singer had been knocked off his feet by the shaking, and hurried to get back up and on his bike. Mycah needed a little longer to be able to follow him. He found Singer standing in front of a huge split in the rock. It looked like it went all the way to the top and was five or six feet across.

"Oops."

Singer was looking at it with a thoughtful frown. "We should head back. They might send out Scarecrows to check out the local seismic activity."

Mycah nodded. Once they were back, Singer still had that look on his face, but it was more analytic. "You think you could do that again?"

"Yeah." Mycah thought for a moment more. "Yes. Definitely."

"Good. Whatever you're doing for practice, keep doing it."

Mycah nodded and hoped that Singer's oversight of his practice would be limited. However, as the Sandy-built Scarecrow started to come to fruition and his powers started to get stronger and easier to handle, it seemed that would probably not be the case. He found himself being juggled between the two leaders of the Clubs. He wasn't sure if either knew what the other was doing, but intentionally or not they seemed to be competing with the goal of trying to make him as destructive as possible.

With their help he was soon able to tell the difference between layers of bedrock and even what it would take to make each one shift or break. Soon he started to try to try to do more on his own- see if he could find that resonance in smaller things, or just something other than rock. It was harder to pick out the harmonics in items like that but he found himself trying to sense it all the time rather than just during practice.

Sandy was starting to spend his time with two things, and they seemed to be taking up all his short attention. The broken down Scarecrow was a main distraction. He was able to get it powered up and hovering a few feet above the ground and was happier than Mycah had seen him yet. At the same time, if he wasn't in the large room provided for him for the aircraft, he was tinkering with the metal skeleton of a left arm. He said he had no idea why it felt so important, but that it had to be done and soon.

When Mycah questioned him about it, in a rare afternoon of free time, Sandy said that it had to be as detailed and functional as possible.

"It was easy to do with my eye, yeah? Eyes are cameras, and small. I'm good with small. But this is bigger and more complex, and instead of just one big nerve there's a lot of smaller ones..." He put on a pair of glasses to magnify some small pieces of exposed wire. "But this has gotta work or... Or it just has to work." He looked confused as to why it would be so important, but didn't question the feeling.

Tor was just as quiet as before. Whatever odd side effects he had gotten from the FAME a few weeks prior had either worked itself out of his system or he had been able to suppress it himself. It was still odd to see him smile or chuckle to himself but it was no where near as disturbing as the first time they had heard him laugh. He was writing more and more in the little pen marked with the Taurus sign, and Mycah noticed that he had it with him at almost all times now. There was no way he'd be able to peek in it like he had once before.

However, he did come to Mycah with a clever idea.

"Raza is getting bigger- he's almost full grown." It had been harder and harder to feed the alien dinosaur, so Mycah had taken to letting him out of the base for a few days at a time. The wolf-dragon was happy to leave, but looked happier to be back, butting his head against Mycah's chest and nearly knocking him down now.

"Yeah. Can't believe he was so tiny before."

"He's probably the first or one of the first tamed wolf-dragons. Have you thought about trying to ride him, or teach him to take a passenger?"

"No... not really. But that would work wouldn't it." Mycah looked at Raza as he lounged in the Art Museum hallway and got attention from the other residents.

Mycah looked at his pet critically and over the next few days he and Tor designed a saddle and sled, to pull or carry things. The material was tough plastic that resembled leather but was much longer lasting. Raza wasn't happy the first time they put it on him, shaking from head to tail and making aggitated growling noises. Mycah was able to sooth him though, and in one quick motion he climbed up on his back.

He held on tightly to the spikes that grew out of Raza's jaw and tried his best not to get thrown to the ground. It took a few minutes but soon they were both sitting there comfortably. The large dragon didn't seem to notice the extra weight. He picked up commands quickly as well, and soon Mycah was racing him up and down the long hallways that made up the majority of the Clubs' base.

After nearly running down Singer that had to stop, but now Mycah was able to have a ride when he made his trips outside to go practice without fear of collapsing his home. Raza enjoyed ranging further and further from the base and Mycah was getting to know the outside area even better than before. Not much longer after that did Sandy finally announce that his Scarecrow- or Sandcrow, as he called it- was ready for it's maiden flight. He had Mycah and Tor put the small aircraft on Raza's sled and all three of them helpd pull it outside.

"No one else wants to try this... so I will." Sandy looked half-excited, half-scared of the idea of flying, but he was ready to test this out. He had trimmed down the weight on the craft, and attached the camo plates again. It looked the same to most people, but Mycah had an eye for the crafts and he could tell that Sandy had done quite a bit.

"Go for it. If anyone can make this thing fly it's you."

That seemed to give Sandy the extra motivation he needed, and he climbed in the narrow opening to lie down in the small cockpit. Mycah led Raza away and Tor followed... they trusted Sandy but didn't want to be too close in case something did happen. The craft started to power up and there was a quiet thrum and a feel of a sudden electric pulse in the dry air before it started to hover. They could hear Sandy's shouts and yells as the Sandcrow started to fly off. Once it got a few feet above them it was essentially invisible- hidden by the plates on the bottom that showed the sky above.

"If he crashes I'm not cleaning up the mess," Mycah heard Tor mumble.

The Sandcrow didn't stay up for long, landing with a bit of a thud a few minutes later. Sandy still seemed ecstatic that it even worked at all, and he was quick to let them know how amazing the flight went. Tor and Mycah smiled and nodded the best they could as he went on, loading up the craft and taking it back inside.


There wasn't much of a change in their routine after that. Mycah found himself ending his practice sessions in his room with Spin, and it was getting more difficult to hide the fact that she was spending at least a couple nights a week there. At one point, while trying to hurry and hide the evidence of her visit before she left, he let it slip that Sandy's arm that he was working on- and spending even more time on now that the rebuilt Scarecrow was completed- was probably based on a vision he had while still coming down from the FAME.

"You think that any more would give him another vision?" She looked at him critically, arms full of clothes that she was putting in to his laundry bag.

"Maybe. I'm not the expert on it though."

She nodded and seemed to dismiss the idea, but Mycah knew it wasn't going to be dropped just like that. His suspicions were confirmed the next day when he woke up to find Sandy painting on the walls of the Art Museum. Tor was sitting near the door in their room, keeping an eye on him.

"Singer stopped by and left him some FAME. They're wanting to see if anything happens, if he's actually going to have visions. I think it's working."

Sandy finally realized Mycah was there and turned to wave hello. He had his usual cheerful smile as he went back to drawing and said, "Singer stopped by. He's hollow and full of death, yeah? He'll die as you, but he wanted me to tell you hi."

"Does any of that make sense to you?"

"Singer did tell him to let you know he stopped by. That's about it." Tor scribbled something down on a small pad and he realized he was keeping track of what Sandy babbled on about. "He's said things like this all morning. Singer could at least have waited until I'd gotten a decent amount of sleep..." He made a discontented sound before settling down in to his chair.

"So Spin was right." Mycah was more than a little disturbed at what Sandy said, and he decided to get out of there before he heard anything else. No one stopped him as he found Raza and went out for a ride to The Lookout. The huge fissure he had caused was permanently cooler than the rest of the rock, even the staircase; it was at the perfect angle to keep almost all sunlight out. He headed out there and let Raza scout around for something to eat while he took out the data pen that Spin had given him.

When he opened it up, there was already a new note in it from that day, with Singer's symbol next to it. He was either stealing the notes Tor was taking or had given him access to update the pen. The second option was extremely unlikely, since Singer had no he had the pen and Saber wasn't going to share that he did have it. So most likely they were being watched. Mycah suddenly felt his shoulder itch, reaching up to rub at the spot on his arm that was still slightly silvery. Spider had never said if he deactivated the patch that kept track of him.

Mycah didn't bother to head back until it was getting closer to dark. He took Raza back and tried to avoid Sandy as he went back to his room. He felt uneasy knowing that he could spout off some sort of 'prophecy' at any time, especially if what he said was understandable or turned out to actually happen.

The next few days made it hard for Mycah to be a very good friend though. Sandy had gotten a supply of FAME to stretch over a few days. It was a mixed back when it came to whether or not it would send him in to a future reading funk or just leave him lounging around and changing colors depending on what he was thinking about. Sandy started to put himself on a schedule though, making sure to leave himself time to work on his arm in case he wasn't able to concentrate.

"So I'm starting to tell a difference in what I see," he told Mycah.

"What do you mean?" He looked a little wary, not wanting to talk about the visions in too much detail.

"Things that might happen and things that will happen." He was focused on the arm. It was nearing completion, and Sandy was just fine tuning it now. "More things are what might happen, yeah? Even just watching means that they'll change or be different." He stuck his tongue out a little as he worked on the delicate machinery. "But sometimes things are going to happen and I know it."

Mycah supressed a shiver. He was tempted to tell Sandy to shut up, to stop talking about it, but work on the arm took up his attention again and it went quiet. The normally oblivious Sandy did pick up on Mycah's discomfort talking about the visions and FAME, so he tried his best to keep it quiet.

He didn't have to worry about it too much though. There was a knock on the slightly open door; before either of them could say anything, Singer opened it.

"Oh good, you're both here. Come with me."

"But I'm still-" Sandy tried to object but Singer interrupted him.

"No time. Let's go." He had an expression that didn't allow for any of Sandy's normal smart-ass attitude, and he unhappily set his tools aside. Mycah followed the two of them out.

They were ushered in to an unfamiliar office a few levels above the Art Museum. Tor was already waiting there and looking impatient. "Now that they're here are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?" His normally apathetic voice was tinged with anger.

Singer didn't answer right away. Instead he looked at each of them before asking, "What are the Clubs known for?"

Sandy raised his hand right away, and was ignored until he just spoke. "Drugs!"

There was a moment of quiet as Singer put his hand to his face. "Yes. Drugs. All kinds of drugs. So much so that the Clubs symbol is a sign of quality material." He got a hold of himself a bit more before he continued. "We found a shipment of drugs that was headed to Ampre branded with a counterfeit symbol. You three don't have anything better to do and I actually trust you to get things done. I want you to get supplies for a three day trip, then meet me back here. I'll have the closest thing we've got to their most recent sighting. Go out there, destroy the shipment."

"What do we do with the people shipping it?" Mycah found himself immediately dreading the answer.

"Kill them."

He opened his mouth to ask why when Sandy spoke faster. "Why? If it's counterfeit but just as good as what we make why would it matter?"

"Because it's not as good as what we make! If we let them get away with it, more and more people will be marking their goods with a Club and that takes the value of the real thing down. Besides, I knew you might want a little more incentive."

He looked directly at Mycah as he pulled out a few photos from his pocket. They were printed on cheap degradable plastic and were already starting to disintegrate. Even so, the pictures were still grisly. Most were combinations of close-ups and then full body shots of people with rotting limbs and exposed bones that were apparantly still alive and functioning, at least at the time the pictures were taken.

"It's synthetic heroin, tainted with MRSA and cut with extra vasoconstrictors. Their production process has already been halted by Saber and myself and this is the last shipment that got out. We've also been made aware the they knew what they were doing and didn't care. If we're going to kill someone with drugs at least it'll be their own fault, not ours," he mumbled.

"So what are you waiting for! Go!" Mycah, Sandy and Tor all look at each other for a few seconds before getting up in unison and heading back to their rooms. Without meaning to, Mycah took charge, though neither of the others tried to stop him.

"Sandy, you get rations and water packs. Tor, you get the gear and guns, and I'll go get Raza ready. Meet back at our rooms to change and make sure we have everything." Tor nodded right away and left. Sandy smirked and saluted him before heading in another direction. Both of them looked forward to going, though he couldn't figure out why. Even he did too- maybe it was just the thought of going out and doing something for a purpose, other than cause little earthquakes and move rocks around. Either way, he had things to do.

He headed down to the doors where he normally let Raza in and out. The gear was stored next to it, and most people knew better than to mess around with the saddle and sled. He called Raza in with a shout, and got the saddle ready during the few minutes it took the wolf-dragon to get back from where ever he had been hunting. Even though he knew he'd probably get yelled at, he couldn't resist saddling Raza and having him run headlong through the stone hallways, skidding on the relatively smooth surface as he made corners. Mycah was still the last to get to the Art Museum, however, and he had to get changed out of the grey and black Clubs uniform as Tor made sure Sandy had gathered everything they needed.

"Are we ready to go?"

Tor nodded as he put the last of the packs on Raza's back. "Just about. We need to get extra batteries for our guns on the way out, since Sandy got the ones from the charging rack, but that's it."

"I was in a hurry!!" He gave Tor a hurt and accused look.

"Let's get going then, before Singer decides to send someone else." Mycah called for Raza to follow, and they went back to meet the Queen.

Singer only handed Mycah a GPS tracking device. "It will only activate when it passes one of our monitoring devices. They just passed one as you left, and they're about a day from here, heading north towards the mountains. Take care of it."

Mycah nodded and took the device. "Let's go."

Once they had the battery packs for their guns- because honestly what use is a laser gun if you can't fire a laser?- they were out in the late afternoon heat. The sun was already going down but it wouldn't start to cool off for another few hours.

"So you think we can find them?" Sandy was spinning his gun around his finger before Tor told him to stop.

"Probably, but we're going to be playing catch up. If we can find their trail though, Raza can sniff them out." Raza perked up at the sound of his name, but then lost interest when Mycah didn't give him any other attention.

They were mostly quiet the rest of the trip. That night Mycah ignored Sandy taking a little kit out of his bags as they camped, shooting up a miniscule amount of FAME. The camp stayed quiet that night as they took turns sleeping and keeping watch, though Mycah had to admit at one point he thought he lost Sandy- the drug made his skin turn the same colors as the ground around them.

Everyone was rested enough to continue the next morning, before full sunrise. They had to carry the packs themselves before it got too hot, to let Raza go find something to eat. There was no way they could have carried enough food for him as well as themselves. When he returned, looking pleased with himself and still licking blood off his muzzle, they started moving a little faster.

Mycah kept an eye on the GPS locater. They were very close to the last known location of the counterfeit drug shipment. Since silence was key, they started to fall back on the sign language learned from the Crows. Sandy was still best at it, signing his thoughts as well as replying to the others. They got to the locator just after sunrise. There were tracks there of a transporter truck with tank treads instead of wheels. They were slow-moving vehicles that anyone could catch up to, but at the same time, they were tough as nails and easily defensable.

"Let's get going," Mycah signed. "Do you care if I scout ahead with Raza?"

"Go for it," Sandy replied immediately. "We need confirmation of-" Tor cut him off with a sharp guesture though and he shook his head. "Just go."

Without saying anything else, he quickly unhooked the bags from Raza's saddle and climbed in. The wolf-dragon was fidgitey and took off right away. They could cover miles like this, but Mycah stopped him once they saw dust clouds rising lazily in the distance. They were close- and they could definitely move faster than their quarry. He lay low on Raza's back as they approached, so as not to upset his sillouhette. Just a lone wolf-dragon was all they would see as they got a little closer.

The truck was pulling along an open trailor of shrinkwrapped packages and boxes. Two motorcycles were kicking up more dust as they ranged ahead and behind. Those would be the hardest to deal with... Mycah thought about trying to pick them off now, but he needed the others with him. He turned Raza back and met Sandy and Tor a little bit sooner than he expected- they'd been continuing while he scouted.

"Two bikes and a tank, yeah?" Even Sandy's signing had his peculiar speech patter and Mycah nodded.

"How did you know?"

"Lucky guess." He smirked and the lie was easy to read.

Mycah only shook his head. Sandy's ability to read the future was disturbing but... useful. "Anything else I should know?"

"Nope. Everything else is too variable for me to have gotten a good read on it."

He suppressed a growl and got out his gun, not dismounting from Raza. The others followed suit. Mycah was going to ask if they needed a break or rest- the pace was not hard but definiately not easy either- when Sandy ran forward a few paces.

"I see them!" He forgot himself enough to speak aloud but not to actually shout. He blinked when he heard his voice and went back to signing. "The bikes are following a pattern." He looked at them with his just right eye, his left eye closed. "A figure 8 with the truck as the centerpoint."

"We should take them out close to the truck- they'd be close together, easier to target."

Tor and Sandy nodded. "I'll go for one," Sandy volunteered. Mycah nodded and called the other.

"What about you?" Sandy looked back at Tor.

"I'll take care of things. Don't worry." Mycah looked at Sandy with a confused expression, and one that was a little unsettled as well, but they didn't argue. He hauled Sandy on to Raza behind him and started to ride towards the truck. WHen he looked back, Tor was starting to run after them. Not with the intent to catch up, but with enough speed to be able to make it there and meet them without wearing himself out.

He had an idea but it was going to be diffcult- he'd never tried to move the earth without actually touching it. As they ran closer he started to reach out for that familiar resonance.

"Go left. LEFT!" Sandy shouted in Mycah's ear as he turned Raza. It was just the right angle for Mycah to see the bikes together, turning away from the truck. He did his best to take hold of the echoes in the rock and pull- one hard yank caused a sharp quake that nearly knocked Raza down but was enough to make the bikes unsteady. He took a shot at the same time as Sandy, right as the two bikes started to fall.

There were two dust plumes from crashing bikes as Mycah turned Raza directly towards the truck. It stopped and he saw two people getting out to investigate. Mycah was aiming for another shot when there was a flash of laser-fire and he felt a sudden burn on his shoulder. He let out a curse as he fought the pain and aimed again. They were hiding behind the trailer.

Mycah had Raza slow down and they crept closer. He could see Tor still running towards them and part of him wondered what the hell he was made of before focusing on the situation. He started to circle the truck and trailer, and then realized as they were stahing behind the vehicle they were turning towards Tor. Trying not to laugh, he kept moving slowly.

"How long til Tor gets here?"

"Two minutes," Sandy replied. Mycah didn't care how he knew, but he wasn't going to doubt him. He took a few shots at the cargo and truck once they were almost in front of them. Now it was just a waiting game. Tor was hidden from view when he searched for him next.

There was a sudden strangled shout and Mycah urged Raza forward. That had to be Tor- for better or for worse, they were going to make sure he didn't need back up. They were met with a scene that wasn't too pretty when they finally got there. Sandy slid down awkwardly off the wolf-dragon and ran forward to investigate.

"This is the shipment, for sure. We better get to fuckin' this up, yeah?" He looked back at Mycah with a grin, ignoring the dead and dying around them. The two on the motorbikes were still, and Tor was checking the pulse of the two that had been hiding behind the trailer. There wasn't an obvious mark on them, other than the way they lay at awkward angles on the ground. He couldn't suppress a shiver as he realized Tor had snuck up on them and broken their necks.

Mycah let that feeling pass and then got down so he could check out the shipment. It was cardboard boxes stacked on top of one another, and everything was surrounded with shrinkwrap and microfilm. Each box had a three lobed club that looked exactly like the tattoos they all had. It really did look legit, at least to the untrained eye.

"So how are we gonna get rid of this stuff?" Sandy was already breaking down a box, cutting through the plastic and cardboard with his knife.

"Beats me. Make it unusable I guess." He put a hand to his injured shoulder, holstering his gun, when there was a sudden flash- a section of the plastic right next to his head was melted and the box underneath was smoldering and smoking. Before anyone could react, he heard a savage growl and saw a flash of red and black scales.

One of the bikers hadn't been hit with fatally and the crash hadn't hurt him enough to put him out of commission. Before he was able to get more than one shot off, Raza was on him, quick to tear limb from limb. The trio were silent for a moment as Raza did his work on the body, tearing away clothes with his claws and leaving bloody furrows as he scraped and bit.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side," Sandy said softly.

"Let's get this done with. We need to head back." Mycah took charge again, ignoring the pain in his arm as he took down boxes and set them on the ground. Inside the boxes were glass ampules seperated by insulation. When Sandy took a shot at one he was pleasantly surprised to find out that it caught fire fairly well. They put all the boxes in a heap and set it alight, retreating to let the heat break the glass and destroy the drugs. As it was burning out, they dragged the bodies and put them on top, excluding the remains that Raza left behind when he was full.

It was once the dirty deed was done, they started to head back, taking it slow. They traveled at their own pace til night fall and then carried on a little further before resting. Mycah let Tor look at his shoulder and treat it with the few medical supplies they had brought with them. They were able to make it back the next day, though it felt like they'd been gone a week.

"So how did it go?" Singer was waiting for them right away. They were still in their travel-stained clothes and Mycah had yet to see a doctor for his shoulder. He tossed Singer the GPS device.

"They're dead and the drugs are destroyed."

"Good." He managed to give them all a brief look of approval. "Now get get changed and get ready for work tomorrow. One good mission doesn't get you out of your normal duties." He let them go with that, and Sandy forced the other two in to high fives.

The next few days were relatively quiet. Spin let Mycah know that word of their success was spreading- the three of them were being noticed as up and coming members of the Clubs, whether they liked it or not. He also found out that the small supply of FAME that Sandy had gotten was dried up, which put him out of a little bit of worry. However, the slight and spastic man was still having visions, painting on the Art Museum walls and telling Mycah and Tor cryptic things that were usually more confusing than helpful. The fact that they continued was also of interest to Singer. He showed up more and more around the Art Museum, asking Sandy about his latest dreams or paintings. Though normally outgoing, he became tight-lipped around the face card. He didn't share more than the obvious smart-ass answers that drove Singer crazy.

During that time, Sandy also hit a milestone that made him pretty proud of himself. The arm he had been working on since they had gotten their first doses of FAME was complete. The surface was matte black, and had no coverings other than the outter shell. Sandy gave it several high fives before putting in a case filled with foam that would protect it. He claimed to have no idea when it would be needed- he was sure it would be, soon- but he made sure all the 'important people' knew that it was on the shelf above his work bench.

when Mycah saw Singer loitering around their rooms after that it didn't surprise him, and he tried to ignore him. He wasn't able to, though, when he saw that Sandy and Tor were sent off to do something and he was approached last.

"You're needed again."

"For what?" Mycah was tinkering with his gun, using tools borrowed from Sandy. Desert dust had gotten inside the hardy plastic casing and he needed to clean it out.

"Another mission. You did pretty well on the first one, so I'm sending you on another."

"Where to?"

"We found a band of Hearts in our territory and I want you three to investigate. The goal is NOT to confront them. Bring back information without getting caught. Sandy and Tor are already gathering your supplies. I want you in charge."