Mayhem

By Jurnee Jakes

“I’m telling you, I don’t know anything!”

“You’re lying!” said the man in red and grey. He was a longbow agent, and he was surrounded by two others dressed just like him. “Now, I’m not going to ask this again. Who are you working for?!”

“I’m a florist! I work for the Requiescat Corporation in the Rogue Isles. I don’t even know how I got here!” Brook said, pushing her deep red hair behind her ears and sniffling.

The Longbow agent leaned in close. “Then let me fill in the blanks.” he said, spinning a chair and straddling it. “You got here by taking an Arachnos minisub, where you proceeded to cut a swath of destruction, costing Galaxy City over a million dollars in damages as well as causing numerous local police officer casualties. The Atlas Park Bank’s surveillance cameras have it all on tape.” he explained as he opened a file that had been held by one of his companions. He passed over several photos of a blurry figure in red.

“What is this supposed to be? It looks like a red balloon or something.” Brook said, curling a lock of hair around a finger nervously.

The Longbow agent snapped the pictures out of her hands. “It’s a shot of Bloodbrook. An Arachnos agent on our most wanted list that tore apart the Atlas Bank. Someone that just happens to share your fingerprints.”

Brook looked at him in genuine shock. “There must be some mistake. I’ve never even been in Atlas Park before!”

The Longbow agent slammed his fists on the table and was about to shout at her again when the door to the interrogation room swung open and a masked man in a hooded black trench coat over top a bright blue and black padded suit, walked in. “Stand down, Lieutenant.” the man said through a voice altering mask.

Brook could feel her whole body begin to heat up as the man walked into the room, and her eyes narrowed to slits. “Wormhole.” the Longbow agent said in surprise. “Uh, we’ve got everything under control here, sir. We’re just about to book her.” he smiled, nearly fawning over the man in blue and black.

Wormhole stared at Brook’s tiny frame for a moment before turning back to the Lieutenant. “Can I have a word with you outside?” he said in a deep voice that reverberated through the room. Brook squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her teeth, feeling her blood boil at the sight of the hero.

The Lieutenant closed the door behind him and faced Wormhole. “What do you think you’re doing?” the hero asked. “Does that look at all like Bloodbrook to you?”

“Well sir, the uh, fingerprints are the same.” The Lieutenant replied. “General height and weight are...”

“Bloodbrook has wings!” Wormhole shouted, not caring who heard. “Don’t you think it’s far more likely that Ms. Brook here was just a civilian that was caught up in the mayhem?”

The Lieutenant crossed his arms, no longer smitten by the hero’s reputation and sniffed the air. “Look, SIR. I’m just trying to do my job here. You apprehended the suspect. You’re job is done, now... let me... you smell that?” he asked.

The door and part of the wall blew out, knocking the Lieutenant into Wormhole and against the other side of the hall. Flames had breached the doorway as well as the room adjacent. The fire alarm blared and Galaxy City police could be hear running frantically in a panic.

Wormhole tossed the Longbow Lieutenant to the side and stood, recognizing the distinct sound of large batting wings. Peering through the smoke and flames he could see the piercing pupiless white gaze of his enemy. Thick metallic red veins were winding over the well muscled, now barely clad body of Bloodbrook.

“Time to paint the town... red.” she whispered in a seductive voice, tossing her waist length crimson hair out of her field of view. “Now, where’s my money?”

“I’m sending you back to whatever Hell you came from, Bloodbrook!” Wormhole shouted. He couldn’t believe that the sad, frightened girl that had just been sitting there had just become his worst nightmare.

Bloodbrook snapped her fingers and a blazing scimitar of fire erupted in her right hand. She charged.

Wormhole cupped one hand an held it close, opening a vortex to another dimension. Concentrating, he thrust forward with his other hand and the vortex expelled a number of heavy items, from fire hydrants to tire rims. Bloodbrook charged though, deflecting some items and shattering others before bringing the scimitar down in a two handed strike.

Wormhole burst instantly into flames and Bloodbrook tossed him by the cowl into the vortex he had just himself opened. Then she turned her attention to the Longbow Lieutenant. After being tossed aside by Wormhole, he had been busy getting to his feet and putting some distance between himself and Bloodbrook. Shot after shot rang out from the Desert Eagle pistol he had supported in his hands, but each one seemed to shatter upon impact.

The Lieutenant steeled himself for impact as his weapon clicked and Bloodbrook charged, the flaming scimitar in her hand poised for a clean decapitation. The Lieutenant ducked at the sound of a shotgun blast and watched as Bloodbrook was thrown back down the hall, blood spattering on the walls.

Slapping in a new clip, the Lieutenant looked around the hall and caught sight of the police sergeant that had been wielding the pump action shotgun, kneeling down in front of Bloodbrook’s body, poking her with the barrel. “I wouldn’t do that, Sergeant.”

“Don’t worry, Lieutenant. She’s a goner.” he said, turning. Suddenly, the flaming scimitar blazed to life and first severed the barrel of the shotgun, then the knees of the Sergeant.

Bloodbrook leapt to her feet and stared down the hall, towards the Lieutenant. The Longbow agent matched her gaze and spotted the evidence locker. Bloodbrook hissed and spread her wings, the arteries and veins that ran through them pulsing with energy. The Lieutenant scrambled to his feet, firing wildly behind him as he shouldered through the steel door. Fortunately, the Sergeant had left it open and the Lieutenant slammed the door behind him, locking it.

The sounds of screams and gunfire resounded through the halls of the police station for what seemed like forever before silence returned. The Lieutenant’s heart was pounding in his ears and he put his ear to the door.

Suddenly, a flaming scimitar cut through the hinges of the door and Bloodbrook kicked the steel, reinforced door in, pushing the Lieutenant to the side. Reaching in and grabbing the duffel bag that she had left the Atlas Park Bank with, Bloodbrook grinned at the Longbow Agent and spread her wings again. The Lieutenant picked up his pistol, but by the time he brought it to bare, the winged woman was gone.