Davis' PoV

 

At first they started asking Jim's neighbors if they had seen anything happen, but no one seemed to know who he was. How could someone live next to another person and not know who they were? As he told the story of Jim's kidnapping they all seemed to ask the same question.

"Have you called 911?"

When replying he said truthfully that he did not know who this 911 was and did not know where to find them. Everyone seemed to think that was hilarious and then shut the door in their faces. Often they were called 'dumb roleplayers.' He didn't understand. Also it seemed like the road was only for the magical carriages. The group had walked on the road a few times and passers by would yell epithets like, "Get off the road weebs!"

Looking more carefully he did see the occasional person walking and none of them were on the road. The smaller path that seemed to follow the larger roadways seemed to be where people walked. These people all seemed obsessed with those portable scrying mirrors. He was at least thankful that he had seen the mirrors and magic carriages before. Here they seemed to be all over the place. Everything in this world seemed to be larger and.. more orderly?

How could roads be so straight and flat? Same thing with the endless number of houses that looked the same. After the realization that he probably failed in his new job so quickly, he felt lost. Both literally and figuratively. Seriously, he had no idea how to get back to Jim's house from here. The group had moved too far away looking for help.

Finally Davis asked "Does anyone remember how to get back to his house? This place is even more vast than Jacksberg and everything looks too alike."

Gwen said "I don't know, we took too many turns."

And then the rain hit. It went from a little sprinkle to a massive downpour in only a couple minutes.

Milly exclaimed "No! I should have stayed in the nice house. If only Jim didn't have my plants… I could have just used his house to set up my shop. Apparently their potion making is poor here. I could have gotten by..."

Annoyed Davis said "Great. I'll be sure to tell him that. You know he mentioned that he knew of others that were just as skilled as you in the potion craft. You were just the closest."

Milly said shocked "What!?"

Davis looked to Gwen and his sister said "Yes. He did mention others, but they were further away. Also, didn't Jim save your life?"

She appeared to be a bit shaken and said "Yea.. I would have been centipede food. But I hate all this running around in the rain! I'm not made for this kind of life."

One nice thing about the rain was that it started washing out their equipment from the battle at Jacksberg. The equipment Jim gave them must have had a magical cleaning property because he watched the red and brown colors drain out of Maria's white outfit with ease.

As he looked at himself and Gwen he found the effect was also mirrored there. Milly was already clean though. She got a brown cloak from somewhere. Then as sudden as the downpour came, it ended.

With nowhere to go he pressed on. He asked random passers by if they had seen anything but they were very brusk and ignored him.

After a while a vehicle with a flat back stopped near them and the driver said "You all looking for a party?"

Davis shook his head and said "We are trying to find our friend Jim."

The driver smiled and said "If your friend's dressed like you all, then he's probably at the party. Jump in."

This seemed like a terrible idea. But what other option did he have? Finally he asked "Gwen?"

After a second she whispered "Can't hurt, we're already lost."

Then Maria said "We need to find Jim! I can't visit my friends if we lose him. Let's go!"

True words. If they couldn't find Jim, they would never be able to go home. Davis said "Just stick together, we don't want to make things worse by losing each other in a crowd."

After everyone nodded Davis agreed to the man's proposal and they all jumped in the flat back of the magical carriage.

***

Charlotte's PoV

 

Charlotte was so confused. She vaguely remembered a loud noise, and then nothing. Opening her eyes she saw only blackness. But it was not the normal kind. She could see hints of light. And then as she tasted the air she knew something was wrong. It was stale. It was like breathing underneath heavy covers. As she moved her head she could feel the coarse fabric against her skin.

But that was all she could move. Her hands were tied behind her back and her legs seemed to be anchored to the chair beneath her.

Taking a breath to compose herself she said "Hello?"

Then a ratty sounding man said "The boss will be here shortly. If you know what's good for you, you will answer all questions promptly and truthfully. Do you understand?"

Her quarrelsome nature came into play and she snapped "No. No I don't. Who the hell are you?"

The man sighed and said "Look lady. It's not my hide on the line. Just giving you good advice. Me? I don't like killing women. The boss though? He gets what he wants from whoever he wants. Also it will make my day a lot shorter if you cooperate."

As she let anger take over to drive out the fear she said "People knew where I was. If I disappear they will know where I was taken from. I am not some no name that can be swept under the rug. People will look for me! "

The man laughed and said "Maybe. Maybe not. But the boss won't care. Good luck lady."

After that she could hear the sounds of footsteps walking away.

***

Jim's PoV

 

Jim had woken up at the sound of Charlotte's voice. He couldn't believe it. He hadn't even been home for two hours before he got kidnapped? He just got a bodyguard too! Although he told that bodyguard to clean up before doing his job.

Karma must have been keeping an especially keen ear out. Damn karma. And what had they sprayed him with? At the time he started trying to shift his right eye over to the other world, but it was too slow. Getting knocked out before you could use your superpowers was embarrassing.

Still this 'boss' guy sounded promising. Maybe he could trace the source and find out who was pissing him off? These people were obviously the middlemen. He had just the person who would like to earn herself some forgiveness points. And this 'boss' guy wasn't the only one who could make bodies disappear.

***

Officer Brady's PoV

 

His partner called over to him "We got a noise disturbance complaint at the old park. You know where it is?"

Brady nodded and said "Yea, on it."

Taking a few turns he started heading in the right direction. So far this new job of his was having a rocky start. In his first two weeks on the job he got decked offhandedly by a self defense god and then had somehow gotten his police car stolen and dropped off in a rich dude's office. Brady thanked his lucky stars that the car had not been taken while he was on duty. Seriously, the chief was beyond pissed.

Even days later it seemed like they had no solid leads, or so said the rumor mill. Brady was thankful that he didn't have that kind of responsibility yet. This Mr. Montgomery guy apparently had an army of high powered lawyers.

Not ten minutes passed before three lawyers had showed up on the scene when they had recovered the car. The poor team on that case was buried in so much paperwork the chief even asked for help from the FBI. But there was also another rumor about that.

It was being said very quietly that the GPS somehow got turned off and back on only when the car arrived at Mr. Montgomery's office. There were around 30 minutes of missing data points for the car's location. Some people were saying that only trained personnel would know how to do that. No one liked an in house witch hunt but apparently the evidence was pointing that way.

But that was someone else's problem. Brady asked "Any idea if they have a permit? What is the max they can have there without having one?"

His partner helpfully supplied "Twenty people. If they are over that, we will have to ask them to shut it down. Otherwise we just tell them to turn down the music, and if we get another complaint then we disperse them."

"Why twenty?"

Max shrugged and said "Beats me. Bureaucrats. Personally think it's stupid. But the law is the law."

He nodded. Ten minutes later they arrived.

As they parked the car they could hear the loud music. His partner sighed and said "Little red cups. Probably don't have an alcohol permit either. Seriously soon enough people are going to need to purchase a permit just to breathe."

The pair got out of the police cruiser and started making their way to where the music was coming from. Soon enough they were asking about permits from a DJ who was obviously blitzed out of his mind.

Max was gesturing Brady to the man. Looks like it was his turn at bat. Bending down to the DJ's ear level he said using a professional tone, "Turn the music down please."

Eventually the addled man lowered the music enough so that a conversation could be had. Brady asked "Who organized this? Does anyone have a permit for this gathering and do you have a permit for alcohol?"

As he was asking the question he saw a bright flash in the corner of his eye. When he looked over he saw a woman standing over a crumpled man. She was yelling "You think you can just try to kiss random people? How dare you!"

Another fire to put out. Looking over at his partner he nodded for Brady to take care of it. The woman seemed to be all dressed up with a black witch costume, she had a black staff and pointy hat, the works. Then he said to the woman "Ma'am, can you please tell me what happened."

The woman looked over to him and said annoyedly "Who are you?"

In a monotone he said "I am Officer Brady with the county police department. I saw that light from the taser just now. I hope you know that's considered assault."

After a few moments of silence he raised his voice and said "Did anyone see what happened?"

Immediately two people approached him and started saying that the woman attacked their friend without cause. Then a man all dressed up in armor who even had a replica sword and shield said "My sister did not ask for his advances. And when the man tried to forcibly kiss her, she used the lightning."

Seriously? Was the man trying to stay in character or something? Used the lightning?

Looking at the man that was finally getting up from the ground he asked "Can you tell me your story?"

He also claimed that she just randomly attacked him. Finally more members of the gathering crowd agreed with the armored man. Sighing he asked the woman "Do you wish to press charges?"

Confused, she said "I think I already did that. What? I can zap him again?"

Seriously? More of this role playing crap? Then he said "I'll take that as a no."

Turning around he went to back up his partner, but the cosplayers followed him and had a third little one trailing along this time.

The man said "You are a protector of laws here? A guard?"

Attempting to keep his temper in check he said "Yes, I am with the county police."

The woman said happily "So you are the 911 people everyone keeps talking about?"

Maybe they were foreigners? He said "Yes, if you dial 911 you can contact emergency services. Then if the situation needs an officer we are sent to help."

The man said "We need to dial this 911 now. Our friend needs help. He was kidnapped."

Brady really hoped these people weren't pulling his leg. He asked "Who was kidnapped and when?"

They talked of a man named Jim. When they started to describe the man he got a sinking feeling. Seriously? This guy again? He had the video bookmarked on his phone and he showed them the video.

Then the woman nodded "Yes. We were at his house and people broke in and took him."

He said "Alright. I actually can pull up his address. Let's go take a look at his house so we can verify your claims."

When he met his partner he filled him in on what was going on. The crowds seemed to have started to disperse as well, so his partner took care of that problem. Getting all four people in the back with their cosplay weapons was a pain, but once they were settled he headed towards Jim's address.

***

Lookout's PoV

 

After finishing his chat with the lady he was a bit sad. The boss would break her. She would tell him anything he wanted to know. Too many came in like that. Breathing fire and fury but then going out broken and weeping.

Spence hated it. But he had been in too deep for too long. For him it was either play the game or die. He had money but not enough to hide out for the rest of his life. The people who tried to get away were always made an example of. He didn't want to be the next one.

The door opened and two thuggish men came in followed by the boss. He was wearing a spectacular looking suit and was just starting to gray at the temples. Still fit enough to kick people around but now showing a hint of age. But his polished look and fake smile were a facade.

Upon entering he asked "They here?"

Spence nodded and said "Same deal as normal boss."

"You searched them thoroughly?"

Spence nodded again and said "Yeah boss. Woman was actually packing heat. Both phones are in the metal box. They are clean."

After saying that he exited the room. He was glad he didn't have to stay in there.

***

Charlotte's PoV

 

She heard footsteps again and she started shouting "LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!"

Her breathing was starting to get raspy and her bravado was starting to wear off. The situation she was in really hit her. This was not like the movies where some hero was going to save the day. She clenched her hands into fists behind her back and yelled "HELP! Someone help!"

A calm voice said "That is not going to help you."

Silence filled the room. After a long minute he said "I need some information from you. If you do not answer me there will be pain. After that, I start breaking things. Do you understand?"

After a second he said "This is what I know. I know you two are involved with a new drug that is very effective. I want names, phone numbers and addresses. I know you two don't produce the drug. You will tell me who does."

Charlotte didn't say anything. Then she felt a stinging slap on her face. It hurt! She wanted to curl into a ball, but she was bound to the chair. She didn't even know who made the thing! Holding back her sobs the man continued.

"Frankly I view both of you as expendable. My client would like to know how to produce this drug, but eliminating it from the market is also an acceptable solution. So this is what's going to happen. First, my men are going to start hitting you."

After he said that there was a punch to her gut. It was hard. She couldn't breathe for a few seconds.

"If I don't start getting answers, then we will move on to breaking fingers. Then we start cutting limbs off. If things start taking too long, we might just kill one of you to make an example. I am on a very busy schedule. So you better start talking."

She stayed silent. Then something hard hit her stomach and she felt herself falling with her chair as it toppled over. As she slid over the concrete floor, the covering on her face slipped and she could now see the men out of one eye.

As Charlotte was swimming in pain Jim asked "So, you're the boss guy right?"

Annoyed, the man said "You do not ask questions. I do."

The boss made a hand gesture at one of the goons and the goon started walking over to Jim. The man looked to prepare a powerful punch and then he hit Jim solid in his stomach. But nothing happened.

The blow didn't move him at all. He didn't cry out in pain. Then Jim said "That's great. This makes my conscience feel much better. Thank you."

She was in disbelief as Jim stood up. His motion was fluid but the ropes and even the wooden chair snapped as he stood. It was like he was standing up out of an illusion. He grabbed the hood over his head and it came apart like it was made of string cheese.

Then Jim said "Great. Looks like we got three for the tender services of Scarlet to handle."

The two bodyguards pulled their guns but Jim was over in a flash. She blinked and the two were just gone. Like they had never been there before kind of gone.

Then the 'boss' said "What..? How? That.. that's not possible."

Charlotte watched as Jim grinned evilly and said "You're going to be saying that a lot in the next day or so. I'll be seeing you again in a few minutes."

Again too quick to see, Jim was where the man had been and the boss was gone. He turned back to Charlotte and saw her one uncovered eye.

Then Jim said "Dammit. How much did you see?"

Charlotte said slowly "Everything."

Jim then started to mutter "Seriously criminals can't even do hoods right nowadays. Just my luck to get incompetent criminals. Figures."

Then Charlotte cleared her throat and said "Little help Jim?"

He sighed and said "Yea, sure thing."

Not bothering to untie the ropes he easily snapped them like pulling apart a bread stick. As she glanced down to the shredded ropes and back to him she raised an eyebrow.

Jim was clearly in thought when he said with hands waving and fingers wiggling "This is just a dream! Sleep! Sleep! Just a dream..!"

Then she kicked him. After he failed to dodge the ineffective blow Jim said "Why do you keep hitting me today! What did I do to you!"

"Jim, you can't trick people into sleeping when they're standing up already."

Jim muttered "Damn.. uhh.."

Cutting him off Charlotte said "You cheated. I don't know what you're doing but you're definitely cheating somehow. The way you moved wasn't normal. Breaking out of being tied up in a chair like that was not normal. Disappearing people is not normal."

Trying to calm down her erratic breathing she asked "What the hell is going on Jim?"