Ressurection
Part 1
"Is he gonna be okay?" LD asked, sitting in the waiting room.
"Doctor Slightly is doing his best," Lady Thundera said, flipping a page in her magazine. "Truth is, we asked Zhie first, but she said she couldn't do it. Stinking HMOs."
The door opened and the Dreaded-But-Delicate Master of All Evil appeared there. Behind him tottered a stuffed teddy bear, the little creature radiating warmth, love and fond childhood memories. Rivero turned and punted the bear back into the office, then closed the door. He stalked through the waiting room and out into the hall. LT and LD glanced at each other, then took off after him.
"Um, how did it go, darling?" LT asked the evildoer. "Why did you kick the shrink?"
"Oh, that," Rivero said absently. "Doctor's orders. He said I should express my villiany at more opportunities."
"Soooo are you over Rain and Fianna yet?" LD asked. Lady Thundera reached behind Rivero's back and smacked the insane youth in the head.
Not noticing, RD said, "Not precisely. Rather, I've had a realization, an epiphany if you will."
They turned a corner, went through a door and found themselves at the rear of RD's workshop. His monumental invention, the Character Creator 2001, loomed over them.
"I have come to see that I never lost Rain. My dog's patterns are encoded into the CC2K1's memory banks. All I need is a hot cup of tea, and I can ressurect him precisely as he was before that wretched cur Fianna tricked us."
With that, RD reached below the counter and took out a small safe. He put this on the counter, manipulated the combination lock and opened it. From within he took a small gold box and set this on the counter as well.
"What is that thing?" LT asked.
"An infinite improbability generator," RD said as he slid the safe back under the bench. "I picked it up a few years ago at Douglas Adams' yard sale."
RD went to the sink and filled a cup with water, then popped it in the microwave. A moment later he took the steaming cup out and put in two bags of Twinnings brand Earl Grey tea into it. While the tea steeped, he plugged the gold box's power cord into the wall, then connected a cable from the Character Creator to the box. RD then picked up the tea cup, set it by the box and dropped a pair of stripped wires from the device into the tea.
Instantly, every molecule of Lady Thundera's underwear teleported simultaneously three feet to the left and hung there in midair.
"AUGH!" she screamed, then shot Rivero a dangerous look.
"Sorry," RD said. "I didn't know I'd left it on." He pressed a button on the box and the undergarments returned to their original location.
As RD went to program the Character Creator, LD moved closer to the infinite improbability generator, examining it intently.
"Don't touch that!" RD called over his shoulder.
"I'm just looking!" LD protested, and backed off sullenly from the box. He looked at Lady Thundera and opened his mouth to speak.
"One word about my panties and I will hurt you in ways you never imagined," the Mistress of All Evil in Denial growled. LD's mouth closed with a click of teeth.
RD finished his work, smiled and pressed the "Run" button on his system. Within moments the room filled with an electric hum and a smell of ozone. From the closed generation chamber came a greenish glow, making the team's shadows dance crazily on the walls.
Rivero went to the observation station and looked into the viewer mounted to the console. Suddenly he stood straight up, all traces of pleasure gone from his face. He bolted to the programming console and began to type feverishly.
"RD? What's wrong?" LT asked.
"This isn't my Rain program," RD said tersely, looking at the screen. "It's as though someone has mixed the files, taking parts of Rain and replacing them with, with..." the evildoer's jaw fell open.
"RUUUUUUNNN!!!" Rivero screamed and charged for the door. LT and LD did not hesitate, racing after their leader. They reached the door and struggled to pull it open, only to find it stuck solidly, held by some unseen force.
RD looked over his shoulder to the green light coming from the chamber, watched in horror as the light brightened, it's hue shifting, changing from green to silver as mirthless laughter filled the room.
********
Tatiana glanced at Thnderwolf, then quickly away. She studied her hand once more, than made her decision.
"Got any fives?" he asked her.
"Go fish," the insane lion said.
"You go fish," Shark told him with a sly grin. Thunderwolf smiled back and waggled his eyebrows.
"Do you two mind?" Tatiana squawked. "I just boiled my husband like an alka-seltzer, and here you two are acting like honeymooners! Show some respect for a grieving widow!"
"Is that why you already rented out his room to Slinky? To put it behind you?" Thunderwolf said with a chuckle.
Tatiana opened her mouth to complain when the lights went out. Without missing a beat, she redirected her ire. "Aw hell, must have blow a fuse."
"What about it? Aren't you the mistress of the dark?" Shark teased. Tatiana kicked his shin under the table.
"I'll get it," TW said and left the table. He went to the breaker box and flipped it open, his feline eyes adjusting to the gloom.
"They're not tripped?" he asked himself. Then the house rocked as a tremendous crash came from the dining room.
Thunderwolf took two fast steps towards the kitchen door when something huge hurtled through it at him. The saberlion reflexively raised his arms and felt a jarring impact against them as a blow aimed at his face struck there instead.
Thunderwolf reeled backwards as his half-seen assailant pressed in on him. He warded off an overhand right that disintegrated the cupboard beside his head, and left a valuable opening in his enemy‘s guard. The lion moved in and delivered a jackhammer series of blows to his opponent's abdomen, listening with satisfaction to the sound of ribs breaking beneath his powerful fists.
His opponent froze, stunned by the injuries, and in that moment the sabertooth gripped his foe's head, spun and slammed the attacker's face into the countertop. Teeth scattered across the formica as the defeated fighter slumped against the cabinets and slid heavily to the floor.
Thunderwolf backed away warily, rubbing his bruised knuckles. The lights were still out, but now that the battle had subsided, the form lying on the floor was very familiar indeed: a caninoid, nearly seven feet tall, it's german sheppard head unrecognizable from the beating it had sustained.
Thunderwolf knew he should be pleased at having finally clobbered the wretched nincompoop, but he couldn't shake the feeling something else was at play besided their rivalry. Something was wrong. He went to the dining room to check on Tatiana and Shark and his fears were confirmed; they were gone. Shark's harpoon lay bent on the floor beside the smashed card table. A massive hole indicated where the invader had come in through the exterior wall.
"Invaders," Thunderwolf corrected himself quietly. Fianna could not have been acting alone; even if he'd machine-gunned the other two on entry, the bodies would remain. Snarling he went back to the kitchen to beat some answers out of the cur.
When he arrived he noticed two things immediately - the door adjoining the garage was open, and the dog was gone. "God dam-" he began to exclaim, then he noticed the oven door hanging open, the smell of gas in the air.
"FUCK!" the saberlion roared and charged back into the dining room. As he raced down the hall towards the living room, he heard a heavy "woomph" as the gas in the kitchen ignited. He ran across the living room, the ever-increasing glow from behind warning him of the fireball racing towards his back.
Thunderwolf threw himself through Tatiana's bay window as the flames engulfed him. He hit the ground rolling, and kept rolling, extinguishing the fire that still licked at his scorched fur.
It was several moments before he pushed himself to a kneeling position and took stock of his situation. His skin felt tight, and everywhere not protected by clothing and armor had some degree of burn, none of it very serious. He looked to his right, saw Tati's home engulfed in bright fire, filling the air with thick smoke.
Thunderwolf's jaw set in a grim line. He was going to find his friends. And God help Fianna when he caught up to the dog.
Because nobody else was going to be able to save him this time.
********
The moon lent a wan light to the embers of the extinguished campfire, giving the forest clearing an eriee glow. Across the grass, bodies lay strewn where they had fallen.
Kamanchee Ska sat up lazily and looked about himself and smiled. He had sometimes wondered how he'd come to be a member of the Ferocious Females, given that he was neither ferocious nor female. Additionally, the team's stated mission, enbalming RD Rivero, seemed risky and short-sighted; short-sighted since the club would have no reason to exist after Rivero was finished, and risky since a failed attempt could result in their enbalming instead.
Rivero's claims that a proper enbalming began at the crotch had compelled the young Brit to consider that very carefully indeed.
The risks, however, were consummate with the prizes. He got to his feet and stood over Peachyra. The ersatz leader of the group looked lovely in the moonlight, despite the chocolate cake smeared on her face and in her hair. Behind him was Benni the Traitorous Tigress, face-down in the bakery box. Just beyond her, Spark lay twitching and giggling to herself in sucrose-induced dreams.
Kam smiled and smiled as he surveyed his private harem. Already they were thoroughly addicted to his chocolate cake. A few more "meetings" and they would belong to him, body and soul.
"Kamanchee's Angels," he chortled. "I like that better than 'Ferocious Females'. Let's see, I've got Drew," he faced Peachyra. "Cameron," he said, looking at Benni. "And Lucy," he finished, turning towards Spark.
Then the Brit's bladder reminded him of why he'd awakened in the first place, and the Englishman ventured into the forest to find a tree. He walked along for several minutes, stumbling occasionally in the dark, until he judged he was a safe distance. He turned to face a nearby dark mass, undid his zipper and began to whizz.
"Ahhhh," he sighed with relief. When his groan was done, he noticed a throaty growl from directly in front of him. Kam's eyes widened as he realized it was not a tree he was pissing on. He sprang backwards, hearing something woosh through the air his head had occupied an instant before, then dashed towards the camp.
As he neared the clearing he heard a commotion. Ducking into the brush, he remained still until he was certain he was undetected, then carefully parted the scrub to view what was happening.
It was hard to see detail, but he guessed the three large bags lying on the ground contained the Ferocious Females. A trio of hulking shadowy creatures waited nearby until a last one emerged from the woods near where Kam himself had gone in.
A series of harsh barks and whines came to his ears as the creatures conversed, then each of the others took a bag and moved off down the trail in the general direction of the ATB. The fourth creature lumbered to the middle of the clearing and reared to it's full height of more than seven feet. It raised it's canine muzzle and emitted a loud, haunting howl, one that ululated in such a manner it sounded almost like singing. Then the creature moved off after it's brethren.
Kam scowled angrily. These were caninoids, no doubt, and although he only knew Fianna by reputation, that reputation alone was enough to convince him the dog would stoop to any level to play a gag, even calling in reinforcements to steal Kam's harem.
"Just like an Irishman," he growled. Still, he knew he was no match for even one of the monsters, much less four. With typical British thoughtfulness, he decided to lodge a complaint.
"Kamanchee Ska to Thundera Tiger, come in," he said into his communicator.
TBC