"It's those damn werewolves, I tell ya," Old Bob, the weathered and very old looking man behind the counter, said again for what seemed like the hundredth time. "The Pack's been living in isolation in the mountains for too long and now they've come down to start feeding on people?"
Moonshade sighed as she turned away from the counter. Every question she asked got the same answer from Old Bob, werewolves. Prejudice wasn't anything new to the universe, but it always seemed to run more deeply on out of the way planets such as Mic-E. Still she wasn't going to rule out werewolves yet. She just wasn't going to let prejudice control her mind. She inhaled deeply to keep from losing her cool and pushed off from the counter to make her way across Old Bob's diner to the corner booth, where her partner Solyn Dae was sitting.
Even from here she could feel the old geezer's eyes on both of them. She knew that the body suits she and her partner wore while working didn't help to discourage eyes, but body suits were easier to work in because there was less chance to get caught on anything while chasing, or being chased. Both happen quite a bit in their line of work. The super spies also wear high energy guns at all times, work or play.
Solyn rolled her eyes, feeling just as stressed as her partner. "The Agency asks us to come all the way out here and all we can find is werewolves? What's next, vampires? Why didn't they just send some of their own people? I mean we don't work for them anymore, so why send us the b.s. assignment?"
"I know how you feel, Solyn, but if you remember, their agents couldn't find anything."
"Right, so they called the best, The Sun and Moon Investigative Services, us, the super spies." Solyn stated with a smile and both girls laughed. "I just don't understand why everyone around here is so hot to blame the Pack."
"That means you didn't get much from the local enforcers?"
"Same thing we got everywhere else I'm afraid, and still no proof. Just stories of claw and teeth marks at the scenes. I also heard talk of the town wanting to send people into the mountains to find and kill all the werewolves." Solyn informed her friend. "We better get this wrapped up in a hurry."
"Well, "Moonshade replied, "you said it yourself, we are the best." Both women laughed at the joke, but didn't get to enjoy the moment long.
"Hey, girls?" The pair looked up to see the local lead enforcer, Sheriff Little, standing in the door of the diner. "There was another killing at Akira's place. Thought I'd stop and pick you up on my way, so you could see for yourselves that it's that damned Pack doing all the killing." Solyn and Moonshade looked at each other and frowned, they knew that the only reason the sheriff had even told them about it was because the Agency had told the local law to give them full cooperation.
It seemed like forever before they arrived on scene which reminded the pair of a circus. There were people moving about everywhere, and only half of them looked official. "What the hell all these people doing here?" Solyn demanded as the land, hover craft came to a halt. She jumped out before it had completely stopped and immediately started yelling at people. "Hey, get away from there! Put that down it might be important. Would you quit contaminating the crime scene!?"
"They don't care Solyn, calm down." Moonshade said with her hand on Solyn's shoulder.
"Calm Down?! Look at these idiots!"
"What's the problem?" The pair turned at the sound of the voice, reading to draw blood in their anger, but instead turned to see one of the most gorgeous guys they had ever seen. He had shoulder length, dark, curly hair and vibrate green eyes. He was well built and wore his black jeans and tight, black shirt very well. For a moment the super spies forgot their anger, but remembered it at his next words.
�Who needs evidence? We all know it was the Pack that did this." The man finished with a shrug and if the Solyn and Moonshade hadn't already been so angry, they would've caught the sarcasm in his voice.
"Did you see it happen?" Moonshade demanded, finally having enough of the prejudice attitudes of the people on Mic-E.
"Don't need an eye witness," he replied mater-of-factly. "There's claw and teeth marks every where, including the body. It's all rather clear isn't it?"
"No, it's not clear!" Solyn yelled.
"And where's the body?" Moonshade asked. "We want to see it."
"The body's been taken away already. Anyway, there wasn't much left to Akira after the werewolves got to him," the man answered, pressing the werewolf issue making the girls get more upset.
"You ladies better listen to this stranger. Even he knows what's really going on," Sheriff Little added before leaving them to go on to his own business.
"Stranger?" Moonshade asked raising an eyebrow in curiosity.
"So you're not from around here?" Solyn inquired. "Then why are you so hard pressed to blame the Pack?" She demanded crossing her arms across her chest and taking a step back to get a better view of him while he answered. Moonshade tossed her long dark hair over her shoulder and put her hands on her hips. Both spies stared the stranger down in a half-hearted attempt to intimidate him.
He laughed at the pair's antics and offered his hand, "I'm Philip," he said with a smile that could melt hearts. The girls glared at him harder for a second or two then Moonshade took his hand, not softening her look one bit, and shook it coldly.
"I'm Solyn Dae and this is my partner Moonshade. We're here to solve a serial, not make friends. Come on, Shade." And with that Solyn turned sharply and walked toward the house. Moonshade shrugged her shoulders at Philip, then she unexpectedly smiled warmly right before she turned to follow her best friend and partner to the house. Philip stood there a moment longer with a perplexed look on his face, which soon broke into a smile, he had never met women quite like those two, and knew he probably never would again. He ran to catch up to them not wanting to miss a thing they did.
Moonshade exhaled in disbelief as they looked around Akira's house. They had only made it in the door and already started to understand why the people wanted someone or something to blame so quickly. "Bloodbath is definitely an understatement," she said remembering the adjective that the Agency used to persuade the Sun and Moon Investigative Services to take the case.
"Definitely werewolves," Philip agreed with a nod. "Moonshade? Is that a first or last name?" He asked in a conversational manner better suited for a coffee house, and not a crime scene. Moonshade sighed in frustration like an impatient adult dealing with a hyperactive child, and then she wandered off to see how badly the locals had contaminated the scene.
"We don't know that the Pack did it," Solyn reminded him though clenched teeth trying to contain her anger.
"Don't we?" he asked innocently with a shrug and a smile, tremendously enjoying the game he was playing with the super spies. Solyn's hand went to her gun, and her eyes narrowed in anger.
"The creatures didn't leave Akira in one piece, and I think he may have had a friend or two over."
"Than why didn't the local enforcers pick up on that?" Solyn asked skeptically crossing her arms over her chest. "They seemed to think that there was only one victim."
"The enforcers don't care. They already know who the killers are."
"Right, werewolves," Solyn injected rolling her eyes.
"Right," Philip agreed with a nod and this time she did notice his sarcasm. "But there's too much blood for one person, and too many left over pieces."
"You mean like extra feet and arms?" Solyn asked wrinkling up her nose in disgust, you never seemed to get used to dead people, no matter how long you've been in the business.
"That's exactly what I mean, and there seems to be blood from some creature I can't identify."
"So, then you don't think it was the werewolves?" she asked.
"Hey guys, come here!" Moonshade yelled from the next room, bringing a smile from Philip because he didn't have to answer more of Solyn's question. "I think I found something," Moonshade insisted when she didn't get an immediate answer. Solyn and Philip found Moonshade kneeling in a corner where she had thrown back the rug to revile a trap door.
�Where's it go?� Philip asked looking to Moonshade for the answer.
�Only one way to find out. After you, Phil,�" she replied motioning to Philip to lead the way through the trap door.
"It's Philip, and ladies first," he responded looking uncertainly toward the darkness Moonshade would have him walk blindly into. The girls looked at each other and rolled their eyes as if to agree on what a coward he was. Solyn pulled a chem light from one of her pockets. She bent the small cylinder to break the seal allowing the chemicals inside to mix, and begin to glow. She then dropped the little blue glow rod down the door, the light landed about six feet below them dimly lighting a dirt floor.
"You found it," Solyn reminded Moonshade with a shrug when her friend looked to her in question. Philip was almost surprised they didn't just push him down the hole and make him go first anyway. The thought of going first didn't bother him, but he knew it was likely that whatever did kill Akira and his friends came up through this trap door. And he didn't really want to turn his back on the girls either.
"Why not?" Moonshade replied lowing herself through the trap door, Solyn followed without another word, once again leaving Philip by himself. He laughed out loud, once again amazed at how these girls worked. It was uncanny how in synch they were and they were so damn gorgeous too. Philip shrugged to himself as he followed the pair of spies into the dimly lit basement. The trio found themselves in a room cut out of the ground with weak supports to keep the house above from falling in on it. Philip sniffed the air smelling something alarmingly familiar.
"What's the matter, Phil? You got the sniffles?" Moonshade asked rather coldly. He started to respond, but Solyn didn't give him time.
"You know there are people who can help you with your problem," Solyn added in the most mocking voice she could muster, "they call them doctors." Philip just shook his head as he lowered it to his hand, choosing not to antagonize the girls anymore. The girls smiled and decided to get back to the business at hand. "Let's see what we got here," Solyn suggested as she turned on a small flashlight and started to look around. "Well would you look at that," she said referring to the different tunnels leading away in three different directions.
"We could spilt up and take one each," Philip suggested getting dirty looks from the girls that told him that it was the stupidest idea they had ever heard.
"No good," Moonshade informed. "We don't know where they lead and we only have one Mapmaker." Moonshade unclipped a small object that looked like a hand held game system from her belt and held it up to show the others.
"You found the trap door; you've got the Mapmaker, so you decide which way we go, Shade," Solyn nodded to her partner.
"Sure, Solyn, give me all the responsibility," Moonshade replied in a joking manner. "Well, in that case, we go right, because you can't go wrong with right."
"This should be fun," Philip muttered under his breath as he headed down the tunnel on the right, taking the point. The girls laughed and followed him. Moonshade turned on her map maker which lit her pale face in a blue glow whenever she held it up to look at it.
Several hours -and much back tracking- later the trio found themselves at the entrance to a very large cavern. The floor of the cavern was a good three hundred feet below them and the walls a mile apart. They could see what looked like a settlement of some strange alien beasts.
�What the hell are those?� Solyn asked looking through her binoculars. She handed them to Philip who lay between the two girls. They were all on their stomachs to lessen the chances of getting caught.
�Those,� Philip said as he handed the binoculars to Moonshade, �are a lot of trouble. I think we�ll need backup for this one.�
�I agree,� Solyn said.
�Um, guys. I don�t think backup will be possible.�
�Why�s that, Shade?�
�Cause we�re too far down to send a single out and we can�t go back the way we came.�
�Why not?� Philip asked. Both he and Solyn looked back to see what was blocking their way and saw nine of the alien creatures. The creatures looked even bigger close up. They looked like a strange cross between a lizard and a bug, but walked mostly erect. The creatures had gray-black scaly hide and stood about seven feet tall.
�This doesn�t look good,� Solyn muttered as she pulled out her gun.
�Solyn, wait.� Philip reached out to gently lay his hand on Solyn�s arm. �At our best we can�t take these things on one-on-one and they outnumber us now three to one. Plus, they have backup. We wouldn�t stand a chance.�
�So, what do you suggest? Surrender? Shade and I have never surrendered before in our lives.�
�There is a first time for everything.� Philip took Solyn�s gun and laid it on the ground between them and the aliens. He figured that if they were smart enough for space travel, they were smart enough to see this as a sign of surrender.
�Go ahead, Shade. Let�s do as Philip says.�
�You know, this reminds me of the time Phoenix Shadowstar and I were surrounded by shadow ninjas,� Shade calmly remarked as she set her gun on the ground before her.
�How did you make it out of that?� Philip asked a bit surprised she�d not died in that adventure.
�Who is Shadowstar?� Solyn demanded.
�He had a way of letting his swords do his talking.� Moonshade said with a shrug, answering one question, but not the other.
The creatures made some strange noises Philip could only guess were language. As one the trio began to slowly get up.
�This sucks,� Philip complained.
�Speak for yourself.�
Solyn and Moonshade spontaneously drew their backup weapons and began to fire on the aliens. Solyn was standing and Moonshade was on one knee. Philip was caught momentarily off guard, but he didn�t take long to regain his senses. He dove for the guns on the ground and came out of a roll shooting both weapons, even as one of the creatures was leaping for him. It wasn�t long before all nine of the aliens were dead.
�Wow that was great,� Philip cheered.
�Yeah a real ball.� Moonshade�s voice dripped with sarcasm, but there was a light in her eyes suggesting she enjoyed the little shoot-out.
�I�m sure the others noticed our fireworks, so let�s get going.� Solyn took her gun from Philip and holstered both her weapons as she started making her way around alien body pieces. Moonshade took her gun from Philip and she too started to make her way back the way they came. Moonshade stopped suddenly and looked over her shoulder at Philip.
�What are you waiting for, a written invitation?�
Philip started to follow but turned to look behind himself when his keen ears picked up something that the girls hadn�t heard. The aliens had responded quicker than they had expected and were climbing the cavern walls toward them.
�Look alive girls!� Philip yelled as he ran past Solyn and Moonshade.
The girls didn�t waste anytime in following Philip. They both produced a handful of explosive charges they each kept in pouches around their waists. They ran on as they threw the mini grenades behind themselves. The charges exploded on impact, throwing the trio forward with the wave of the blast. When the dust cleared Philip and the girls were overjoyed to find the tunnel completely cut off behind them, safely blocking the aliens from themselves.
Philip looked at the cave with a bit of confusion and then at the girls, taking a moment for what had just happened to register. The girls didn�t look in the least bit confused or disoriented, however. Solyn was brushing dust off her pants legs and Shade was getting done brushing dust off her shoulder before helping get dust and debris out of Solyn�s hair. Philip couldn�t help but laugh, both relieved they were safe, and amused with the girls. Did nothing phase them? �You girls are just too much.�
�Thanks,� Moonshade beamed at smile.
�What the hell is that supposed to mean?� Solyn demanded. She had dropped her flashlight -their only source of light- on the ground and the shadows seemed to make her all the more menacing.
Philip started to respond to Solyn, but then realized he didn�t know how to respond to that question. However other things caught his attention away from Solyn�s fiery glare at that moment. He could hear digging type sounds from the other side of the cave in. Of course, the aliens wouldn�t just give up, what was he thinking? �I think we should get out of here.� Neither of the girls seemed to have any argument for that statement. Moonshade pulled back out her Mapmaker to show them the way back.
The three ran back down the tunnels in silence until they reached the place where they entered the tunnels. The local law enforcement had picked up and left the area already when they again emerged into the sun, panting for breath. The girls stopped and looked to Philip. �We shouldn�t linger too long, no telling if those things have another tunnel near here,� Solyn stated to Philip who nodded in agreement.
�This might be a little too big for the local law enforcement,� Moonshade said after catching her breath. Solyn nodded and looked thoughtful.
�Almost anything is too big for the local law enforcement,� Philip stated with a sigh. Both girls laughed at his statement however.
�We�ll have to notify the empire, and they�ll decide what to do,� Solyn said at length.
�That�s it?� Philip asked. �You�re just going to hand it over and go?�
�What else can we do?� Moonshade asked in that sweet voice of hers. �We�re not an army, and that back there looked like it might be. We�re just a pair of crime solvers. Crime is solved. We know who did it, now it�s time for others to do their jobs and take care of the problem.�
�It was nice working with you ladies. As short as that was.� Philip paused to let out a small laugh. �Don�t be afraid to stop by in the future.� Moonshade nodded with a small, sad smile. Philip was never good with goodbyes, so before the girls could say too much more he turned to walk off.
�Wait,� cried Moonshade. Philip turned back to look at her in question. �The sheriff was our ride,� Moonshade shrugged with an apologetic smile. Philip continued to look at her in question, however.
�We need a ride, you idiot,� Solyn blurted out, getting a reprehending look from Shade. Philip laughed and waved the girls to follow him to his car.
�Come on, I�ll give you a ride back to wherever it is you parked.�
The trip back to town was a very short one. Philip didn�t get out of the car, or even cut the engine. He drove them to the place they parked their space shuttle and then left them there with only a wave as a way of saying goodbye. He looked in his rearview mirror as he drove away and watched the girls move toward their shuttle. His mind was on many things. He�d have to come back and find whoever the empire would send to take care of the aliens. He liked to stay on top of things in the area. He was a little upset this matter was too large for him and the girls to take care of. He�d been hoping for justice, not war. But at the very least, the pack was no longer the prime suspects. He didn�t know if that�d make too big of a difference around here, but it couldn�t hurt. He saw the little shuttle strike across the sky in front of him as he drove into the mountains and couldn�t help but laugh. That was the strangest and strongest pair of women he�d ever met.
the characters and storyline on this page are � by Kehle Shandley. No part of this story or it's characters can be reproduced in anyway without premission.