Part 16
Private Eye Peyton stepped out of his 32 Ford and gave the building before him a great snarl. He hated being here. It was enemy territory. But it was his duty to work with these people and make sure BADGE’s plans go off without a hitch.
“I’d rather be having a chicken dinner at Mildreds... Oh, well.”
The place before him was an old laundry business that still operated. However, Peyton and the entire police department knew this was just a front for one of Rutkowski’s operations. Walking inside, all he heard was the steady rumbling of the dryers working on some random persons’ sheets and underwear. Several haggard old women looked over their magazines at him, not sure why a P.I. was inside this place.
He made his way to the back and found the one dryer that had a permanent sign hanging in front of it that declared, ‘out of order’. Opening it, he pressed a hidden button and then closed the door and pressed the ‘on’ switch, which caused it to lower down. He stepped on top of the dryer, now flush with the floor, and it rose back up, taking him into a hidden part of the building.
The doors opened and what had been a dirty old laundromat turned into an opulent penthouse. The place was packed with plush furniture, gilded trappings, and heavy curtains. A radio blared some good old jazz while five gangsters sat around a table playing poker.
“Take yer shoes off! Don’tcha have any class, Peyton?” Steelfist yelled from the table.
Peyton sloughed his loafers and walked across the gooey, thick carpet. “Where’s Rutkowski?”
Peyton asked, “Why? Celebrating something?”
“It’s not every day that one of BADGE’s top henchmen comes and asks me a favor, even gives me a big fat check, and offers to help clear my slate.”
Peyton walked toward the bar and then felt a stabbing pain. To this, he hopped around as he yanked a toothpick out of his foot. “Nice, real nice.”
Rutkowski, chewing on the end of a different toothpick, chortled as he said, “Now how’d that get there?”
“Funny,” Peyton retorted as he made his way to the bar. “I’m not here to celebrate. Justin wants me to ensure that you’re holding up on your end of the bargain. That item is extremely dangerous and could be catastrophic if the wrong people...”
“I know, I know. I got the rundown from that stone feller. I may like money and would probably sell my sister... if I had one... for a quick buck. But, I know the game. If the crappola hits the fan, then money ain’t gonna do me much good. I’ll do my part. Just make sure they hold up on their end. I’m tired of community service gigs.”
Peyton sat down at the bar. “BADGE is honorable. They’ll hold up their end of the bargain. Now, where is your super secret vault?”
Everyone in the room laughed at that question. Steelfist said, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Rutkowski added, “So would the FBI, IRS, and the cops. Ain’t showing it to you or nobody. Justin asked me to hide it where no one will find it. Well, that’s exactly where it will be.”
“Then why did Justin send me here to find it?” Peyton asked.
Rutkowski said, “Because we have a special job to do. That jewel thing, it aint in the vault just yet.”
“What?”
“You and me, we got something to take care of. We gotta use our special time power to seal that thing and then we’ll put it in the vault.”
Peyton took a drink of the cocktail he was handed and then asked, “Shouldn’t we do that closer to the vault itself? Unless it’s in this building.”
“It aint here, but yer right, we should do it there.” Rutkowski smirked at him.
Peyton realized his drink was an extra special blend. “You bastard.” With a hard plop, his head hit the bar, and he was out cold.
Torrik walked with Justin in the arboretum on the station. They looked over several maps of Earth on tablets as they discussed the next phase of this job.
“There, that’s the place I think we should start searching.” Justin pointed at a place in the Mediterranean.
Torrik agreed. “If your myths align with enough reality, then the Scylla should be there. Or at least we’ll find evidence of its location.”
EB and Chase approached with Gar behind them. EB hopped up and down. “That was a fun battle. I mean, all those cool fantasy creatures, it was like a totally LARPing. I punched an ogre, kicked a goblin, and totally got a critical roll against that Wyvern.”
“This isn’t a game,” Chase muttered.
“Let me have my fun,” EB said.
Justin said, “I’m just glad the situation is resolved so we can return to finding the last two stones before Lady Echidna gets to them.”
Chase asked, “Will you stick around and help?” She looked at Torrik.
EB said, “Oh, he should be going home now, faaaar away in that Yohan place. Like, forever.”
Torrik said, “Actually, I’m going to be hanging around for a while.”
“What!” EB bellowed and then saw everyone glaring at him. “Sorry.”
Chase asked, “What do you mean?”
“First, my mission was to find the source of this evil magic and stop it. We haven’t come close to that yet. I’m here for the duration. Also, I could be staying even longer if BADGE is up for the challenge.”
Everyone could hear EB muttering, “Please say it ain’t so.”
Justin said, “I think the idea has merit. Training is always good for our heroes.”
“Training?” Gar asked.
Torrik answered, “The portal between our worlds was supposed to be temporary... and for only one person. Thousands of creatures passed through it, ripping it apart and creating a permanent rift. The barrier between our worlds was crafted by the powerful magic of Merlin the Great... and he has been gone for centuries. No one knows how to fix it. This new rift is stable, so I had the idea that you could use the Great Divide as my people have.”
“I thought it was just protection between worlds?” Chase asked.
Torrik nodded, “It is. But, it also provides a good place to hone our fighting skills. Those creatures all love a good fight. So, the warriors of my people go there to training on a regular basis. I thought, since your world is facing all sorts of unique and strange threats, training with magical beasts might provide extra skills.”
“I like it. I know a lot of heroes who would love a chance to test themselves in that kind of arena.” Chase said.
Justin nodded. “My thoughts exactly. I have asked Torrik to be a liaison between his world and ours. He will provide help in this current crisis. In the future, he will remain a friend of BADGE who will aid us in this new training arena and in future crisis... which we seem to have in steady supply.”
Chase said, “Speaking of crisis. What about the Eye of the Hydra and Lady Echidna?”
“I have taken measures to protect the Eye of the Hydra,” Justin said. “As for Echidna and Nova, I don’t know. For now, we’ll have to take this one day at a time. Perhaps, for once, we’ll have the jump on them by finding the next eye before they do. Gar, walk with me. We need to discuss your recent special mission.” Justin excused himself and spoke with Gar.
Torrik smiled at Chase with that ten-million dollar grin and produced a rose in his fingers. He put it behind her ear. “There, a little color to break up all that black leather.”
She blushed, “Oh, how sweet.”
“Chase.” Justin called her over.
“Excuse me.”
Torrik watched her leave and then heard heavy breathing and muttering. There was a calmness to him as he realized the jealous little bunny was about to chew through the floor to control his green-eyed rage. “Look, EB, you don’t have to be so jealous.”
“I’m not jealous, I just think you are a big, fat, flirt!” EB went to hop away.
“You’re right. I am.”
“What?”
Torrik laughed, “I like to flirt. It’s a nasty habit of Satyrs. I suppose that might be where we got our reputation for lecherousness. But, it is not well earned. Flirting is one thing. In reality, I’m not that attracted to Chase, or any human female.”
“What do you mean?”
“Not enough fur, no tail, no hooves. Those feet.... blech. Give me a sweet pair of goat's legs on a busty Satyr girl any day. Chase is a sweetheart and I love the way she smiles at me. But humans are kinda weird looking.”
EB was aghast and then a little giddy, “So... You don’t want her?”
“Not like you think. She’s all yours. Now, can we be friends?”
EB was bouncing six feet in the air. “Sure, no problem, great friends. It’ll be great to have another magical creature around to talk to. Krystal is nice, but always gone. Santa is my buddy, but so far away. Hey, do you like chocolate? I could...”
All their comms activated with a robotic voice. “Alert, Alert. Neo Utopia distress signal incoming.” The voice changed to Peyton, “BADGE. This is Peyton. It’s her. That Lady Echidna... she just attacked the vault. She got the Eye of Hydra!”
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