Chapter Text
It was a dark and stormy night, and quite frankly, Call was mad about it.
It wasn’t just dark, it wasn’t just stormy, no, it was dark and stormy. The universe (or whatever criminal he was hunting down) was obviously out to get him.
To be fair, during a power outage in the middle of a lightning storm was the best time to commit a crime, so Call couldn’t blame the criminal, but hey here's an idea, don’t break the law maybe.
Call was mostly mad that Havoc would smell like wet dog later.
Speak of the devil, Havoc was trotting back to Call now, his tongue lolled out of his mouth and his fur soaked. He looked like an ordinary dog in this light.
Yeah, he’s definitely attempting to rob the bank. Emphasis on attempting. Poor guy can’t even figure out how to get the door open, Havoc told him.
Call sighed. Havoc did too.
“Do you think he’ll lose his nerve and go home if he can’t even get in, or will we have to chase him away?” Call asked Havoc. He didn’t bother whispering, the rain would cover the sound of his voice.
Havoc tilted his head to the side. Call had to wonder what he was hearing.
Your call. You’re the one that can usually tell, anyway. Isn’t that why we’re here in the first place?
Havoc had a good point.
“How about I wait at the corner and watch him? I can’t quite tell if this one’s gonna cut himself off or not,” Call proposed. Havoc shook his head. It was surreal, for a moment, to be talking to an oddly human wolf in the rain, but you know, superpowers.
Go to the roof, Havoc said. Call immediately started to protest, but Havoc bared his teeth, which was his way of saying, “shut up for a second”.
Listen. I’ll cover the corner so that if the chump goes in, I’ll be able to trap him. You need to go the roof so that when he does go in, you can trip the alarm by going in through the hatch at the top, also effectively putting you in the position to deal with him and giving other animals the quick route to get to him.
“How do you know there’s a hatch in the roof?”
We were in this bank earlier with your dad for like an hour, you unobservant pile of-
“Woah woah woah, this is a bank?”
Havoc sighed again. Call snickered.
You humans, always on your phones, Havoc joked. Call threw a pebble at him.
“Anyway, I’m a little annoyed that you come up with better plans than I do, but I’ll get over that. One thing, though- how am I supposed to get on the roof, Captain-Chief-Bossman?” Havoc rolled his eyes.
There’s a fire escape.
“Okay, that sounds reasonable, but one more thing. I just need to clarify- you want me to make a four meter drop into a building with tile flooring and then fight a criminal? Like, I can, but also, I can’t,” Call gestured to his leg.
Solve both problems at once, Havoc said, adopting his doggy smile. It looked a little menacing. Don’t drop onto the tile- drop onto the criminal.
Call paused for a moment, thinking, before matching his partner’s smile.
Don’t break a leg, Havoc said as Call stood and started walking towards the side of the bank. Havoc was right, there was a fire escape.
“Don’t break anybody else’s,” Call responded.
As soon as Call reached the fire escape, he knew it would be a hard climb. Since it was dark and stormy (ugh), he couldn't see a foot in front of him and the black-painted steel steps were slippery. Oh joy.
Not to mention his leg would be aching the whole way up.
Call sighed and pulled himself up the first stair. His foot slipped, he gripped the railing like a lifeline, and by the grace of God he didn’t fall.
He pulled himself up the next stair.
And the next.
And the next.
And the next.
By the time he got to the top, he was sweating (which was beyond uncomfortable in cold rain, but whatever) and aching (darn leg) and his heart was going bezerk from the amount of times he almost fell.
Call plunked to the ground and huffed out a long breath. I must have great breath capacity from all the sighing that I do, Call thought. He fell back so that he was laying on the roof, with rain pelting his face (to his annoyance).
I don’t wanna move, he thought, knowing he still had to go beat up a criminal.
Call heaved himself over, rolling onto his stomach. He glanced around the roof. He still couldn’t see anything.
Havoc? Call shouted mentally. Where’s that hatch you were talking about? I can’t see squat.
It’s near the street facing side of the building, on the left, Havoc responded readily. Call sent out his acknowledgement and started to army crawl over there.
I can’t tell if this is the height of laziness or fitness, Call thought as he dragged himself through a puddle.
When he was around the area Havoc had indicated, he glanced around to see if there was any sort of hatch.
That’s when something large and heavy attacked him.
Call instantly rolled away, then pushed himself into a crouch ( ow ) and whipped hair out of his eyes, looking around frantically for the attacker.
There was a dark figure in a lump on the ground in front of him, who quickly went through the same motions that Call had seconds prior. Then they were two silhouettes, poised to attack, facing each other in the rain.
Call wanted to say he could see the fiery glow of his opponent’s eyes, or the fierce set of his opponent’s mouth, or the danger etched into the lines of their face. Call, in reality, could not see anything except a vaguely darker thing in front of him that had raised fists.
“Who are you?” The figure barked.
“Who are you ?” Call asked.
“I asked first.”
“I was here first.”
“Yeah, I know, but you shouldn’t have been, which is why I’m asking who you think you are. ” The figure was getting fired up.
“Woah, you changed the question. Besides, what do you want from me, registration? I don’t need no freakin’ registration,” Call responded. He almost forgot somebody was trying to rob a bank right below him. His leg was killing him from crouching for so long.
Call? Are you okay?
“Yeah, well, you got in the way of my rounds, which isn’t very much appreciated. I’ve got things to do, people to save,” the figure said.
Call?
“Excuse me? You attacked me , I did nothing!”
Call, would you mind responding?
“I did no such thing! I tripped on you, cause you were in the way, fooling around.”
Seriously dude, talk to me.
“I was not- am not fooling around!”
Call, tell me you didn’t lose consciousness again.
“Oh yeah? Then what are you doing?”
Call, please.
“As it would happen-”
It was at that moment that Havoc started barking hysterically. Call heard a huge crash from the street, which got him to his feet instantly ( ow ow ow ).
He moved as quickly as he could to the edge of the roof, straining his eyes to try and see what was happening. The figure was next to him.
Somebody lunged into the bank (Call caught a glimpse of blond hair) just as they got to the end of the roof. Havoc, surprisingly, was faced away from the door of the bank. He was barking, hackles raised, at… seemingly nothing.
Call was unsettled.
His instincts flared.
Then Call was panicked.
Havoc?
Call! Took you long enough. Havoc sounded concerned. Call felt his stomach drop.
Later, Havoc said. Right now, we’ve got bigger problems. There’s another one coming in. How’s this guy feel?
Dangerous. Really, really dangerous.
Call saw Havoc’s hesitation.
There are two other superheroes here, Call told him, hoping to help. A plan was forming in his head, but he needed to know what Havoc thought. They were partners for a reason.
I can hold whoever this is off by myself, you take care of the guy in the bank. He actually managed to get through the door, it was pretty astounding to watch.
Call hesitated. Usually he listened to Havoc without question, but…
“What’s that dog growling at?” The figure asked. Call had forgotten about them.
Be careful Havoc, I mean it.
Loud and clear, Callum.
Don’t call me that!
Call turned to the figure. This would be fun.
“There’s somebody robbing the bank right now, which I was trying to stop before you attacked me,” Call told them. He figured they were a superhero from the way they were talking, but now it was time for them to do the work. With the new threat approaching that felt like death, this was getting serious fast.
“First of all, I didn’t attack you. Second, why didn’t you tell me this earlier? Let’s go foil this criminal’s plan so we can both turn in for the night and never see each other again,” the figure remarked. Call hummed in agreement and walked to the place that the hatch was supposed to be in. Surprisingly enough, it was easier to find now that he was on edge.
He knelt next to it and was about to pull it open, but he stopped himself.
“Don’t be surprised, there’s going to be another superhero down there too,” Call told the figure.
“Oh for crying out-”
Call wrenched the hatch open, and immediately a loud alarm started blaring. Red lights flashed inside the building (there must’ve been some sort of generator, which wasn’t surprising for a bank) and Call strained his eyes for a look at what was happening.
The figure jumped down the hatch without hesitation.
Call leaned down a bit further, then sighed, and moved to sit on the edge of the hatch. He waited for the criminal to stand directly beneath him (he could see two people who were obviously heroes and one that was obviously wearing all black), then slid off the roof and into the bank.
The euphoria of falling lasted for a second before he landed, thankfully, not on tile.
Please tell me I didn’t land on one of the heroes, Call thought a second before he looked down.
Below him was a crumpled form wearing all black. He pumped his fist internally (couldn’t look lame in front of other heroes), but could only celebrate for a moment before the criminal rolled and Call was thrown off.
Call quickly got back to his feet, and was pleased to see signs of pain and weariness from the criminal. And that sounds insensitive, but beating up bad guys was his job, okay?
“Nice one,” said a new voice, and Call assumed it was the hero not-from-the-roof. Hero the Second.
“Match it,” Call said, meaning “Let’s all fight good so we can get this over with cause I still do not have a good feeling about this.”
“Gladly,” hero #2 said, then leapt forward to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the criminal. Call only had a second to be impressed. He had things that he needed to do if they wanted to win this fight.
As hero #1 stepped forward to help #2, Call stepped back and started thinking fast.
What did he really feel from the unknown threat Havoc was holding off? The criminal in the bank didn’t seem very dangerous, so Call wasn’t worried about him. He needed to know what to do about Havoc’s hazard- small and agile or big and strong? Teeth or claws?
Havoc, status?
These... don’t seem to be people.
Are they animals then?
I think they’re supposed to be.
How many of them are there?
Don’t worry, I can handle this.
How many of them, Havoc?
...I wouldn’t hesitate to call this an army.
Call reeled from this new information. If he wasn’t scared before, he sure was now.
“Hey, do you plan on helping us?” #1 called. Call barely spared them a thought, he was thinking through his options. How many housepets were in the area? Wasn’t there are bear or two in the nearby woods? Why couldn’t he seem to remember?
“Can’t you take care of a novice like that yourself?” Call shouted back, still not thinking about it.
“He’s got a switchblade, you moron, now get over yourself and come help us!”
Call barely heard them.
“Uhh, little busy!” Call shouted back. He was still sorting through his mental list, thinking, thinking. How could they beat an army? Could they beat an army?
Maybe. Maybe they could.
Call stopped trying to sort through his list. If this was an army, they couldn’t be choosy. This was a call to everybody they could get.
Call took a deep breath. Sorry in advance guys.
WAKE UP EVERYONE! Call mentally projected- as loud and far as he possibly could. A few wild animals were probably very upset at him right now.
I KNOW A LOT OF YOU DON’T KNOW ME AND A LOT OF YOU ARE MAD THAT I’M ASKING FOR A FAVOR AT SUCH AN HOUR, BUT THERE’S AN ARMY OF… MONSTERS, I ASSUME. HAVOC AND I NEED YOUR HELP.
Call heard a bit of chatter coming back through, but he couldn’t quite make any of it out.
IF YOU COULD COME TO THE BANK AND HELP US, I’D BE IN YOUR DEBT. THAT’S ALL.
Call slipped out of the state of mind it took to project like that, and his ears started ringing. He was only slightly dizzy.
Promising like that to a bunch of wild animals… was not his best idea. Animals took debts very seriously. In fact, Call had no doubt in his mind that Havoc was trying to scold him right about now, and Call just couldn’t hear over the buzzing in his ears.
But, Call was getting a seriously bad feeling from the “army” outside. Like, really, really, really, really bad. And Havoc was fighting it all by himself.
Call’s hearing was clearing up, and the sight he hadn’t noticed was gone was coming back, as well as some semblance of balance. He hadn’t ever tried to talk to that many animals at once before. He hadn’t even thought he could do it. Superpowers, man.
Call!Call?Call-Callum?Cally! Call? Call. Callum! CALL?!Call…-UM!-all. CALL!
A cacophony of voices were flying in and out of his head, and he couldn’t concentrate. The animals were all trying to respond, but he could only get the general jist of it; They were coming. They were all trying their best to come help him and Havoc.
He could only be relieved for a second before he felt his arms being wrenched behind his back and a blade put to his throat.
Right, of course, the bank robber. That guy.
“Oh, great. Little busy, huh? Thanks a lot,” #1 said sarcastically. The two superheroes were standing in front of him now, panting.
“Seriously guys? I honestly expected better. I mean, I don’t know who you are, but I’d assume if you were superheroes you could take down a guy who can’t even open a bank door,” Call responded. He had bigger things to worry about than a knife to his throat, when Havoc was out there with an army.
Call! Did I just hear you say you have a knife to your throat?
...Did Call project that thought?
Yes!
Is he accidentally projecting every thought he has?
You are, yeah. I will come in there and fight that guy if I have to, army or not.
Speaking of, how are you holding up? Call had to know. He was pretty sure that #1 or #2 or the robber was saying something, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.
I’m holding up. These guys don’t really know how to fight, and the reinforcements you called for should help.
That’s good to hear.
Okay, I’m glad that you’re reassured, now please get the knife away from your throat.
If you insist.
Call dug around in his head for whatever was projecting his thoughts, but ended up just switching out of thought projection mode entirely. Which meant he couldn’t talk to any of the animals, but he didn’t want them knowing everything going through his head.
“You two,” the criminal said (his voice was high- was he nervous?), “Go unlock the safe and bring me every cent in there, or your partner gets it.”
Call snorted.
“We’re not partners,” #1 said cooly. Call was holding back a laugh.
“We’re also not going to let him “get it”, whatever that means,” #2 said. Seems that one actually had morals.
#2 started walking over to the counter and jumped it, and #1 followed huffily. Call was touched.
“Now that it’s just you and me,” Call said, “I can’t wait to get better acquainted.”
“Shu-”
The criminal didn’t get to finish his thought as Call promptly threw all his weight backwards and twisted his body violently, putting all his support onto his functioning leg and slamming them both off the wall and down to the floor.
The criminal had, of course, jerked the knife, but it only nicked his cheek, so Call was fine.
That worked? Alright.
Call rolled away from the criminal, who was pushing himself off the ground.
“See, this is your introduction to a hero that doesn’t fool around,” Call finished, standing with the criminal.
“The other two were just as cocky,” the criminal said. Call sighed.
“Yeah, and you ended up using a basic hostage situation against them since you didn’t want to fight anymore. You’re only making things worse for yourself buddy,” Call slid into his fighting stance, doing his best to balance his weight and keep the pain in his leg to a minimum.
“You see, you’ve made the mistake of bringing me into the game,” Call said, trying his best to be intimidating. It was probably working.
The criminal lunged towards him. Maybe the intimidation wasn’t working.
Call dodged, to the right of course, and pivoted around to face the criminal again. The criminal was wasting no time in coming after Call again, and suddenly Call realized what was so hard about fighting a person that had a switchblade.
One could take a punch. One could not so easily take a cut or a stab.
Alright then, primary objective- get the blade away from the criminal.
Call dodged around the criminal, effectively putting him behind the guy. Call then wasted no time in dropping down and slamming himself into the back of the criminal’s knees.
The criminal went crashing down as Call moved and got back to his feet. Before the criminal could get back up, Call stepped hard ( ow ) on his wrist. He let go of the blade immediately, and Call kicked it across the floor of the bank.
The criminal had gotten up, but that was fine, because now this was a fair fight.
The criminal, who now seemed to be having trouble using his right hand, took a step towards Call and threw a punch. See, this was definitely easier than a knife fight.
Call ducked under the criminal’s arm and smashed his shoulder into the criminal’s chest. The criminal made a small “oof” sound as he and Call flew backwards. This would be childishly easy if Call’s leg wasn’t burning.
The criminal was moving his arm in, either to suffocate Call or hold him in one place, so Call dropped down again and took the opportunity to grab onto the criminal’s knees and pulling, (again) sending him to the ground.
Call sat on his chest and pinned his arms down.
“There are a lot of more effective ways to get money than robbing a bank. Getting a job, for example. Don’t do crime,” Call told the criminal through his heavy panting. Fights take a lot out of a guy, okay?
“It’s not that easy,” the criminal spat.
“No, probably not, and yet people do it anyway. Whose money do you think is in this bank?”
The criminal was about to respond, but that was when #1 and #2 came back. Call almost sighed in relief.
“Do either of you guys have rope?” He shouted. He heard hurried footsteps, then #1 and #2 each took one of the criminal’s wrists. Call got off him and pulled him up, then they forced his hands behind his back.
#1 produced a rope, his wrists were tied together tightly, and that was that.
Call wanted so badly to sit down, or lay down, or go home, but Havoc was still outside.
He felt a flash of pure panic when he realized Havoc hadn’t contacted him in a while, but quickly remembered that he’d shut off all communication systems (wow, that made him sound like a robot).
He wondered how things were going out there.
The other two heroes were walking towards him now, but Call had to go outside and help Havoc and whatever other animals had shown up. Now that he wasn’t distracted with a fight, the overwhelming feeling of DANGER DANGER DANGER was back and Call was getting frantic, fast.
“How did you take him down all by yourself?” #1 asked indignantly. Call didn’t have time for this.
“Got the knife away from him. Obviously. How didn’t you two manage it?”
Call started to move towards the door, but #1 wasn’t done.
“No, I’m serious. This guy was crazy fast and crazy strong and had reflexes like I’ve never seen before. It wasn’t just the knife that was stopping us, you cocky neanderthal,” #1 was dumbfounded now. Call paused, his hand on the door handle.
“We were gone for no more than five seconds,” #2 said quietly. They sounded even more confused than #1.
“Not possible. That fight was at least 30.” Call’s tone was clipped. He needed to go help Havoc.
“Well, obviously something strange is happening. Since we all know the cops are going to take a while longer to show, let’s take this time to question everybody and figure out what’s going on here,” #1 said. There was conviction in their voice.
No. Call had to go. There was no two ways around it. Havoc.
Call shook his head and opened the door, and ignored the heroes’ shouts as he walked away. Or, he tried to. Somebody grabbed his wrist. Call thought he could hear the sound of a fight through the rain, but maybe it was just his imagination. He needed to go.
“What’s your name?” #2 asked him. Call could barely hear over his racing thoughts.
Call shrugged them off and walked (quickly as he could with his leg aching) in the direction he thought he heard the fight coming from. The other heroes could deal with everything he was leaving behind, and he never had to see any of them again. Havoc. Havoc was the one that mattered.
Call walked and walked, to the point that he thought he was going in the wrong direction. This was… pretty far away from the bank. And yet, ever so slightly through the pouring rain, he could hear a horde of animals. Somewhere, somewhere.
He kept going, spinning in circles and straining his eyes and ears and growing short of breath.
When he finally came across the rumble in an obscure alley, he could hardly breathe.
Maybe that was due to his leg, or all the walking, but he was fairly sure he could fault it to the noxious scent in the air.
It was chaos.
Animals of all sizes were locked in vicious combat with dark… forms. Call could hardly see anything. Remember- it was dark and stormy.
Call spent a second searching for Havoc in the mess, but ended up ducking behind a trash can. He took a deep breath. Then he reopened his mental communication channel.
There was immediately a flood of voices and sounds and noises that gave him a headache. He couldn’t make out a word of it.
There was also… a darkness? A shroud. It was foreign, and fundamentally wrong, but Call tried his best to look past it and push down his panic.
Everyone is talking at once, Call projected, avoiding the shroud. The noise in his head increased instantly, then died down. A lot.
Animals were much more put together than humans.
Call!
That was-
Havoc! What’s happening? The sound of the animals fighting it out in the alley was bloodcurdling, and Call was terrified. He couldn’t even see the enemy. What had Havoc said? Monsters? An army?
These are monsters, Call. They’re too strong and too fast for us, I don’t know what to say. All of the birds that responded to your plea flew out, trying to lead them all off, but only about 75% of the monsters were actually drawn away. I don’t know their state as of now, my mental projection isn’t as good as yours.
Call started to withdraw from his and Havoc’s conversation so he could contact the birds, but-
That’s not all, though.
What else can there be? Call didn’t like where this was going.
This whole ‘hero’ thing tends to be a bit of a game to you, but you have to take this one seriously. These monsters- they’re lethal.
Yeah, okay-
I mean it Call. Be careful here. This is more than you think.
With that final comment, Havoc cut off contact with him. Call was sucked back into the present, with the fight going on around him, and the wild feeling of DANGER DANGER DANGER twisting his gut.
He decided to check on the birds before diving in on anything.
He scanned his mental map, and found there was a forest nearby. He threw a message out in the general direction of the forest, a quick inquiry.
Right when he felt the start of a response coming through, a form leaped out of the darkness and slammed into him.
Led away. Safe now.
Call rolled away from the… dog? It was a bit big to be a dog... wolf . Call rolled away from the wolf while it ran forward to attack him again.
Call found himself scared, more than usual. The wolf had hit him hard. This wasn’t a game.
The wolf reached him, stretched for him with clawed paws, and Call kicked it with his right leg. It whimpered, but didn’t stop advancing.
Call kicked it again, and again. It didn’t stop trying to maul him. The claws nicked his arms, his chest. Nothing deep- Call didn’t stop kicking. Now he was pushing at the wolf with his arms, trying to get it away from him.
Its eyes were stormy, swirling, wild. Fiery, a thousand colors. Call was scared. He was going to die.
The wolf pushed forward a little harder and Call’s arms gave out.
Call closed his eyes.
The furry mass was shoved away from him.
Call opened his eyes to see Havoc, snarling for a second before he jumped forward and attacked the other wolf viciously. Call had to look away.
All around him, in the alley, in the road, animals were fighting the wolf-monsters. It wasn’t pretty. Call felt a little sick, even. There were cats and dogs and badgers and bears and foxes and rabbits, none of which Call had expected to see here. There were mice in the corner gaining up on a wolf.
There was only one problem.
Looking around, Call knew they were fighting a losing battle.
These monsters were too strong, and there were too many. What would happen if the ones the birds led away came back? They were all doomed either way.
Call wanted to tell the animals to go home, then run himself. But then what would happen to the civilians?
Stupid useless superpower, all I can do is get everyone to do things for me, or I’d be fighting just the same.
Stupid bum leg.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Another wolf leapt out of nowhere to attack him, and Call barely pushed this one away. He pushed, he kicked, he tripped, he punched.
It was a monster.
Call was running out of breath.
And the night went on like this, Call and the animals around him barely keeping the monsters at bay and barely keeping up with the pace. Losing battle or not, it seemed they would fight it.
Call was covered in sweat and blood and dirt, soaking wet from the pouring rain, covered in scratches and bruises, and felt his legs and lungs burning when the monster that was attacking him paused. Call, suddenly not being assaulted, looked around desperately for Havoc.
All the other monsters had paused too, and were looking in a single direction.
Call didn’t want to see what they were looking at, but he kind of had to look, didn’t he?
And when he did, what did he see except a human-like silhouette standing on the roof of the building they were next too? Of course. These were controlled monsters.
An army’s gotta have a commander, Call thought as the figure raised their arm.
The monsters all stiffened, only for a second, then they walked away.
That was it.
They just walked away.
Call and Havoc and all these other animals had spent the past, what, half hour fighting these things tooth and nail and barely surviving .
Call was tired , Call was hurt , Call could hardly breathe , but now he was angry.
Call- Havoc started. Call shut off mental communications again. Havoc wasn’t going to talk him out of this.
And so, despite it all, Call lugged himself off the ground and limped towards the rusty ladder of the side of the building.
His hands gripped the rungs, and he hauled himself off the ground. So what if it hurt? Everything hurt. So what if it was wet and raining? It had been for the past hour or two.
Up one rung. He could only use one leg to climb, but he would climb nonetheless.
Up the next. There wasn’t any breath in his lungs.
Up the next. He heard Havoc barking wildly.
Up.
Up.
Up.
Up.
The roof was splattered with puddles, and the rain seemed louder in the wide open space. Call could barely make out the human figure, but he could see through the dark so he did. At this point, next to nothing was still something .
“Hey, jerkface!” Call shouted as loud as he possibly could, channeling all his anger into his voice.
The figure turned and looked at Call. Call couldn’t care less what they were looking at.
“Who,” Call said coldly, “do you think you are?”
Call heard sirens in the distance. He guessed the cops were finally showing up at the bank.
“Who am I?” The figure laughed. Call felt his stomach tug. Thunder echoed through the sky. The figure walked closer to Call, but he didn’t give up an inch.
They were a foot apart from each other, and Call could see their face in a flash of lighting. Or- a mask over their face.
The figure put a hand on Call’s shoulder.
DANGER DANGER DANGER DAN-
“Why, I’m the Enemy of Death, of course.”
--
Call may have cut off communications, but that couldn’t stop Havoc from being aware of his state of consciousness. So to say, Havoc knew the second Call passed out.
He immediately started to panic (and can you really blame him?), but what he didn’t expect was to see Call’s body flung off the roof.
It would be comical if this wasn’t a deadly situation.
Stupid, useless, dumb paws that can’t catch him.
Havoc frantically ran towards the spot where Call was falling, but knew that he ultimately would be able to do nothing. Couldn’t he try?
Stupid boy making stupid choices doing stupid things.
Havoc watched as Call fell, almost in slow motion. He wasn’t ready for this. Maybe he could run and lead the cops here?
Oh, no no no no no no no, please no.
Couldn’t he do something? He’d always been able to save Call, why not now? He had to.
WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo -
A giant, hulking black bear reared up on her back legs, and caught Call in her front arms. The bear barely had the balance to do it, but she managed.
Havoc felt relief wash through him, and ran forward as the bear put Call down gently.
Thank you, Havoc told the bear. She nodded.
Everybody go home, Havoc told everyone in the alley. We’re done here. Thank you.
The animals filed out, and Havoc sat at Call’s side.
The cold rain in his face would wake him up soon enough.