Modern Age Online

Abby’s new car glided noiselessly over the road as they made their way to the warehouse. Along the way, the others filled him in their district. All the ins and outs they’ve discovered, some people they met, and the suburbs that might need a closer look from the group.

Their district, which went from Decker lane to 130 highway, wasn’t that big. Maybe a seven-minute drive or an hour-long walk end-to-end. But it was a well-packed area. Having a small school district, two suburbs, an extensive farming area, and then the shopping district along Blue Bluff. With less than ten people in their Super Group, it was more than big enough for them. For a start at least.

“…and then there’s Detective Dick.” Abby said with a sneer.

“Detective Richard Caskelmore.” Jar-lock appended from his place in the passenger seat. “Is kind of our unofficial liaison to the police around here.”

Two Gun gave a rough chuckle. “I like him. He’s a no nonsense type of cop. Big stickler for the rules.”

“And the paperwork.” Abby grumbled as she turned her car onto a smaller side road. “I mean, who cares if my report has a typo? You know what I meant to write!”

“Well, if you don’t care about the details, how can he trust your investigative work?” Kaleb asked.

Abby rolled her eyes in the rear-view mirror. “Oh, don’t you start too. We’ll see what you say after tonight’s raid.”

“Did we contact anyone with the PD out here? I imagine we are going to make a lot of noise.” Claire asked.

Jar-lock shook his head. “No. We aren’t sure who the Demons have on their payroll and we didn’t want word getting out.”

“Can we just do that?” Kaleb asked, wondering about how much autonomy their little group had.

“It is a gray area.” Two Gun chuckled.

“We have the license to work in this district and part of that allows us to do whatever we can to get the job done.” Jar-lock explained. “But we are also trying to make friends out here. We step on too many toes and paperwork will be the least of our worries.”

Kaleb nodded as he looked out the window. They were on the outskirts of Austin. Out here were more desert and trees than people and buildings. It looked like they were heading further east, away from the city as well. Their hangar was just to the south, in an area that was even more empty.

“Oh, yeah.” Kaleb remembered.

“After our excursion into the enchanted forest tomorrow.” He started. Two Gun snorted, but let Kaleb continue. “I think we should head down to Under-town so I can ask the brute clan to help us out with security.”

“I thought we were doing fine so far. With the Santa-looking guy and the other old guy who is now hanging around.” Abby said.

“We can’t rely on them forever. Bob’s a nice guy, but he is mainly just doing a favor for Obadiah.” Kaleb explained. “And Obadiah has got his own things he needs to be doing.”

“What is he doing out here? I doubt he came all the way here just to visit you.” Jar-lock said.

“His family is out here, too. Don’t forget that. But, no. He is out here doing more clandestine work. The type that will get anyone caught doing it disavowed by the people who told them to do it.”

Two Gun grinned across at Kaleb. “So he’s a spy?”

Kaleb shrugged. “Something like that. Keep it under your hat, though. I don’t think he wants too many people to know.”

“So he was out here to recruit you?” Claire asked, wearing the same grin as her husband.

“Not really. He was wondering if we’d be interested in doing that work for him. I wasn’t. Not my type of thing.”

“Yeah, I don’t really see you doing spy work.” Abby snickered. “Too many explosions.”

Kaleb gave her a mock glare as Jar-lock asked. “So, the offer was for all of us?”

“Sure, I just didn’t know if anyone else would be interested. When I hear ‘deniable asset’, I kind of check out of the conversation.”

Jar-lock shrugged his massive shoulders. “I don’t know. Happened all the time in the military.”

“Talk to him then.” Kaleb said. “I was going to introduce him to more of my more morally flexible friends in Under-town. Maybe I can take him tomorrow after Roy’s birthday.”

Abby swung their car into a narrow alley as Claire asked him. “Do you think Roy will register with the HLO?”

Two Gun snorted. “Unlikely. He loves working with the ‘Doc’ here.”

Kaleb just shrugged as they piled out of the car. “I doubt it. But who can say?”

Abby and Jar-lock moved to the end of the alley and looked down the street. The sun had just gone down, leaving an orange streak on the horizon. Abby and Jar-lock exchanged a few words before Kaleb and the others joined them. Abby then vanished into the massive shadow of the wall. Kaleb gave Jar-lock a questioning look as Two Gun and Claire fell in behind him.

Jar-lock pointed upwards toward the roof of the building. “She’s getting a better view. We are about two blocks out from our destination, but we want to make sure we are in the clear.”

Kaleb nodded as Two Gun asked. “We going in now or waiting for dark?”

Abby stepped back out of the shadow on the wall and said. “All clear, and I say we wait for dark.”

“Surprising no one.” Claire quipped.

“No, she’s right.” Jar-lock smirked. “Besides, maybe there will be more of them at night, anyway. We want to arrest as many as we can.”

Kaleb glanced done to his holstered Cyber pistol and sighed. Claire watched him and gave a short giggle and Two Gun put a hand on his shoulder.

“I know how you feel, son.”

Jar-lock looked between them. “You have non-lethal options, right?”

“Yeah, Sun Gun and Taser Eggs.” Kaleb answered. “Only got six eggs, though. Three in the launcher and three in my pocket.”

Two Gun shook his head. “We gotta find someone to name your stuff for you.” Kaleb gave the old man the finger as Two Gun answered Jar-lock.

“I don’t have anything except my guns. But you should know by now, with my reflexes, glancing shots are easy enough.”

Jar-lock nodded. “Alright then, how about we move closer and Abby can scout out the main building? We will wait till it gets dark, then go in quiet.”

“Quiet in, loud out?” Claire asked.

“Likely with the professor around.” Abby said, jamming an elbow into Kaleb’s side.

Kaleb coughed as he pretended to write an imaginary note in the air. “Don’t build anything for the snarky mutant. Got it.”

Abby just laughed as the group walked out of the alley and onto the sidewalk. Kaleb looked around, realizing they were in a more desolate area of their district. The shops were boarded up, more than one street lamp was broken, and trash was blown across the street by the night wind. Kaleb smirked as he thought about how cliché it was for a gang to have one of its hideouts out here.

They all remained quiet as they slowly made their way down the street. Abby took the lead ranging further ahead of the group as Jar-lock lead the rest of the group. Two Gun and Kaleb followed along with their respective weapons drawn. Claire brought up the rear, looking more relaxed than any of them, and Kaleb could swear she was humming. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve thought she was just out for a delightful night stroll.

After a block, Jar-lock signaled them to move into a nearby alley as Abby continued on. Kaleb took in the nearby environment, mostly because he was bored. He could barely make out the two-story warehouse down at the far end of the road. Abandoned shops and stores were on either side of the road. As Kaleb scanned them from his position inside the alley, a thought occurred to him.

“Why is the warehouse the only thing on this street with working lights?”

Jar-lock looked around before he pointed to a flickering street lamp further back the way they came. Kaleb nodded, indicating that he saw it, but then he pointed back at the warehouse.

“Yeah, I get that. But the few streetlights that have power are all flickering. Which means there’s barely any juice running through the lines.” Kaleb pointed at the twenty-foot warehouse a block away.

“But that power is constant. There’s no flickering.”

Two Gun looked up and down the street between the streetlights and the warehouse. “You think they are sapping the city’s electricity?”

“So we can charge them with stealing utilities?” Claire grinned.

Kaleb shook his head. “No. The city would notice the power draw. I think they are running off their own generator.”

“And if they have their own on-site generator, we can hit it.” Jar-lock smiled.

Kaleb just grinned back as the Alien and cowboy couple looked between them. Eventually, they just shrugged and went back to waiting. But Kaleb and Jar-lock put their heads together and discussed where they thought the generator would be. Kaleb figured that outside the warehouse would be better. That way, they didn’t have to take up space. Jar-lock, however, figured that it would make too much noise, and would be too noticeable outside.

“I’m telling you, it’s underground. Probably just below the warehouse.” Jar-lock said.

Kaleb shook his head. “No way. This is a gang. I can almost guarantee they are lazy. Simple power generator just outside the warehouse. Who’s gonna know?”

Jar-lock sighed. “Anyone driving by and seeing a big lit-up warehouse?”

“Oh, come on. We’ve been out here for forty-five minutes. Have you seen any cars?”

Jar-lock stopped short and Kaleb was sure he had won the argument, but his friend gave him a curious look and asked. “That is odd, isn’t it?”

“What?” Kaleb asked, getting the feeling they weren’t talking about the generator anymore.

“No cars, no trucks. Hell, we have seen nothing go into or leave that warehouse.”

Kaleb shrugged. “Well, we are a block away.”

“Still, we should’ve seen something, right? How are the Demons getting in the building, not to mention getting their product, whatever it is, out?”

Kaleb stared at the warehouse as he thought about it. He truly did not know and looking at Jar-lock, he could see he didn’t either. He’s thoughts were cut off as Abby stepped out of the shadow in the wall next to them. The small woman was almost hopping with excitement.

“TOLD you it was drugs! I knew it. I just knew it.”

Kaleb and Jar-lock shared a look as Two Gun quipped. “So you found drugs? Did you bring enough for the rest of us?”

Abby swatted at the old man as she laughed. “Ha! No. but I saw them moving crates all over that warehouse.”

Jar-lock beat Kaleb to the question. “Where are they moving them to?”

Abby’s excitement faltered a bit. “I…I don’t know. I mean, I saw them moving them about the warehouse, but I didn’t want to stay next to the window for too long.”

“Did you see any cars or trucks stop by?” Kaleb asked.

Abby shook her head again. Two Gun scratched his forehead as he asked. “So that means they must have a tunnel or something, right?”

“Or something.” Jar-lock said.

Kaleb shrugged his shoulders before asking Abby, “What about an electrical generator? Did you see something like that?”

Abby smiled again as she nodded. “Oh yeah, there’s actually a big one just outside the warehouse. It’s surrounded by a big wrought-iron fence, though.”

Claire cracked her knuckles loudly. “That shouldn’t be a problem.”

The others all nodded. Kaleb grinned at his friends as an idea came to him. “Why don’t we use that generator to lure out a couple of them first? Deal with them piecemeal.”

“Good idea.” Jar-lock said. Turning to Abby, he asked. “Any idea how many were in the warehouse?”

Abby shrugged. “Well, I saw fifteen. But if they have a tunnel or a portal, they can probably get more easily.”

“Another reason to draw them out. We don’t want to get flooded in the warehouse. Also, we can fight outside where we are less like to damage any evidence.” Two Gun said with a glance at his wife.

The tall green alien sniffed haughtily, turning her nose up at her husband. She crossed her arms and turned her back on the others, grumbling something about being underappreciated. The others all knew she was hamming it up, so they let her be.

Kaleb turned and watched the ever darkening sky as he drew his Sun Gun and checked its charge. Stun shots were less energy than kill shots, but once it was out, he would have to rely on his taser eggs and wits. He looked around toward the Demons supposed Drug Warehouse and grinned. They were gonna do so much mayhem.