//------------------------------// // Part Four: The L that was Cast Aside // Story: Manehatten Noire: Fang and Nazca // by The Bricklayer //------------------------------// Manehatten Police Station: Groaning, Tidal found himself groggily waking in a cell, with a very heavy headache, the morning sun coming in through a window not making his life any easier at the moment. “The drunk tank,” Tidal thought to himself. Lovely. Absolutely just bloody fucking lovely. If the papers get wind of this…” He then mentally facepalmed, chances are they already had given the sight he made of himself down in Hell’s Kitchen in that dive bar between him and Daring. Someone with a camera, anyone really, could have snapped a photo and sent it off to some local newspaper, and there it would be. His drunken, sorry state of a mug plastered all over the morning edition of the Manehatten Enquirer. “Well, well, well, so sleeping beauty awakens from his slumber,” came Phil’s voice from somewhere in the background, sounding rather disgusted and annoyed. “Thought we were going to have to find a bucket of ice-cold water and dump it all over your bloody head to get you up.” He was leaning up against a wall, outside the cell doors. Daring was nearby, arms crossed and if possible, looking even more annoyed and pissed off than Philip himself. Granted, looking pissed seemed to be Daring’s usual state from what Tidal could see so it was frankly hard to tell really. “I say we do it anyways,” Daring remarked, in a tone that made it almost impossible to tell if she was joking. “Just to be sure.” “How did I…?” Tidal trailed off, not sure he wanted to know. “You have Daring to thank,” Philip grumbled, clearly quite crabby and put off. “Apparently, from what she told me, you collapsed as soon as you started sobbing your pretty precious little heart out and she hailed a car to drive you all the way here. Not your finest hour, I gotta say…” He tossed, sure enough, the Manehatten Enquirer into Tidal’s cell, and it read as clear as day: “Rich Socialite Crashes and Burns in Hell’s Kitchen! Finds new love in Daring ‘Danger’ Do?” complete with pictures of him sobbing into Daring’s chest and Daring leading him to a patrol car. “Now,” Philip said as an officer handed him a cup of hot coffee straight off the pot and upon the first sip his demeanor seemed to improve mildly. “Not really a fan of the second part, inaccurate though it may be but the first half? Seems to describe exactly what happened to you, doesn’t it? You know, there’s a little thing about me I ought to share ‘bout now. Some may call it a character flaw, others might call it a good thing. In my line of work, you gotta know when to walk away from something, whether it be a case or a person,” he continued. “But some cases or people just won't let you go. They just grab you by the reigns and hold you tight. Like you, you’re an interesting piece. Dunno if I feel sorry for you, or I should just shake my head and call it a day as chances are you’ll probably continue on your downward cycle without someone to knock some good sense into you.” Daring flipped him a coin, golden in color that read 24 hours recovery. Tidal knew exactly what kind of coin it was, one for AA members. “Take my advice, there’s this place down near where we live -You haven’t forgotten the location of that have you?- and go to it,” Daring remarked. “Chances are it’ll do you a world of good. Now listen, don’t know if you remember but I hate circle jerking. But these guys, pulled me out of a hole I wasn’t sure I was going to get out of, did me a world of good and I’ll be forever grateful for them for that. Consider this a rare show of kindness from me, stopping you from doing something truly stupid,” Daring remarked. “Listen, I get you,” Phillip continued, continuing to look Tidal directly in the eye, and now he rested a hand on his shoulder. The pony wasn’t sure quite when exactly, but at some point, Philip had stepped into the cell. “Lost everything you had, or loved, and now you’ve got to build your life back up. Few of us have been there, more times than we can count,” Philip continued, almost sounding as if he was speaking from experience. Given his age, and the general effect Manehatten seemed to have on ponies it wouldn’t have surprised Tidal if he was. “But the important thing, life goes on. World doesn’t stop turning, although may seem like it to you. Life continues on, and that’s the main thing. Look, I’ll be the first to admit me and Daring are absolute crap at giving advice, but we’re trying to help you here mate. You’re a good guy, something that Manehatten’s sorta low on. Don’t want to see this city swallow up another pony into it’s bowels, that’s all.” Going for his pants pockets, Tidal fished something out of them. A very distinctive ribcage-themed Flash Drive-like device with an S on it. Philip and Daring shared a look as the Gaia Memory was handed to them. “...Knew he had a spare on him…” Daring grumbled to herself. “Yeah. Smilodon memory,” Tidal admitted. “Planned on using it myself someday soon in my grief, just to take back my city, or at the very least take down Grape Vine. Would have snuck into Sleipnir's Island somehow, ripped him to shreds. ...Not worth it though, not anymore. Would have gotten me locked up just like he was. Made me no better than Grape really, a murderer out for blood for a frankly stupid reason. Revenge, it’s a cycle. Guess this is me breaking it,” Tidal continued. “You’re right Phil, the world doesn’t stop turning. Life goes on, and we rebuild. City’s gone to shit, but I’d like to think with ponies like you out there you might just be able to polish that shit into one Hell of a diamond.” “Cheesy as all hell, but…” Philip remarked as he tossed the Smilodon Memory to Bee, taking note of the pony’s crescent moon bracelet. He’d sworn he’d seen that design somewhere before. “I’m proud of you Tidal, you know that right?” Tidal mumbled something, before just waving them off having quite a lot to think about now about what he’d do next, and a hangover to wear off. In the break room, Philip and Daring reconvened. In the background, one of the hottest new numbers from a local band played off a radio. “...The power of the wind that blows into this city Drawing it into myself Transforming with that flowing strength Let's go change destiny! “Cyclone Effect, Don't stop it You can surely become stronger yeah… Cyclone Effect, Don't stop it…” “You think he’ll be alright?” Daring asked, taking a sip of her coffee. “Last night, the state I saw him in, and now that we know he was thinking of using a Gaia Memory…” she trailed off, before seeing the look on Philip’s face. She knew that expression, it was the one he always wore whenever he was lost in thought for some reason or another. “Oi, Equus to Philip, you in there?” she asked, waving a hand in front of his face. “Sorry, just thinking to myself. Gaia Memories, heard that phrase someplace before,” he remarked to himself, pacing back and forth across the room even turning down the radio -Much to Bee’s displeasure, who was dancing to the song- so he could think more clearly. “Not sure where, but I distinctly remember it being before the first Dopants and dealers even showed up in the city. Just can’t quite figure… What were you saying?” “Tidal,” Daring replied with a small sigh. As much as she liked it when Philip got to thinking on a case -It was kinda sexy really, in it’s own way- he needed to be focused on the here and now, at least for the moment. “I was just asking for your opinion. You think he’ll be alright?’ “Honestly?” Philip replied. “You want my honest opinion?” “Yeah, don’t see anyone else in the room named Phil around here, do you?” Daring drawled. “Honestly, with him?” Philip remarked. “I’m honestly not sure. He’s… Well, like I said, he’s one of those types that will continue on his downward spiral until someone knocks some sense into him, and even then I’m not sure it’ll help. He needs something to do, if you ask me, something to get his mind off his wife,” “So, we’ll just have to get him a job at the office, he can be our receptionist. The Mother knows we get some fairly stupid cases not even worth our time on occasion,” Daring shrugged. “No, no. Not right now,” Philip sighed. “Not with all the Gaia Memories hanging around our office, probably would just keep his mind on the loss of his wife which is the exact opposite of what we want,” “You got any better ideas?” Daring asked, eyebrow raised. “Cause I sure as hell don’t have any. Gaia Memories, like it or not, they're a fact of life in this shithole of a city right now. Can’t get away from ‘em, no matter how hard you try.” “...Sadly, you have a point there,” Philip muttered before he snapped his fingers in remembrance. Now he remembered where he’d seen the little pendant on Bee’s bracelet before. ...What looked like an eldritch abomination made entirely of gold stood before them. Long, thin tentacles stood before them, almost like a set of golden scarves. The head and its’ collar spikes were black as night, with a few gold waves on the face to make it stand out. A yellow moon sat below its’ neck and hung daintily on his centre tendril. It didn’t utter a word, and instead let out a series of distorted moans and groans instead. “Here we go again…” Daring muttered as she and Philip held up their Gaia Memories… “No, no…” Philip muttered, shaking his head. “It couldn’t be, could it?” He steeled himself, only one way to find out. “BEE!” he barked out, making the young beat cop jump, his plastic coffee cup hitting the floor spilling what little left of his beverage remained inside it. “Y-Yeah?” Bee asked nervously. “The pendant, I’ve seen something like that on a Dopant. Listen, I know you’re a good cop, and I sure as Hell know you’d never take a Gaia Memory, not after a user put Arc Light in the hospital but I need to know where-” Philip began before Bee sighed. “Where else you might see this?” Bee asked. “It’s almost completely one of a kind. Almost. Only other person who might have something like this, it’d be my sister. Fleetfoot, but I haven’t heard from her since Grape Vine got binned. Before that actually, we sorta lost touch about a year or so ago…” he trailed off. Something in Daring’s head triggered itself, the mare thinking back. “Just make it look, oh this little less slutty I’d suppose and more teasing. Not like I’m going to have sex with you, but like let’s say you want to imagine me with the clothes off if you catch my drift.” Grape remarked. In front of him, was this pegasus mare. Light blue in coat color, and with a white mane. Grape snapped a few photos of a mare wearing this very thin negligee -Philip was blushing at that point- that left very little to the imagination, as she lay on a red velvet couch with gold armrests. Around her neck, and Daring admitted this wasn’t particularly eye-catching at the time was this necklace with a golden crescent moon pendant. Now that she thought about it, Daring had caught a glimpse of this pendant when Fleetfoot was getting into this car with a stallion for a night in the previous night, right at that little dive in Hell’s Kitchen. “Something wrong?” Bee asked in worry, noting the look of concern on Daring’s face. “Y-Yeah,” Daring trailed off, figuring it best she spared the poor guy from the truth. This was something she had to handle herself. “Your sister, she might be in trouble.” “W-Well, let me help! She’s my sister, you don’t just leave family behind!” Bee exclaimed. “Look, I admire your loyalty, I really do,” Daring said. “But this is a bit above your pay grade. You’re a beat cop, just a simple beat cop and the trouble your sister is involved in? Not going to lie to you here, it’s Dopant related. Let me and Phil handle this okay?” she asked sternly, but her face softened for a brief moment. “Don’t worry, we’ll get your sister back.” “No, you will,” Philip corrected her. “Me, I’ve got to go hunting in the public archives, down at the library. I need to find out where I’ve heard the term Gaia Memory before, and I suspect looking through newspapers would be a good place to start. Marwari, that keeps cropping up in my mind. I need to know why,” he stated. “Besides, me and mares? We really don’t go so well together, especially if they’re crying. Sorta your realm of expertise Daring.” “What if Fleet goes Dopant on me?” Daring hissed out, her voice just low enough so that only Philip could hear it, nobody else. “You can handle it,” Philip said, handing her the Trigger Memory. “I know you. Remember the Kiva-La incident? Where we had this possible thestral biting ponies and sucking them dry for some mad cult?” “Yeah, I do. Turned out it this mare named White Feather was chasing after her brother to bring him to justice, after he’d escaped from a madhouse in their home country of Transalfangya. Both Dhampyrs and White actually requested my help to bring her brother down after her own thestral blood proved to be not enough. The first real case I ever handled without you.” Daring remembered. “And you did it well,” Philip replied. “Now I know you can do the same here. Kicking arse, that’s your specialty, not mine. Me, I’m more of the bookish research type and you know it. I’m more suited for information gathering.” “Don’t sell yourself short,” Daring smiled. “You’ve been getting awfully good at using the Nazca and Heat Memories, you don’t even have to have me fly you anywhere any more. Kinda miss that.” “I don’t,” Philip shuddered in remembrance, remembering every single time Daring picked him up for a surprise sudden flight back home thinking it much more fun for him than riding his motorbike. Philip begged to differ. “Point is, you can handle yourself just fine, but if that’s what you really want to do right now…” Daring trailed off. Well, I can find Fleetfoot. Should be easy enough, things called the address and telephone books do exist for a reason.” she said with a wink, before hitting the streets. There was a loud revving sound, and Philip sighed. “That’s… That’s my bike!” he shouted to no avail before grumbling. “She’d better bring it back in one piece…” Manehatten Public Library: With more than a hint of trepidation, and worry for what he’d exactly find, Philip found himself going up the steps past the famous twin stone lion statues and entering Manehatten’s Public Library. Now, the Manehatten Public Library, for decades -In fact it’s lifespan stretched back more than over 100 years- had and has been an essential provider of free books, information, ideas, and education for all Manehattenites. When it was found, probably nobody knew exactly what the MPL as it was called would become. But today, it was and still is Equus’s largest public library system, featuring a unique combination of varying local neighborhood branches and four scholarly research centers stretching all over the island’s districts. Upon entry, rows and rows of bookshelves greeted him, the distinctive sound of pages turning and books being stamped echoing throughout the seemingly endless halls. For some, it was probably quite intimidating. Not for Phil through, it wasn’t the first time he’d been here on some specific case. Take for example, the case of the Ghost of the Hotel Royale. When Philip had heard of this case, he’d scoffed right from the get go as he’d never believed for one moment in the supernatural. What had been going on apparently, was people vanishing from their rooms without leaving any trace of themselves behind, and doors were locked every time so nobody obviously just let themselves in. Or did they? Apparently with a bit of digging, Philip found out this hotel had a really rather dark history that the currents weren’t keen on elaborating on, and to be honest he could sorta understand why upon further reading. The hotel, it was in fact the location for one of Equus’ first recognized serial killers, one Sharp Blade. A century ago, Sharp had purchased an empty lot, indistinguishable from any other empty lot in the city. Nobody knew exactly what he had in mind for it. But all the same, construction began just soon after Sharp had purchased it for a two-story mixed-use building, with retail spaces, on the first floor and apartment spaces on the second. When Sharp opted out of paying to pay the architects and the steel company upon request saying he’d only pay them after the job was finished and it was to his satisfactions. They sued, but somehow both lawsuits just… went away. Furniture suppliers were to eventually find that Sharp was hiding their materials, for again which he had never paid, in hidden rooms and passages all over the building’s layout. Their search made the papers eventually and any investors for the planned hotel Sharp Blade had, they just up and pulled out of the deal when a friend in the building showed them the articles. Sharp had used these hidden rooms and tunnels to construct a murder castle if you will. The entire end result was quite disturbing to say the least. Now, in the present day with the Ghost of the Hotel Royale, Philip had been stumped as to how and what was happening. Secret passages were some of the last thing on his mind back then, he was a simple officer for the Manehatten Police then. He never put much thought into things like hidden passages and the like in those days, but the case kept nagging at him so through a strange series of events -Which was it’s own story- he found himself with Daring. Once Philip had done the digging on the history of the Royale, and together the two had caught the perp, a copycat killer by the name of Steel Edge. Sadly, because Steel was the son of one of Manehatten’s high socialites, Philip was warned away from the case. In fact, he was encouraged to take an early retirement. He did out of pure disgust, but not without turning the evidence into the papers and the chief of police at the time along with Steel both faced charges. That was how Philip and Daring became partners, in a sense, working from the shadows to bring criminals to justice without police bureaucracy holding them back. But that was then, this was now. Philip was currently searching through stacks of old newspapers dating back a few years, seven at most. Any articles with news relating to the nation of Marwari, he put aside for further reading. Then, upon stumbling across a specific article he smiled. Now he finally had that missing piece of info that’d been alluding him, and nagging away at his brain. “Co-Founder of Destiny's Child Laboratories Dies in Horrific, Brutal Attack! Drug User Blamed!” “Now I remember…” Philip thought to himself, snapping his fingers in remembrance and letting out a declaration of: “I’m on fire today!” drawing him a few glares from other ponies and a hiss from the librarian. “Saffron Masala, that was her name. Wife of Blueblood, poor guy. From what I read, Blueblood had met her on a sightseeing trip to Marwari and got caught up in a whirlwind romance. Now, before this attack happened, apparently they’d been developing drugs, with the usage of a new substance found in Marwari calling them Gaia Memories to hopefully heal any illness in the world,” Philip thought to himself in remembrance. “Saffron, she was the brains of the project really, Blueblood providing the funding coming from a huge family. Granted, this project was bleeding his family’s money dry and they were about to cut him off. Think they did really.” Reading the article further, it seemed some unhappy employee had used the research in their own way, turning herself into a horrific fire monster and killing Saffron. But Philip had to wonder, did she really die that day? Saffron, she was a remarkably intelligent mare and it would be all too easy for her to disappear from the public eye if everyone thought she was dead. Now, Philip had no doubts this fire monster -Most likely an early Dopant- was real, but what was the connection? Did the employee not get paid, or was there something else more unscrupulous going on behind the scenes? “Now that I think about it,” Philip mused to himself thinking back to when he’d first met a certain shrouded mare. “Shroud, I believe I saw the smallest hint of a chipped unicorn horn sticking out from under her hat, and she spoke with this hint of an Indian accent. Plus, if she’s really Saffron Masala it would provide ample reason for her to cover her face, considering it’s probably burned and scalded and all.” Then Philip remembered Grape’s words, and his comment about Altruism, along with his own theories. “Shroud or Saffron is testing us, but for what purpose?” Philip asked himself. “Well, I suppose there’s only one way to find out eh? Ask the mare herself,” he stated, grabbing his hat and jacket and running out the nearest door to the streets, and he smirked when he saw this pegasus mare with an electric yellow mane polishing off her old Harley. Hopping onto the bike, the mare let out a loud: “Hey, give that back, ya bastard!” as Philip revved the engine before he tossed her a sack of coins. “I promise, I’ll pay you back. But I’m going to need this, it’s important!” he shouted to Lightning Dust before the tires squealed and he drove off down the streets his bike pointed firmly at the building known as the Shard. Now, this was just a hunch but he’d long suspected this was where Destiny’s Child worked out of. His suspicions had only been heightened when he heard from an old friend on the force that laboratory equipment -Like none he’d ever seen- had been moved into the Shard a few months back. “Now then Shroud, or whatever your real name is,” Philip thought to himself as he continued to pick up speed. “Time to have words, I think. Played me and everyone else like chess pieces long enough I believe. Time to turn this into a totally new game I think.” Swerving and weaving past trucks, cars, and other assorted traffic, Philip only picked up speed as he continued his madcap dash towards the massive glass structure engine roaring and howling loudly like some sort of wild animal. While it was no Typhoon, it would have to do for the time being, and it wasn’t like this bike had its perks. It had some sort of old time charm, really and definitely made quite the entrance. They’d know he was coming for sure, and that’s exactly the way Philip wanted it really. He grimaced when he heard the sound of police sirens coming from somewhere behind him. He sorta figured someone would probably see him breaking a few speed limits and performing some decidedly dangerous driving, but it wasn’t like he had the time to tangle with the cops right now. A wiser man may have thought, why not bring the cops into this? They could provide valuable reinforcements. But no, Philip was quite pissed off by now, being used like a pawn on a game board. No, this was a personal score that he had to settle, and nobody was going to get in his way… Meanwhile, Daring found herself at Fleetfoot’s apartment. Unsurprisingly, it was located in the Hell’s Kitchen part of the city, and really wasn’t particularly easy on the eyes. The entire block was in disrepair, with ponies on every street corner. Some, whoring themselves out as mares of the night like Fleetfoot herself and others with steely gazes and guns in their pockets. In short, it was the last place Daring would want to be in at any moment, but she had to do this. Not just to put a Dopant and potential threat to the city out of business -Daring winced, she had to choose her phrasing better, putting it like that sounded as if she was going to kill Fleetfoot- but to help Bee, who was possibly one of the only ponies Daring would ever happily call a friend. She wasn’t sure why, but she saw a little bit of herself in the young buck. Maybe it was that determination, that drive she once possessed, who knew? It was a mystery, even to her. But the point was, tears didn’t suit him and neither did they suit his sister. Grasping her Fang and borrowed Trigger memories in her hand and pocketing them in her jeans, she used one powerful thrust her of her leg, and knocked the apartment entryway door down with one powerful hoof shouting out: “Hey Fleetfoot, it’s your grief counselor, we’ve come to hug!” Anybody who was near her, saw the dangerous look on Daring’s face and wisely scattered to the shadows or took cover behind the front desk. The inside of the apartment was no more attractive as the inside really. Dark and dingy, with what she swore was mold on the carpets that lined the corridors, lights flickered on and off sporadically. Subconsciously, on pure instinct, Daring went for her whip and grasped it tightly just in case someone tried to attack her from the shadows. She really didn’t want to pull off someone’s finger and have some very interesting things to explain to the cops when they got called, but you never could be too careful in neighborhoods like this. Remembering Fleetfoot’s apartment number from the address book she’d looked up, she made her way upstairs to the third floor and found the correct number. “Hey Fleets, you in there?” Daring asked, gently knocking on the door. Might as well go for the polite and careful approach first, before going for the dangerous and reckless one. She was dealing with a Dopant after all. “It’s Daring! You know, that friend of your brother’s? I just want to talk, that’s all.” No answer came, so Daring opted to pull out a lockpicking kit and use that instead. Eventually, after a few moments, she heard a satisfying click and she gently pushed open the door. The interior of Fleetfoot’s apartment was tiny, barely enough to support one pony. Wasn’t an ideal place for a fight if it came to that. She looked around the room, and noted bottles of bourbon laying on a nearby table, along with a set of jeans made for a male. A t-shirt lay nearby as well on the carpet below alongside a bra and panties. The stench of sex, a heavy musty smell was quite prevalent in the air. Evidently, Fleetfoot’s lover had opted to stay for more than just that one night it seemed. “I need a lover that won't drive me crazy Some girl that knows the meaning of, ah- Hey hit the highway!” Daring sung to herself absentmindedly under her breath. She saw a stallion, dark-furred with a midnight blue mane snoozing under the covers, and heard the sound of a shower running. Daring opted to sit herself on a nearby armchair, and wait. Eventually, Fleetfoot emerged dressed in a bathrobe, before her eyes widened upon seeing Daring. “D-Daring, what are you doing here?” she asked, recognizing the mare from her visit to Grape Vine’s old photography studio. “Gaia Memory, hand it over now,” Daring asked, holding out her hand with Fleetfoot’s eyes widening. “How…” “You can thank your brother for giving me the clue I needed. That pendant on his bracelet, same one you have as a Dopant. So, have to ask, what’s with stalking us at every corner eh?” Daring remarked. “G-Grape Vine…” Fleetfoot whispered, her voice trembling as she reached for a Gaia Memory with an L on it on her bedside table. “It always comes back to that bastard doesn’t it?” Daring sighed. “Look, I’m going to give you some-” \ Luna! / the Gaia Memory proclaimed as Fleetfoot stuck it in her arm, the device absorbing itself into her skin underneath. Daring sighed, and slapped on her Lost Driver and whipped out her own Gaia Memory and activated it. \ Fang! / The two began trading blows, with Daring staying out of reach of the Luna Dopant’s long whip-like arms as best as she could in the confined space and leaping out the window to the alley below, using her wings to slow her descent. Daring flipped backwards as Fleetfoot landed, and sent two balls of energy towards her, before Daring kicked a metal barrel at her only for Fleetfoot to slice it in half. Daring activated her arm fang, and used it to slash at Fleetfoot, with the mare turned Dopant gyrating in such a manner to keep herself out of range. “Listen, you think you're the only one who've lost a pony close to you? You think you're the only one dealing with pain? You think you can take your shit and dump it on me? You don't get to do that! So you take your goddamn pain and you live with it, Fleet!” Daring shouted as she pressed down on the Trigger Memory, slammed it into her Driver with her costume turning blue and gaining a magnum strapped to her chest inside a holster. “You lost your loved one? Welcome to the goddamn club! I lost my parents in some random accident! Do you see me trying to kill every shitty driver? No! Because I don't work my shit out on other ponies! And for the record, Grape was snake-fuckingly-crazy anyhow! He had his eyes on only one mare, and it wasn’t you!” Slamming the Trigger Memory into a slot on the Magnum, it proclaimed: \ Trigger, Maximum Drive! / before Daring fired a single charged shot of energy at Fleetfoot, knocking her out of her transformation with the Luna memory ejecting itself and shattering like glass. Fleetfoot fell to the ground, sobbing and Daring to this day still didn’t quite know why she did it, but she only pulled the mare into a hug. Didn’t punch her lights out, didn’t cuff her. She just pulled her into a hug. “Listen, like I said, I-” “Lost someone close to you, I heard,” Fleetfoot whispered, her whole body shaking as Daring held her, Daring’s own transformation now canceled. “I don’t know why, I suppose I did lose myself for a bit but when I heard you locked Grape up I…” “Went nuts?” Daring asked, and Fleetfoot had the decency to look ashamed. “I had no plans on using the Luna Memory anymore, not till you showed up, that was in self-defense. I’ve been reading in the papers what happens to Gaia Memory users, how they get locked up in Sleipnir's Island never to see the light of day. I read in the papers about Grape Vine’s last words before he got the electric chair, how he never regretted killing Cherry. I just wanted that thing to be out of my life, I was planning to destroy it later today, toss it in the sea! But then, you just showed up out of the blue, and my rage, and my anger took over, and-” “It’s okay, you don’t need to say anymore. Listen, I’ll defend you in court. Me and Phil both will, I promise you that. Here, go to my place. Hide out there and we’ll turn you into the cops ourselves. Hell, maybe Bee will put in a good word for you.” “I’d… I’d like that. Thanks, Daring.” Fleetfoot sniffled. Just then, Daring’s phone rang, and seeing the number she answered it. “Yeah?” “It’s Phil,” Tempest’s voice came from the other end of the line. “He stole someone’s bike, went on a madcap dash through midtown traffic, and smashed right through the front gates of the Shard!” “He what!?!” Daring shouted. “That idiot! Listen, hold back. Don’t arrest him yet, I have a feeling he’s onto something, and I also have a feeling he’s going to need my help.” “Okay, I’ll try,” Tempest said. “But a few of these boys, they’d love nothing better than to see Phil arrested for the crap he just pulled. I can’t guarantee anything.” Daring nodded, and placed the phone in her pocket before looking at Fleetfoot who could only nod. “Grab yourself some clothes, head to my place. Me, I’ve got to bail Phil out… again.” Daring said, breaking into a sprint and hopping on Phil’s bike before gunning the engine and driving off. Across town, Philip stood ina lobby, goons scattered about laying unconscious and two glass doors behind him smashed wide open, the borrowed Harley laying on the ground as well. “Now, who's next?” Philip growled out.