Part 4: Bonnie and Clyde

The wind was nearly nonexistent at the top of the building where two ravens were silently perched. The black feathers that covered their bodies merged them seamlessly into the night as they stood motionless on the edge of the rooftop. The pair looked at each other for a moment before turning their gaze to the street below. They watched as three people stood conversing around a shimmering object in the centre of the road. Their excited voices echoed up the walls of the surrounding buildings, the concernevident to any who could hear them. Directly across from the birds, they could see the outline of someone wearing a dark hood and cloak also staring down at the scene below them. The person looked almost frozen in place as the long, draping cloak covered their complete body and pooled about their feet. No hint of motion from breathing could even be seen in the cloth. Behind that figure sat a man, spinning something on the floor over and over again as he stared into oblivion. They watched as the three on the street began inching closer to the light in the road. They watched as the hooded figure finally stirred, its hand moving to beckon for the man to come to the window. They watched as he rose and slowly walked over, placing the object he was turning, now seen to be a glimmering sword, back into its scabbard. They watched, and they listened.


The three strangers stood in the intersection looking back and forth between each other and the strange light for what felt like an eternity. In reality it was barely more then two minutes before Detective McMarkus broke the silence.

“I’m going to assume by your reactions to this…thing…and to each other that you have as little knowledge of what’s happening as I do.”

“I’d say that’s pretty much right, for me at least.” Craig said staring into the light. He looked over to Jill who had more trouble finding her voice.

“I…I...uh…I...yeah…I don’t know.”

The detective began moving out from the sidewalk, trying to get another angle on whatever the object was. “What brings you each here at this time of night?”

“Awful inquisitive aren’t you?” Craig asked, glancing over.

“My apologies,” McMarkus said, “I’m a detective with the 3rd precinct so it’s in my nature to ask questions, I do it without even really noticing.

“A detective, right.” Craig replied looking up and down at the man dressed in a grass skirt, coconut bra and what appeared to be a fruit salad headdress.

Detective McMarkus shrugged as he recalled his attire. “This was part of a serious investigation. I had to go undercover at…I…it’s fuzzy for some reason…I can’t recall where it was at right now…but I assure you it was in an effort to apprehend a pair of extremely dangerous criminals.”

Craig raised his hands to the detective, “No no, I’m not saying anything, I’m sure it was a really important…case.”

“You realize you’re dressed as a schoolgirl, correct?”

“Actually it’s Hermione Granger and touché” Craig replied.

“What kind of ranger?”

Craig opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by Jill who’d had her fill of such enlightening conversation, “Ladies! Look at the light.”

As they had been talking they had also been collectively moving closer to the glowing object. As they approached it, the light had begun to dim. When they stopped moving the dimming also ceased as the light held steady again. It was apparent that the decrease of light was relative to how close they were to it. At this distance, they could now clearly see a solid object within the light, coming up out of the ground.

Jill spoke, “No one’s said it so I guess I’ll ask what were all thinking. Should we touch it?”



14 floors above ground, the office for a major investment firm had been under construction for some time now. The rooms were bare, most with skeleton walls and wires hanging from the ceilings. In what was to become the main conference room, a woman stood looking out the large wall to wall window. She was completely covered save for but a wisp of blonde hair that snuck out the front of her black hood. She stood watching the three people on the street below. A man sat behind her in the rooms' only chair, also the only indication that anything there had something to do with office work. He balanced a long, shimmering sword on its tip with one hand, spinning it with his free hand and slowly carving a hole in the concrete floor. He also wore a dark cloak, but the hood was pulled off his head and the front had opened leaving visible some of the leather and metallic pieces of the shirt he wore underneath. At least it would be visible if there were any one else besides her and the mice that were scurrying about in the corner. He didn't see the need for secrecy when there was not a soul around him; he felt keeping covered the way she did to be slightly overdramatic though he kept his opinions to himself. His companion did not take disagreement of any kind lightly.

"Who's the fucking trollip?" Her voice boomed and echoed in the empty room, destroying the silence they had enjoyed for the better part of an hour. Even after so long together she still startled the man when she did that.

He took a breath and collected himself, "Pardon?"

Her hand reached back and she signaled for the man to join her. He stood and slowly walked over to her, placing his sword back into the scabbard at his waist. He looked down but could barely make out more than specks on the ground.

The woman's gaze did not leave the street as she began, "The first two arrived within moments of each other. The third has not arrived yet and now there’s some little witch down there with them." She turned to him, her eyes bright in the hooded darkness, "You will have to go take care of this expeditiously. The third should be here any moment; the girl must be removed from the equation."

The man hesitated a moment, looking into the blackness of the hood always made him think twice, "What if the other two then become...uncooperative? I mean, one of them is a policeman is he not?"

The man swallowed hard as the eyes narrowed inside the hood, glaring at him.

"My dear boy, with the power we're about to offer them, they will forget any notion of their absurd morality in quite short order. Besides," the eyes softened their stare and her head came forward as she kissed his forehead, "what man could ever refuse my will?"

She turned back to the window as the man stood still a moment before turning and heading towards the door. The thought blazed in his head of one who had resisted her, but he quickly erased that from his mind. Any mention of that would insure a swift merciless death. If he was lucky.

"General," she called out to him before he entered the elevator.

"Ma’am." he replied.

"Be swift." she said, her gaze still locked on the street below.

"Always." he said as he closed the door. His concern increasing with every passing moment. Something about this must be seriously bothering her he thought. She hadn't called him that in centuries.