Endangered Love - Chapter 9
#9 of Endangered Love
Endangered Love
Chapter 9: Dispatching Killers
By: Mirron Tenshi
The bat stooped on the roof, giggling as the white lion stood next to him, "How many we've got?" Crow's large ears quirked as a wide grin spread wide on his snout.
"Kghkghkghkgh! This is too funnn!"
"Their locations? . . . Now before we die?"
~~~
A figure is lying on a branch, in a tree almost a mile away East, where he is wearing a black uniform, including a ski-mask, looking through a scope locked onto his rifle. He watched as a bat and a white lion just standing on the rooftop. Focusing on the feline, the sniper gently put his finger on the trigger. The scope zoomed in on the lion's face. Under the black wool, the assassin grinned as the target lines pointed around the lion's right eye.
Then, the lion vanished. "Huh???" He moved the scope to the right, when he jumped when he saw the bat's horrifying, dark clownish smile. "Oh ff-UUUUUCCKK!!" Out of nowhere, he felt a searing pain on his back.
Platinum pulled his katana out of the sniper's spine. Knowing he'll be dead in minutes, he sheathed his blade. "That's one down . . ." He muttered softly. He dropped from the tree, but disappeared in a blur before his form can touch the grass.
~~~
Meanwhile, Brandon strolled up to Josh's house. He knocked a few times on the door. "Hey, Matt! It's Brandon! Keith's in town, open up!"
-KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK- The wolf smirked, "Ah, c'mon, Matt! I know you're in there!" The canine happened to turn the knob when he realized the door's open. "Huh?" Brandon shrugged. As he entered Brandon soon found Matthew's and Josh's bodies, konked out and limb in the floor. His eyes spotted the black darts on their necks. "Oh God . . . Shit, this is not good . . ." He muttered as he delicately plucked the darts out.
~~~
"WEEEHEEE!" The bat twirled in the air, moving in unpredictable directions in pursuit of a single spot path, like a warplane shot out of the sky and spiraling down to earth. As he flew in, several silent zooms kept BARELY missing him. Crow cackled, each click of the far away trigger as loud to him as a marching band.
"HERE AH COME!!!" He proclaimed. Just then, a bullet made it through, grazing him on the head, "YYYYYOOOWWW!!" He shrieked as he back flipped in the air, and started to fall.
"Got him . . ." The hidden hunter muttered inside the bush he was in. The bat had dropped out of his scope on the rifle. He moved his weapon, then seeing the bat right ahead! Zooming, hovering inches from the ground, "Oh shi- KUGGHHH!" Before he knew it, Crow had shot at him, sunk his fangs in, and flew off from the bush, which was now sliced in half thanks to hidden blades along the ridge of his wings. The manic bat snorted as he slammed them both into a tree.
"How's THIS for sloppy, Platty?!" He then rose a clawed foot, and brought it down.
~~~
"Hang on, Matt, just hang on!" Brandon muttered as he took a cushion from the couch, and put Matthew's head on it. He then put another cushion next to the first one, "C'mon, Josh . . ." He hoisted the rottweiler up, and carefully put him next to Matthew. The canine laid his head onto Matthew's chest. Then onto Josh's chest.
"Fuck . . . Their heart rates are already speeding up." The wolf then bolted up, and went for the kitchen. He seized the nearest pot he can find, put it under the faucet, and filled it halfway with hot water. He then put it on the stove, and turned up the heat.
"Ice . . . Ice!" Brandon stepped to the fridge, and threw open the freezer. He grabbed one ice pack, and a half-gallon of Neapolitan ice cream. He hastily scooped all of the ice cream into a zip-block bag, and dashed back into the living room, where he put the cold packs on both the canine's head. Josh and Matthew were already breaking into a sweat, both of them panting in their state.
"Ok . . . Ok ok, I need . . . Rose petals!" He jumped up, and hopped outside. He looked frantically around until he spotted a red rose bush across the street. Brandon sprinted forward, gripping a fully bloomed rose, and yanking a pawful of petals off, and going back into the house. Brandon dumped the petals into the stilled water on the stove.
"Have to hurry . . . Hold on, guys!" He said while he scrambled around for other ingredients.
~~~
"Wainet, report! Is the blasted job done, or not?!" Yelled a communicator on the ground.
The lion's ears perked up at the name, "Wainet, huh? A crime lord's career can't be what it used to be when you submit to scum like Starkerse."
"Fffuuck- off!" A masked sniper is fighting knife to kunai with Platinum, growling as the feline swung his katana up on the dagger, jerking it up, and brought it down to stab, only to have the killer move aside, and punch the lion's wrist, dropping the kunai.
"Wainet, if you do not reply you will be 'Tarred'!" The sniper yelped. He delivered a surprise kick to the gut onto Platinum, before he dashed to the communicator. He fumbled the device before pressing the button, "Sir- We need-"
*TAK*
"-Backup! We're being attacked! One by . . ." His eyes just spotted a shuriken, half buried into the gadget, "One . . ." A few sparks of static, and it was dead. He whirled around to see the white lion charging at him, a strange white, spade-shaped glow on his paw.
"Tenshi Lotus Art: Waning Leaf!" He then jabbed at the hunter's stomach, and leaped back, having injected the technique. The assailant coughed, feeling the moisture and feeling in his body start to retract to the middle. He looked at his numb paws in horror, feeling like he was turning into dust! Platinum picked up his kunai and sheathed his sword into his sleeve. "This is your punishment: After having drained innocent clients of their savings, and sucking their lives dry, so will you crumble and fade like a dying leaf." With that, he blurred again, just as the sniper huffed like a sickly man, and fell.
~~~
The wolf hastily stirred the boiling concoction, adding in dollops of boysenberry syrup into it. He looked over his shoulder, growling as he saw both males shuddering, sweating profusely.
The Black Furnace. It's a poison mixture derived from various plants from the desert, mixed in with tree frog fluids and komodo dragon saliva, along with various trace elements. It's a toxin that used to take a day to take effect, but as Brandon can see, it may have been tweaked since the last time he and the Matthew had seen it. If Brandon had gotten here sooner, we would've been able to suck it out orally, like one would a rattle snake bite, but he doesn't know just how long ago Josh and Matthew have been poisoned; the symptoms have already begun to surface: sweating, fever, shaking, and-
*Cough cough* Josh squirmed and cringed as he started hacking, a drop of blood dripping from his lips.
"Dammit . . . Brew faster . . . !" Brandon growled as he grabbed a sliced lime and tomato.
~~~
Crow swooped in and took up another sniper by the neck. "Crow! We need him for interrogation!" Platinum called. The bat ignored him; as mad as he was, he couldn't resist the urge to rip someone else apart. He easily lifted the man up high. The sniper struggled as the clawed feet took hold of his head and around he neck.
"Please! No! Have MERC-AHHHH!!" Crow laughed and cackled like a crazed maniac as he pulled the guy's head. In a crack, Crow decapitated the perpetrator, his blood spurting from his neck.
"Dammit!" Platinum yelled out. "That had better not have been the last one!"
"If ye shall need thy intear-rogation, then ye must look yondar!" Crow said in his manic-British voice.
"Screw this! I'm outta here!" Proclaimed another dark assailant as he jumped out of the bush from three houses down and started sprinting; yeah, he's the new guy.
"Crow, catch him! Do NOT kill him!" Crow dropped the body and head and dived down. The other sniper shrieked as the metal feet claws dug into his shoulders and he was lifted up. The bat then zoomed into the air and landed onto a branch, flinging the last sniper onto the ground. The terrified hunter struggled as he faced Platinum, who grabbed his sweater, and tore off his ski mask. "Now, if you please. Speak now."
The assassin whimpered in fear, "S-S-St-Starkerse wanted me to-to get that ba-At and the two can-n-n-nines and take'em ta Taeho City! I-I-I don't know anything else, I swear!!"
". . . You're lying." Platinum said.
"NO! I'M not!!"
"Crow . . . We don't need this one . . ." The bat giggled menacingly.
"NO! Please nooo!" He grunted and yowled as he felt the steel claws dig into his sides. "Don't kill me! I'll do anything!"
"No need . . ." The lion replied. The man struggled horribly as he felt the bat drag him up.
"DON'T! Don't kill me! I'll tell you everything!" He looked as the lion in white stood, refusing to listen. "I HAVE A X-CHIP!" Platinum's left ear quirked.
*CLANG!* A fine blade intercepted the curved metal talons on Crow's feet. Platinum turned his katana like a key, making those claws draw from the agent's sides in order to drop him. The dark assassin grunted as he looked up at the lion.
"Platinum?" Crow tiled his head to the side, "Why NOT kill him?? He's as baddie as they all are!" The lion started his pale eyes blatantly at the hyena before him. "If he DOES have a X-Chip, can we not dissect him? OOoooh! I know! Let's dissect him alive!!!" Crow chortled harshly, "THE SCREAMS would be beyond words!"
The white lion's head lowered. He clicked his sword back from the bat's feet, making him flap his large wings in order to fly onto a branch. He held the blade up, as if to slash the assailant. The hyena flinched and clenched his eyes shut.
*SHING!*
~~~
"Final touch," The wolf said as he picked up a saucer of mashed strawberries, and sloshed them into the bubbling pot. Removing and stilling the pot, the chemicals in the strawberry juice quickly cooled the stew before melting everything that has been put into it into a smooth, dark purple syrup instead of a brownish-grey chunky paste. "Yes!" He put the pot down, and got out a measuring cup and grabbed a knife.
Brandon then took a rather large potato, and cut it in half. Using a fork, he scored hastily at the light yellow spud meat before going back to Josh and Matthew, who were already moaning, wheezing, and drooling blood.
The canine quickly went back into the kitchen, and picked up the pot - which is already condensing frost on the outside - and took the measuring cup, and knelt down next to the suffering dogs.
"Hang on, guys . . ." Brandon took the cup, and scooped up with cold solution in the cup, and brought it to Josh's face. He opened his mouth, and gently poured in the solution. Josh suddenly gasped awake as he felt a liquid snowstorm surge down his throat.
"FULLLG-" He coughed and writhed as Brandon pressed the potato on Josh's neck, where the dart was.
"I know, I know, just swallow and keep this on your neck!" He put the caramel paw onto the potato, and then tended to Matthew.
~~~
*SHING!*
The hyena whimpered as he shook, hearing the blade. After a moment, he noticed that his gut wasn't filleted. He peaked one eye open to see the lion holding his sword out, a white glow fading off of the clean blade, which was splattered in blood just a moment ago.
"You're not keeling him? CAN I DO IT?! Pleasepleasepleaseplease!"
"No, you can't," Platinum answered, "We're going to Techno right now."
"Technoooooooo?" Crow asked as his head turned half way clock-wise, "Why HIS place?" The white lion then swiped a paw at the hyena's neck, knocking him out with just a touch.
"One, for the X-Chip. Two, we've been poisoned." The bat simply laughed out loud.
"POISONNNNNNNED?! I never felt better in mah-" His voice got caught in his throat. He felt a flash of hot sweat sweep over him.
"According to our latest report, Starkerse is having his snipers soak their bullets and blades in a toxin called the Black Furnace. Not to mention their darts" Crow started heaving as his body started quivering. "I told you," Platinum said as he turned to the bat, "You need to be less sloppy." He then did a sleep touch on the bat as well. The lion then hefted Crow hover his shoulder, and turned to the dormant hyena sniper. He sighed as he squatted and took him up under his arm.
"Governmental double agents are so . . . Annoying . . ." He, Crow and the sniper vanished in a blur.
~~~
Brandon pulled out a heavy blanket from the closet, and dragged it over to Josh and Matthew, who were now shuddering madly, on Josh's bed, cringing and chattering their teeth as if they were just brought in from a blizzard. "You remember, Matt?" He said as he laid the quilt over them, both of them out of their sweaty clothes and wrapped in bathrobes, "The only way to cure the Furnace is hypothermia." The wolf chuckled, placing more blankets over the two of them.
"Woulda been different if the antidote wasn't so crude this time, but ya know how things come up. Gotta work with what cha got."
The antidote that Brandon brewed wasn't exactly an antidote at all. It was a pretty poor imitation of another poison that is supposed to freeze the victim from the inside. However, with none of the right ingredients, and everything brewed as a substitute, it was a close-enough resemblance to give a drinker cold flashes. What's more, it forces the chemicals in the Black Furnace to back track its process, oozing out from where it entered the body, which needs to be absorbed, or it will cause a burning rash.
That's why Brandon had the potatoes; in his experience, potatoes suck up the poison on contact. The spuds took in most of the toxin, and he mashed some raw, untainted potato meat into a paste, and put it on band aids onto the puncture wounds on their necks.
"Talk about going from the frying pan, and into the freezer, eh? Heh heh heh." After layering the rottie and shepherd with thick blankets he found around the house, the wolf then turned the heating knob next to bedroom door in order for the heater to turn on. "Hollar when ya wake up, boys. I'll get to work on some soup." With that, Brandon closed the door, leaving the freezing canines under the many blankets, whimpering, shaking, and hugging each other tightly to stay warm.