A Good Time to Disappear

Frankie was pretty good at conversations. It stemmed from the days where he use to prowl the streets shaking rackets down and booting out other gangs form his neighbourhood; if you weren’t listening almost constantly, you could end up with a pipe in the back of the skull or a bullet through the teeth. The skill to be able to listen into another person’s gab and keep your own going also made sure you got your nose into others people business even if they noticed or not (Although in the long run, that just got his nose separated from his face via heated kitchen knife.)

There were three strands to the conversation that he could pluck, and each one was as interesting as the next. First, there was the sharp looking broad in the shoes talking about her missing friend with the doll in the armour. He still had reservations about the doll, but the broad seemed to have some growing concerns over the group as a whole. She was distancing herself from them and Frankie could probably see why. A bunch of freaks like them walk in and are immediately followed by another one. Frankie would have treated them with the same suspicion if he had, well, flesh. In the second string, Frankie and Archie were asking about the monster, because they were both keenly interested. There was a kind of double sword there, whenever the two of them hunted down some mythical beast. They wanted to protect the public but also protect the thing they were after. From what the doll in the armour said, whatever it was sounded big and angry. Maybe it was displaced by someone? Maybe it was being hunted? Frankie never had this soft side when he was younger. Momma Ugadda probably gave it to him.

Then there was the final string to the story, the distrust they felt for the doll in the big armour. She didn’t sound like a force for good, with Hellbeasts and things like that. Frankie wasn’t sure about it, he didn’t like the sound or look of it but he supposed he would just have to tolerate it until either the doll attacked them or turned out to be sincere.

Then a flood of the damn creatures popped into existence and Frankie moved his free hand towards the gun near his ribs. He was sure that they’d been double crossed, that the villain was playing their hand too early and things were about to get very, very messy; but instead of swarming the group, tearing them apart with sharp sulphur smelling fingers. They moved out and formed what looked like a grotesque little fairy tale carriage. It looked like something a lunatic would have painted in an asylum after being told, “Draw a picturesque scene.”

Bones felt a tug on his shoulder and he was pulled back slightly, off his feet. He turned and saw Aurora in clear distress. Frankie put a hand on her shoulder and moved closer, seeing a myriad of emotions cross her dark features. “Honey?” He said softly, squeezing her shoulders and trying to pull her out of what seemed to be dumbstruck fear. Bones didn’t get it, but he glanced over at Archie as the gorilla settled into the seat and over at the Broad in the shoes. He was probably looking for someone who could probably handle the situation better than him. That suddenly struck him as a little selfish, so instead he gently reached down, tried to take one of her hands and said softly, ”I know you’re afraid. But I’m here. And so is Archie. And we’ll never let you get hurt, okay? Now come on. You can do it...” He gently moved away, towards the carriage, intent on climbing in.

The cavalcade of misfits she so lovingly came to know as acquaintances seemed unnerved at the arrival of the carriage. She could not lie to herself. The carriage put her at ends with her demeanor. She brushed one of her bangs back behind her ear and let the clarity of the situation come to her. If this woman, or man, or whatever it pretended to be found took Ashley, she needed a rescue. Two spirits sat within the confines of the carriage waiting for the party to take their seats. The best to rescue someone always revolved around not getting captured yourself, or at least adding a fail safe to fall through.

Aurora looked absolutely astonished by the audacity that Dante displayed in his macabre host. Any contact with the funeral march would send her into a state of absolute shock it seemed. The skeleton tried to comfort her, but he crossed Bliss's mind as the most suited for this job. If she could not get away with leaving with Dante by herself, she would attempt to persuade Dante into only letting Bones accompany them. "These people are still on the lookout for their friend." She let the context of what she paid attention to seep into her mind. "I don't really want to tie up their time with me searching for my friend. Also, if this monster is out running amok, then haste needs to be on their side in finding him."

Bliss made her way towards the carriage and stepped inside. This ranked among some of the worst plans Bliss tried flying by, but still held a severity that needed to be addressed. This creature wandered the wasteland of Nebraska, and whether it associated or feared Dante would sort itself out in the hours to come. Until then Bliss needed to bide her time and think her next course of action through. The seat of the damned felt soft and comforting against her back.

At least some good would come from this trek she embarked on. The gorilla made his way into the carriage and took his place along the seating. A carriage fit for a prime ape glanced by her cynicism with surprising reprieve. That would be he most absurd thing to call into question during this series of events. The skeleton and the dryad remained outside. The warmth of the dryad's eyes burned with hatred, while Bones made his way to enter the carriage. Bliss looked to him and tried to make a face to tell him to stay behind. God, see hoped that a dried bag of bones with no temporal or occipital lobes could make out non verbal communication. All they awaited now came from the return of Dante to the carriage.

Dante looked at Bliss and then towards the Dryad and Undead. The Dryad seemed to be averted by the dark aura created by his summons, which was understandable. If any of these people knew what he was planning, they would avoid it even more so. But despite his plans, Dante needed to play the nice guy in this endeavor. He raised his hand towards the Undead, making a signal to stop. He thought very little of the possibility of the Dryad getting onto the carriage, seeing her reaction from just being in the same area as it. He looked at the Undead, the skeleton's reflection coming off from the dark metal.

"I suggest you stay here with the Dryad" Dante said considerately "She doesn't look like she can take being in the same place as my summons, which is understandable. Very little nature spirits like to be in the presence of the dead"

Dante looked towards Bliss, nodding at her when she made the suggestion to leave.

"You are correct Bliss, we should make haste" Dante agreed "We know not how this beast hunts, so let us be off!"

Dante snapped his fingers and the carriage began a slow movement towards the highway, the carriage made large amounts of noise as it traveled down the gravel covered ground. In addition, the Hungry Ghosts let loose groans and moans as they pulled the carriage along. Dante looked to the skeleton one last time, giving the signal of a choice.

"It is up to you Spirit" Dante said calmly, keeping a distant familiarity "Either you come with us, or you stay with the Dryad, unless you can convince her to come along"

Bones glanced inside of the carriage, not really paying attention to anything being said as he caught a little look from the doll with the missing friend. He got the message loud and clear, his head turning slightly towards the doll in the armour as she said something he only half picked up. He nodded his head once or twice in slight agreement, but he was more nodding towards the doll in the shoes than anything else. And then Aurora, sweet little Aurora, who was as brave as a mouse about to enter fisticuffs with a lion decided that she wasn’t so afraid anymore and tugged the skeleton into the carriage. Frankie mentally sighed as the thing rocked forward down the road, glancing over to Archie and trying to convey the same sense of “I should get off,” before they started to go too fast. When Aurora settled and pulled herself up against Archie, Frankie suddenly lifting a hand a slapped himself against his bony forehead.

”Dammit, I forgot about Maxwell.” He got up, moving towards the other carriage door, glancing around the interior. ”Listen, I’ll just jump out and run back to the Restaurant. Someone should hang out there just in case we get a call back.” He opened it up, even though the carriage was still moving, and hung out for a moment, the wind catching his jacket and hat, which was sent spinning off his head and down the road. Bones swore softly under his breath, before glancing at Aurora and Archie and apologizing. Just before he jumped out onto the road, he looked back at the doll in the shoes and said, rather softly, ”I hope your friend is okay, Princess.” It was a little comment, more about how Bones didn’t really trust the gal in the armour, and he hoped it was okay.

With that, he pushed himself out of the doorway and hit the ground running, his thin legs just barely taking the strain thanks to his less then heavy form. He glanced over his shoulder as he slowed down, stopping by his hat and picking it up, dusting it off as he shook his head and muttered under his breath about having a bad feeling about this. He placed it back on his skull, rubbing it with his gloved hands before it settled down completely. And then he ran towards the restaurant, his jacket flapping as he skipped pot holes here and there.

Frankie sighed as he prowled around the parking lot of the restaurant, knowing that he had to work quickly. What he was looking for was something inconspicuous but fast, should the undead creatures be able to go a little faster than he suspected. Luckily, sitting near the entrance was a brand new BMW. Bones recognised it from his long nights of watching TV, something about having cutting edge fingerprint recognition software that was being fit into some of the old models too, free of charge. It always seemed kind of; well, not right with him. They were probably storing the fingerprints somewhere in the car, in one of those microchips or whatever they were called. He broke his musings to jimmy open the lock and slip into the driver’s seat, glancing at the array of buttons on the dashboard and already longing for his own vintage car, sat back in the Abnormal’s garage.

”I am never going on a road trip with these people again.” He muttered to himself, as he slid one of his finger tips into the finger print screen and melted it open, slipping his finger fingers inside to jury rig the engine to start. With a satisfying purr, he pulled out of the parking lot and made his way after the carriage.

Archie was actually relieved Bones decided to stay behind. It was better to have him out there in case this entire thing was actually a trap. He could practically feel the mixture of fear and mistrust radiating from Aurora. It was unsettling to Archie; he'd never seen her like this before and hoped he'd never have to again. He wished she would exit the carriage and stay with the skeleton but apparently that wasn't happening. It wasn't a problem though, because he was sure of his ability to keep her out of harm. Wasn't he? Now wasn't the time to doubt that. He would defend her no matter what the cost to himself, and he would do the same for Bliss. Even if he didn't know her it was his duty to do so... if things things would actually get to that point. "Aurora raises a good question. Where exactly are we going and how long will this take?" Archie added his own question to the Dryad's. He was both curious and concerned about both the destination and the time it would take them to get there. He took his attention from the green ball of Earth magic to Dante.

All this time seemed wasted. She could not discern why she insisted on waiting on these side show attractions to come with her, but she felt oddly safer with them. "How long will it take to get there in a carriage?" Bliss stubbornly spoke. All she wanted was a destination that would keep her and Ashley out of trouble, but now that seemed like a fool's errand. A thought came to her that she subverted in anger; this carriage possessed some sort of magical properties that allowed it to move quickly. Something along those lines; she did not even wait for an answer to come back to her.

"Why are you in Nebraska? I wasn't aware that a thriving..." She gazed over the woman's appearance. "...Knight population here. It must have moved in while I was in New York." Bliss brought her legs under her and rested her arms on the back of the seat. She gazed out the window and pressed her forehead against the glass of the carriage. It felt cold against her forehead. Out in these decrepit, rural wastelands she would find her friend. She just hoped that she held the power to overcome any kind of obstacle that this odd situation would present her.

The bone guy, she honestly could not remember his name, never seemed like he intended on getting into the carriage with them. Hopefully he would hatch out some sort of plan. She thought about what he might try, but then she began to remember she possessed no ideas as to what the immediate future held for her either. The dryad overcame her hatred of everything around her and joined Bliss and the gorilla in the carriage. Bliss viewed the situation and felt like screaming at the absurdity of everything. She cringed her finger and wrapped her hands together. "Hey gorilla guy." She asked over to her new traveling companion. "Why are you a gorilla with a hat?"

Dante looked to the group of magical misfits once again, his facial features being unable to be seen by their eyes. He gave them credit, they weren't so trustworthy of a random stranger, which is always admirable. However, the magical misfits were causing a major inconvenience. Though they peeked his interest, this group was causing a hamper to his plans, but they could also be incredibly useful in this fact, it all depended on the timing, something that he needed to do to make sure his plot went off without a hitch. And that would start now, for time was of the essence and Dante was running out of it.

The Minotaur opened its eyes, fixing them on the carriage that held its master within. The Minotaur had been ordered to wait for Dante's signal, and it has been waiting since, acting like a statue amongst the branches of the trees. It was then that the Minotaur heard its master’s call, instantly waking the motionless giant from its self imposed exile. The Minotaur spent only a moment to receive its orders, and instantly launched off into the sky, crashing its way through the forest and destroying all wildlife in its way. The minotaurs powerful steps echoed along the boundless horizon, trembling as it grunted and roared during its approach.

“We won’t be getting there anytime soon if you keeps up held up with questions now will we?” Dante said in an impatient tone “We are heading to a barnhouse not far from here, but we are wasting time, let us go”

Dante motioned for his summonings to move onwards, but to be convincing, he didn’t turn as the Minotaur came crashing into Dante’s half of the carriage, sending him and his summonings flying into the air. Dante himself came flying through the air and eventually crashed into the diner, breaking the windows and even the counter when he made impact. Dante’s summonings disappeared as he picked himself up from the rubble, grunting in pain.

“There is the beast!!! It’s the Minotaur!” Dante said in a frantic tone “Defeat it quickly, or everyone will die!”

Dante rushed to the other’s side, charging energy in his hands as he unleashed his Army of Hades towards the minotaur, which caused the beast to smash against them, crushing them as they approached it. The Minotaur let out a deafening roar as it ran up and smashed Dante into a telephone pole, causing it to crack under to force.

Bliss's question came across as rude to Archie, but he couldn't blame her for being curious; he probably was still curious about why exactly he was a gorilla himself. "You'd wear one too if you had a hairline like mine." he answered. He hoped his delivery wasn't too dry, but he could never be sure when it came to how people would interpret his tone of voice since his transformation. Their discussion was quickly interrupted by a violent crash. They no longer needed to seek out the monster, as it seemed to have sought them out instead. Archibald wondered if it was the concentration of magic that drew the beast to them, or if it was just a random attack. Whatever the reason, he had to act quickly.

Archie was both heavy and durable enough to have not been effected by the sudden crash, and was able to shrug off the sudden shock. He rose to his feet and quickly surveyed the carnage around him. From the looks of things, the minotaur was incredibly powerful and giving their new uneasy ally quite a beating.

“Aurora, stay back here with Miss Bliss. I’ll handle this” there was a serious determination to his voice as he stepped towards the monster and let out something of a primal roar as a way of calling out the minotaur, probably speaking to its apparent animal intelligence. Archie wasn’t stupid enough to rush in head first at something he was unfamiliar with; it was better to let it come to him.

Bones had slipped a hand into the inside of his jacket, pulling out of his pocket a small cigar case. It was old and beaten, the silver case scratched with use. Lifting his bony knees he held the steering wheel between his legs as he pulled his way out of the parking lot. With his thin bony hands he pulled a thick cigar from the case and clenched it in his jaw, glancing down at the dwindling supply and sighing softly in dissatisfaction. He didn’t even really smoke them now anyway, but it was always annoying to buy more cigars. Frankie snapped the case shut and slipped it back into his pocket as pushed down on the accelerator, his other hands patting down his chest to find a little match book. He plucked one out of his back pocket, the car swerving slightly which made him glance at the carriage in front of him. Nothing happening there. Frankie pulled out the matchbook and glanced at the pink cover. Strip Club Matchbook? When the hell was he at a strip club?

There was a sudden bellowing roar that made Frankie drop the matchbook and glance up. Out of the undergrowth, a huge horned creature came crashing through the trees. Leaves and branches were thrown around it as the creature crushed the side of the carriage and sent it spinning. Frankie shoved his foot on the break and jerked forward. The cigar dropped from his jaws and rolled down his body, disappearing under the seat to forever be lost. A moment passed where Bones simply turned his head in surprise, not really understanding what he was seeing as the thing rocked back on its hooves. From the inside of the vehicle, the jagged Knight falling out and hitting the glass front of the diner they had all recently been inside of. His eyes followed the woman, the car sat unnoticed and distant from the group.

She rose and rushed forward, with an army of her monsters rushing forward to try and kill the creature. It didn’t work well, because they were crushed as the monster rushed forward and broke the knight against a telephone pole. ”Well, that’s got to hurt...” He murmured under his breath as he put the BMW into reverse, pulling back violently with a whimpering engine. Frankie wrapped his bony hands around the wheel and glanced over his shoulder, making sure not to hit anyone as he got a good distance away from the creature and the carnage it was making.

He turned back just in time to see Archie lumber forward on his hands and scream out something Bones liked to call his “Kong Scream.” Smart move; try to distract the creature from punching the woman into the ground. As he watched, he spotted little Aurora making her way to one of the trees, probably about to use some of her magic... That would make this little stunt he was about to pull kind of dangerous, unless he could somehow...

He placed the pedal to the floor and put the car into car, kicking up grit and loose stone as the car jolted forward across the road. He was aiming the bumper of the car square at the Minotaur, his gloved hands squeezing the wheel. When the car was going forty miles per hour, Bones opened his window and leant out, calling out as loud as he could, ”Ramp, Aurora! Gimme a ramp!”

The gorilla replied to her in a rather unexpected way. "Is that why you wear pants?" Bliss asked with a crooked smile. As she asked the freak the question, a sudden burst of force came from across the carriage. Her head slammed against the back of the wooden post behind her. She could not reason if her fear of sitting behind windows in moving vehicles saved her from going through the window or giving her a knot on the back of her head.

A burst of events sounded about outside of the carriage. Apparently the prize of Theseus did battle with the Renaissance era in the dust painted streets of Nebraska. Quaint. Vines surrounded the lining of the carriage keeping the cabin safe from any impact a talking gorilla fighting a brainless bullman would cause. None of this met her approval. Absolutely none of it.

Bliss moved towards the door and looked to see the minotaur standing over the armored woman. She pulled a pistol from her shoulder bag and placed her hand on the encasing vines. Bliss shot her head back to the nymph and sighed. "Great. I'm surrounded by Greek metaphors for displaced sexuality." The nymph stepped in front of her and moved into her course of action.

Bliss placed her unarmed hand behind her skirt end and jumped down to the ground. The gorilla blocked her shot at the minotaur, but maybe not allowing the bull a clear path to her held a better situation to it. Gauging fighting styles of freaks never stood atop of Bliss's resume, and trying to predict the outcome of this collision did not seem likely. Bliss needed to get to a clear shot at this creature for her to stand a chance at an effective shot.

The caved in wall of the diner allowed Bliss a place to avoid the savage charge of the creature. She ran across the street and leaped through a shattered window, bracing her hand against the pillar to swing her momentum towards the coming collision. She aimed the small hand gun behind Archie, predicting that the minotaur would no doubt swing behind him in most outcomes of the fight. "No time but the present." She traced the movement path and fired two bullets at where she hoped the minotaur would charge.

The Minotaur looked towards Archie, finding the fellow creature as something intriguing. The gorilla had let out a roar of primal fury, which caused the instincts of the Minotaur to respond in kind, letting loose a powerful roar of its own. The Minotaur bent down on all fours and glared at Archie, grinding its hind leg against the pavement while streams of steam were being blown out of its nose. A loud screeching sound could be heard as sparks and small bits of pavement came flying through the air, it was obvious to see that the Minotaur was preparing to charge, it wasn't going to let a challenge go unanswered.

Dante awoke from his small moment of unconsciousness due to the impact of the Minotaur's powerful fists. The force of the impact pushed Dante's armor to its natural limits, the force strong enough to rattle his brain from within. The impact had also caused the telephone pole he made contact with to fall on top of him, leaving Dante immobile underneath. Dante attempted to push himself out, but then noticed that his left arm was broken, making it impossible for him to be able to escape on his own. Dante summoned forth his shades to lift the pole enough to get out of his little predicament, babying his arm as he stood up too snap it back into place. The process produced a sickening crunch, accompanied with a pained scream from Dante, showing how much pain he was in. Despite the years of pain and death, Dante was still a man, and he still could feel as much pain as he did in the Renaissance. Dante surveyed the battlefield, seeing that the Minotaur was gonna prepare to fall for the traps the heroes were setting up. Dante cracked his neck and shoulders and then ran towards the Minotaur, he required the plot to go as planned, his next move would assure that.

The Minotaur launched off towards Archie, the gorilla would feel the full power of Ancient Greece's most feared creature. But before the creature even came close, it was bombarded with attacks and was run straight through by Bones' car, causing the Minotaur to flip over due to the physics of the impact. The Minotaur fell face first into pavement, causing a small crater. The Minotaur smashed its fists against the concrete, tremors being created by the force. The Minotaur picked itself up and let loose another roar. The Minotaur was caught off guard by a sudden whistling sound, looking at the source with glaring anger.

Dante began to walk towards the Minotaur, tremors coming from his own feet as well. The Minotaur charged towards its master, only to be stopped mid-charge. The Minotaur looked in shock as Dante soon distorted and became a perfect reflection of itself. The two Minotaurs began to clash against each other, letting loose powerful roars and blows that caused massive shockwaves, Dante would soon prove to be stronger, being the source of magical power. Dante tossed the Minotaur towards Archie and the rest of the group, giving them a chance to assault the defenseless Minotaur.

Archie stood at the ready as the Minotaur began its charge; he was sure that this was probably going to hurt, but braced himself to literally grab the bull by the horns anyway. That was when Bones came to the rescue like a valiant knight on his trusty steed. Only instead of a knight on a horse, he was an ex-mafia skeleton man in a bmw. The impact of the car sent the Minotaur flying as gunshots were fired from somewhere. Archie turned his attention from the flipping bull man to the source of the shots. It was Bliss; there was definitely more to her than she let on. Almost immediately after one bull was sent crashing to the ground, Dante rose in the form of another to combat it and proved to be its superior by tossing the beast in Archie’s direction. The fact that his uneasy ally could transform with startling similarity to the creature they were fighting was unnerving to Archibald; not unnerving enough to prevent him from taking advantage of the situation, though. He sent himself leaping in the air towards the Minotaur that was practically thrown at him. His gorilla sized fist connected with the Minotaur’s steel jaw and sent it crashing down to the ground on its back with Archibald right on top of it.