Honor's Debt

Sunday Night

Chapter 4

Facing off five against one is not the worst situation I ever faced; certainly not by a long shot. Mexico for example was one such location where the odds were more than ten thousand bloodthirsty vampires to nine wizards and allies. Therefore a mere five to one should be a walk in the park.

Add to that the fact that Lea's intense training régime had certainly helped me refine the combat aspects and capabilities of my magic, limited as they were compared to Harry's, into something at least respected by those who faced me. Better still I had gained vital experience in sizing up my opponents and the level of threat they posed which is something you really cannot learn in classroom lessons or reading old role-playing textbooks on monsters.

For example, I knew the gun wielders and urchin shooters were always worth considering and respecting but I had faced such things before and neither was new. The Fomor wizard, however, was therefore the most important of my foes at the moment because when dealing with wizards one was never sure exactly what they might be capable of. Because he was the most dangerous in my eyes that made him the one I had to get rid of first. And of course the only real option for facing magic is tossing about some magic of your own.

I tensed slightly as I opened myself up to draw in magic, this skill now nothing more that a second nature reflex to me. Meanwhile the Fomor wizard released his spell he had been holding, obviously sensing what I was up to and trying to prevent it.

Thankfully the spell was not what I had feared; primarily wind, fire, ice, or any one of the elemental combat forms Harry was so good at that caused so much destruction. Instead it was something I had never faced before in my short career; Lea called it entropy magic.

Because the wizard had been expecting and watching for my action the spell struck me before I could offer up any defense with the little magic I had successfully gathered at that point and upon surrounding me its effects began immediately.

How can I describe what this was like? Picture you are drinking from a garden hose and suddenly someone steps on it or kinks the hose cutting off the water supply. Instead of water, of course, the Fomor wizard had cut off the flow of magic coming to me, much the same as if he had trapped me in a magic protective circle but without drawing out the chalk lines required for that particular ritual.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, entropy is the tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity. The key words here being energy and inert.

"Uh oh!" I could not stop myself from saying aloud as I felt the magic hose kink. "This is so totally unfair!" I continued speaking as my eyes glanced everywhere looking for a means of escape or an immediate way to break this spell. I potentially had such things of course in my utility belt; which presently was sitting in the trunk of my car thirty feet or more away. At present I was not thinking the Fomor were going to give me the time to waltz over there and gather my gear without a contest so that material was currently as useful to me as if I had left it at home.

"Your kind is still so predictable after the millennia we have watched you." The wizard spoke in its hissing type voice as his concentration stayed focused upon maintaining the spell around me. Okay, he had to concentrate his will to keep it working, that was something that offered a slight glimmer of hope if I could break it.

"I only hope when we find her the Rag Lady offers more of a challenge and worthy battle than you did." He said in a dismissive tone that really just pissed me off inside which was never a good thing to do. I did also notice through my natural inclinations to sense emotions, especially strong emotions like lust, anger, and fear, that the mention of the Rag Lady's name made the others a little tense at least and that made me happy to know my efforts protecting Chicago have not been in vain.

"Well don't just stand there waiting to sign autographs, do something Molly!" A voice spoke in my head.

To be fair I call this voice Margaret Dresden after Harry's mom because that is who she says she is, or was at one time. I happened to gather a piece of her soul as I am the only person to have soul gazed both of Margaret's children; Harry and his brother Thomas. According to Margaret she had left a part of herself behind for someone like me to be a guide and help for her boys in their times of need. In this way Margaret was a somewhat comforting aspect of what would otherwise be disturbing.

On the other hand a small part of me also understood I could be completely making this up and that in truth I was nuts. To be fair that was certainly just as equal a possibility if not greater when you consider that Lea had to reassemble my psyche from a series of shards that I had torn it into doing what Harry had asked of me. Like trying to assemble a shattered vase, I could tell that there were still small fragments and shards missing from the seams in my mind, and Margaret's voice seemed to resonate from those areas when she spoke to me.

But hey, even if I was crazy I was still the magical defended of Chicago so that left me asking the question I had dozens of times in the past few months. "What would Harry do?"

"Probably not get into this situation!" Margaret's voice replied inside my head in a somewhat snarky tone.

"Are we talking about the same Harry Dresden?" I asked.

"Touché." She replied. "Of course he was not really bright enough to understand and avoid these. I expect better from you Molly since we are so similar."

"Thanks." I replied sourly and tried to picture Harry standing where I was and what he would do. Hell at a minimum I knew he would have a witty comeback or at least a really bad movie line to toss back at his opponents before he died. Yep, that was as good an idea as anything.

I released a good portion of the tension from my body, staying alert but trying to project that sense of cool, calm demeanor that I had witnessed Harry do so many times. If I had magic I would have enhanced this projection in the minds of the Fomor but instead in this case I had to rely solely upon those drama skills I acquired as a one scene extra in a high school production of Little Shop of Horrors. Hey, before you mock me the play got great reviews even if I only had five minutes on stage!

"You know I was just doing some reading so I find your comment amusing. If my kind is so predictable and pathetic then how is it we have kicked your race's collective assess out of Ireland at least half a dozen times or so and on more than one occasion with nothing more than spears and swords?" I asked trying to add that little tone of innocent mockery that Harry did naturally so well. Even without relying upon my emotion reading skills their eyes and body postures displayed that my reference had struck a rather sensitive nerve. Well too damn bad for you! Go buy a puppy or some therapy classes.

"And as for your wish about the Rag Lady…" I said letting my eyes flicker quickly to a spot slightly above and behind them. "Why don't you turn around and ask her yourself since she was onto your little stakeout days ago." I laughed with a tone of mocking.

The 'look behind you' diversion is probably the oldest type trick in the book. I can literally see one caveman looking at another saying 'Look Gronk there is a dinosaur behind you' and then clobbering his opponent with a club the second Gronk's head was turned.

It is important to note that almost immediately females developed a refined version. This one was 'Oh my god it's my dad' which I am also sure almost always also caused young male cavemen to look behind them as well and therefore allowing the cave girls to escape or else clobber the young male with a convenient club – considered by some of the largest males who play caveman football the opening salvo of a traditional mating ritual.

Almost no one actually fell for the original gag anymore because everyone had been pulling it on each other for about a gajillion years; which by the way is about eight hours under the metric system I think. However, because no one fell for it people generally stopped using it in these situations. It should be noted that 'Oh God it's my father' still works perfectly well in modern times and succeeds most often at high schools.

So the fact I was showing calm, even though the wizard was certain I had been rendered magically sterile, projected that I was confident about something when I should not have been. And since that something could not therefore be me, even though 'look behind you' was the oldest distraction in the world, all five of the Fomors' heads still turned as I spoke the words.

I did not wait around for them to understand they had fallen for it and instead immediately took off from standing to running in an instant keeping a look over my shoulder as I tried to increase the distance between us. The wizard's head snapped back first after noting no Rag Lady enemy only to see me fleeing and yelled the traditional order I had heard in various forms far too often as of late. "Kill her!"

Immediately the sounds of gunfire erupted as I zigged and zagged to prevent a clear and easy shot. The first line of automatic bullets erected a lethal fence between me and my car, and then the second joined in this line as well. The Fomor may have learned to shoot modern weapons but this pair at least was still perfecting the skills required for leading their target.

Fortunately I also surmised in time that they had lots of experience where their more traditional blowpipe urchin wands were concerned. I heard their distinctive whistle as the pair of projectiles came my way and reacted just as I had been trained to. I called upon my magical shield bracelet that Harry had made for me when I began as his apprentice and I have kept charged and on my left wrist ever since.

Thankfully my shield bracelet did not require my to infuse it with magic, since I did not have any, but instead merely required the spells of magic I had already trapped within to be released. This effectively went around the entropy effects of spell the wizard still held me under and therefore saved me from some pretty painful wounds as the two urchins slammed into the shield instead of into my back with their distinctive wet plopping sound. Yep, this pair obviously had skills where flying urchins were concerned.

The bullet fire was closing from my left and still enough of a concern that I turned away from my car and toward the only other potential shelter available, the giant green metal dumpster. I made it behind just in time to hear the distinctive drum roll of two wild lines of bullets slamming into the steel front and then go ricocheting off to who knows where. That was not my problem at the moment as I took an instant to assess my situation. I needed a plan and since I could not still draw upon magic all my escape efforts had provided beyond temporarily saving my skin was to teach me the wizard did not need to maintain a line of sight on me to keep his spell working.

The bullets rattled to a stop and I head the distinctive mechanical sounds made as the Fomor began to reload. Meanwhile the wizard called out his next command. "Toss that barrier out of the way!" I figured that order was given to the urchin wielders who were incredibly strong and only required one hand for their weapons. From my previous encounters I estimated that even keeping their hands on the wands they would have no trouble throwing a dumpster though they might need two because of its bulky size. Either way in a couple of seconds I would again have no protection available except my shield bracelet which was not strong enough to stop multiple automatic weapons at once. Come on Molly think!

As I suspected the two urchin wielders grabbed the sides of the dumpster with both hands and after a weird click that probably translated in Fomor to the equivalent of 'now,' launched the metal container ten feet up and thirty feet further away from the battle. I wish I could have seen the looks on their faces, especially the wizard's, when the container was tossed aside and there was no cute and perky wizard found huddling behind it.

Being a wizard of course I suspect his surprise immediately turned to suspecting magic, and the most common situation reason when a wizard is not where they should by all right be means he or she cast a veil. I felt the inherent confidence he had in his magic superiority to me weaken. In fact it weakened so much that his spell surrounding me almost failed and fell away; almost, but unfortunately not completely. I think it was the fact that he could sense his spell was still in effect on me that gave him the confidence to reinforce his will to keep it going, which I can tell you in all honest sucked as far as I was concerned at that moment.

For the record no, your favorite cute and perky wizard had not pulled together enough magic to call up one of those veils she is so famous for or found a way to convert the magic held in her shield bracelet to function in other ways to break free of his spell. In fact at the present moment, now with an extra instant to think more, that seems like a much better plan than what I had decided to implement.

While the Fomor were each thinking 'Hey where did she go' I was gracefully flying through the air on an uncontrolled ballistic missile path as I clung to the side of the metal dumpster. Like I just said I really wish I had that extra moment to devise a means to see if I could re-channel my shield bracelet magic to another purpose instead of what I did choose out of necessity. This became an even greater regret as we, the friendly dumpster and I, reached the apex of our journey and began our joint descent toward the pavement together. It was now notably also beginning a slow rotation to put me underneath the large green trash receptacle when we landed. I had watched enough coyote and roadrunner cartoons to understand that this was not an enviable situation even with five Fomor hunting for me so I did the only thing that instinct allowed for; I pushed off and tried to do a summersault in midair to avoid the dumpster's crash and hopefully land on my feet ready to run.

I think I have mentioned I have never been a gymnast right? I was also never part of the high school dive team. In fact I had zero in the way of experience for this type of maneuver. This is why you should be completely surprised to note that I landed perfectly on my feet and then took off running for my car. You should be surprised because that was totally impossible. What really happened is that I crashed and rolled on the pavement trying not to kill myself, tearing up my tracksuit, which had no useful padding I learned the hard way, and not feeling particularly happy with the road rash inflicted upon me for the second time this evening.

Ouch!

Of course it took the Fomor all of a second to locate me after the crash as I eventually landed on my right side facing them, though with my hair strewn across my face partially obstructing my view. I also had most of the breath knocked out of me but I figured I could try and breathe extra later if I lived long enough.

"Kill her." The wizard called again and the two automatic weapon wielders in front of him started turning their guns in my direction once more. Man for a wizard this guy really needs to work on his dialogue skills. This is the second time he said 'kill me' and neither came with the traditionally long, time-buying soliloquy for me to take advantage of. I might have to report him to the evil overlord society for this flagrant breach of evil protocol.

The first gun lined up almost on me and I could sense the tension in the Fomor agent holding it as he began to squeeze the trigger. I fired off another shield spell, this time placing it just inside the barrel of the rifle as I had learned years before was darn effective tactic on handguns. Well let me tell you that it works even better on automatic weapons.

The first round flew through the barrel and was suddenly stopped by the shield blocking its exit so the force pushing it had to go somewhere. Much reflected backwards as this was the easiest path available however the next round coming down the chamber behind it caused this force to compact upon itself like a train hitting a wall and the cars going in all directions, only in this case the cars were contained in a tunnel. A third round following behind exponentially increased this same situation.

The gun transformed itself from structured metal and composite into shrapnel, much still propelled by the forces at play blowing backward at the gun wielder and tearing through his body. The two others near him were likewise struck and flung aside by the forces at play and certainly took some small levels of damage themselves. I suspected all in all it was not much considering the ability of the Fomor to shake off wounds, except maybe to the one holding the gun, but it still bought me a few precious seconds as confusion reigned on the battlefield.

Unfortunately the wizard though knocked down did not lose his concentration on the spell he had me trapped in and I still had no access to the magic in the world around me. I was starting to wonder what it would take to rattle him enough to do so. Still I found my feet in those invaluable seconds. I was somewhat shaky of course but ignored the pain my body was registering at the moment, and began to stumble toward my car now only a dozen paces or so away from where I had rolled to a stop while keeping my eyes darting over my shoulders from foe to foe to track their activities.

The urchin pair were obviously shocked by the exploding gun, but they only let that stall them for a moment, which was about two of my steps worth, before they both drew their pipes in unison and fired a pair of projectiles my way once again. I tossed up another shield, realizing I was burning through these fast, and the urchins splattered against the invisible barrier like a bug on a windshield; I mean disgustingly very similar to a bug on a windshield. But that protection bought me another four steps toward my destination.

The second gun wielder was up a moment later swinging his weapon my way and I fired off another quick shield spell into his barrel as well giving me three more steps, halving the remaining distance to my car once more. I waited for the rocking blow back.

"Do not fire she has set it to explode like the other!" The wizard ordered and although the gun was now almost completely aligned with me, the Fomor carrying it checked his fire as he had been ordered to. Say what you will about their evil intentions, their loyalty and reflex times were impressive.

Damn, was hoping to cause another one at least temporarily disabling injuries but I consoled myself with the fact that at least he is not firing my way. Speaking of firing I tossed another of my nearly depleted shields up again just in time to hear the twin splats of two more urchins as I reached my trunk and popped it open. My hand reached inside blindly for my belt of goodies hoping to even the odds a bit as I looked at the remaining enemies.

A flicker of movement at the last second was my warning and I pushed backwards off the trunk and purposely fell on my backside as the second gun wielder's form flew through the space I had just been occupying and slammed his body into the open trunk and fender of my car denting both and undoubtedly injuring himself. Then he started to fall backwards on top of me so I scrambled out of the way, piecing together in my mind that he had leapt much of that distance toward me while I had been split between thinking about my car and the flying urchins headed my way.

"Come on Molly, remember they are much faster than you." Margaret's voice reminded me.

"Thanks for the newsflash."

Gunman two was woozy from having his body impacted into the car and not having mine to soften the blow as he had intended, but the Fomor were tough and even this blow only shook him up a bit, basically making him sway but not actually fall. I figured I could help with that as I thought of Karen's training and instinctually kicked out with my closer leg connecting with his just above the kneecap and bending that joint ninety degrees in a direction it had not been designed to bend in.

The creature screamed in that almost too high pitch to hear voice and fell once more toward me as I rolled out of the way again, especially of those grasping arms reaching for me. This was in fact additionally fortunately as his body also fell in direct line with the next two urchins that smacked into him with a similar wet thud that they had hit my shield but a much more damaging impact to his flesh as the acidic poison began to spew. I did not have time to cheer for this turn of events because I was instead wondering how many of those dam things those wands were able to fire. By this point I had rolled and crawled around to the driver's side of my car putting its Detroit steel body between me and more flying urchins and allowing me an additional second to breathe as gunman two screamed in high-pitched pain.

Okay, quick status check. I am trapped under an entropy spell cast by a Fomor wizard older than dirt. Two more Fomor are trying to make me the game target for the underwater equivalent of bar darts. The last two gun wielders are both down and wounded, but with their healing ability probably not out of the fight for more than a minute or two, which while it may seem long in combat, is really way too short to count on. My trunk three feet away has some useful gadgets but I can't get near it without putting myself in arms reach of one of the wounded ones. Last, though I am near the driver's side and could try to drive off, the car is a convertible so does not offer anything remotely resembling protection above the waist level.

Summation: I'm totally screwed at the moment.

The Fomor by the trunk had stopped wailing by this time, like Butter's said they seemed pretty good at cutting off blood flow so I suspect they could do the same for nerve endings and reduce pain as well. I first hoped he had died or passed out but he quickly proved me wrong. Instead of having the good sense of fair play to die he seemed to be clacking in that weird language of theirs, probably telling his friends where the cute wizard was hiding. From the sounds of two pairs of hard soled shoes running toward me I am fairly sure this is exactly what was going on.

"Okay Molly, now what do you do?" I asked myself and not getting any answers, not even from Margaret. So much for helpful insight.

The two wand holders came around the car at the same time, one though in the front and the other around the back which is more or less what I had expected from the echoes of their footfalls. I still had no magic and the second I took to try and pull magic in my shield bracelet into myself to use for something else it failed completely costing me another of the very few remaining charges in the bracelet. Damn they had me beat, and there was really nowhere left for me to run, not that I was in tip top shape for that anyway.

So I attacked.

I am no Karrin Murphy, but she had spent some time showing me some things with Aikido that I was hoping now would prove useful. The wounded one by the trunk was starting to rise to his feet again so with consideration of his new arrival that meant the front of the car offered my best odds and opportunity. As this Fodor came around I leapt up to my feet and then sprang up to jump towards the hood of my car.

The Fomor's wand was pointed down to where he had expected me to stay and had not tracked my movements; however he recognized an attempt to escape again and sent his other arm trying to catch me or cut me off before I escaped once more out of arm's reach again. He was not prepared for the idea that I was not actually planning to escape.

My shoes, primarily my left that took most of my weigh, came down on the edge where the driver's side fender went from horizontal to vertical in form and then my body's momentum bent that same knee inward like loading a spring. The Fodor's arm came sweeping in over the hood to cut me off but instead I leapt up and a bit back, turning my hips slightly in air the way Murphy had shown me to throw a roundhouse kick. I may not have had the perfect form that Karrin could have done, but I had bigger hips and also had a good thirty pounds more to work with behind my blow than she did.

The top of my foot struck the Fomor's unprotected jaw sending an alert up my leg to inform me I had just kicked the equivalent of solid stone and that it hurt! Of course it the blow hurt him even more as the force of my entire body focused through my foot to the creature's jaw creating in its wake the distinctive cracking sound of breaking bone and a split second of image in my eyes of his lower jaw moved thirty to forty-five degrees out of alignment with the rest of the creature's face. Yeah, Karrin should award me my orange belt for this result alone. I wonder if this Fomor would provide a reference letter?

He only went down to one knee, damn these things were tough, while I landed back on the tarmac but thankfully behind him. This luckily kept his partner from firing his wand in my direction as number two hesitated with no clear shot for his urchin.

I did not delay to give him additional time to take better aim, instead I launched a quick instinctual second front kick to the back of the kneeling Fomor's head in order to face plant him on the pavement and then turned and ran off again in a weaving pattern toward the remains of the dumpster that offered the only feasible protection. I figured sooner or later the wizard's entropy spell had to fail because otherwise my luck was going to run out.

It did!

The last of the pair of Fomor urchin shooters came after me and did so by means of a couple of frog-like leaps that closed the distance between us before I could easily react. I guess for a race that spent a good portion of its existence moving though deep water, air really offered little in the way of resistance which accounted for their unearthly speed. Accordingly, the best I could do was try to sidestep at the last moment which only took me far enough away to prevent being tackled head on. Instead the Fomor's outstretched arm still struck me right behind the knees and so sent me tumbling to the pavement to crash and burn one more time.

I spun around and lashed out with a blind kick again hoping to find a knee but only struck a glancing blow to the meaty part of his upper thigh and therefore causing him no obvious discomfort. He did take this opportunity to show how fast his reflexes truly were by allowing his hand to strike like a snake and clamp down over my ankle before I could retract my kick.

He yanked me up from the ground by my leg, can you say ouch, as his other hand drew forth one of those wicked, backward curving skinning knives that his kind seemed to favor. As I was dangling upside down and struggling as best I could, which he easily ignored, I realized there was not much I was capable of accomplishing in this position. I pictured looking like a giant fish about to be gutted, which is not far off from what was about to happen.

"Wait!" The wizard called out as the knife started to descend toward my stomach. Thankfully their reflexes with a knife were just as quick and responsive as those with a gun and the Fomor checked his attacked before I added any new scars or misplaced any vital organs.

"Deliver her to me." The wizard ordered again. I would have thought this meant 'carry her back here' but I guess the underwater postal service works off of catapults or some such thing because I found out 'deliver' meant the same to him as 'toss'. So once more I found myself cart wheeling through the air only to crash all legs and arms akimbo on the pavement right in front of the wizard who kept me under his magic denying spell.

Really tough and cool superheroes usually jump up at this point holding the knife they stole from the hand of their attacker and jamming it into the eye or throat of the evil mastermind. Unfortunately I was not much of a hero as I was torn, beaten, bloody, and had grown a real strong disrespect and dislike for pavement over the past four hours.

The best I could do was turn my head in his direction, noting in the process that the two wounded Fomor warriors by my car, were coming my way, the one with the urchin blasts to the back leaning on the one I had kicked in the jaw for support. The last one whose gun exploded looked much the worse for wear up close. I could not tell if he were dead or not, but that many shrapnel wounds had to be difficult to overcome.

The wizard reached down and yanked me to my feet by pulling me up by my hair. Damn that hurt but since my hair was somewhat long I used that opportunity, and the new pain that cleared my mind, to push my face up toward his and scream at the top of my lungs. I figured I had nothing to lose and if they were primarily sonar-based then perhaps all the noise would injure him, or at least shock him enough to drop the entropy spell.

All it did in actuality was annoy him enough to land a serious gut shot to my midsection which literally took the wind out of my sails and dropped me once more to the pavement, probably leaving more than a few strands of hair in his other fist based upon the burning sensation reported in from my scalp. I know there is a gaming myth out there that wizards of any race tend to be more feeble in strength than their warrior counterparts. Well in the case of the Fomor let me dissuade you from this false belief. The wizard's punch was as hard as any I had suffered from others of its kind.

"Stand her up and secure her." The wizard directed and before I could catch my breath or think of resisting further a rock solid hand, the very same that had grabbed my ankle a minute ago in fact, clamped onto the back of my neck and lifted me completely from the ground as I struggled feebly feeling the last of my strength beginning to ebb. What I would not give for one of the energy drink potions I had in the utility belt still in my car but tauntingly completely useless to me right now.

Before I could offer more resistance two other hands, from the two separate wounded Fomor locked onto each of my wrists and pulled my arms out and back, stretching my shoulders painfully as the one holding me lifted me high enough to take my feet even higher off the ground as well. I was glad for the sweatshirt because the current stretching would have probably popped every button on any blouse I owned leaving me in an even more exposed and vulnerable position.

"Let me guess, resistance is futile? Prepare to be assimilated?" I asked the wizard who was staring disdainfully at me. From his confusion I knew at once he was not a Star Trek fan. Probably explains why Harry was always using the Star Wars references with the magical beings.

"We will not join with you." The wizard said simply. "You have caused injuries that must be healed and for that we require food." He said looking at me with the same critical eye my mother had in the grocery store as she considered a pack of hamburger. I guess the old rallying cry that 'they can kill us but they cannot eat us' did not apply to the Fomor.

Both of those holding my arms out to the side now also pulled forth their own skinning knives to match the first one almost assuredly still out and pointed at my back. I had no real leverage to put much force behind it but I tried to kick my free floating legs backwards at the Fomor holding me by the neck, hoping to hit his knees or something but I missed and just got a violent shake for my troubles.

"You are pathetic." The wizard spoke with obvious disdain.

"Yeah I know." I said back. "One of yours down, two more wounded, and all without my magic and I am the pathetic one."

"You were merely unreasonably lucky." The wizard dismissed me.

"Yeah the way the Rag Lady has also been unreasonably lucky knocking all your plans askew."

"She and her allies' efforts have only had a trifling affect upon our plans." He said. "And now with the exposure and death of their spy they placed in our midst, not to mention the securing of one such of our own within your ranks, the Rag Lady's little war of defiance is about to come to a very nasty and bloody end."

Okay that was not good information on so many levels and made the need for me to escape this current situation all the greater. Of course meeting that particular need was still pretty much impossible.

"Ah so that would be the heavy-hitter you brought in from Asia?" I asked causing the wizard to pause and consider my words. I could sense his calculating mind at work, probably trying to determine if I knew more than I was saying and how much of their plans were in jeopardy.

"What exactly do you know of this heavy hitter?" He asked giving off a really confused vibe that I could not read.

"Why should I tell you anything?" I asked. "You are only going to kill me anyway so there is no reason not to take that information to my grave." I hoped I could convince him to deal.

"You will die." He confirmed rather coldly. "However, there are many slow and painful ways and others that are less so. You might think on that for a moment."

His eyes turned to the one holding my left arm and made some of that click clack noise of Fomor speak. The guard on this side, the one with the dislocated jaw, sheathed his dagger, which should have made me feel better but in truth did not. Instead he reached for a pouch on his side and withdrew what I recognized at once as a jellyfish stinger, unattached from its owner, but still kept rubbery and fresh by some odd sort of slime that covered the flesh. Without so much as a 'by your leave' he jammed the end of the stinger into the palm of my hand.

Son of a bitch that hurt! I am a city girl by nature and Lake Michigan is not well known for its jellyfish population so I had never encountered this particular pain before. Damn it hurt and I could not stop myself from screaming as the throbbing pain from the wound raced up my already screaming nerve endings to inform my brain that a new and unique discomfort had arrived.

To make matters worse the one holding my left arm lifted up the stinger and then popped it in his mouth to chew upon and then swallow it with a predatory smile. Great I was being tortured with the Fomor equivalent of an appetizer it seems. This of course made sense since they had already declared me to be the main course.

"So you were going to tell me what you know about this heavy hitter from Asia." The wizard said showing no signs of rushing for the information. In fact his emotions seemed to offer that he was enjoying this.

"The moment you tell them what they want to know they will kill you Molly." Margaret's voice cautioned me. "The longer you hold out the longer you will live." She explained through my pain.

"That is easy for you to say." I grunted in my pain-filled mind. "You are not the one out here suffering."

"I share your pain child just as I share your thoughts." She replied. "I really do. However, at the moment your choices are limited to either pain or oblivion so as one all too familiar with the latter I suggest pain."

"You know you sound just a little too much like Lea with comments like that." I spoke in my head.

"That is not surprising as I spent so much time as her apprentice just like you." That was a seriously disturbing thought as well.

He was waiting for my response and let his eyes glance over to the guy on my left again who took out another of his snack packs at this silent command. God I hate trying to be the superhero all the time. I also wish I had my magic for the appropriate mood music as I prepared my next act of absolutely foolish defiance. Harry would be so proud!

I looked back at the wizard's face. "Are you familiar with history?" I asked taking a deep breath as I prepared to do what I had to do.

"I lived what your kind refers to as history." He said with that same annoying tone of superiority that he had been tossing my way.

"Good." I said. "Because history shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men." I said adding a smile to my face as confusion crinkled his brow. Man I really wish I had my music spell. "Go Go Godzilla!" I said swinging my let forward to try and kick him, or catch him in a headlock with my legs or anything while praying to the gods of the Blue Oyster Cult than I would be successful.

Yeah, epic fail!

He swatted my legs aside without much effort and then nodded to the guy on the left to jab another jellyfish spine into my wrist this time and send me convulsing and screaming in pain once more. I swore off ever going to the ocean at that moment.

"Pathetic." He said shaking his head as my body convulsed and lost its ability to stand on its own.

After I got my breath back and lefty finished this second hors d' vour I looked back at the wizard. "So I take it not too many classic rock stations at the bottom of the ocean?" I tried to mock him further as pissing off your opponent sometimes works too. "Funny I'd have taken your kind for serious Beatles fans. You know. I'd like to be under the sea, in an octopus's garden… or maybe We all live in a yellow submarine? No? Nothing?"

The only response was yet another glance to my left and the now all too familiar electric pain of a jellyfish stinger jabbing into my lower arm this time where I had ripped my tracksuit. Cue the intense screaming and thrashing pain one more time.

"You are doing great child." Margaret's voice tried to comfort me through my haze of pain.

"Oh shut up!" Yeah the last thing I desired was a cheerleader at this moment.

By the time my pain lessened enough to focus once more I took a quick inventory and realized none of the three Fomor holding me had relaxed their grip in the slightest. In fact they may actually have even grown tighter in response to my thrashing around in pain. Likewise the spell to nullify my magic was still going strong as well. Say what you want about the Fomor but you could not deny their single-mindedness of purpose.

"Shall we continue?" The wizard asked with a cool sense of patience that told me lefty had more than enough rations left over to share.

"Do I get a vote?"

"Only for how much pain you are forced to endure before you tell me what I want to hear." The wizard replied.

"Well in that case no I will just take a pass and vote present." I said knowing I was literally drawing on the very last of my defiance. Margaret tried to strengthen my will but it was mostly drained away.

"So foolish..." The wizard said shaking his head before nodding again to the one holding my left arm. I closed my eyes and tried to brace for the pain of what was to come knowing it would probably break me all the same.

BOOM!

The sound made my eyes snap open just in time to catch the head of the Fomor on my left explode like a Gallagher watermelon. His grip released on my arm as his body began to crumple to the ground. My mind and senses registered the surprise in the other Fomor but I was singularly focused in reaching for the knife Lefty placed back in his sheath and getting my hand around it to allow his falling body to pull it free for me. I will say it was a close thing because the painful jellyfish wound on my palm made holding its slick handle nearly impossible. All the same I succeeded.

The attention of the other Fomor had been drawn away from me as a second BOOM erupted again. This time it was the one holding my right arm whose head suddenly converted to crab dip.

I was too busy to take much notice or look for my rescuer as I was taking this opportunity to swing the knife around and try and jam it into the throat of the wizard right in front of me. Unfortunately he sensed my movement and the associated threat at the last instant and leaned back from the blow, but unfortunately for him not quite far enough. Instead of stabbing him in the throat, the razor sharp blade sliced across his neck opening it up and folding the flesh back.

My swing was completely past him before the first sign of blood appeared but by the end of my swing the first drip was now a torrent that his grasping hands and internal shut off mechanisms could not stop. I felt his concentration on the magic spell he cast over me disappear in that first instant and then the comforting feel of magic in the air return to me once more like a cool breeze on a hot and sticky day.

"Molly get down!" A familiar voice ordered but the Fomor holding me off the ground had other ideas. I kicked backwards again, even higher this time, seeking not to connect with knees I could not see, but with the torso that was connected at the other end of the arm that was holding onto me. This worked better and my legs pushed him back enough to break the grip he had on my neck, though I did lose more than a little skin in the process. Of course once more gravity stepped in and dropped me to the pavement as I scrambled to ensure the knife was not between it and my flesh.

BOOM!

Another gunshot retort followed by the wet splattering sound of a head exploding. A second later the third Fomor's body tumbled to the ground right by my feet as well. I wanted to get up. I really did. But the number of times I had fallen to the pavement in the past five minutes had finally taken their toll and I merely groaned in pain and tried to gather some strength.

"Molly are you okay?" I recognized now that it was Crystal's voice that had told me to get out of the line of fire and now also was worried about my health. Considering her job was a security guard at the medical examiner's office it made sense that she was not only a good shot but that she would also eventually have seen what was going on in parking lot because of the perimeter surveillance system. In fact, I realized she probably should have gotten her a whole lot sooner!

"Yeah I'm alive at least thanks to your great shooting." Reminding myself that I said head shots were the stuff of Hollywood as I winced and rolled over onto my side to look up into her concerned eyes. "What took you so long?" I asked with a bit of a smile which was all I could manage to both offer her my thanks and let her know I would be okay.

"Well after you left with your pizzas I had a bit of hunger of my own." She smiled back making me groan. "You should consider yourself lucky that my margarine man was still tuckered out and that I agreed to give him a break or I would never have happened back up to the desk in time to see you playing hard to get with these fellows here." She said kicking the body of the last one she had put down.

"Well thank you then for your diligence as a public servant." I laughed and groaned all at once.

"Well I will just make sure my man pays me with a good time!" She said. "But it looks like first he will have to conserve that energy of his for bandaging you up a bit. You are looking a little bit worn girlfriend." She said with an overplayed hint of disappointment in her voice. I had to admit the thought of some pain killers and cool bandages sounded nice right about now. I hoped he even had whatever was required for the jellyfish stings.

But first things first. "Make sure they are all dead." I said knowing that Crystal would know I was talking about the Fomor.

"They look dead to me."

"Yeah but they heal really well." I replied. "Or at least that is what Mr. Butters told me. The shots to the head are pretty certain, so if you would take a similar precaution for the other two."

"Well if my buttery man said so then I am not going to argue." She said and two more gunshots soon followed. The fact that this did not even give her a moment of hesitation was a bit disturbing or her trust in me was more than I thought it was.

By this time I made it first to my knees and then wobbly to my feet, cradling my left arm that now hurt like the bejeezus. Crystal was looking from body to body with obvious concern on her face.

"I guess I need to call this in." She said obviously thinking of the paperwork and the complications it was about to cost her. Shooting incidents tend to be things not easily overlooked by the city officials as they had to be reported to the feds. Thankfully I knew just the man for handling this type of situation.

"Tell Butters to call Marcone's men to take care of the cleanup." I said noting that her eyes went a little wide at the mention of Gentleman John Marcone. Like I said he had a reputation and the fact that I had just informed her that dumpy little Butters not only knew the most notorious gangster in Chicago but also could call upon him for favors obviously peaked her interest more than a little.

"Okay, but first let's get you inside." She agreed.

I started stumbling toward the door with Crystal supporting me when I had a thought. "Crystal in the trunk of my car is a belt hanging with pouches and equipment. Can you bring that along?" I asked her knowing I was not going to make it to my car at anything more than a very slow walk. She nodded and had retrieved it before I had even made it halfway to the front doors that awaited me.

When she handed it to me I belted it on not wanting to be caught flatfooted again, wincing a bit at the pain that action caused, and then drew out one of the metal flask test tubes I kept my energy potions in. I popped off the wax seal and drank it down. Thankfully the magic went to work immediately and while it did not heal my wounds, it did provide me the energy to walk slightly more normal and upright.

"What was that?" Crystal asked noting how quickly my energy had been restored.

"A really powerful energy drink." I replied putting the empty away and then handing another one to her. "After Butters gets done bandaging me up and sends me on his way, pour this in his coffee and then hang on for the ride of your life." I said with a conspiratorial wink.

She took it from me with a bit of a confused look upon her face that changed into a completely wicked smile.

"Consider it a way of paying you back for saving my life." Stop the thought right there Molly. DO NOT visualize what happens once Butters drinks this and he and Crystal….

Ewwww!

Too late!