To Cesar848: That is pretty much the dynamic I was going for with them! By the end of this story we'll see what happens with Anne.

To Lyger 0: Bri definitely needed the chance to take down a bad guy as just herself without the suit after "losing" to the Ripper.

To Anon: All will be revealed by the end of the story. And I mean, the "too good" characters are usually the ones who have the most trouble in Gothic horror…

To Butterfly: There are still a few chapters left in this story…

To yellow 14: Not so much!

To StarDaPanda225: The Ripper is a completely separate antagonist from Lynchpin. And keep reading. This story is 19 chapters and an epilogue.


The phone on Felix's nightstand rang, pulling his attention away from the English Literature essay he needed to turn in the next morning. It was still nothing more than a blank screen, the blinking cursor taunting him. He had spent the entire afternoon since his last class let out trying to write, but without success. Every time he wrote a handful of words, he deleted the whole thing and started over. More often than not, all he could do was stare at the page, thinking about the woman he had failed the night before, hearing her rattling final breath, imagining the accusatory look in her eyes. Or he saw the Ripper's face, swimming in front of him through the gloom, and envisioned what could have happened if he had only been quicker. The phone rang again, and Felix stared at it blankly.

Barkk stirred from her place curled up on his desk and looked up from the ball she was batting around, eyeing him in surprise. "Hound? Aren't you going to answer her?"

"Huh?" He blinked and refocused on the phone screen, frowning. "Good evening, Iron Maiden," he greeted her, picking it up. On the other end of the line, all he could hear was wheezing, gasping breaths. "What's wrong?" She didn't answer. "Iron Maiden?"

"He–he took her!"

Felix gasped, eyes widening in shock. "Who? Took whom?" Barkk shot up into the air, startled, staring at Felix with her mouth open in confusion.

Iron Maiden gulped down air, her breathing ragged. Finally she managed to speak. "I was by the library, and Anne called me, and we were talking, and then someone must've approached her, and the next thing I heard was him!" she shrieked.

Felix swallowed hard, meeting Barkk's worried eyes. "You mean…"

"The Ripper has her!"

Felix forced his voice to remain calm, to not betray any of the vast array of emotions that statement brought up. Iron Maiden and her flatmate were close – very close. This on top of her attack almost a week ago… And after Felix had arrived too late the night before… His mouth set in a firm line, his eyes hardening. Not again. Never again. "Where are you?"

"Campus library."

Felix was already out of his desk chair and running over to the closet, Barkk hovering next to his head. "I'll be there as soon as possible. Just a couple minutes."

He threw the closet open and placed his thumb on the reader of the metal box hanging from the closet's back wall just above the level of his head. A row of lights along the edges activated, and the box began to fold apart, stretching out to cover his width before the bottom dropped to reach the floor. The space within the ring began to swirl white, and he saw Iron Maiden's workshop through the portal, the lights turning on as the portal opened. He was through in an instant, already calling for his transformation before the workshop door had even opened. The portal closed and ring returned to its inactive state as soon as he was through, and he barrelled out the doorway and into the dusky gloom.

His feet splashing in the puddles left behind by the day's precipitation, the Hound tossed his leash to loop around a streetlight and pull himself off the ground. He launched himself into the air, soaring over the backyard of the closest house, landing on the house's slanted roof, and racing across to jump that street to the house on the opposite side. His feet slipped on the slick tiles, and he nearly face planted before grabbing the roof's peak and pulling himself up. At this moment, nothing mattered but speed. He had failed to stop the Ripper so many times already; he couldn't allow himself to fail again. Not when his friend needed him. Not when his friend's best friend was in danger. "Mother?" he called into his communicator urgently.

"What's happening, sweetie?" she responded promptly.

"Iron Maiden," he reported tersely, launching himself into the air across the next street. He threw himself forward, hurtling pell-mell across the building's roof.

His mother gasped. "What happened? Is she all right?"

"Her flatmate was taken–it was the Ripper." The Hound landed on all fours on the edge of the next house and scrambled up the slanting roof. His feet slipped on the slick shingles, but he swung himself over the peak and slid down the other side. The library loomed in the distance, just a block away. Reaching the edge of the roof he coiled his legs and sprang off into space. "Check the police scanner."

"Already on it." His mother was quiet, the only sound through the communicator the clicking of her keyboard. "Police are already en route. You will probably arrive before them."

"Still too late," he grumbled.

"You couldn't possibly have anticipated something like this, dear," she consoled him.

"Maybe not. But still…"

"What's important is to be there for her now."

He let out a breath as the library came into view. "Yes, Mother." Mere minutes after he'd received the call, the Hound landed atop the library archway and looked down to find Iron Maiden pacing agitatedly in front of the library door on Chancery Lane, wringing her hands. She reached the corner of the library, turned, and looked up at the Hound, staring back at her. He immediately jumped off the archway to land right in front of her, and she threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. "I–Iron Maiden?" he asked in surprise, hesitantly putting his hands on her back.

"He took Anne!" she gasped, holding him tightly, eyes squeezed shut, tears pouring down her face and onto the front of his miraculous suit. "I–I don't know–"

"Hey, shh…" he consoled her, rubbing her back carefully. "I'm here. I'll find her." He sighed heavily, a firm set to his jaw. "I'm sorry I let him go," he whispered. "I'm sorry–I'm sorry about what happened to you." He sighed heavily. "I'm–I'm sorry about a lot of things."

"I know." She squeezed him tighter. "I'm sorry for yelling," she mumbled into his collar. "I know you didn't mean for this to happen. I–I know it's not your fault–not really."

He let out a breath and frowned darkly. "If I had just stopped him then and there, none of this would be happening now."

"Yeah." She leaned back and looked him in the eye, her cheeks stained with tears. "And if I had actually caught him instead of missing that night, he would have been locked up where he couldn't hurt anyone."

"It's not your fault, mon Fer," he assured her, squeezing her shoulder gently. "After what he did to you, you did well just to survive."

She nodded, gulped audibly.

"And I promise you, I will make this right." His eyes took on a hard look. "I will find Anne. Do you know where she was when he attacked her?"

"That's the thing: she was right here!" Iron Maiden gestured toward the library door behind them. "She said she had just left here when she called, and we'd only been on the phone for a couple minutes when the Ripper approached her. Then… nothing. Maybe she didn't call right away, but she couldn't have gotten that far. Certainly no further than the Strand."

"The police will arrive momentarily," his mother reported over his communicator. "There haven't been any other suspicious activities since then." There was a pause. She sighed heavily, her voice cracking. "Tell her… tell her I'm here for her if she needs anything."

The Hound guided Iron Maiden to sit on the library steps, cautiously wrapping his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, shivering. "Where would he take her?" he wondered, frowning.

"Why would he take her?" she responded, clenching her trembling fists and smacking her thighs in agitation. "He's–he's never done anything like this before!"

The Hound shook his head in confusion. "It–it doesn't make sense."

A police car pulled up in front of the library. An officer stepped out and walked over to them, his eyes roaming up and down the street. "What seems to be the problem here?"

Iron Maiden's breath hitched. The Hound raised an eyebrow at the officer in annoyance and squeezed her shoulder. "The Ripper abducted a girl," he stated curtly. "What do you think the problem is?"

"We are out looking for her," the officer assured them quickly, "but knowing the Ripper–"

"Yes, yes, we're all well aware of the Ripper's modus operandi," the Hound interrupted him irritably. "You don't have to spell it out."

"Knowing the Ripper," the officer continued, giving him a hard look, before turning to Iron Maiden, a sympathetic look on his face. "you really do need to prepare yourself for the worst."

Iron Maiden flinched, her eyes clenched shut.

The Hound hugged her protectively. "Until you find anything, there is still hope," he told the officer, pursing his lips.

"There is always hope," the officer agreed, though without any force behind the words. "We will certainly look for her – there is no way we are letting him get away with something like this. But the Ripper doesn't leave many survivors." He paused. "I am sorry, ma'am. Is there anything I can do?"

Iron Maiden looked up at him with wide eyes, tears still running down her cheeks. She opened her mouth, but shut it and mutely shook her head.

"I'll get her home," the Hound assured him. "Then I'll be back to help you search."

"Very well, Hero." The officer tipped his hat and began to pace up and down in front of the library, studying the ground carefully. He knelt in front of the entrance steps, pulling a flashlight from its holster on his belt and passing it along the base of the stairs. Another police car pulled up behind the first one.

The Hound rose and held out a hand to Iron Maiden, who took it and allowed him to help her to her feet. He went to release her hand, but she clung to him tightly. If she needed him, he was here for her. He squeezed her hand gently while leading her down the street toward the Strand. "Would you like me to bring you back close to where you live?" he asked, stopping and turning to face her. "Once you're safe, I'll go out to search. I will find her," he promised.

She shook her head curtly. "No, bring me to the workshop," she told him, letting out a heavy breath. "It's time for me to get back to it – Anne needs me to."

He nodded, letting out a relieved sigh. "I'm glad to have my partner back." Wrapping one arm tightly around her waist, he tossed his leash to catch around a balcony railing on the opposite side of the street. "Hold on tight, mon Fer."

"Bri."

"Hmm?" He looked at her curiously.

"My name is 'Bridgette.'"


AN: Thanks to serendipitous timing, this chapter turned into Part One of a three-part tie-in crossover spread across the other ongoing one-shot anthologies. The correct reading order for "The Dark of Night" is:

"The Darkest Nights" chapter 14
"The Heroes of Paris: Patrol Logs" chapter 18
"The Life and Times of the Heroes of Europe" chapter 15
"The Darkest Nights" chapter 15ff