The bakery known as Apple π was a tall, narrow two-story on a crowded street in Greenwich. The neighbourhood comprised of trendy cafes, second hand record sellers, boutiques and businesses that serviced a loyal niche of customers. Apple π 's customers watched the world through large windows that had been replaced many times. On the back alley was an entrance to the cellar and a narrow private car park with enough room for four small cars or one semi truck and one Lamborghini Jalpa.
"Apple π is vegan now! Vegan! Really?" Kate was having a lot of trouble getting her head around the concept. They had arrived to find Daedalus was already out on some errand, so naturally Zach had decided he was hungry and ordered a slice of quiche, eat in. Kate ordered a coffee.
"It's part of the program," Zach explained between mouthfuls. "Check that flier. Something about 'a hungry beast is an angry beast'. If you starve the beast it will be all the more vicious in battle."
Kate examined the flier critically. "Really? A Gurahl came up with this?" She frowned and folded it back in to her pocket. "All vegan, huh? You reckon those are eggs in that quiche?"
Zach paused mid-chew, looked at his snack, swallowed uncomfortably and slowly pushed his plate forward.
"Heh heh heh." Kate grinned as she sipped her coffee.
"Is that you, Merlin?" Theodorus called. A gentle melody swimming just below the awareness of the general public suddenly paused.
"Theodorus," came the reply. "It has been a long time." The speaker had a kindly voice but no face. Theodorus had encountered Merlin at various locations in the city. Merlin seemed confined underground somehow. Theodorus knew when he was around because Merlin spent his time singing. Merlin's songs had a gentle longing to them which Theodorus would have been content to listen to if Merlin had not so often chosen conversation instead. "What brings your maiden down to these streets today, if you don't mind me asking?"
"She fears a friend of hers has been taken advantage of, and she is investigating in hope of redeeming him."
"Ah, a noble endeavour no doubt. What is the nature of the peril?"
"That is a lot of what she is trying to discover. At present there is confusion as to the nature and motive of the perpetrator."
For each who harbours a weakness, no matter how small, there is a predator ready to exploit and benefit," Merlin sighed. "One can only hope that there is in turn a saviour of some kind. They are, in my experience, few and far between."
"We are out there," Theodorus replied. "Sometimes it can be frustrating when it's your own side that need rescuing so frequently..." His line of thought was interrupted by a new, much younger voice.
"Theeeeeeeodorus! Hey! How're you doing, man?"
Oh great, Theodors sighed inwardly. Merlin's sudden silence had an amused echo to it. "Hello, Sport."
"Yeah! I've just been out driving! It was awesome! We just got back," Sport announced, pointing out the obvious. Sport was a midnight-black, immaculately-restored Lamborghini Jalpa. Daedalus parked the car next to Theodorus before marching inside the pie shop. The truck watched him go. If the vehicle could have grimaced, he would have. He now understood what Kate found so funny. Sport was still talking.
"...and I waited for him, and he came back, and then we drove home. And I was just like-" the Jalpa gave a rev to end the sentence.
"You can rev? Whenever you feel like it?" Theodorus asked, surprised.
"Uh-huh," the Jalpa replied proudly. It revved again, twice for effect. "Mostly I use it to scare off birds, squirrels, you know. Back off!" - revrevrev- "Ha ha ha!"
"Huh. There's more Wyld in you than I thought."
"Oooooh yeah!" Sport crowed. For all its cocky Lamborghini attitude, Theodorus found Daedalus's car forgivabley juvenile and remained fond of it. It's hard to dislike a kid that looks up to you.
"Have you been out driving much lately?" he humoured the car.
"Yeah! Er... no.. well, lately, yeah," Sport clarified. "Usually Daedalus flies. But lately we've been driving lots!"
Theodorus wasn't surprised. He wondered if Daedalus could fly under the effects of Beast Tank. It didn't look like it. "That's great. Where have you been?"
The Jalpa described at length its various jaunts around New York, how fast it had travelled, things it had encountered, things it had out-raced, cargo and passengers it had carried. Theodorus listened with parental patience while the car enthusiastically told of its journeys. When the Jalpa abruptly stopped mid-sentence, he knew Kate had just walked in to view.
She was talking to Zach about something that had transpired inside the π shop. "Whatever. You made that look a lot easier than I thought it was going to be," she said as Zach climbed in to the passenger side. As she walked around to the driver's side she gave the Jalpa a loving look and a gentle brush with her finger tips. Theodorus could practically feel the Lamborghini tremble beneath her touch. "So are we going back to Karnaj mansion now?" She resumed talking to Zach as she closed her door and started the truck. The Jalpa gave a little sigh.
"Well, I'll see you Theodorus! Nice talking to you today!" It called as the truck pulled out on to the street.
"Happy travels, Sport," Theodorus called back.
"Bye, Kate," The Lamborghini whispered wistfully. It spent a few moments happily remembering the time she gave it, and gave another happy sigh. I got to see Theodorus today, it reflected. Awesome.
Somewhere, out in the street, a soft, gentle song had resumed. The Jalpa was aware of it but paid it no attention. The four year old child following his mother down the street heard it. He thought it sounded beautiful. The sound seemed to be coming from a storm water drain. He tottered towards the gutter. His mother noticed almost immediately, scolding him gently and grabbing his hand to shepherd him away.
In the sewer, Merlin watched with only mild disappointment. He'd catch one soon. He always did.
Having administered Mr None and Zach's ad-hoc Gurahl-detecting talen to the Corax, the Mokole had determined that whatever the scammer was, he wasn't a werebear. Speaking to Daedalus before the testing fiasco, they had discovered that the program facilitator was in fact staying at Karnaj mansion and could possibly be found and confronted there. "So...no Dissolver taint?" Kate asked.
"It's possible to mask," Zach conceded.
Kate kept her eyes on the road as Theodorus thundered towards the grounds of the mansion. "Whatever. Max, Daedalus, Mr None-" Zach, she thought to herself- "this thing is clearly targeting the weak. We're going to have no trouble tackling this one."