****Unknown location
Bronx awoke with an aching head, giving a low moan as he slowly realized Nudnik was rapidly licking his face urging him to wake up with frightened puppy yips. Raising his head with a start, Bronx barked in startled confusion to find himself and Nudnik in a strange place inside a cage, and his bark began a cacophony of more barks from excitable dogs in more cages.
However, what caught his attention were not the other caged dogs, but two humans rolling in a new cage with a gargbeast inside it very much like himself into the dog kennel.
"Are you sure about this, Mr. Glasses?" asked a burly man pushing the cage.
"Absolutely," said the brawny dusky skinned man, "I already have a lot of bets placed on these two and we're going to get our money's worth. I at first thought Tony had to be flippin' when he first put out that bounty for gargoyles after that turf war with Brode, but now we might be gettin' somewhere. It's just too bad the big boss doesn't see the importance of it."
As the men rolled in Anaheim's cage, the other caged dogs, an assortment of pit bulls, Rottweilers, Dobermans, and German shepherds, began to bark loudly at the new arrival, who just growled and barked back at them loudly. All the noises made Nudnik hunker down in fright behind Bronx as he gave a low whine.
"Are you sure we should leave him here?" asked the burly man, "They always get rowdy around new arrivals."
"Let them," Glasses shouted over the noise, "The more eager they get to kill each other, the better the show will be. Let's go, I have an important meeting."
Though Glasses was not looking forward to this particular meeting, he did not want to waste his energy shouting over the fighting dogs' noise.
"Doesn't it seem weird to you, Mr. Glasses, that those monsters look kind of alike?" the burly henchman asked.
"Unless they walked on two legs or four, they all look alike to me. Now let's get out of here."
As they left the kennel, the dogs continued to hostilely bark and snarl at each other and Anaheim, making the yellow-green beast roar and snarl back at them so ferociously the dogs soon quieted down. As a steady silence rolled over the kennel, Anaheim then turned his blood red gaze to the caged Bronx and Nudnik with pure hate, which the dark blue gargbeast returned with a cool tilt of his head.
Bronx recalled gargoyles who were like his clan, but not like his clan, they smelled funny and acted like hatchlings when they first met Bronx and kept calling him a 'good doggie.' Though he had not seen many gargbeasts like himself since they were destroyed long ago, this new beast was clearly like him, but not like him. Yet that mattered not, for he was still a fellow gargbeast who now found himself in a bad place like himself and the pup.
Somehow, Bronx will find a way to help both his fellow gargbeasts and the imprisoned dogs.
Not far outside the kennel, Glasses met with two more men, Baby Face Frankie and another man he did not know nor cared to know, because though Glasses and Frankie shared a similar rank within the syndicate, anyone working for Brando Dracon was to be treated with the utmost respect, though Glasses did not trust any of them.
"Hello, Frankie," Glasses said with unfriendly smugness, "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
Frankie just gave the younger man a frown as he said, "Mr. Dracon is having everyone in the business start stepping up, this turf war is taking its toll and he'll need to know he's got everyone's loyalty. Because if you know of anything about what's happening on the streets, like the spread of this Obscura crap, which we barely get our cut of, or of any traitors you know to come forward, Mr. Glasses. We can't afford to get soft."
"You know I'd never betray the syndicate," Glasses said with defensive insult, "But ever since Tony got thrown into the Grey Bar Hotel again, I haven't had much to report about. All I got going for me is this damn dog fighting ring we took over from the Vultures."
"Not Tony, Mr. Dracon," Frankie corrected with a razor edge, making Glasses give a glare, "And this crap heap of a business has barely turned a profit anyway. We're promised fighting champions, but all we've gotten are disappointments."
"Not to worry, Baby Face," Glasses said as he led Frankie to the kennel, "Just this night my boys captured a couple of champions that are sure to turn this business's luck around. Bets are already placed; all we need to do now is release 'em out into the ring."
Frankie's eyes went saucer wide at the sight of the caged gargbeasts, who both growled angrily at them.
"Where did you get those monsters?" he demanded.
Glasses' face twisted a bit as he said, "Just so we're clear, this happened before all the dirty fighting broke out. Some guy went to the Yakies with some crazy idea for a theme park about those flying lizards and had all this equipment for capturing them. But when that didn't work, they cut the guy off and had all this snappy stuff left over; cages, shackles, tranq guns, and other stuff just lyin' around and not knowin' what to do with it. So they put it all up for bid at a cheap price, and we were all too happy to take it all off of their hands."
Frankie raised a suspicious eyebrow as the door to the kennel closed behind them.
"See that those monsters live up to your expectations, Mr. Glasses," he said with a warning tone, "I'm leaving Mr. Zoom here with you to observe and deliver a good report."
With that, Baby Face Frankie took his leave, leaving Glasses with the stranger, Mr. Zoom, who just looked at him with indifference. Something about this guy did not sit right with Glasses, but he will have to worry about that later.
Signaling to one of his henchmen, Glasses instructed, "Get all the mongrels ready and start the fights, we have wages to win."
Cries and shouts of excitement reverberated and amplified echoes throughout the arena as two pit bulls ravaged each other in a brutal display of strength and savage bites, often creating a spray of blood that darkened their fur or added fresh droplets to the blood stained wooden walls to further add ugly maroon stains, or even stain the loose dirt floor.
For the dogs' mentality, it was a battle of dominance, the ancient wild instinct of protecting the territory and conceiving of others as only a threat. In the millennia long cycle and game of survival of the fittest, it was played in a display of superior strength and determination to overpower the opponent and expand rule of domain, and in turn ensure a strong bloodline.
Yet, for the spectators that surrounded the big arena, it was only violent entertainment that would satisfy their hunger for bloodshed for only a short time, and the only stakes of the outcome for them was the winning bet of a champion that promised to greatly pay off their gamble.
The two battling pit bulls again lunged at one another to chomp down and viciously maim to deliver a final kill. Though both already had their muzzles brightly stained with the redness of blood, neither was willing to show weakness yet and allow their opposing challenger to seize an opportunity for the final strike.
Yet as they tired from their fight, they continued to aggressively bite and nip at each other with vicious sounding snarls.
Finally, the most experienced champion of the fighting pit bulls seized an opportunity he had been waiting for, a mistake his opponent would make in over confidence. As the challenger went for a bite on the champion's head, the champion chomped on the challenger's exposed neck and suddenly began violently shaking the challenger like a ragdoll, making the wounded challenger give a pitiful whimpering cry of pain. The shaking continued even as the bell rang the end of the round and two handlers jumped into the ring to separate the dogs.
The winning dog finally release his grip on his defeated victim, who just gave a low sad whine as he lay weak and dying as small pools of blood poured as trickles from fresh wounds, testaments to a brutal life and mere symbols of deeper emotional scars.
One handler struggled to remove the still adrenaline pumped fighting dog with a long capturing pole, while the other removed the defeated challenger to be taken to a gruesome fate that awaited him.
Finally, Glasses jumped into the blood stained arena with a microphone in hand and enthusiastically spoke into it, "Wasn't that exciting! The reigning champion wins again! But, that's only the beginning, my friends. Tonight, we have a real treat for you. Two monster gargoyle dogs, who are gonna make their fighting début, right here only in this ring. This is a limited time event so don't miss out, start placing your bets!"
Glasses then jumped out of the ring with a smug look on his handsome face as murmurs of excitement and gambling bets reverberated around the arena's audience.
In cages just outside the ring which were in readied positions for release, the mood was very different. The occupants of the cages were restless, frightened, or angry at being confined and denied rightful freedom.
Within his eight by ten foot cage, Anaheim paced about like a neglected captured lion going mad with boredom within such a confining claustrophobic space. Once or twice, Anaheim had bitten at the cage's titanium reinforced steel bars to then get a non-lethal but extremely painful electrical shock. The yellow-green beast growled in frustration at this inconvenience, yet reserved himself from doing it again and instead continued to pace and every now and then glance suspiciously at the occupants of the other cage.
Across from Anaheim's cage, Bronx lay down and only patiently observed his clone as the olivine colored beast paced back and forth inside his cage. Bronx gave a moan of sympathy at seeing Anaheim get shocked, having known better with just a sniff with his nose and previous experience. Inside the cage with Bronx, Nudnik coward frightfully in a corner, while the older gargbeast licked him lovingly every now and then to reassure the pup.
Earlier, some humans had foolishly tried to remove the pup, but Bronx was quick to show them their mistake in judgment. Until he found a way to escape and get them both safely home, he will not let Nudnik out of his sight.
Having heard the brutal ruckus from within the arena, Bronx's instincts told him to be wary and keep the pup very close.
Not long after the end of the last fight, several more humans came and began moving both gargbeasts' cages to the doors of the arena, both gargbeasts growled warningly at their captors, Anaheim more hostilely than his dark blue counterpart.
Out among the spectators of the arena, the associate called Mr. Zoom walked around the audience seats observing what was unfolding. Although he had a look of quiet indifference upon his lightly toasted face, on the inside he was sickened by what he saw and wanted to vomit. Every now and then he fussed with his shirt as though something on his skin greatly bothered him. He never expected his assignment to take him to a place like this, but he knew he must do what's necessary.
Mr. Zoom then looked back out to the dog fighting arena and only raised a slight eyebrow in surprise and curiosity.
Bronx sniffed the air amid the arena as his cage's steel bars opened with a loud metallic creak, growling his defiance and contempt at the smell of blood, death, and savagery in the fighting ring's air.
On the opposite side of him, the cage doors opened for Anaheim and he just gave a vicious roar which made the excited crowd of humans get into a louder cheering frenzy.
Both gargbeasts looked around the cheering and heckling crowd with contempt, but Anaheim chose to hone his frustrated rage at the other beast that dared to look like him. He looked at Bronx with a hateful blood red glare and snarled in enmity at Bronx, who returned a low warning growl at Anaheim.
With a raging roar, Anaheim charged at Bronx with amazing speed uninhibited by his bulky size to then hit the dark blue beast like a miniature freight train, creating the sound of living boulders crashing into each other with a thunderous echo resounding throughout the arena.
Though Bronx was surprised and disoriented for but a moment, he recovered quickly enough to turn on Anaheim and bite down with razor sharp fangs into his behind and make the clone beast howl with surprised pain.
It was enough to get Anaheim to release Bronx, but the olivine beast was undeterred from attacking again as he made to maul Bronx's face, but the dark blue beast was able to swipe at the clone with powerful claws and leave three deep gashes in the left side of Anaheim's face making him groan with pain but then growl deep from his throat in hatred.
Anaheim charged for another attack on Bronx, who just dodged to the side to cause Anaheim to skid across the bloodied dirt floor of the arena for a second, but he gave another battle roar as he leaped high to land atop of Bronx with a loud bodily thump.
"This is the best fight I've ever seen," shouted someone from the audience.
"I don't care which one wins, they're sure to rake in the dough," another shouted with enthusiasm.
"Go for the kill, go for the kill!" heckled another man as he excitedly watched the gargbeasts fight, which started a chant in his section with a contagious mob mentality.
Mr. Zoom looked about the heckling crowd with a hidden disgust, trying with an iron will to keep from doing something stupid. But as his stomach twisted about inside him like he was digesting a cement mixer that gave him indigestion, he was unsure of how much more he could take and only knew he needed to wait for the right moment to send out the signal.
Within the ring, Bronx was able to kick Anaheim off of himself and gave another warning swipe with his claws at the yellow-green beast who just suddenly bit at it with the force of a bear trap to make Bronx howl in surprised pain as he momentarily limped away.
Anaheim's blood red gaze suddenly fell upon Bronx's cage as he heard a high pitched yipping from within. Little Nudnik yapped in challenge at Anaheim as his eyes glowed white like tiny headlights, and he bounced about at the cage's bar door as though trying to escape, yet received a strong but less lethal shock from the electrified bars.
Anaheim suddenly charged at the trapped Nudnik, making the growing hatchling whine with fear and hunker down in a far corner of the cage.
Just as Anaheim was upon the cage, Bronx threw his whole body in front of Anaheim, feeling the pain of a powerful bodily blow and the burning sting of possible broken ribs, but the experienced gargbeast refused to fall.
Fighting through his pain, Bronx head butted Anaheim in the side to make him stumble and plop to his side as he again skidded a short way across the dirt floor away from the caged Nudnik. Bronx then leaped atop Anaheim to pin him down in submission with powerful front legs, and instead of mauling at his neck for the kill, roared in righteous rage at his clone to surrender.
For a long moment, Anaheim could only stare up in frozen confusion at his counterpart. He was clearly the superior fighter and has won, yet why he will not go for the kill is an alien mystery to Anaheim. As Bronx gave a warning growl at the defeated Anaheim, he gave a tone he no longer wanted to fight, making Anaheim tilt his head questioningly.
"What's goin' on?" someone shouted from the crowd, "C'mon, you stupid damn monsters, fight! I'm not about to lose my money!"
"C'mon, fight! Kill each other!" another heckler shouted.
More angered shouts and boos resounded from the crowd of criminal gamblers at the inactive gargbeasts and the ceasing of their epic brawl in great dissatisfaction.
"What the hell's goin' on out there?" demanded Glasses as he reentered into the crowd "Get those beasts fighting again, right now!"
"Mr. Glasses, sir," puffed an out of breath burly henchman as he came running up to his dusky skinned bespectacled boss in urgency, "We got big problems, sir, I just overheard someone say they thought they saw cops headed this way along with SPCA vans. People demanding money back is gonna be the least of our problems."
"Well," Glasses said with narrowed dark eyes, "We can't have that now, can we? Have somebody stall them while I take care of things here."
As the burly henchman took his leave quickly, Glasses opened his cell phone.
Within the dog fighting ring, Bronx kept a firm hold on the downed Anaheim as he gave a pleading growl which Anaheim returned with an angered snarl. Bronx then looked around and growled angrily at the upset heckling crowd of humans. He always intensely disliked these kinds of humans; they always smelled of threatening hostility and cowardice, a smell that was insulting to his nostrils.
They clearly found the fight amusing for reasons he did not want to fathom if it meant nothing about protecting his clan or his home, and he will not go against his nature.
With just a look, somehow an understanding passed between the gargbeasts of what to do next: escape.
Bronx finally released Anaheim and he stood firmly beside the dark blue beast. They growled hostilely at the crowd of humans with alabaster white and blood red glowing eyes, the shouting and heckling soon ceasing as an aura of fear began to overshadow the crowd.
"Restrain those monsters!" Glasses shouted into his phone.
Several handlers wielding dog catching poles leaped into the dog ring, all warily eyeing the gargbeasts as they approached with apprehensive caution. Before any of them had a chance to react, Anaheim roared fiercely as he leaped at the closest handler and began brutally mauling at his face as the handler screamed in fear and pain, which only drove the aggressive Anaheim on even more.
As the other handlers tried to subdue Anaheim and pull him off of their comrade, Bronx saw his opportunity as he ran to his cage with the still trapped Nudnik inside. The pup whimpered with fearful eagerness as Bronx sniffed at the bars to give a grunt.
As little Nuddie squatted down far from the barred door on the other side of the cage, Bronx chomped down hard to receive a painful electric shock. Though it felt worse than when he and others were trapped by Macbeth in lightening cages, like millions of tiny hornets with magic zapping stingers trying to overload his nervous system, Bronx will not allow that to stop him no matter how painful it got.
He chomped down on the bars harder this time, making the electrical current increase its voltage, but Bronx refused to release his grip. Fighting through his excruciating pain as sparks danced and crackled about him and even nearly damaging his eyes, he forced himself to push through the bars as a pregnant eternity later they finally began to give way and bend out of proportion, thus proving they were barely a match for a determined gargbeast's strength.
Bronx gave a bark to Nudnik as the bars finally bent wide enough for the garg pup to squeeze through, but the spiny headed brown pup refused to move from being frozen with fear. At Bronx's next more forceful bark, Nudnik finally scampered up and squeezed through the opening as quickly as he could, yipping loudly at his own painful shocks.
Having finally made it through, Bronx collapsed in an exhausted heap, giving a low groan as he thought about just laying there for the rest of his life.
Seeing his elder unmoving and weakened, Nudnik yapped loudly at Bronx in urgency as he bounced back and forth, even pulling on his ear to get Bronx moving again.
Behind the Manhattan Clan gargbeasts, havoc ensued and began to increase by the moment as more foolish humans began to jump into the fighting ring and try to further subdue Anaheim. Already he had fatally wounded several handlers and one might already be dead, yet his attacks did not end there.
Although many gamblers wrapped jackets or other assorted cloth around their arms, it was not enough protection against a powerful gargbeast jaw as fangs ripped through the material and he shook their arms so hard bones broke, or even shoulders became dislocated bad enough for emergency surgery.
Behind Anaheim, Nudnik pulled on Bronx's ear harder to get him moving again, but the dark blue gargbeast only stirred a bit as he struggled to regain his footing.
The crowd of humans increased though Anaheim continued to aggressively attack any of them that tried to stop him, even if just to hold them at bay to help his fellow gargbeasts.
Finally, Nudnik yapped louder at Bronx to get up, the elder Manhattan Clan gargbeast pushed himself up to stand by sheer force of will. Growling at the crowd of humans, he ran towards the nearest wall, and as he had been told several times before, he hit it with all his waning strength to break open a huge hole in the wall big enough to run through. Nudnik dashed through as Bronx barked back at Anaheim, who then released his latest victim to follow behind his fellow gargbeasts.
The larger crowd of humans opened a path as the three gargbeasts had suddenly broken free from the fighting ring, allowing them an easy path to freedom, yet instinct told Bronx to be wary of a seemingly easy escape.
As they ran down a corridor, Bronx sniffed a way out as several humans stepped out from side halls or came running towards the gargbeasts, all bearing rifles or tazer poles. Bronx leaped at the nearest gun toting thug and chomped down hard to break the rifle barrel in half, doing the same to other gun wielding thugs while Anaheim attacked with such a fury to leave behind more bloodied victims.
Bronx then suddenly pounced upon a startled human without a weapon, bearing him down with beastly strength and growled threateningly at Mr. Zoom. Bronx then cocked his head as he got a whiff of the human, gave a grunt of confusion as he stared at Mr. Zoom, then his short stubby tail wagged as he gave Mr. Zoom a couple of friendly licks on his face to then walk off of him and danced about as though beckoning Mr. Zoom to follow.
Looking the way Bronx wanted to go, Mr. Zoom only gave a confused then understanding look as he simply said to Bronx,
"I know, you just get out of here."
As the blue creature was about to leave with the smaller brown one, the greenish-yellow one snarled at him as it readied to attack, yet just as suddenly the blue one jumped in front of the yellow-green one to stop it. They exchanged communication of grunts and growls for several long moments, then the creatures were finally again on their merry way while Mr. Zoom made his way back to the chaotic fighting ring.
The gargbeasts dashed through the hallway a short distance without running into any more obstacles, certain they were to make it out. Yet, as Bronx continued in one direction, Anaheim instead turned down a side hall he sniffed as a faster way out. Bronx and Nudnik stopped in their tracks, confused at Anaheim's change in direction.
Anaheim finally stopped after a few more steps to look back at the other gargbeasts, Bronx grunted insistently of heading his way. But Anaheim just gave a snarl of disinterest and resumed running the other way. Bronx stared after his clone for a moment, then once again ran for the kennel where he was headed for with Nudnik close behind.
If Bronx's instincts were right, those like his leader's mate's extended clan should be nearby, and they can help the poor trapped dogs. Occasionally, Bronx had played with the humans tamed beasts in the olden days of the clan, but never were they treated like this, and Bronx owed it to their kin.
Finally arriving at the kennel with the trapped dogs, Bronx looked around at the cages as they began a barking ruckus again. He only began howling as though sending out a signal, Nudnik howled loudly along with him and then was followed by the dogs.
Back out in the fighting arena, Mr. Zoom found a scene of confusing chaos steadily being settled by a segment of order. Through all the damage and wounded, a squad of police officers, swat officers, and a few uniformed officers of the ASPCA slapped cuffs behind several people who tried to escape, or others tried to put up a futile fight. Some officers stood over wounded men and put in a call for ambulances and emergency assistance as they stood guard over them.
As Mr. Zoom assessed the situation, he suddenly found himself forced against a wall by strong burly arms as his own arms were pulled behind his back and the cold metal grip of handcuffs clicked tightly around his wrists.
"You're under arrest, scumbag," growled a gruff voice as the plain clothed officer forced Mr. Zoom around to face Detective Kowalski, "You might know your rights, but I don't give a crap." Kowalski grabbed Mr. Zoom's jacket collar growling, "I want information, and I'll get it however I have to."
"Officer, wait, it's not what you think," Mr. Zoom tried to reason.
"Like hell it isn't."
"Inside the left side of my jacket is a hidden pocket, please take a look."
Searching Mr. Zoom's jacket, Kowalski surprisingly pulled out a shining police badge.
"Lieutenant Rayce Carlson," Kowalski read.
"Of the 31st Precinct," he whispered, "I've been undercover in the Dracon mob for months gathering evidence about the gang war and how to stop it. I can't risk having my cover blown."
"I'll see what I can do, son," Kowalski whispered as he returned Carlson's badge, "Play along."
Making the undercover Carlson walk roughly in front of him, Kowalski growled, "You have the right to remain silent, so keep your pie hole shut unless you tell me now what you know about gargoyles being here."
"I know nothing, I tell ya, you damn copper, nothing," 'Mr. Zoom' growled back.
"Then I'll have to bring you in for questioning."