- Three -
Hanna is Not a Boy's Name/HiNaBN (c) Miss Tessa Stone --- Fanfiction Text (c) L.Q. Coverdale
(Content: Mentions of violence and language in the text as a whole; chapters may vary in amounts)
Hanna had darted away in time before the creature did any serious damage. It was the sea lion itself who was in the most trouble; after lunging at Hanna, claws outstretched in a sudden burst of energy, it had fallen upon the harpoon which impaled it. The wooden portion of the harpoon broke off, but the edge had driven deeper into the flesh, making the sea beast cry out in pain. Hanna himself had yelped, holding his arm with four gashes in it, but he did not make as much of a scene as the sea lion did. In order to not attract any attention, the youthful paranormal investigator had been forced to use a sleeping rune on the sea lion.
The trio had managed to contact Lamont Toucey - Worth's supplier of all needed goods, and one of the best paranormal contacts in the city. Lamont had managed to contact Worth ("What do you mean, 'fix a giant fish-cat thing up'?!! I ain't no f*&#in' veterinarian, you little dipwad!!"), and, even though he was a doctor for (mostly) human patients, he had managed to give some useful advice. They were to turn the beast on its side (which was done with a lot of help from runes and Dinkleburg), make sure it kept breathing, and that a lung or something else important hadn't been pierced. Oh, and Worth had threatened to kill Hanna twice over for nearly being eviscerated before hanging up.
Transportation was surprisingly easy. Lamont had managed to find a tank once owned by an aquarium, big enough to easily hold the sea lion - or lion poisson, as Lamont had said it was properly called - once it was filled up with water. (Which it was, thankfully - Hanna wasn't sure if such a rune existed that could fill up an aquarium tank.) With the lion poisson sleeping peacefully, the four had wrapped the creature in sheets to be discreet, and towed it out from beneath the dock.
Upon arriving at the clinic, it was natural that Worth's temper was flaring as he examined the lion poisson. Between swears, spouts of ranting and general verbal abuse towards Hanna, Dinkleburg and Veser, he managed to give a diagnosis: blood poisoning caused by an infected wound. The harpoon had not hit anything vital, thankfully, but the point was wedged well into the lion poisson's shoulder joint.
"Well, can you get it out?" asked Hanna after receiving this news. Worth sighed irritably.
"Pretty sure I can, but th' thing is, I'm not qualified for this s*/!. I fix pansypires and dips*/!s like yourself; Free Willy's mutant cousin is outta my league, boy."
Worth paused, and suddenly, he had a sadistic grin on his face - much like the one he donned whenever he was tormenting Conrad.
"Alt'ough ... it'd be interestin' to see what cuttin' t'is thing up would be like ... see 'how it ticks' an' everythin' - "
"HEY! You're supposed to be fixing it!" snapped Veser. Hanna glanced curiously at Veser as the sharp-toothed teen said this; he seemed quite attached to the thing, despite being half-intimidated by it and having just found it lying under a dock. "Don't get any bright ideas, ***hole!"
"Yeah, yeah ... " sneered Worth, turning back to his "patient". "Just keep yer mouth shut, little shark boy, and let the grown-ups do t' - "
The back-alley doctor never got to finish his sentence as Hanna's sleeping rune wore off. Still focusing on the agitated Veser as he was approaching the lion poisson, it was too late for him to react as the creature suddenly bit down. A loud yell and plenty of swear words filled the office, Hanna and Veser joining in with the foul language as the monster's jaw locked on to Worth's wrist.
When all was said and done, Hanna would later sheepishly admit that sleeping runes could have ... side effects. One of which was a sudden burst of energy that continued what the subject had last been doing. Dinkleburg promptly had to restrain Worth as the Australian tried to strangle poor Hanna - even though the man had several punctures almost through his entire right wolf joint.
Author's Note: The use of symbols for censoring - also known as "grawlixing" - is a nod towards the artistic censoring Ms. Stone used in the first chapter of HiNaBN.