Those that pull the strings...

Labyrintha de Silva Cemetery, Porto Avril

Charles O’Hare stood in the pouring rain as he investigated the ruptured earth and shards of splintered wood from the coffin inside. The body inside was gone, save for a few rotting sinews and tendons that the ants were already picking over. Dressed in a pink suit, one reinforced with a Kevlar weave, and his eyes covered with fuchsia-tinted lenses, O’Hare balled his fists, not bothering to look at the members of the Porto Avril Police Department heading up the path behind him. The person who had been buried inside had been a nightmare in life; in death, he could only imagine what he would be capable of.

"Easter, is this the grave of who I think it is?" One of the officers, an older man dressed in a black suit and trousers, his badge gleaming in the light of the cemetery’s floodlights.

“Actaeon, former enforcer of the Cult of Ephesus, the Turkish mafia that runs a good section of the organised crime in the city." O’Hare stated as the police officers began to work at securing the scene before turning away from the open grave. “He pushed himself to his limit, and in the end..."

“We have the reports.” The officer replied as he bowed his head slightly. “If we find anything, we’ll forward it to you.” He replied before he turned, only to see that Easter was nowhere to be seen. Taking a deep breath, the officer turned back to the open grave and the men who were working at bringing what was left of the coffin to the surface.

**

The Archives, Undisclosed Location somewhere in Porto Avril

The Archives were an underground library that had been constructed to hold secrets brought back from Europe in the mid-1940s. The contents had since been moved, and O’Hare had used his family’s dirty money to purchase the building and had then converted it into a nerve centre for his crusade against crime in Porto Avril. While he had once fought alone, these days, six years into the struggle, others had signed up to the fight. People like Sapphire Lin, a former undercover officer who had infiltrated his father’s organisation and who had helped him dismantle the illegal parts of the operation,.

“Scan for any signs of Actaeon; he’s dug himself out of his grave; I plan to put him back in it, or at the very least in a jail cell.” O’Hare growled as he passed the woman dressed in a blue silk shirt and jeans, her hair gelled into liberty spikes dyed indigo.

“Charles, this isn’t healthy.” Sapphire called as O’Hare stalked past her and the workstation she was sitting at. “Do not open that wound again, not for his sake.”

“I don’t have that option; people will die if I ignore him.” O’Hare snarled as he walked down a set of stairs to a line of cases that contained the trophies from some of his adversaries. Coming to a stop at a pair of gun axes in a case, O’Hare looked down to see his hand covered in blood and pain radiating from his chest; a ragged wound slashed across his torso. Groaning and blinking, O’Hare shook his head before getting to his feet, the rows of cases in the archives melting away to reveal a restaurant and bodies lying across the floor.

**

Bosphorus Restaurant, Lord Byron Avenue – Three Years Earlier

Easter got to his feet, removing a canister of bio-foam, and sprayed his wound, the foam filling the wound. The bomb that had detonated in The Bosphorus restaurant had been rocked by a massive explosion, one he had been caught on the edges of. Walking through the dead bodies, Easter came to a stop next to a young woman dressed in a green summer dress, her braided brown hair stained with blood from the cut to the back of her neck.

“Artemis.” Easter grumbled as he looked down at the remains of the woman’s arm, catching sight of the tattoo design. “Sapphire, Artemis is dead. I’m picking up a mixture of high-level Cult of Ephesus members among civilians and the staff that work here. The only person missing is Actaeon.” He stated as he headed towards the entrance of the restaurant.

“Do you think he was the bomber?” Sapphire asked as Easter emerged and walked over to the dark pink motorcycle parked in the mouth of the alleyway to the right of the restaurant.

“Even if he was to turn on his masters, this wouldn’t be the course he would take.” Easter stated as he mounted his motorcycle, gunned the engine, and headed onto the road, just as the first fire engines and police cars arrived on site. “He was here, though; he may be the only person who knows what happened here.”

“He wasn’t hard to track; he’s appeared on several CCTV cameras.” Sapphire announced before pausing and swearing as Easter drove across the junction at the end of the road. “He’s heading towards Amos Leichter Park and Santa Maria Middle School. Judging from the path he’s taking, it looks like he’s heading towards the later.”

“Actaeon is a locomotive; when he’s angry, he will smash through anything in his way to get to his objective. It’s a side effect of the genetic engineering Artemis used to enhance his body.” Easter stated as he changed gear and gunned the motorcycle. Santa Maria Middle School was not far, and the closer he got, the easier it became to track Actaeon’s rampage.

Stopping outside the school, Easter shuddered as he saw the mangled pair of wrought iron gates and the buckled reinforced metal doors into the school. As he stepped through the remains of the school gates, the screams started, and a torrent of students and staff came rushing out. Activating the springs in his shoes. Easter leapt up to the school’s first-floor window and kicked his way through the glass before moving through the rapidly emptying school as he hunted down Actaeon. It didn’t take him long to find the enforcer.

“What have you done?” Easter gasped as he entered the classroom, where Actaeon was crouched on a pile of bodies, most of them children. The buck skin leather was stained red with blood, splatters of gore on his antlered helmet; his gun axe embedded in the body of the teacher; and Actaeon was far more monstrous than normal.

“He killed the one I loved; I returned the favour.” Actaeon replied as he looked over his shoulder, blood and gore dripping from his lips. “This city will pay in blood for the death of Artemis.” He grumbled as he stood up, his massive frame eclipsing Easter as the bloody enforcer threw the body of the child he was eating to one side. “These children were just the appetiser; you, you Tavşan…you are my next course.” He roared as he lunged towards Easter, the vigilante leaping under the blow to where the gun axe was anchored, ripping it out of the body.

Snorting and roaring, Actaeon charged at Easter, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him into the wall of the classroom, the blow causing the room to rattle. Opening his mouth, Actaeon went to bite Easter in the face, only for his victim to bring up the gun axe and fire the weapon, the shot ripping through the enforcer’s skull. Howling in pain, Actaeon shook himself before continuing his attack, his foetid breath rolling over Easter’s face.

**

The Archives: The Present

“Sir.” An eastern European voice stated. "Sir, you are lost in your memories again.”

With a gasp, O’Hare looked up to see an older man with greying hair dressed in a suit, his body huge and well-muscled, even though he no longer engaged in active combat.

“Domovoi, I was reliving that night.” O’Hare sighed as he took one last look at the gun axe before turning back towards his former bodyguard and butler.

“With what seems to be occurring, I can imagine.” Domovoi sighed as he looked at the gun axes and shook his head slightly. “Ms. Lin has found something, and I have done a little investigating myself. It appears whoever took Actaeon’s body didn’t take his skull; the police found it half buried at the bottom of his grave. I can’t fathom why they would leave it behind.”

“I saw the grave; the coffin was smashed open from the inside.” O’Hare stated as the pair walked back to where Sapphire was scanning through CCTV footage of the city. “It was almost as if he crawled out under his own power, but his skull was left... that makes me rethink what happened.”

“Maybe, but Actaeon is back, and he’s killing again.” Sapphire announced as she brought up an image of the Snake Pass Viaduct, an area considered a haunt for Porto Avril’s homeless population. Watching the footage, the three figures saw two homeless men sitting under the bridge, only for a looming figure silhouetted in the darkness with an antlered head to grab them from behind. The two men screamed as the flesh on their bodies began to melt off the bones until they collapsed into a pile of bones.

“I don’t know; it clearly looks like Actaeon’s remains, but the fact that it appears to be mobile and able to skeletonize two people in..." O’Hare stopped as he looked at the bodies on the floor.

“…thirty-three seconds.” Sapphire announced as she rewound the footage to the best frame that had captured Actaeon’s silhouette.

“Shall I inform the police, sir?” Domovoi asked as O’Hare brought his hand up to his chin.

“Wait ten minutes and leave them an anonymous tip. By the time they arrive, I should have left unless...

**

Snake Pass Viaduct, Campagna Borough

"Unless this is a trap.” Sapphire stated as O’Hare pulled the motorcycle up to the viaduct and dismounted, walking up to where the two skeletal bodies lay. Most of the flesh and muscle had been stripped from the body; what was left was already being picked over by the ants.

“It isn't; whatever this thing is, it has moved on.” O’Hare stated as he removed a torch-like item and shone it across the bones. “I’m sending you a spectrograph of the bones; they have a smell to them, a smell akin to vinegar.”

“I’ll run it; do you have a theory?” Sapphire asked as O’Hare walked into the shadows where Actaeon had been standing and looked down at the skeletal footprints leading away from the attack site.

“Start comparison with formic acid, an extremely concentrated variant. Is there anyone in the city who is a myrmecologist?” O’Hare ordered as he took a scan with the technology in his glasses to measure the stride length of the prints. The distance between one print to the next in the series suggested that Actaeon was dragging his feet, almost as if walking were unnatural.

“We have one match: Doctor Vespa Koil; she’s just come back from half a year studying desert ants in Namibia. Apparently, there is word in the entomology circles that she may have found a new genera of ants out there.” Sapphire stated as O’Hare walked back to his motorcycle and sat on the saddle. “She currently has tenure at Avril Gante University. While it’s late, footage from the parking lot shows that her car is still in the university’s parking lot."She added as O’Hare drove away from the attack site and climbed the bank, up the viaduct, and out towards the edge of the city where the university was situated.

**

Avril Gante University Campus, Outskirts of Porto Avril

Entering the Kenyon Building on the university campus, O’Hare stopped as the smell of vinegar filled the corridors. Sapphire had confirmed that the smell was from concentrated formic acid on the journey over to the campus. She had also confirmed that Dr. Koil’s father had died during her work overseas and that he was buried in the same cemetery as Actaeon. Heading towards the biology department, O’Hare came to a stop as he caught sight of his quarry. Actaeon had seemed to have risen from the grave, his body hunched over and walking on all fours, his human skull replaced with the deer skull he had worn as a helmet.

“So, it is you.” O’Hare stated as Actaeon ignored him and continued his journey away from him. Approaching the skeletal being, O’Hare removed a bola with heavy weights from his belt and threw the projectile at Actaeon, the device striking the living skeleton in the thigh. Pausing, Actaeon tilted its head around to look at him with empty eye sockets before delivering a roar that sounded like a combination of drums and buzzing sand before turning to turn and charge him. As Actaeon closed in on him, O’Hare vaulted over the undead monster before spinning around and delivering a kick to the back of Actaeon’s shin, the blow doing nothing to stagger the monster.

Lashing out with his own feet, Actaeon sent O’Hare skidding down the hallway before turning around to face his attacker, rearing up onto his hind legs, the smell of formic acid wafting off of the living corpse. Advancing on O’Hare, Actaeon didn’t notice his opponent wrench a fire extinguisher off the wall and spay the contents until it was emptied, the foam reacting with the bones, causing bones to drop off the main body until there was nothing but a pile of bones.

“Interesting and revealing.” O’Hare murmured as he turned to the door Actaeon’s skeleton was heading towards. Entering the lab, he saw a woman dressed in a lab coat over her blue tank top and cargo pants, her tanned skin gleaming under the UV lights that illuminated an ant colony.

“You…you are that Easter person?!” The woman gasped as she backed away from the door and Easter. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to ask about your new discovery, Doctor.” O’Hare rumbled as he looked at the ant colony and the large queen ant in the centre of the colony, its abdomen pulsing. “I assume it has something to do with bones, that they produce high concentrations of formic acid, and that they work together to pull and push large items.”

"How did you know?" Doctor Koil gulped as she looked at the ant colony before back at Easter.

“You took part of the colony to your father’s grave in the hopes the ants would reanimate his body... so what... you could say goodbye and get some closure." O’Hare asked as a wailing moan sounded from the corridor. “The colony found something else, and now they are coming here to rescue their queen. They have killed at least two people on their way here; your negligence has released a monster.”

"I didn’t know... they would." Dr. Koil gulped as the sound of pounding on the door radiated around the room. “There is a hierarchy; the supermajors control the workers to ensure that prey is walked back to the nest for quick dissemination to the rest of the hive. Bodies, particularly those with flesh on, to keep individuals safe from the elements. Something as large as a human couldn’t be controlled; it would take numbers beyond what I brought back.”

“But somehow enough to escape to animate a skeleton so far away from your lab. Such behaviour is not in their nature.” O’Hare stated as the door was smashed open and Actaeon loomed over the pair of them, drips of formic acid dripped off the bones. Turning to face the skeleton, O’Hare grabbed a pair of fire-suppression capsules filled with dry powder. With a groaning wail, Actaeon charged, slamming O’Hare into the ant farm, the glass cracking, before throwing him to one side and turning to face Dr. Koil. Throwing one of the capsules at Actaeon, O’Hare watched as the bones it impacted with collapsed.

Wailing Actaeon grabbed Koil and slammed her face first into the cracked ant farm before turning on O’Hare, the rabbit-themed vigilante, wrenching a fire axe off the wall and slamming it down into the deer skull of the skeletal being with enough force to embed in the bone. Reaching up with its remaining hand, Actaeon grabbed the axe, ripping the skull off and swinging it at O’Hare, the wideness of the attack causing him to have to dart back into the corridor. Dropping the skull and axe, what was left of Actaeon’s body lumbered after him, still buzzing and wailing.

“This ends here.” O’Hare growled as he ran at Actaeon, slamming the remaining dry powder bomb into the rib cage of the skeleton, even as his skin felt like it was igniting as the ants that acted as the muscle to drive the bones sprayed acid that burned through parts of his costume. Seconds later, the skeleton collapsed, and the supermajors acting as a command link between the queen and the workers were either stunned or killed.

"Sapphire, call the police. Dr. Vespa Koil may not have meant any harm, but her negligence is the reason people have died.” O’Hare ordered as he walked into the room, Dr. Koil’s body and the queen of the ant gone, bloody footprints leading to a now open fire door out into the wilderness. “She is to be considered dangerous,” He added as he looked at the notepads next to a laptop. “Hopefully there is enough information to stop the hive before they become established.”

“Did Dr. Koil name the new species?” Sapphire asked as O’Hare opened the notebook to see field sketches of bones in the notepad, as well as size comparisons of the different castes of ants.

“Seriasyron anthrosteum.” O’Hare growled as he closed the notebook. “The ‘string puller of human bones’, she knew what would happen." He continued as he headed out the open fire door and into the university campus, this time on the hunt for a new monster, leaving the remains of an old one in his wake.

The Pink Bunny: Order of the Black Dragon

A longtime ago, before my mom died of cancer, she gave me a little pink stuffed bunny. No matter what happened, no matter how badly I was being bullied, or abused by my teachers, or beaten by my alcoholic father, that bunny always made me feel warm, safe, and protected. I swore that someday, I would be the pink bunny that my city needs. So for years, I trained myself, everyday, until I was ready to become The Pink Bunny, and be the vigilante my city needs.

I was there, in my van, parked in an alleyway, monitoring my security cameras. I had set up dozens of my own hidden cameras, all around the block, just so I’d know if there was any Dragons activity in my neighborhood that night. And around 2:00 AM, there was. A woman was out walking alone, when a ninja leapt off a rooftop, right in front of her.

I ran into action. There was too much traffic and too many red lights for me to drive there in time, I would have to cut through the alleys on foot and hope to make it on time.

When I got there, all the way at the end of the block, the ninja had already zip tied her hands together, and put a rag over her head. They were taking her alive, probably for…well, you’re smart, you can probably guess why a criminal organization would want to take a pretty young woman with them.

“STOP!” I shouted as I drew my pistol.

The ninja put his hands up. I then shouted “Take the bag off her head, and break the zip ties.”

He did as I ordered.

“Ma’am, you can go now. Go home, and lock your door.”

As she was running off, I was moments from firing at him, but he seemed to realize this, because next thing he did was draw a shuriken and throw it right at my head.

“Damn.” I said as I ducked underneath it, my forehead coming inches away from getting sliced open.

Then, it was a firefight; my bullets versus his shuriken. Problem was we were both too fast to hit each other, and we both ran out of ammo without even landing one hit.

Then, the fight went close quarters. He drew a pair of nunchucks, I drew two sets of brass knuckles. The ninja went on the offensive, distracting me with a low kick before getting me right in the side with a quick nunchuck strike.

He got cocky and tried to do so again, but this time to my head. I blocked it with my forearm (hurt like Hell, but was better than getting knocked out), and then got a quick jab that broke his nose. I then push kicked him into a wall, and followed up with a roundhouse kick to his temple. And keep in mind I had steel toe boots, so that must have hurt.

A normal person would have been out cold. But this ninja wasn’t quitting. He got back up and threw a flying drop kick, both feet; one landed in my chest, the other landed in my throat, shutting off my windpipe. I could not breathe.

The ninja exploited this with a series of rapid punches and knife hand strikes, each one feeling like I was getting hit with a cannonball. Once I got my breathe back, I began blocking his strikes, and once he slipped up and didn’t retract his hand in time, I grabbed him, and body slammed him to the ground. Then, I put him a chokehold until he stopped fighting back.

“Finally.” I said to myself. I had been trying for months to get an Order of the Dragon ninja alive, and now I finally did.

_______

I dragged him back to my apartment. As weird as it may seem, for a man dressed all in pink to be dragging a ninja back to his apartment, I knew the neighbors either wouldn’t care or would be too scared to call the cops. The police in our city are as scary for most people as the gangs. Once I’m done with the major crime lords of my city, the police department will be my next target.

I tied him to a chair, and said “You’re gonna answer all my questions, or this is going to get really bad.”

“If you’re going to kill me, just do it.” He said.

I then stabbed a needle into one of his nerves.

“Buddy, a longtime ago, I trained under a wise old sensei, one who taught me all the worst points of the body to delicately stab. I can hurt you in excruciating ways without killing you, and I will, unless you answer my question.”

“Where is the Order of the Dragon based out of?”

The ninja laughed at me. “You crazy? You could barely handle me. There are a dozen foot soldiers stationed there on any given night, not to mention Black Dragon himself.”

“Let me worry about that.” I said as I picked up another needle. “Only thing you gotta worry about is what I’ll do next, if I have to.”

“Alright. Go downtown, look for an abandoned hotel called ‘The Cherry Blossom.’ It’s our base of operations. But I’m telling you, it’s your funeral.”

“I’ll risk it.” I said as I put a silencer on my gun, and shot him in the forehead.

______

I then loaded up my van with all the weapons I could fit. For months, I had been raiding mob boss weapons stashes to get military grade hardware. For what I was about to do, I was going to need it.

I walked into the hotel, kicked the door open, and immediately ran into two guards waiting in the hallway. I shot both with my AK-47, before proceeding further.

Another squad of three came running down the steps to try to get to me. I tossed a hand grenade their way; it tore all three to shreds before they even saw me.

I then felt something hard hit the back of my shoulder. I turned around to see a shuriken sticking out; if not for the lightweight armor I wore under my jacket, it would have torn a hole in me.

I turned around and fired at the ninja who threw it, nailing him right in the forehead. I was now halfway through the guard ninjas.

I ran up another flight of stairs, when another ninja began firing at me with a handgun. The Order of the Black Dragon rarely uses modern firepower, but when they can when they have to. He got one shot in my chest; it hurt like Hell, but the bullet was too small to penetrate my armor.

I began firing at him, but ran out of ammo in my AK-47. I then pulled my pistols, a pair of 9MM Glocks, and began firing back at him. We were both behind cover, trapped in a stalemate.

I had to finish this asshole off quickly, because I could hear more footsteps coming our way. I had one last hand grenade, and I threw it his way as I prepared to deal with the other incoming ninjas. Once they were in my line of sight, I unloaded both my clips, taking out three of them before they even saw me.

“10.” I said to myself, careful to keep track of all the guards I was killing.

Only problem now was that I was out of bullets. I could have gone back to my van to get more, but that was time that Black Dragon could use to escape, and I couldn’t risk that. One of us was going to die that night, and if it was going to be me, at least I was going to die knowing I did all I could.

I moved up another floor, and found two ninjas staring at me. One had a pair of kama, one had a pair of sai. I drew my twin machetes, the last weapon I had left to draw, and got in my best fighting stance, ready for them to approach.

They tried to surround me. The one with sai attacked first, going for a stab. I blocked & parried his arm, before going for a slash that got him in the side of the head, killing him.

The last of them jump-roundhouse kicked me, his foot landing right in my ribcage. Hurt so bad I thought he had broken a rib at first. He then attempted to stab the center of my forehead; if I hadn’t raised my arm to block in time, it would have killed me.

I then push kicked him off of me. As he staggered back, I wound up, and threw my machete. It landed right in the center of his neck; he died choking on his own blood.

_____

As I was recovering from the fight, the man of the hour came to greet me.

After blasting my way through his personal army, I was finally face to face with the most feared man in the city, The Black Dragon. The man who personally assassinated any mob boss who dared cross him or his drug trafficking business.

“Hello, my former protege.” my former master said.

“You still recognize me?”

“Hard not to recognize my former best student.” He said.

When I was young, The Black Dragon found me training by myself at a local boxing gym. Took me under his wing, trained me to be a warrior. Taught me everything from how to throw a shuriken to how to shoot an M-16. Only thing he didn’t tell me until three years into our training was that he wanted me to be the enforcer for his heroin trafficking. The day I left him was the day I decided it truly was time to become The Pink Bunny.

“Really was a shame what happened to you; I really thought that if anyone had a chance to be my right hand man, the co-leader of my empire, it would be you. Oh well.”

He then drew his katana, and prepared to fight. I drew my dual machetes, and prepared for the same.

He came at me with a thrust. I parried it before coming at him with a slash. He ducked underneath, and then continued his momentum with a spinning heel kick that landed in the back of my head.

After knocking me back, he raised his sword and attempted to cleave my head right down the middle. I blocked it with a machete, and then struck him low. He sidestepped to avoid the worst of it, but I still grazed his leg.

“Damn.” He cursed in pain. Then he got angry and took things up a notch.

He attempted a slash, and when I blocked it, he spun around and got me right in the forearm. He then followed up with a lead leg sidekick that I would later find out broke two of my ribs.

As I was kneeling on the ground, struggling to even get back up, he came over and said “I’m truly sorry that you could not see the path I had made for you. Oh well.”

He then raised his sword, and attempted to bring it down right onto my head. But I rolled away just a moment before it could, and the sword shattered upon hitting the concrete floor.

“NO!” he said as he realized his katana was now broken.

I now had a real opportunity to win. I I threw a machete at him; he dodged it, but it was the momentary distraction I needed to clear the distance, get up close, and stab him right in the gut.

“Goodbye, master.” I said as his intestines hit the floor.

______

My job isn’t over. I still have a lot of work to do to keep my city safe. Now that the most powerful mob boss in the city has fallen, there will undoubtedly be a power struggle to replace him, including among his own men.

But I’ll be ready; The Pink Bunny will be here to protect the city, until I die.

Close Call

"Easter War Journal

I have once again put Dog Boy in the hospital...I don't enj...who am I kidding I love breaking that bastard into pieces! The fact he regenerates makes it so worthwhile! When I began this crusade to rid Sabbath Hill of crime I knew it would be task on par with Sisyphus because crime is such a broad concept. Do I break Polly from the local school neck because she takes Post-It notes from the stationary cupboard???

I have set an alert on my..." Dog Boy looked at Easter, the pink vigilante who hung above an open sewer like a pinata. "I knew you weren't right in the head, but this is evil! You think I'm the bad guy, this book would get you cancelled."

Easter struggled against the chains but they were locked in tight. His nemesis, Dog Boy aka Douglas Boyd Jr, had gotten the jump on him when he least expected it, the annual Easter Egg Hunt at St. Raybit's Episcopal Church that he attended.

"You've documented all your vigilante activity...you're insane! And you delight in hurting me...you're the actual psycho!" Dog Boy yelled as he hurled the journal.

"You're in a safe space," Easter said gently as he rocked back and forth. "The authorities are coming..."

"SHUT UP!" Dog Boy howled. "YOU ARE THE CRAZY ONE, NOT ME!"

"Think of snow, Douglas, calm white snow..."

"STOP TALKING!" Dog Boy ran across the sewer wall and leapt onto the swaying hero. "THIS ISN'T A SESSION!"

"Go to your serene spot," Easter said quietly. "Be cal..."

"SHUT UP!" Dog Boy smashed a fist into his mouth. Easter snuffled the blood and the broken tooth into the back of his throat, then spat them forcefully into the nostril of Dog Boy causing him to reel back in shock and disgust at the foreign object up his nose. Easter popped his shoulder and dropped out of the chains, landing in classic hero pose.

"Time for you to go back to the pound," Easter cracked his pink gloved knuckles and advanced. Dog Boy frothed at the mouth and charged forward.

--

Detective Simone Lago watched as Easter strode out of the sewer, child on one hip with an unconcious Dog Boy in tow in the other. The officers nearby applauded, Easter shook his head at the attention. "Just a helpful citizen is all."

"Dressed like a rabbit, and technically breaking the law," she took the stunned and obviously shocked child off Easter. "I'll need a statement."

"Of course, but first things first," Easter dropped Dog Boy onto the ground. "I need to go back and defuse a bomb Dog Boy left in there."

"What?" Lago grabbed her radio. "This is Lago I need..."

Easter vanished in a puff of pink smoke.

__

Easter online journal....Close call with Dog Boy...I bashed his head into the sewer pipe until his brain ran out his ear, hopefully that'll scrambled his memory about learning my secret identity. Have started loading my old paper diaries into ChatPTG to transcribe here...one good thing I've found about A.I.

I got aroused when his skull cracked...it was THE most amazing thing in my life so far. I look forward to him getting out of hospital in a few weeks.

Easter vs. The Albino

Sunset Falls- The Falls Bar & Grill:

Major Freedom and Cupid are almost to the door of the bar when it splinters from a couple of guys crashing through it, and landing back first on the sidewalk, unconscious. Cupid instantly has an arrow nocked and pointed at the entryway, and Major Freedom has his shield at the ready.

As they get into view of the inside, they see a man in pink from head to toe- suit, shoes, gloves, shades, and even pink bunny ears- holding up one of his hands to chest level as he rubs his wrist. There is blood on his glove. He doesn't speak for several seconds, then quietly says, "They slipped."

"Get down on the ground!" commmands Major Freedom.

"Major, stand down," says Cupid. "You haven't met Easter yet. He's on the team."

"The Holidays haven't been a team since Holiday Inc. decided to sponsor The Calendar Girls instead," Easter corrects him.

"You haven't been on the team since then," counters Cupid, "but the Holidays still operate. You chose to go out on your own."

Easter says nothing.

"What are you doing here?" asks Major Freedom.

"Same thing you are, I'd imagine," says the man in pink. "Looking for information on Eros' killer."

Cupid nods. "How did you get here ahead of us?"

Easter just stares, his shades hiding whatever his eyes may have told the archer.

"Right. You're always a hop ahead," Cupid says, answering his own question. He steps through the doorway, and Freedom follows.

Looking around, there are various splatters of goo all over- some yellow, some pink. Some are holding guys in place on tables, or against walls. The only other person still conscious is standing, trying to pull his foot from a pile that is stuck to the floor. "Peep paste?" asks Cupid. "How in the world do you carry that many peeps in that suit? I've never understood that."

"The suit's--" Easter stops suddenly and spins. His arm lances out, and a brightly colored Easter egg flies across the room, knocking out the man who had been trying to free his foot. When he falls, his handgun clatters to the floor.

Cupid just smiles. "I love those little bricks," he says of Easter's projectiles.

Easter reaches in his pocket, pulls out another egg, and tosses it to his former teammate. "The suit's made from the same material as Secret Santa's bag. There's room for a lot of things."

"Ha," says Cupid. "I need a quiver made of that stuff."

"That doesn't excuse all of this damage," says Major Freedom.

"Major," Cupid says, "it's part of what we do. Holiday picks up the damages. You know that."

Major Freedom glares at Cupid. "As you pointed out, he's gone his own w-ugh!" The Major goes down from a punch thrown by Easter.

Cupid looks at Easter who repockets a pair of brass knuckles that are just as pink as everything else. "He's kind of had that coming," he says with a shrug.

"I don't have time for this," growls Easter. Then he seems to fold in on himself, and he seems to wink out of existence.

"Slips further into the suit!" Cupid says with admiration. "That's how he does it! I've got to talk to Secret Santa about my quiver." Then, more seriously, he says, "I hope I can find The Sparrow before anyone else does. She's been in hiding for too long now."

The Major groans as he comes to.

Cupid smiles. "Ah! Good morning, sunshine! Come on then!"

The Bolthole- one of several bases of operations for Easter:

Easter unfolds from the extradimensional folds of his suit, and walks over to a table. "Computer," he says to the room, "status on the egg activated three minutes ago."

"The egg is currently located at the Sunset Falls Bar & Grill," the computer informs him.

"Designate that egg 'archer,' and alert me if it should get within one hundred meters of my belt tracker's location."

"Acknowledged," confirms the machine.

"You let him see you leave?" asks a voice from behind him.

Without looking up, Easter says, "Angora. Cupid was right- his quiver would be more useful to him if it has extradimensional capacity. Sometimes, Secret Santa is too secretive."

"God, I love it when you talk all tactical," she says as she steps up and rubs his shoulders.

"Not now, Angora. I don't have time. The Sparrow's not the only problem I'm tracking right now. I'm hearing rumors that .someone killed Dingo. The Reynard and Vixen are on a crime spree. Double Down is back again. The Inquisition has been looking for something all over the city, and..." he sighs with disgust. "And there have been several sightings of The Albino around the dog park. Pets are disappearing." Whispering, he laments, "I really hate having to go into the sewers."

"Well, then," says Angora. "You better take advantage of this first. Because after the sewers, it will be a week and several showers before you get to again."

Easter finally looks up. Glancing over his shoulder, he pulls his shades down for a better look at Angora. She isn't wearing anything. "I... I may have a little time," he says.

Angora wrinkles her nose and gives a tight smile. "Ven aqui, papi."

Two hours later, Sunset Dog Park:

"Found the sewer access point the Albino has been using to get in and out of the park," Easter says for the benefit of a bluetooth device next to his ear. Going in to find him."

"Be careful, mi amor," he hears in the receiver. "I'd hate for anything to happen to that cute little butt."

"Angora," Easter says in a low voice, looking around him. "I didn't know you were listening."

"Then who were you talking to, pendejo?" she demands.

"I was recording my progress," he tells her, "in case I need to review it later. I need radio silence, so I can listen for the Albino."

"Mm-hm," is Angora's only response, then nothing.

Putting a rebreather between his lips, the man in pink drops into the sewer, and taps his shades. The lenses change to night vision, and he starts forward. He travels quickly about two hundred meters down the tunnel before he hears a low, rumbling growl. He gets to a large intersection with more branches leading into it than he cares for.

He reaches into his jacket, and pulls out a squat gun with a large barrel. Reaching into his coat pocket with his other hand, he brings out a handful of yellow and pink peeps. Loading them into the Peep Shooter, he fires them at each of the tunnels. Each one hits its mark, sticking to a tunnel wall, and the impact activating the motion detection laster embedded within their soft bodies. Now I'll know if the Albino comes out of one of those tunnels, he thinks to himself.

Just then he hears a louder growl behind him from the tunnel he just came out of. Spinning towards the noise, he finds himself facing the hulking humanoid form of The Albino - a white-scaled, zombie gator man, with a purple leash dangling from his jaws.

The Albino growls, and charges Easter. Dropping the Peep Shooter, an egg falls from the hero's coat sleeve into his waiting hand, and he sweeps his arm out in a wide arc, sending the projectile flying into the man-gator's open mouth. On contact, the zombie's mouth fills with expanding foam. Once he's within arm's reach, Easter grabs the leash, and yanks, slamming the Albino into the water.

Before he can jump clear, the zombie grabs him, and drags him into the water as well. He rolls over several times, but has to let the hero go to focus on freeing his mouth. Easter scrambles to the surface, spits out the rebreather, takes a deep, gasping breath of air, and immediately gags on the foul taste of the sewer air. He stumbles to the narrow walkway at the edge of the water, and clambers out of the muck.

More eggs drop into his gloved hands, and he hurls them just as the Albino breaks the water. These eggs hit like concussion grenades, causing the zombie to stumble back into another wall. Easter pulls another Peep Shooter out of his jacket, and immediately fires several, trapping the gator in piles of peep paste.

Tapping the back of his shades, he says, "Angora? Alert the Sunset Falls Police Department to this location, and tell them to bring a cage. The Albino is captured, but stuck to the wall."

"Done. Anything else?" is her only response.

"Yes, stay clear of the detox foam shower. I'll be 'porting there directly. You may actually want to go to another Bolthole for the night. This reeks."

"I'm already at another Bolthole," she informs him. "Good night." With that, the connection goes silent.

"Computer. What's Angora's current location?"

"Angora's trackers have all been disabled," the computer informs him.

Easter sighs. "Great. She's angry," he says to himself. Looking at his suit, the pink barely registers under all the muck he's covered in. Frustrated, he hurls a couple of more peeps at the Albino for good measure, then teleports to the detox shower in his Bolthole.

***

Story and original characters copyright Chris Bishop, 2024.