Dave snapped shut his suitcase before running over his mental list of things-to-do for what seemed like the thousandth time.

Everything was in order. Dave was just stalling.

This apartment had become important to him. It had been both his home and refuge in which he hid from the present and brooded over the past.

H had been sure to stuff the spell book deeply beneath the clothes he had packed. With some luck, the personnel at the airport would be happy with just letting Dave’s luggage go through the x-ray machine and get sniffed by a trained dog.

His bedroom shelves were all empty. Just about everything that wasn’t coming with him to New York had been sold and moved out long ago.

Dave reflected with remorse at the loss of his collection of books, but he cast such indulgences aside as he reminded himself that they were just things. Items picked up throughout life to help pass the time. Compared to some of the other things he had lost before, most of the stuff he sold now seemed pretty useless.

A knock came at the door, breaking his solemn reverie.

Dave checked his watch. Rob was actually on time for a change. It was probably the seriousness of the situation that made him so punctual.

With a sigh, Dave took his suitcase in hand and left the bedroom for the last time. He came through the living room to set down the suitcase next to another one he had packed before answering the door.

Rob stood there in the hall with his arms crossed.

"You ready?" He asked.

"Yeah. I was just saying good-bye to the place."

"Come on. We’ll toss your stuff in my trunk."

"You still have your car?" This surprised Dave somewhat. He would have thought Rob would have gotten rid of his old junker, leaving them to take a cab to the airport.

"The appraisal service said I could just leave the keys with the service desk at the airport. They ‘ll pick the car up there."

"You’re trying to hold onto that thing as long as you can." Dave grinned.

"I like my car, that’s all. It’s not like I named the damn thing."

The two men left the apartment building and headed off in Rob’s aging blue sedan. Throughout the drive, Rob constantly played with the car’s radio in hopes of finding something good on.

Fifteen minutes into the drive, Dave was watching the scenery go by while Rob still punched at the buttons on the radio.

"Do you think we should use different names?" Dave asked. The constant changing of channels by Rob was getting annoying, and Dave preferred to have an actual conversation to focus on.

Rob grunted as he hit the last button on the old sound system. A heavy metal tune came on which seemed to satisfy him.

"I guess it would make sense." Rob admitted. "The Enforcers would probably find us pretty fast if they heard me calling you Dave."

"Maybe we should start out with a group name. Turoth’s group called themselves the Spirits."

"Fine." Rob agreed. "But let’s keep away from the doom and gloom names. The Shadowed Ones isn’t the category I wanna’ put myself in."

"Something sounding a bit more noble?"

"Whatever. Just come up with somethin’ that sounds tough enough to be respectable."

"Tough, huh?" Dave looked out to the passing streets in thought. "You want something like stone or iron?"

"Stone’s cool. God damn this static!" Rob went back to fiddling with the radio.

"Stone something." Dave let out a yawn. He began to wonder why their flight had to leave so late at night. It was already getting close to midnight. "It needs a bit more symbolism. Like a bird on a crest."

"Let’s keep the birds predatory." Rob muttered as he pulled the car into a left turn at the next intersection. "Stone Cardinals just isn’t my idea of intimidatin’."

"Stone Eagles then?"

"Hell no! Sounds more like a rock group than anything else."

"I haven’t heard you come up with anything." Dave leaned back into the plush interior of his seat.

"Bitch, bitch, bitch. No wonder I’m your only friend."

"Okay, eagles are out." Dave sneered at Rob’s jibe. "What about hawks?"

"Stone Hawks? That’ll work. But let’s work on the personal names later." Rob turned into the airport parking lot and began to search for an open space. "Right now, we’ve got a plane to catch."

Rob parked the car and the two men got out. As they circled around the trunk, Dave shivered in the chilled autumn air enough for him to zip up his jacket. This winter was definitely going to be an unpleasant one, even without this new mission of theirs.

Once they both had their suitcases, they made their way for the terminal.

Rob fell heavily into his seat on the plane. He closed his eyes as he rubbed his temples.

"Damn all this is givin’ me a headache." He complained.

"It’s not exactly how I was planning to spend my time either." Dave agreed. "But we’re here now and we’ve got a job to do. Speaking of which, we’re on the plane now, and you still haven’t told me where we’re supposed to be working."

"Working?" Rob said uncertainly. He was quite visibly unsettled by the subject. "Uh, yeah. I was able to get us both spots with this company called Darison Technologies."

Dave was about to speak when there was a bit of commotion coming from the front of the plane.

"Mom said I’d be gettin’ the window seat!" Shouted a young boy.

"Stupid! She said you’d get the window seat on the way back." Another boy argued back. "This time I get to sit by the window."

Dave leaned into the aisle to get a look at the situation. A short woman came past the rows of seats ushering her two blond sons. The lads appeared to be twins and the mother looked like she had been dealing with the grade-schoolers’ bickering since they had left her womb. One of the boys was cradling a toy dump-truck in his arms while the other was fidgeting with something in his coat pocket.

"Tommy, Timmy," The mother said half-heartedly. "Stop fighting! You don’t want Grandpa to see you two like this."

Dave leaned over to Rob.

"Nothing like screaming kids to make the miles just pass by." He whispered to Rob.

The boys and their mother took their seat in the row directly in front of Rob and Dave. It was either Tommy or Timmy that had managed to wriggle into the window seat while the other took the next seat, leaving mom with a chair next to the aisle.

"So what are we supposed to do at Darison Technologies?" Dave asked Rob, getting back to the subject of work.

"Quit shovin’!" One of the boys yelled. "Mom!! Tell Timmy to stay on his side!"

"Sweety," The stressed woman urged in such a way that said she was about ready to give up. "Don’t fight with your brother."

Rob cast an irritated look at the row ahead of him. Dave took some satisfaction in knowing that he wasn’t the only one who was getting annoyed by the pair of bickering children.

"I was able to find me a spot on their programming staff." Rob said, answering part of Dave’s question.

"Stop it!" The child named Timmy howled. He held up what looked like a plastic action figure and started batting at the boy by the window with it.

"So what were you able to get me?" Dave inquired. "You’ve been antsy every time I’ve brought up the subject."

"Hey," Rob’s face lit up. "You said we should work on names to use. I really like the sound of Igneous."

"You’re dodging the issue, Rob." Dave frowned. "You were able to get me a job, weren’t you?"

"Yeah." Rob replied defensively. "You’ve got a job waitin’ for ya’."

"And it is…?"

"You’re not gonna like this."

"No," Dave deduced. "By the way you’re talking, I probably won’t like it. But spill it now."

"Rob held back momentarily, a worried expression on his face.

"You’re on the day crew for the janitors."

"What?!" Dave’s eyes looked about ready to bug out of his head. "You’ve got me scrubbing toilets?"

"I didn’t have time." Rob tried to explain. "The program I was runnin’ only gave me such a big window of time to work with. I couldn’t just go checkin’ every single business in the area."

Dave brought his hand to his brow and tilted his head to the ceiling.

"I think your headache’s contagious." He groaned wearily. "Because suddenly, I could really go for an aspirin."

"Look," Rob said. "I’m sure it won’t be that bad. You just--."

The rest of Rob’s statement was lost as Timmy and Tommy grew even louder. Dave was able to catch a glimpse of one of the brothers ramming his toy truck into the other’s shoulder.

The boys’ mother had finally gotten up from her seat and was trying to physically pull the two apart, but was having a horrible time doing so.

"I had to do that kind of work all through college." Dave stated. "And when I left that job, I swore that I would never do it again."

"There are worse jobs out there." Rob debated. "After all, you could wind up doin’—oooww!"

Rob’s cry was definitely one of pain.

Dave was sitting there as he saw Tommy stand up in his seat with the toy truck raised up in both hands, about to smite his brother with hostile vengeance. Mom was just starting to reach out to put a stop to the attack, when Tommy proved himself to be faster than his mother. And Timmy proved to be faster than both of them.

Just as the truck was coming down, the would-be victim pushed at his assailant’s arms. The truck was deflected, but came down squarely on Rob’s lap.

The big man had obviously had enough and wasn’t ready to deal with having the boys and their little war along for the entire ride to New York.

Dave wasn’t surprised. He knew Rob had a short fuse when it came to these kinds of things. Too bad for the youngsters that they didn’t have such knowledge.

The large man shot to his feet and reached out with both hands. He caught the two by their coat collars, one in each hand, and raised them both three feet from their seats.

Timmy and Tommy showed fear bordering on outright terror at the sight of the red-faced man who looked like some kind of professional wrestler.

"You see that nice lady over there?" Rob’s voice and body shook with rage as he nodded to the mother who was left utterly speechless by the way events were unfolding.

The twins looked to their mother and nodded quickly in unison.

"Good. For the rest of this trip, I want you to do everything she tells ya’. Or I’m gonna be grumpy. Understand?"

Again, they nodded as one.

Well this is a good way to stay inconspicuous. Mused Dave as Rob became the main spectacle for everyone within eyeshot.

Dave bent down to retrieve the truck that Rob had taken in the crotch. Once he had that, he handed it to the woman in front who took it without a word.

"And if that so much as touches me again," Rob looked at the toy truck held by Mom. "I’ll do to you what I do to beer cans when the Steelers lose. Got that?"

Another round of nods from the two was only response Rob got.

"Good." He smiled evilly and dropped the kids in mid-air back into their seats.

The boys’ mother took a look at the boys, then at Rob. She looked to Dave who merely shrugged his shoulders and turned to look up at his burly companion. She stared again at her terrified sons and how quietly they were sitting. The woman gave one final look at Rob and smiled before resuming her seat.

Rob sat back down next to Dave and let out a long breath.

"You’re always so good with children." Dave remarked sarcastically.

"Next time I spring for plane tickets, Dave, remind me not to get ‘em in coach."

* * *

The rest of the plane trip went by without incident. Much to the relief of Rob and Dave.

The plane touched down at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport.

They got off the plane and retrieved their baggage with little trouble.

Customs in New York were a tad stricter here than they were back in Chicago. There were more Enforcers here and the sight of so many in one place was almost spooky to Rob and Dave.

The Enforcers stood at the ready, never moving needlessly. Their faces were unseen behind the darkened visors on their black helmets. Sky blue BDU’s with olive vests of kevlar made up the universal uniforms of the WMC’s personal police force. The outfits combined with the helmets and the fully automatic sidearms at their belts left many citizens thinking of soldiers from a cheap sci-fi movie.

There were still regular police officers around, but they only had a fraction of the authority and numbers they used to before the WMC was recognized as the ruling body.

Dave watched the Enforcers as he passed them by, wondering what kind of people were behind the visors. No one freely admitted belonging with the Enforcers. Their popularity had never really been that high with the public in the first place.

Once Rob and Dave were out of the airport terminal, Dave actually found himself breathing a sigh of relief.

"You see a cab anywhere?" Rob wondered aloud.

They came out into the cold air of early morning. The sun still had several hours left before rising, and Dave found himself desperately wanting to get inside a heated taxi.

The two scanned the wide strip of pavement outside of the airport’s front doors and were immediately rewarded with a long line of yellow cabs.

They picked one at random and loaded their luggage after the driver popped open the trunk.

"So where ya’ headed?" The cabby asked.

"Queens." Dave answered as he and Rob climbed into the back seat.

"’Fraid I can’t help ya’ get there, pal."

"What?" Rob almost yelled.

"Ya’ see," The cabby began to detail the problem. "The taxi companies are havin’ this dispute. Until that’s all taken care of, our company only drives here in Jersey. You want to go through Queens, you need to take a cab that runs in Queens."

"What about the Bronx?" Dave was quick to inquire. "Does your company take people through there?"

"Nope, sorry." The cabby said.

"Brooklyn?"

"Cititrans is runnin’ that."

Manhattan was out of the question. It was common knowledge that the whole island was closed to the public. Only specific WMC personnel were allowed there.

"I don’t suppose the company running Queens would be able to pick us up here."

The cabby gave a deep, throaty laugh.

"Hey, Jersey’s our territory. Those Queens bastards had best stick to their own little piss hole."

Corporations having turf wars? The whole thing sounded unreal to Dave, but then again with the WMC taking most industries by storm, the smaller guys were left fighting over the scraps on the floor.

"We’re movin’ into that ‘little piss hole.’" Rob said with just enough of an edge to his voice to make the driver think about what he just said.

"Oh, sorry about that, buddy." The driver apoligized to his hulking passenger.

"So how can we best get Queens?" Dave asked.

"I can drop you off just at the edge of the Bronx." The cabby leaned over to rummage through the taxi’s glove compartment. "The subway’s Committee-owned, so you should be able to take it to Queens from there. I know I’ve got a schedule here you can take."

"Great." Dave’s response was devoid of any enthusiasm.

The cabby fished out a battered bundle of papers and handed them to Rob. Then, he started up the meter and pulled out from the airport.

* * *

Rob and Dave were definitely unhappy with the situation. They followed the taxi driver’s directions to a subway station that looked as if the city transit board had made budget cuts ten years ago.

Inconveniently enough it was deserted at this late hour. The two were used to traveling by subway from living so long in Chicago. It was the hour, the location, and the fact that they were both carrying enough luggage to make them look like tourists that kept them on edge.

Just paint a big bull’s-eye on us with a sign that says "Beat us into the pavement and take whatever we have when you’re through." Dave thought to himself.

The subway station itself showed little in the way of security measures, and the marks painted on the dingy yellow walls was testament that the place was claimed as some local group’s turf.

"How much longer do we have to wait?" Rob grumbled. One of his suitcases was laying on its side while he sat dejectedly on the other.

Dave had taken possession of the schedule after they got out of the cab. He looked to it, then to his watch.

"I’d say fifteen minutes or so."

"You nervous?"

"About what?

"This." Rob stood up and spread his arms wide. "Us comin’ all the way out here to take on the world."

"I suppose I’d be an idiot if I wasn’t a little scared. But I came here because I believe what Turoth told us and that we’re the only ones with a chance to do something about it."

"You talk about this like you actually wanna’ be here." Rob said.

"Oh, come on."

"I mean it. I think you like all this ‘takin’ on the big guys game.’"

"This isn’t a game." Corrected Dave.

"I know that. I just meant--."

"Hold on." Dave raised a hand. Something had caught his attention. A sound of some sort that he couldn’t quite identify. "Did you hear something?"

"These tunnels run for miles." Said Rob rationally. "Sound probably gets carried from far away all the time."

There was more noise, and both of them were able to identify its source. They turned to face the station’s entrance to see four, young men descending the stairsn

They all wore leather and chains. Tattoos were openly displayed by all, and the green bandannas were sure signs that the new arrivals were gang members. The four were laughing at some joke one of them had told and they didn’t seem to expect the sight of the two men waiting impatiently for a train.

"Payday, boys." Said the man at the front of the group with a broad smile.

"Back off, cubscouts." Rob threatened. "Be good and I won’t tell your den mother you weren’t out earnin’ merit badges tonight."

All of the gangers got a laugh out of the line. One of the young men in the back shifted his weight enough for light to catch off of an aluminum baseball bat held at his side. The group’s speaker brought a hand up to silence the others before casually reaching into his back pockets with both hands.

"That’s cute." He said. "But we didn’t exactly make all that much sellin’ candy door to door."

"Can’t say we can help ya’ there." Rob said, standing a bit straighter to make his height all the more intimidating. Both he and Dave had spent enough time living in the cities to know what these boys were likely to do next.

"And I say yer’ gonna help, whether ya’ like it or not." The gang’s mouthpiece withdrew his hands from his pants to reveal a pair of switchblades.

This is just great. Dave thought with annoyance. We haven’t even been here more than two hours, and already somebody wants to mug us.

The one real blessing the two of them had was the fact that none of the gangers were carrying guns. The WMC had dealt with the world-wide disarmament of citizens after the Firearm Safety Acts were passed years ago. Anyone possessing a firearm could be prosecuted for up to thirty years in prison, so guns weren’t as common as they used to be.

The gang approaching Rob and Dave was obviously of the mindset that there was strength in numbers. They divided into two groups composed of the same number. The ganger with the knives and one of the two unarmed members began making an approach at Rob, while the one with the bat teamed up with the remaining member to go after Dave.

Dave took a step back from his assailants with his hands raised defensively. The adrenaline surged through his veins as he saw the threat coming upon him. He took a deep breath to keep his attitude calm and not let his building anxiety get the better of him.

The gangers looked young, barely past their eighteenth birthdays if that old. They were just kids to Dave and they didn’t look like they had the experience he did. It would have been interesting to transform right in front of these youngsters just for the shock value. But for the time being, he and Rob wanted to keep what they had become a secret for as long as possible.

"Look, friends." Dave tried to negotiate. "I’m really not the fighting type. It goes against my beliefs."

The ganger with the bat drew back his weapon with both hands, readying for a powerful swing.

"Here’s me givin’ a shit." The batter smirked and then swung horizontally at Dave’s head.

Dave’s reflexes went to work. He ducked low to avoid the swing, which barely caught the tips of his long hair.

The batter came back with another swing, this one low.

Once again, the ganger’s attack struck only air as Dave leapt up, pulling his legs in. The slim man’s martial arts training kicked in as he shot his foot out like a spear while still in mid-air.

The aluminum bat clanged noisily on the tile floor as its owner brought his hands up to his injured face.

Dave’s first instinct was to get the bat, give himself the first advantage available. However, he decided it to be more prudent to get his stunned opponent taken out.

He punched repeatedly at his adversary’s abdomen. The ganger hunched over from the assault and grasped at his stomach. Dave took the cue and grabbed the batter’s head in both hands and drove his knee up. The black belt knew he had struck the telling blow as he felt teeth give way against his knee.

The conflict hardly lasted more than a few seconds and the end result had the batter crumpled in front of him.

Suddenly, Dave sensed movement coming from behind and he spun around to take a fist in the cheek.

Dave reeled back, but quickly collected himself. The pain was dulled by the rush he was feeling from the fight.

Standing before him was a weasel-looking boy with his hair slicked back and wearing a weather-beaten leather jacket. There was a look of arrogance on his face from the knowledge that he was able to get the drop on Dave like he had.

Silently, Dave cursed himself for being so careless. A mistake like that could have gotten him killed if he was going against the ganger with the knives.

Speaking of which, Dave cast a look in Rob’s direction to see how the large man was doing. Rob’s unarmed opponent was hobbling away to safety, but the knifer was still active. Dave made plan to help Rob out once this last little problem was taken care of.

So you’re into dirty pool? He thought while glaring at his new opponent. We’ll just have to discuss that.

* * *

Rob hopped back as the gang member with the knives jabbed out. He kept his hands up for protection. It was better to risk losing a finger or two than having the good old entrails strewn across the place.

The knifer slashed out again. This time, rob was ready to take the offensive. He caught the knifer’s hand and twisted, satisfied to hear the other man’s scream. The second knife came at Rob, who was able to stop the attack with his free hand.

"Look’s like you’re screwed." Rob grinned devilishly.

He then squeezed down with his right hand. There was more screaming from the gang member and then the deep cracking of bones being broken. The anguished cries intensified and the knife in the newly fractured hand fell to the floor. Rob let go of the mugger’s injured hand and concentrated on the other one. He twisted the arm around behind the back of his attacker. Cloth ripped as the remaining knife cut into the back of the gang member’s jeans.

Rob felt something light and soft fall against his foot as he wrenched his assailant’s arm forward. The other knife flew up and landed on the tracks below, well out of reach.

The knifer stumbled away, clutching his broken hand with tears streaming from his eyes.

"Want a rematch?" Rob pointed at the gang member.

The loss of both weapons and the use of one hand was enough to make the ganger see the logic of leaving.

The two men Dave had faced off against were going out on all fours, leaving Dave standing with the aluminum bat in hand. Just as one of the two was starting to stand, Dave threw the bat. The piece of sporting equipment spun through the air to connect with the retreating man’s leg. There was a yelp of pain and the gang member resumed leaving on hands and knees.

"Looks like we made it through that little rumble pretty decently." Rob remarked.

"Speak for yourself." Dave said and spat a glob of blood on the subway tracks.

"You okay?" Rob asked with concern.

"I’ll manage. Now we know why this town didn’t do too well in tourism last year."

Rob began to walk over to his baggage, when his foot came in contact with something on the floor. He looked down to see a plain, brown, leather wallet. He must have cut open the knifer’s back pocket while trying to turn him into a pretzel.

"Hey," Rob bent down to pick up the wallet. "Looks like we’re makin’ money here already."

He began to leaf through it only to find thirty-two dollars.

"No wonder those boys mug." The muscular fellow said. "If they’ve got day jobs, they don’t get paid squat."

Rob pocketed the money and was about to toss the wallet when Dave stopped him.

"Hold on, Bobby. Let me see that."

"Sure. If you really want it that badly."

"I’m getting an idea." Dave took the wallet from Rob and began to search through it. "I’ll let you know once I’ve got this planned out a bit. Right now, I just want to sit down and rest for a while. All this is starting to wear me down."

Within minutes, the subway train coasted down the tracks. The two boarded and were able to find the car they had chosen to be empty.

After the ride, they stopped for breakfast in a small, all-night diner. By the time the meal was ended, the sun was just starting to come up to set the world off to another day.

The two of them walked the rest of the way through the streets with the usual foot traffic that came with the morning rush hour.

A few blocks went by before they came to the sturdy brick structure that was the apartment building Dave had called back in Chicago.

Wearily, Rob and Dave found themselves practically dragging themselves up the cement steps to the front door.

Inside, they had a few words with the building’s superintendent and filled out the necessary paperwork before they were handed the keys to their apartments.

The two of them then trudged up several flights of stairs to the fourth floor.

"Let’s see here." Dave looked down at the key he had been given. "D-6 should be ri-i-i-i-ght here." He came to the door in question and unlocked it while Rob did the same at his door.

"I got D-13." He commented.

"Hmm, sounds real lucky."

"Heh." Rob chuckled. "I think Lady Luck’s been takin’ a dump on us all week."

"So what time do you think you’ll be up? We’re going to have to get out and pick up some groceries."

"How about three?"

Dave looked at his watch and nodded.

"That’ll work. Since we start at Darison tomorrow, I think I’ll spend tonight checking to see if I can find where a certain somebody lives."

"Who?"

Dave reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the ganger’s wallet.

"We need to make out a mark somewhere in this city. I figure word travels quickest with the locals"

"You thinkin’ about shakin’ him down?"

"Looks like we might have to." Dave said.

"Let’s get ourselves situated first." Rob counseled. "I don’t want to go out with guns blazin’ on our first night here."

"Agreed."

The two bid each other good-bye and went to their rooms.

Inside his new abode, Dave set down his suitcases and pulled off his glasses to rub his eyes.

The new place didn’t look too bad. The furnishings included a wide, tan couch with a pair of matching chairs. A table in the kitchen along with four chairs kept the place from looking too empty with the bare white walls.

Dave began to head for the bedroom to get some rest, when a muffled noise began to come from his pants pocket.

He suddenly remembered the sphere and pulled it out.

"What’s that, Rob?" He said into the magical orb. "I didn’t catch all that."

"Dude, I just checked the TV!" There was something excited about Rob’s voice. Whatever it was, it must have been important.

"Is there something on the news I should check?"

"Better. This place gets all the porn channels!"

Dave looked at his orb like it had just slapped him in the face. He should have expected something like this from Rob. After all, they’d already known each other for twenty years now.

"Good night, Rob. I’m going to bed."

"Hey! When I get stressed--."

"I know. Good night."

With that, Dave pocketed the orb and went to bed.

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