Spring was in the air as the full March Storm Moon reflected its silvery light off the last remains of the rapidly melting snow. The grass was still a depressingly drab green devoid of the rich emerald color that would soon take shape. A lone Werewolf ran out of the woods and crossed a yard onto the dimly lit Autumn Avenue. The teenage Zack Powers was alone in bed sleeping soundly in an empty house at 2:30 AM. His guardian Grandmother Debbie Powers worked the graveyard shift at Woodland Springs General Hospital. The Werewolf trotted onto the Powers property but immediately turned tail sounding off a sharp yelp as it ran away into the dark night. This was due to the house and soil in the yard being blessed with holy water monthly by Father Tom Davis. The lawn was also sprayed with powdered Wolfsbane in Autumn before the first snowflakes fell. In addition to these supernatural countermeasures, there were small random bars of silver, enchanted by our Witch Rebecca Abernathy, buried about the yard. For sure the Powers Residence was Werewolf-proof!
Bionic Dreams
It had been a long day of school for Zack which included the Paranormal Investigations Club, swim team practice, and of course his work at Mystic Investigations as our tech guy. Not to mention his paranormal battle capabilities courtesy of his bionic abilities. He was in deep REM sleep dreaming of lying on a sunny ocean beach on the edge of a brilliantly multi-colored Fall time forest. Some Autumn Nymphs frolicked about the piles of iridescent leaves. Near the water’s edge were some lovely Mermaids splashing about while humming a mesmerizing siren song. A strikingly beautiful Summer and Spring Nymph sat on either side of him.
A Winter Nymph strolled out of an ice-blue cave leaving a trail of glittering snowflakes. She handed Zack an ice-cold lemonade before diving into the ocean causing some dolphins to leap out of the water. In the distance, a large whale blew a giant geyser of water into the air which caused a rainbow to shine across the sky. A rainbow with a Leprechaun, and Unicorn sliding down it! After Zack received the gift of becoming a powerful Cyborg he started having consistent vivid lucid dreams. It’s been theorized that the nanobots coursing throughout his body, including his brain, might have a hand in that. In essence, creating a wondrous virtual reality dream world within his mind. Fantasy realms he could shape at will.
Delightful Dreams Interrupted
All was quiet throughout the dark house when all the sudden Zack’s bionic ears sub-consciously picked up a branch snapping outside on the backyard lawn. This was followed by something crunching a small pocket of snow. In his dream, Zack heard the suspicious sounds. In response, the scantily clad Spring Nymph said, “You better go see what that noise is honey!” Zack immediately awakened as shadows appeared at his bedroom window. Before he could fully awaken a metal bat violently shattered the glass sending sharp shards flying on to his bed. Simultaneously sounds of the back door being bashed in could be heard. Two men climbed in through the window, and one of them menacingly exclaimed, “Poor little boy home alone! Now we’re going to have some fun.”
Terrorizing Thugs Invade A Peaceful Home!
They chucked in a sadistic manner expecting the usual frightened reaction that fueled their devoid lives. Lives of cowards who only targeted lone kids and women. Zack hadn’t bothered to even get out of bed as he put his arms behind his head smiling. He then replied, “We sure are jackass!” The maniacal smiles the two men had been brandishing turned to disbelief and then transformed into sinister scowls. An extremely tall heavy set muscular man easily over 6′ 4″ walked into the bedroom after breaking in the back door. His buddies relayed that they had a smart ass on their hands.
The huge man, his thug buddies called Abe, replied to Zack’s nonchalant attitude, “You either must be high, or mentally retarded because this night will be a sweet hell you’ll never forget the rest of your life little man!” Zack answered his threat with, “I feel bad for you guys not knowing what you’ve stumbled into here. So I’m going to let you leave, and we can forget this ever happened. I’d love to have fun beating the hell out of you but I don’t want any more damage to my Grandma’s house.” A deeply incensed Abe then lunged at Zack but he sprang up at super speed to the foot of his bed. In response, Abe said, “What the heck! Get over here you little piece of crap!”
All three men converged on him. Zack kicked one of the men by the window back out the window as he screamed like a baby at the sheer force of his launch backward. He ended up hitting a tree trunk and was knocked out cold. Zack sent the other man flying into the nightstand next to his bed after he hit him with the back of his metal fist encased in human flesh. As the wood table smashed into pieces Abe picked Zack up by his neck causing him to choke. Zack responded by bionic chopping Abe’s shoulders causing the man to fall to his knees in pain. He roared in anger as he swung a punch at Zack who then blocked it while laughing. He gripped Abe’s fist and caused it to make a crunching sound causing the big man to cry like a big baby. Zack picked up the 300-pound Abe and launched him in the air. He crashed through the other bedroom window into the side yard. While in mid-flight Abe was screaming, “Oh craaaaaaaaaaaaaap!”
An Armed Attacker!
The man who hit the nightstand had recovered and pulled out a gun. Zack heard the trigger as the bullets fired toward him. He hit the deck while covering his vulnerable head with his cyborg arms. Bullets bounced off his arms damaging the flesh covering that was immediately under repair by microscopic nanobots. Another bullet bounced off his metallic alloy ribs with more outer flesh damage. One bullet managed to hit him in his human gut. Zack lay on the floor bleeding profusely for about 10 seconds while the man stood over him. The evil figure said, “I knew we were going to have fun but not this much fun! What kind of drugs are you on? I’d sure like me some of them super strength pills?” After about 10 seconds the bleeding began to slow as the millions of futuristic nanobots went to work repairing what would normally be a serious life-threatening wound. They also went to work ravaging the bullet like a rabid pack of microscopic carnivores breaking it down into elemental metals. Some of which would actually be used as nutrients for the biological body while the bulk would be used to build new bionic growth to match Zack’s biological teen growth.
The man yelled, “Hey Abe you alright out there?” Abe replied with a moaning, “Awwwwww yeah I think so Morty. Son of bitch screwed up my arm!” As he rose up he moaned, “Awww shoot my back’s killing me!” The man looked out the other window to his other partner in crime knocked out next to the tree bleeding. He then yelled back to Abe, “Damn this little bastard messed up Joe real bad! He needs to pay! And his bullet-riddled body is a great start! Hey, wait a minute how are you even still alive? I shot all my bullets into your sorry ass!” Zack then smirked, and replied, “You’re a lousy shot pal!” He then kicked the man in the groin so hard that it sent him sailing into the ceiling causing plaster to rain down everywhere. His gun was flung to the dark corner of the room, and he hit the floor with a loud thud causing him to pass out cold. It as at that moment he lost the ability to have children. A serious win for our society! Big Abe staggered in through the window at the point Zack was trying to stand up. He had a crazed look in his eyes and kicked Zack in the face with full force sending him onto the bed.
Wrong House For Dumb Criminals
Abe jumped onto the bed straddling Zack while letting loose a low guttural growl that transformed into thunderous giggling. He then declared, “It’s been one hell of a night but now it’s time to end this party. Where’s the money you little bitch?” Zack replied, “What money? All I have is $50 in my wallet!” Abe then replied, “The damn drug money your Uncle stole from me!” Zack responded, “What the hell are you talking about? I don’t even have an Uncle!” Abe then asked, “Don’t lie to me! I know this is 435 Autumn Avenue!” Zack then laughed, “OMG you stupid idiot this is 444 Autumn Avenue!” Abe angrily attempted to slap him in the face but Zack caught his good hand, and the sound of bones crushing could be heard. Abe bellowed in sheer agony as his hand felt the wrath of Zack’s bionic strength. Zack then used his other arm to toss the guy over his head onto the wall over the headboard of his bed. Another storm of plaster blasted forth raining about as Abe was sent clear through the wall into his Grandmother’s empty bedroom.
Help Is On The Way!
Once again, the house fell silent. Zack lay on his bed feeling the reassuring pain of rapid cellular repair including his nearly broken nose. He picked up his cell phone on the other nightstand and contemplated whether to call 911 or a member of Mystic Investigations since we’re sometimes known to take the law into our own hands. Zack activated the customized walkie-talkie function he designed into all our phones, and said, “This is Zack. Is anyone on patrol?” Immediately, Drake Alexander, our Executive Vice-President & 700-something Vampire replied, “Drake here. Is everything okay Zack?” Zack then relayed the information about the home invasion and the bloody aftermath. Zack could hear Abe breathing in the next room and the heartbeat & breath of Morty out cold on the floor in his room. However, he wasn’t sure if the guy named Joe next to the tree outside was still alive or not. Drake said he’d be there shortly as he shot into the darkness at super vampire speed. The street lamps appeared as long streaks of light on his journey to Zack’s.
Drake arrived at Zack’s house a few minutes later despite being on the other side of town. Drake observed, “You sure did a number on these guys! You okay?” Zack replied, “Yeah everything’s healing up nicely. I could have done better but I was half asleep.” Suddenly Drake had an odd look on his face as he swung around to see a bloodied Abe standing in the doorway with an old double-barreled shotgun. Drake commented, “Really? A shotgun!” Both Drake and Zack laughed. Abe screamed in disbelief, “What the hell is wrong with you people?!?” He then blasted off the two shots available directly at Drake who was standing in front of Zack. Both shots destroyed Drake’s sparkling Midnight blue shirt yet bounced off his muscular torso complete with supernatural six-pack abs. There were some brief bloodied scratches but they healed almost instantly courtesy of his powerful 5th generation vampire DNA.
A Righteous Death
Abe dropped the rifle in disbelief, and began blubbering, “What the hell man? Why can’t you bastards die?” Drake whizzed across the room so fast that only a blur of light was seen. He then got behind him, and whispered in his ear, “I’m a vampire little man and your time is up!” Drake sank his fangs into Abe’s neck as the criminal screamed out in perplexing pain. While he drank of his blood Drake was able to read Abe’s mind and see he was responsible for a lifetime of heinous acts he had no remorse for. These included countless murders and numerous other unspeakable acts he got away with in his journey of darkness. Many perpetrated against innocent women and children!
Drake paused as he firmly gripped Abe. He looked at Zack for some type of approval as he nodded, and Drake sank his fangs back into Abe’s neck draining him of every last drop of blood. Abe dropped to the floor lifeless as Drake wiped the blood from his mouth. He then said, “I saw the pure evil in his mind. The horrifying acts of alarming agony against countless innocents that make tonight look like a cake walk. There was no rehabilitation for him! Not to mention the fact that prison sentences these days are a joke. Also, Duanna gave me this shirt for my birthday. It was hand-sewn from Spider Fairy webs. Spider Fairy webs Zack!” Zack answered, “Even without reading this guy’s mind I knew he was a blight upon humanity! And the destruction of that beautiful shirt was the last damn straw” They both started chuckling as Drake examined the other two thugs still knocked out cold. He determined they could possibly find salvation under the right circumstances. They were simply sadistic weak-willed bullies following Abe’s lead.
The Careful Clean-Up And Cover-Up!
Drake called our favorite Sheriff Blake Maverick. Drake apologized for waking the Sheriff up but the Maverick was all too happy to help us out. Especially when we pay him big money as a consultant. The Sheriff called an ambulance as he made his way to Zack’s house. Julia Hathaway, our psychic, showed up at that moment as she sensed something was wrong. She examined each of the men including the deceased Abe and came to the same conclusion as Drake. She had seen Abe’s future if he had lived, and it seems he was destined to become a homeland terrorist who ended up destroying a town of thousands with a dirty bomb. In his spare time, he would continue with his serial killing and other criminal enterprises. Julia exclaimed, “You just saved countless lives from this despicable piece of refuse!” The future of the other two men was mostly petty crimes with them in, and out of prison. At least they wouldn’t be killing anyone now that their alpha dog bully Abe was out of the picture.
The Convenient Werewolf
Drake excused himself as he easily picked Abe up in his arms, and sped away. He ended up in the next street over as a man walking his poodle was confronted with the violent Werewolf who previously attempted to enter Zack’s property. Just as the hairy horror was about to pounce on the man, and his best little friend Abe’s body flew out of nowhere landing right in front of the salivating Werewolf. Drake then appeared beside them, and whispered, “Run.” They ran in the opposite direction as the Werewolf chowed down on Abe’s corpse. Within two minutes everything was gone including the bones that were crushed into powder that wafted about the grizzly scene. Only after the feeding frenzy was over did the Werewolf realize a vampire was near. He plowed toward Drake who raced around the side of the hairy beast snapping his neck. The Werewolf lay temporarily motionless, and Drake quickly hauled him back to Mystic Investigations headquarters to be caged until dawn. The werewolf would wake up in human form good as new!
The ambulance and Sheriff pulled up as Julia explained the situation to him. She mentioned how Morty and Joe went on about some imaginary boss they called Abe. Julia had seen in her visions that a mental hospital would be better than prison for these two. Certainly, that is where they’d go as they spoke of Zack’s power, and their imaginary friend Abe. Drake called up a friend who serves in Great Britain’s MI6 who in turn has a CIA contact. He owed him a favor and agreed to erase any evidence that Abe ever existed. Actually, quite an easy task for someone in government since everyone is so reliant on computers in the 21st century. Other than the memories his victims had of him; Abe was effectively blinked out of existence!
Drake returned just as the Sheriff was leaving to escort the ambulance with his prisoners to the hospital where Zack’s Grandmother was on duty in the emergency room. The Sheriff knew not to say a word to her so she wouldn’t worry. She already had guilt about leaving Zack alone at night. Especially since she had no knowledge of his secret bionic identity. In the meantime, Julia had dialed up the rest of the Mystic Investigations gang to restore Zack’s house to its previous undamaged status. We had a good three hours to fix the place up, and clean everything before Zack’s grandma got home from work! Thankfully things go quickly when you have a demi-mermaid witch, vampire, telekinetic psychic, demi-zombie, former Navy Seal, and bionic boy on your cleaning construction crew!
