"Wow, Michael wasn't kidding when he said 'entombed'." Ryan said, looking at the enormous, spherical rock supposedly imprisoning his friend.

"Seems a bit… excessive for one man." Lucas agreed as they walked down the street towards it together. "Is he that dangerous?"

"Not… dangerous, really. Like I said earlier though, his power makes him almost impossible to stop with force."

"Until it doesn't." Lucas pointed out, indicating the monolithic stone structure with a half-amused nod.

"Until it doesn't." Ryan agreed.

About 100 yards ahead lay their first stop of the night. A gray boulder the size of a two story building sitting smack in the middle of a residential street. The massive rock had sunk several feet into the ground, taking asphalt and sidewalk along with it. Torn grass and mud where cars had been forced to navigate around it marked the lawns of adjacent houses.

Other gray stones, none so big as the first, littered the area as well. The smallest were roughly the size of bowling balls while others were nearly as tall as Ryan. Several were cracked in half as if they'd struck something hard. Most had apparently missed their target, instead scoring deeply into lawns and sidewalks as if fired from a cannon. One or two were even embedded in cars.

Strangely, there were also large holes dotting the landscape as well. Each was a short distance away from another rock of a similar width. It gave Ryan the distinct impression that the rocks had just been summoned up from underground. Heck of a power. Ryan mused. You'd almost never run out of ammo.

Shadows and the few streetlights that still worked made the neighborhood look like an abandoned, giant-sized minigolf course. Looking at the relative destruction the neighborhood had been subjected to made it easy to see why the speakers Michael had put out had been stolen so quickly. Ryan imagined the residents - if there still were any on this street - couldn’t have been happy about 24/7 dance music.

Two policemen stood guard at the base of Smith's prison, looking rather attentive despite the late hour. A pair of floodlights had been set up to either end of them, illuminating the street for dozens of yards. Both men also held rifles, though the rippling muscles on one made Ryan wonder why he even bothered. The dude was jacked.

A quick check of his power revealed the officers were firmly under the mayor's control. Which suited his purposes just fine, really. It also showed their powers were ‘heightened endurance’ and some muscle power he hadn't seen before: ‘explosive growth’. Ryan noted the information, but didn't bother with their names for now.

"Why are they guarding a rock?" Lucas asked under his breath as they approached the pair. "Even if they know he's in there, what's he going to do? Leave?"

"Maybe they're there to arrest him? Michael said they’d been running from something when he was caught." Ryan suggested. Both cops had noticed the pair of clearly-not-civilians wearing tactical gear by now. They hadn't raised their weapons yet, probably because neither Lucas nor Ryan were armed themselves, so the editor and wolfman kept walking as if out for nothing more than a pleasant night’s stroll.

"And take him... where, exactly?" Lucas sounded almost amused at the idea. “Where could possibly be more secure than the center of a giant rock? That thing has to weigh at least a hundred tons.”

"Beats me. Why don't we go ask?"

When Ryan and Lucas left what remained of the torn up sidewalk and headed towards the cops, both officers put their hands on their weapons. It was a smart move. After all, who knew what powers someone had these days? They quickly lifted their hands up, palms out, in a gesture of peace - though neither stopped moving.

"Move it right along, yall." Said the normal-sized cop with more stripes on his uniform. His name tag identified him as 'White'.

"This area is off-limits." Echoed the ludicrously muscled one in a voice that sounded like a mesh between a rock golem and a world-champion bodybuilder. ‘Parkins', according to his name tag. Bit anticlimactic given the size of him.

"Mayor's orders." White emphasized, almost apologetically. He clearly didn’t want an altercation, though the hand tightening on his rifle showed he wasn’t afraid of one.

"Oh, is he around?" Ryan asked in a conversational tone. "I've got a petition I'd like him to sign, see if we can get him to stop running our town into the ground."

The two officers shared a glance that suggested they dealt with this sort of attitude way too often, then Parkins sighed. It was strange, Ryan had almost expected them to attack him immediately since both were still ‘under influence’. And yet… they still seem so… normal.

When Ryan and Lucas had stopped about ten feet away, it was White who finally answered. "Real funny.” Then the officer gestured with the tip of his rifle for them to back up. “Now scoot, I'd prefer not to have to arrest anyone tonight. We’re not supposed to leave this here rock and the nights are dangerous enough these days since all those things broke out of the zoo."

Lucas smirked at that, then began laughing quietly. Ryan managed to hide his own smile at the comment, but only barely.

"What's so funny?" White asked, a touch of irritation entering his voice for the first time and quickly ramping up to anger. "The city has lost good men to those animals!"

"Careful where you point that, or it might lose two more." Ryan said dryly, lowering his hands and gesturing behind White.

Before either officer could turn around, thick simian arms reached out from behind them and pinned each man's own arms to their chest in a bear hug. Or… gorilla-hug, maybe. Ryan dashed forward, going for the one who looked like he might actually fight off the gorilla first. Parkins had managed to pry one arm off when the editor arrived, but one touch was all it took.

At a cost of 275 points the status was gone. Officer Parkins shuddered and went limp for a moment as he regained conscious control over his own mind. White quickly received the same treatment, costing Ryan only 245 points to return the man to himself.

With the ‘battle’ over before it'd had a chance to begin, Ryan and company waited for the officers to process what they’d just been through. Lucas had recovered quickly - but he’d only been controlled for a few hours. These men had been under it for weeks.

Ryan crouched down to eye-level with the one he assumed was the senior officer. White rubbed his temples with one hand and looked ready to speak, but Ryan cut him off with a firm hand gesture.

"Look, I know there is probably a lot you want to say right now. And I'd give you that time if we had it - but we don't. So here’s the deal: We’re not going to hurt you, but the mayor’s reign of bullshit ends tonight. I won’t force either of you to join us in this - but if you do, we might be able to save more of your friends’ lives instead of having to take them.”

The editor looked at Parkins to make sure the other man had heard him, then stood and stepped back. Folding his arms, he gave the men another few minutes to process before continuing. “So, gentlemen... What’s it going to be?”

The two men looked at one another, a variety of emotions playing across each of their faces. It was Parkins who moved first. Blinking away tears, his rough voice heavy with emotion he appeared to be literally trying to choke down, he said. “If you can free my wife from that bastard, I don’t care what you have to do - I’m in.”

Wiping at his face and cracking the knuckles of one fist by flexing his fingers, Parkins added. “And if you’re going to kill him, then I’m in twice.”

White’s voice was more tired and less angered than his partner, but he nodded to show his own agreement. “Most of us ‘been under his control for a while now. If you can take it off ‘em, I’ll bet even the captain’ll ignore whatever you done till now to do it.”

To be entirely honest, Ryan didn’t really care if the police ‘ignored’ what he’d done at this point. But the idea that he wouldn’t have to deal with the law trying to reassert itself over him after all this was… not the worst offer he’d heard tonight.

It might even help keep that invisible assassin who’d threatened him earlier from coming back to finish the job. Ryan had not forgotten about him. He had a feeling they’d meet again at some point.

White looked like he had more to say, but instead he scrunched up his nose and sneezed several times. The gorilla behind him mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like ‘Bless you’. The officer turned to stare at it, thanked him hesitantly, and then turned back to Ryan.

“Is it possible to be allergic to gorillas?” White asked, before sneezing again. Ryan looked at Lucas, who looked at the other gorilla, who shrugged in a very human way.

Shaking his head, Lucas turned to Parkins and got the conversation back on track. “Where is your wife?” The wolfman asked in a calm, supportive voice.

“She’s... on patrol right now, I think.” Parkins answered, standing and taking a cautious step away from the gorilla. He eyed the ape, then gave it a macho-man nod of respect which the gorilla mirrored a second later. The man’s weapon had fallen to the ground, but he wisely made no move towards it.

“Can you call her here without raising suspicion?” Ryan asked, eager to get things moving along. They were on a schedule after all.

“I think so, but she’ll probably have someone with her. Nobody goes out solo any more.”

“Do it. No offense, but one more of you shouldn't be a problem.” Ryan said. “Lucas?”

“I’ll get her.” Lucas said, then the wolf gestured for everyone to follow him back down the road. The unlikely procession followed him readily, the mens’ weapons left forgotten on the ground. Ryan made a mental note to be sure and bring those along later.

Turning his attention to the Stonehenge-sized boulder he’d come here for, Ryan raised his voice and called out. “Hey, Smith! You alive in there?”

No response came, which wasn’t exactly surprising. Michael did mention he had to climb the thing.

Grabbing onto the rough rock, Ryan made his way up its side. His greatly increased strength made the task of lifting his own weight almost trivial. Smooth as it may have looked from a distance, there were still plenty of holds to reach for. A minute later, he was at the top. Looking around, it wasn't hard to figure out where his friend probably was. Near the top of the rock was a hole several inches wide that appeared to go straight down. Bingo.

Apparently whoever Smith had fought had wanted to prolong his friend's fate as long as possible by making an airway. Peering down, Ryan couldn't actually see anyone. He also wasn't entirely sure if Smith needed to breathe or not. He repeated his previous call anyway, this time yelling into the rock.

It took about a minute, but right about the time Ryan was wondering if he should try again when a distant-sounding voice echoed up from below.

"Mayyybe. Who's asking?" Came a hesitant and clearly suspicious voice that sounded as if it were coming from the bottom of a well. It was also quite obviously Smith’s voice, a fact that relieved Ryan considerably. He’d believed Michael about Smith still being alive… but confirmation of that was still nice to hear.

Now that he knew his friend was safe though, the editor wasn’t going to pass up a chance to rib his friend a bit. "It's Ryan, Michael told me you were out here sleeping on the job."

There was another pause before Smith responded. When he did, his old friend sounded relieved in the way only those who had almost lost hope of being rescued could."Yeah, well… easy for him to say. Some of us don't have clones to do all our work for us."

Ryan chuckled to himself, glad to hear Smith still had the energy to crack wise. He put a hand on the enormous stone prison. Before the editor could access his power however, Smith spoke up again. The former officer's tone was light, but the underlying hope in it still came through.

"You uh, figure a way to get me out or did you just come by to return my tunes?"

The editor considered several responses, but ultimately decided on not tormenting his friend any further. “I’m here to get you out.” Ryan called down, before pulling up a prompt to see what he was working with.

Would you like to disintegrate this rock? Cost: 24,479 points.

Yeah. Didn’t figure that would work. Given the thing’s size, it wasn’t really surprising. Altering the request a bit, he tried seeing what it would take to dissolve the rock straight down in a hole large enough to reach his friend.

Again, the cost was a bit out of his reach. 1400-something points. Not unfeasible, but he might have to ask Kurt to throw a tree up here to do it. The man/gorilla hybrid was currently elsewhere in the city prepping his part of the attack though, so that might be a while.

What I wouldn't give for a jackhammer. Ryan thought, looking around at the mismatched stone surface. He could probably make one with his power, but getting down to Smith with it might take all night. Or all week.

Luckily, he’d had an idea on the way over here. Something he’d remembered from one of his earlier courses in college that might just do the trick. It would just take a little bit of setup.

"Sit tight for a second, I'm going to try something." Ryan said, stepping away from the hole.

Quieter than before, but not enough that Ryan couldn’t hear him, Smith said. "Not a problem. I literally can't sit any tighter."

Shaking his head but with a smirk on his face, Ryan got to work.

Would you like to disintegrate one inch wide holes in a straight line crossing this stone every 8 inches, to the bottom depth of the stone? Cost: 120 points.

The editor grinned broadly. That point cost was far more palatable. Accepting the prompt, he waited for the show to begin. Immediately wisps of smoke began to appear in a line of holes that bisected the rock he was standing on. Each hole bubbled and fizzed a bit before sinking into itself. The rock he was standing on seemed to shiver, but otherwise remained solid.

"Woah, I think it's working!" Smith called up, clearly able to hear the sound of disintegrating rock.

When nothing noticeable happened after however, Smith added. "Nevermind, false alarm."

Rolling his eyes, Ryan thought. Juuust wait for it.

Would you like to fill the previously created holes with water and then freeze it? Cost: 168 points.

As that was a bit out of his energy range he pulled out a 'Triple Choco-fountain' protein bar they'd picked up from one of Michael's stashes and devoured it in a few bites. Placing his hand back on the stone and accepting the prompt this time, he yelled down.

"Alright, try… not to die!"

“Wait, what?”

Water flowed down Ryan’s arm and shot across his fingers, flowing down each hole like a tiny, wriggling rivers. Then, the water began to freeze all at once.

"Wait, what?" Smith repeated. "How are you--?"

Whatever Smith said next was lost as the rock cracked in half with a sound like a rolling avalanche. Both pieces pushed apart, and… it was just enough. The twin massive sections began to slide further of their own accord, opening a space several feet wide in the middle.

Ryan stumbled a bit trying to keep his feet, but managed not to fall off. Luckily, neither of the two halves moved much further.

After a rather loud grating sound as stone met stone near the bottom of each half-sphere, silence returned to the neighborhood. Stepping up to the edge and looking down, Ryan saw Smith balancing with both hands and feet braced against different sections of rock.

It looked almost like he’d been pushed up from where he’d been when it cracked. It also looked like he might actually have been trapped at the bottom of it. No wonder it cost so much to drill down to him.

Thankfully, his friend looked to be completely unhurt. Save for the few torn scraps of clothing Smith had somehow managed to retain, there wasn’t a single cut, scrape, or bruise on him.

With an even broader grin than he'd had before Ryan leaned over the edge and spread his arms wide in the universal "How about THEM apples?!" gesture.

Smith looked up at him, his eyebrows nearly in his hairline as he asked in a voice filled with genuine shock. "Did you just… punch this entire thing in half?"

Ryan clapped both of his hands together, turned his hands into finger guns, and fired them at his friend as he answered gleefully. "Science, bitch!"

Smith laughed out loud and, after a few seconds, began making his way up. There were enough jagged edges down the thing to slice a man to ribbons, but none of it seemed able to cut his friend. It didn’t take him long to reach the top.

When Ryan clasped hands and pulled him over the edge, there were tears at the corners of Smith’s eyes. Instead of stepping to the side, Smith surprised Ryan by embracing him in a tight hug.

“Thought you were dead, bud.” Smith said, patting him on the back. “Try not to explode any more, yeah?” He added, pulling back to arm’s length to smile at him.

Taken slightly aback by the sudden emotion, Ryan met the smile with one of his own. “No promises.” Then the editor raised an eyebrow at his friend and stepped back from both him and the newly formed edge. “Lets uh, get you some new threads. C’mon.”

By the time Ryan had turned a few protein bars into an ops uniform to match his own for Smith, Lucas and the others were making their way back down the street.

Smith didn’t bother climbing down, simply jumping off the thirty foot edge into a dramatic superhero landing directly onto the asphalt. He grinned up at Ryan, raising his arms in the same ‘did you see that?’ fashion the editor himself had just used.

Rising to the challenge, Ryan did the same. He hopped off the edge, slamming one knee and a fist into the ground - his kinetic skin absorbing the impact easily. Then he stood up and raised a challenging eyebrow at Smith who was again looking at him in surprise.

After giving Ryan a once-over to look for injuries, Smith grunted and said. “Not bad.” Inclining his head towards the group approaching them, he asked. “Who’s the big guy?”

“That’s a gorilla.” Ryan answered readily. “I… don’t actually know his name.” Kurt had mentioned each of the gorillas did in fact have a name… but the editor couldn’t remember actually getting it for either of the ones here. The one Kurt usually merged with was the only one he could actually recall. ‘Cocoabean’.

Imagine getting done in by a gorilla named ‘Cocoabean’. Ryan thought, remembering Mundus’ fate with grim amusement.

“And the gorilla-sized guy walking next to him?” Smith asked, not even batting an eye at Ryan’s obvious misdirection.

“That’s Lucas. And he’s a werewolf, actually.”

“Oh? Right on. Our side?”

“Our side.”

“What about the cops?” Smith asked, indicating the two walking next to the gorillas. “Or the… other two?” He added, gesturing towards the two clearly unmoving individuals each gorilla held casually over one shoulder. It was hard to tell from this distance, but Ryan was fairly sure he saw some of Lucas’s spiked fur embedded in the arms of the gorillas’ cargo.

“Our side for the first two, and… I would guess the same for the others here shortly.”

It was Smith’s turn to raise an eyebrow at Ryan. For his part, the editor held up his hands. “It’s a… long story. How about I give you the cliff notes version?”

“Sure.”

Over the next ten minutes, Ryan recanted what had happened over the last few weeks to Smith as he freed Parkins’ wife and then her partner from Marcus’ control. Predictably, each of them were immensely grateful for having been freed. They were both also quite keen to ask Ryan for his help in freeing more of their mind-controlled colleagues and family.

While spending the evening turning the tide of the town’s enforcers against the mayor was an enticing thought… plans had already been made to take advantage of an opportunity window that was closing with every hour that passed. Plans Ryan was quite loath to change.

But… that doesn’t mean they can’t be adjusted a bit… Especially if these four will help. It might actually make this easier.

Making his decision, Ryan quickly outlined Michael’s part of the plan for the night’s festivities to the group. All five of the recently freed current and former police officers readily agreed to help. Smith made a point of assuring Ryan that he’d ‘had enough of naptime’ and was looking forward to ‘stretching all over these fools’.

That decided, Ryan checked his watch. 11:27 pm. Ryan guessed they had about 30 minutes left before Michael moved into the next phase without them. Problem was, the ‘next phase’ was halfway across town. The editor shared his concerns with his new allies.

Officer White hitched his belt up and then reached into his pocket for his keys. “Not to worry, lad.” He said, unlocking the doors on a nearby police vehicle. “We’ll get you there in time.”

Lucas hid a smirk behind one hand. Ryan carefully kept anything that might be interpreted as ‘smug’ off his face, though the corners of his mouth still twitched at the statement.

Calling up a mental picture of one of his newest ops team members clearly in his mind, Ryan directed his thoughts. “Sam?”

“Yeah?” Came back the quick reply of Sam Merlot in his head. The telepath’s power was invaluable over short distances and Ryan could easily see why he’d been abducted in the first place. Psychic communication was straight-up convenient. Especially with the internet and cell networks still down.

“Bring the truck around, we’re green to go.” Ryan told Sam. It still felt strange thinking his thoughts at the man, but he was getting used to it.

“You got it, boss.”

“Am I missing the joke?” White asked, not having been party to the mental communication taking place in Ryan’s mind. He looked between Lucas and Ryan, both of whom were just standing there. “Thought you said we were in a rush?”

Behind White, Wolfenstein 2 turned onto the street. The massive metal monster truck - now back from the dead and freshly renovated - was impossible not to notice as it rumbled over. When the small group of officers turned to see what was coming, Ryan saw his moment. He took it.

“Actually, boys.” He said, patting Officer White on the shoulder as he headed towards his second-favorite truck ever. “We’ll get you there.”

“Our side?” Smith asked again. It was clear from his tone that Smith knew the answer, he just enjoyed asking the question.

“Our side.” Lucas affirmed.