Chapter 8.B

Jimmy and Hank had a good time catching up. Suzie sat by Hank’s side patiently just holding one of his hands while they talked. The filled each other in on the last few years of their lives and what they had been up to. Hank couldn’t help but think that Jimmy should have been the one chosen to be an Arbiter after hearing just some of his exploits. Apparently Jimmy had really moved up in the criminal world. The reason he had to flee Hank’s small town was because a mid-level kingpin decided that he didn’t like that Jimmy wasn’t paying him a cut of his loan sharking business. Jimmy systematically ripped the kingpin’s organization apart by killing or incarcerating everyone in his way. He also survived multiple assassination attempts during the dispute. This gave him enough street cred to connect to some national level crime syndicates. Since then he had been planting moles among their ranks, some of which were other FBI agents, and some of which were criminals who thought they were spying for Jimmy, but really they were spying for the U.S. government.

Altogether Jimmy had fed enough information to the FBI for them to make over 3000 arrests once the warrants come through. They hadn’t made any yet, but they were just finalizing the deal with prosecutors now and within the next few years they would be dismantling more than half of the organized crime in the country. At which point Jimmy would have to disappear forever since he would surely be hunted for the rest of his life. Jimmy also admitted that the whole situation made him nervous as hell. Not the being hunted part, but the quitting and laying low part. He had become accustomed to the lifestyle and he loved it. He didn’t want to quit. It scared him more than the idea of dying.

“I’ll tell you Hank, there was a couple times I really could have used your help. It was hard not to call.”

“You could have called. I would have showed up in a heartbeat.”

“That’s why I didn’t call.”

“Well you got me now. I’m done at the Gravel Yard forever. I’ll get with Cerulean and Dractus to see if I can leave you some way to call me once I head out with them. If you ever need my help I’ll be there.”

Hank, Jimmy, and Suzie all turn towards the door as they hear it start to open. Cerulean and Dractus are back.

“We just came to tell you guys and gals that we are landing in an empty lot and heading out. We are close to the last sighting of the demon. We are going to go see if they are still around and if they are Dractus will cut the things head off,” said Cerulean. Dractus runs his hand over his own neck to emphasize her point. Apparently that gesture really is universal, in the most literal sense of the word universal.

“Well you are going to need my help, this is my planet, my turf...” says Hank as he starts to sit up, but Cerulean puts a hand up.

“Nope, you are bedridden until that fancy-pants machine you are hooked up to says you are ready. Don’t worry it shouldn’t be long, Arbiters get the best tech,” she says with a coy smile.

Jimmy can tell Hank is going to protest further, but he knows his friend is severely injured. “Don’t even think about it Hank. I’ll go in your place, this is my planet too. They can give me the rundown of what we are chasing in route, this is my purview. Besides I have law enforcement databases I can access and criminal alliances I can use. You stay here with Suzie, I’ll help them find what they need.

Hank still wants to go, but he knows he has already lost the argument. “Be safe Jimmy.”

“Ha, I’m not worried about me. Whatever this demon thing is should be worried. Have you seen that dude’s battle axe?” says Jimmy while pointing at Dractus.

“Hey wait a minute,” says Hank while looking at Cerulean. “If Dractus’ Arbiter weapon is his axe, what is yours?”

“We are all standing in it. The Tug is my weapon. Haven’t you wondered how a glorified space tow truck is able to go stealth and have warp capabilities?”

“I don’t know shit about space or spaceships,” says Hank in a deadpan tone.

“Okay well, let’s just say this old tug is one of the most dangerous ships in the known universe,” said Cerulean.

“Well that is just badass. Are you going to be safe out there? If the ship is your weapon how do you kill a demon?” asks Hank.

“In all honesty I just plan on letting Dractus cut its head off like I mentioned before. if that doesn’t work I’ll just use the ship to bombard it safely from a few hundred feet in the air. The biggest badasses in the world will still die from a missile to the face. Alright we have to go. Come along Jimmy.”

“Yes Mam!” says Jimmy sarcastically. He winks at Hank before heading out with Cerulean and Dractus.

When the door slides shut behind them it’s just Hank and Suzie. Suzie has a very devious look in her eye. “Hank I think it's far past time that we catch up and make up for some of the time we missed.”

“Isn’t that what we have been doing?”

“I meant on a more intimate level. Me and you never really got to the next level.”

“I think I’m supposed to be resting Suzie, and I was going to tell you...” before he can finish the sentence Suzie puts a finger over his lips.

“Shhh, you just keep resting. I’ll do all the work,” she says as she starts unbuttoning the white blouse she is wearing. Hank knows he should stop her and tell her that he doesn’t have feelings for her, but Hank Jr. is having different ideas especially as he sees the light blue bra she is wearing below the blouse.

***

“You can’t ride those through the city,” said Jimmy. He is standing with Cerulean and Dractus in a tiny garage near the back of Cerulean’s ship. Jimmy is looking at the motorcycle from hell with tires that would look more at home on a monster truck. Every inch of it is coated in additional armor and storage compartments. It’s at least twice as long as a normal motorcycle and it has what looks like two auto-cannons on the front of it. Next to it is a slimmed down version that is basically the same that presumably belongs to Cerulean.

“I’ll do what I want Human!” says Dractus in a gruff and loud tone.

“No seriously, the police will be all over you. Then the military. We are going to have to steal a car or rent a moving truck or something,” says Jimmy.

“We should trust him Dractus, feel him out,” says Cerulean. Dractus walks over to Jimmy and rests one hand on his shoulder and closes his eyes.

“Uhhh, what the fuck is he doing?” asks Jimmy.”

“It’s called Intuition. He is reading you. Every Arbiter uses it differently, we aren’t sure why. At first we thought it had to do with what species you were, but we got to a point where we had two Arbiters from the same species and even they tapped into it in different ways and at different levels of proficiency.”

“An Arbiter is what you call space-cops right?” asks Jimmy.

“Right,” says Cerulean.

“I think Hank used this earlier to check through the wall of the Bank to make sure it was clear before he crashed through,” says Jimmy. This makes Cerulean raise an eyebrow.

“You must be mistaken. Arbiter Intuition doesn’t work through solid walls like that.” says Cerulean.

“Uhh, you might want to tell Hank that then,” says Jimmy. Dractus finishes what he is doing.

“Wow, your aura is all over the place, but overall you seem like a good man. You are my kind of people puny human,” said Dractus.

“Wow a compliment followed only by one insult, that means he likes you,” says Cerulean.

“Right, well I’m going to see if I can grab a truck off of my ride-sharing app,” says Jimmy as he grabs his cellphone. He looks at Dractus one more time measuring him up. “It’s going to have to have a big bed.”

They exit the ship and walk to the nearest street and wait for the vehicle to arrive. While they are waiting Jimmy flips his FBI windbreaker inside out. An older model Dodge Ram with an extended bed rolls up. The owner obviously cares for it because the paint and rims are brand new. It comes to a complete stop in front of Jimmy with the windows down. The driver is scrolling through his phone instead of paying attention to his surroundings and starts automatically saying his usual spiel for customers.

“Alright bros and/or dudettes, no drinks in my ride. If you throw up you are going to pay a 200 dollar cleaning fee. I pick the music, but if you don’t like it we can...” he looks up and notices Dractus and Cerulean. “WHOA, wicked cosplay costumes! Is there a convention in town?” Jimmy answers quickly before either of the aliens says something crazy.

“Kind of, we are getting paid for some special appearances. I’m their security and agent. His new costume won’t fit in my tiny car which is why we needed a truck. Listen, we have to make a few stops, but if you play it cool I’ll give you an extra 100 now and then another 100 when we are done. Deal?”

“That works great for me. I’m Chad by the way.”

“Nice to meet you Chad,” says Jimmy as he jumps in and hands Chad his first hundred dollar bill.

There is no center console, the front seat is just one giant bench seat so Jimmy sits in the middle hoping to stop Chad from staring at Cerulean too intently and noticing just how real her “cosplay costume” really is. Dractus takes a leap straight from the ground and lands in the back of Chad’s truck which shakes the whole vehicle.

“Whoa bro, go easy on the shocks!” shouts Chad out of his opened window. Cerulean taps Jimmy’s shoulder and shows him a small tablet with a map and a blinking address on it so Jimmy relays the address to Chad like it was his idea and they are on their way. The first stop is a convenience store and gas station. All of the windows are boarded up, but it’s still open with the lights on inside. Though there are no customers in sight.

“We’ll be right back Chad. Please wait here and remember our deal.”

“Yep no problem bro.”

This time Dractus gets out of the truck a little more carefully. As they get closer to the store they stop at the side of the front door and inspect the door frame, just out of view of the owner. It once held a glass lined door like the front of all convenience stores but the whole frame is skewed and bent like the door was ripped away.

“What did this, what are we looking for here guys?” asks Jimmy. Dractus ignores him and stalks off around the side of the store sniffing the air loudly so Cerulean is the one who responds.

“We are looking for a particularly nasty demon that goes by the designation Bertha. It is large, much larger than this establishment is tall. Its skin is black and wet. It is bipedal yet it relies mostly on four large uber-strong tentacle-like appendages that extend from its back.”

“What are its crimes?”

“It’s a demon.” Jimmy doesn’t like that answer and Cerulean can see it on his face.

“Okay fine, it eats sentient beings and stuffs its body with calories until it can produce a nest made with raw materials it makes again from its own body’s stores. This is why it constantly has to eat. The nest can produce thirty or more younglings which aren’t true demons but they are still nasty little things that go about murdering and destroying the area around their nesting ground in an ever expanding radius as they mature. We believe Bertha is on this planet because she thought the Arbiters wouldn’t find her here and that this would be a good place to start a new hoard.”

“So that’s what she was doing in this store, eating people?

“Probably.”

“Have you checked the camera footage?”

“Yes, we pulled the footage from traffic cameras which showed her heading this way.”

“No the camera footage...” says Jimmy as he points to a camera dangling from some wires at the edge of the building. Cerulean pulls her tablet out and scans through it for a bit.

“I have no data that this camera exists,” she says skeptically as she continues manipulating her tablet.

“That’s because it’s old school, analog, it’s hardwired. Stay here.”

Before she can respond Jimmy heads into the store. An older man dressed humbly in his late 60’s stands behind the counter, he has thinning gray hair and looks happy to see a customer.

“Hello sir can I ask you some questions?”

“You can ask me anything if you are a paying customer. If you aren’t a customer then I don’t have any time for you. There is a vanity display of Zippos emblazoned with different designs, emblems, and sayings on the counter. Jimmy grabs the entire display that holds around 30 Zippos and moves it into the center of the counter. Then he puts two one-hundred dollar bills down.

“I bought these. I’m a paying customer now. What caused all the damage?” says Jimmy as he points at the storefront.

“A car drove through the front of the store,” says the old man. Then he swipes the money off the counter so fast that even a magician would be impressed.

“We both know that isn’t true.”

“Truth be told, I don’t know. I don’t normally work the storefront here. The employee who was on staff disappeared that night and all of my other employees quit. As you can see this place has been a ghost town since then, the locals are afraid to come near.”

“What about the cameras?” says Jimmy as he points at a glass bauble in the ceiling that clearly holds a camera.

“The police confiscated the footage from those. Why you asking around about this anyway?”

“I run an internet blog about strange encounters, it’s very lucrative. If you hypothetically had an extra copy of that tape and if you accidentally let me film it with my cellphone. Then I might accidentally drop five hundred dollars on your counter here and never speak of how I came upon the footage.”

The store clerk looks around warily before looking back to Jimmy. He uses his finger to make a “come here” motion and Jimmy follows. There is a door behind the counter that goes into a tiny office. There is a poster on the wall of a cat with the caption “Hang in there!” on the bottom of it. The man lifts the poster which exposes a crushed part of drywall that has a VHS tape lodged in it. He pulls the tape out and puts it into a small television and VCR combo. Jimmy quickly pulls out his cellphone starts filming as the man hits play.

It’s the view from outside of the store, where Jimmy had seen the broken camera. The store looks like it is having a slow but average night. Jimmy has an extremely wide view so the camera must have a fisheye style lens. His suspicions are confirmed when he sees slight distortions at all corners of the screen. There is a single car at the pumps being filled up by an obese woman driving a minivan with her hair in curlers. She finishes up and leaves, then something huge comes into the corner of the frame. It’s definitely a hulking alien walking on its feet and its knuckles like an overgrown gorilla. Except its head reminds Jimmy of the comic book villain Venom.

Jimmy has to stop his hand from shaking that he is filming with. The creature turns towards the storefront and bends over slightly exposing all of the slithering tentacles on its back. The tentacles shoot forward and elongate bursting into the store through the glass and metal frame that is holding it in place. A young black man with dreads gets pulled out through the front of the store. The creature lifts its tentacle carrying the black man high above its head and then tilts its head upwards and unhinges its jaw somehow. There is no sound but it is clear that the young man is absolutely terrified and screaming at the top of his lungs. The creature drops the man into its mouth and then starts chewing. It turns to leave while it's still chewing. The young man’s feet are still sticking out of its mouth. The alien being drags its tentacles along the exterior wall in an extremely hard swiping motion smashing everything in its path before finally hitting the camera, at which point the footage stops.

“HOLY SHIT!”

“That’s what I said the first time I saw it.”