San Francisco.

“The spare room is second on the left.”

“Thanks, Lucas. I’ll just go and throw my bag in there now,” replied Dylan, walking off in that direction.

After Dylan had fought with Mount Hogon in the boxing club, he left to go and look for Tyler. Lucas called the police to the club and by the time they had arrived, Hogon had disappeared. Tyler was found beaten in Cleston Union Park and taken to hospital, but due to the fact that Oliver Hogon was still out there and incredibly mad, Lucas arranged for Dylan to stay with him and stay low in San Francisco.

“I appreciate you putting me up Luc, but it’s not necessary. Oliver will be thrown out of college and he knows that the police will be after him. I'm a big boy now, I’d have been fine.”

Lucas appeared from a cupboard with some towels for his guest. “Then just give me the weekend having you here, and you can go back when I’ve checked in with Clestin PD.” And by ‘check in with’, he actually meant ‘hacked into their systems and checked the reports himself’.

“Okay, the weekend. And then I can get back to normal. Although I reckon a weekend in San Fran will be fun!” Dylan decided.

“You jinxed it now. It’s going to be anything but fun,” mumbled Lucas.

The next morning the pair were sat at the breakfast bar with the news on in the background. A buzz on the doorbell meant Lucas had to leave his toast unattended.

“Don’t think about eating that- I’m coming back for it,” he warned Dylan who was eyeing it up.

Lucas opened the door and there stood the familiar sight of Lieutenant Black from the SFPD. She was a well-respected officer within the department and an upstanding, generous member of the Korean community of which she belonged to. She was stood in Saturday casuals comprising of a Giants tee shirt under a blue denim jacket and black jeans. Her curled hair rested on her shoulders. But Lucas was more aware of the file she had under her arm.

“Lietenant Black. What have I done to deserve such a personal visit on a Saturday?” Lucas sarcastically asked, stepping aside as she welcomed herself in. “Please, come on in,” he muttered, shutting the door.

Black walked right through to the kitchen area where Dylan started to introduce himself. “Yeah, yeah. Dylan Petersly. I know.”

“Well, I don’t like to assume,” he grumbled under his breath.

She eyed Dylan up, noticing he was in nothing but underpants. He noticed and flashed her a flirtatious smile. “I didn’t realise you were a couple,” she asked directly, assuming the attire was a state of intimate familiarity between the two.

His smile quickly disappeared as he was sure to correct her, “Oh no ma’am, we’re not. I’m just here for a few nights.”

“Because of what happened with Oliver Hogon?”

“You know about that?”

“It’s my job to know.”

Lucas was laughing at Dylan’s discomfort at the assumption he was romantically involved with him, and changed the subject to put him out of his annoyance. “No, he’s just young and waaay too comfortable. I forget what that’s like. Anyway, you bring me something?” he gestured at the file.

“Yes, I need your help on a job,” she stated, before picking up Lucas’ toast. It was Dylan’s turn to chuckle at Lucas’ annoyance. “Last night a high value cargo was intercepted and stolen from the airport depot it was unloaded into. Within minutes it was gone and without a trace. This cargo is not something that can be slipped into a purse either and walked off with. This took skill.”

“Oooh, what is it? Let’s guess!” toyed Dylan dryly, knowing full well already that Black was not the game playing detective.

“One of the only two remaining Maltese tigers in the world.”

“I was going to guess ancient pottery,” Dylan said, making a show of dropping his shoulders.

Black ignored him and continued. “The tigers were being shipped over from China where they were heading for San Francisco zoo as part of a new Wonders of the Orient exhibition. They were being shipped one at a time, with the second still in China. Now under more armed protection.”

“So one of only two of these Maltese tigers goes missing within minutes of touching down, and there’s no trace and no ideas at all?” Lucas clarified.

“That’s literally what I have just said, yes. They were either extremely lucky, skilled, or knew how to remove all traces of themselves. Tell me, how can you do that Lucas?”

“Woah, hold on, are you asking me personally? Because go ahead, look around. You'll find no tiger here. Or are you asking for my opinion as professional to professional?”

“Well I already know you don't have the tiger,” she scoffed.

“You’ve checked me out already?”

“It’s my job to,” she said matter of fact. Lucas rolled his eyes.

Lt Melissa Black and Lucas went back many years. Lucas would refrain from using the term ‘friendship’ to describe what it was they had, and maybe instead call it more of a professional relationship. Black was very well aware of Lucas’ strengths but he hadn't always used them to keep on the right side of the law. Even though years have passed and she is acutely aware of his involvement with The Enhanced Beings Collective, she still doesn’t quite trust him. She’s a cop after all- there isn’t many people she would say she did trust.

“What’s so special about these tigers anyway? The US has more tigers than any other big cat in captivity or in households than there are in the wild. So why this one?” Lucas asked.

Dylan’s eyes widened. “Hello, Tiger King. Are you sure it’s not round here?” he laughed.

“The Maltese tigers are blue,” Black stated, again, ignoring the still semi-nude man.

“Blue?” the boys said in unison.

“Technically by name, yes. Although they are more of a grey in colour, with black stripes and bright green eyes. Even in their native China, their existence is known only by a few.”

“So you need me to dig deep and see what I can find beyond what you guys are capable of?” asked Lucas.

“Oh, we’re just as much capable, thanks. But we don’t have much time, and we need your speed.”

***

Lieutenant Black had left and Dylan had got dressed and joined Lucas in his home office. Dylan’s bulging eight pack would have been a complete distraction.

“I thought you’d have more screens up in here,” Dylan mused when he first entered the room.

“Why’s that?”

“Well, I just thought tech nerds would need more gizmos and stuff,” he explained, noticing the smart, white walled room with a simple desk and laptop on it.

“Yes but I don’t actually need dozens of computers or screens to do what I can do. I just need proximity to a ‘gateway device’- a phone or computer with a microchip or internet access. I’ve only brought you here so you can see for yourself what I find. I could do this sat in the bath.”

“It impresses me more every time I hear it. So, where are we going to start?”

“I’m working on the proviso that there won’t be any CCTV from the airport or surrounding roads within a three mile radius- otherwise Black wouldn’t need our help. It maximises our area and the routes and CCTV cameras increase tenfold.”

“It would take them forever.”

“Exactly. And I’m thinking you can’t squeeze a tiger in the back of a soccer mom’s car.” Lucas surmised.

“No, it’ll need to be in a reinforced cage, won’t it Luc?”

“Yes, at least 8 foot by 4 foot. And loaded on a truck that can puff out the AC.”

“Hmmm. Narrows it down a little bit then,” Dylan suggested.

“A lot of skill went into pulling this off. Maybe luck went into it too but I don’t believe anyone can be this lucky.”

“Luck runs out at some point,” agreed Dylan.

Lucas looked back at the screen. Different pages opened and minimised on the laptop too quickly for Dylan to properly see what they were but he knew it was Lucas manipulating the information.

“I’m pulling up cell phone information for anything that may have pinged in the vicinity last night,” he said aloud. On the screen came up a map with thousands of red dots indicating phone use that day. Lucas could see Dylan’s jaw drop. Then the number of dots reduced.

“I’ve narrowed it down now though. These are the phones that were specifically in that area and around a certain time,” explained Lucas.

Dylan was getting into it a bit more now saying, “And we know that within minutes of being moved into the depot, that our kitty was catnapped and out in the wind.”

“Exactly. So now once narrowed down again, we can see at least sixty cells activated in that area and time frame.”

“Are we going to knock on each of those doors?” Dylan asked, not really anticipating spending his weekend doing that.

“Lord no, please. The police would do that. Besides, I’ve just found our guy.”

“Wha? How? Just like that?”

“Oh yeahh!” he said proudly.

“So come on, who is he? How did you know it was him?”

“I checked the registered addresses for the sixty cells. This particular residence has three acres of land capable of housing a tiger and his bank records reveal a payment made to a truck rental company four weeks ago.” Lucas pointed at the printer which Dylan was nearest to.

“Amazing. Out of everything we can all do, this is digital witchcraft!” Dylan laughed as he wheeled over to collect the information out of the printer. “So we go get them? This sounds like a team up opportunity with the Woodland Warriors, wouldn’t you say?”

“Dyl, we don’t want to fight the tiger. Besides, we are not going to rock up with a bunch of animals led by a thirteen year old boy.”

“Part boy, part beaver, remember. But I think it’s actually the bear that leads them.”

“Regardless of who leads who, Lt Black will handle it from now. I’ve done my part.”

“What? We’re not taking these guys down ourselves? C’mon, I thought we were going to have fun this weekend?” Dylan pleaded.

“Yes, we were. And by fun, I had Alcatraz and maybe a baseball game in mind. Not fighting,” asserted Lucas, knowing it was pointless. Dylan wasn’t listening and would end up getting his way.

***

“Stop being a wuss, Net,”

“I’m not, thank you. I just know when not to get involved and when not to…” Lucas and Dylan, now Network and Flip as they were on unofficial official business, had made their way to the property of Ashley Krauss, a relative unknown small time criminal. Small time criminal in a big time mansion.

“The plan is a good one Network, bel-”

“Your plan almost had us storm the property with a ten foot talking bear,” Lucas ranted, grabbing Dylan’s shoulders.

“I sure miss those guys,” Dylan dreamily muttered. “Don’t you miss those days of getting right in the action again? We’re here now, so let’s do this.”

“I suppose we are here,” he whispered as they walked the dark driveway.

“Exactly, so we go in and check to see if Tigey is here and-”

“It is, I can see on the CCTV.”

“Oh, right. Great. First job done then.”

“Aaaand so are we. I think we’ve been made.”

“What makes you sa-” but Dylan stopped when a spotlight from the house cast down on them and the front door opened.

At the door stood Ashley Krauss himself. He was a man in his thirties wearing a clichéd looking villainous black suit and open necked red shirt. His bald head glistened in the spot light.

“Bet you wished we had the bear now,” Dylan whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

“Well what can I do for you two, coming onto my property at this time of night? If I watched the news more, I think I’d be scared of two strangers dressed in black on my property,” he called out.

“We’re salesmen specialising in state of the art cages for wild animals, and we heard you might be in the market for a new one,” Dylan replied, which caused Lucas to curse under his breath.

Krauss drew a gun from his waistband and pointed it at the pair. “It’s ok thanks. I already have a cage plenty big enough,” he snarled, flicking the gun.

To be continued in part 2.

The Enhanced Beings Collective will have a short break, but will return on the 19th March, in Proten #2, ‘International Rescue’!

An extended, special issue where a crisis involving one of the members of the G7 team brings the group together.