Previously, in Network #3 : Byting Off More Than You Can Chew Part 2...

George shook his head in dismay. “That tiger has a name, and it is Bao. And a zoo is no life for a kind like Bao. No, she will be safe and looked after with us. And she will be free.”

Bao’s green eyes looked like they were glowing with agreement.

“You have two minutes. Go!” Black instructed.

Lucas nodded in appreciation and none of them hung around longer than they needed. George led the way, Bao and Dylan running behind and Lucas brought up the rear. What a sight, Lucas thought. Dylan helped Lucas over the garden wall before flipping himself over. The animals made light work of it and into the darkness they went.

***

“It’s just up here, everyone,” called out Grizzly George near the summit of the hill.

Lucas hadn’t run like this for a while, so he was thankful that the Vulture-One jet that belonged to the Woodland Warriors was sat waiting on the hill.

“What took you all so long?” taunted the boy, a thirteen year old teenager called Tobias Torres, who goes by the alias of Boy Beaver. He is the only ‘human’ of the Woodland Warriors line-up. As typical as a thirteen year old boy could get with the genetic fusion with an American beaver, he was cheeky, stubborn and a bit awkward.

He was stood next to their Vulture-One jet when the rag-tag bunch consisting of a big brown bear, a blue tiger, an athletic, spritely man and a puffed out man approached.

Dylan started laughing. “I’d have been here sooner buddy, but I let Georgie lead the way.”

“I’m sure you could have found your own way, Petersly. There aren’t that many tops to this hill,” chuckled Grizzly George in reply.

“Tobias, it’s good to see you again, bro. How are things?” Dylan warmly enquired, going for a fist bump. Tobias fist pumped back. Dylan also politely acknowledged the crow perched on his shoulder.

“Lucas, it’s good to see you too,” Tobias said greeting him with a wave. “So this is the tiger, eh? It’s beautiful.”

“Yes, she is,” Grizzly George said. “And she’s coming back with us.” Tobias blinked in amazement whilst Nova squawked and flapped his wings. “It’s ok,” George continued to reassure. “She’s peaceful, but troubled and in need of looking after. A zoo is not the place for her. We can offer her the protection and space that she needs to thrive. She is not a threat to us.”

“Ok, if you say so. But I think we should be heading back now though,” said Tobias.

“Oh sure, it’s definitely past your bedtime now isn’t it?” Dylan teased.

Tobias pulled a funny, distorted face back and stuck his tongue out. “Whatever, laters.”

***

Vulture-One dropped altitude as it neared the headquarters for the Warriors. Whilst the headquarters for The Collective was called The Facility, the Woodland Warriors had a base called The Lodge, situated under a lake in the Lye Brook Wilderness area of the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont. The base was only accessible through the concealed roof of the hangar that was under the surface of the water.

Tobias activated the opening sequence and watched as the water drained from the lake, revealing the roof of the landing hangar that began sliding apart. When the doors were open just wide enough, George eased it through.

Stood expectantly waiting for their return was Ulrika Dahlberg, the Caretaker for The Woodland Warriors. And she wasn’t happy.

“Uh-oh. What have you done now, Tobias?” George asked as the jet landed.

“Nothing! I swear” he answered defensively, panicking a little bit. Ulrika was in her fifties and took no prisoners in the way that the Swedes don’t.

“Well the last time she stood there with a face like that waiting for us, you had submitted school work you had copied straight off the internet.”

“Oh yeah, she was not happy about that!”

“So you’ve not handed in any-”

“Oh no! That’s just it! I’ve NOT handed in my assignment!” Tobias blurted out, cutting George off as it dawned on him that this time it was something he hadn’t done.

“I suppose you weren’t lying then when you said you had done nothing,” laughed George.

The doors lowered and George led Bao down the gangway into the hangar. Nova flew out whilst Tobias skulked at the back.

“Ulrika, before you say anything,” he started, pre-empting what she was going to reprimand him for. “I was going to do it tonight but-”

“Let me guess, there was an emergency.”

“Yes! Exactly!”

“Rubbish, don’t take me for someone who came down in the last rainfall. I took the call from Dylan and he said he only needed George in Fr’isco.”

Tobias tutted and rolled his eyes. Busted. “I’ll go and do it now, I swear.”

“Now? No chance. It’s one in the morning. You need to go to bed. Now!” she demanded.

“But we need to get Bao settled in,” he argued as the tiger affectionately rubbed up against Tobias.

“You don’t. George and I are capable of that. You’re going to bed.” Ulrika wasn’t having any of it. She was very stern and Tobias knew what fights he was going to win. This wasn’t one of them. He bid everyone a mumbled good night and went off to his private quarters within The Lodge.

George turned to Ulrika. “Now, before you-”

“You’re in my bad books too, you giant hair ball,” she dismissively interrupted the bear. “I didn’t think you’d be bringing the tiger back here! I thought Dylan just wanted your help to rescue and return it to the police.”

“That was the plan. But Bao spoke to me. She needed help and we’re the only people who can.”

“Right,” she sighed. “This way then. We’ll sort it all out in the morning. You must all be tired.” Ulrika turned and walked off.

Bao jogged up to run by her side. If Ulrika hadn’t have spent the last few years talking to a giant grizzly bear, she’d have freaked out being so close to a tiger, but Bao’s presence and closeness did not phase her. Despite being annoyed at the last minute arrival, Ulrika was very fond on cats.

***

A week later.

“Morning George,” greeted Tobias as the bear padded through into the communal team hang out area.

The young Boy Beaver was on the punch bag working out and Grizzly George headed for the giant, bear sized equivalent of a ‘dog bed’.

“Good morning to you too. It’s a lovely morning out there. Bright and fresh.”

“Nice, I’m going to go for a swim after this.”

“Just remember your trunks again, Torres. I know we’re deep in the forest here but Ulrika’s always watching!” They both burst out laughing.

Nova flew into the room and morphed into his human spirit form. “Morning to you all,” he said.

“Hey Nova! You’re back. You been ok?” Tobias asked.

Nova is the other member of the Woodland Warriors. A bit of a loner and likely to spend time away from The Lodge, but never too far away to be able to return if the team needed him.

“Yes thank you, boy.” Nova Laurent was a Native American from Odanak who died two hundred years ago. He’s never been able to recall what happened to him nor what life was like before his spirit was bonded with the crow, but the fusing of the crow’s physicality with the spiritual essence of Nova combined made him a force to be reckoned with.

The alarm sounded throughout The Lodge.

“See you later Bao,” George said as he got up from the bear bed, Tobias threw his last punch at the punch bag and Nova morphed into crow form and flew off towards Vulture-One. Bao looked up and growled softly.

Ulrika’s voice came over the public address system. “Head for the small town of Crown Meadow, Missouri. Just outside of Lamine River Nature Reserve. School field trip sighted the Beaman Beast.”

“Ugh, that’s just round the corner from The Facility. Why don’t they go?” grumbled Tobias.

“You know this is our remit, Tobias,” George said sitting in the pilot’s chair and buckling in. “Open the lake doors please.” Tobias obliged, activating the doors as the jet rose.

Tobias began strapping on his customised Stars and Stripes armour vest, tightening the Velcro around his torso. “When are we going to start bringing Bao out with us? We could do with another pair of hands. Paws.”

It was a weird ensemble he wore for missions. Black boots and brown woodland camouflage pants, which so far made sense. Under his Stars and Stripes custom tactical vest, and in the absence of his own body hair, was a synthetically made beaver fur throw-over designed specifically to help Tobias keep warm in the water, to float and to protect the parts of his body not protected by the patriotic vest.

The helmet he wore covered his skull and was completely unbreakable and decorated with points for ears. It concealed the top half of his face, mostly for anonymity. Being only thirteen, the helmet and vest were requirements for Health & Safety more than anything. He swore that when he was old enough, he would likely ditch the vest. These were also the only times Tobias had his tail out.

“Only if she wants. Our rescue of her doesn’t mean she has to do what we do. The three of us do ok.”

“We’ve managed all this time just fine,” Nova argued, perched on his own chair in the cockpit.

“Yeah, we do. But I just think having a big tiger out there with us would be pretty epic.”

“I reckon she’ll come out with us soon. She’s incredibly grateful to us and I can tell lying around all day isn’t going to be something she wants to do forever. I get the impression she’s meant for bigger things.”

“Well as long as she stops giving me the eye, I’ll be happy to have her fight by my side,” said Nova.

“The eye?” Tobias asked.

“Yeah, like the kind of eye that says she just wants to hunt and play with me. Whenever I shift to human form, she always looks disappointed.”

“I’m sure you’ll be just fine,” assured Grizzly, rolling his eyes.

“It’s up ahead here,” announced Tobias, pointing. “Ulrika, we’re here. Give us the low down again.”

“Tsk. You’re missing a ‘please’, boy,” she reprimanded. “There’s a school field trip in the reserve. Twenty one children, two adults. All minus four children are accounted for back on the bus. They sighted the Beaman across the river and made haste when it started running for them. I’ve pinged you their last location.”

“Ok, thank you for that, Ulrika,” responded Tobias. “We can see the bus but we’ll go to their last twenty.” He cut her off as George landed Vulture-One in a clearing near the river bed.

School bags and clip boards were left strewn on the ground, evidence of the panic that the class fled in.

Tobias fixed his helmet on. “Right, we know the score. We know the Beaman. Nova, go high, see if you can track her down and-”

“Err Tobias, I’m in charge,” George interrupted.

“And err, I'm Boy Beaver, damn it,” he performed dramatically, and with that, Boy Beaver hit the door release button and jumped down from the jet and set off running.

Grizzly George sighed and shook his head. He looked to Nova. “There must be better catchphrases.” Nova squawked and flew off leaving George to follow out.

Grizzly George was three hundred and fifty kilograms and just under ten feet of pure brown bear. When the full primal bear instinct takes over, he has use of his 5 inch long front claws and can reach speeds of nearly thirty miles per hour. But he’s also a bear with a high I.Q and able to speak fluent English.

George hit the ground running, bounding in the direction Boy Beaver had gone, following his scent. There was a clean straight route through the trees, and George cleanly leapt over the thick tree routes until Beaver Boy came into view.

He was not alone.

***

Boy Beaver ran as fast as he could, in the direction Nova was flying in. Nova seemed to have found the missing children. B-B arrived, and as expected, found the four teenagers, slightly older than himself, sheltered a big recess in the ground caused by wildly grown tree roots.

“Oh great, they sent Beaver Boy,” one boy bemoaned.

His friend seemed to share his disappointment. “I was hoping for Terri.”

“Hol’ up. First up, it’s Boy Beaver, damn it. And second, I’m saving your skin. What are you, in ninth grade? I bet you all screamed too. Come out from there and I’ll get you back to your bus.”

“I’m grateful, thank you,” whispered the only girl in the group coming out of the hole last, as Boy Beaver helped pull her out. Chivalry hadn’t reached these teenage boys yet clearly.

As she released her grip of him, Boy Beaver sensed a change in the atmosphere. Before he even looked he knew the Beaman had turned up. He slowly turned and there, not too far away, was the hulking figure of the thirty foot tall gorilla-esque beast. Snarling and panting, in a standoff situation.

Grizzly George turned up from behind Boy Beaver. Just in time.

“Kids, run in the direction I just came from. Nova, make sure they get there safely,” George instructed. They didn’t hang around and did as they were told, Nova swooping down low to ensure their safety.

“Boy Beaver? You ready?”

The Beaman charged, its long legs taking wide strides towards the pair. Grizzly George and especially Boy Beaver were dwarfed by the sheer size of the towering terror, but they charged regardless. George roared and Beaver belted a multi-pitched adolescent war cry as he peeled off to the right.

George continued head on towards the Beaman whilst Beaver went straight for a tree, gnawing through it in lightning speed. As the tree began to fall he continued working through it, creating a dozen six foot sharp wooden javelins all with his teeth. By the time the tree had fallen in its resting spot, Beaver already had the javelins.

Grizzly leapt up into the air, but like an annoying mosquito, was swatted away by the Beaman. Beaver winced in sympathy, but knowing it was now down to him whilst George picked himself up, he started launching the javelins towards the lumbering Beaman. A few hit their mark, penetrating through the thick, shaggy black hair. It managed to slow her down, but mostly just pissed her off more.

Boy Beaver, being as humanly sized as he was, was able to duck and dive around the Beaman, avoiding the large stomps and big sweeping grabs.

George had recovered from his swatting and was now going back up against the beast. He’d grabbed onto the Beaman’s left leg whilst distracted with Boy Beaver’s advances and was trying to shimmy up, using his claws to get leverage in the skin. George dug and slashed away at the leg, causing enough pain to cause the beast to stumble, but inevitably, despite the impressive strength George had, he was swatted off again.

But that was all part of the plan. They were just buying time before Nova got back. Keep the beast at bay. Let the children escape. Nova returns.

And soon enough he did. Boy Beaver heard his caw, announcing his arrival. Relief set in.

“Woodland Warriors, let’s finish this!” Boy Beaver yelled.

Nova shot towards the Beaman unnoticed. Afterall, he was the size of a crow, a dot in comparison to the woodland dwelling beast. Gaining altitude just before colliding with the Beaman’s eye, Nova soared higher into the air.

And then the magic occurred. Nova’s wings stretched out to its full wing span, head arched back and beak opened wide. He emitted a glorious, pure white growing blinding light, and after a few seconds, Nova grew and grew to a much larger size.

Maintaining his crow appearance, Nova’s now twelve metre wingspan and four metre height made him bigger than a pterodactyl.

The Beaman stared up at Nova, no doubt remembering the last time she came up against the giant bird. This encounter was going to be much of the same. Nova squawked, the volume and depth of the noise causing Boy Beaver and Grizzly George to cower and cover their ears, the noise reverberating through the forest and their bones.

He swooped in, careering towards a frightened Beaman Beast. She tried to protect herself with her arms over her head but the force of the collision as Nova grabbed out with his claws out threw her backwards into the trees.

Nova gained altitude again, making space between the vulnerable Beaman and himself, ready for the next move. The Beaman got up again and began running. Retreating back into the deeper forest of the nature reserve, Nova decided to toy with his prey, giving her a bit of a head-start.

Nova was charging up for his next attack. Meanwhile, down on the ground, Grizzly George and Boy Beaver knew what was coming and ran back to Vulture-One, Boy Beaver clinging on to the fur on George’s back.

With the energy and power that Nova was harnessing to achieve the unnatural size state he was in now, he had the choice between lighting storm, or heavy wind storm to drive the beast out.

The sky turned an industrial grey, and thunder began to rumble. Lightning was going to do the job this time round. Tracking Beaman through the forest from above the canopy of the trees, bolts of lightning instantly shot down past Nova and into the ground below, tearing it apart.

The Beaman dodged the crashing rods of lightning as trees splintered and earth erupted, narrowly missing being jolted by the supernaturally summoned lightning. After a kilometre dash, Nova eased up and squawked a final warning caw and eased off with the lightning. This wasn’t about death. It was a lesson.

The Beaman’s existence had roots in the environment and taking it out of there would have harmful ecological impacts. No, this was about maintaining order, and reminding The Beast of what was off limits. And eating school children was definitely not allowed.

By the time Nova returned to where Vulture-One was parked up, he was back to original size. He came into land on the ground next to where Boy Beaver and George were sat and morphed into human form. He gave the pair a questioning look. “Should you be doing that, you two?”

“We’ll be taking the litter back with us,” Boy Beaver argued.

“But those lunches belong to the children on the trip.”

“Maan, those boys were rude to me. Acting like they’re too good to be saved by me. Wanted Terri instead. Nah, I’ll have their backs but I’m going to eat their lunch. As payment,” Boy Beaver justified, with a mouthful of peanut butter sandwich.

“And what’s your reason?” Nova asked George.

“Litter. This is a nature reserve. I’m doing my civic duty by keeping the environment tidy.” Nova switched back to crow form and walked over to an open backpack, looking for food for himself.

“Well if you can’t beat ‘em!” cheered Boy Beaver through another mouthful of food. Nova began rifling through a bag of potato chips.

“Good job out there though, Nova. I do love it when you do the lightning bolts,” congratulated Boy Beaver.

“Inspiring stuff, as usual,” agreed George. “Shall we give it five more minutes here chowing down and then head off?”

Nova nodded, “Sounds good to me.”

“Sure thing, daddy bear.”

"You need to stop calling me that."

***

Two weeks later.

“Morning Tobias, how are you?” Ulrika asked. Tobias had slept in a bit longer than usual and Ulrika was waiting for him in the communal hang out room.

“I feel a bit rough, but I’ll be ok. What have we got on today?”

“Biology, math and some history.” Tobias huffed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “But you may want to read this first.”

“What is it?” he asked. Bao had appeared by his side, rubbing up against his legs. She followed him to the table where the mysterious letter was. “Huh, well I never.”

“It’s a nice gesture, isn’t it?” she asked, seeing a little smile grow on his face as he read it.

“What is? Nova asked as he and George entered the space.

“Tobias got a thank you letter from one of the boys in the reserve with the Beaman Beast,” explained Ulrika.

“Go on, read it out then boy,” encouraged George.

“Dear Boy Beaver, thank you very much for find us and coming to our rescue on the school trip. It was probably the most scariest moment of my life, and I’m sorry for not being more grateful. Terri would have been cool but you’re pretty cool too. You don’t have to go to school and you get to fight stuff and you’re our age. When the coast was clear we went to look for our lost bags but some wild animals had picked the food out of them when we found them. I guess that’s karma for not treating you right. Thanks again. Say hi to George and Nova for me. From Sam.” Tobias, George and Nova started laughing.

“You ate their lunch didn’t you?” guessed Ulrika, trying her best to look unimpressed.

“It’s hungry work out there!”

“Well I hope you aren’t still doing that. Bao has a strict diet and now that she’s going out with you, you can’t be letting her have scraps from kid’s lunches.”

“Yes boss,” replied Tobias.

“Don’t call me that. Go put a shirt on then meet me in the work room in five minutes. We’ll start with math.” Both Ulrika and Tobias left the room in opposite directions leaving George, Nova and Bao.

“I’m glad I’m a bear.”

“And I’m just glad I live in the body of a crow.”