by T5 and Danny
Aurochs had very little time. He needed the replacement now. A simple exchange maneuver, and another would stand in his place and clothes. Just as the eager Pete Glover/Chance and Dirk Bell caught up with him, the spell activated itself.
Dirk jumped and tackled the man, and Pete/Chance helped to pin him down and tie his wrists together. They smiled to each other.
"Good job, my man," said Pete/Chance, giving Dirk a thumbs-up.
Dirk hauled the man to his feet and commenced to force him out of the tunnel while the man looked around in panic and started to protest.
Dirk threw the man to the ground in front of the team. "You want to ask why this prick was stalking us then?" he said, while their captive stranger could do little but whimper.
"This guy was following us?" Danny Hearn asked.
"Yes. We found him in the tunnels just there," Pete/Chance replied.
"You want to tell us what the hell you're doing here?" Danny said to the stranger, kneeling down in front of him.
"Where am I? Who are you?" was all that came in reply.
Danny looked up to Pete/Chance and Dirk and asked, "You sure this guy had something to do with those monsters?"
"Yes. I saw him while we were battling the creatures," Pete/Chance replied.
"Plus he was trying to run away from us then... nobody runs away unless they don't want to be caught. He's up to something, I'm damn well sure of it," Dirk added.
Danny studied their captive's face for a moment. He looked genuinely frightened. And confused. "So he was there. That doesn't mean he was responsible."
"Perhaps. Except that the demons weren't attacking him at all. Even when they walked right past him. In fact... they almost seemed to obey him," Pete/Chance replied.
"Are you sure?"
"Well, I only got a brief glance, of course, but... wait a second..."
"What?"
"This isn't him."
Danny stared at Pete/Chance. "What?" Danny finally said.
"This isn't the man from the tunnel. That man was much older. But he's wearing the same clothes," Chance said.
"Well, that's just downright strange," Dirk began. "So... does that mean we don't get to shoot him?"
"Nope. Sorry," Danny said, standing up. "Dirk, right?"
"Right," Dirk answered, offering his hand. Danny took the offered hand and shook it.
"Daniel. You've met the others, right?"
Dirk nodded.
"Right. So we have a newcomer. Well, you seem to be good in a fight, so I guess you can stick around for a while," Danny said.
"Sure. Like it's your decision," Tobias Christopher said. Danny just grinned at him.
"Got nothing better to do. Besides... not every day I get to try out these babies blowing up some demons from Hell," Dirk said, patting the gun holsters under his coat.
"So what do we do now?" Grimm asked.
"Uh... I guess we go back in there," Danny answered, pointing to the cave.
"Really? Why?"
"Uh... well... hell, I don't know. What am I, the leader?" Danny said.
"Looking for clues," Naecken suggested.
"Right. Clues. Hopefully we cleared out all the monsters... but we still need to know where they came from," Danny explained.
"You know, we've done the adventure-in-an-underground-cave thing before," Tobias said.
"Then we'll make this one quick," Pete/Chance added.
"I haven't done it before," Dirk said. The others looked at him. "Not with you guys, at least."
"Richards, can you look after this guy?" Pete/Chance said, indicating their gray-robed captive.
"Sure. I'll take him back to town with me," Richards answered.
"So... um... we should get started," Danny said, a little nervously, looking at the cave entrance.
"How?" Grimm asked.
Danny thought for a moment, then said, "Well... Turkish?"
"Yes?"
"Could you find where those things originated from? Like, sort of... ask the cave walls if there was one cavern they all appeared in? We might find something there."
"We shall see," Turkish Stringfellow answered, and headed off into the entrance.
"Well... I suppose we should follow him," Tobias said.
"Yes. Of course," Naecken replied.
"Hey, Dirk... if we find some more monsters... you might get to blow some shit up."
"Hell, yeah."