by GoozX, Grimm, Blackwulf and TheTimeTrust
Sam Dawson stumbled down the wet streets, the rain still pounding the pavement with the force of boxers connecting with their opponent's faces. In his hand was a liquor bottle half-covered by a brown paper bag. His grip was tight.
His eyes nearly blinded from the rain, glancing across the street he finally noticed the flicker of a neon light. "Jake's."
Shaking his head clear, he moved into the street, stopping to let a car pass by before advancing. Slipping on the pavement, he fell onto his back in the middle of the street. Staring to the dark clouds above as the rain pounded on his weak body, he didn't even attempt to get to his feet.
Suddenly, a loud horn broke through the deafening sound of the island's furious weather. Sam felt an abrupt jerk and the sound of a bus speeding by and narrowly missing him. Looking around, he noticed that he was now on the sidewalk, his bottle smashed.
"Fuckers." Sam brushed himself off and got to his feet. Making his way to the front doors, he was greeted by a large, half-mastiff, half-human bouncer. Sam stumbled into him.
"I don't think so, mate," the large man's grisly voice commanded.
"Look, you..." Sam noticed the man's name under the Jake's logo on his shirt. "Look, Mr. Bogart, I just wanna have some fun."
"I have strict orders."
"How does. A crisp Ben Franklin sound?" Sam asked while pulling money out of his back pocket.
The bouncer looked at it, then back to Sam's face, which was now shaped like Ben Franklin.
"N--" The bouncer's walkie-talkie interrupted him. After a moment of whispering and waiting for a reply, he continued. "Right this way, sir. You failed to tell me that you were on Jake's personal guest list."
"I wha--?" Before Sam could finish, he was already pushed inside the bar.
Outside, two figures leaned against the wall in the darkness. One stayed hidden in the darkness, hiding from the world, and the other stepped forward. It was Clark Thomas, only different.
His dark features were now more defined, and his skin was tight, almost clutching his bone structure. His eyes were red, serious, and focused. The other man was smaller in size, his hair bleached blonde and face clean. With a wife-beater shirt and an old pair of jeans on, he could have passed for the real Slim Shady.
"Why did you help him? This night could be done with already."
"That's not the plan." Clark never even looked back to the man he was with, his eyes focused on the bar.
"Plan? Fuck the plan. I'm hungry. But instead Claus has me out here for the newbie's grudge. What a joke."
"Trust me. The payoff you will get will be worth it."
After a brief pause, Clark continued, "Virgin's blood."
Inside, Sam looked around with amazement; he had no idea about this place back in the day. That girl with lioness features was cute, as was the glowing chick. Turning around, Sam stared directly at the group. Quickly, he shifted into the form of Bruce Campbell as Danny Hearn passed by. Danny paused for a moment.
"Hey aren't you...?"
"No, that's some other guy." Sam/Bruce's voice was a bad impression, way off of that of the real Bruce's voice, since Sam was never able to touch him and get a genetic imprint of the man.
Danny looked confused for a second. "Okay."
Sam/Bruce rushed toward the bar and ordered a drink. "Why are they here?" he asked himself. After a few moments, Grimm sat next to him and ordered a drink for himself.
Grimm looked at Sam/Bruce for a second and sipped his drink. "Hey, aren't..."
"NO!"
"...you Samuel?"
"What?" Sam asked. "How did you?"
"I saw you enter, little buddy. Why the disguise?"
Sam/Bruce shifted into Grimm's form. "It's been a long day." Sam/Grimm took his drink and attempted to take a sip. The liquor poured right through his bone mouth and all over his shirt. He tilted his head up toward Grimm. "It takes some getting used to." Finally, Sam shifted back into his own appearance.
"You need to talk?" asked Grimm.
Sam was hesitant at first, but then began blurting everything out at once, his voice a drunken slur. "I need to start today all over and change what I've been doing." Sam took another sip. "Michelle, over, and I -- I -- I killed whatever might have been left. I'm such a fucking dickhead."
"Ah, woman troubles. Boy, have I had my fair share of those." Grimm took a sip of his own. "I'm sure everything will work itself out."
"Really?"
"So, Michelle was it?"
"Yeah."
"My true love was a Michelle."
"Really? Did it end good... She be...?"
"She died."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Thanks fer the upliftin' story, pal," Sam slurred.
Grimm shrugged his shoulders and took another sip. Glancing across the bar, Sam caught Dirk Bell's eyes. Dirk tilted his head to the side and paused for a second before flipping Sam his middle finger.
Elsewhere, Turner sat uneasy at the bar. His face was bruised from the ass-whopping he let Danny give to him. Cracking his jaw, he took a sip of his beer. Edulcore Cicciotto joined him at the bar.
"Strange day," Ed commented, which was met with a nod from Turner. Ed ordered himself a drink.
"Ed."
"Yeah?"
"I've been following you to get the location of the Revolutionaries for Walker."
Ed took a sip and was silent, letting the news sink in.
"Ed."
Cicciotto turned and decked Turner across the face. The ultimate agent didn't see it coming and hit the ground with a loud crash. The place went silent. Turner looked back toward Ed, who just sat there. Turner's eyes turned red, and energy surged from them, striking Ed in the head and knocking him onto the bar. Turner kept the energy flowing as Ed gritted his teeth in pain.
Three huge bouncers grabbed Turner from behind, but he easily pushed them away and kept the intensity on Ed. In just seconds, it was over. Ed was passed out over the bar, smoke rising from his head.
Grimm jumped away from his conversation with Sam, and Chance and Dr. Henry Quantos were also quickly on the spot.
Two waitresses went right to Ed's side to see if he was okay. The bouncers got back to their feet, one with a weapon drawn.
"What did you do to him?" Dr. Quantos asked, anger in his voice.
Turner responded, "When he wakes up, tell him that he is finally free."
"What?"
"He'll know what I mean." Turner brushed off his suit and turned toward the bouncers. "You can put those away. I'm out of here."
With those simple words, Turner turned and left the bar, not even looking back as he exited.
Grimm had watched the scene in anger, thinking, I knew it. I fucking knew it. I should've wasted that asshole back at the apartments. Never ignore your instincts! That fucking rat; he's probably on his way back to whatever scumbag he calls "master" right now. HE'S DEAD. THE NEXT TIME I FUCKING SEE HIM, HE'S DEAD!
Grimm's hand closed on a beer mug, crushing it and spilling glass and beer all over the floor.
"Greem? Are you okay?" Blackwulf asked. He got no response.
The biker from Hell peered left to see something that was very strange. Even in his state of rage, he couldn't help but find it odd to see Blackwulf mutate.
Grimm said, "What the fuck is happening to you?"
Blackwulf replied in a thick Russian accent, "Is being mutation from the lead in pewter. I am having forgot about it." With that said, Blackwulf's long hair began to form a large pleather mohawk.
Sam now sat alone in the bar, his head pounding. Danny hesitantly approached him, with bad choice of timing.
"Sam, about what happened at the Castle... I just wanted to say, don't worry about it. I know that--"
Hundreds of visions rushed through Sam's mind: Danny taking advantage of Michelle Campbell, them kissing, having sex. Sam slammed his glass on the counter, shattering the glass and slicing his hand.
"Who says that I give a shit what you think or know?" Sam got in Danny's face, the anger taking over. "You never even trusted me anyway, future-boy, why don't you just go back to where you came from?"
"Sam, this isn't you speaking."
"Oh, trust me, this is the real me. You of all people should know that, friend."
The bouncers who were still nearby from the Turner and Ed situation were ready to step in.
"Now get out of my face." Sam pushed Danny hard in the chest and then stormed off and out of the bar. Danny paused for a moment and looked back toward the others. He took a deep breath and followed where Sam had gone. Things were quickly falling apart.
Dr. Henry Quantos held Edulcore on the ground with his head held back. A couple of waitresses brought him a flashlight, which he was using to check the dilation of his pupils.
"This doesn't look good. And that madman was supposed to be Edulcore's friend? With friends like these..." he trailed off as he continued to check Ed's condition.
"I'm going after him," said Chance angrily. In the few hours since he had met him, the Italian was quickly becoming his friend, especially his being the only other European on the team.
"Stay right here, Kris!" ordered Dr. Quantos. "I don't want to attend your funeral a second time in my life."
"He can't harm me," Chance said evenly, promptly walking straight out of the bar with a grim determination on his face.
Outside of Jake's, however, the rain continued to pour. And there was no sign of Turner anywhere. After several minutes of futile running around in the vain hope of spotting him, his usual luck not serving him well, he finally gave up, for now.
He returned to the bar and to the side of his newfound friend. It was really up to him to decide how to proceed, since the dispute was probably only a personal matter. After all, it couldn't affect the whole team, could it?