by Grimm, Captain Sammitch and Danny
Grimm watched in silence as Phil Smith disappeared up inside the UFO. "I thought that was just a bad joke Ed kept making."
Suddenly, the UFO zoomed off toward the town.
"Hey! What about me? Ya sons o'..."
Grimm turned around and began making the trek back toward the town. With all this running around and the wreck of the hovercraft, he was beginning to feel more than a little useless.
He briefly paused and looked back out toward the sea. He could swear he saw something for the briefest of moments. A head? No, nothing. Odd.
"Nice ride you got here," Phil remarked, sitting up slowly in the UFO. "But last I saw you, you were out like Bobby Hull's teeth."
Edulcore Cicciotto raised an eyebrow.
"Never mind." Phil looked around. "I guess I should thank you for pulling me out of the drink."
Ed shrugged. "I did what I could."
"And it worked, apparently." Phil chuckled.
Ed turned around. "Take us to the building."
Phil stood up slowly. "You better drop me off somewhere on the way."
"Are you insane?"
Phil gave a noncommittal gesture. "If I am, that's the first I've heard of it."
"All right, then," Ed conceded. "Where?"
"The south wall. That's where the others are."
"How do you know?"
Phil tapped the side of his head with a finger.
"Oh, all right." Ed got the idea. "Then what should I do?"
"You just might have to park that thing and get yourself to headquarters. I don't want you going anywhere until Quantos looks you over."
"This from a guy who was drowning a minute ago."
"That's different. I'm expendable. You're not."
"Well," Edulcore said, "I hate to change the subject, but we're here."
"Okay," Phil said, "just... drop me here."
"I'll just beam you down."
"Ye cannae do that!" Phil blurted in a thick Scottish accent. "The tr-r-r-r-ansporters are malfunctioning, Captain!"
"What?" Ed jumped.
"Gotcha." Phil grinned as he started to dematerialize. "Oh, and have a nice day."
Danny Hearn was growing increasingly worried by the fact that M'xy was currently nowhere to be found. They needed M'xy at a time like this. He was their most powerful ally.
And, although Danny had faith that M'xy could look after himself, he was concerned for the welfare of the very mortal and very vulnerable Mick Harrison.
"M'xy... where are you?" Danny said quietly, audible to no one but himself and, of course, Hal. Danny, finding it difficult to stay aloft amidst the high winds, despite the presence of huge eagle wings sprouting from his back, had taken refuge atop a nearby petrol station. It was one of the sturdiest buildings in the area and an adequate place for Danny to cast an eye over the surroundings. The rain pelted him, but the presence of duck feathers on his back seemed to prove the old cliche correct.
"Maybe you should follow the cows," Hal offered in the way of a helpful suggestion.
"What?"
"The cows. M'xy's cows."
Danny looked outward and, sure enough, noticed a couple of M'xy's heroic cows hovering above the town a couple of kilometers away. They seemed to be flying away from the site of whatever it is they'd been doing a moment ago.
"I can't believe I'm trapped eight decades in the past, following a pair of flying cows through a hurricane to find a magical fifth dimensional being. This never would have happened a year ago."
Hoping the wind wouldn't prove too much of an obstacle, Danny took flight.
Grimm caught up with Blackwulf, and the two began making their way back to the apartment complex. It would be night soon, and the storm was almost here. There would be nothing else to do but find someplace in the basement and ride it out.
They spotted Danny flying overhead. "He must be looking for M'xy," Grimm said.
"And I am thinking he has found him, comrade. Look." Blackwulf pointed at the flying cows overhead.
"Yep, gotta be M'xy."
The wind and rains began to hit harder, and a large tree began to uproot itself from its place in the ground. With a large crack, it tore free and headed straight for the two men.
"Get back, Wulf," Grimm said, reaching for his axe. He would have to time this just right.
As the tree flew toward the two, Grimm took careful aim and swung the axe with both hands, splitting the tree in two large pieces that continued off until landing on nearby storefronts.
"Greem," Blackwulf started, "I am thinking that tree heading for us was just a little too convenient."
"Wulf, we're in the middle of a freaking hurricane. There's gonna be lot more stuff than trees heading for us if we don't get to cover."
"Yes, but it flew straight for us! That is being too much of coincidence for me."
"C'mon, let's see if we can catch Danny and M'xy and get back."
Phil waited for the last flickers of the teleportation effect to die away, then looked around. The others were headed back inland, and far enough ahead that they were almost out of sight. Oh well. They were all going to the same place anyway. No real hurry.
He braced himself against the wind and started plodding toward town.