by I'm Not Mister Mxypltk, Danny and Grimm
After all the stuff that had just happened, Shirley Harrison was feeling pretty tired and confused. She was also disappointed, because she didn't get a chance to see Mick Harrison (or even M'xy) when they took her and the other people outside the basement.
Shirley started looking around her at the place where she and the other people were taken, and suddenly she noticed where she was standing. This was where her Uncle Otto said he was staying. She immediately spotted the cave he lived in.
She walked into the cave, which, obviously, was completely dark. "Uncle Otto?" she said, getting no answer. Then, following a hunch, she said, "Lights," and the cave was illuminated. "You're so predictable, Otto," she said to herself.
In the now-lit cave, she saw a fancy lamp, a bed, a TV set, a small kitchen with a fridge, a closet full of Hawaiian shirts, a couple of bookshelves, but no sign of her uncle. There was enough space in there to comfortably make a living room and even have people over, or hold a party.
Then she saw a cellphone on the floor, and only then she noticed the tire threads also on the floor. She followed them outside the cave and saw they continued on the muddy ground and then on to the city.
Shirley looked at the cellphone, then the tire threads, then on to the city. She deduced that, after the connection had broken when they were talking over the phone, Otto thought Shirley was in danger, so he went to the city to rescue her, and she worried that, if driving in this weather hadn't killed him, the vampires may have.
Meanwhile, in the city, Uncle Otto, now transformed into a winged bear with large claws and teeth, was covered in vampire blood, and vampire parts surrounded him. He saw a wall of wind coming to him, destroying everything in its path, but he did not move, even after the wall had reached him. The wind that destroyed the buildings and cars did nothing to him but clean the vampire blood off his fur.
He started moving in the wind, using the impulse of the wind to take him to the apartment complex.
"YOUR UNCLE OTTO IS GOING TO SAVE YOU, SHIRLEY!" he yelled.
Shirley slumped in her Uncle Otto's recliner chair, silently contemplating the empty cave. Otto would be fine. He knew how to take care of himself. She should just wait here for him, and he would be along any moment. Well, she had to tell herself something to keep from panicking.
Edulcore Cicciotto entered the cave, slowly approaching Shirley. "Are you okay?" he asked softly.
"Hm? Oh, hi, Ed. Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, looking up at him.
"So this is where your Uncle Otto lives, huh?" Ed said, sitting down on the couch opposite her.
"Yeah..."
"In a cave?"
"Heh. Yeah."
Edulcore thought this over for a second. "Your uncle is a strange guy," he said. Shirley laughed out loud. "Where is he now?" Ed asked her.
"Probably out looking for me... while I'm here at his place. That just seems silly."
"We could probably go and look for him."
"There's probably thousands of people on the island who need your help more than he does. He knows how to look after himself. Trust me," Shirley said, smiling.
Ed grinned at this, then started looking around the cave. He stood up and wandered across to the other wall, trying to figure out whether it was man-made or simply carved out of the rock by eons of weather. It certainly didn't look man-made. "What's that?" he said suddenly, glancing off into the back of the cave.
"What's what?" Shirley replied, straining her eyes to look off into the darkness.
"Sorry. Sometimes I forget other people's eyesight isn't as good as mine. There, in the back of the cave..." Ed said, walking toward the object that grabbed his attention.
Shirley stood and started following. She found him crouched down in front of the back wall, inspecting the rock closely. He moved some loose clumps of dirt and brushed off some dust, confirming his suspicions. Sitting embedded in the rock was a trap door.
Outside the cave, in a makeshift shelter, Danny Hearn, Ameristar and Chance were overseeing the treatment of injured townspeople by La Perdita's emergency services.
"You think these people are going to be all right?" Danny said out loud to no one in particular.
"Hope so. There's not too many serious injuries... mostly cuts and bruises, falling tree branches, broken windows, that sort of thing," Chance replied. Danny just nodded.
Chance watched closely as Dr. Henry Quantos helped out the island's doctors. He owed a lot to the doctor, and now the people of the island did, too.
"Guys!" Edulcore said, approaching them. They all turned their heads toward him and found him looking rather excited.
"What?" Chance replied.
"I think I know where we can safely put all these people," Ed said.
"What? Where?" Danny replied.
"I just found a door in Shirley's uncle's cave. It leads into another cave, and I think there may be a whole network under the mountains here..." Edulcore explained.
"Really?" Danny said, his interested piqued.
"Yeah. Looks like there's enough room to fit everyone here, and probably a fair few more. There may just be room enough for everyone on the island. I haven't gone all the way in there yet," Ed said, pointing toward Otto's cave.
"Now this sounds promising," Ameristar said. The others nodded.
Back at the apartment building, the place was just about empty, except for one person. On the third floor lay Daniela of the PSI-Unit, slumped in a doorway and with a large coffee table propped up in front of her. The last thing she remembered was being outside on the balcony and watching her lover and fellow teammate Stefano die to save her.
Little did she know that a gust of wind had thrown her inside through the open door, and that the upturned coffee table had probably saved her life from the brunt of the storm. Of course, she didn't get away unharmed. Her body was covered in scratches and bruises, her costume torn in several places. All in all, she probably got away lucky. In fact, remarkably lucky, given the circumstances. But she didn't feel lucky.
She tried to stand. She winced in pain and fell to the floor, clutching a hand to her ankle. It felt broken, but she hoped it was just sprained.
On her hands and knees, she crawled across the floor to the balcony. Over broken glass, torn up books, and smashed pot plants, she slowly got there. Dragging herself out the door, she lay on the concrete. She could feel the rain on her back and the wind against her face. But she didn't really care at this point. Crawling to the edge of the balcony, she looked over.
And once again she caught sight of Stefano's body, sprawled on the ground. But it hadn't gotten away undamaged by the storm. It was now thrown up against the brick wall, looking even more crushed than it had before.
The sight drove her to tears. She just sat and cried on this balcony.
"We strive to be heroes. And thus, emotions take second place." The words of Devlin, her leader, echoed in her mind. She wondered where he was, and hoped he had gotten away safely.
"We can't let our feelings interfere with the greater mission. Yes, it's hard. Yes, sometimes we want nothing more than to give in to our emotions. This is only natural. We are human, after all. But this must be overcome for the good of those we are charged to protect, for the good of La Perdita, for the good of the people. We have to keep fighting, no matter what."
That's what Devlin had said. And he was the greatest hero she had ever known.
She stopped crying. She propped herself up on the balcony. And she looked out over La Perdita, ravaged by Hurricane Jason, stormed by vampires. And here she was.
Making her way back into the building, she looked for the elevator.
Back on the beach, the local authorities were beginning to herd the village's populace into the caves beneath the mountain. They'd ripped open the trap door and widened the hole, making access easier. They planned to apologize to Otto whenever they saw him next.
Priest was sitting on his own, sheltered in a rocky outcrop a small way up the beach. Danny had called a team meeting and neglected to invite him, which suited Priest just fine. His mission would be over soon, and the Aussie wouldn't be a problem for anyone anymore.
Meanwhile, the team was out in the shelter, discussing their next move.
"There's bound to be more people all over the island... especially in the city," Ed said.
"Most of them are probably holed up in bomb shelters. There's safe places all over the island," Danny replied.
"Most likely. But there's probably a few that aren't. Until we've checked otherwise, we have to assume there's still people in danger from the storm," Ed added. Danny nodded in agreement.
"So what's the next move?" Grissom Montag asked.
"Well, we should probably head back into the city, check the main buildings... places where people are most likely to have headed when they heard the storm warnings. Biggest buildings first... probably start with Royal Crown Tower, biggest building on the island. Heaps of people work there," Danny said.
"They're probably safe," Ed said.
"We can't be sure of that," Danny responded sternly.
"Right..."
Danny pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket, and dialed a number. On the other end, Dirk Bell answered.
"Bell here."
"Dirk? It's Danny."
"Great."
"Uh... right... Can you send M'xy back here? And Grimm to the Royal Crown Tower?"
"Sure. Why?"
"We're checking the city for people, making sure they're all safe. A couple of us will meet Grimm there."
"Right. And me and Wulf...?"
"Can you meet us where Oak Street meets the main road to the beach?"
"Yeah. But listen, we don't have long until the ass end of the storm hits us."
"Which is why we have to work fast. Pass on what I asked. See you soon."
Danny hung up. As he did so, he noticed grains of sand begin to swirl around on the beach. With some amusement, he noticed them begin to form themselves into a sandcastle big enough for a person to fit inside. He looked up at Phil Smith and continued, "So... Phil, you're possibly quite helpful when it comes to locating people. Grissom, you're with them, too. Take M'xy..."
M'xy stepped out of the sandcastle that had appeared around him, a crown made of sand propped up on his top hat.
"M'xy... go with Phil and Grissom. Meet up with Grimm at the Royal Crown Tower. But you check in with me every couple of minutes, I may need you elsewhere," Danny explained.
"Right!" The crown disappeared, and the sandcastle fell down. M'xy put on his serious face.
"And the rest of us..." Danny began.
"Vampire hunt," Ameristar finished, cutting him off. Danny just smiled at her and nodded.
"Damn right," he said. "Chance, can I borrow your phone?"
"Sure..." Chance replied, handing it to Danny.
While Jackie stood up to gather her weapons for the hunt, Danny ran to where Tayden stood at the entrance to the cave, helping to usher people in. "Listen... Tayden, is it?"
"Yeah."
"Hey. We never got the chance to meet properly... I'm Danny."
"Hi."
"We need your help here. There's a lot of people here, and a lot of them are going to be pretty panicked. You seem to be pretty good with people, and you look like you can keep a level head. Can you keep an eye on them for me? Make sure they stay calm?" Danny asked.
"Sure. No problem."
Danny pulled Chance's mobile phone out of his pocket and offered it. "Take this. My number's stored in it," Danny said, patting his own phone in his pocket. "Call me if anything happens that we should know about it. Thanks, man. We owe you," Danny said, running back up the beach to meet his team.
Back outside the apartment complex, Dirk put his cell phone back into his belt and said, "We're supposed to meet up with the rest of the crew downtown. We have more people to try and rescue. They've found some sort of shelter in a cave somewhere."
"And just how are we supposed to get there? The hovercraft was destroyed, remember?" Grimm responded, arms folded in front of him.
"Well, it's just a guess, but I would say we'll be taking the fifth-dimension express," Dirk answered, pointing to the sky behind Grimm's head.
Grimm turned around and saw three winged cows flying out of the sky toward the MBL Consulting members.
On the other side of the apartment complex, Daniela was stepping out of the front door, limping and using a broken piece of wood as a crutch.
A confused look crossed her face as she thought she saw a flying bear heading straight for the building.
"HOLD TIGHT, SHIRLEY! I'M GONNA SAVE YOU!" Otto yelled.