dragondoodle

“Aardrin, if only you weren’t so tall this would be easier!” Rysta winked at him. The brunette woman looked far more relaxed and rested than she had the night before and had been displaying remarkable energy and enthusiasm for the shopping trip that Sara had taken them on. The Sorceress seemed very pleased with her new clothing, already wearing a pair of jeans, t-shirt, and coat as she walked down the street carrying her bags. She was still wearing her own boots, but even Sara admitted that they looked perfectly acceptable. Rysta hadn’t changed her belt with her carrying pouch either, although she had followed Sara’s advice and run it thro...

After what felt like only a short period of restless sleep, Michael was awoken by the persistent soft beeping of the proximity alarm. He sat up and squinted at the monitor. Someone had opened the door to the roof garden. He grumbled and pulled on some clothes quickly, already suspecting what, or rather, whom, he’d find out there. He refrained from waking up Yule or Sara, if he couldn’t take care of this by himself what was the point of being a superhero? He turned off the alarm and quietly made his way down the stairs and to the door that led out to the garden.Rysta sat perched on the railing looking down over the lights of the city. She w...

The younger Bruce man looked over at the small brunette sitting on the couch. There had been a protest when they’d had to get her into the elevator. She tried to insist that she would be perfectly fine taking the stairs all the way up to the penthouse. Everyone had laughed until they realized that she was completely serious, refusing to step foot into something she insisted was far too small. Rysta was finally convinced to use the device by Yule, who suggested that just the two of them go up first and the rest of them follow so she didn’t feel quite so crowded. By the time the rest of the team joined them, Rysta still looked shaken and pal...

“RYSTA! By all the GODS!” Aardrin’s voice boomed through the warehouse causing everyone to freeze in surprise, even Torrent who was about ready to launch himself at the armed woman. “STOP!” The healer grabbed Rysta off the table and set her on the floor, staring down at her, hands on her shoulders and giving her a firm shake. “You will NOT threaten these people! We need their help!”Rysta looked up and gave Aardrin a petulant scowl, “Sounding like Tiernan isn’t going to change my mind… that’s just low.” She muttered at him and gave Torrent another suspicious look, “I don’t trust people who wear masks. They’re hiding something.”Aardrin groan...

Torrent cleared his throat and pointed to his three teammates in turn, “This is Zephyra, Overcast, and Blizzard . . . everyone, this is Aardrin Radbourne.”Aardrin nodded distractedly, not taking Torrent’s absence of the healer title personally. His attention was on the table just past the three masked figures and he headed immediately for it, not waiting for permission. Rysta’s breathing had become very shallow and she was burning up with fever; he couldn’t postpone healing her any longer and he was kicking himself for not noticing the issue before now, wishing his curse didn’t include his inability to heal when he was a horse. He set Ryst...

That night Team Torrent concentrated on other cases and didn’t stake out the jewelry stores. There hadn’t been a repeat thievery attempt the night before, contrary to Black Torrent’s gut feeling, so it looked as though their mystery thief was true to her word. The police were watching the last two stores anyway, so the heroes decided to focus on the areas that were being left unpatrolled. Sara found it easy to slip away to the park just as the sun was setting. She kept in contact with everyone; she certainly didn’t want to find herself walking into a trap, but she was oddly excited about this meeting. How many times do you have a “conversa...

Yule arrived wearing the domino mask and knit cap that he tended to wear when he needed to hide his identity in these cases. He started trying to revive the two sleeping heroes as Dark Flame ran to check on Torrent. She was about to cross the street when the horse suddenly went alert and trotted back behind the building. Flame went around the other side and heard a woman's voice.“Aardrin! You were supposed to be watching my back! Someone sneaked in behind me!” There was a pause, then “No! I didn't kill him! But I'm pretty sure he saw me. I just put him to sleep.” Sara's heart dropped. To whom was the female talking? The horse? The voice co...

Sara chuckled as she watched the news and finished getting ready for their stakeout, “That horse is still on the loose.”“Still?” her brother peered at the news report showing a blurry surveillance camera picture of a spotted horse trotting down a sidewalk, looking like it was perfectly at home, “I thought they’d called in some wranglers . . .”“Oh they did.” Sara chuckled again as she thought about what she’d just watched, “Apparently the creature is really smart. They haven’t even managed to tranquilize it.”Michael looked puzzled, “That’s really impressive for an animal.”“The news has been so odd lately. First those strange lights a couple...