Rocky - Origin - Chapter Three

Half an hour later, Sh'ead sauntered down the alley, noting as he did that the clothes had all been taken inside. He knocked on the cellar door he had exited earlier. Someone inside gave a shriek, and he heard a thump, and running footsteps. Rocky's voice asked if someone was alright, the other kid answered, and the curtain on the door's window shifted.

The door opened and Rocky gestured Sh'ead inside, "Welcome back, Joe. What happened?"

Sh'ead stopped just inside the door and the boy closed it behind him. "I've got bad news for you kid." The kid in question gave a querying noise and Sh'ead continued. "You and the other kids are going to have to vacate. This building is scheduled to be demolished tomorrow."

"Ahh. I see. So you took the trouble to look up this building in the city records, on a Saturday, when you're wife was already mad at you. Hmm. I'm touched. I'm honored. I'm also," he said, his tone hardening a little, "totally unconvinced by your story."

Sh'ead made to tell a revised story, but Rocky continued, "I'm not sure yet who you are, but the fact you aren't carrying that card I gave you tells me you're probably working with that guy from last night. And you took your transmitter off, which means you found out I broke it."

"You and you're friends are good, I'll give you that. But I can see an investigation a mile away." Once again Sh'ead tried to speak, but the pale boy overrode him again. "If your purpose in coming here was truly to tell us we need to leave, then, while we appreciate the concern, we have everything under control. If not, maybe you'd better spill it." Before Sh'ead could get his mouth together, the mysterious Rocky added a caveat. "And let's skip the baloney."

It was not a good time for the homely chemist to get any vocal exercise, just as he about got an actual word out, screaming erupted from above. Footsteps charged around, and more screams and a shot were heard. Rage flashed onto Rocky's face and he seemed to vanish, so swiftly did he leave the room. "Keep him here" hung in the air behind him, and the two boys and a girl that were left stood around him. One of them slipped behind Sh'ead and locked the door.





Jim and Remy crept along the rooftops, towards the doomed building. Tom and Ham had been left at strategic locations on the block, to see where people came out, if they did. The two on the roof stopped at the one they were after, and Jim studied the situation carefully. After a few moments he decided that there were no traps or alarms, and they slid along to the hatch set into the roof. Jim applied a quick acting, short-lived acid to the hinges and latch, and the thing promptly gave way.

They checked the hall and, finding no people, dropped lightly into the building. A quick reconnoiter found the attic deserted, and they headed for the stairs. They descended through the building, finding no one. On the second floor, Remy stopped suddenly, his perpetual frown deepening. He motioned to catch Jim's attention and began using finger signs to convey his message.

"These walls must be riddled with secret passages. I've been keeping track, and the spaces of the rooms aren't big enough."

Jim signed back, "I thought so too. They're all well hidden. Let's get Sh'ead." The two friends finished their descent into the basement, coming to a closed door behind which Sh'ead and Rocky were talking. Jim was reaching for the knob when screams assaulted their ears. They headed back for the stairs but a blur which must have been Rocky zipped past, almost flying up the stairs.

For such an inactive looking child, he was hard for even Jim Wildman to catch up with. They reached the fourth floor in rapid order, with the boy leading the bronze giant by mere inches. The screams had died into whimpers, and they burst out of the stair well, heedless of what was on the other side. Jim flung himself to one side as he exited, but Rocky just charged ahead.

Bullets sunk holes in the wall behind him as he advanced on the nearest of the men who were standing over the body of a young girl. He leapt at the man, his momentum knocking the sinister fellow over, into his cohort.

By now Remy was in the room, following the boy's example by running headlong at the knot of gunmen. He struck the first he came to with the mass of bony knuckles he called a right hand, and the man fell to the floor, senseless. The next had enough presence of mind to duck and planted a punch of his own on the large Cajun. Remy didn't seem to notice the impact and flattened his opponent with another of his famous blows.

Rocky stood up on top of the thug he had knocked down and performed another leap at the next. This one didn't fall over, but was stunned enough by the impact that the boy got in a solid kick to his jaw before he could react, and he toppled. By then Rocky's first adversary was training a gun on him.

A blow to the hand knocked the gun aside just as it went off, sending the lead slug into the ceiling. A quick glance around told Rocky the source of the interference. Sh'ead let fly with a second chair leg, into the head of the thug, who's body wisely decided to give in and pass out.

Remy demolished the remaining gunmen, and was looking for more. Jim hadn't been idle through the battle. He had seized the girl on the floor as soon as she was clear, and was treating her wound. The three fighters looked at each other for a moment, engaged in a mutual admiration society.

"Not bad." The words were barely out of Sh'ead's mouth when another scream pierced the ceiling above. Rocky spat out a strange word and sprinted for the stairs. Halfway up, Remy and Sh'ead right behind him, he stopped. They almost ran into him, so abrupt was the stop, and they had started to protest when they saw the figures at the top of the stairs.

Another gunman, this one with a scarf tied about his face by way of a disguise, stood there, a small boy in his talon-like grasp. A gun was pointed at the child's head, and the villain spoke.

"Good. Stay right where you are, and none of these charming youngsters will be harmed." His voice held a European accent, and a good deal of contempt. "Now. Come up here, slowly, and we will tie you up. Any resistance, and we will kill someone." He backed away from the door, leaving plenty of room for the three in the stairwell to exit.

Rocky looked back down at Remy and Sh'ead and nodded reluctantly. They raised their hands and filed slowly up and through the door.

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