Earth date: 10/25/11, 16:51
I have a hard time describing the sound I heard in the Faukan's last moments. It's easier to write it: BOOOOOOOOOOONG! It was a resonant sound, like how a gong resonates after it's been hit.
Something that wasn't quite flames caught the Faukan in midair. The Faukan sailed sideways. I whirled around to follow the source. The homeless man had pushed past Joey and Jay, and now not-flames burst from his eyes, focused on the Faukan. As quickly as it had started, it was over. The homeless man cut off the energy stream, exposing his face. He had no eyeballs, and his empty eye sockets burned with the fiery energy he'd blasted the Faukan with.
"Flaming Eye Guy!" Frazz yelled.
The homeless man looked Frazz's way. "Yes."
"You're the guy from the woods?" Kristi said.
"How?" Jay said.
"Irrelevant," the homeless man said. "When I'm ready, we'll talk." The homeless man turned to resume pushing his cart.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Jay said. He held out a hand to stop him.
The homeless man split in half.
"Ah!" Jay said.
The homeless man's torso split off of his waist. It floated over Jay's outstretched arm and landed back on his legs, which had continued walking unimpeded. He resumed pushing his cart until he was out of sight.
"We probably should have grabbed him," Max said.
"If you wanted to go after him after he did that..." Jay clapped his hands together and then abruptly pulled them apart. "...you'd be doing it without me helping you."
"Guys?" Daphne said. "The stairs."
I looked that way right as I winced at the smell of burning meat.
The homeless man's attack had landed the Faukan on the subway stairs. The Faukan was gone. There was bubbling blue goo running down the stairs that I assumed was the remains of the Faukan. More than that, the stairs were destroyed. The turnstile had vaporized into trails of molten slag, burning through the tiles of the subway station. A crater as big as an ATV had been punched into the stairs, and smoke rose from a mixture of melted concrete and molten metal.
There were footsteps, and two police officers in full SWAT gear came halfway down the stairs. "What's your status?" one of them asked. Both of them stopped as they took in the scene.
"What the hell?" the other officer said.
Joey put his shield on his back and walked through the hole in the turnstile. The officers met him halfway, carefully stepping around the crater in the stairs.
"Did you take care of the monster?" the first officer said.
"You're standing in him," Frazz said. The officers looked down, saw the blue glop running down the stairs, and moved back up the stairs, out of the goo.
"Did he do that, or was that you guys?" the second officer said, motioning to the crater in the stairs.
Joey hesitated before he nodded over his shoulder at me. "We fought it with firepower."
"I don't know what kind of gun does that, but we may have to repo that from you," the first officer said.
"Wrong firepower," Frazz said. "White?"
I held up an open palm and made a flare of flame.
The first officer blinked and adjusted his grip on his rifle. "That kind of firepower."
"Yep."
There were several screeches outside, and I could hear the commotion outside going louder. "What's that?" Kristi said.
"Probably the newshounds," the second officer said. "You guys should get out of here."
"Will do," Joey said. "Come on, guys."
"Hey," the first officer said.
We stopped.
The officer looked like he was deciding what to say and settled on "Thank you. That thing killed friends of mine."
"No problem," Joey said.
Then we teleported away.
Earth date: 10/25/11, 16:56
The first thing I heard upon landing in the base was a sneeze.
Will was at a computer, loudly blowing his nose. "How's you guys' days going?" he asked.
"A homeless guy blew up the Faukan with his head flamethrower," Frazz said.
Will nodded as if that made perfect sense. "I was passed out at home sleeping the cold off when Cole told me you guys went after the Faukan. He's waiting for you with Bette and Monica. Come on."
We followed Will out. We found Mr. Cole in the the big room, around the big table with Bette and Monica. "Have a seat," he said. We did. "The Faukan?" he asked.
"Dead," Joey said.
"Flaming Eye Guy did it!" Frazz said.
Mr. Cole looked like he didn't know how to make a follow-up question to that.
"The forest ranger who helped us with the Pycanthropes," Jay translated. "Only he looked like a homeless guy this time."
"He's a shapeshifter?" Mr. Cole said. "Interesting."
Monica cleared her throat.
"Right," Mr. Cole said. "Update."
Will sneezed and blew his nose.
"I believe in transparency, so here's the truth: something has been off with alien activity on Earth."
"What does 'off' mean?" Joey said.
"I've been in my position for a few years. Alien life making their way to Earth are a rarity, and they'll typically try to find an isolated region so as to acclimate to our planet. Prior to the Vlolmeeth, the last alien I'd found was a Ghattek that had made itself at home in the mountains of Tajikistan. To have three different aliens appear in public places within a few months of one another is..." he paused, looking for a word. "...anomalous."
"And that's not all," Bette piped up. "We took DNA samples from Xax before he and Umowoe got on the ship to go home."
I thought about the horrible smell of Xax's vomit and scrunched my nose.
"I found a massive dose of akkiamin extract in Xax's bodily fluids," she said.
"Not good?" Kristi guessed.
"Very not good," Monica said. Will sneezed, as if to emphasize the point. "The akkiamin plant produces an oil that, upon consumption, directly stimulates the amygdala." She tapped the table, and the lights dimmed as a hologram of a brain appeared. An almond-shaped piece of gray matter in the bottom center of the brain flashed red. "The part of the brain that processes emotions. It ratchets the amygdala's function up to eleven. And typically, that doesn't translate to the victim becoming super-happy."
"Also, it's not found on Earth. Or anywhere in the Milky Way Galaxy," Mr. Cole added.
"That, too."
The hologram disappeared, and the lights came back on.
"So," Frazz said. "Aliens are coming to Earth way more than they usually do and taking alien drugs when they do."
"'Taking' might be the wrong word," Will said. "'Drugged with,' more than likely."
"I forgot the most important part," Mr. Cole said. "Does the name Gavin Fernandez mean anything to you all?"
"Yeah!" Jay said. "He was on the news talking trash about us."
"Still is," Mr. Cole said. "As a matter of fact, since the Pycanthrope attack in New Jersey, he's been circling the news circuit to make sure every news audience possible knows you're menaces to society." He made the lights dim again, and a second hologram popped up. It was footage from a news show, where a smug-looking man with salt-and-pepper hair spoke to a Hispanic man with a crew cut.
"Further proof that the Democrats cannot be trusted," the Hispanic man, presumably Gavin Fernandez, said as the smug-looking man nodded in agreement. "First Mariner Grove, a city with a Democrat mayor, lets an alien attack children. Then, New Jersey, a Democratic stronghold, has another alien attack a nursing home. And now, the subways of New York have to be shut down after an alien that slaughtered our men and women in the NYPD gets away and escapes into the subway. Where was Governor Cuomo?"
The hologram disappeared, and the lights turned back on. I could see undisguised disgust on Monica's face.
"He was angry," Frazz finally said.
"With good reason," Mr. Cole said. "You see, Gavin Fernandez is a representative for the state of Iowa, but he's not originally from there. He stayed there after getting his pre-law qualifications from Dordt University and his law degree from the University of Iowa and eventually worked his way up to the House of Representatives. But he was born and raised in Camden, New Jersey." He paused, waiting for his words to hit. "As a matter of fact, his family still lives there. His mother is currently a resident at St. Paul's Nursing Home. And guess which nursing home was attacked by the Pycanthrope?"
He sat back, letting us process.
Joey was the first to put it together. "Mr. Cole, are you suggesting that someone's...planned these attacks?"
Mr. Cole leaned forward again and rested his elbows on the table.
"Yes, Joey. Yes, I am."