Chapter 9: Dreadful Stars

It had taken quite some time, but thankfully, everyone was able to calm Sahn down long enough for the Kobrian to gain some civility. Zet made it plain that there was no such thing as civil Kobrians, and Sahn grumbled at him again, and a fight would’ve started if Greg and Dana didn’t order them to behave themselves. Diana, normally not in the best of moods, gazed at the two feuding males in bemusement, and silently prayed out a thanks that she didn’t know what was going on.

“Anyway,” sniffed Sahn once things calmed down, “Iya just heard some news about zees, eh ... how you say, zees job, eh?”

“Yeah, we know that part,” said Greg. “But what is it? Is it hard? Does it pay good? And please, Sahn, don’t involve any strangers.”

“You’n’a sayin’ that like ees a bad theeng!!” sang the Kobrian. “You know the old sayin’: strength in numbers, my friend! Strength in numbers! An’ if’n ya hadn’t’a noticed, we’s gotta lotta numbers here, eh!”

“But what is it?“ demanded Dana. Sahn grumbled to himself and muttered out a reply.

“Ehh, some beeg people have been postin’ bounties all over the place, eh! They say, there’s a new creeminal in town, some kinda mad doctor on the run, and they’n’a place a beeg price on their head, eh!”

“A ‘mad doctor’?” parroted Diana. “Whaddya mean?”

“Dunno,” grumbled Sahn. “There hasn’t been much eenformation on eet. The pay is well worth eet, hehe, if’n ya know what I mean!” Greg groaned in misery, and made sure he understood what was happening before he dedicated himself to anything.

“Okay, lemme get this straight. You’re asking us to go barging into some mad scientist’s place without even knowing what we’re up against?”

“No! No-no-no! No, I didn’t’a say eet like that!! I was just sayin’, you know, mebbe I could geet some help from my friends, eh? I mean, I’m’a gonna take thees job no mattah what, but, ahhh ... I’d’a like to have some partners, y’know?” Greg sighed and actually considered the deal; everyone else preferred not to get involved.

“Thanks, but no thanks,” sighed Dana. “I’ve had enough of your crazy schemes for one day.”

“Ey, come on, pretty lady!!!” begged Sahn. “Thees doctor, eh, she’s’a not’a like the others, ya? She’s’a crazy person, eh, and I donna wanna go een there’n fight’er, eh!” A pause.

“Her?”

“Ya! What, you never heard’a the eenfamous Dr. Elenia Agnes Dallahart?”

“Can’t say that I have,” shrugged Dana. Not even Greg knew, and up until about a year ago, he had been living on Earth. Sahn sneered a little as he saw how clueless everyone was, when to his mild surprise, Zet stood up and explained.

“I have heard of her,” he said. “Dr. Elenia Agnes Dallahart--alias Dr. Dread! Dr. Dallahart, or Dr. Dread as she is called, is a bizarre and deranged mad scientist whose brilliance is only overshadowed by her sheer insanity! Her contributions to the field of medicine and science have all been either harmful or disastrous, and she has been declared legally insane by the Scientific and Judicial world. The fact that she has evaded capture to this very day is baffling.”

“Hey, how do you know about her?” asked a suspicious Gregory. Zet smiled and pointed to his ears.

“I must admit that the brunt of my knowledge comes from research and study. I know little of this dimension, so even to this day, I find myself wandering into archives and libraries to brush up on its history.” He sat back down with a smile, and though Diana’s face was unreadable as always, she secretly had to admit that her bodyguard definitely had a few amazing tricks up his sleeve.

“Yeah, that Dr. Dread can be a real pain in the neck,” spoke a voice from somewhere. Everyone nearly leaped out of their seats when they heard it--everyone, that is, except for Diana, who recognized the voice. Instead of jumping, she reached under the table and yanked out Jerwon, slamming him on the seats before anyone knew what had happened!

“Hey, what the--”

“OW! Diana!!”

“What ... hey, kid! Where’d you come from?” asked Greg. Jerwon’s tanned face grew red again, and he sneered at the taller man.

“I told you to stop calling me that!” he insisted. Greg sighed out an apology, leaving most everyone else to wonder either who this little one was, or where he had came from. Both questions were cleared away by Jerwon: he was a Leduadian, and he had been skillfully mingling in with the taller species of the room. The group would later discover that, because of his smaller stature, Jerwon was exceptionally good at eavesdropping. The only reason he was found just then was because he chose to reveal himself.

“Hey!” hissed Diana as she shoved her friend gently. “Don’t eavesdrop on people! It isn’t nice!”

“Sorry.” A pause. Zet suddenly realized something, and shot out a question to the smaller elf.

“Am I mistaken, or did you just claim to have knowledge about Dr. Dread?”

“So what if I do?” sniffed the Leduadian. A smile came to the taller elf’s mouth.

“I myself have been searching for her for quite some time,” he admitted. “It seems quite strange that most of my pursuits have been women: first the Space Cat, then Lady Diana, and now Dr. Dread, but I am no serial hunter. I merely go out and capture those that are committing the worst crimes.”

“Humph!” snorted Sahn. “I don’ want anything to do weeth thees creature! Lemme team up weeth’a everyone else, eh, and we’ll just’a leave you alone here weeth your friend, eh!” Zet made a sour face, and would have countered with one of his own insults had he not been stopped--again. This time, it was Jerwon who prevented any discord from occurring, and the little guy had a very stern look to his face.

“Listen,” he began. “The Kobrian’s right. Dr. Dread is no one to approach alone. She’s not just mad, she’s wicked, and there’ll be little chance of stopping her unless we all work together. Now, I know that the two of you hate that idea, but you’re just going to have to put your enmity behind you for the time--that is, if you both intend on working towards the same goal??”

A pause. Sahn cursed in his native tongue.

“Greesha... the boy ees right...”

“‘Boy’?”

“We cannot go een there by ourselves,” continued Sahn, paying no heed to the taller one’s anger (Sahn was no longer than Greg’s shoe, so of course most people were tall to him). “I don’ wanna say eet, but since you’n I are goin’ for the same goal here, we’n’a might as well forget about the past and team up, eh?” Another pause. Zet grumbled, using his piercing eyes to bore into his enemy. Kobrians were not always the most reliable species, and this one especially seemed unsavory.

But as much as he himself hated to admit it, Sahn was right. They were both after the same bounty, so what little sense did it make to turn everything into one big contest? The bounty would probably escape on them anyway, and Zet was not one to allow any of his prey to leave his sights. It took a lot of humility to admit he needed to team up with a one-time enemy; it took even more to shake on it.

“All right,” he said with a growl. “I shall cast my pride aside for the time being and ... team up with you. But at the first sign of treachery, I shall turn and walk away!”

“And so weel I!” pointed Sahn, and the two stared at each other fiercely before breaking away. Zet leaned back in his chair to finish his mead, and Sahn flapped over to Greg and Dana, a smile on his tiny face.

“ ... So ... what just happened?” she asked. Greg did not have a good answer for her.

“I think we just got suckered into this job.” They both let out some air, and leaned back in their chairs to stare at the ceiling. Neither one of them had ever worked with so many people before, especially since most of that number couldn’t get along for four seconds, so they could tell that things were going to be very interesting from then on out.

It was quite possibly one of the strangest entourages to date. In the lead was Jerwon and Zet, who kept Diana close by his side (“Not too close,” he had agreed. The demi-human still didn’t trust her protector that much, but at least she allowed him to watch her back). After them came Dana, Greg, and Sahn, bringing up the rear. A normal pedestrian of those streets would have to wonder why there were two humans walking around with a pointy-eared bounty hunter, a demi-human who was part dragon, a Kobrian, and something that appeared to be a sprite.

It was true that the six of them made a strange group, but when it all came down to the bare essentials, they were all really after the same goal. Zet, Greg, and Dana wanted to rid the world of this and other criminals, Jerwon and Diana were searching for their place in life, and Sahn ... well ... Sahn was just in it for the fight and the money. Hearing the Kobrian admit his need for help was almost as big of a surprise as hearing Zet call a truce, and though the two of them were still like dogs over a scrap of meat, at least they agreed to disagree.

“So do you know where this Dr. Dread lives?” asked Diana. Jerwon turned around and faced her, but still kept walking (backwards).

“Sorta. I’ve heard things from Sayrah, and we all know that Diana’s seen a lot of things. In fact, she even had a brief skirmish with the good doctor a few months ago. Didn’t you, Diana?” The demi-human closed her eyes and snarled, folding her hands across her chest protectively. She even snorted out a little puff of smoke.

“It’s nothing to brag about,” she scowled. “I just burned a little bit of her hand off, that’s all. It was an accident, so don’t go thinking that I attacked her.” Nobody spoke a word after hearing the surprising piece of information. The fact that she had went fang-to-face with a mad scientist and left the woman a scar, whilst escaping unadulterated herself, was amazing. Of course, she had been one of the Chikyou, so...

“So yeah,” said Jerwon after a pause. “I know where she lives. This way.” And the diminutive Leduadian sprinted ahead at a pace that few other living creatures could match. Sahn followed at the speed of a laser bolt, and Greg and Dana were both in good enough shape to keep up, which left Zet and Diana alone in the streets.

“You are not following them?” he asked. She shrugged.

“I don’t have to. I already paid that lady my fare. Besides, I’m tired.”

“Then I shall stay as well,” he resolved, and sat himself down on the sidewalk, carefully cradling his cannon on his shoulder. Diana let out a weary sigh, and her tail twitched around as she gazed at the enigmatic elf.