When Tom ended his call with Michael, there was a sense of relief in Freddy’s husband that was visible on his face.
“Phew” Michael said with a sigh, as he sat back down the couch. “Thank god he’s alright. Now we don’t have to worry about trying to explain this to Tom anymore.”
“Shouldn’t someone have offered to go over there and escort him?” Chris asked. “That way we know for sure that the mayor’s goon squad didn’t kidnap them before they could get here?”
“Uh.”
“Let me check his surroundings” Sofya said, as she closed her eyes and looked at any threats in Tom’s direction. “I think he’s good for the time being, but he better hurry. I sense some of the mayor’s people are heading over here as we speak.”
“Oh god.”
“Let’s just hope he gets here safely” Chris said.
Walking through the neighborhood at night, Tom took Buddy back to Michael’s house.
“Now you’re sure he’s not going to press charges?” Tom asked aloud.
“Shhhhh!!!!!” Freddy communicated. “Quiet, Tom. You don’t want the neighbors to hear you.”
“Sorry. You nodded your head on the set of the commercial today. Did you intend to do that or was that an accident?"
"A total accident. You weren't supposed to know who I was."
"I wish you would have tried to communicate with me sooner, Freddy. I probably wouldn't have given your husband as hard of time as I did, if you had said all of this earlier."
"Whatever Tom, the past is the past. Let's just work on getting back to my husband and the others."
"So when I put you down in the basement with Lady last night, with her being in heat and all, did you--"
"Stop Tom! I don't want to talk about that. Just mind the sidewalk and don't tug on my leash so hard. Ok?"
Tom nodded, as he became mindful of not tugging on Buddy’s leash, knowing that it was actually Freddy Benson. It made him have a reevaluation of how he had treated Buddy, while he was still around, and Lady, who was still in his house. He hoped that he hadn’t been too aggressive with them, but none of them were ever as stubborn as Freddy. He sighed quietly, as he walked with Buddy over to Michael’s house.
When they arrived, they saw Chris staring at them from the living room window.
“He’s here” Chris said, as he ran to the front door to answer it.
When Tom got up to the front door with Buddy, he saw that the door was opening for him at the same time.
“Get in here” Chris hissed, as he grabbed Tom’s arm and pulled him inside.
“Hey!” Tom snapped, as he smacked Chris’ arm. “Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do that? Listen you. You—“
“Enough!” Michael snapped, as Chris closed the door. “We don’t have time for this right now. Let’s just settle inside and catch Tom up to speed on what’s going on.”
Seeing his husband again, Buddy barked and jumped up onto Michael. Michael giggled, as the dog licked his face with his slobbery tongue.
“It’s good to see you again, Freddy. Welcome home.”
Buddy barked, before he got down and nudged himself next to Michael’s leg.
“Thanks for bringing him back here, Tom.”
“You know I’m forgoing a lot of money by doing this” Tom replied with a snort. “The only reason I agreed to this is because your husband told me who he is and he said that you won’t pursue criminal charges if I brought him to you.”
“He was right about that.”
“I never agreed to that” Sofya said with a snit. “Listen Tom, you need a reality check here.”
“Sofya! We don’t have time for this right now!”
“Wait a second” Tom thought aloud, before he exclaimed in anger. “The mayor hates you fuckers!!!! If I was to report you all right now, he’d probably pay me more than the $1 million he offered. Screw the criminal charges, he has control over that. I’m—“
“Tom!” Sofya snapped, as she took his communication device away and hid it with her magic.
“Son of a fucking bitch!”
“You will get it back when this is all over!”
“You can’t keep me hostage here. I’ll go back home and—“
Sofya used her magic to lock the front and back doors and the windows.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“Tom” Michael said calmly “let’s have a chat about this logically please. Have a seat.”
“No!” Tom snapped. “I won’t do it.”
“Fine, then stand. Let’s talk about this logically. First of all, why do you trust that the mayor would ever pay you the $1 million he offered to give you for giving him my husband?”
“Because he was desperate for it and knows that if I don’t hand him over, then he won’t get Freddy back.”
“He could just as easily kidnap him” Chris said “the way he had his goon squad steal the ring from you in broad daylight.”
“So that’s where it went!!!! Freddy, why did you say I sold the ring to the mayor?!?! I never did that!!!!!!”
“It was a mistake” Freddy communicated to him. “Calm down.”
“Speaking of that” Michael noted “Sofya, how is it possible that Tom is able to hear what Freddy is saying in his thoughts?”
“I have no idea” she replied honestly.
“Tom” Chris said “have you ever had any sort of experiences that can only be explained with magic?”
“No!” Tom snapped. “Why would you say such a fucking absurd thing like that?!”
“We originally thought you might be a wizard” Michael replied. “Hence, why we hesitated in trying to take the ring back from you by force earlier.”
“Well that makes sense now” Sofya said “but that’s all the more reason why you needed to reach out to me earlier. Doing a reading on Tom right now, though, he does not appear to be a magical being. Still, I would like to know how he’s hearing Freddy’s voice in his head right now.”
Sofya paused for a moment, before she gave her deduction.
“Mental illness” she suggested.
“What?!” Tom snapped.
“You heard me. You suffer from severe mental health problems.”
“I do not!!!!!!”
“Tom” Chris said “come on. You know you have some issues.”
“I most certainly do not!!!!! I’m totally sane in the head!!!!!!”
“You assaulted all of us” Sofya said.
“You trespassed into this house” Chris said.
“You have some of the worst social skills known to man” Michael said.
Buddy growled, as Tom began to fume.
“I don’t need to hear this right now!” Tom said loudly, as he tried to open the front door. “Stupid door is locked!”
“You’re not getting out of here until we let you leave” Sofya replied. “Anyways, my estimation is because Tom’s brain works differently, perhaps he has channels in his brain open that are closed in most other mortals. Hence, why Freddy is somehow able to communicate with him using his thoughts.”
“I’m not crazy!!!!” Tom yelled, as he continued to struggle to open the front door.
“Sofya” Michael said, ignoring Tom’s yelling. “Is there some way you can make it so that everyone here can hear what Freddy has to say?”
“Hmmmm.”
Sofya paused to think for a moment, as Buddy looked up at her curiously.
"I could try to change him back" she suggested.
Buddy barked happily, but Michael dismissed her.
"No" Michael replied sharply.
Buddy whimpered, as he looked up at Michael with puppy dog eyes.
"I don't want to take any chances here. Freddy's transformations are caused by the ring. Who knows what kind of conditions and things are part of this curse. It could do some long term damage, trigger a trap or kill him if you try to change him back. It's not worth the risk to try turning him back into himself again."
Buddy whimpered again, as Michael scratched him behind the ears.
"He has a point, Freddy" Sofya said in concurrence. "I also don't know if my magic is totally back to normal yet. Let me think of something else to help us out here."
She thought for a moment, as Buddy looked up at her curiously. When she had another idea, she verbalized it aloud.
“Freddy, can you try to project your thoughts to me?”
Buddy barked, as Freddy tried to communicate a thought to her.
“Sofya. Sofya can you hear me?”
“It’s a little garbled” she replied. “Keep talking.”
“Sofya. Testing 1 2 3. Sofya, can you hear me now?”
“Better. So, here’s what I’m going to do.”
Sofya placed a finger on her cranium and let out a beam of light.
“I will allow you all to hear whatever Freddy communicates into my head. A side effect of this may include hearing my own thoughts aloud, but I’ll turn this off before we head outside. Freddy, let’s try this out.”
“Hello everyone” Freddy communicated.
“It works” Michael replied happily. “Hi Freddy.”
“Hi Michael. Woah, this is so weird. Everything I’m thinking in my head is being heard by all of you. It’s a little disorienting, to be honest, because anytime I’m trying to think—“
Buddy barked aloud, as he became irritated and confused.
“What’s wrong, Freddy?” Sofya asked with a worried tone in her voice.
“It’s this damn echo. I hear—“
Michael bent down and rubbed Buddy on the back.
“I hear myself on echo as I’m trying to talk and it’s a bit disorienting.”
“Maybe this isn’t the best idea” Sofya said, as she placed her finger to her head and shut off the spell.
“Sofya” Michael said. “Turn that back on.”
“No. Besides, I didn’t want you hearing my thoughts anyway. I’m going to try something else.”
Sofya walked over to Buddy and bent down before him. Tentatively putting her finger to his head, she let out a beam of light, before she got up and looked down at the dog that was Freddy.
“Try it now” Sofya suggested.
“Ok” Freddy thought to himself. “Hello? Can everybody hear me?”
“I can hear you” Michael replied, as he rubbed Buddy’s back.
“Me too” Chris concurred.
“That’s better” Sofya said, proud of her advanced magic skills paying off for her.
“Son of a bitch” Tom grumbled, as he gave up trying to open the front door. “You all have me held as your prisoner.”
“You owe us, asshat!” Sofya snapped.
Tom continued to growl, as Michael looked to change the subject.
“So now it’s time to strategize” he said, as he got up from the floor and sat down on the couch.
“No!!!!!” Tom snapped, which startled the others assembled in the room. “You all need to tell me what’s going on first! You have me as a prisoner here, so you owe it to me to fill me in on what’s happening!!!!!!!”
“Ugh” Sofya groaned, as she sent a beam of magic to Tom.
When the light hit his head, it was as if all of the information they wanted him to know appeared to him in an instant.
“Woah” Tom said aloud, as the gist of what was happening hit him in that moment. “That’s fucking crazy!”
“Tell me about it” Michael groaned.
“So now that you’re all caught up to speed” Sofya said “let’s work on how to go after the mayor and my father. I’ll start this time. We can’t just barge into his office anymore. It’s too dangerous and now it’s likely that they aren’t even there anymore. We need to draw them out into a big open space and force them to attack us on our turf. They shouldn’t be allowed to control the environment we do battle in. We should choose where they come to us. We should have the home field advantage here.”
“What makes you think the mayor and your father would fall for such an obvious trap like that?” Michael asked. “Being drawn out would leave them vulnerable to us. Why would they fall for it?”
“Because we have what they want and if they want to try to take him back, they need to go where we are to get him.”
“They have something we want, too. The ring. As long as the mayor has it in his possession, then he controls whether Freddy is a human or a dog. He’ll figure that we need the ring more than they need Freddy. Plus, he controls the entire police force in this town. It’s only a matter of time before he sends his men after us.”
“I still think they would fall for the trap. Being so open like that would make them think they can defeat us. In closed quarters, they can’t fit that many officers and assassins. In a big space, my father might think he’ll have an advantage. He didn’t do so well in closed quarters last time. He’s not going to want a repeat of that tonight.”
“So if our goal is to choose the venue of where we’re supposed to fight, then where do we go and how do we draw them there?”
“I have a suggestion for a venue” Chris said. “Just a little ways outside of town, there’s this old, abandoned paper good factory that has been deserted for like fifty years now. Deindustrialization in the 1990’s shut down the plant and nobody ever bothered to reopen it or convert it into something else since. It’s a big space and one where we won’t have to risk other eyes watching us.”
“Not a bad idea, Chris.”
“I’m not familiar with this supposed factory, obviously” Sofya said. “However, it’s not a bad idea. Still, I’d like to take a look at it first, before we decide. Does anybody have an image of it they can show me?”
“I’ll get one” Chris replied, as he pulled out his communication device and found some images to show her.
“Hmmm” she moaned, as she looked through the images on his device.
She saw pictures of the moldy exterior, the dusty and box filled interior and the various offices on the top floor of the warehouse.
“Not the safest place to fight” she noted. “Lots of mold and dust, which is not great for our health. However, it should suffice for what we need it for.”
Sofya gave Chris his communication device back, before she continued.
“Now, you’re absolutely sure that no one is going to come in and try to stop us, right?”
“I believe so” Chris replied.
“And you’re sure that no one or no company is currently occupying the space?”
“Positive. It’s been abandoned my entire life and there’s no sign of it ever being developed into something else.”
“So that’s settled then. We go to the warehouse to fight. Now the question remains of how to draw these fuckers out.”
As Sofya mentioned this, a car pulled up to the curb of Freddy and Michael’s house.
“They’re home” a masked man noted while using binoculars. “Let’s tell the mayor.”
“No” another masked man replied. “Let’s kill them. Those were the orders.”
“No. They wanted us to bring the dog back to the mayor unharmed.”
“We won’t be able to do that. They’ll overpower us if we try to take the dog. The only option we have is to kill them.”
“We shouldn’t be going against orders. We have specific instructions.”
Inside the house, Sofya continued speaking.
“So I think that—“
She stopped suddenly, as she felt a shudder down her spine. Chris and Michael looked at her curiously, as she turned around to look out the window.
“Shit!” she exclaimed. “The mayor sent his goon squad after us.”
“Oh shit!” Chris exclaimed, as he covered Michael, while Sofya ran out of the house. “Wait! Sofya!”
Sofya unlocked the door and bolted herself outside. While she ran towards the car, the two masked men began to panic.
“Holy shit!” one of them exclaimed. “Who is that woman running towards us?”
“I don’t know” the other one replied calmly, as he drew out his gun “but I don’t want to find out.”
Rolling down the window, the masked man aimed at Sofya, but felt his gun burn into his skin before he could shoot her.
“Ahhh!” he exclaimed in excruciating pain, as Sofya ran up to the window of the car.
“You son of a bitch!” she growled, as she opened the car door and used her magic to pull them onto the grass.
“Oh shit!” one of the masked men yelled, as they were flung out of the car.
When they landed in the grass, one of them tried to pull out his communication device.
“Don’t think so” Sofya snickered, as he crushed it with her mind. “Now, what do we have here?”
“Holy shit!” one of the masked men exclaimed.
“You’re like that crazy dude the mayor is teaming up with!” the other one exclaimed. “You have these magical powers and everything!”
Sofya paused for a moment, as a sense of anger rushed over her. She began to shake, as the masked men felt their bodies heat up.
“Oh shit” one of the masked men said nervously.
“Ahhh!” the other one cried out in pain. “My body feels like it’s burning up!”
Chris, Michael and Buddy watched in horror from the window, while Tom ran into the kitchen. The bodies of the masked men began to boil and spill onto the grass below them. Their skin popped up into welts, as they began to fry alive.
“Ahhhhhh!” one of the masked men shrieked loudly. “I’m burning up!!!!!”
In an instant, the two men exploded, seeing their remains splatter onto the front of the house. Some of it headed into Sofya’s direction, but she blocked it off with some magic.
“Holy shit!” Michael exclaimed, as Buddy barked loudly and Chris held onto him tightly.
Sofya let out a chuckle, as she walked into the house. Before she did so, she used her magic to clean up the blood and guts from the front of the house. When she walked inside, she let out a smirk.
“They’re not a problem anymore” she said.
“You killed them!” Michael shrieked.
“I had to, asshole. It was either they kill us or we kill them. They were not going to surrender peacefully.”
“She’s right, Michael” Chris replied. “Sometimes, in self defense, you need to kill before they kill. I am trained to try to deescalate things, but if someone is gunning for your life, you have to do what’s best to save yourself.”
“I highly doubt that exploding them onto the siding of my house was necessary self defense!” Michael snorted. “That was just murder!”
“Wow, Michael” Sofya said. “Look at you defending the men who wanted to kill you and kidnap your husband.”
Buddy growled, as Tom came back from the kitchen.
“Is it over?” Tom asked. “Are they gone?”
“Yup. They’re gone.”
“Phew, that was a close one. Man, that fucker has a lot of these goon guys.”
“It also means we’re not safe here anymore” Chris added. “We need to get going, but before we do, we need to finish strategizing first. How are we going to draw the mayor out, so he follows us to the warehouse?”
“I have an idea” Sofya replied. “Let’s split up. Chris, you take Freddy and Michael and drive them around the neighborhood for a while. Try your best to keep anyone who pursues you off your tail until I give you the signal to head over there. Tom, you’re going to come with me. We’re going to pay the mayor a little visit.”
“Uh uh!” Tom snapped. “No! I’m not talking to that man! He’s—“
“You don’t have to, at least not directly. I’ll put you in a disguise and then telepathically speak through you.”
“That sounds creepy! I don’t know if I like this idea! Besides, I need some money. I could—“
“I will help you out” Michael said. “I’ve said from the beginning that I’d offer to help you out. Just please help us out here and I’ll fight to make you can stay in your home.”
“How? How are you going to do that?”
“With whatever it takes.”
“Plus” Freddy communicated “if I defeat the mayor and take his office, then I can get the government to back off your case.”
“We can help you, Tom. Just please work with us.”
Tom groaned, before he sighed in resignation.
“Fine. What do you want me to do?”
“Stand back” Sofya ordered, as she aimed her finger at Tom.
“Uh…wait!”
Before Tom could object, she flashed a beam of light onto him. When the glow wore off, his body began to transform. His face, below average looking before, became haggard and wrinkly. He shrunk in size and became older than his years.
“What happened?” Tom asked, in a voice that did not seem familiar to him. “My voice. What happened to my voice?”
Tom ran upstairs into the guest bathroom, before he let out a loud shriek.
“Oh fuck!!!!!!!! What the fuck did you do to me?!?!?!?!?!?!”
“It’s just temporary” Sofya replied calmly, as Tom ran back downstairs. “It’s so the mayor doesn’t recognize who you are. Once you’ve lured him out to the warehouse, I’ll change you back.”
“You better, you fucking witch!”
“Easy, big boy” Chris said calmly.
“You wouldn’t want it to be permanent, would you?” she asked with a chuckle.
Tom growled, as Michael spoke up.
“So we have that part of the plan out of the way. Now we need to build up our collective strength as a team. We need weapons.”
“I have a few” Sofya replied, as she summoned the guns of the various dead police officers into the room.
“And I managed to save a few weapons from the assassin that came here the other night” Chris added, as he ran up into the master bedroom and brought down a few additional weapons.
The five of them stared at their arsenal of weapons. A lot of guns, a tranquilizer dart, a lethal needle, some mace and a blow torch. All of them, except Buddy, took various weapons and placed them into utility belts that Sofya summoned up for them.
“I can’t do much for you, Freddy” Sofya said.
“That’s fine” Freddy communicated. “My strong teeth ought to do the trick.”
“No” Michael replied, as Buddy bared his sharp fangs. “The point is to prevent you from getting killed. You’re going to need to keep a low profile.”
“He can help” Chris said.
Tom grunted, as he struggled to put his guns into the holsters on his utility belt.
“Need help with that?” Chris asked.
Tom nodded, as Chis helped him adjust his utility belt.
“So, I had one more suggestion” Michael said. “Since Chris is probably going to be the big brawn behind this operation, perhaps, Sofya, you can do something to give him some extra power with your magic.”
“Hmmm” she replied, as she looked over Chris carefully. “You have a point.”
Chris gulped, as Sofya eyed him over. The last time she used her magic on him, he became a hairy gorilla. He had no recollection of his time as an ape, except for a brief memory of his hairy arms and blackened hands. This thought in his mind gave Sofya an idea.
“I’m not going to make you go full ape again” she said, as she pointed her finger at him. “However, some ape parts could come in handy right about now.”
Sofya zapped Chris with a magic bolt of light, before he began to see some changes occur. First, his outfit became a leotard, which exposed his already hairy arms and legs. Tom chuckled at seeing Chris’ already hairy limbs become hairier than they already were. Chris scratched his arm with his now black hands, as they grew in size and increased in muscle mass. His legs grew along with them, making him bulkier and taller.
“Hope this doesn’t last forever” Chris said, as he nervously checked out his new set of arms and legs.
“It should wear off before long” she replied. “If it doesn’t, then I’ll work on returning your limbs to normal when this is all done.”
Chris nodded, as Sofya had one last thought.
“We need to split up” she said. “Chris, take Freddy and Michael. I sense that someone is coming from Tom’s house soon and you’re going to want to keep them away until we’re ready to face them.”
“What?!” Tom shrieked. “Someone was at my house?!”
“Relax. We’ll take care of this. Chris?”
“Right” he replied, as he ushered Michael and Buddy out to Freddy’s car.
“Wait a second!” Sofya called out, as she used her magic on Buddy. “That should make it so no one can hear his thoughts anymore.”
Chris and Michael nodded, as they led Buddy to Freddy’s car in the driveway. Sofya watched from the window, as Chris helped Buddy into the back of the car, while Michael got into the passenger side. When Chris entered the car, he started it up and pulled out of the driveway. Just a few short seconds after they left, Sofya saw another car go down the street in their direction.
A few minutes earlier, another set of masked men pulled up to Tom’s house in an unmarked vehicle.
“Any sign of them here?” a masked man asked aloud.
“Nope” the other one replied while using binoculars. “No sign of them.”
“There’s no car in the driveway. Do you think anyone is home?”
“I don’t know. This house looks like it’s abandoned. There’s a for sale sign out on the front yard. I don’t think anyone is home. Let’s call up the others and see if they spotted them over at the commie’s house.”
The masked man tried to contact the other masked men, but found that the line was disconnected.
“That’s not good” he said, as he pulled out of the parking spot and headed towards Freddy and Michael’s house. “Line got disconnected. That usually happens when a communication device is totally destroyed.”
“That could mean trouble” the other masked man replied.
“It could. That’s why we need to go over and check it out.”
When they arrived at the block where Freddy and Michael lived, they saw that only one car was in the driveway.
“Not good” one of the masked men commented.
“Look!” the other one exclaimed. “They’re getting away.”
The masked men looked up the block, as Freddy’s car turned a corner.
“Let’s follow them” one of the masked men suggested.
The other one nodded, as they drove down the block and turned in the direction of Freddy’s vehicle. Watching them from the house, Sofya nodded to Tom.
“I was right” she commented, as she ushered him out of the house. “Let’s go.”
“Are you sure?” Tom asked, as they left the house together.
“Positive” she replied, as she sealed the house shut with her magic.
Sofya put a caveat on the spell that it would unlock if either she personally unlocked it or she died. Fortunately for Freddy and Michael, this would be crucial for them if they ever wanted to get back inside again. Sofya led a disguised Tom into Michael’s car and started it up.
“Let’s head over to the warehouse first” she said, as she pulled out of the driveway “and then we’re going to pay that asshole mayor a little home visit.”
At the mayor’s house……