"The House of Pain"
May. 15th, 2022 12:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dochermes"The House of Pain"
(6/26-6/27/1978)
I.
Waiting for it to get a little darker outside, Jeremy Bane turned away from the window and went back to plop down into a rickety wicker chair. What a dump. He had stayed in fleapits before but this won the prize. The mattress smelled of mildew and had assorted bugs. Water barely trickled from the tap in the sink, and it was brown. The ceiling fan didn't work, the phone buzzed and hummed over conversations. He hesitated to even try the toilet. And the taxi driver had steered him here because this was the best hotel in the island. Next time he would scout around for himself.
At twenty-one, the Dire Wolf had never been out of the United States before. In fact, he had barely left Manhattan more than a handful of times. Working for Kenneth Dred was full of surprises, though. He was surprised that Dred had managed to get him a passport, considering Bane had no documentation, no Social Security card or driver's license. Dred had just mentioned that he knew people and handed his assistant all the papers. The flight out of Newark to Corazon had been dull and boring, as was the boat ride from Corazon to this island. Diablito, it was called, the Little Devil, just outside the limits of the Phillipines. Bane had got into a taxi and taken here, and he wished it would get dark faster. The hot muggy air and mosquitos did not improve his normally sour disposition.
Six feet tall, Bane seemed at first to be too thin, almost frail but he actually had the wiry of a runner. His narrow face was not exactly handsome, but the pair of pale grey eyes under heavy brows were all that anyone noticed. His short black hair was damp with sweat. Bane wore all black always - boots, slacks and a turtleneck with the sleeves rolled back. Strapped to his bare forearms were leather sheaths that held a matched pair of silver-bladed daggers. They were a gift from Kenneth Dred and he had gotten masterful with them so fast it seemed as if he had always owned them. The leather straps were covered by a silicon mold crafted to resemble muscle. Draped over the chair was his sport jacket, as well as the detachable holster with a .38 Colt revolver within reach.
Finally, the sky outside was black. Standing up, Bane threaded the holster through his belt and slipped his jacket on. It was humid and sticky, but he wanted the various gimmicks he had started stowing in its added pockets. He turned off the lamp by the bed and slid out the window into the night. Now he started to feel alive. The Dire Wolf headed downhill to the shore. Somewhere nearby, someone was playing a guitar as if they had never seen one before, and a girl laughed. Bane made his way to the water's edge. There was no beach here, just mud and rocks. He could just see a yellow light in the distance. The island of Dr Kobayashi. As he stared into the gloom and fog, a small red light sprang up on the dim mass, probably a campfire. Bane started circling the water's edge, thinking the situation over. After a half hour, he found a small hut from which loud snoring came. A small handmade canoe was tied to a spindly tree, and there was a paddle in the canoe. Bane had been a thief all his life, growing up as a street orphan, but Kenneth Dred was trying to get some reforming into the young man without pushing it too fast. So Bane silently untied the canoe, stuck a wad of Corazon money (not American dollars because that would point to him) into a fork of the tree and slid out into the warm waters.
Having experimented with canoes a few times in the Central Park lake, the Dire Wolf could manage this one well enough. He drifted out a ways before starting to paddle, heading toward the island. Dred had not been able to provide much information. He said that Shinzo Kobayashi was an Alchemist, which meant he made forbidden potions which really worked. After six months working for Dred, Bane had seen enough of the Midnight War to hold judgement on whether something was possible or not, so he would accept alchemy if he saw it in practice. Kobayashi had been forced to flee Japan because of some medical experiments which seemed to be both horrifying and improbable. Reportedly, he had been getting in a private plane as the police were kicking down the front door of his house. And now, a message had come to Dred that Kobayashi had been spotted out here past the Phillipines.
Dred had been emphatic that Bane just investigate, not confront. His assignment was to confirm whether or not the mad genius was really here and get back to New York. Older and more experienced fighters in Midnight War could take over. To Bane, this showed that the old man did not understand just yet what he had working for him. The young Dire Wolf had supreme confidence in his ability to fight anything that lived. He was approaching the island. He could hear waves breaking against rocks. Bane paddled away from the campfire, looking for a place to land and he found an inlet that turned into a narrow stream. Perfect. He managed to tie the canoe to an exposed tree root and get up on land without falling back in the water, but it was close.
Creeping through the darkness, occasionally tripping and catching himself, Bane slowly made his way toward the campfire.A childhood of sneaking around in dark places and hiding from both police and gangs had given him stealth. He approached low to the ground, crouching as he peered around a tree. It was not a bonfire, just a small campfire enough to give some light and cook food. Three men were standing around it. They were almost naked, just wearing tattered bits of cloth around their middles. One looked fairly normal, but the guy next to him was incredibly deformed.. hunchbacked with his head down almost to his chest, one arm much longer than the other, a pointed skull. Jeez, thought Bane, what an unlucky birth. The third was a tall, heavily muscled man who looked like a wrestler. He was wearing a mask shaped like a tiger head for some ungodly reason. It was a pretty good mask, too, with what looked like real fur. Bane crept a little closer for a better look.
The tiger mask suddenly opened its jaws and yawned, showing white fangs in the firelight. It was not a mask.
II.
Almost holding his breath, Bane backed away an inch at a time. He had fought a couple creatures of the night in the past few months, but this was something special. How was such a thing possible? Dred had told him Kobayashi was an Alchemist with magic potions and this sure looked like proof. When he figured he had gotten far enough away, the young Dire Wolf swung deeper into the dense forest and tried to make his way toward the other light he had spotted. Soon he came upon a wall made of stone blocks, higher than his head. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he could make out wire strung along the top. Electrified, he figured. Bane moved along the wall. It seemed to go for hundreds of yards, and he could peer over it. Finally, he came to a gate fashioned from heavy wooden planks, with a small peephole at eye level. He got up next to it and saw what looked like a hospital made also of stone blocks. Torches by the front door were the main light, but a window or two had the glow of a lamp in them.
Something moved in the undergrowth behind him. There was a snuffling noise. Bane froze in place. Whatever it was had caught his scent. A low growl sounded and some sort of animal like a six foot monkey charged. The Dire Wolf's arms blurred out and back, silver flashed in the dim light and the animal flung itself about on the ground. The dagger had opened its entire front up and intestines spilled out with an awful smell. Bane stepped closer. It looked very much like a baboon, but without the long muzzle. Instead it had a distressingly human face surrounded by golden fur. Cleaning his daggers on that fur, Bane sheathed them and dragged the body into the bushes. This island was a lot of fun, he thought sourly, and he had only been here an hour.
A woman's voice starting yelling frantically within the building, and Bane stepped up to the gate. The voice broke into a prolonged scream of agony, a scream that went on and on. He had to get in there. The Dire Wolf moved back a few steps, then sprang forward with incredible speeed to jump up, wedge his toe in the peephole of the gate and kick himself up and over the gate. Ten feet in the air, he cleared the gate and dropped to the soft earth inside in a tumble that had more luck than skill in it. He hit hard and got the wind knocked out of him for a minute. I need lessons from acrobats, he thought sourly.
The screaming had continued, only to cut off abruptly. The Dire Wolf scrambled to his feet, brushing himself off and crept up to a window to peer in. He saw a dimly lit room with a bed in one corner, and a body lying under a sheet which was soaked with dried blood. There was a pile of bloodied bandages on the floor and a bucket. It was not fear that Bane felt but anger. If this was Dr Kobyashi, he was obviously returning to the work that had put him on the Most Wanted list in three countries. Pressing against the wall, he listened for any movement near him but caught nothing. The next window showed an even worse sight. Under a single light bulb, deep shelves against one wall held big glass jugs full of cloudy fluid. Floating in those jugs were body parts... arms, legs, a head with staring open eyes. On a stand was a pile of notebooks. Where most people would have been nauseated and even vomited, Bane stared at the sight with cold rage. Edging along the wall, he peered around the edge of the next window, none of which had any curtains or shades. This room had two tables side by side. On one lay the naked body of a Filipino woman, with her abdomen completely cut open. Blood and gore had sprayed all over. There were even some drops of it on the window. Bane pressed closer and saw the bundle on the other table was a dead baby wrapped in a dirty towel. The umbilical chord still hung from it. Rubber gloves and a surgcal mask had been left on the table, all bloody. Just as he looked in, the door to the room closed but he did not see what had just left.
The Dire Wolf stared another minute. Had someone opened up a pregnant woman and removed the fetus, killing both of them in the process? Without anesthetic? Why? What possible reason could there be? Footsteps sounded around the corner of the building and he leaped over behind some bushes, crouching in the dark. He edged back toward the front door of the building, keeping under cover. A second later, a wolf-headed man emerged with a rifle in his hands. He was tall and lean, with long thin arms and legs. His body was covered with shorty bristly black fur, and he wore a short kilt of white cloth with a butcher knife tied to a rope belt. The rifle looked like a Winchester. As Bane stared, the wolf head turned from side to side, sniffing the air.
A second later, a normal human in dark pants and shirt came up. He had a gun in a holster and kept his hand on the butt. "Nothing, Vandage. I searched the grounds on the south side."
"He could not have gotten far, not with his legs like that," answered the wolfhead in a sly amused tone. "Having an extra knee must take some getting used to."
"Should I go back and look again, Vandage?" The man had an Asian accent, sounded Japanese.
"No," replied the one called Vandage. "There is something more important. I smell a stranger nearby but so faint..."
Around the corner, Bane decided to attack. He was counting on his enhanced speed but he figured he would get the rifle away and hit the Wolfhead with it, then cover the other guy before he could draw. He had done this a few times against gangsters. To him, normal Humans seemed sluggish and clumsy. The Dire Wolf got into position and waited for this Vandage guy to come closer but that was when he heard the front door open behind him. Plan change. Bane wheeled and leaped up to tackle whoever was in that doorway, driving both of them inside and slamming the door behind them. In a half second, he was on his feet in a linoleum hallway,standing over a man in light green scrubs which had blood stains thick on their front. There was low moaning from a nearby room, which distracted Bane for a second but he tried to ignore it.
Bane's .38 was in his hand and he pressed a finger to his lips in the universal gesture for silence. The man slowly got to his feet, staring in disbelief. He was Japanese, maybe fifty, and quite good-looking with thick black hair and clean-cut features. The eyelid fold was minimal, the jaw strong. When he stood, he was not more than five feet nine but he held himself straight.
"Sorry I don't speak Japanese," Bane said as he returned his gun to the small of his back. "I hope you've got some English."
"My English is adequate," said the man. "If you are a burglar, you will not find any valuables here. No drugs you can sell, very little cash."
"Naw, I came to see you, Dr Kobayashi." Bane put a thumb to his chest. "I hear you're looking to hire an abductor."
III.
This was fairly quick thinking on the Dire Wolf's part, but he had pulled that approach before with gang leaders and his reputation as unmatched in combat skill often led to them accepting him. Bane watched the reaction spread over Kobayash's face. "What makes you think I need any such person?" he asked, straightening his scrubs.
"Come on, doc. It's Midnight War gossip. I hear you're an Alchemist, best since Dr Vitarius disappeared. And you work on living subjects, which always leads to working on people." He paused a second. "Since it was a good idea to get out of New York for a while, I thought I might land a job with you."
Kobayashi did not reply for the longest time. "I have heard a mention or two of a young American with pale eyes who is in Midnight War in New York. He is said to have killed a few quite dangerous opponents in the last year. What is your name?"
"Bane. Jeremy Bane, sometimes people call me Dire Wolf."
"Very well. Remain here while I change and we will talk. At least I will hear you out, despite the way you manhandled my person." As Kobayashi tugged off his scrubs to reveal a grimy white dress shirt, the front door opened and the Wolfhead burst in. "There he is! Get out of the way, Master!"
Kobayashi raised an open hand to desist. "Wait. Lower your weapon, Vandage. I wish to speak with this boy. Escort him to the den, please." The Alchemist headed down the hall and went around a corner. Another Asian man in a lab coat stopped him and they talked as they headed away.
The amber eyes in the wolf's head glared furiously at Bane. This close, it could be seen that Vandage was not simply a Human with an animal head but that his body had wolfish characteristics. Aside from the fur, the hind legs bent the wrong way and the thick fingers had blunt claws. Still, Vandage did point his rifle down and snuffled in disappointment.
"I see the doctor's been successful in his experiments," Bane said.
"Some more than others," replied the Wolfhead. "You have very little scent. How is that?"
"I do? No idea. I'm all sweaty and everything."
"Your body does not produce much of a scent for me and I have excellent sense of smell. There seems to be ways you are different from regular Humans. Your balance. Your reactions. Perhaps you are a creature of the night yourself."
"Me? I'm just a kid from the Big Apple," Bane said. "Vandage, I think the doc called you that. He said we were going to wait for him in the den?"
"Very well," the wolfheaded man started striding down the hall, going to the left at the intersection and opening a door. Here was a room with two big bookcases and more books piled in stacks. It smelled like pipe smoke. Three overstuffed easy chairs circled a low table that held an empty serving tray and a plate of cookies. On one wall was a painting of a Shinto gate. Without waiting to be told, Bane dropped down in the chair opposite the one where the cookies and ash tray sat, since he figured that was Koboyashi's. Vandage went and leaned his rifle up in a corner. He moved with some of the springy steps of a wolf, coming around to stand in front of Bane,who met his gaze evenly.
After an awkward pause, Kobayashi came in, followed by a younger Asian man. Both were wearing fresh clothing. "Mr Bane, this is my assistant Kenichi. You have already met Vandage."
Bane stood up, expecting hands to be shaken, but the two Japanese just sat down wearily. Kobayashi said, "Vandage, perhaps you will tell Mariko to prepare tea and some rice cakes?"
"Of course," said the Wolfhead, taking his rifle with him as he left.
Staring bluntly at Bane, Kobayashi said, "I understood you were employed by Kenneth Dred as a bodyguard."
"Oh, that. Didn't work out. I like the old man but we have different ideas about life. He believes a lot of Sunday school sermons."
"And you do not?"
"Nah. I go for what works."
The assistant Kenichi spoke for the first time. "I do not trust this boy who comes unannounced late at night to your door."
"I think we should withhold judgement. There are ways to let him prove himself."
An elderly Japanese woman in a faded kimono shuffled in slowly with a tray of tiny cups and a teapot, with a pile of steaming rice cakes. She placed it on the table in silence, bowed deeply and left without a word. Kobayashi acted if she was invisible. "We must serve ourselves here," he said as he poured tea into a cup and raised it to his mouth. "Good manners have been left behind in this jungle hell."
Bane helped himself to a rice cake and munched it slowly. In the distance, groaning and sobbing could be heard.
"Do you know what I am trying to accomplish here?" Kobayashi asked.
"Some kind of medical experiments, I was told. Dred figured your alchemy was part of it." He leaned forward. "I wanted to ask about your boy Vandage there. On the way in, I saw a guy with a tiger head. That's not science, it's gralic magic. Right?"
"Of course." Kobayashi put down his tea cup. "Traditional medicine will never be able to do what I have accomplished. My Velkandu serums prevent rejection of transplanted organs. They forestall shock. They allow recovery from severe trauma. I can remove organs from a conscious subject, modify them and put them back. I can swap limps from one subject to another. All because of Alchemy."
"Sounds like you don't use anesthesia. I'm just saying."
"It would interfere with my serums. Not important. Some of the subjects call this facility the House of Pain, which makes me laugh. The whole world is a House of Pain. I have been able to thaw frozen arms and legs even after gangrene sets in. I have been able to place an embryo into a different woman and have her have bring it to term. Ah, but do I shock you?"
"Nope. I'm no choir boy. I've done some hard things."
At this point, Vandage returned. He stood protectively behind Dr Kobayashi, arms folded, rifle strapped to his back. The doctor hissed between his teeth. "I have heard tales of you, Dire Wolf. Perhaps we can have an arrangement. I need a new subject, which must be taken from Diablito. Are you interested?"
"Sure. There is a matter of my fee."
"One thousand dollars per subject. And of course you will live here for free, with excellent meals cooked by Mariko. If you wish to abduct a young woman from the village for your personal needs, that will be no problem. Of course, when you tire of her, I will experiment on her. Nothing wasted."
"Sounds good," said Bane. "I'd prefer American dollars. Someday I might go back there."
"Of course." Kobayashi stood up and inclined his head, not quite bowing. "You will understand I cannot trust you yet. You might be sent from the American police or FBI, despite your reputation. So Vandage will accompany you to Diablito."
"Not a problem," answered Bane as he got to his feet. "Anything else?"
"You will surrender your pistol and be searched. Once you prove yourself, of course you will be fully armed."
The Dire Wolf handed over his .38 and consented to be frisked by the wolf-headed man. It was a tense moment, even though nothing showed on his poker face. He had no intention of letting those silver daggers be taken from him, and if Vandage discovered them, well- it would be too bad for Vandage. But the daggers remained secret. The dense silicon molds over the sheaths resembled human muscle so closely that no one searching Bane had noticed them yet. The Wolfhead stepped back and nodded to Kobayashi.
"Excellent," said the Alchemist. "Tonight I need a pregant woman. I want to inject the embryo with chimpanzee DNA and replace it to see the results. That is your assignment, Mr Bane."
"You got it. Ready, Vandage?"
The Wolfhead just grunted and lead Bane from the room. They went to the main gate where a deformed dwarf with half his face sagging like melted wax waited. After they stepped through the gate, the dwarf drew the heavy bolts again and called out "Good hunting!" tothem. The two walked down to a shack by the water's edge where a rowboat was tied to a metal ring set in a tree hanging out over the ocean.
"Get in first," muttered Vandage sullenly. As Bane complied, the Wolfhead untied the line, climbed in and pushed away from the bank. The night was warm and the air was still. A breeze would have helped. They each had an oar and started paddling toward the larger island. Lights could be seen on Diablito.
"What's eating you?" Bane said after a while. "Afraid I'll take your job?"
"That's foolish talk! I am one of the Master's first successful experiments. I have served him well. No, it is you. You are strange for a Human. Humans who come here are reduced to hysteria or weeping at what they see. You seem unaffected by the House of Pain."
"I've had a hard life," Bane said. "No room for sentiment. Listen, don't you need a disguise or something? A long coat, a hat? You're a little conspicuous."
"Hah! I will stay in the shadows and keep an eye on you. When the locals see me, they know they are about to do. Here. This ledge will do." The Wolfhead brought the rowboat against an outcropping and leaped nimbly up onto it. He held the rope in one paw and secured it to a jagged rock while Bane climbed up on the shelf of rock. Vandage turned to say, "The village is a few miles that way. Finding a pregnant woman should not be difficult, these fools breed constantly."
Bane gazed out at the diffused light beyond the trees. "Before we go, I need a favor." He stepped closer and had lowered his voice. Despite himself, the Wolfhead leaned his head toward the Dire Wolf just to catch a blurring left cross that snapped his head halfway around.
IV.
The fight was brutal and short. Both opponents were fast and tough, and Vandage had the advantage of blunt claws and sharp fangs. Bane had no martial arts training, but he had been sparring at a 12th street gym with anyone willing and he had been in street fights all his life. He knew how to box. Vandage walked into a vicious uppercut that clapped his jaws shut with a brittle snapping noise. The Wolfhead seized Bane and tried to claw at his throat but the Dire Wolf pressed a forearm up hard and drove him off. Springing up, Vandage swung the rifle around from where it hung on his back and then stopped short. The hilt of a throwing dagger was sticking out of the left side of his furry chest. He fell to his knees and tried to pull the weapon out but was getting weak.
Bane's voice was icy. "I was NEVER going to go along with that sick plan. Not that telling you makes any difference." He grabbed the hilt and shoved the dying creature back down to the mud. The Dire Wolf was trembling with released tension. Pretending to work for Dr Kobyashi, sitting there calmly while people were enduring cruel sadistic torture in the same building had been the hardest thing he had ever done. He was glad it was over and he could get to work. Bane cleaned his dagger and sheathed it, and then slung the rifle across his own back. Then he knelt and got Vandage across his back and stood up. "You smell like a wet dog," he told the dead wolfman and started hiking toward the village.
It took a while and he had stop for a few minutes rest as he entered the village itself. In the center of the town was one building with light spilling out of the open door and the buzz of voices. A sign hanging from a horizontal crossbar read ROSA'S CANTINA. Bane strode right into the center of the place and flung the limp hairy body onto an empty wooden table. Everyone froze where they were and held their breaths.
"Yes, stare!" Bane yelled. His Spanish was not great but he thought he could get his point across. "This is the beast that had kept you in a grip of fear. Does he look so terrible now?"
One old man with a white mustache spoke up. "We thought he was.. a devil. That he could not be killed."
"Well, he wasn't. The things on that island are just flesh and blood. Like you and me. They can be killed and tonight we are going to kill them. The reign of terror ends now!"
No one spoke. Bane raised his voice until it rang from the rafters. "You know what they are doing there. They kidnap you. Your daughters and sons, your wives and your brothers. And they cut them up alive! A madman is torturing them right now. Can you hear the screams? Why do you sit here like sheep?"
"We are only farmers," came a miserable voice. "We have no guns. We do not know how to fight and there are monsters there."
"So WHAT! You have knives. You have axes and pitchforks. You have your bare fists if it comes to that. I thought I saw men in here. Was I wrong?"
No one answered. Bane was yelling by now, "Well, I am going back there by myself. I will kill as many as I can and if I die, it will be with a proud heart. Isn't there a single MAN among you?"
The old man in the corner rose stiffly. "Yes. I am still a man. I have my machete. I will go with you!"
That broke the wall of terror holding them down. In a roar of furious voices, the crowd ran to fetch farm tools, kitchen knives, whatever would serve. They jumped into rowboats and tiny fishing boats and one delapidated yacht that had been left here somehow by tourists. Years of repressed shame and guilt drove them. Bane selected two of locals and said, "I have a rowboat tied up two miles that way. You guys come with me!" and he took off without waiting to see if they would follow.
V.
As the ragtag assortment of small craft paddled up to Kobayash's island, a guard saw them and started blowing a whistle. He rushed down to water's edge and got off one shot from his.45 automatic. Then a rifle bullet plowed a tunnel through his head. Vaulting up onto the land, holding the rifle in one hand, Bane snatched up the man's automatic and waved it. "Who knows how to use this?"
"I do, senor. My brother taught me." A chubby young man took the automatic gladly and joined the rush toward the House of Pain. Bane raced ahead of them at twice their speed. He wanted to disable to electrified wire atop the fence. Wild shouts and screams and roars sounded behind him as the villagers clashed with the animal-men who wandered the jungle at night. Reaching the compound, the Dire Wolf saw a boulder near the wall and leaped atop it, getting just high enough. Holding only the dry wooden butt of the rifle, he twisted the barrel around the wires and yanked back with all his weight. Sparks flew and sputtered, and the lights in the hospital went out. Good. He went back twenty feet, ran full speed to jump up on the boulder and used his momentum to clear the wall. Landing well was something he had not mastered though, and he tumbled painfully before getting up. The Dire Wolf rushed toward the gate, saw that the dwarf was guarding it with a curved saber in one hand. Bane had left the rifle tangled in the wires atop the wall, so he charged the dwarf and blasted a backfist that sent the lost soul reeling away. In a second, he had the gate open and was yelling, "Over here! Come on, over here!" And the villagers poured in with their bloodlust up.
Bane stepped aside and leaned back against the cool stone wall for a second. Let them have their revenge. There was a lot they needed to pay back. As for him, his next move was to locate Kobayashi. The villagers had kicked down the front door and were piling through. On a hunch, he trotted around to the rear of the building and sure enough, a man in a white labcoat was running out the back door. Bane tackled him head-on and slammed him to the ground, kneeling over his chest.
"You are interfering with my work," Kobayashi said as if he had been sitting in a cubicle.
"Absolutely," answered Bane, punching the man hard right in the face. Once he started, he could not stop. Left and right blows pounded down until Kobayashi's face had lost all its shape. The bones in that face were splintered. Bane realized his fists were swollen so he could not open them. Sitting on the dead man, he slowly caught his breath. "You look like one of your experiments," he said.
A wave of heat and light swept the area. They had set fire to the horror hospital. The roof was already burning. Suddenly exhausted, the Dire Wolf sat in the mud next to the body of Shinzo Kobyashi and watched the flames. From the jungle outside the walls, the sounds of slaughter continued, with men yelling and beast voices roaring. Slowly, stiffly, he headed for the gate and looked out. The villagers were dragging monsters by the feet to haul them into the burning building. Men with heads of animals, dogs with six legs, a woman with horse legs, men with arms for legs...
The old man with the white mustache found Bane. "There were none of our people alive in there. Not one. We found the gasoline for the generator and thought it best to burn the hellish place."
"Yes," agreed the Dire Wolf. "Keep it burning until nothing remains."
As dawn came up, the hospital was still smoldering, nothing but just blackened wooden beams and cracked stone blocks. Dr Kobayashi and his assistant had gone up in flames with their hellhole. In groups of two and three, the villagers were wearily trudging down to their boats with ashen faces and slumped shoulders. Bane got up. He guessed he had fallen asleep for a while because the sun was high. Going off by himself, he found his stolen canoe where he had left it and he got in, cutting the rope with a silver dagger. He would get his luggage from the hotel and get off the island with the next boat to Corazon. The Dire Wolf rowed slowly. He had thought he would feel proud and excited about succeeding in smashing Kobayash's experiments but he wasn't. He just felt sad and sick.
2/10/2014
(6/26-6/27/1978)
I.
Waiting for it to get a little darker outside, Jeremy Bane turned away from the window and went back to plop down into a rickety wicker chair. What a dump. He had stayed in fleapits before but this won the prize. The mattress smelled of mildew and had assorted bugs. Water barely trickled from the tap in the sink, and it was brown. The ceiling fan didn't work, the phone buzzed and hummed over conversations. He hesitated to even try the toilet. And the taxi driver had steered him here because this was the best hotel in the island. Next time he would scout around for himself.
At twenty-one, the Dire Wolf had never been out of the United States before. In fact, he had barely left Manhattan more than a handful of times. Working for Kenneth Dred was full of surprises, though. He was surprised that Dred had managed to get him a passport, considering Bane had no documentation, no Social Security card or driver's license. Dred had just mentioned that he knew people and handed his assistant all the papers. The flight out of Newark to Corazon had been dull and boring, as was the boat ride from Corazon to this island. Diablito, it was called, the Little Devil, just outside the limits of the Phillipines. Bane had got into a taxi and taken here, and he wished it would get dark faster. The hot muggy air and mosquitos did not improve his normally sour disposition.
Six feet tall, Bane seemed at first to be too thin, almost frail but he actually had the wiry of a runner. His narrow face was not exactly handsome, but the pair of pale grey eyes under heavy brows were all that anyone noticed. His short black hair was damp with sweat. Bane wore all black always - boots, slacks and a turtleneck with the sleeves rolled back. Strapped to his bare forearms were leather sheaths that held a matched pair of silver-bladed daggers. They were a gift from Kenneth Dred and he had gotten masterful with them so fast it seemed as if he had always owned them. The leather straps were covered by a silicon mold crafted to resemble muscle. Draped over the chair was his sport jacket, as well as the detachable holster with a .38 Colt revolver within reach.
Finally, the sky outside was black. Standing up, Bane threaded the holster through his belt and slipped his jacket on. It was humid and sticky, but he wanted the various gimmicks he had started stowing in its added pockets. He turned off the lamp by the bed and slid out the window into the night. Now he started to feel alive. The Dire Wolf headed downhill to the shore. Somewhere nearby, someone was playing a guitar as if they had never seen one before, and a girl laughed. Bane made his way to the water's edge. There was no beach here, just mud and rocks. He could just see a yellow light in the distance. The island of Dr Kobayashi. As he stared into the gloom and fog, a small red light sprang up on the dim mass, probably a campfire. Bane started circling the water's edge, thinking the situation over. After a half hour, he found a small hut from which loud snoring came. A small handmade canoe was tied to a spindly tree, and there was a paddle in the canoe. Bane had been a thief all his life, growing up as a street orphan, but Kenneth Dred was trying to get some reforming into the young man without pushing it too fast. So Bane silently untied the canoe, stuck a wad of Corazon money (not American dollars because that would point to him) into a fork of the tree and slid out into the warm waters.
Having experimented with canoes a few times in the Central Park lake, the Dire Wolf could manage this one well enough. He drifted out a ways before starting to paddle, heading toward the island. Dred had not been able to provide much information. He said that Shinzo Kobayashi was an Alchemist, which meant he made forbidden potions which really worked. After six months working for Dred, Bane had seen enough of the Midnight War to hold judgement on whether something was possible or not, so he would accept alchemy if he saw it in practice. Kobayashi had been forced to flee Japan because of some medical experiments which seemed to be both horrifying and improbable. Reportedly, he had been getting in a private plane as the police were kicking down the front door of his house. And now, a message had come to Dred that Kobayashi had been spotted out here past the Phillipines.
Dred had been emphatic that Bane just investigate, not confront. His assignment was to confirm whether or not the mad genius was really here and get back to New York. Older and more experienced fighters in Midnight War could take over. To Bane, this showed that the old man did not understand just yet what he had working for him. The young Dire Wolf had supreme confidence in his ability to fight anything that lived. He was approaching the island. He could hear waves breaking against rocks. Bane paddled away from the campfire, looking for a place to land and he found an inlet that turned into a narrow stream. Perfect. He managed to tie the canoe to an exposed tree root and get up on land without falling back in the water, but it was close.
Creeping through the darkness, occasionally tripping and catching himself, Bane slowly made his way toward the campfire.A childhood of sneaking around in dark places and hiding from both police and gangs had given him stealth. He approached low to the ground, crouching as he peered around a tree. It was not a bonfire, just a small campfire enough to give some light and cook food. Three men were standing around it. They were almost naked, just wearing tattered bits of cloth around their middles. One looked fairly normal, but the guy next to him was incredibly deformed.. hunchbacked with his head down almost to his chest, one arm much longer than the other, a pointed skull. Jeez, thought Bane, what an unlucky birth. The third was a tall, heavily muscled man who looked like a wrestler. He was wearing a mask shaped like a tiger head for some ungodly reason. It was a pretty good mask, too, with what looked like real fur. Bane crept a little closer for a better look.
The tiger mask suddenly opened its jaws and yawned, showing white fangs in the firelight. It was not a mask.
II.
Almost holding his breath, Bane backed away an inch at a time. He had fought a couple creatures of the night in the past few months, but this was something special. How was such a thing possible? Dred had told him Kobayashi was an Alchemist with magic potions and this sure looked like proof. When he figured he had gotten far enough away, the young Dire Wolf swung deeper into the dense forest and tried to make his way toward the other light he had spotted. Soon he came upon a wall made of stone blocks, higher than his head. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he could make out wire strung along the top. Electrified, he figured. Bane moved along the wall. It seemed to go for hundreds of yards, and he could peer over it. Finally, he came to a gate fashioned from heavy wooden planks, with a small peephole at eye level. He got up next to it and saw what looked like a hospital made also of stone blocks. Torches by the front door were the main light, but a window or two had the glow of a lamp in them.
Something moved in the undergrowth behind him. There was a snuffling noise. Bane froze in place. Whatever it was had caught his scent. A low growl sounded and some sort of animal like a six foot monkey charged. The Dire Wolf's arms blurred out and back, silver flashed in the dim light and the animal flung itself about on the ground. The dagger had opened its entire front up and intestines spilled out with an awful smell. Bane stepped closer. It looked very much like a baboon, but without the long muzzle. Instead it had a distressingly human face surrounded by golden fur. Cleaning his daggers on that fur, Bane sheathed them and dragged the body into the bushes. This island was a lot of fun, he thought sourly, and he had only been here an hour.
A woman's voice starting yelling frantically within the building, and Bane stepped up to the gate. The voice broke into a prolonged scream of agony, a scream that went on and on. He had to get in there. The Dire Wolf moved back a few steps, then sprang forward with incredible speeed to jump up, wedge his toe in the peephole of the gate and kick himself up and over the gate. Ten feet in the air, he cleared the gate and dropped to the soft earth inside in a tumble that had more luck than skill in it. He hit hard and got the wind knocked out of him for a minute. I need lessons from acrobats, he thought sourly.
The screaming had continued, only to cut off abruptly. The Dire Wolf scrambled to his feet, brushing himself off and crept up to a window to peer in. He saw a dimly lit room with a bed in one corner, and a body lying under a sheet which was soaked with dried blood. There was a pile of bloodied bandages on the floor and a bucket. It was not fear that Bane felt but anger. If this was Dr Kobyashi, he was obviously returning to the work that had put him on the Most Wanted list in three countries. Pressing against the wall, he listened for any movement near him but caught nothing. The next window showed an even worse sight. Under a single light bulb, deep shelves against one wall held big glass jugs full of cloudy fluid. Floating in those jugs were body parts... arms, legs, a head with staring open eyes. On a stand was a pile of notebooks. Where most people would have been nauseated and even vomited, Bane stared at the sight with cold rage. Edging along the wall, he peered around the edge of the next window, none of which had any curtains or shades. This room had two tables side by side. On one lay the naked body of a Filipino woman, with her abdomen completely cut open. Blood and gore had sprayed all over. There were even some drops of it on the window. Bane pressed closer and saw the bundle on the other table was a dead baby wrapped in a dirty towel. The umbilical chord still hung from it. Rubber gloves and a surgcal mask had been left on the table, all bloody. Just as he looked in, the door to the room closed but he did not see what had just left.
The Dire Wolf stared another minute. Had someone opened up a pregnant woman and removed the fetus, killing both of them in the process? Without anesthetic? Why? What possible reason could there be? Footsteps sounded around the corner of the building and he leaped over behind some bushes, crouching in the dark. He edged back toward the front door of the building, keeping under cover. A second later, a wolf-headed man emerged with a rifle in his hands. He was tall and lean, with long thin arms and legs. His body was covered with shorty bristly black fur, and he wore a short kilt of white cloth with a butcher knife tied to a rope belt. The rifle looked like a Winchester. As Bane stared, the wolf head turned from side to side, sniffing the air.
A second later, a normal human in dark pants and shirt came up. He had a gun in a holster and kept his hand on the butt. "Nothing, Vandage. I searched the grounds on the south side."
"He could not have gotten far, not with his legs like that," answered the wolfhead in a sly amused tone. "Having an extra knee must take some getting used to."
"Should I go back and look again, Vandage?" The man had an Asian accent, sounded Japanese.
"No," replied the one called Vandage. "There is something more important. I smell a stranger nearby but so faint..."
Around the corner, Bane decided to attack. He was counting on his enhanced speed but he figured he would get the rifle away and hit the Wolfhead with it, then cover the other guy before he could draw. He had done this a few times against gangsters. To him, normal Humans seemed sluggish and clumsy. The Dire Wolf got into position and waited for this Vandage guy to come closer but that was when he heard the front door open behind him. Plan change. Bane wheeled and leaped up to tackle whoever was in that doorway, driving both of them inside and slamming the door behind them. In a half second, he was on his feet in a linoleum hallway,standing over a man in light green scrubs which had blood stains thick on their front. There was low moaning from a nearby room, which distracted Bane for a second but he tried to ignore it.
Bane's .38 was in his hand and he pressed a finger to his lips in the universal gesture for silence. The man slowly got to his feet, staring in disbelief. He was Japanese, maybe fifty, and quite good-looking with thick black hair and clean-cut features. The eyelid fold was minimal, the jaw strong. When he stood, he was not more than five feet nine but he held himself straight.
"Sorry I don't speak Japanese," Bane said as he returned his gun to the small of his back. "I hope you've got some English."
"My English is adequate," said the man. "If you are a burglar, you will not find any valuables here. No drugs you can sell, very little cash."
"Naw, I came to see you, Dr Kobayashi." Bane put a thumb to his chest. "I hear you're looking to hire an abductor."
III.
This was fairly quick thinking on the Dire Wolf's part, but he had pulled that approach before with gang leaders and his reputation as unmatched in combat skill often led to them accepting him. Bane watched the reaction spread over Kobayash's face. "What makes you think I need any such person?" he asked, straightening his scrubs.
"Come on, doc. It's Midnight War gossip. I hear you're an Alchemist, best since Dr Vitarius disappeared. And you work on living subjects, which always leads to working on people." He paused a second. "Since it was a good idea to get out of New York for a while, I thought I might land a job with you."
Kobayashi did not reply for the longest time. "I have heard a mention or two of a young American with pale eyes who is in Midnight War in New York. He is said to have killed a few quite dangerous opponents in the last year. What is your name?"
"Bane. Jeremy Bane, sometimes people call me Dire Wolf."
"Very well. Remain here while I change and we will talk. At least I will hear you out, despite the way you manhandled my person." As Kobayashi tugged off his scrubs to reveal a grimy white dress shirt, the front door opened and the Wolfhead burst in. "There he is! Get out of the way, Master!"
Kobayashi raised an open hand to desist. "Wait. Lower your weapon, Vandage. I wish to speak with this boy. Escort him to the den, please." The Alchemist headed down the hall and went around a corner. Another Asian man in a lab coat stopped him and they talked as they headed away.
The amber eyes in the wolf's head glared furiously at Bane. This close, it could be seen that Vandage was not simply a Human with an animal head but that his body had wolfish characteristics. Aside from the fur, the hind legs bent the wrong way and the thick fingers had blunt claws. Still, Vandage did point his rifle down and snuffled in disappointment.
"I see the doctor's been successful in his experiments," Bane said.
"Some more than others," replied the Wolfhead. "You have very little scent. How is that?"
"I do? No idea. I'm all sweaty and everything."
"Your body does not produce much of a scent for me and I have excellent sense of smell. There seems to be ways you are different from regular Humans. Your balance. Your reactions. Perhaps you are a creature of the night yourself."
"Me? I'm just a kid from the Big Apple," Bane said. "Vandage, I think the doc called you that. He said we were going to wait for him in the den?"
"Very well," the wolfheaded man started striding down the hall, going to the left at the intersection and opening a door. Here was a room with two big bookcases and more books piled in stacks. It smelled like pipe smoke. Three overstuffed easy chairs circled a low table that held an empty serving tray and a plate of cookies. On one wall was a painting of a Shinto gate. Without waiting to be told, Bane dropped down in the chair opposite the one where the cookies and ash tray sat, since he figured that was Koboyashi's. Vandage went and leaned his rifle up in a corner. He moved with some of the springy steps of a wolf, coming around to stand in front of Bane,who met his gaze evenly.
After an awkward pause, Kobayashi came in, followed by a younger Asian man. Both were wearing fresh clothing. "Mr Bane, this is my assistant Kenichi. You have already met Vandage."
Bane stood up, expecting hands to be shaken, but the two Japanese just sat down wearily. Kobayashi said, "Vandage, perhaps you will tell Mariko to prepare tea and some rice cakes?"
"Of course," said the Wolfhead, taking his rifle with him as he left.
Staring bluntly at Bane, Kobayashi said, "I understood you were employed by Kenneth Dred as a bodyguard."
"Oh, that. Didn't work out. I like the old man but we have different ideas about life. He believes a lot of Sunday school sermons."
"And you do not?"
"Nah. I go for what works."
The assistant Kenichi spoke for the first time. "I do not trust this boy who comes unannounced late at night to your door."
"I think we should withhold judgement. There are ways to let him prove himself."
An elderly Japanese woman in a faded kimono shuffled in slowly with a tray of tiny cups and a teapot, with a pile of steaming rice cakes. She placed it on the table in silence, bowed deeply and left without a word. Kobayashi acted if she was invisible. "We must serve ourselves here," he said as he poured tea into a cup and raised it to his mouth. "Good manners have been left behind in this jungle hell."
Bane helped himself to a rice cake and munched it slowly. In the distance, groaning and sobbing could be heard.
"Do you know what I am trying to accomplish here?" Kobayashi asked.
"Some kind of medical experiments, I was told. Dred figured your alchemy was part of it." He leaned forward. "I wanted to ask about your boy Vandage there. On the way in, I saw a guy with a tiger head. That's not science, it's gralic magic. Right?"
"Of course." Kobayashi put down his tea cup. "Traditional medicine will never be able to do what I have accomplished. My Velkandu serums prevent rejection of transplanted organs. They forestall shock. They allow recovery from severe trauma. I can remove organs from a conscious subject, modify them and put them back. I can swap limps from one subject to another. All because of Alchemy."
"Sounds like you don't use anesthesia. I'm just saying."
"It would interfere with my serums. Not important. Some of the subjects call this facility the House of Pain, which makes me laugh. The whole world is a House of Pain. I have been able to thaw frozen arms and legs even after gangrene sets in. I have been able to place an embryo into a different woman and have her have bring it to term. Ah, but do I shock you?"
"Nope. I'm no choir boy. I've done some hard things."
At this point, Vandage returned. He stood protectively behind Dr Kobayashi, arms folded, rifle strapped to his back. The doctor hissed between his teeth. "I have heard tales of you, Dire Wolf. Perhaps we can have an arrangement. I need a new subject, which must be taken from Diablito. Are you interested?"
"Sure. There is a matter of my fee."
"One thousand dollars per subject. And of course you will live here for free, with excellent meals cooked by Mariko. If you wish to abduct a young woman from the village for your personal needs, that will be no problem. Of course, when you tire of her, I will experiment on her. Nothing wasted."
"Sounds good," said Bane. "I'd prefer American dollars. Someday I might go back there."
"Of course." Kobayashi stood up and inclined his head, not quite bowing. "You will understand I cannot trust you yet. You might be sent from the American police or FBI, despite your reputation. So Vandage will accompany you to Diablito."
"Not a problem," answered Bane as he got to his feet. "Anything else?"
"You will surrender your pistol and be searched. Once you prove yourself, of course you will be fully armed."
The Dire Wolf handed over his .38 and consented to be frisked by the wolf-headed man. It was a tense moment, even though nothing showed on his poker face. He had no intention of letting those silver daggers be taken from him, and if Vandage discovered them, well- it would be too bad for Vandage. But the daggers remained secret. The dense silicon molds over the sheaths resembled human muscle so closely that no one searching Bane had noticed them yet. The Wolfhead stepped back and nodded to Kobayashi.
"Excellent," said the Alchemist. "Tonight I need a pregant woman. I want to inject the embryo with chimpanzee DNA and replace it to see the results. That is your assignment, Mr Bane."
"You got it. Ready, Vandage?"
The Wolfhead just grunted and lead Bane from the room. They went to the main gate where a deformed dwarf with half his face sagging like melted wax waited. After they stepped through the gate, the dwarf drew the heavy bolts again and called out "Good hunting!" tothem. The two walked down to a shack by the water's edge where a rowboat was tied to a metal ring set in a tree hanging out over the ocean.
"Get in first," muttered Vandage sullenly. As Bane complied, the Wolfhead untied the line, climbed in and pushed away from the bank. The night was warm and the air was still. A breeze would have helped. They each had an oar and started paddling toward the larger island. Lights could be seen on Diablito.
"What's eating you?" Bane said after a while. "Afraid I'll take your job?"
"That's foolish talk! I am one of the Master's first successful experiments. I have served him well. No, it is you. You are strange for a Human. Humans who come here are reduced to hysteria or weeping at what they see. You seem unaffected by the House of Pain."
"I've had a hard life," Bane said. "No room for sentiment. Listen, don't you need a disguise or something? A long coat, a hat? You're a little conspicuous."
"Hah! I will stay in the shadows and keep an eye on you. When the locals see me, they know they are about to do. Here. This ledge will do." The Wolfhead brought the rowboat against an outcropping and leaped nimbly up onto it. He held the rope in one paw and secured it to a jagged rock while Bane climbed up on the shelf of rock. Vandage turned to say, "The village is a few miles that way. Finding a pregnant woman should not be difficult, these fools breed constantly."
Bane gazed out at the diffused light beyond the trees. "Before we go, I need a favor." He stepped closer and had lowered his voice. Despite himself, the Wolfhead leaned his head toward the Dire Wolf just to catch a blurring left cross that snapped his head halfway around.
IV.
The fight was brutal and short. Both opponents were fast and tough, and Vandage had the advantage of blunt claws and sharp fangs. Bane had no martial arts training, but he had been sparring at a 12th street gym with anyone willing and he had been in street fights all his life. He knew how to box. Vandage walked into a vicious uppercut that clapped his jaws shut with a brittle snapping noise. The Wolfhead seized Bane and tried to claw at his throat but the Dire Wolf pressed a forearm up hard and drove him off. Springing up, Vandage swung the rifle around from where it hung on his back and then stopped short. The hilt of a throwing dagger was sticking out of the left side of his furry chest. He fell to his knees and tried to pull the weapon out but was getting weak.
Bane's voice was icy. "I was NEVER going to go along with that sick plan. Not that telling you makes any difference." He grabbed the hilt and shoved the dying creature back down to the mud. The Dire Wolf was trembling with released tension. Pretending to work for Dr Kobyashi, sitting there calmly while people were enduring cruel sadistic torture in the same building had been the hardest thing he had ever done. He was glad it was over and he could get to work. Bane cleaned his dagger and sheathed it, and then slung the rifle across his own back. Then he knelt and got Vandage across his back and stood up. "You smell like a wet dog," he told the dead wolfman and started hiking toward the village.
It took a while and he had stop for a few minutes rest as he entered the village itself. In the center of the town was one building with light spilling out of the open door and the buzz of voices. A sign hanging from a horizontal crossbar read ROSA'S CANTINA. Bane strode right into the center of the place and flung the limp hairy body onto an empty wooden table. Everyone froze where they were and held their breaths.
"Yes, stare!" Bane yelled. His Spanish was not great but he thought he could get his point across. "This is the beast that had kept you in a grip of fear. Does he look so terrible now?"
One old man with a white mustache spoke up. "We thought he was.. a devil. That he could not be killed."
"Well, he wasn't. The things on that island are just flesh and blood. Like you and me. They can be killed and tonight we are going to kill them. The reign of terror ends now!"
No one spoke. Bane raised his voice until it rang from the rafters. "You know what they are doing there. They kidnap you. Your daughters and sons, your wives and your brothers. And they cut them up alive! A madman is torturing them right now. Can you hear the screams? Why do you sit here like sheep?"
"We are only farmers," came a miserable voice. "We have no guns. We do not know how to fight and there are monsters there."
"So WHAT! You have knives. You have axes and pitchforks. You have your bare fists if it comes to that. I thought I saw men in here. Was I wrong?"
No one answered. Bane was yelling by now, "Well, I am going back there by myself. I will kill as many as I can and if I die, it will be with a proud heart. Isn't there a single MAN among you?"
The old man in the corner rose stiffly. "Yes. I am still a man. I have my machete. I will go with you!"
That broke the wall of terror holding them down. In a roar of furious voices, the crowd ran to fetch farm tools, kitchen knives, whatever would serve. They jumped into rowboats and tiny fishing boats and one delapidated yacht that had been left here somehow by tourists. Years of repressed shame and guilt drove them. Bane selected two of locals and said, "I have a rowboat tied up two miles that way. You guys come with me!" and he took off without waiting to see if they would follow.
V.
As the ragtag assortment of small craft paddled up to Kobayash's island, a guard saw them and started blowing a whistle. He rushed down to water's edge and got off one shot from his.45 automatic. Then a rifle bullet plowed a tunnel through his head. Vaulting up onto the land, holding the rifle in one hand, Bane snatched up the man's automatic and waved it. "Who knows how to use this?"
"I do, senor. My brother taught me." A chubby young man took the automatic gladly and joined the rush toward the House of Pain. Bane raced ahead of them at twice their speed. He wanted to disable to electrified wire atop the fence. Wild shouts and screams and roars sounded behind him as the villagers clashed with the animal-men who wandered the jungle at night. Reaching the compound, the Dire Wolf saw a boulder near the wall and leaped atop it, getting just high enough. Holding only the dry wooden butt of the rifle, he twisted the barrel around the wires and yanked back with all his weight. Sparks flew and sputtered, and the lights in the hospital went out. Good. He went back twenty feet, ran full speed to jump up on the boulder and used his momentum to clear the wall. Landing well was something he had not mastered though, and he tumbled painfully before getting up. The Dire Wolf rushed toward the gate, saw that the dwarf was guarding it with a curved saber in one hand. Bane had left the rifle tangled in the wires atop the wall, so he charged the dwarf and blasted a backfist that sent the lost soul reeling away. In a second, he had the gate open and was yelling, "Over here! Come on, over here!" And the villagers poured in with their bloodlust up.
Bane stepped aside and leaned back against the cool stone wall for a second. Let them have their revenge. There was a lot they needed to pay back. As for him, his next move was to locate Kobayashi. The villagers had kicked down the front door and were piling through. On a hunch, he trotted around to the rear of the building and sure enough, a man in a white labcoat was running out the back door. Bane tackled him head-on and slammed him to the ground, kneeling over his chest.
"You are interfering with my work," Kobayashi said as if he had been sitting in a cubicle.
"Absolutely," answered Bane, punching the man hard right in the face. Once he started, he could not stop. Left and right blows pounded down until Kobayashi's face had lost all its shape. The bones in that face were splintered. Bane realized his fists were swollen so he could not open them. Sitting on the dead man, he slowly caught his breath. "You look like one of your experiments," he said.
A wave of heat and light swept the area. They had set fire to the horror hospital. The roof was already burning. Suddenly exhausted, the Dire Wolf sat in the mud next to the body of Shinzo Kobyashi and watched the flames. From the jungle outside the walls, the sounds of slaughter continued, with men yelling and beast voices roaring. Slowly, stiffly, he headed for the gate and looked out. The villagers were dragging monsters by the feet to haul them into the burning building. Men with heads of animals, dogs with six legs, a woman with horse legs, men with arms for legs...
The old man with the white mustache found Bane. "There were none of our people alive in there. Not one. We found the gasoline for the generator and thought it best to burn the hellish place."
"Yes," agreed the Dire Wolf. "Keep it burning until nothing remains."
As dawn came up, the hospital was still smoldering, nothing but just blackened wooden beams and cracked stone blocks. Dr Kobayashi and his assistant had gone up in flames with their hellhole. In groups of two and three, the villagers were wearily trudging down to their boats with ashen faces and slumped shoulders. Bane got up. He guessed he had fallen asleep for a while because the sun was high. Going off by himself, he found his stolen canoe where he had left it and he got in, cutting the rope with a silver dagger. He would get his luggage from the hotel and get off the island with the next boat to Corazon. The Dire Wolf rowed slowly. He had thought he would feel proud and excited about succeeding in smashing Kobayash's experiments but he wasn't. He just felt sad and sick.
2/10/2014
