Dawson

I had been investigating Emporia for a while before I finally caught sight of Bill Dawson. He caught sight of me as well, then smirked at me before turning a corner out of my sight. I teleported over there, to find he had completely vanished. All I found was a sticky note on the ground, with and address written down on it.

Felt like a trap.

But I decided to bite. Worst case scenarios, I just teleport out. It's not I had anyone else's life on the line this time.

I went to that address, bracing myself for a fight. It was a grocery store, that was currently closed for renovations. I approached the front door, and immediately noticed some odd looking flyers pasted all over the outside walls, displaying a large number of weird looking symbols. I hesitated.

They could mean a lot of things. They could just be servant or Fear symbols that I just wasn't familiar with yet. But they could also be an attempt at performing a eldritch ritual.

The electric door suddenly opened. I hadn't even gotten close enough to trigger it, and I couldn't see anyone on the other side.

"Ahlan was sahlan, Doctor," came a voice from behind me. "We've been expecting you."

I turned. A tall, middle-eastern looking man, with short, black hair and a couple days worth of stubble stood there. He was dressed in business-casual clothing, and had a rather large, sealed off gourd hanging from his belt.

"And you are?" I asked.

"You may call me Haji," the man said. "May I escort you inside?"

"I'll enter on my own, thank you," I said.

Well, no more point in hesitating. If there was some kind of ritual going on here, I'd deal with it upon crossing that bridge.

I walk toward the door, with him walking beside me, uncomfortably close. He leaned in and whispered to me.

"The hive would like to know how Spider Wolfie is doing," he said. "I hope you are taking good care of her. They've never had their own Indisen before."

So Spider Wolfie's a girl, huh? I'm bad with arthropod genders...

"Wolfie's doing fine," I said back. "No need for concern."

"Good."

We entered. The front area was restricted with a great deal of waist-high barricades. Bill Dawson sat in a folding lawn chair towards the back of the store, directly in my line of sight. four other people were there.

There was an energetic looking young lady, with dark black hair and crimson eyes. Likely a Prowler.

Then there was a disinterested looking Timberwolf. He had a gray streak in his otherwise black hair, and had a khopesh sheathed at his side. I decided to mentally call him Puppy Dog.

There was a Willing Doll with a chakram in his lap, sitting down on a stack of unopened boxes.

Then there was a girl who didn't seem to be a Fear servant at all. Not sure what her deal was, but she had long blonde hair, and seemed slightly older than me.

"William Dawson," I said. "Nice to meet you. I take it you guys are using this place as a meeting ground while renovations are underway?"

"Correct, Mr. Ferris," the Doll said, answering for Dawson. Dick...

"Dr. Ferris," I insisted. "So what's with all of this?"

I motioned to the barricades.

"I'd like to maintain some distance between us, if it's all right with you, doctor," Dawson replied.

I focused on him a bit more. I could feel eldritch energy coming from him. There was a Fear with him. And if his insistence at keeping a distance between us was any indication, than it must be one I haven't gained the power of yet.

I also realized that the gourd Haji was carrying also had an eldritch aura coming from it. One I was familiar with. He was carrying some of the Intrusion with him. I subtly did something about that...

I smirked a bit. As if a barricade would stop me from acquiring another Fear power...

I made an attempt to teleport over to him, but all my body did was flicker slightly. It was his turn to smirk at me now.

Son of a bitch.

That's what those fliers on the outside of the building were for. He was using them to cut me off from the God's Way.

"My apologies," Dawson said. "But we can't have you growing stronger right now."

"I see," I said.

So, teleporting away if things got dicey was out of the question. Damn...

"So, I taken you guys are involved with Kraken?" I asked.

Dawson simply nodded.

"The books and Ki," I said. "How are you guys involved with their disappearance?"

"That's none of your business, mister!" the Prowler said.

"Doctor!" I said, in a warning tone of voice.

"Mister!" she said, snarkily. "Mister! Mister mister mist-"

"Bang."

A bolt of lighting shot from my finger, tearing through her chest. She stood there, stunned for a moment, before falling to her knees, then slumping forward onto the floor.

The rest of them stared in horror at her lifeless burnt corpse, laying on the floor. Dawson, however, just sighed.

"Now, what have we all learned about taunting superpowered egomaniacs?" he asked the others.

They all remained silent, and looked nervously between the two of us.

"Where are they?" I demanded.

"I'm afraid giving you a proper answer would be out of the question," he replied. "I can say that I'm not personally involved with Ki. I'm sure whoever is is taking very good care of them. Probably..."

"You're full of shit!" I said. "Just what's Karken's endgame here? Why steal those books? Why kidnap and innocent person!?"

"It's simple," Dawson said. "Humanity disgusts me. Kraken's goals coincide with my own. For now, at least."

"What you on about?" I demanded.

"We're fighting fire with fire," he said. "Solving one problem with another. Using a plague of our own to stamp out the plague that is mankind."

"I see," I said. "Classic supervillain bullshit."

"From your point of view, perhaps," he said. "To me, this goal is righteous. And I must as that you stay out of it."

"What?" I demanded.

"That is why I drew you here," he said. "To ask that you step aside. Stop seeking those books and the prisoner. Stay out of our way, and end your pursuit of power."

"And what if I say no?" I asked.

Haji positioned his hand to hover over the cover to his gourd, the Doll, got his chakram ready, Puppy Dog drew a sawed-off shotgun I hadn't even noticed, and the other girl drew a sword, as well as a shield decorated with a large, pink and purple butterfly.

"If you refuse," Dawson said, standing up. "Then you will not leave here alive."

"I'm afraid I predict a different ending," came a voice from above us.

Without warning, Kallway dropped down from the ceiling, bringing his sword (which was now emitting a soft blue light) swinging down at Dawson.  Dawson was able to dodge and step backwards away from the blade.

The Doll turned his attention to Kallaway, and threw his chakram. Kallaway turned and deflected it with his sword.

"Saw that coming," Kallaway said.

The Doll drew a pair of pistols and aimed at Kallaway.

"I don't miss!" he growled.

"You do now," Kallaway smirked.

I threw a ball of pure coldness at the Doll's hands, freezing them solid. Kallaway grabbed the side of the shelves next to him and brought them crashing down on the startled Doll. The blonde girl rushed at Kallaway with her sword, while I pointed my finger gun at Puppy Dog, who was trying to decide who to aim his gun at.

"Don't try anything," I warned him.

He scowled at me, made up his mind, and aimed his shotgun at my head.

"Try me," he challenged.

I grinned a bit.

"I like you," I said. "I think I'll spare you."

I pointed at the bottom of the shelved next to him and said "bang." A bolt of lightning hit them, causing them to fall over onto him, disarming and disabling him.

I turned my attention back to Haji, who was struggling to open his gourd. He looked at the seal in shock, realizing it was iced over.

"Did you just now notice that?" I asked, having been the one to freeze it shut while he wasn't paying attention earlier.

I raised my finger gun to his face and gave him a menacing stare.

"Leave the gourd and go," I said. "Or else you won't be the one to leave here alive."

He nervously placed the gourd on the ground, raised his hands in the air, and backed out of the store slowly, before completely bolting.

I turned my attention back to Kallaway, who had disarmed the girl's shield, and had now forced onto a desperate defensive. He quickly knocked the knocked the sword from he hand, and knocked her out with a punch before turning his attention to Dawson.

"Your turn," Kallaway hissed.

Dawson sighed, and I felt a shift in his aura.

"I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me little choice," he said.

An inky darkness began taking the place of parts of his flesh. His entire right arm, a few fingers on his left hand, the left half of his face, and I'm assuming patching of skin beneath his clothes that I couldn't see, were replaced by pitch darkness. I couldn't believe my eyes. Not only had the Nightlanders spared him, but they'd bonded with him.

A shadowy sword appeared in his right hand, and he began clashing with Kallaway. I stepped forward and began struggling with a barricade. It moved, little by little. As I got it moving, Kallaway's blade managed to graze Dawson's right arm. Dawson shrieked in pain, and as he did, and unearthly wailing sounded from the shadows making up parts of his body.

"What is that thing!?" Dawson demanded.

"This?" Kallaway said, raising his blade. "It's a weapon wielded by my ancestor, the Ace of Chaos. He called it the Proto-Godslayer. A weapon enchanted to gain more power in the presence of a Fear. The first step in crafting a tool that can properly combat those fiends you've thrown your lot in with."

At this time, Dawson noticed me pushing the barricade out of the way. Realizing that the Nightlander's presence made Kallway's sword stronger, and that I would get stronger myself if I got close enough, he decided to bail. He melted into the shadows and quickly vanished.

Kallaway sighed, before turning his attention to Puppy Dog, who was beginning to stir. Kallaway approached him sword raised. I got there in time to hook Kallaway's arm with my cane.

"Don't stop me!" Kallaway said. "If they live on, they'll-"

"They'll learn from this," I said, before looking down at Puppy Dog. "Won't you?"

Puppy Dog stared back up at me, a look of confusion on his face.

"Wake your friends up and get out of here," I said. "I won't be falling for that 'God's Way seal' thing again."

Puppy Dog got the others and left. I turned to face Kallaway.

"We just keep running into each other, don't we?" I asked.

"Some one needs to keep track of you," Kallaway said.

"So, how many lives have I doomed by sparing theirs?" I asked, smirking.

Kallaway just glared at me.

"You said my actions will bring about a lot of deaths," I said. "I'm curious how many you can see right now."

"I don't know!" He growled. "My visions are unclear at best, and unreliable at worst. Destiny is fickle. But I am absolutely sure that people will die because of you. Whether they deserve it or not is something we'll have to wait and see."

"So, you've got beef with Kraken too, don't you?" I asked.

"They're up to something big," he said. "But like I said. I can't predict everything. But what I can say is that my motives for bringing them down are far less selfish than yours."

"Oh?" I asked.

"You're power mad and greedy," he said. "You want those books so that you can seek out even greater strength for yourself, and gain some good graces with that Academy. Helping out that missing person is just a bonus act of kindness for you."

"Thanks for pointing out my flaws," I said. "Mind if I note a few of yours?"

He scowled at me.

"Okay, fine, I'll save that for later," I said. "I am concerned about Ki, don't get me wrong about that. But you correct that I look out for number one. What wrong with that?"

"I think that's part of what Dawson hates about humanity," Kallaway said.

"Look, we can stand here arguing all day about 'motives' and whatnot," I said. "Or..."

I offered him a hand.

"We could call a truce," I said. "For now. After all, our motives may differ, but our goals are the same. Stop Kraken, save a kid, and something-something missing books."

Kallaway kept glaring for a little while.

"I accept the truce," he said. "But I'm not shaking your hand."

"Okay," I said. "What's next, prophet?"

"Well, we're still in Kansas," he replied. "Dyson said there's a group in Burlington who can help me if needed. Meet me there in two day's time."