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Proudly Presents:
City Streets
#2: Recruits and Defections
cover: Teen boy with black hair kneeling over an unconcious blond girl, his hand covering her face. Brunette version of girl behind them, preparing to attack the boy.
"Remember, balance is the key," Josh told Allan as he picked Allan up off the arena floor. "And use your hips, not your legs!" He muttered something under his breath. "Let's try it again."
Josh and Allan were on the sparring mats in one corner of the gym, Josh giving some pointers to Allan on the finer points of karate. Allan was proving an inept student. The two continued Allan's training while Joe and Heather looked on.
"Your brother appears to have had no adverse effects to his 'initiation'," Heather commented, her arm around Joe's waist. "Are you sure he's been cleared? Harnagorn wants no mistakes on you two."
"Allan's always been rather resilient. I've no doubts as to his loyalty. He will be totally cooperative in our endeavors."
Allan pulled his mind away from them, disgusted with Heather, and shocked that Joe could have been zombified so easily.
"Heads up, puke!" And Allan found himself chewing foam rubber again.
"Rule number one," Josh reminded him, "pay attention."
"Sorry," Allan said. He dropped his voice to a whisper. "I was just listening to Joe and Heather."
"Heather gives me the creeps," Josh stated softly. "Your brother I can take care of, but Heather...?" He shook his head with a slight shiver.
"Don't worry about her," Allan said. "I've got a plan."
"If you two have stopped playing around," a female voice called out from the gym doors, "we'd like to get some real sparring going."
Josh smiled. "Allan, I don't think you're met the Patterson twins, Lee and Robin. They're students of mine. I particularly like sparring with Robin because she uses her legs in... interesting ways." Robin flashed him a saucy look.
Allan gave the twins an appraising look, a small smile forming on his lips. The twins were identical in height and build; around 5' 8" and athletic. Their similarities were enhanced by their differences; Robin was blond with sea-blue eyes, while Lee was a brunette with brown eyes. Allan guessed they were about fifteen or sixteen.
He reached for Lee's extended hand, marveling at her firm grasp. While he shook her hand, he sent her a faint mental message. He then did the same with Robin.
"Ready?" Lee asked. Josh nodded. The two girls attacked him in unison. Josh expertly deflected their attacks. Lee found herself on the mat first, a victim of one of Josh's judo throws. Robin lasted a little longer, actually knocking Josh off balance for a few seconds. She, too, found herself face down on the mat. Josh then went about tutoring them, leaving Allan to his own business.
Several minutes later, Lee rounded a corner as she was heading into the locker room from the gym when she ran into Allan.
"I'm sorry," she started to say. "I don't...."
Allan reached out quickly and placed his hand over her face. Lee slumped to the floor. Allan made sure she didn't make any noise.
Just as I thought, he thought to himself. She's one of them. He then mind-touched her and undid the brainwashing. As the brunette started to stir, still recovering from Allan's mind-touch, Robin rounded the corner. She immediately pounced on Allan.
"What are you doing to my sister, you pervert!" she yelled. Allan was tempted to force a mind-touch to calm her when she was pulled off by Lee.
"Just relax, sis," Lee told the blonde. "He's not going to hurt you." She looked Allan straight in the eye. "Do it."
Allan placed his hand on Robin's face, forging a telepathic link between them. He then undid the brainwashing. Robin's face lit up when Allan pulled out of her mind.
"I feel so weird," she commented. "That is definitely not something I'd like to experience again." She studied Allan. "How did you...?"
"Let's just say," he replied, "there's things I can do other than levitate swords."
Josh rounded the corner just then. When he saw Allan with the twins, he called out to them. Lee and Robin started to back away from him.
"It's okay," Allen told them. "He's one of us."
Josh looked at Allan and the twins. "They were Harnagorn's?" he asked. Allan nodded.
"Just one question?" Lee asked Allan. "Why us?"
"Join us at supper tonight," he told her. "I'll explain everything."
"Josh," Allan stated later that day, "I have a favor to ask of you."
"Name it."
"Sneak into Harnagorn's office with me. There's something in there we need."
"What is this something?" Josh wanted to know.
"Did it ever occur to you why Harnagorn's brainwashing us?"
"The thought had occurred to me," Josh admitted.
"I've got proof she's up to something big." Allan stated. "But it's in her office. I need to show it to you and the Pattersons. Are you with me?"
"Is there gonna be trouble?"
"There's already trouble," Allan stated. "We just have to start to fix it."
Josh hesitated a minute, then said, "Yeah, I'm in."
Allan smiled. "Good. Now, here's the plan...."
Around three in the afternoon, Allan and Josh observed Harnagorn leaving her office. It was easy for them to pick the lock and enter the room without incident.
"So where is this proof?" Josh asked, rifling through several papers on Harnagorn's desk. Allan opened the filing cabinet and pulled out a bunch of folders. He tossed one to Josh.
"Read through this," he said.
"Just standard information," Josh muttered as he read through the file. "Wait a minute. This is mine." He pulled out a single sheet of paper. "This says I was sold here by my sensei."
"Now read this," Allan stated as he handed Josh the Presidential Assassination Plan.
"Holy shit," was all Josh said. He quickly made a copy of it. Allan replaced the file as Josh made copies of the copy. "How did you?"
"I was tipped off by the changes in Joe," Allan explained. "So I did some detective work, and found this. The question is, what do we do about it now?"
"What you'll do is be reinitiated!"
Allan and Josh turned towards the door. A small boy of about fourteen stood in the doorway, glaring at them menacingly.
"Josh?" Allan asked.
"His name's Pete," Josh explained. "He's one of hers. Skilled in espionage."
"Pete Walsh?" Allan asked. Pete nodded. Allan glanced at Josh. "He's on the list."
"Let's do it," Josh muttered.
Josh moved like lightning, dropping Pete with a single kick to the neck. Allan immediately dropped beside Pete and forced his way into his mind. After a few minutes, he pulled out.
"I feel like shit," Pete mumbled, rubbing his neck as he sat up. "What hit me?"
"We did," Allan stated.
"What did you do?"
"I simply helped you break Harnagorn's brainwashing."
"I'm gonna kill that bitch!"
"You'll have to wait in line," Josh told the younger boy. "Perhaps you'd like to join us at supper?"
That evening, in the orphanage's cafeteria, Allan, Josh, Pete, Lee, and Robin sat at a secluded table talking amongst themselves.
"So how do we stop Harnagorn?" Lee asked. "If we deprogram any more orphans, she's going to get suspicious."
"I agree," Josh commented. "We've got to keep our group small, for the time being. Otherwise, we'll be sent back down to the brainwashing chamber again."
"It won't do any good," Allan commented, munching on a chicken sandwich. "I placed blocks to prevent such reprogramming."
"I still don't want to go back down there," Lee stated.
"I say we deprogram as many as possible," Pete muttered, "then let everyone have a piece of the old fart."
"Nice thought," Robin commented.
Let's consider this logically," Allan said, setting his sandwich on his plate. "Harnagorn relies on her brainwashed orphans to do her dirty work. If we destroy the brainwashing center, we set her back a bit, giving us some time to deal with the real threat, Harnagorn herself."
"Is that a fact?" a feminine voice asked from over Allan's shoulder. "I knew you couldn't be trusted, Allan."
"Heather," he breathed. He stood up, followed by Josh, Pete, and the twins. "What do you intend to do? March all of us down there right now?"
Heather smiled. "Why don't we meet in the gym tonight?" she asked. "I'll deal with all of you then."
Allan looked her right in the eyes. "I'd enjoy it," he snarled.