RadioActive Rabbit Ink

 

Hello all, as you can tell I’m doing a horror themed month with your favorite detective duo.  So as a follow up to their adventure with Dracula and their run in with the Wolfman, I give you:

Lollipop Jones & Pecan Sandie vs Frankenstein

Pecan Sandie was pacing the small space between his and Lollipop Jones’ desk. She was on the phone with Heidi Stubbe. A recent client whose husband, Peter, was a werewolf. The two detectives had allowed the local dog catcher to take away the tranquilized wolfman, expecting Heidi to be able to retrieve her husband from the pound in the morning. Unfortunately, as they found out the following morning, Peter had been stolen. Only a few moments ago did Wilbur Talbot, the city dogcatcher, remember the name of the man that had stolen the lycanthropic hound: Dracula. The vampire lord had narrowly escaped the detectives only the week before the werewolf debacle.

Jones hung up the phone. “I don’t like this.” She announced to her partner. “Why would Dracula release him?”

Pecan stopped pacing for a moment. “Remember the gathering he talked about?” The broad shouldered behemoth asked. “What if it wasn’t vampires but monsters in general?”

“Lovely.” Jones said, removing the white stick of an expended sucker from her mouth.

As Pecan took another step, he heard the crinkle of cellophane as a new sugary orb took its place in her mouth. “He’s not a wolf right now.” Pecan stated. “So why is he important?”

“I don’t know, but we need to find out what old pale-face long-tooth is up to.” Lollipop stated.

She stood up and walked around her desk. “Lunch?” She asked.

Pecan nodded and followed his partner out the door. The giant man, dwarfed his friend but Lollipop’s size was not a comment on her capabilities. The graceful woman had been trained in combat by the greatest fighting force in history, a sect of warrior nuns known as the Fighting Sisters of the Closed Fist. She pulled her coat up tight around her as the brisk fall wind blew down the city streets. “Where would monsters hold a gathering?” Pecan asked in his rumbling voice.

“A cemetery.” Jones offered. “But they won’t be staying there until the shindig starts.”

“Some place to avoid the sun, where a wolfman won’t get bored.” Pecan mused.

Taking a seat at the corner diner, the detectives watched out the windows as people walked about. Most of them were heading to lunch from their offices in the large high rise buildings, a few of them were heading home with bags of groceries, candy packaging jutting from the top. “At least, they picked the right month for it.” Lollipop Jones mused, referring to the upcoming Halloween festivities.

“Where are they going?” Pecan Sandie asked, staring at a couple of teenagers.

Glancing at the clock, Lollipop saw that those kids should still be in school. “Must have ditched for the day.” She stated. “Probably going to Ted’s Video Game Arcade Emporium.”

Both detectives’ eyes widened. “The Arcade!” They concluded in unison.

Hurrying out into the street, the duo followed after the teenagers. Running to get on the transit bus to the outskirts of town.

Ted’s Video Game Arcade Emporium was a large castle like structure that stood in a small basin near the large hydroelectric dam that provided so much power for the city’s neighboring towns. The castle façade would provide a familiar setting for Dracula and lots of places to hide, whereas Peter Stubbe could either be held hostage within the myriad rooms or entertaining himself with the video games. Lollipop and Pecan were both kicking themselves for not having thought of it sooner. As the bus slowed to a stop at the bus bench in the middle of nowhere, the teens stood up to exit.

As they hopped down the steps to the grassy curb, Lollipop and Pecan followed behind at a distance. The youths did not pay any attention to the detectives tailing them on the gravel path. Looming ahead, the battlements of the castle were bright and cheery in the beaming sunlight of day. Approaching, the teens stopped and the unmistakable sound of complaining teenagers rose into the air. Using various phrases hip with the youth of today, the teens displayed their displeasure of the information contained on the hand painted sign. It read simply: closed until further notice.

Griping loudly, the adolescents walked back towards the bus stop. Lollipop and Pecan stood to the side as they passed. “I wouldn’t even bother.” One of them offered. “Place is closed.”

“Are you kidding me?” Another of them questioned the first. “Old people like that don’t play video games.”

“Old?” Lollipop stated angrily.

She started to go after the boys, when Pecan wrapped his large hand around her arm. “Not now.” He rumbled. “Later, if Dracula’s inside this is the time to strike.”

Ignoring the sign and chain drawn across the path to the gate, the detectives continued on until they stood before the large wooden doors. Lollipop knocked on the doors. Discarding a used sucker stick in the trash can, she grabbed another of the sweet confections from the pocket of her jacket. Inside, they heard sounds of movement. With a creak, one of the doors opened a crack. A short man stuck his head around the door. “Sorry, we’re closed.” He stated in a high pitched tone.

Before he could shut the door, Pecan wedged his foot into the gap. “We have a few questions for you?” Lollipop Jones explained.

Looking at the giant foot and the equally large body it was connected to, the man decided to answer a few questions. “Go on.” He invited.

“Is there anyone here by the name of Peter Stubbe?” Lollipop asked.

“No. Never heard of him.” The man answered, his eyes darting between the two detectives.

“Dracula?” Pecan growled at the man.

“Nope, not ringing any bells.” The man replied, growing more agitated and nervous. “I have to go.”

Pecan moved his foot and let the sweating little man shut the door. “He’s lying.” Lollipop stated.

“I know.” Pecan confirmed.

“Why do they have to be difficult?” She asked.

“People say I’m difficult and sometimes that’s a badge of honor.” Pecan replied. He glanced at Lollipop and saw her curious stare. “Bill Murray said it.”

 

“Do you have a book ‘The Tao of Murray’ or something?” She asked.

“I wish.” Pecan replied.

Raising his foot, Pecan Sandie slammed the heel of his boot into the wooden door. It splintered, but did not break. Confused, Pecan looked at Lollipop, who stood with the same look on her face. No door had ever stood up to Pecan Sandie before. “Hit it again.” Jones suggested.

Growling, the mountainous man reared back and slammed his foot back into the door, again and again. After the fifth kick, the door swung inward. Its finish had been reduced to a splintered ruin, but the iron bar that had been holding it in place was warped and unusable. Pecan stepped into the arcade, his hand moving to grab the battle axe strapped onto his back. Lollipop stepped in and noticed that the foyer lights were out, the glow around the doors in front of them showed multicolored lights from the next room. Carefully pulling on the handle, the door opened and before them was the arcade floor. A set of stone steps lead down to the pit where the games were kept. They were all on with vibrant flashing colors and loud sounds filling the large room.

In the center of the room, the games had been pushed aside and large equipment set up. A table with a cloth draped over it was set directly in the middle of the brightly lit area. “More power!” A high pitched voice shouted.

Walking down the steps, the duo started making their way towards the strange scene. Once they were able to get a clear line of sight, they could see that something was on the table, concealed under the cloth. Stepping into the cleared space, Pecan and Lollipop saw a woman with untamed white hair, in a lab coat, fiddling with dials on the panel before her. The little man that they had spoken to earlier was nearby, throwing sparking switches on a separate panel. He had a hump back and was moving with a pronounced limp.

Not sure what to make of the scene, Lollipop cleared her throat, loudly. The woman turned to them, her white hair stood up, framing her face. Pecan noticed that she was wearing a pair of welder’s goggles. “Who are you? What do you want?” The woman demanded.

“We’re looking for someone.” Lollipop explained.

“Frankenstein.” Pecan stated.

“Yes?” The woman responded.

Lollipop gave a questioning look to her over-muscled companion, then sparing a quick glance around, she put the same pieces together. “Sorry, my partner thinks you are Doctor Frankenstein and that you have a body cobbled together from different pieces, under that cloth.” Jones noted that the woman did not deny the statement. “Are you trying to wake up your homemade man?”

“Indeed I am.” The woman stated. “I am Doctor Henrietta Von Frankenstein and this is my assistant . . .”

“Igor?” Pecan offered.

“My name is Johnny.” The assistant interjected.

“Sorry.” Pecan apologized.

“If I had found you first, I would have been more than happy to have you on my table. You are the exact physical specimen that I need.” Frankenstein stated, giving Pecan a quick look over.

“Yeah.” Lollipop Jones said, drawing the word out. “Anyway, would you please stop resurrecting your tinker toy Tom and tell us if Dracula is here?”

“Here?” Frankenstein asked. “No, he is not here. As for my creation, he will wake and join his rightful place among his brethren. All will be settled once the gathering has begun.”

The detectives exchanged a knowing look, this was the second time they had heard of the gathering and the wolfman’s wife had mentioned that he had an important meeting. “You’re coming with us.” Lollipop stated.

“Shut it down.” Pecan demanded.

“Too late!” Johnny shouted, pointing.

The shape under the sheet was moving. “It’s alive, it’s alive!” Frankenstein shouted, laughing maniacally because she wanted to be as cliché as possible.

Flipping out the battle axe, Pecan smashed the nearest panels, sending spark scattering about as the machines began to increase their output. “What have you done?” Frankenstein demanded.

“Stopped you.” Pecan replied.

“Really?” Frankenstein asked, incredulously. “Is that how you solve problems, by smashing other people’s things? Besides, all you’ve done is endangered the nearby area.”

“What did he do?” Lollipop asked.

“We were using power from the hydroelectric facility within the dam, but since smash-happy-boy decided to break the controls. we can’t shut it down. The generators will overload and blow up the dam.” The demented doctor explained.

“Oops.” Pecan said.

The creature sat up and the sheet fell away. Sitting on the table was a patchwork man, who resembled the Frankenstein’s monster of old (but for reasons of copyright did not look like Boris Karloff’s creature portrayal). A flatish head with stitches keeping the skin closed over a misshapen skull, with an outlet plug running into his neck. Reaching up, the creature used a misshapen hand to pull the three pronged extension cord form its throat.

 

“Johnny get these intruders out of here.” Frankenstein ordered.

“Coming.” Johnny answered. “All right folks, shows over. We need to let mommy and baby have some time alone.”

The assistant tried to shoo the detectives away. Pecan wrapped his hand on Johnny’s head, lifted the small man up, and set him back down out of the way. “Okay, we’re doing this the hard way.” The diminutive man stated.

He drew back to punch Pecan in the back of the knee. As his fist started forward, Lollipop grabbed his hand and spun him around to face her. “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” She stated, slapping Johnny in the face.

He placed a hand on his face, tears glimmering in his eyes. Pecan did not see this as he walked towards the patchwork man. “It’s okay.” Frankenstein was cooing to its creation. “Everything is going to be fine.”

The creature let out an unintelligible sputter of shouts and gibberish. Pecan Sandie grunted in response. Turning its head on unfamiliar neck muscles, the creature saw the large man approaching and growled. “You leave him alone.” Frankenstein demanded.

“Fine, can you calm him down?” Pecan requested, as he stopped approaching.

“Of course.” The doctor offered, taking a small silver rectangle from her pocket. “I’ll just hypnotize him.”

She opened the lid of a metal lighter. The creature’s eyes widened as he watched her strike the flint and a small jut of flame blazed from the top. “Now just watch. . .” Frankenstein started.

The creature interrupted her with a frenzied shout and swatted the flame from her hand. Pecan face palmed. “Idiot!” He stated.

Swinging wildly, the creature knocked the doctor aside, bouncing her off a nearby game of Frogger. Standing up, the man-made monster started walking towards Pecan, still shouting. Closing up his battle axe, Pecan strapped it across his back and popped his knuckles.

“This is bad.” Johnny stated. “I’ve got to get to the backup plan.”

Turning, the small man fled away, crawling up the machines and leaping onto one of the overhanging lights. “Really?” Lollipop asked, wondering why he had announced a backup plan outloud.

Running along the floor, she followed as the lab assistant swung along the lights, Tarzan style. Climbing the stairs, she waited as the assistant dropped to the ground.

Upon seeing the trench coat wearing figure, he scooped up a wrench from nearby and swung it at Lollipop. She ducked under the swing and quickly disarmed the man. “If you don’t stop, I’m going to have to get mean.” She warned.

Grabbing up a mallet nearby, he attacked once again. Who keeps leaving these tools lying around? Lollipop wondered, as she again evaded the attack.

Pecan Sandie grappled with the oddly shaped humanoid. It was almost as broad as Pecan and nearly as tall. What had surprised the detective was that the creature was just as strong. So the two stood in the middle of the floor, gripping hands and trying to force the other back. Gritting his teeth, Pecan timed his move just right. The big man stopped resisting and as the creature stumbled forward, Pecan swung to the side and performed a hip throw, that sent the patchwork man sprawling on the ground. Howling, the creature pushed up and rushed towards Pecan. This time he wrapped his arms around Pecan and tackled him.

Holding on, Pecan was able to flip the creature over and off of him. This did nothing to dissuade the stitch covered man from attacking again. As Pecan went down again, the creature anticipated the toss and avoided the move. It wrapped its hands around Pecan’s throat and squeezed. The muscular behemoth of a detective, flexed his neck muscles and prevented his attacked from choking off his air flow.

Lollipop was getting aggravated with Johnny. After the hammer, he had found several other tools to attack her with. Realizing that Johnny was just too much trouble to keep toying with, Lollipop prepared to deliver the crippling chop to the back, which would incapacitate the assistant. Dropping under another attack, she hopped up and landed the chop, right on top of Johnny’s hump. His back righted itself instantly, and he was taller and his limp was gone. Staring in amazement, Johnny turned around to Lollipop. “What happened?” He asked. Looking in a mirror, Johnny marveled at his reflection. “I’m gorgeous!”

Lollipop did have to admit, with his spine straightened out his face had righted itself. Taller and with a well chiseled face, Johnny dropped the weapon in his hand. “I don’t need this job. I’m going to be a model.” He announced. “Hey Doc, I quit.”

Johnny started to walk out and turned back to Lollipop, she expected an attempt to strike her. Instead, he grabbed her hand, dipped her and planted a kiss on her. “Thank you.” Johnny said, righting the detective.

He sauntered out, leaving Lollipop standing, blushing, as her partner battled a manmade monster.

Henrietta was coming around, she started to set up. “Stop!” She shouted.

Both the creature and Pecan stopped their attempts to destroy each other and stared at the dazed scientist. “The dam, we must flee. Soon it will explode.”

Rolling off of Pecan, the patchwork man picked up its creator, cradling the woman in its arms. Lollipop heard the first of the explosions. It was a muffled sound, but she knew it would grow louder. “Too late!” She shouted. “Get to higher ground.”

Rushing towards the stairs that climbed into the battlement, Lollipop trusted that her partner was right behind her, as he always had been. As she heard the dam collapse and the waters rush forward, Lollipop came out on the walkway at the top of the battlements. The waters hit the castle and the bricks and mortar gave way. As the battlement shifted, but did not fall, Lollipop was forced to grab onto the stone walls for support. When the initial shifting ceased, Lollipop stated to her partner. “Wild ride, right Pecan?” She asked.

Looking about, she could not see his giant form on the walkway. Stepping back into the tower, she walked down until she could see the rising water. Running back to the walkway, Lollipop looked over the fencing at the frothing waters below. “Pecan Sandie!” She shouted.

“What?” Her partner asked.

Leaning over, Lollipop saw Pecan gripping onto the tower as he slowly climbed his way up. After several minutes, he was at a place where he could climb onto the walkway with Lollipop. “What happened?” She asked.

Exhaling hard, Pecan caught his breath before answering. “Was at the bottom of the steps when the waters broke in. So I just held onto the wall until I could climb up.” He stated.

“And the creature?” She asked.

Pecan shrugged. “It was behind me.” He stated.

From the top of a nearby hill, a blue masked man watched Pecan through a pair of binoculars. He made note of what he had seen and prepared, for his time would be soon at hand.

As the flood water pushed out, it eventually met up with a river that ran on the outskirts of the city, dumping most of its rampage into the water and causing a slight sewage overflow in some places. Peter Stubbe, a werewolf, stood watching as two figures washed up on the side of the river. He did not know the two beings that arrived, but he was aware of what they represented. Frankenstein was coughing up the water that she had swallowed as the creature stood up and shook itself off. Both of the drenched figures stared at Stubbe. “I take it that you are currently in need of residence.” He stated.

“Did he send you?” Frankenstein asked.

“Of course.” Stubbe replied, showing the doctor a signet ring bearing the crest of Dracula.

“Very well.” Frankenstein stated. “Come along my boy.”

The patchwork man lumbered behind as Peter Stubbe and Dr. Henrietta Frankenstein climbed into the cab of a truck. Stubbe tossed a jacket to the creature. “Put that on and climb in the back.” He instructed.

The man-made ma looked to Henrietta, she nodded, and he obeyed. “Aren’t you curious as to what happened?” Frankenstein asked the wolfman.

“Let me guess, a small woman and large man showed up.” Stubbe stated.

“Indeed.” Henrietta confirmed.

“Yes, they’ve been quite the nuisance, but they will not stop the gathering.” Stubbe replied.

The End?