Outsiders Pt. 01

"What the fuck just happened," cried out one of the men.

"Where'd he go," whimpered another.

"Get the gun," shouted a third. "Stay calm!"

"Stay calm?!"

Ben finished counting and felt the spells flow through him again. He chanted softly and gestured for three seconds, while the men in his hallway argued over whether or not to run away.

"What's that noise," asked one of the men in the hallway. His clothes collapsed into a pile as he was also turned into a large toad.

The other two men shrieked and Ben could hear their footsteps scrambling to get away. He leaned over and peeked into the hallway. The men tripped over themselves to get into the den and go out the window. By the time three more seconds passed and the flow of magic through Ben's body was resumed, they were both out the window and running out of range, screaming at the tops of their lungs. Ben smirked and let them go. He now knew what true power was and he had to admit to himself that he loved having it. He didn't know why he had gotten it, but he felt justified in how he used it. These were bad guys, intent on doing bad things and he stopped them. He felt good about it.

"Felicia," he said, "gather up the toads and keep them safe."

"Ugh," Felicia said. "Roger that, Boss." The cat batted at the piles of clothes to determine the exact locations of the toads. "Yuck. Found one."

The men outside were screaming and running around in circles in a blind panic. From what Ben could make out, they thought their friends were taken by aliens that were coming for them all. He had no idea what about turning their friends into toads said "alien abduction" to them, but he shrugged and let it go.

He saw lights coming on in several houses on the street. That meant that multiple calls would be placed to the police and a patrol car would likely be dispatched their way. He found an old shoe box and, with Felicia's help, put both toads into it. He took a handkerchief and carefully picked up the burglars' gun to wrap it in the clothes they had been wearing. He washed his hands, put some clothes on and went out, carrying the box and the bundle of burglars' clothes. The two young men were still running around, screaming in fright and completely ignoring the people hanging out their windows, yelling at them to shut their junkie asses up.

Ben walked quietly around the side of his house and through the back yard. He went through several more back yards and then made his way to the front yard of a house down the street from his. He set the box and clothes as close to the street itself as he could and hid in the bushes next to the house. He waited. It was impossible to tell when the cops would get there, but he guessed it wouldn't be much longer, now. From his hiding place, he could see down the street for a quarter of a mile and he would have enough warning when the police car came.

When he saw the flashing lights of the cop car come rolling around the bend in the distance, he cast the spell Mage Hand, a zeroth level cantrip that allowed him to lift and move any object within 70 feet of himself, so long as it weighed less than 5 pounds. He used the spell to lift the lid off the box and set it aside. He waited the three seconds for the magic to flow through him again.

Ben spent a minute casting the Break Enchantment spell. One of the toads jumped out of the box during that time. When he loosed the spell, both the toads turned back into the men they were. At that moment, the police cruiser was being flagged down by their comrades. The four young burglars, two naked and two dressed, ran at the cop car, screaming at the tops of their lungs. The cops got out of the car and got down to business. The burglars were soon subdued with the help of some pepper spray and quite a few whacks of the cops' night sticks. Backup was called in and Ben snuck back to his house. He watched from his window as another police car came. The naked burglars identified the pile of clothes as their own and a cop poked at it. He soon pulled the gun out of it and the hysterical foursome was hauled away.

Ben felt giddy like never before in his life. He had stood up to evil. He had sent four burglars off the deep end and into police custody. He felt such a sense of pride at his own actions that he nearly burst into tears. He settled for locking the door and fixing the broken latch on the window in the den with a Mending spell. After that, he went back to bed and had a very good night's sleep.

The next day saw him do some shopping. His first order of business was to finally get a set of wheels for himself. He went online and got properly informed about all the possible offers on Edmunds.com. He was looking for a cheap, used car, as he was getting sick and tired of having to walk all the way to the supermarket to get picked up by a cab. Calling Kurt for a ride was pretty much out of the question as the man was stretched thin working two jobs over the summer. Ben found a car dealership that would do the trick and called for a cab.

He got to the supermarket and found his cab waiting. He had the cabbie take him to the used car dealership. Ben got out and, armed with information he got online, quickly haggled down the price of a beat up old clunker that barely ran at all. He drove the car off the lot, parked in a secluded alley and popped the hood. Twenty castings of the Mending spell later, the wear and tear on the car's small moving parts was reversed to the point where it was practically brand new where it counted. Ben smiled at the purring sound the engine made and went to top off the tank before going shopping for food and some new threads.

He decided he'd get a better apartment before buying any appliances or furniture. It just wouldn't do to keep living in a neighborhood where coming home with a restaurant doggy bag qualified you for getting burglared. After a couple of hours of shopping, he drove home with some new threads and bags of groceries.

Felicia greeted him at the door, saying, "Boss, the mailman was here! You got the packages you ordered. They're waiting for you at the post office."

"Thank you, Felicia," he said and unloaded all of his purchases. He ate the leftovers from the restaurant that he heated up with the Prestidigitation spell he cast with his last second level slot. He also used the spell to make Felicia's kibble warm and taste the same. The cat purred and thanked him before chowing down.

Ben was just finishing with his lunch when he sensed Susan walking into an occult shop. He concentrated on the spell and sensed Susan asking the shopkeeper about breaking spells of domination. He chuckled to himself. Susan obviously wanted to have a magical tussle with him. He wasn't surprised that she thought she'd stand a chance. It was just like her to be overconfident in an ability she didn't possess at all. He sent her the order to consider herself targeted for abduction by aliens and to take all possible precautions against it.

She immediately asked the shopkeeper for a charm to ward away aliens. Ben couldn't stop laughing as he sensed through her mind what the shopkeeper's face looked like. He sent her the order to warn everyone else about the aliens and to be loud and intrusive about it if they weren't taking her seriously enough. He stopped focusing on the spell and left her to dig her own way into a mental health institution. As far as he was concerned, she belonged in one, anyway.

After doing his dishes with the Prestidigitation spell, Ben went to the post office and retrieved the parcels containing the things he'd need as material foci for casting most of the spells he knew. Some of his spells needed materials that were too expensive, or disgusting, or both, but he didn't fret over it. He'd just have to make do without casting those spells.

Ben browsed the local paper and online adds for an apartment to rent. Finding nothing that would peak his immediate interest, he decided the time for procrastination was behind him. Now was the time to go and start his campaign against the girl that took his parents' money and broke his heart after first making it grow. He cracked his knuckles, took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Showtime," he declared.

He took out the belt with the small pouches that he had just gotten and loaded it up with the rest of his online purchases. He put it on and practiced until he knew by heart where each material focus was on the belt and he felt confident that he could quickdraw them in a pinch, without even looking. Then he sat down and began the long casting of the Discern Location spell.

Ten minutes later, he knew Krista was in the upstairs pool lounge of a bar in Arizona. She was probably hustling some pool. He smiled at the thought of seeing her bending over a pool table. She'd probably be wearing something with a plunging neckline and pants that hugged her thighs so tightly that they looked like they had been sprayed on. He was going to get an eyeful of her curves and he might just make some of her shots go wonky and make her lose when she played for keeps.

He turned to his laptop and checked the address of the bar online. It was in the middle of nowhere. He put the name of the bar into Google. The search results were all about bikers and biker events. Ben clicked the links and quickly came to realize the bar was a hangout for legitimate biker societies from all the surrounding counties. The bar itself was a split log building with two floors. Ben clicked through the galleries with rising impatience. Most of the pictures were depicting the many bonfire parties that were held behind the bar, or people working on their bikes in the sheds next to the bar itself.

Finally, Ben came across a set of pictures that depicted the interior of the biker bar and groaned in relief as he saw photos of a pool tournament that had been held in the upstairs lounge where he had discerned Krista's location minutes ago. He focused on those pictures and did his best to build a model of the place in his mind. When he felt his mental image of the bar was sufficient, he took out the piece of gum arabic, plucked one of his eyelashes, making his eye water, and set it into the gum. He cast the Greater Invisibility spell on himself. He could still see himself without fail, but he had felt the spell flow out of him and wrap around him, so he felt sure that meant that he was truly invisible.

Ben stood up, envisioned the pool hall and himself standing against one of the walls of it, and recited the word of the Greater Teleport spell. Instantly, he found himself facing a strange, wooden wall. Before he could even blink in surprise, he heard the slap of skin against skin, accompanied by a feminine grunt of pain. It came from somewhere behind him.

"You'll talk, bitch," growled a deep, male voice.

Ben spun around and his jaw fell as he saw he was in the pool lounge of the biker bar. Twelve pool tables were lined up in two rows with ample space between each table for players to move around and set up shots. Ben's attention was immediately drawn to the table that was farthest from the stairs. A slender, redheaded woman was stretched out over it and ropes were tied to her wrists and ankles. Four guys were standing around her. Two were great big bears, one clad in black leather, the other in jeans. The third guy was of average build and wearing khakis with a button down shirt. The last was a weasely, little, redheaded guy in a leather jacket and jeans.

"I don't know about that," said the girl. Ben immediately recognized Krista's voice and took a few steps closer. He saw it was her, sporting her trademark half-smirk, half-grin. Her new hair color had obviously come from a bottle. "I'm kinda liking my situation." She arched her lithe body, pushing her breasts upwards. "Ropes always get me hot and bothered."

"Cut the crap," said the redheaded guy. "It don't work on us no more!"

The guy in the khakis put a gentle hand on the guy's shoulder and said, "Easy there, Gary. No need to get aggravated. We've all been played by this little cunt. We all share your pain." He patted Gary on the back and then moved over to stand above Krista's head. He put a finger on her lips as she tried to say something else. He gently shushed her.

Ben crept closer to the action, now one hundred percent confident that he was truly invisible. He felt elated from both the adrenaline rush of having teleported and the excitement of the unknown. He had expected to find Krista hustling some pool. He didn't know what this situation was, but it looked like some kind of interrogation and he found himself feeling glad for the unexpected development. He might get to learn more about his very own femme fatale.

"Hush now," said the guy in the khakis. "There's no more call for you to lie. This isn't an interrogation. I've talked to my friend Bobby at The Green Grasshopper about you."

Ben noticed that Krista's smile faltered for a split second. "And who's Bobby," she asked, her voice sultry. "A boy or a girl? Cause I'm-"

Khaki guy again put his finger on her full lips and shushed her. "No more lies, sweetheart," he gently said. "Bobby told us all about you. He told us how you owe him fifteen large and he told us that you owe serious money to some pretty nasty people. Some real heavy hitters, like Charles Carmichael, over in St. Louis. The way Bobby tells it, we'd get about as much as you took from us as a reward for calling Carmichael and telling him where you are." Khaki guy smiled a really ugly smile at Krista. "How in the world did you manage to get Carmichael to spot you two hundred large?"

"And how in the world did you manage to lose it all," asked the bear in the jeans. All four laughed at Krista's apparent stupidity. Ben didn't see the humor in their questions. "How much money have you given to the casinos yet? A million? Two million?" He shook his head. "You got a problem, girl. A real fucking addiction."

Ben's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe what these bikers were saying. Did Krista truly have a gambling addiction? Was that why she had taken his parents' life savings from him?

"No," Gary said. "Her real fucking problem is that she cons people out of money she then blows at the craps table. Like my fucking money! I'll fucking kill you, bitch!" The leather clad bear of a man restrained Gary at Khaki guy's nod. Gary screamed unintelligibly for a few seconds before calming down. "I'm fine. I'm cool. Put me down." The khaki guy nodded and the leather bear let go of Gary.

Ben nearly nodded in whole-hearted agreement with Gary's wrath. The thought of Krista taking all of his money and then blowing it at a casino, just for the thrill of it, was making his blood boil. Ben quietly crept even closer and was now just twelve feet from the table Krista was laid out on.

He was disgusted at hearing what she had been up to. He decided to stick around and see what the bikers were going to do to her and maybe find out something specific about his money. He was also curious to see if she could talk her way out of her predicament. There was something very attractive in the way she didn't lose confidence in herself, or the best possible outcome, even now. He could see that her smile hadn't changed a bit and that made him feel hopeful, for some reason. He was painfully aware of the fact that if he was in her situation and without magic, he'd be lying in a pool of his own urine.

"If you gentlemen want to know how I've convinced Chuck to give me a line of credit, then you just have to untie," Krista started to say, her smile wide and inviting.

The khaki guy covered her mouth with his hand, but Krista's smouldering gaze shot off pure electricity into the eyes of the men standing over her. Ben felt his own dick start to respond to the way she almost imperceptibly writhed on the table. He guessed the four other men felt the same. "As I've said already," Khaki guy said, "this isn't an interrogation and it isn't a negotiation, either. This is us giving you a choice. Either you give us back our money, we all fuck you like you been promising us and then we let you go... Or, we call Carmichael and he comes round and pays us the reward he's got out on your head and we give you to him. Time to choose!" He lifted his hand from her mouth. "What's it gonna be?"

Ben's brow drew down in disapproval at the thought of these four guys fucking his Krista. "Wait," he asked himself, "My Krista?! She isn't mine. She never was. She's just a con artist. Snap out of it, Ben!" No matter how much he told himself he owed her nothing and that she had it coming, whatever these guys were going to do to her, he couldn't quite let go of the feeling that he was supposed to intervene. He had been raised to be chivalrous and always help a girl in distress and he was surprised to find himself thinking about Krista in such a way.

Krista's smile was all sweetness and charm. "Gentlemen," she said, "surely you don't take your marching orders from big city slickers? No! You're free spirits. Men of the road. We have all the time in the world to make our choices, don't we?"

Khaki guy rolled his eyes, slapped his hand upon her mouth again and sighed heavily. "Some bitches just never stop yappin'," he said, prompting the others' laughter. "Give me the duct tape!" The leather-clad bear of a man tore a strip of tape and handed it to him. Khaki guy put the tape over Krista's mouth, silencing her. Ben noted her breath quickened a bit, but her face bore no sign of panic. She blinked a few times and then arched an eyebrow and gave the khaki guy a look that spoke of unbridled, sexual desire. "Way I see it," he said to his friends, "we got ourselves a smart girl. A little wild and impulsive-"

"Fucking gambling addict," Gary said.

Khaki guy nodded and seamlessly continued, "Addicted to the feel of the dice, sure! But smart! Smart enough to know the right choice." He looked down at Krista. "She's going to tell us where our money is. No one wants to be fed to Carmichael's dogs. But first, she's gonna take her medicine! Untie her legs!"

Ben realized they were going to rape Krista. And, after they did that, they'd most probably call this Carmichael character and deliver her to him for the reward, whether or not she gave them back their own money. He had no intention of standing by and watching it happen. As evil as Krista seemed, he didn't think she deserved a gang rape, followed by an interrogation and then getting tortured to death by some mobster. "I'm not saving her," Ben told himself, "I'm just seizing her for my own interrogation," even though he knew that wasn't true.

He decided he would simply have to dominate Krista, order her to come with him and then teleport the two of them back to his place, where he would order her to tell him the truth and give him back the money she had stolen from him. Just as he was about to silently cast the Dominate Person spell, he remembered the requirement that he be in physical contact with her to teleport her. The bikers were manhandling her and it was unlikely they'd let go of her in the near future. He didn't know if that physical contact would interfere with the spell and keep him from teleporting Krista with him. He did know that if there were guys jockeying for position around her, then there was a chance they'd bump into him. He decided to first clear the room of the bikers.

He consulted his mental list of spell and settled on Ghost Sound, a zeroth level cantrip. He had already expended all of his zeroth, first and second level castings to fix his car this morning, so he prepped to silently cast it as a fourth level spell. He couldn't help but grin at doing so, if this was a game of D&D, he'd be laughed out of the room over it. He pulled out the small bit of wool from his utility belt and used it as a material focus. The bikers untied Krista and flipped her over on her belly. They pulled her to the side of the table so she stood on her own two legs and was bent over it. Gary pulled a butterfly knife from his pocket and brandished it before Krista's eyes. Ben finished his prolonged, silent casting and the sounds of twenty cops, banging on the doors downstairs and demanding entry, came into being.