Judgement (The Twelve) (13 page)

Anvil smiled,
“
Like I said, it’s become our uniform
. Welcome to the club.”

Chris
grinned
, it had been a long time since he’
d
wor
n
clean clothes let alone
expensive
ones
made just for him, “I want a  Beatles style 70’s jacket, you know, single vent, thin leather, narrow lapels
, two buttons
. You can keep the leather trousers though, jeans will do.
Pointed leather boots, n
ot sure about the shirt, possibly a black cotton one with a round necked leather collar. No tie. I hate ties.”
He was
still
grinning from ear to ear.

Anvil
looked him up and down
,”
You don’t get it yet do you kid.”

Chris’s grin faded, “What do you mean?”

“What we are brings a whole new meaning to the phrase.’
It’s the clothes that maketh the man
.
In our case it’s
the man
that
maketh the clothes”

Anvil
left Chris
to contemplate on that statement
and went over
t
o talk privately with Priest.

“You know what this means, don’t you?”
Anvil
asked.

Priest
glanced at Chris and whispered, “Yes. The Dark get
to
declare war. It’s a long time coming.”

Anvil
r
ubbed ash from the head of his weapon,
“I
wonder
why Ghost
tried to kill Patch. Until war is declared, she wouldn’t have been able to.”

Priest rubbed his many chins, “Bulls Eye told me Ghost was dragging her towards the window before Chris filled her with holes.”

“Kidnap you mean?”

Priest had no answer and
kicked at a pile of
ash
, “They find us and try to slow us down with injuries.
Because of the status quo,
you kill any of them and they recruit others. Edge kills any of us and we recruit and so on and so on.
I think with the arrival of Judgement, that’s all going to change
.  Our job was to
find
Shade
nests and destroy as many
as possible, in order to save as many souls as possible. Now
when wars declared,
I think it will be to find and
wipe out
The Dark.”

Anvil
remembered
a
major
battle at
an
old iron works in Newcastle in the
16
50’s. The results had seen at least
four
hundred and
eighty Shades
and twenty Ghouls
destroyed
.
B
ut
the fight
had
included
a chance encounter with t
hree
of Edges team
,
Shadow
,
Leech
and
Rust Face, an iron skinned monstrosity
.
It had taken eight months alone for Huntress to re attach
her bow arm and six for Slash’s disembowelment to heal.
They
had killed
Rust Face by
Wings lifting him from the ground and dropping them both in a Vat of
sulphuric acid
.
A
noble sacrifice indeed
. Anvil remembered wings. If ever a man could resemble an angel it was wings.
He could out fly anything in the air. Had small razor sharp talons and eyes that could see in the dark.
I
t had been an upset to loose Wings
but a
shock to loose Steel. The man was literally made of flexible steel and Anvil thought him indestructible.
Steel had destroyed Fracture, a monster that was all muscle, sinew and bone. The thing lived up to its name but was no match for Steel.
Anvil could still hear Steels mighty blows crushing the creature to pulp.
But Edge had managed to kill
him in return. Those damn blades of his! He remembered the look of amazement on Steels face as the blades sank into his metallic heart.

So now if it means an all out war against Edge and The Dark, plus who ever his Chosen One will be. What then?

“What does the Prophesy say about the coming war?” He asked.

Priest shook his head, causing several folds of fat around his neck to wobble, “
A bit hazy.
Most
likely come
to me in my sleep tonight or tomorrow. That’s the way it happens, you know that.”

Anvil
took hold of Priest by the arm and drew him in close, “You once told me that when Judgement
arrives
.
He
will be called upon to do battle unto death with The Dark. Not
us but he
.”

“
Did I?  Oh yes that was a prophesy foretold unto me
some eight
hundred years ago.
Good memory.
What is your point?
”

“Priest
,
d
oes
it bloody well mean
that Judgement has
to kill
th
ose bastards
all by himself?
”

“Don’t blaspheme
, f
ar t
o
o much of that taking place. Look
the simple answer is I don’t know.
”

Priest belched
again
, “
But it may come to me tonight
.
Let’s
sleep on it
. Now what about
mov
ing
house. What about that warehouse down by the Thames?”

Anvil
considered the question, realising Priest was changing the topic of conversation, “The old ship yard warehouse at the Isle of Dogs.
I
t’s a strong solid
eight
floor
building, easy to defend.
Outside walls are five foot thick.
Stair cases are all blocked off with cement and breeze block rubble. One secret fire exit built into a false wall. Only way up is via a large goods elevator, which can be operated either by mains electricity, portable generator or manual pulley. It’s one of our major fortifications. I was keeping it such an occasion.
”

Priest considered it, “Water gas?”

Anvil
nodded, “It’s be
ing
guarded by
the
private
security
firm
we set up with false details years ago. Surprisingly it’s one of our companies
that the Government uses. It’s proved to be a very good financial provider to our war funds.
Roof’s solid
,
as are the
narrow block glass
windows
and four foot thick walls
.
I had all of the windows on the bottom floor bricked up
and the walls coated with spray on holy water
.
Water supply and a
n electrical
supply are present. I will have both re-connected by noon tomorrow. We can use the van
(An old Ford transit used only twice over the last ten years)
to
transport
the
used furniture
we
will
buy from the same auctioneers
daily sale
.
“(
Anvil
always dealt in cash)

“Living accommodation is on the forth and fifth floors.”

Priest was always amazed by the detail
Anvil
knew of each property they owned, but then again, that was one of his functions, procurement and protection
,
” Wh
at happens if they find us?”

“
Every floor leading up or down to ours, are
heavily booby trapped.”

Priest slapped him on the shoulder, “Good then lets get a move on. We have three hours before dawn.”

The Dark surprised them by not attacking again that night. Came the dawn, Anvil had Hot Cross
,
Bulls Eye
and Speed
in street clothes, out in the van buying a ton of used furniture.
By five pm that day, as dusk was settling, they had the warehouse ready for occupation. Rage and Priest carried up the heavy stuff, Speed moved most of the light stuff all by himself. Of course Huntress and Patch organised where everything was to go. 
S
ix pm and the house was deserted, empty and abandoned.

At eight pm,
Edge stood in the
deserted
living room with Shadow, looking around at the empty ash covered floor. Claws scuttled down stairs to enter the room, she hissed out the
single
word, “Empty.”

Edge stared the ash with his foot, “
It’s as our spy said.
”

Then to Shadow, he commanded, “Burn it down to the ground.”

Turning he walked out the room and away from the house with Claws scuttling along besides him.
Shadows flame that beat within his transparent chest grew and expanded. He turned towards the curtains on the front window and the flame spit fire across the room to ignite the material. He casually walked from room to room, setting fire to anything that would burn. Walking back through the flames that were quickly consuming the house, he left via the front door, striding out onto the street.