Team Seven of Heroes Chapter 37

37.

The pack of three lions stood there as if they were waiting to be fed. They were no mere lions but more like the fabled Griffins. The wings on their back flapped as if it was part of them.  Then there was the giant that stood there before lion. It was a man in the looks but the distorted limbs and face revealed its uglier side. The upper limbs were longer than that of a man and it reaches the knees while the feet were twice the size. It stood higher than most men at about eight feet tall. His face was an expression of pain with the left eye gorged out and the cheeks on the face drawn hanging as if the skin held no resilience. It snarled instead of talking with the raspy noise and on its chest was the metallic case with wires looped to the head.

That was not all.

A tall figure leaned on the giant with dark hair and gaunt expression but the eyes were alert with its reddish stare and the lips bloodied with the two fangs on the side. The figure was dressed in a plain white tunic smeared with blood and the pants torn at the knees with the barefooted feet findings its first grip of the ground after many month of captivity.

“Dracula!’ Van Helsing cursed out. “The books were right. The demon yet lives although unseen for over a decade.”

“Blood?” Sherlock inquisitive mind went in works. He was intrigued by the scent of blood with his earlier cases like A study in Scarlet and with the Hounds.

“No, brother. Abomination will be proper.” Mycroft replied. “They are all abominations. Frank Moriarty, you are guilty of heresy here. The evolution of ….man is the works of God.”

Frank Moriarty in the metallic suit stepped in to stop the giant there. The metallic arms spread out as if it was to embrace the other.

“Junior, you are not to be here. I will…” The other snarled back and the figure leaning on him spoke on his behalf.

“Junior here is no more your ….son. He is my …friend now.” Dracula voiced out with deep heaving of his breaths. “He does not want to be tested on no more. Nor me too. We are to be free of your probing. I am taking Junior with me. Anyone tries to stop me will be dealt with.”

“You can’t leave with him. He is my life worth of ….love.” Frank pleaded. “Go yourself but leave Junior.”

“No!” With that Frank rushed at Dracula. The metallic suit controlled by him swung its right upper limb at Dracula. It was Junior who blocked the metallic arm and then it cried out in pain. The flesh on Junior’s arm was bruised and the skin torn.

“Junior?” Frank moved forth in the metallic suit but the other was in anger and charged at Frank. Both giant metallic and flesh clashed and then the metallic giant pushed Junior off. It was stronger than Junior but the charge by Junior had damaged part of its armour. Junior was in rage then and charged once more at the metallic figure. That time it went for the middle section and pushed the metallic giant back. The force of the impact caused some circuitry to overload and Frank had to bring the metallic frame in a retreat. It was then lions attacked both giants. The three winged lions leaped at the two fighting and sank their fangs into them. The evolved lions could not fly high but it maintained a higher leaping height. One was over the Junior’s head and used its paws to maul at the flesh there.

Junior screamed out in pain and it was then Lady Jane and Mycroft fired their rifles. The shots hit the lions but the rage of those predators was too great for them to retreat. The mauling continued until Junior fell to the ground with two bloodied lions on his back.  The third lion had clung onto the metallic frame on the back and it dislodged the generator.  The dislodgement caused a fire there and the lion leapt off to be shot by Lady Jane.

Lord Greystoke had stood there transfixed by the atrocities done by the being called the Man.

Frank climbed out of the disabled metallic frame and saw Junior was on the ground with his legs curled up. He rushed to the wounded giant. He held the head of the giant in his arms with his eyes weeping.

“Why did you do it?” Sherlock approached the grieving man.

“I am a researcher. Like yourself would you stop at your methodologies in finding new ways to detect crime? Would the astronomer stopped only at the moon and ignored the stars? We are all researcher and mine was biological. I need to know how life was created and why the evolution. I studied evolution to see what was real or false.”

“Junior was my first subject.” Frank cuddled the giant. “He was born from the womb of a woman in coma. She was said to be violated by the Gods. I cared for her and nurtured her son. She died without knowing her son. He was no God’s discard but a creation of his. I did not create him. I merely …nurtured his growth.”

The grapnel from the extended whip snapped into Frank’s left ear and out at the right jaw. Sherlock looked at the man who did it.

“He was an abomination by how his mind works.” Van Helsing then looked for Dracula but the other had escaped. Then they heard the laugh above at the far end of the chamber.

“James Moriarty!” Sherlock called out but the other dressed like a guard had then turned to leave. Just before he did that, the evil mastermind pressed the trigger to detonate the bombs that were laid in the basements. The floors vibrated and then the ceilings came down.

“Run!” Sherlock called out and with the others they went up the stairs, He turned to look at the imprisoned staff at then screaming for mercy but their cries were soon drowned by the collapsing floors.