"Dolus!"

I grunted as I heaved another crate onto the platform, then wiped my forehead with the back of my hand and looked up. Edwin Allen, a portly man with a graying and grizzled five-o'clock shadow glared down at me. Hoo boy, he was pissed.

Of course he was always pissed. That's how Edwin Allen performed his duties as Dock Manager for warehouse 17. If I didn't hear his nicotine-ravaged screaming when I got in every night, it meant he'd either called in sick or I'd gone deaf. The guy wasn't exactly a people person.

"Yeah, boss?" I asked, clapping my hands together. "Whatcha need?"

He grimaced. He hated it when I called him boss, so I made sure to do it all the time. Kept him from liking me too much. I didn't need anyone thinking we were buddies.

"You unload Cap'n Derrin's rig yet?"

"Not yet, boss. I was just about to."

The grimace turned to a full fledged scowl. I braced myself for the spittle and screaming that was about to come. "Well get on it, you lazy bastard! What the hell you think I pay you bums for every day' You think I'm payin' for your booze out of the goodness of my ever-lovin' hea-"

That was when I heard it. Felt it, was more like it. It resonated through every fiber of my being: a wave of energy and power that felt like it was ripping across the fabric of reality itself. I winced a little at the sensation. It had surprised me, and when you're as watchful as I am, that's saying something. I frowned inwardly as I let the ripple flow around me.

I turned my attention back to Edwin then. Didn't want him to think I was zoning out. I could feel the ripple, but that didn't mean he could...

My blood turned cold. Edwin had dropped to his knees and was covering his ears with the palms of his hands. There was a look of pure agony on his face. He was screaming.

Everyone was screaming. All around me, guys I'd worked beside for weeks were screaming and crying out as they clutched their heads. A sharp crack echoed in the air and I saw one of the great masts of one of the caravels snap off and crash across the deck of another as men fell into the sea. The screams were echoing all around me, and for a moment I couldn't seem to-

*Snap-hiss.*

I was hardly able to hear it through all the din, even with my sense of hearing, but it still brought me to full attention. I knew that sound. That was the sound of a lightsaber.

Edwin dropped down in front of me. He was already dead. Blood was leaking out of his ears. I clenched my fists as I stepped away from his corpse, and closed my eyes for a brief moment as I searched for the source of the ripple. I knew what it was now.

I closed my eyes again and felt for it. It was about fifty yards down the docks in one of the private warehouses. Once you've felt the way the ripples flow, you never forget it.

A lightsaber.

"It's one thing after another around here," I muttered. I reached under my shirt and slapped the badge on my chest as I started to sprint towards the epicenter of this nightmare.

"Dolus to Wolvie. I've got a situation here."

It seemed like there was a lot going on. Of course things couldn't stay quiet for too long. Wolvinator hadn't been back on the planets surface for a full forty-eight hours, and things were quite busy. Secret meetings that someone just happened to get a VIP pass into. There were maniacs and rumors of the undead prowling the streets. Talks of destruction, annihilation, total citywide takeover. It seemed like a bad rerun of one of those not-so-good movies you caught on basic cable.

"Dolus to Wolvie." Then that came through.

"I've got a situation here." It looked like the games were about to begin. Dolus didn't just contact Wolvinator out of the blue, and for the most part he didn't contact him at all. The two men had basically avoided contact with one another in public, besides the whole desert incident. Yet these two men were apparently closer knit then anyone realized. And the combination of the two, would spell certain disaster for anyone that was considered a threat. Not a threat to one another personally. No, that was too petty. Each one of the men could easily take care of themselves, that wasn't a question; a threat' as in the lives of others, countless others, a city. That was the sort of thing, and that's when one's true colors are shown. In the face of adversity and disaster....heroes rise.

"Wolvinator here, what?s the situation?" If Dolus said there was a situation' that was an understatement.

"We have numerous Casualites, city dock. Sector Delta-two-one. You can't miss it..."

"Roger?"Wolvie started to talk over him, and then stopped as he caught the tail end of what Dolus was finishing up saying. It sounded like he said" lightsaber. But Wolvinator wanted to make sure that's what he heard.

"Repeat your last."

"A lightsaber" we've got someone's running around with a lightsaber." That's what he heard for sure. It immediately narrowed it down to a limited about of people, and definitely required immediate attention. This" was no Jedi.

"Understood, en route.?

Wolvinator wasn't incredibly far from the docks, but he wasn't hanging out next door at the local brewery either. He was on his way. It looked like the game was afoot.

Walking up next to Dolus, Wolvinator was taking in the destruction as he peered down from the rooftop. It was a complete mess. There were bodies, rubble, and destruction for quite some distance. Someone either had a major hissy fit, or this was planned out.

"So what do we have?" Wolvinator asked, still looking about. Dolus turned to him and showed him the tricorder readings, while his gaze peered over to glance at the screen briefly.

"From the destruction radius of the damage it appears that it emanated from this rooftop."

"Hrmm....two there always are, isn't that how it goes?"

"Them' or us?" This was more of a play off one another, as they seemed to do quite often. It probably wouldn't make sense to anyone outside of their direct conversation, and possibly even anyone that could have been involved with their conversation. When they spoke to one another, it as almost an instant connection, a friendship forged with years of field experience and personal involvement between the two. Sometimes it was off the wall, non sensible questions like this that immediately spawned a plan of action, and showed just how much the two of them actually thought alike.

"Both." Wolvinator responded, instant clarification.

"Got it."

The two men moved off now, in opposite directions yet still towards the common target, that one life sign. The way in which they worked was quite remarkable, independent yet cooperative at the exact same time. In other words one was the "front man", and the other the "back door man."

Wolvinator was the front man, as he was most of the time in these sorts of situations. It's not that he enjoyed it all that much, even though he did, but he was the one that had been in public eye for a little over a year. People were used to seeing him pop up, and in situations like this" it wouldn't be that much of a surprise. Or would it"

He leapt from rooftop to rooftop with superhuman precision. It was next to impossible that a man of his stature was able to move in such a nimble fashion. He stayed low, ducking, sticking to the shadows. He didn't want to remain completely undetectable, as he possibly could have. Wolvie wanted them to see him, just as much as he wanted to see them.

His feet hit with a thud on the rooftop where the life sign emerged from. The man's posture was unbroken as he stood there, fists at his sides. To the untrained eye it had to appear menacing, yet to the well trained" he was ready.

"Knock, knock?" Those were the words he chose to open up with.

"Lucy' I'm hooooooome.?

The warehouse contained a surprise. A parting gift of sorts. A dock worker lay inside. He was unbound, fully conscious, looking like he could get up and walk away at any time.

Until a closer look was done.

Blood ran from where his eyes used to be. His legs were bent at odd angles. He tried speaking, but only croaks came out of his broken mouth. If he saw who was resposible, he was in no shape to tell anyone. And never would be. His mind was as broken as his body. Whatever he saw unhinged it.

The shadows laughed at the pursuers. They were two steps behind.