Page 32 of Prickly as a Porcupine

And she was right.The tiny projectiles made a brown line diagonally from his waist up to his shoulder.He shrieked in pain.It was too little too late.His other arm was the one with the weapon.He pointed the device at Ariel as the quills found his flesh.Something shot from the device.Ariel rolled to the ground.

“No!”Joline yelled, her voice tense as her throat constricted in fear.

But as Ariel tumbled, she reached for the side opening in her pants.She stopped with a jerk as her left hand braced her on the ground.Whatever Grimm shot at her, he appeared to miss.Ariel tapped on a compartment in her prosthetic leg.She pulled out the taser and took aim.Grimm was already charging at her, pointing his weapon.Joline was about to see just how much Grimm liked a smatter of quills across his face when something large and black streaked out of the sky.

Gabby swooped in.Her long wings were tucked back as she dove at Grimm, tackling him to the ground.He shot off his weapon at Ariel.Once again, whatever was inside missed.Both bodies hit the ground.Hard.Grimm grunted from the force of Gabby hitting him.The weapon flew out of his hand, landing in the grass.Gabby rolled off of him as if touching him for that long could burn her.Gabby stood up, rubbing her shoulder.Her right wing drooped a little.Joline figured she must have hurt it in the crash.

“M-m-miss m-me?”she asked in an icy tone.She narrowed her cold, blue eyes at him.

“Gabrielle.What I did to you, I did out of love.Look at how beautiful you are.And powerful.”Grimm’s thin voice cut through the hot air.Joline noticed a hint of fear in his dark eyes.He deserved to be afraid for once.After everything he did to so many people.

“It’s G-gabby!”she yelled before kicking him square in the chest.Grimm flew backward, hitting the platform he’d hid behind earlier.The platform shook with the force of the blow.Grimm gasped for breath as he got the wind knocked out of him.

Joline was about to step in to make sure Gabby didn’t do anything she regretted when Ariel stepped up next to the crow shifter.She placed a hand on her shoulder.Gabby nodded.

Ariel pointed the taser at Grimm.He raised in hands in surrender.“After all we’ve been through, Ariel.After all I’ve given you.”His face contorted in rage.“How dare you, you ungrateful, little bi?—”

Before he could finish the insult, Ariel shot him with the taser.The two small, barbed darts flew through the air, hitting Grimm square in the chest.As the jolt of electricity was sent through his body, his knees gave out.He sank into the grass below him, his body quivering.His dark eyes rolled up in his head.The three women stood around in silence, watching him writhe in pain.

Joline looked to Ariel.A pained expression washed over her face.“Everyone was right about you,” Ariel spat out to Grimm.Her words were laced with venom.“You’re nothing but a liar and a phony.No one will even remember who you are.”

As a tear streaked down Ariel’s cheek, Joline put an arm around her shoulder.“Let’s get away from this loser.He’s not going anywhere,” Joline said to her friends.She wasn’t about to waste any more of her life on Grimm.She hoped Ariel would finally be able to move on as well.

The two shifters on either side of her nodded.As they turned to leave, Agent Talbot emerged from smoky black shadows next to the rope ladder.The agent pulled a set of handcuffs from her belt.As she neared the trio, she said, “We had enough agents on standby to scoop up the henchmen from your snares.There were some minor injuries to your club members, but your plan worked.”She tucked some strands of her blond bob behind her ear before kneeling down to cuff the mad scientist.Agent Talbot was not gentle about it.“Please take Gabby to the hospital wing and debrief Agent Park before you leave,” she ordered as another agent swooped in to help her pull the still convulsing Grimm to his feet.

18

Ariel noticed a man with dark hair standing at the start of the obstacle course.He directed people either to WANC or to other agents.The suit he wore screamed, “I’m an agent.”Ariel figured that must be Agent Park.Paige stood next to him.A grim expression darkened her delicate features.The counselor’s usual loose, black hair was pulled back into a low ponytail.The sun reflected in her silky hair, giving it a glossy sheen.The light also shimmered in the greying hair at Agent Park’s temples.The rest of his hair was spiked in various directions, at odds with the serious tone of his suit.

He glanced at the three women as they neared him, his eyes inspecting them for injuries.“You need to go to the hospital wing, cadet,” he said to Joline.

“I’m alright if you need to ask us questions first,” Joline reassured him.From Ariel’s visual assessment, her wounds seemed superficial only.

The agent nodded.Before he could start in with his questions, Paige asked, “Do any of you know what is in the lake?”Her dark eyes locked on the tall creature, wading its furry legs in the cool water up to its hips.A soft coo escaped the beast’s beak as it ruffled up the feathers around its head.Ariel assumed the thing was perhaps a griffon hybrid with its mismatched furry predator body and bird head.Although, since it stood on two legs and didn’t have wings, she couldn’t be sure what Grimm was aiming for.Maybe nothing.The more she thought about it, there was no logic behind Grimm’s choices.Just madness.

Ariel and Joline exchanged glances.“We think it’s harmless,” Joline started as Ariel gave a shrug.

“We also think it may have been a shifter that Grimm…” Ariel searched for the right words.“Turned into that creature.”She sighed, thinking back to how she hurt it.While she needed to incapacitate it in that moment, she still felt bad.“I may have used my brass knuckles on its kneecap.And ankle.”

Paige’s eyes widened.Before she could chew Ariel out, Joline interjected, “It was trying to bite me with its giant beak.”

“I’ll send someone out to take it to the hospital wing,” Agent Park said before turning the conversation back to his task.“We’re hoping that, with Grimm and his henchmen caught, they’ll talk.We’re not sure how many labs Grimm has hidden and hope to eradicate them all.Did he brag to you three about anything?”

The three of them shook their heads.“It seemed more that he wanted to lecture us on being bad experiments who were no longer listening to their master.”Ariel shuddered.She couldn’t believe all his narcissistic traits went over her head before.Now that she saw it, she couldn’t unsee it.

“I-I shut h-h-him… up,” Gabby added with a sly smile.She rubbed at the shoulder with the droopy wing as if her body remembered too well the pain it endured while shutting him up.

“What about the daycare plot?”Ariel asked.She didn’t think Grimm would give the agents any power against him.He’d not talk no matter what.

Paige smiled.“I helped Agent Talbot interview the amphiptere.We made it seem like we would withhold the venom antidote until he talked.He didn’t know that we decreased the strength of your venom and it is no longer poisonous.”She shrugged.“It seemed an appropriate time for a little white lie.The paralysis venom you gave him was already wearing off, but he didn’t seem to realize.So he told us exactly what the plot was, and we’ve confirmed all the children are safe.”

“What about Grimm’s plan with the county jail?”

“It seemed he just wanted to attack a vulnerable population.It was the same reason he chose the children.The amphiptere told us everything,” Paige explained.

Agent Park nodded.“I’m sure we can motivate some of the henchmen you helped us catch today to tell us the location of the rest of the labs.There were some things the amphiptere didn’t know.”

Ariel felt a strange sensation wash over her body.Relaxation.Or relief perhaps?“So it’s finally over?”She looked to Paige, wondering if this was some kind of prank.Like the agent would start laughing and tell her Grimm was still on the loose and planning to nab her in her sleep.After the man attacked her in the morning, she’d thought she’d be looking over her shoulder the rest of her life.