TheRaven: The Tragedy of Ashley Bilefoot

Chapter 5

Pam huffed as she walked down the streets of Metropolis. She had been back for nearly a week and so far she had been through the emotional ringer. She had messaged Beth as soon as she had gotten out of Dilatrix’s dimensional cave; apparently being between dimensions played hell on cell signal, who knew? It was something that both of them had gotten used to, however, it was still something that neither cared for.

It was later in the night when she finally left, so she wasn’t surprised when she didn’t receive a response that first night. It was common whenever her beloved pet was working for her to ignore her phone in favor of focusing on whatever gruesome activities she was engaging in. She loved that side of her girlfriend and she was willing to forgive her lack of response at night, but when she failed to receive a single message. The following day she began to grow frustrated.

Her messages had started out sweet and simple with heartfelt, mostly confessing how much she had been missing her and how excited she was to see her. Those messages had gone unanswered, and Pam had taken her lack of response as a deliberate means of getting herself in trouble. While it was rare, Beth did have a tendency to occasionally act up to get herself punished; it was something that she found adorable about her pet. It allowed her to indulge in her more sadistic side, it helped that the time after was usually filled with cuddling and a heightened level of intimacy.

At first, her promises of punishment were merely playful, but as time went on and they continued to be unrequited they became slightly more malicious. Her promises bordered on new territory and things that she hadn’t tried with Beth, yet even then she still never received a response. After three days of receiving nothing back, she started to regret sending some of those messages. The longer it went on, the more she started to worry. It was extremely uncharacteristic of her girlfriend to blatantly ignore her, especially when she started to threaten more intense bondage play.

It had been a full week now, and she was bordering on a full blown panic. She had been to Beth’s place and it had become apparent the instant she walked in that the girl hadn’t been home in quite some time. The place was messier than usual and the biggest giveaway was the shirt that was coated in blood lying on the floor. What was perhaps more alarming than the mess that was Beth’s room was a large board that rested on her dresser. Pictures of various people with news clippings, notes, bits of string connecting each of them, and crudely scribbled theories around the base of the board. She hadn’t seen the board before, but it was evident that Beth had been working it for quite some time. She didn’t recognize any of the names that were on the board, but the name Courtney sounded vaguely familiar.

Currently, she was on her way to see Jake and Rebecca to see if either of them had seen or talked to her. She was teetering between paranoid anger and overwhelming worry about Beth. The turmoil inside of her was playing hell on her powers and the control that she had fought so hard to gain. The air around her crackled with raw magic that bubbled over as she marched down the sidewalk. There were a couple of times that people passing by would trip as she walked by them. She ignored them, for the most part, but would occasionally return their curious looks with a stern glare.

She opted to take the stairs rather than the elevator to Jake’s apartment, the last thing she wanted was to break the damned thing. She burst through the door and stormed down the hall to their door. She banged on it and yelled through the door, “Jake, Rebecca, open the damn door!”

Jake had been sitting across from Goth, who had been reading over an old novel of hers, when he heard a pounding at the door followed by Pam’s demanding voice. He looked over at Goth with a confused look who returned it in earnest, “Did you do something?” he asked.

“I was unaware that Pamela was even back in Metropolis,” she admitted, “If I have done anything it is new to me.”

“Goddamnit, one of you get your asses out here!” Pam nearly screamed, “I will break this fucking door down unless one of you opens it right now!”

“Jeez, Beth is really rubbing off on her,” Jake said, “I don’t remember her cussing that much before.”

“Jake, get to the door before she makes good on her threat!” Goth said, gesturing to the door.

“Right, right,” Jake replied as he got up and rushed over and opened the door, “Pam are you-”

She pushed past him with more force than he expected, “Shut it,” she said and stormed up to Goth, “Where is she?!”

Goth quirked an eyebrow at her former pupil, “Where is whom?” she asked.

“Beth, you overgrown bitch,” Pam replied, “She hasn’t been answering my texts, my calls, and she clearly hasn’t been home in a while. I won’t ask again, where is she?!”

Goth looked over to Jake, “I see your point,” she said before turning her attention back to Pamela, “I haven’t the faintest idea where your little pet is.”

"Hold on, Beth's not at home?" Jake asked as he inserted himself between the two women.

"No!" Pam cried, exasperated.

"Interesting," Goth said coyly, "Perhaps you should have implored more stringent methods of keeping tabs on her."

"What about her collar?" Jake asked in an attempt to diffuse the situation, "Isn't that supposed to let you see and communicate with her?"

Pam tore her glare away from her former teacher and turned it to Jake, "Yes, but for some reason I'm being blocked. The only people who could do that are myself, Aurora, or your girlfriend here. Seeing as how Aurora is dead and the last thing I would want is to not be able to see my Kitten, that leaves only one possibility."

"How could I do that?" Goth asked, incredulously, "Has being with that pink haired simpleton truly affected you that much? Dilatrix removed all of my magical prowess, or have you forgotten that in the course of your newfound sex life?"

"What I do with Beth is none of your concern!" Pam roared and took a step towards Goth, "I'm no fool, Rebecca, I am well aware that you still have some sad followers of your bullshit teachings, and I am also aware that I wasn't your only student."

"I beg to differ," Goth said with a grin, "Only a fool forsakes the gifts I offer in the name of some lowly harlot."

"You miserable-" Pam started before she was cut off by Jake.

"Okay that's enough!" Jake said as he literally pushed the two women away from each other, "Rebecca, stop agitating her. What would you do if I went missing and she came at you like this?"

"I-," she started before looking away and huffing, "Fine, I see your point."

He turned to Pam, "Please excuse Rebecca, things have been...a little tense as of late between us. She hasn't left the apartment, though, Pam so it couldn't have been her."

"What about her little cultists?" Pam asked.

"They'd have to come by here, wouldn't they?" he asked, "Pam, I've slept like shit the last few weeks, if someone were coming by then I'd know."

"As if I would bother wasting the time of any of my few followers on Elizabeth," Goth remarked, "You might see value in her, but she's been nothing short of an annoyance for me. Honestly, texting Jake upwards of fifty times a night. Who the hell does that?!"

Jake realized that he hadn't in fact heard anything from his friend in the last week just as Pam yelled back at Goth, "I told her, successfully I might add, to stop messaging him past 10!"

"I haven't had a message from Beth in…" he trailed off as he pulled out his phone, "Shit, it's been a week!"

“I suppose she can listen every once in a while,” Goth joked.

“Knock it off, Rebecca,” Jake said before turning his attention back to Pam, “You said that you went by her apartment, right? Did you notice anything odd or out of the ordinary? Signs of a struggle, potential flip out, anything out of place?”

Pam blinked as she considered Jake’s questions. She felt herself slowly regaining her calm as she replied, “There were no signs of any foul play or a struggle, her home was slightly more askew than she typically keeps it, but there was some kind of board that she had set up in her bedroom. I can’t remember seeing that board during any of my visits.”

“What kind of board?” he asked.

Pam shook her head and shrugged, growing slightly more exasperated, “I don’t know, some kind of odd conspiracy or crime board. I didn’t exactly think to take a picture, I was a little preoccupied with trying to figure out what happened to my beloved!”

“Calm. Down,” Jake said, holding his hands up to try to get her to relax, “Let me get changed into my suit and we’ll head over there to check it out. Maybe there’s something there that can point us in the right direction.”

Jake walked past Goth who wore a smug smile on her face, “It’s good to see that my methods are indeed getting him back to his old self.”

He rolled his eyes as he rushed down the hallway to get his suit. He wanted to argue against her, but the truth was that some part of her was right. He decided not to think about it and instead focus on finding his friend. In spite of the circumstances, there was a part of him that did feel good to be getting back into the field. This would be his first time working a case in months, and he would have been lying if he said there was a part of him that wasn’t looking forward to it.

He finished dawning his suit and exited the room to head back to the girls. He wasn’t sure if they had exchanged any more words, but at the moment it looked like they were simply trying to communicate as much hate as possible between one another. It was odd seeing the woman who once served Goth alongside him glaring daggers at her, but stranger things had happened. “Ready to go?” he asked.

Pam nodded at him and let him walk past. She was about to turn to follow behind him, but stopped to leave Goth with a few parting words, “Rebecca, so help me, if I find out that you had anything to do with my beloved going missing, I will personally see you dragged to the depths of hell and back!”

“Aren’t you just terrifying,” Goth mocked, “Save your threats for someone who knows fear, Pamela.”

“I will show you what fear is!” Pam replied as a surge of energy flooded the room, “Mark my words, if you are involved in anything that’s happened to her then I will make you beg me for mercy and death.”

“Pam, we need to go,” Jake called, “The longer we wait the more danger Beth could be in.”

Pam glared at Goth before turning to follow Jake out the door. She turned to close the door and slammed it when she saw the woman smirking and all but shooing her out the door. She wanted to demonstrate her newfound power, but she knew that Jake was right. She needed to find Beth before something awful happened to her, and then she could make whoever had taken her pet from her pay.

Ashley sat in her office with her legs crossed. She had been considering the best option for convincing Beth to join her cause, starving the poor girl wasn’t quite working as well as she had originally thought. She had a stronger will than she had given her credit for in the past. She had also managed to break the nose of one of her lieutenants after they had disobeyed her orders to leave her be. Carla, one of her more promising turns, had gone out of her way to antagonize her after speaking with Evelyn. The girl had been surprised when Beth retaliated, but even more so when Ashley refused to intervene. She had made it clear that Beth wasn’t to be touched or messed with without her consent, since then there hadn’t been any more incidents.

She sighed as she locked Beth’s phone. She had confiscated it along with her weapons, of which there was a surprising amount, the night of their first meeting. She wasn’t going to bother with the girl’s device, but then the damned thing had started going off nigh constantly. She had found herself curious and decided to see just why the girl was suddenly so popular. She had expected it to be several people, but it was only a single person that blew her phone up. She guessed, from the content of the messages, that this was the woman that Beth served. The giveaway had been when the content shifted from loving affection to promises of punishment. She was familiar with the binders that this Pam woman referred to, but she had ended up having to look up just what a spreader bar was. Turns out, it was fairly self explanatory, but still something that was relatively new to her.

She was toying with the idea of using this woman as a means of leveraging Beth’s loyalty. She decided against it, however, when those messages shifted from more menacing forms of punishment to clear concern and worry. Showing the girl the messages would only push her further away from her cause. Beth’s temper would probably get the better of her if she found out that her mistress was teetering between worry and thoughts of punishing her. Trying to get through to the girl was difficult enough as is without having to worry about outside stimuli. She had been considerably less mouthy the longer she went without feeding, their little fight hadn’t hurt things either. She had heard Beth remark to her guards that she knew she wasn’t a match for her, but that she still felt she was more than enough for the majority of her underlings. She wasn’t wrong, the girl had a considerable amount of skill and since delving into some of her more aggressive tendencies had only managed to get stronger.

Her offer to the girl still stood, and the longer she was here the more she wished she would take her up on it. It had, at first, been more of an offer to get her to help her persuade Jake, but she could certainly see how useful the girl could be. She would make an excellent addition to her ranks, both as an enforcer and a protector for her beloved. The problem was that Beth seemed hellbent on standing against her. Perhaps she should have started with this Pam woman, from the context of her messages Beth was clearly subservient to her. She had to wonder just what was so special about this girl that the scourge of Metropolis’ criminal underbelly would openly submit.

She pushed the thoughts aside for the time being. She could ponder the nature of this mystery woman later, right now she needed to check on Beth. Enough time had passed that the thirst was almost certainly getting to her. She hoped that this would help to make her more compliant to her role. She made a mental note to take a slightly different approach to dealing with her. Beth had made it clear that she wasn’t interested in serving another anyone other than her current mistress, so she decided to try treating the girl as more of an equal rather than someone beneath her. It wasn’t a guarantee, but it was worth a shot. She left her office and headed towards the back room where Beth was being held.

Beth was struggling to keep her head straight. She had been teetering between level headedness, delusional, and near feral rage. The only bright side was that the guards that were assigned to her had finally started to leave her alone and keep their distance. Either they were finally listening to Ashley or breaking the nose of that Carla bitch had sent a message. Whatever the case, she was grateful for the peace that she was afforded. She may have been able to enjoy it if it weren’t for the damned hallucinations she kept experiencing. Three separate times now she had seen Pam standing before her. The first time she had been able to ignore it, the second she hadn’t done anything except listen to it talk, and the third time she had caught herself speaking to it. She felt like a fool, but she just couldn’t help herself. She was starving and no matter how much she ate or drank she couldn’t bring herself to get any satisfaction.

She heard the door open and tried to focus on who was coming in. She didn’t really care, but anything to keep her mind off of the nagging sensation and the dryness of her throat. She was sitting slumped against the wall and trying to ignore the cold sweat that was rolling down her forehead. The sound of heels clicking against the floor with purpose told her exactly who it was. “What do you want?” she asked.

“How are you faring?” Ashley asked as she took a seat on the floor across from her.

Beth tried her best to glare at her, “You really need to ask?” she countered, “It’s been a fucking week and I haven’t been outside of this damn room, you’ve been starving me, and I haven’t seen my goddamn mistress in over a fucking month!”

Ashley nodded in understanding, which only served to piss Beth off even more. “Are you ready to listen to me?” Ashley asked.

“Fuck off,” Beth replied, “Didn’t I already tell you, I only serve one woman and you aren’t her.”

“Yes, Evelyn mentioned a name you continued to mutter in your sleep, Pam wasn’t it?” Ashley said.

“Keep her name out of your blood sucking mouth,” Beth threatened.

“Relax, Beth, I was only asking for clarification,” Ashley said, “If you don’t wish me to speak her name then I won’t. I’m only asking if you are ready to listen, I’m not trying to replace your mistress.”

Beth narrowed her eyes at the redhead. Part of her felt like this was a ploy, but honestly she couldn’t be sure. She sighed in exasperation, “Goddamnit! I can’t concentrate on shit!”

“It’s the thirst,” Ashley clarified, “You’ve been trapped here and unable to properly feed since you were turned. How about we try to take your mind off of it for a moment, hmm?”

“Fine,” Beth spat.

“Do you mind if I ask how you came to serve this woman?” Ashley asked, “I wouldn’t have pegged someone as ruthless as you to be subservient to another woman.”

Beth sighed and decided to try to indulge her captor in an attempt to focus on anything other than the thirst Ashley mentioned, “Killed her back when Goth was still in power. Apparently, I made quite the impression on her when I was torturing her, so after I got my ass kicked and enslaved she got possession of me.”

“You killed her and she came back to life?” Ashley asked, genuinely confused.

Beth smiled for the first time since all of this began, “Some kind of time magic shit that I don’t understand, don’t ask me to explain it.”

“Chronomancy,” Ashley said, now more intrigued than ever, “There is only one woman who has ever been able to master the flow of time. Surely you don’t expect me to believe that-”

“Dilatrix,” Beth cut her off, “Yeah, she was working with Goth for a time, but she left sometime after my defeat. She’s actually part of the reason Pam and I ended up together, she told me to be open to new things. I mean, she said it like a fortune cookie, but that was the general gist of it.”

“Remarkable,” Ashley said, “That witch had someone that powerful serving her. So you were reduced to being a slave to this woman, and I’m guessing that you simply took a shine to it.”

Beth snorted, “Hardly, I fought that woman at every turn! I was only compliant because she got my ability to walk and kept me safe from the other cunts that Goth employed. I was a slave in that castle, but Pam never treated me like I was beneath her. She was dominant and definitely took control of everything, but she was also kind and caring when we were alone.”

“She was the only person in that entire time in hell that showed me any kindness, and eventually I came around to everything she did to me. And for the record, Dilatrix didn’t serve anyone. She was working with Goth for her own purposes, and when she left there wasn’t a soul in that place that even bothered to lift a finger to stop her. If it wasn’t for her, Jake, Pam, and I would all be dead by Goth’s hands.”

“I suppose I owe this woman my gratitude for saving Jake," Ashley remarked.

"Good luck finding her, she only talks to people she wants to talk to," Beth said, "Can I ask you something?"

"I suppose it's only fair," Ashley replied.

"Why do you want Jake so bad?" Beth asked.

Ashley had figured this was what she was going to ask. So far her new tactic seemed to be working, she couldn't recall a time where Beth seemed almost at ease. She decided to answer her as honestly as she could, "Jake was my first turn when I returned to this world, and as such he deserves to be by my side. You know this already, though, but what you don't know is that I had a lot of time to think while I was locked away."

"Despite him being the one to seal me back into the void, I can't imagine myself ruling without him by my side. The fact that the witch has ruined who he was only adds to my need to have him. I'm no fool, Beth, I know what you think of me, but whether you believe it or not I want to help him. I know the person he is behind the mask, and I'm willing to let him be who he is both with and without it. He needs someone to take care of him, to help him return to who he once was. The witch is only going to further his state of decay, whereas I can mend his fragile mind."

Beth listened to Ashley talk, and she wasn’t sure if it was the lack of nourishment but part of her believed what she was saying. Of course it didn’t help that Goth was an incredibly low bar by comparison to...well anybody. She shook her head, “Let’s say I believe you, what's your endgame?"

Ashley smiled, "I'll make you a deal, I'm going to give you both an opportunity to quench your thirst and to prove yourself to me."

Beth rolled her eyes, "Always a catch, isn't there?"

"It's nothing personal, dear, and is mutually beneficial," Ashley replied, "I want to see how well you hunt and I want to see how you can handle working in a pack. Simply head out with Evelyn and a few others, do as they say and do, and report back to me."

Beth glared at her, "I already told you, I am not serving you or any of your cunty underlings."

"You aren't serving Evelyn, all you're doing is following her lead," Ashley clarified, "You are new to this, Beth, and all Evelyn and the others are here for is to aid you."

"Right, that's why you chose your biggest bitch to go with me?" Beth asked.

"She happens to be one of the more reliable of our family," Ashley replied, "Is it her fault you have an abrasive personality?"

"Is it my fault that she's a dick?" Beth fired back.

Ashley sighed as she started to grow frustrated, "Just...go with her and a select few others and work with them," she said and took a calming breath, "Do this and I will tell you whatever you want to know."

"S'not like I have much of a choice," Beth said.

"There's always a choice, Beth," Ashley said as she stood to take her leave, "This is no different, you can either choose to work with a team or continue to starve. I recommend the prior, you're coming dangerously close to true hunger pains."

Jake and Pam exited a pool of darkness outside of Beth’s apartment. Jake shuddered as he stepped out of the shadows, “Is that supposed to feel that cold?” he asked, “Feels like I just crawled out of the grave.”

“Shadowmancy and the spells that the school entails often have that effect,” Pam replied as she brushed past him and made a beeline for Beth’s door, “Now stop complaining and come on.”

Jake frowned as he hurried off after her. It was clear that she was worried about Beth, she wasn’t exactly trying to hide that fact. “We’ll find her, Pam,” he said as she neared her door, “Beth can handle herself until we get to her.”

Pam unlocked the door and stood there for a moment. She closed her eyes and sighed, “I know how strong she is, Jake, but I can’t help feeling like this wouldn’t have happened if I was here. I promised her that I would keep her safe, but instead I left her alone and who knows what she’s going through! I can’t help feeling like I failed her.”

Jake placed a hand on her shoulder and tried to console her, “You were trying to get stronger to protect her. You haven’t failed anyone, Pam, you couldn’t have known that anything like this might happen. Let’s get inside and see if we can get an idea of where she might have gone.”

Pam took a deep breath and nodded, “Okay, thank you, Jake.”

He gave her a smile and waited for her to open the door. She hesitated a second longer before turning the handle and pushing it open. They walked into Beth’s home and Jake immediately started surveying the room. The living room was fairly ordinary, nothing except a basket of clothes that rested on her couch. The dining room table had a few tools scattered about from where Beth had most likely been cleaning her equipment, it was clear that she had left in a hurry. While Beth hadn’t been using guns in the field for very long, he knew his friend well enough to know that she was meticulous when it came to maintaining her tools. She wasn’t the neatest person he’d ever met, but this was one thing that she had always managed to keep organized.

He walked through the rooms of her place taking careful note of as many small details as he could. The trash had take out containers in it, there were some on the table as well, dishes were floating in the sink, and papers scattered around the table. He picked up one of the papers and looked it over. Beth had scribbled a few lines in a hurry on it, but then had crossed out what she had written. He couldn’t be sure, but it looked like there she’d been writing down locations across the city. What had she been up to?

“You’re going to want to see this,” Pam said, breaking his thoughts.

He set the paper down and followed her into the bedroom, “Tell me that you two keep your toys put away,” he joked.

“Shut up,” Pam said, “I happen to keep the majority of our recreational items. Besides it’s not like you and Rebecca keep your things hidden. I’m honestly surprised I didn’t walk in on you in some feminine outfit.”

Jake blushed but laughed, “Luckily I just cleaned the apartment yesterday.”

“What the hell does that have to do with anything?” she asked before holding up a hand, “You know what, I don’t want to know.”

Jake laughed as he moved ahead of her, “Probably for the best, I’m not keen on sharing those details.”

“Then why would you bring it up?” she asked.

He shrugged, “Seemed relevant and you did make the joke,” he said as he started looking around the room, “This the board you were talking about?”

“Yes, any idea what she was trying to accomplish with this?” she asked before shaking her head, “In what universe is you in some frilly outfit relevant to cleaning?”

He studied the board and the strings attached to the newspaper clippings, photos, and handwritten notes. He leaned in to get a closer look as he replied, “Goth picked out an outfit for when I clean. It’s not too bad as long as she doesn’t have the air on or a window open.”

“I’m beginning to regret even bringing it up,” she said, “Are you going to answer my question or would you rather continue talking about our respective sex lives?”

His eyes continued tracing the lines, names, and notes on the board. He didn’t respond at first as his mind raced to find a connection. He recognized the news clippings and some of the names from missing persons cases that had been popping up over the last couple of months. The scribbled notes looked like theories about them, last known locations, and details about their lives. The threads were an interwoven mess, but he’d utilized this type of system before and knew how to read it. There was one crudely written piece of paper that all the strings seemed to be connecting to.

“Did you see this?” he asked as he reached up to remove the torn piece of paper, “From what I can tell, she’s been keeping herself busy by looking into all the disappearances that have been springing up. Any idea what BFB is?”

“No clue,” she replied as she looked at the note and then back to the board, “Who in the hell is Zoey?!”

“What?” Jake asked as he traced her line of sight, “Ease up, I’m not sure but I can tell you this, Beth wouldn’t cheat on you.”

Pam took a deep breath to compose herself, “Sorry, my nerves are a little shot with everything going on. Do you have any idea who she is?”


“Hmm, she doesn’t have an article around her name or a picture for that matter,” he said as he thought about the name, “I think I remember a Zoey back from when Beth and I were still a duo. If memory serves, she was still fresh out of school and getting started in forensics. Might be worth looking into. Let me see if there’s anything else around here I can find before we head out.”

Pam watched Jake move from the board on Beth’s dresser to a small desk that she had against the wall, “How is it that you’re able to make sense of all of this?” she asked, “Rebecca droned on about how much she loved you, but she never actually mentioned any specifics about your work as a hero.”

He opened the drawers on her desk and started pulling out crumpled pieces of paper to examine them, “Can’t say I’m surprised to hear that, Goth thinks that if it doesn’t benefit her then it’s irrelevant. Beth and I worked a lot of cases together, not just the ones that dealt with the super villains. The board she has setup over there is a lot like one I had back at Blackridge manor a few years back. Not knocking her or anything, but I always had more of an eye for the finer details when we checked out crime scenes.”

“When I was a kid, one of my favorite things to do was read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’ works. I always wanted to be a detective, in fact I used to run a little detective agency on the playground. Nothing major, finding toys that went missing, solving cases of stolen lunch money, busting bullies, small time things like that. As I got older, I kept reading and studying until one day I decided that it might be a good idea to put some of these skills to the test.”

“Cute,” Pam said as she went to take a seat on the bed, “Can I ask why you continue to refer to Rebecca as Goth?”

He paused his reading and felt his shoulders tense up. It was a fair question, but it was something of a sore spot for him. “It’s complicated,” he finally said as he tried to go back to focusing on his investigation.

Pam could sense Jake’s mood drop and she tried to ease some of his tension, “Jake, of all the people in this world, I am one of the few who knows how difficult she can be. I’m just curious as to why you chose to use her old title rather than her name, but if you can’t bring yourself to tell me then I won’t press it.”

Jake set the papers down and sighed, “No, it’s fine,” he said and turned to face her, “I guess that it stems from everything I went through. I spent so long under her thumb and serving her that it’s hard for me to see her anything other than the Goth Goddess. The fact that she quite literally almost killed me, twice, definitely doesn’t help.”

Pam nodded, “I understand, I spent years serving her,” she said, “I know how cruel she can be, even before you came into her possession. I spent years serving her, it’s part of the reason that I am the way that I am. I had to learn to conduct myself in a manner that was becoming a magistrate even before I began learning training in earnest. I know that breaking away from her control and influence isn’t easy...there are times, even now, that I find myself struggling with it. If it weren’t for Beth then I might never have been able to step away from her.”

Jake smiled, “Yeah, she kind of has that effect on people,” he said, “Beth, not Goth I mean. She can be a little rough around the edges and temperamental, but she’s got a way of bringing out the best in people. Check this out.”

“Don’t I know it,” Pam agreed with a small and sincere smile before walking over to peer over his shoulder, “I really need to work with her on her penmanship, I can’t read what that says.”

Jake laughed, “Yeah, that’s not a bad idea. This looks like a meeting place at one of the precincts downtown, I'm guessing it's for Zoey."

"You think this might lead us to her?" Pam asked.

Jake shrugged, "Might give us an idea of where she might have gone. It's worth looking into all the same."

"If nothing else I can size up my competition," Pam replied.

"She's not your competition," Jake argued, "Beth is crazy about you. I guarantee if this girl made any kind of move on her, Beth made it clear she's yours."

“She better have or when we find her, I will punish her the second we find her,” Pam said, “Come on, let’s go lock up so I can warp us there.”

“God I hope I’m right about this, on the off chance that I’m wrong can you at least wait until I’m out of the room?” Jake replied.

“Just shut up and come on,” Pam said, “And no whining about being cold this time.”

The two left the room and locked Beth’s door. Jake braced himself as he stood next to Pam. The shadows around the room pulled towards them and then formed a ball around them. There was a wave of ice that hit him as they faded into the darkness. The world around them blurred and he felt like his knees might buckle from the mind bending shift. It only took seconds, but it felt like an eternity before the sensations came to an end and the world started to come back into focus.

“How do you travel like this?!” He asked as he stepped out of the void.

“Because I’m not a baby,” Pam chided, “Honestly, how does one date a sorceress who implored similar and advanced techniques and still respond this poorly to basic teleportation magic?”

“Because I don’t handle magic well,” Jake replied, “I might have dealt with it, but that does not mean that I like it.”

“Uhm, hello?” a female voice called and cut their conversation short, “W-who are you two and how did you get in here?”

Jake turned his attention to her and stepped into the light of the forensics lab, “Zoeyr?” he asked and received a nod, “I’m...we’re friends of The Feral and we had some questions. As for how we got here, well I’ll let my colleague here field that one.”

Pam stepped forward with more than her usual air of authority as she demanded, “Have you made any advances on my pet?”

“Pam!” Jake balked, “Seriously?! That’s your first question?”

She shot him a glare that caused him to take a step back, “Do you want me focused on finding her or not?!”

“Y-you’re her girlfriend,” Zoey said.

“I am and you haven’t answered my question,” Pam replied with an authoritative tone.

Jake watched as the bespectacled girl suddenly straightened her shoulders and adopted her own air of dominance. It was a strange sight as the girl cleared her throat and spoke with more confidence, “Right, I asked her out after she started coming to me for help. She turned me down and told me she was seeing someone, and I didn’t bother pursuing it further.”

“Why?” Pam demanded.

“Because of the collar she wore,” Zoey said, “I noticed she always wore it, but I didn’t know if it was because of some kind of submissive pride or because she belonged to someone. When she turned me down, she made it a point to mention that she had a girlfriend. Anyone who can tame that woman isn’t someone that I want to come between, besides from the way she talked you make her incredibly happy.”

“Okay, now that that’s settled, can we get back on topic?” Jake asked.

“Of course,” Pam said, feeling a bit more at ease, “We traveled through a pocket of dispersed darkness from one point to another by means of manipulating the shadows.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Zoey asked.

Pam heaved a sigh and was about to respond when Jake interrupted, “Magical teleport, look we’re here because The Feral is missing. She might be in danger.”

“We need any information you might have on her,” Pam added, “The Raven seems to think that she was in contact with you about something known as BFB. I need to know when you last spoke with her and if you have any ideas regarding just what this substance might be.”

“Oh my God,” Zoey said and motioned for them to come closer to her workstation, “The last time I saw her was about a week ago. She came by with a sample of BFB, it’s some kind of new drug that’s been slowly creeping into the city. She had me examine it and then said she was going to check on the Southside of Metropolis.”

“Then that’s where we need to start,” Pam said.

“Hold on a second,” Jake replied, “Anything you can tell us about this drug?”

Zoey frowned and explained what she knew, “Never seen anything like it before, has a strange affect on the blood. The injector for it is also unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Give me a minute and I can get you a picture of the device, excuse me.”

Jake waited for the girl to exit the room before turning to Pam and asking, “The Raven, really?”

Pam shrugged, “You are wearing the costume, and you don’t exactly look the part of Birdboy anymore than Beth does Catgirl these days.”

“Couldn’t have picked a different name, though?” he asked

“Too late now,” Pam replied.

Before he could reply, Zoey reentered the room with a couple of photos, “I can’t give you two the actual device, but these are the next best thing. For what it’s worth, I hope you find her and I think it’s nice that she has people who care about her. You’re a lucky woman, Ms. Pam.”

“I’m more aware than you know, but thank you all the same,” Pam replied before turning back to Jake, “Ready to go now? I’d like to get my pet back.”

Jake was staring at the photo with a frown. He almost didn’t hear Pam’s voice due to being lost in the image. The way the needles were evenly spaced gave him pause. Something about this didn’t sit right with him, but he couldn’t quite place it. He shook it off when he felt Pam glaring at him. “Yeah, yeah let’s move,” he said as he walked over to Pam, “Thank you for everything, Zoey, sorry for interrupting your night.”