Detroit was always a rough city to help. For every good thing done, ten bad always sprang up not five blocks away. Troy was trying to find a way to help when he could, but his attempts never seemed to make the cut. He helped at a soup kitchen, and a knife fight broke out. He intervened in a gang war, only to actually get hurt. It was so rare for Troy to get hurt; he had almost forgotten the pain.

Troy awoke, one morning, to the sound of soft motors and loud music. That was nothing new, given the area that he stayed at. But Troy knew something was wrong. Brian Adams? Something was definitely wrong. He looked out his window on the top floor of a slum, and it seemed like everything was frozen in the street, staring at him. He threw on his euphiber, and moved down the stairs while getting his other clothes on. By the time he had gotten outside, everything seemed to be normal again. People moved like nothing was wrong. But there was definitely something wrong. No one played Brian Adams in the middle of the day without getting shot it. It was just a rule of life, and Troy knew it.

He watched the people a bit longer, and began to notice something else. They were walking stupidly. They bumped into each other, no one spoke, and no one fought. They were like zombies, Troy thought. As he took steps into the street, no one looked at him. People stopped their cars before hitting him, but they were comatose. No one had a reaction. No one had emotion. And no one apparently noticed the Zeppelins as Troy just did. He stared into the sky, and there seemed to be thousands of them. Just as he noticed them, a beam shot out of the center of the zeppelins, and Troy heard a rumble not far away.

A millions ideas hit his mind, and he realized that this is how he could help this town. These zeppelins must be stopped. He shook a passerby, and the just stared at him blankly. He tried to yell, but the Brian Adams was just too much. He tried to scream, but it seemed like no noise came out. They’re useless in this state.

‘I need to get up there’ Troy thought. Troy started down the street, wondering what he could do to help. Everything was peaceful, except the music. And that was driving him nuts. A synchronized series of stomps startled him, and he turned about. There were hundreds of them. They were wearing Nazi officer uniforms, and masks. Terrible, cheap masks from bad movies. Masks of Frankenstein, Wolfman, and aliens. They all held SMG’s at ready as they marched through the streets. Troy looked about, and it seemed that they were coming in from all directions now. He spun as he tried to comprehend exactly what was happening, and was surrounded before he knew it. They were so organized; they formed a perfect square around him. He could look down the aisles of goons, and see mindless citizens moving through them. Even their firing was in synch. The shots stung Troy, and he fell down. Once he did so, the goons stopped firing. A wolfman stood over him, and Troy opened his eyes. The wolfman stared at him, than began firing once more into the belly of the Troy. Troy screamed, but still no puncturing. The wolfman looked at his cohorts, and a Frankenstein approached. He gave his SMG to the wolfman, and pulled out a Luger. He aimed it at Troy, and it buzzed. A laser shot out at Troy. Troy didn’t even feel it, but closed his eyes. He wasn’t getting away, and knew it. Maybe they’ll bring him somewhere where he can do some good, or just leave him here.

But for now, he would have to play along. Another Nazi Wolfman picked him up, and began to march off in synchronization once more. They could make noise, Troy realized.

How can they make noise over this insufferable Brian Adams?

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Writers Note: If anyone wants to jump into this, Detroit, please do.

The inside wasn’t so bad.

Troy knew that he fucked up in letting them take him. Sure, he had no other choice, but he could have tried running. Wolfmen can’t be that fast.. Troy thought, wondering if he could’ve gotten away. Inside the zeppelin, it wasn’t so bad. You could hardly hear the music. Where he was kept, there were no windows. It was a series of cells which seemed to be in the command center of the largest ship.

And then there was no one. It seemed like days would go by before he saw anyone. No one brought him food, but that didn’t seem to bother him much. He could go incredible lengths not eating or drinking. It just didn’t seem to affect him. Maybe they are waiting for me to just die. Maybe this is their torture. Maybe they don’t know how to torture. To be true, Troy couldn’t tell how long it had been since he was thrown in the cage, and a couple of hours could be any length of time in here. And it was some indiscernible time later when Troy realized that he heard several sets of footsteps.

Two wolfmen surrounded a man and a blue woman, who were both in shackles. Troy stood at the far end of his cell and watched the pass. The man looked at Troy, but the woman just stared forward. She looked lifeless. I wonder.. did they do things to her? The man was put in a cell directly across from Troy, and the woman in the one next to that. The man had messy blonde hair, green eyes, and a childish look in his eyes. He was constantly smiling whenever the guards weren’t looking directly at him. The woman was the exact opposite. Her skin was a grey-blue cobalt, and her hair was black. She didn’t smile, or frown, or show any emotion. She just stared.

After they were settled, the guards walked away. It wasn’t a minute before the man started to speak. “Hey Friend.” He had a heavy, heavy German accent. Troy nodded at him, than looked at the woman. “She don’t speak. We’ve been hiding for days, and she hasn’t spoken a word. You ready to get out of here?”

Troy looked at him questionably.

“Keep your eye on the feet!” The man stuck out his left foot, and began to shake it. Troy couldn’t help but wonder what the fuck was going on. The foot just shook. It was loud due to the shackles, but it didn’t do anything. “Ta da!” The man said, but it more just sounded like noises. Troy looked at him questionably again, than realized what happened.

“How did you do that?” Troy asked, staring at the hand shackles on the blonde German man. His hands were unshackled.

“Mere illusion, my friend!” He said joyfully, than showed the key in his hand by dangling it. “My name is Leland Wulfenbach, and I am a street magician from Boston. And you are?” He dropped to his butt, and began unlocking his feet.

“I’m Troy Campbell, and what day is it?” Troy said, feeling anxious to leave.

“Thursday, my friend. My comrade over here is Hap. I heard someone call her that before all this happened. Do you have an.. ability?”

Three days, at least. It could be three, ten, seventeen, or twenty-four days since I was caught. It doesn’t matter. “Like invulnerability?” Troy said with a smile. “Because I’ve got that.” Leland nodded. He moved to the gate of the cell, and unlocked it. In several minutes, they were all unshackled.

Before they could say a word, though, they heard a yell.

More like a growl.

The three turned their heads, and found a wolfman behind them. The growl echoed through the hallway several times over, and the man pulled out an SMG. Before he could unload, he was engulfed into sand. He was trying to scream, but it was muffled by the sand pouring down his throat. Troy watched, half in horror and half in confusion. He looked to Leland, than to Hap. She gave him a friendly smile. It looked like she finally was feeling something other than nothing, and it was excitement for killing someone.

Great. A street magician and a murderer.