Part 449: Good Morning, Raven

8:12 am

Jenny had gotten finished cooking breakfast. She had decided to start the day off on a good note. It was her day off and she was looking forward to spending time with Raven. She had often worried about him, spending time alone by himself all day watching the history channel. He found it fascinating to catch up on all the history he missed and thanks to his cyborg enhanced brain; he was able to remember every single detail. At another time and place he would be a scholar.

Jenny then placed the sausages and the muffins onto the table. She then got out a glass of fruit punch when Raven seemed to like the most and placed it on the table. She then walked over to the hallway, where Squishface was already on his way down. The detective stopped and looked around the basement, which consisted of Raven’s apartment area. It was adorned with movie posters from the 50’s, except with semi-modern posters of the Indiana Jones movies, which he fell in love with. There was several dozen books on mostly history adorned on all the small tables. There was also his couch-bed, recliner, and his TV with dvd player. For Raven, it was home.

Jenny looked over toward the basement and didn’t see Raven. Then she looked into the mirror in the far distance of the room. Judging from it’s steam, it looked like he had just gotten done with his shower. “Raven?” she called to him.

“Jenny!” he laughed, “I’m back here.”

“I got breakfast ready.”

“Excellent,” he said, walking over and putting on his medical mask, “I’ll be right up.”

Jenny stared at him from the stairs. Raven walked over and picked up his overcoat. The Jaeger Unit then slid one arm down on sleeve and then stopped when he saw the young woman was staring at him. The look they gave each was something that transcended friendship; possibly even beyond love. It was almost a connection between souls, that no bond could ever break. Raven’s eyes glowed a soft blue. He would never tell her but he had been looking for Jenny all his life. He just never knew it till he met her. “You don’t have to wear your mask around me.” She whispered.

“I know.” He calmly replied.

:”Well . . .come on up,” Jenny smiled, “I don’t want your muffins to get cold.”

“Blueberry?” Raven smiled.

“Nothing but.” The blonde woman winked as she disappeared up the stairs.

Raven felt his heard flutter for just a second. He was an immortal cyborg and to feel such a feeling sent joy burning into his soul. He then calmly sat down on a chair as he proceeded to get his boots on. He was looking forward to walking with Jenny at the park after breakfast.

Jenny then made it to the top of the stairs. She gently opened the door and walked into the hallway. The moment she did, her front door exploded. Jenny jolted toward the wall and then turned around. By the time, she realized her home was being invaded; a man in black clothing shot weird shaped rifle at her. A surge of electricity hit her as she was being hit with a taser. She grunted as the men grabbed her by the arms. She wanted to fight back but the pain in all her limbs, prevented her from doing so. “RAVENNN!!” Jenny screamed.

Below in the basement, Raven then tilted up his head. He thought he heard a crash and then when he heard Jenny screaming his name, he knew something was severely wrong. He then proceeded to make his way toward the stairs. As he did, he stopped when he heard some objects bouncing down the way. Within seconds, his eyes flashed blue at the sight of the three grenades before him. Not knowing any better, Squishface ran over to try and retrieve them. In a quick haze of blue, Raven rushed over, grabbed the dog and ran back toward his bathroom. Just in time for the grenades to explode.

He held onto the dog as the debris, smoke and flame shot around them. When it was over, he tilted around and saw the chunk of stucco wall that had been ripped open. Then Squishface puked. “Sorry, Squishie,” Raven said, putting him down, and understanding he picked him up too fast.

Raven then tilted his head up at the sound of a vehicle burning rubber out of Jenny’s driveway. The Jaeger Unit then quickly ran over to the stairs and acscended them two steps at a time. He got up to the hallway and ran toward the broken front door. By the time he made it to the front lawn, the blue truck was on it’s way down the street. Raven then began to run after it; his overcoat flapping in the wind.


Jenny grunted as they secured her hands and feet with duct tape. The soldiers were settling into the bed of the truck. They quickly began to disassemble the strange taser rifles they were carrying. Then one with brown hair then turned and looked around. He gasped at the sight of the masked, overcoat man running toward them. “Karl!” he tapped on the man behind him, “We have a problem!”

Karl then turned and saw Raven. They were at speeds of 80 MPH and he was a good twenty feet behind them and gaining. Jenny leaned up and looked at him. She knew he would never leave her and would always be her guardian angel. “I don’t know what this is about,” she told them, “But you let me go, I promise he won’t kill you.”

“Shut up!” Karl said, “Speed up!”

The truck accerlatored through the traffic and began to swerve around the cars. Raven kept up pace per pace. Other cars were stopping at the sight of a man running at 60 mph. The more they saw him; they were slamming on their breaks at the sight. The truck then banked right and headed toward the freeway. Raven ran over the embankment and made a massive leap into the air; leaving a trail of blue light behind him. He landed onto the ground, creating foot prints in the asphalt and kept running. Within seconds, he was back on track. The men in the truck were starting to panic. They thought they would have lost him by now. “We don’t have the equipment to contain him, Karl!” the blonde man screamed again.

“Shut up, Bobby!” Karl replied.

They were at that moment, full bore into the highway. Raven was keeping up with them and still gaining. Karl then pulled out a cell phone from his combat vest and hit a button on speed dial. He then moved over toward the front of the bed of the truck and sat down next to Jenny. The truck swerved and swerved. Karl knew full well that if they kept this up, they would be attracting the police. Karl’s other end of the phone finally answered. “Bee!” he grunted, “We got a problem! Your Raven is hot on our tail.”

Jenny listened in. Who was he talking to?

“Yeah, I know what you said!” Karl responded, “But that containment team is not going to be anywhere near us in the next few minutes and by that time, this freak will be on top of us!”

“Don’t call him that!” Jenny barked back.

“Shut up!” the young man said as he punched her.

The cop reeled from the blow, holding her nose. She glared back at Karl as a small trickle of blood oozed from her nostril. “KARL!” Bobby screamed, “The freakshow just saw you hit his girlfriend!”

Karl looked in amazement at the cloaked figure running toward them. He was starting to get closer and closer. He then leaped up and managed to get within ten feet of the truck. The moment he did, Bobby pulled out a riot shotgun and fired. Raven’s chest around his jacket exploded but he kept running. Bobby fired again, knocking the Jaeger Unit off his feet. He stumbled a bit but kept running.

The truck then banked left toward the main causeway of the Los Angeles downtown; by passing the LA River basin. The water was finally flowing as the weather permitted, allow them to raise the dam. The truck tried to head on an access road to avoid the highway and the cops. The cars that were on the access road with them blew their horns at the distress. Raven was getting closer. Karl then unzipped a duffle bag and pulled out a lap top. He quickly opened it up and then the screen flickered with some kind of radar. “Look, Bee!” Karl screamed, “I am not risking my men! I’m detonating this freak!”

“Detonate?” Jenny gasped.

“Sorry, Bee,” the soldier started to type in a code, “Take it up with Ben.”

“NO!” the young blonde woman tried to stop him but another soldier pulled her away.

Karl typed in the code and pressed ENTER. Jenny stared up in Raven who then stopped in mid run. He then grabbed his stomach and screamed in horrible pain. His eyes flashed a long blue light, then completely fade. As he was doubling over, a truck then blew it’s horn as it hit its brakes but struck him none the less. The Jaeger Unit burst through the nearby fence and collided with the embankment. He rolled down the hit, over and over, finally landing in the LA River. He then emerged from the water, face up and began to float downstream. Jenny kept her eyes on him until he disappeared from sight.

Jenny slumped back down, feeling crushed. Had she lost Raven a second time? The cop then looked to the man called Karl as he closed his lap top. He then glared at her looking so mean at him. “What?” he grunted.

Jenny then screamed as she cupped her fists together and proceeded to hit him. The soldier yelled at every blow she gave him. “GET HER OFF OF ME!!” he ordered.

The soldiers moved her away from Karl as she still fought to get to him. Jenny grunted as they held her down. Karl grunted as he leaned up and dabbed the small trickle of blood from his left eye lid. The soldiers were all looking at him. The head soldier replied with their look, with his own of contempt. “Why are you all staring at me?” he hissed, “I did what I had to do!”

“We weren’t supposed to kill him, Karl.” Bobby said.

“That Jaeger is unique.” He pointed back toward the distance, “Did you see the way his eyes were glowing? And the way he was gaining on us? That ain’t like those batch of 12 they sold years ago. Bee doesn’t know what she is getting into.”

Jenny heard their conversation and the resulting conclusion became obvious in her head. “I was bait?” she asked.

“Only partly,” Karl looked at her, “Mrs. Klugh is interesting in talking to you anyway. She’ll just have to settle for dissecting Raven when the second team finds him in the river basin.”

“Who is Mrs. Klugh?” she demanded.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” The soldier glared.