Ever-Increasing Darkness: Twenty

The Grey Tabby laughed, as the Green Man looked first to him, then to the slowly collapsing girls. There was a note of triumph in the costumed villain's voice.

"Your choice, Green Man," the villain smiled. "Does the hero rescue the damsels in distress or destroy the baddie?"

"You know the answer!" the Green Man dealt a heavy blow to the jaw of the Grey Tabby. The villain, taken by surprise, staggered back against the wall. Before the Green Man could complete his assult on the villain, the remains of the house began to burst into flames. The Green Man drew a small pair of wire-cutters from his coat. Cutting through the girls' chains, the Green Man put one over each shoulder, glad that neither was particularly heavy, before he hurried from the house, as the remaining woodwork in the ruined house began to burn fiercely.

Looking back, he saw the grey skies begin to clear, as something in the house exploded. The girls both passed out, rather than being helpless with agony. Laying them on the lawn, the Green Man made his way back towards the house.

It was too late, but it was an inferno. No-one could have lived through that unless the Grey Tabby had yet to use up his nine lives. The Green Man smiled grimly at the blaze, glad that an attempt on his organisation had been foiled. Turning back to the two girls, he saw Ms. Madison beginning to sit up.

"What happened?" She asked, rubbing her head. "I've not felt this bad since that time Sir Richard Arcos gave me half a bottle of his best brandy by mistake. He just kept re-filling it..."

"I had to abandon the Grey Tabby." The Green Man looked back to the inferno. "In there."

And, with that, he walked off into the gathering gloom.