Sitting on the ground, tucked just underneath the overhang of the kitchen island, Brendan watched as June growled and barreled toward Officer Rudolph—at least it had been Officer Rudolph a few seconds ago. Now in his place was some fleshy mixture of a man and something hairy that hadn’t quite emerged when June tackled him through the back wall of the kitchen with such force that the bones in Brendan’s face vibrated. A gaping hole opened into the backyard. Dust, along with twirling pieces of June’s exploded clothes, filled the air. The kitchen table lay flattened on the floor and the chandelier over the table swung wildly.


    A loud snarl pulled Brendan’s attention back to the remaining detective, and he lost his breath when he didn’t see the man; instead, he saw what looked to be a grotesque badger-like creature the size of a professional basketball player. Terror slithered up his spine at the sight of the claws on the thing. It ignored Brendan entirely, however, and lumbered through the hole that had previously been the back wall. As it passed him, he noticed that it had scales in random places on its back—badgers didn’t have scales, did they?


    Several competing thoughts hit him at once: he had been waiting to see June fight a bad guy, and it was finally happening! But also, June was fighting a bad guy, and what if she lost? What if she got hurt, or worse?


    Brendan sprinted toward the backyard. As he looked back to the kitchen, he saw Dr. Chase watching the scene from a sitting position next to the wall, his leather duffel bag in his lap. Brendan had expected him to faint or vomit or something. But he looked like he was watching a cricket match; that was the favorite sport of the detectives in Blimey! Detectives, so it was probably the favorite sport of most British people like Dr. Chase.


    Outside, moonlight shone brightly into the yard. Aside from the rubble of the kitchen wall, the backyard was kind of messy, with tall, scraggly grass and big, grasping bushes. But the high wooden privacy fence and numerous trees helped block any view from neighbors’ houses.


    June stood next to the unmoving body of Officer Rudolph. He now looked like some kind of massive bear—albeit a dead or unconscious bear, with a bizarre swollen shape to his face. Maybe that had happened when his face became a battering ram against the wall though. Brendan could have sworn he saw a few scales on the bear too. June crouched a bit, tense and ready to attack, fangs bared, claws extended to a shocking length; they looked like curved swords in the moonlight.


    Across from her, the man-sized badger monster—Mr. Badger, Brendan thought—had lowered himself to the ground and was holding his claws up, snarling and baring his teeth. But his eyes flickered around as if he was afraid. June, on the other hand, exuded no fear. She looked eager. Brendan felt a surge of pride as he stared at his best friend—she really was a superhero. And even crouching, she stood taller than Mr. Badger.


    “Where is Mr. Moseley?” June rumbled.


    Mr. Badger growled, but he didn’t respond with words. He started to dig into the ground with his back legs instead. Just like a normal, badger-sized badger would do, Brendan remembered from biology.


    “Where is he?” June said, louder this time. Another growl from Mr. Badger. “Fine.” As soon as the word left her mouth, June attacked—it was so fast Brendan struggled to keep up. She dashed forward and slashed, and Mr. Badger raised his hands in defense. His claws met June’s in a clash that sounded like bamboo sticks snapping together. June pulled back, and Brendan thought he glimpsed a smile on her face. She charged a second time and slashed again, but with her opposite paw. The bamboo noise echoed.


    “Last chance,” June growled, and he snarled back at her. “Suit yourself.”


    She charged again.


    This time, June struck with two attacks—her left paw slashed into Mr. Badger’s raised claws while her right paw shot out and grabbed one of his arms. She twisted with precision, and before Mr. Badger seemed to realize what had happened, he was already flying through the air, upside down. He yelped, then crashed into some trees, which shook violently under the impact. Golden leaves fluttered to the ground, landing on top of the slumped Mr. Badger.


    In a flash, June stood over him, paw raised, claws glistening in the moonlight, ready to slice. Brendan ran to her. Blood stained the fur on Mr. Badger’s shoulder and dripped from one of June’s claws, which slid in and out of her paw erratically. If she sliced, it might kill him. Brendan saw the look in her eyes. His awe turned to fear. Heroes didn’t kill unless they absolutely had to, and June did not have to right now.


    “June?” Brendan said, his voice shaking.


    She didn’t acknowledge him, but she didn’t hack Mr. Badger either.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    “June!” he yelled.


    She finally made eye contact, and he could see some kind of internal struggle taking place. She was so big—she made the bear-man and Mr. Badger look like little animals. Her paw slowly came down to her side. She dropped to all fours, visibly trembling.


    “Okay, good,” Brendan said with relief. He walked over to her and put a hand on her boulder-sized shoulder. “That was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen, though.”


    June smiled and her knife teeth glimmered in a beam of moonlight. Her trembling subsided and she sat on her haunches. “We have to do something with these two,” she said. “They’ll wake up eventually and we can’t just leave them free. And when they do wake up, it will be our turn to ask the questions and show them how this works.”


    Brendan laughed. “Did you just attempt that European accent as a werecat? Nice.”


    A pink tongue edged out between her fangs. “We need to tie them up.”


    “We can do a real interrogation!” Brendan clapped his hands together excitedly. “I know exactly what to do.” There was always an interrogation or two in every Blimey! Detectives novel.


    June paused for a few seconds in thought. “Not with rope,” she finally said. “Go tell Dr. Chase we need chairs in the basement and as much duct tape as you can find. Aunt Violet keeps some in the drawer in the long table in the hallway, but I bet there’s more in the garage. I’ll stay with these two. Let me know when you have everything and I’ll drag them in.”


    Brendan turned and walked back into the kitchen through the jagged hole in the wall, which, with windows above and on either side, made it look a lot like walking into the mouth of a monster about to swallow him whole.


    ***


    June, meanwhile, listened to the air around her. She heard Brendan and Dr. Chase inside the house, although they were in different locations. Otherwise, there weren’t any noises indicating another person inside, which meant Mr. Moseley wasn’t here, and neither was Aunt Vera. June raked a claw through the grass in frustration.


    It occurred to her that she had never knocked someone unconscious before, and she had no idea how long it would take for them to wake up. They might not wake up for hours, and that was time she and Brendan didn’t have to spare. June made a mental note to check the pockets—or remnants of pockets—of Dolph’s and Rudolph’s clothes.


    Several dogs yipped and yapped. Otherwise, everything sounded normal in the area—at least as normal as a semi-populated area could be after a Shifter and two—were they Shifters or demons?—had battled in a neighboring backyard. Dolph and Rudolph remained unconscious, their hearts and breathing steady and slow.


    A few minutes later, Brendan reappeared with Dr. Chase. “We’ve got a lot of duct tape,” he said, “and I moved some chairs to the basement. No thanks to this one, though.” He pointed at Dr. Chase. “He just wandered around the house.”


    Dr. Chase bobbed his head in irritation like an ostrich. “I’ll have you know, boy, that I was busy ferreting out clothes for our gladiator here. June, I found you the perfect outfit to replace the one you blew apart.” He smiled at her, held out the clothes, and turned gloating eyes on Brendan.


    “Great,” June said as she ignored the clothes and grabbed Dolph in one paw and Rudolph with the other. “Let’s get these two tied up.”


    Dr. Chase looked wounded, and Brendan snatched the clothes out of his hand and put them in the backpack. The sour expression that Dr. Chase gave him indicated this had only added insult to injury.


    June led the way inside. A quick glance showed Dr. Chase shuffling in the rear, studying the two unconscious whatever-they-were. She made a mental note to keep Dr. Chase at least six feet away from them at all times so he didn’t do anything stupid again. After that display on the porch, he might bumble into getting himself held hostage, or worse, freeing the two men.


    “They’re Shifters, right?” Brendan asked.


    “I''m not sure,” June replied. “They don’t look like nightmare beasts, but they look odd.”


    Brendan studied her for a moment. “I saw scales on both of them,” he finally said, “so probably demon, right?”


    She nodded. It made the most sense. Maybe they were newly created demons.


    “Can they talk when they’re like that?” Brendan asked as they passed the kitchen island. “I mean, when they’re Shifted or demoned-up or whatever?”


    “I’m not really sure. Cordelia can’t talk when she’s Shifted, but owls don’t have lips or anything, so maybe making words with a beak doesn’t work out very well.” June rotated an ear and could tell that Dr. Chase had fallen further behind them—maybe studying the destruction to the side of the house.


    They reached the bare wooden steps to the basement, the walls narrow and the ceiling low. June eyed the descent nervously. “You go first,” she said to Brendan, “then yell up when you’re all the way down. I better move quickly—I’m not sure if the steps can take my weight, especially dragging these two.” She jerked her head back toward the slumbering villains.


    When Brendan had reached the bottom, June twisted to fit and dashed down, still dragging Dolph and Rudolph, who, had they not already been unconscious, would have been after how many times their heads thumped against the steps. Thankfully, when everyone had reached the basement, the stairs were still intact.


    Concrete floors and walls of concrete block made the room a uniform grey. The occasional bare light bulb hung from the ceiling amidst snaking air ducts. Cardboard boxes and plastic storage bins lined a side wall. It looked like the perfect place for an interrogation. As promised, Brendan had prepared two chairs from the kitchen. When June saw them, she realized that no ordinary chairs would support the weight of a large-sized bear and a giant-sized badger.


    Instead, June held them up in turn so Brendan and Dr. Chase could run rolls of duct tape around them, pinning their arms to their sides and tying their legs together so they couldn’t walk.


    June chuckled at one point as she watched. “I bet that duct tape will rip hair out and sting so bad if they try to change back.”


    When Brendan and Dr. Chase finished, and June leaned them against one of the cinder-block walls, all that remained visible were a bear head and a badger head above mummy bodies adorned in silver.