Editing Getting the Band Together (section)

=== '''Calling The Car'''===

Wrecker and Reggy had finished clearing the garage of the Station. Years of disuse and misuse had made various squatters throw everything into the garage. Reggy kept joking with things, a doll, a bent bicycle, a fur seat cover. Wrecker had kept them in beer. The smell of mundane cleaning supplies filled the air of the mid-winter day.

One of the advantages that they had gained from the Day of the Change was they had gained greater strength and endurance. Their adventures since had improved them dramatically. Their passage through the Sigil of Fort Garland had changed them even further. Power has its privileges.

They had spent several hours hauling debris from the garage to reveal the cement below. Sweeping got the last of the clutter. That was followed with Clean cantrips to remove decades of oil, gas, grease, and blood.

Reggy said, “Well, that wasn’t too bad. The two storage rooms won’t take long. Though the one with the mattresses is going to take something more than cantrips. Do you remember the Low Order sorcery Clean spell?”

Wrecker shook his head. “No, I didn’t pay attention to the Low Order Sorcery stuff. Too much finger-waving time, lynchpins, and stuff. I always feel like I might be casting something, sneeze, and blast off half my head. Let Gadget clean them when she brings her little band here. We can’t do everything. We don’t need those rooms. The living room has two couches. Those the Clean cantrips can manage till we can get some help.”

Wrecker said, “Then we are ready to see if the summoning will work.”

Reggy nodded, “After some sleep and some beer.”

A few hours later, the two soldiers had stripped down and cast Clean cantrips on their clothes. They had sat in the living room that had once been a convenience store lobby and cast Mend cantrips on their clothes and Chill cantrips on the beer. Getting dressed again, they returned to the garage.

Wrecker chuckled. “When I was a truck driver, I never imagined that one day I would be some kind of half-wizard. OK, the Army made me a soldier for a time, but the rest is just bizarre.”

Reggy nodded, “When I was Denver Police, I thought people who dressed up like elves and orcs were crazy. Now I’m an orc. The Sigil of Fort Garland made me able to become a human again if I want as well as a weird deer thing with wings. I’m not sure I know what a normal life is anymore. But I am enjoying wrecking these thugs.”

Wrecker opened the garage door out to a silent street that rarely saw traffic. Outside, two large dogs looked in at the pair. They felt Gadget's bond urge them to obey the pair. They walked in and settled against a wall out of the way.

The soldiers of Gadget's army settled down to business. “Let’s get our ride.”

Wrecker and Reggy knelt on the cold, cleaned cement, the faint scent of ozone lingering from their earlier cantrips. With careful precision, they drew glowing chalk sigils into twin circles, their lines pulsing faintly with otherworldly energy. Wrecker’s form rippled as he shrank into the squat, rugged shape of a dwarf, his beard thickening like wildfire. Across from him, Reggy’s skin darkened to a deep emerald hue, tusks jutting slightly as his orc form took shape. With synchronized movements, they raised shimmering symbols, their edges crackling like firelight. The garage filled with a low hum, as if the walls themselves held their breath.

Time passed as the two concentrated on the sigils before them, glowing blue and white. Small sparks appeared at junctions where lines crossed.

Soon after the stroke of midnight, a horn bleated as a purple and white 55 Bel-Air turned off the street into the space between the odd pair of friends. Moments later, its exquisite paint scheme changed to a scratched black and a rusty white with a satisfied hum. The car's license plate said, “Strut.”

The pair put a hand on the car's hood. They smiled. Wrecker said, “Hello, boy. You ready to rock and roll?” The engine roared, and the pipes belched a burst of fire.

Reggy stood, “Let’s cruise.”

Wrecker held a door open, and the two dogs leapt into the backseat. He climbed behind the steering wheel with a big smile. Reggy lit a cigar as they backed out of the garage. Three dogs of Gadget's pack skipped in to guard the open garage door.

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