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  BARK

  EPISODE II:

  ENEMIES AND ALLIES

  DANIEL PEYTON

  BARK

  EPISODE II:

  ENEMIES AND ALLIES

  DANIEL PEYTON

  Copyright © 2018 by Daniel Peyton.

  All rights reserved.

  BARK EPISODE II: ENEMIES AND ALLIES

  A Dark Spores Novel Book 7

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.

  The opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of Cosby Media Productions.

  Published by Cosby Media Productions.

  www.cosbymediaproductions.com

  Cover art: Cosby Media Productions

  Edited: Tonian Pasqueralle

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Portents

  About the Author

  More books by Daniel Peyton

  Chapter 1: Just another day at the UCH

  Bark’s journal: Day 3 of my first semester. I guess this will be my first of many entries in this journal. Spark told me that all members of the UCH are required to keep a journal, even the students. It has been almost a month since Snow and Spark rescued me from Korea. It seems like yesterday I was being tortured by that mad man. I try not to think about what could’ve happened to me and only focus on the good things that happened afterward. The beautiful Snow and I have been dating ever since that day. She convinced me to cut my hair. I’ll admit it was getting pretty shaggy, even for a dog. I like it now. The short style seems to bring an element of human back to me.

  Dr. Stone finally had a breakthrough with that vocal processor. It isn’t perfect and at times finds the wrong words. Sometimes it will pick up on a thought that is strong, but was not intended to be said aloud. It can be embarrassing, especially when it says what I'm thinking while on a date with Snow. She understands, but still pretends to slap me when it sounds inappropriate. After Dr. Stone finished his prototype of the vocal processor, he sent it to that tailoring bot to make it work as part of my costume. The device must be close to my head so that it can get a clear signal. And, the tailor bot decided it would not do well on missions to have it dangling off of me too far, it has to be close. We considered strapping it to my forehead like a sweatband, but that proved too dangerous. So, the bot crafted a snug collar that this little box hangs from. It looks like a dog collar. I'm half inclined to believe that one of the pranksters hacked the program and did this to me on purpose. I complained, but the General and Dr. Stone both agree that it is the most logical placement. Ugh!

  I started the first semester today with a full slate of class work. I have four classroom classes, a period of holographic simulation training, and I spend three hours a day with Toshi sensei. Toshi sensei approached me not too long after I first arrived on the station. She asked me if I would become a student of hers. I didn’t give it much thought and simply nodded. She started teaching me all kinds of Japanese martial arts and fighting techniques. It is a great workout and sometimes a little dangerous.

  Today I'm on Spark’s team for the morning sports workout program. We are playing soccer again, only this is a superpower soccer match that is almost no holds barred. It is a very invigorating style of competition, and a good way to practice the skills you are learning.

  I'm pleased that even though there are a lot of the other students who like to tease me, especially when I don’t have my voice box on, I have made friends. I’ve actually gotten very close with Spark. After a shaky relationship when I first arrived, he decided I wasn’t so bad after all, even though I stole Snow from him. I guess when you save a man’s life, his attitude towards you changes

  The UCH sporting enclosure was a large domed room on the side of the space station. It was large enough to house an Olympic-sized swimming pool, two full-length football fields, and several smaller courts for various sporting events. It was built for the first Olympics held in space five years ago. When the games were over, the Olympic committee donated it to the UCH and they attached it to the station for training and recreational purposes. The dome was designed much like the arboretum, with special panels that allowed for simulated skies of any kind. Today the sky was bright blue with a few puffy clouds rolling by.

  At this time, two teams of superheroes battled on the soccer field in a special form of the popular game. They couldn't use all of their powers, only those that were an integral part of them – such as Bark’s superior hearing and agility. The stands held a few spectators, of course most were just students using the time to catch up on homework.

  Bark ran down the large grassy field wearing nothing but his usual briefs. The ground below his feet rumbled and rocked, he realized the field below him was about to explode. The ball hurtled toward him and it was about to make contact. Quickly he met the ball with his chest, sending it high into the air. A split second after that, Bark jumped up with an enormous leap and avoided the dirt eruption. A boy at the other end of the field had his hands down where he was controlling the waves in the soil. Bark jumped over onto his hands and then back to his feet. With a great bark and a thrust of his foot, he sent a soccer ball zooming toward a goal at the other end of the field. All of this took a mere few seconds.

  A girl flew down on giant angel wings and tried to deflect the ball’s direction. Just as she was about to meet the ball, she was knocked out of the air by a yellow flash that hit her foot. Spark stopped with a smile on his face while he watched the ball sail into the goal and earn his team the final winning point.

  A whistle blew and everyone on the field shook hands and headed toward their respective locker rooms. Bark walked over to Spark. They smiled and fist-bumped to their victory.

  The winged girl walked by, sort of hopping where she was hit by the flash. “Hey, Spark! That wasn’t fair.”

  Spark shrugged. “Hitting is fair enough, especially after your teammate used that superpower on the field.”

  A huge man with blue skin, four arms, bigger muscles than three men, and a coach’s uniform chimed in. “Yup, he’s right.” He looked up at the boy who had summoned the broken earth and yelled, “HEY! SHAKER! Next time you do that, you’re off the team for the season!” The coach walked off to talk to another student who had violated the no dangerous powers rule.

  Shaker snarled and walked toward the men’s locker room while muttering things he shouldn’t say about the coach.

  Spark and Bark headed toward the men’s locker room. Spark was already pulling his tight suit off from the top. “Hey Bark, how did you avoid that earth blast? That was incredible.”

  Bark tapped the dog tag like device hanging from his collar and a robotic voice stated, “I could hear the earth moving in my direction.”

  “Very good,” Spark replied. “You're learning how to use your powers nicely.”

  Bark shook his head and twitched his dog ears. His robot voice stated, “No powers, just big ears.”

  Both laughed at that and headed into the men’s locker room to shower and get ready for the rest of the day’s lessons.

  Bark folded up his suit and placed the collar with the voice box on top of it, storing all of this in a small locker. He walked through the locker room and into the shower in nothing but his fur. The vocal processor was supposed to be water resistant, but he didn’t want to pu
sh it. It was the only thing he had that could talk for him, he didn't want to risk messing it up.

  A juvenile taunt greeted Bark as he came into the steamy shower room. “It looks like someone forgot to neuter their dog.” Bark knew this voice all too well. It was a boy who had green hair and a mouth that looked about three times too big for his face. This was Green Scream, a supernormal with the power to create explosive sounds with his mouth. Though, he usually used his mouth to be a rude jerk to people he thought were tease-worthy.

  Bark looked back at the green headed guy, who was surrounded by other equally rude boys. Without his voice box Bark could not respond verbally, but his eyes said it all.

  A shorter first-year student in the group said, “Oooh, look. Doggy is mad now.”

  Bark walked right at Green Scream, keeping his eyes on the boy the whole way.

  Green Scream did not back down. He just returned the severe gaze with a mocking smile. “Whatcha gonna do?”

  Bark let out a huff and turned back around to go shower quickly and get out of there. He had a date tonight with his girl and that was more important than getting in trouble for injuring a student.

  Just as Bark was about to let it go, Green Scream started again. “Tell me, when you and Snow go out, do you sniff her butt first, or do you just go after her leg?”

  Bark had heard enough. He turned and was about to give Green Scream a massive right hook to the face when a hand grabbed his arm. Spark was now standing there in nothing but a towel, his hand holding Bark from mauling the bully.

  “He isn’t worth it. Just go shower.” Spark looked at Green Scream with eyes that said, “Drop it.”

  Bark let out another huff and snarled quietly. He walked over to his stall and immediately noticed that the bottle of shampoo had changed. With a furrowed brow he picked it up to see what it was. The label read, “Flea and tick shampoo for your dog.” This elicited some snickering from the group of boys.

  Spark scoffed, but for some reason he was smiling. “Boys, go take a shower.”

  “But we already –” Green Scream protested, but Spark cut him off.

  “Slime like you needs to be extra clean,” he stated crassly, a smile still etched on his face.

  The group of boys disbanded and some removed the towels they had around their waists. They walked up to their stalls and turned on their showers.

  “Here, thought you could use this.” Spark handed Bark a rather large bottle of shampoo. Bark had a tendency to go through a lot of this stuff.

  Bark smiled, handed Spark the dog shampoo, and proceeded to shower without any more trouble.

  Suddenly all the other boys were overcome with insatiable itching. “What the hell,” several yelled as they dug into themselves with their fingernails.

  Spark laughed loudly and strolled out of the shower. “You have a lot to learn about pranks. The master is unbeatable.” He left the boys to their unbearable itching and Bark to get clean for his day.

  ***

  Snow turned off the computer monitor in front of her. She sat in a large, amphitheater-style classroom with dozens of computers for the students to use. Right now there were only a couple other students taking this class, all graduates of the basic program. International Law was a graduate class that students could take if they wanted to earn promotions within the UCH. Snow wasn't a full graduate yet, but she was a very smart student who had the extra time. The teacher of the class was Solstice, a superhero with the ability to shoot powerful beams of light out of her hands. Solstice was also a former law officer and held a high rank before discovering her powers. She was a tough teacher, but her results spoke for themselves.

  Solstice walked down the row to meet Snow. The instructor had a letter in her hands. “Snow, I have something for you. It arrived this morning from the planet. I think it is from Keen again.”

  Snow rolled her eyes but accepted the letter. “Another one?”

  Velocity, one of the other students, leaned over the computer with a smile. “He won't give up, you know. Keen always gets what he wants.”

  Solstice nodded. “With a smile like that, he doesn't have to work hard.”

  Velocity added, “With a butt like that, he doesn't need to ask.” She grinned at Snow while asking, “What does he want this time? A date?”

  Snow pulled out the engraved letter and opened it. “Not exactly. He has another movie coming out and wants me to be his arm candy.”

  Solstice frowned. “He didn't ask like that, did he?”

  Snow tucked the gold embossed letter back into its cotton paper envelope. “No, but that's what he wants. He needs a date for the premiere and he wants it to be me.”

  Velocity nearly swooned. “Oh, wow. He's such a gorgeous hunk of male, a superhero, and a film star. What more could you ask for?”

  Snow flopped the letter back onto the desk and said, “Bark.”

  Solstice leaned up against the desk near Snow’s. “You would take Bark over Keen?”

  “Every day.” Snow's smile turned warm as she thought about her furball.

  Velocity frowned and shook her head. “What does Bark have that Keen doesn't? I can tell you what Keen has that your dog doesn't.” She wasn't really as rude about Bark as she was just oblivious to Snow’s feelings for him.

  Snow put her books into her bag and got up. “Bark is a gentle, kind, loving man who has put his life on the line for me. He isn't famous, he isn't rich, and he isn't arrogant. I know when I'm looking my worst and am not in the best of moods, he will still love me and want the best for me. Men like Keen are too worried about their own image to really care about anyone else.”

  Solstice stuck up for her friend. “Keen isn't that arrogant. He has quite the ego, but he's a nice guy when you get to know him.”

  “I'm sure. I don't hate him or anything,” Snow said as she started to walk away. “I just know that he only asks me out when it makes for a photogenic date. If he really had an interest in me he would pursue me more, and he would come here to ask me to this shindig of his. Don't worry, he'll find his arm candy, and I'll go and pet my dog. If you'll excuse me.” Snow left them to ponder over why any woman would turn down a man like Keen. Just before she left Snow turned to add, “And Keen doesn't have everything when it comes to looks. No one can muster the puppy dog eyes like my man, and believe me, I'm putty in his hands when he turns it on.” With that, she left.

  Snow walked down the hall. She slid her backpack around one shoulder and had her eyes peeled for one person. Snow was well known. In fact, she was famous on earth long before she discovered her powers. So, it wasn't uncommon for some of the newer students to stop and stare. A few had actually asked for her autograph. It amused her, but she did get tired of it some days. It was the reason that Keen constantly called upon her for his events. She was pretty, well known, and also a superhero. If she was concerned about her modeling and acting career, she would take him up on his offers and go to these premieres and parties. But, she wanted to focus on her superhero career.

  She turned a corner and found who she was looking for. Bark stood there, leaning up against the wall, picking at his claws as he waited for her. Their next class was together and he always walked her there, even though his last class was right next to it and he was walking the length of the entire station just to do this. It was silly, but he knew it made her happy and that was very important to him.

  “Hey, Bark.” She greeted him with a big hug, and he returned it with gusto.

  She stepped back and ran her hands up and down his arm. “Oooh, your fur feels so soft today.”

  He grinned at her and his voice box answered, “Conditioner.”

  This made her laugh. “You used conditioner?”

  Wiggling his butt a little he smirked and stated, “Top to bottom.”

  This only made her laugh more. “You're nuts.”

  He couldn't help but answer that with, “Yup, there too.”

  Snow shook her hea
d. “Okay, I didn't want to know that.” She took his hand and they walked across the space station.

  ***

  In a dark room, far away from society’s attention, sat darkly-dressed man. Still healing from his debacle in Korea, he had only one objective in mind: to torture, study, and kill the dog-man who destroyed his plans. He knew perfectly well that his fellow members of the secret society were not going to sit around too long. They would find other ways to retrieve the dog-man and study him. But this was his job, and he would take pleasure in making that boy beg for death.

  After a long, quiet time to consider his plans, he activated a computer panel and accessed a private coded signal to the UCH space station.

  The screen came on, but the image was fuzzed out to protect the person being contacted. The person on the other end started with a question. “Are you really making this offer to me?”

  The dark-suited man smiled. “Yes. Get me the dog-man and I'll make you rich.”

  “No one wants off this station and away from these idiots more than I do, but I don’t think I can simply kidnap a student and make it off of this station unnoticed. The kind of security around here is –”

  “Pointless to worry about,” the darkly-dressed man finished. “Listen, I have a plan that will rid us of the UCH, make you wealthy beyond your wildest imagination, and bring me my prize.”

  “I'm all ears.”

  Chapter 2: Class Time

  Bark’s journal: Day 4 of my first semester. I had a terrific date last night with Snow. She's a wonderful person to have in my life. I know this is puppy love....Oh, that was a terrible pun.

  Anyway, the general and half of the staff are down on earth at a summit in London about security and other boring stuff. He said that the students and instructors would probably not be sent on any field missions for a couple of weeks. Fine by me. I need time to study. My teachers are strict and have high expectations. My favorite class is Technology of Villainy. Red Fury, the instructor, is a strange and very militant type of man. He is huge, as in his body is mostly muscle. He has fiery red hair and a temper to match. But, no one in the UCH, and possibly on earth, knows as much about weapon technology as Red Fury. Today we're going to the museum vault to look at some of the more infamous devices used by villains in the past. If we're obedient, instructor Red will let us take a few weapons into the simulation chamber and see how well they work.