(Adapted from the published adventure
‘The Reign of Cats & Dogs’ by Crystal Frasier)
Seven
Serena was feeling very frustrated as she flew back to Claremont. After her recent encounter with the Yellow Brotherhood, unnatural hybrid descendants of an abominable race of serpent men from the mists of time, she’d sought out Master Eldrich at his Wessex tenement building, hoping to discuss what she’d uncovered, only to find his manservant Sallah currently on his own. He explained that Eldrich had left this plane suddenly a few days before to go deal with a threat from the Netherworlds without any explanation and he had no idea when (or even if) he would return.
That was worrying and not just for her as his student in the Mystic Arts. Eldrich was this world’s Supreme Adept of the Arts Arcane, Great Wizard, Arch-Magister… the titles were many and had varied over the eons, but the role and responsibilities of the Master Mage had remained largely the same, protect this domain from mystical threats at all costs. It was a fact of cosmic reality in the Omniverse that each realm had a magician guardian in-tune with the flow of mystic forces in that universe. Becoming Master Mage was primarily a matter of skill, power, insight (and often destiny as well). At some times, in some worlds, there had been contests to determine which adept could claim the title of Master Mage; in others, the choice was clear.
Adrian Eldrich had become this realities’ guardian in 1935 when he had discovered the lost Temple of Sirrion and had mystical powers thrust upon him by the ancient spirits of Atlantean mages. Seven suspected that it had been a desperate reaction to the powerful dark magics that had begun to fester in the shadows of the world following the forced retirement of Master Mage Doctor Clinton Avery, 18 years previously.
Avery’s immediate successor, Dimitrios had been forcibly ousted into the void fifteen years prior to Eldrich’s ascension. Without a Master Mage in residence during those years, the Earth had been left vulnerable and unprotected other than by two of its previous titleholders – the insane immortal, Lady Stephanie Strange and Doctor Avery who had held the title until he’d been secretly ambushed and crippled by Dimitrios and the otherworld ruler Ch’Andarra.
Since 1935, Adrian Eldrich had protected Earth from the wicked forces that coveted the world. He had tamed evil wizards, elemental forces, demons, gods, and powerful Dark Lords—the Master Mages of other dimensions whose greed and corruption had twisted them into malignant reflections.
Intertwined with the primal mystic forces of their reality, Master Mages could choose to become the steward and guardian of their universe, safeguarding it from any and all threats or they could choose to grab hold of those forces, bending and shaping them to their personal will and thereby become known throughout the mystic dimensions as a Dark Lord. Many Master Mages in countless realities had fallen prey to the temptations of power and become Dark Lords, dimensional tyrants ruling their worlds with an iron fist. Some Dark Lords were deposed, replaced by either a guardian Master Mage or, more often, by another would-be Dark Lord, even if the rebel’s original intent had been pure; power corrupts, and there are few temptations greater than the opportunity to rule a universe!
Thus, it was no great surprise Master Mages like Eldrich encountered more Dark Lords in the mystic realms than peers safeguarding their own realities. The Dark Lords claimed this was because their way, the way of power and dominance, was natural; it was the mewling and weakling guardians who were the aberrations. In terms of sheer numbers, they might well be right.
A corrupt Master Mage tainted the magic of their world with their inner demons, colouring the arcane energy with their rage, perversion, or lust for power. Those who learned to harness and direct the magic of their world ascended as Dark Lords, powerful beings straddling the divide between mortal and god, whose realms reflected their twisted dispositions.
The Master Mage also acted as a lens to focus the magic of their reality, a task requiring incredible will. A good-hearted or disciplined Master Mage tamed the wild surges of magic that could cause strange phenomenon and disasters, while refining the magic into a form easier for like-minded spellcasters like her to harness.
Eldrich hadn’t named an heir apparent though some thought Donna Avery, Avery’s great-granddaughter or even she herself might be being trained to take over as Master Mage allowing him to finally retire. Others had previously assumed Forté of the Protectors might have been considered a potential Inheritor of the titles before he had vanished, presumably dying in the Birmingham Attack.
So instead of consulting with Eldrich, Seven was flying back to the school. Below she could see the old BT Phone box outside the main gates of the school. As well as being refurbished as a video phone to the gatehouse and school security, it had been rebuilt as an external entrance to one of the many underground tunnels that radiated out from Down Below. Once inside she would be able to activate the secret lift and be whisked down without having to change out of her costume.
At the traffic junction that led to the main gates, she saw an unusually tall man with blonde, closely cropped hair walking away from the school. He was wearing a perfectly fitted, bespoke suit that screamed Savile Row. What really didn’t make sense was the fact that he was wearing sunglasses despite the late hour. There was something about him that seemed, inhuman and it wasn’t just that he was over seven feet tall. She opened her third eye and looked down. He blazed with the darkest tinge of thaumaturgical energy, bound in mystic enchantments, which blinded Seven’s inner eye, the part of her attuned to uncanny forces. In the wind, she could overhear a whisper on his lips a name and a title, Lady Una of the Undying.
She went to drop from the sky to confront him only to see him step round the corner onto the A44 carriageway and vanish. It wasn’t that she had lost sight of him, that was impossible as only the school’s reception block existed close enough to block her view.
She couldn’t help feel something was wrong as though this was the start of something wicked and unnatural. There had been a lot of that lately and Master Eldrich had seemed too preoccupied to notice.
Below she could also see a year four student leaving the school. That was surprising as she was sure the girl was a ‘day-tripper’ and lived at home – she must have been attending one of the after school clubs. What was her name again? It was an unusual name with a Bohemian touch to it, though not as far out there as Gabriel Freespirit…
Her grandparents had probably been part of the hippy influx into the area in the 60s and 70s. Although most had bought property then and they and their children now ran successful artisan businesses on the outskirts of China Town and in the Jericho suburbs, they still supposedly smoked too much dope and still named their kids Moonbeam and such. What was she called? Sky or something, no not Sky, Cloud Mac-something-or-other. Yes, that was it.
High in the sky, Seven watched as she walked towards the bus stop opposite and sat down in the shelter looking at something in her hand. Possibly something to look into later to see if there was any connection with the disappearing thin man, but for now she was tired and needed some sleep.
Cadet
Saturday morning and Colin was swearing under his breath like a trooper. Damn ‘Ant’ Andrews for ‘volunteering’ him to babysit a group of kids from the school. He, Bubbles and a couple of the other seniors were to escort and chaperone the group to the local RSPCA Cat and Dog Home near the Centre of Wessex. The kids had volunteered to help out at the animal sanctuary and then they would get to visit the city zoo that afternoon as a treat for assisting.
Chris was excused ‘boots’ as he had to spend the weekend in the sickbay after a training session between him and L33t had gone dramatically wrong. They’d both got hurt when he’d tried to electrocute the suit and overpowered its defence mechanisms. The result had not been pretty and both Chris and Shini Koyama, L33t’s pilot, had been badly injured as a result. The school had again called in Doctor Collins and asked her to use her mystical healing on them but it had left them both exhausted and they had to spend the weekend in bed, recovering.
He’d been in to see Chris before he headed off with his ‘charges’ to Wessex. He brought him a letter that Ashen had sent via The Commander. It sounded as though Gustav was settling in with the Cymru Dragons and seemed to had finally given up on his plans to lead a coup in Carpathia, though not his desire to support reforms there.
Colin had also discussed the decision by Raven and the rest of the Schadenfreude Society to put a temporary stop to assaults on the Pryde Foundation Preparatory Institute until they decided what to do about the TV studio attack by the Power Corps working with the PITT’s Browser or what they should do about their secret Cornish training site.
An hour later
Colin, Alaina and the rest of the group were standing outside the doors of the animal sanctuary waiting for the volunteer supervisor to arrive. There were forty students in all but the only ones that Colin was focused on were the HCP students…
Alaina had already been outed by herself and Smiler, like Outrage, couldn’t disguise that she was a Meta even if the teachers had never identified any powers or abilities connected to her transformation. Identifying the others had taken a bit more detective work. Yes, he knew he was supposed to respect the ‘privacy’ of his fellow students Down Below but it was so difficult to turn off his ability to notice details. He’d automatically compared their height, the way they moved and their habits with their civilian identities and matched them up.
Seven he knew was Serena Vervaine. She assumed that all she had to disguise were her facial features and didn’t think about her hair, the shape of her dainty little ears beneath her cowl, or the way she touched her lips whenever she was deep in thought; things she unconsciously didn’t even attempt to disguise. He’d never revealed that he knew though. There had never been a need.
The other he recognised was Reni Moriarty from his own year – He’d arrived at Claremont under unusual circumstances about a year before Chris and Gus’ and it was clear he wasn’t happy about the transfer so it hadn’t been difficult to realise that he was the Kid Arachnid who had reluctantly started training sessions Down Below. Colin was biased of course, Reni having the same surname as Moira Moriarty, better known to him as the crime boss Mystery, had piqued his interest and had resulted in a bit of genealogy research. Yes, his family were descended from ‘that’ Moriarty. He uncovered that Mystery was Reni’s aunt, but his family was not close. Reni’s dad, Scott had avoided becoming involved in the ‘family business’ and had married into the Van Statten diamond conglomerate. He was now the general manager of their organisation in the UK and had a single son, Reni.
Colin had paid a lot of covert attention to Reni when he was above and the Kid below. He was classed as a Stormer but hadn’t been altered by any known Silver Storm outbreak that he’d been able to identify. If he was honest, he really wasn’t sure what side of the moral divide the kid was on.
Still, this was a day out even if he’d had no say in agreeing to participate and he assumed it was the same for the others. He was so focused on his fellow classmates that he initially failed to realise that the cooing from the pigeons round them was undergoing a vocal transformation.
When he did, that’s when they realised something was wrong. Despite appearances, the city’s pigeons didn’t have the ability to multiply themselves or talk, did they? So why were there thousands of the damned creatures flocking above them and why did they appear to be capable of demanding that the kids feed them, or else? Nearby, other passerbys’ were already being attacked by pigeons, seemingly demanding food and chasing after anything that moved.
To add to the confusion the dogs howling from inside the sanctuary were acting like ultrasonic blasts whenever they barked. With all the excitement around, they weren’t holding back (or should that be bark?) Then there were the cats and kittens that were appearing at their feet, having walked through the walls to explore as they liked and were now looking for comfort from any humans they could find. Unfortunately, every child or adult that reached down to stroke the cats collapsed twitching. Apparently, the cats being out of phase were shorting out the nervous systems of those caressing them, causing numbness and paralysis and leaving convulsing citizens and kids in their wake.
Ordinary pets seemed to be suddenly developing superhuman powers… and was that a lion and a gorilla he could see at the far end of the street?
“Whoa, this is some weird s-stuff!” Cadet stuttered perhaps a little too dramatically, he glanced sideways at his female companions and elicited an amused smirk from Seven. He quickly recovered himself as he started to take charge. “Smiler, get our kids back safely to the school will you, fast as you can, and let Ant’ know what’s happening here…” He shook his head in disbelief. Thankfully, there were no CCTV cameras in this part of town and everyone was focused on the remake of Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ going on around them to pay any attention to them. As soon as the conscious kids from school were out of sight he grabbed hold of Bubbles and whispered in her ear, “We need cover so we can change into our costumes…. You’ve got yours with you haven’t you?” She nodded excitedly and immediately created a cascade of opaque cloaking bubbles for the four of them to change behind. They’d just have to risk leaving their school clothes in a nearby alley as he shouted out, “Seven, Kid suit up we need to get to the bottom of this before more people get hurt.” He realised that he was about to ‘out’ himself to the others so was caught by surprise when he heard Seven shout back, “Okay Cadet, I’ll create a pocket portal for our clothes once I’ve changed”. Damn, seemed he wasn’t the only one checking out the other HCP participants… he just hoped no one had been watching them when Bubbles had raised her bubble screen, it would be pretty obvious where the superheroes have come from when they step out from behind the screen and their civilian-selves have vanished. He just had to hope that maybe no one was watching? He sniggered, fat chance, still what choice did they have?
A minute later the bubbles separated and he was presented with an upset Kid Arachnid though that was well hidden under his costume, a more serene Seven and an excited Bubbles in her K-suit she’d also donned a domino mask as a gesture to being anonymous as far as the people around were concerned. Seven gestured and their street clothes vanished into what looked like a small white hole before it closed. “Pocket of Holding” she muttered, “See all those D’n’D sessions were good for something after all…”
Bubbles squealed and muttered something about “Team Awesome..! So what now boss?” To Cadet’s surprise, the others seemed to be waiting for him to take command so he started issuing the orders… “Kid, can you take care of those pigeons, stop them from hurting anyone else if you can – and Seven, if you can do anything about those cats, or maybe figure out a little about what’s happening here, please do! I’ll try to take a look at the injured folk, see if there’s anything I can do for them. Bubbles, watch out for the zoo-animals and do anything you can. Let’s go!”
With that, Bubbles started spraying an effervescent barrier above and in front of them, pushing it out in a 180 degree arc clearing the immediate area of ‘hungry’, gobby pigeons which allowed Cadet to then sprint across to the nearest victim of the out-of-phase cats. It was young Nikki Reilly from the First Form and she seemed to be suffering an epileptic fit from contact with a purring kitten that was playing on her unconscious lap. He was about to pull out his Escrima sticks to try and push the kitten away from her when it was suddenly encapsulated in a soapy bubble and whisked away. Cadet immediately checked her pulse, it was stable and her breathing was steady so he placed her into recovery position, made sure her airways were open and hurried over to check on the next victim, an adult passer by this time. In total there were four victims unconscious on the ground and the worst injury they had suffered had been some minor bruises and cuts from falling.
Meanwhile, Seven was hovering cross-legged about 30 centimetres off the ground muttering to herself, as she gestured the cats all started to levitate and float. Each looked contented as though someone was stroking them or exposing them to psychic catnip; each of them were rolling, flipping, rubbing, and eventually zoning out as they meowed or growled at the same time as they relaxed.
Whilst this was going on Kid was clearing the sky by firing sheets of what looked like fine silk webbing over the birds and grounding them by yanking it to the ground where they stuck, capturing the hungry and very vocal birds. He did have to assure an upset Bubbles though that the birds weren’t being harmed and the webbing would naturally dissipate in about 20 minutes without leaving a trace… What he didn’t let her see was that he immediately followed it up with a series of stinger darts to render the ‘flying rats’ unconscious anyway.
Bubbles, seeing the bigger animals were no longer in sight, was busy placing each of the captivated cats in secure individual bubbles which seemed to be inhibiting their ability to phase.
Then the dogs started to howl once more like an ultrasonic attack. He barely heard Seven confirm, “It’s magic alright, dark magic and linked to the realms of chaos.” She waved her hand and muttered something under her breath and all four of them could see a faint trail of light that meandered through the street and into a nearby coffee shop.
The sonic attacks from the barking dogs suddenly intensified and they each felt as though their ears were bleeding. The attack was so intense that they could see the sanctuary staff through the windows collapse unconscious with the pain.
Unable to focus, Bubbles allowed her cage bubbles to collapse and instead created a massive series of foam globes round the four of them to try to cancel out the sonic attack from the howling. The cats, exhausted from their psychic catnap trip immediately rolled up and went to sleep.
That left Seven to deal with the remaining attack. She cast a spell with a complicated wave of her hands, speaking the words of power and focusing her will on manifesting the mystical solution to their immediate problem – the dogs’ barks. She stopped after a minute and indicated to Bubbles that she could collapse her anti-sonic barrier as she had successfully cast a spell to create temporary mystical shackles on their larynges, rendering them unable to bark.
“We don’t have a lot of time though; this is a spell that requires a constant maintenance of the will, words and wave – the three constants that help shape the magic. Without them, the spell will start to dissipate after about fifteen minutes. We have to find who did this and stop them before the eldritch energy that gave them their powers changes these creatures permanently.”
However, the sound of muffled high-pitched barks could still be heard coming from further up the road, in the direction of the light trail Seven had generated. After phoning 999 and asking for ambulances, the four young heroes began to follow the mystical trail, which went up the street and through a popular local coffee shop run by Herman Wallace, an internet celebrity, vegan chef and chief barista at the Green Bean Mean Machine.
He was easy to find. He was standing in the centre of the coffee house, on the top of a table as were all of his staff and customers. Zooming around the floor at super-speed were half a dozen ferrets. As they watched, one of the ferrets shot through the leg of a table close to the door and the overweight woman customer standing on top of it collapsed to the floor.
The other ferrets, sensing blood pounced trailing a steam of static electricity behind them, excitement in their eyes. The woman screamed and covered her face expecting to feel the ferret’s teeth tearing into her. Instead, she found a powerful if slim pair of arms fastened around her waist as Kid Arachnid Leapt across to the heavy built woman, picked her up and jumped towards the overcrowded counter with her. Behind him, he heard Cadet call out “Good move!” The Kid just wished the counter wasn’t so packed.
Several ferrets tried to jump at him and his passenger as they flew over their heads only for the swarming beasts to be grabbed in mid-air by Cadet. They immediately turned on him. Numerous of the little blighters swarmed over him, their sharp little teeth chattering as they tried to bite through his costume and he felt blood flowing when they found bare skin. He was thankful his costume had been designed so that it didn’t leave any way for them to be able to scramble up his trouser legs, or was that just a myth he wondered.
Bubbles immediately created a cascade of small bubbles floating above them to catch their attention and followed it up by forcing them to run across a floor covered with tightly packed bubbles to leech off their electrical charge even as Seven started to chant.
As the Kid jumped towards the overcrowded counter with his rescue, he kept up a running commentary, “I hope you lot are photographing my greatness. C’mon, if I ain’t getting any money for this gig at least I can get a bit of social media love, people.”
As he got closer to the overcrowded counter, he confirmed that there was nowhere for either him or the screaming woman in his arms to land safely. Instinctively he spun both of them around in the air and threw her up towards the ceiling to increased screaming as she realised what he had done. He fired a stream of webbing to one corner of the room even as he noticed that his falling ex-passenger had started gulping and covering her mouth with her hand as though she was about to be sick.
As he fired a second stand of webbing towards the opposite corner of the room he quickly bound both strands together and stretched the middle of the webbing out to form a makeshift hammock, as he did so he shouted out to the falling, hysterical woman, “Uh, uh, heroes, especially awesome ones like me do not get covered in vomit, no way!” A third blast of webbing shot out from his wrist and covered her mouth as she fell safely into the stretched out, makeshift safety net, a couple of metres above the ground, well out of reach of the ferrets. He landed like a cat, feet first in the midst of the floor covering of bubbles.
“… And thank you, don’t forget to tip your heroes now folks! Seriously we don’t even get paid minimal wage for doing this…”
Several ferrets immediately rushed him leaving trails of electricity behind them, only for the taps on the bar to turn themselves on and for streams of carbonated water and lemonade to suddenly shoot up, corkscrew in mid-air and hit the ferrets like miniature water cannons. Kid Arachnid turned and nodded his thanks to Seven before leaping up to balance on the edge of a knocked over table, mere centimetres above the snapping teeth.
Cadet Shouted out to ask Bubbles if she could protect everyone else present inside bubbles of breathable air, even as he snapped in his re-breather. Bubbles immediately started to create ‘bubble helmets’ over herself and the rest of the team followed immediately by creating similar ‘helmets’ on everyone inside the coffee house. Nodding his thanks, Cadet followed it up by throwing some sleep gas pellets at the ground to knock out the now near-exhausted ferrets.
It was working but one of the ferrets as it was collapsing slammed at speed into Bubbles left arm. Bubbles let out a loud scream. “I think it’s broken” she finally managed to sob. Cadet knew he had to wait until all the ferrets were unconscious before he could help. As soon as the ferrets were lying on the ground, snoring (that was something he didn’t know that ferrets could snore (and chitter) in their sleep), he signalled for the Kid and Seven to start clearing the remaining gas out of the building by bursting the bigger bubbles and ‘helmets’. Once cleared, the staff and customers started to climb down and Cadet was able to check on Bubbles. Thankfully, it was a clean break to her radius bone, so he applied a splint and sling and suggested she head to hospital but she immediately refused.
Cadet was surprised at the injury. He’d assumed her K-Suit would have absorbed the attack but somehow the creatures’ supernatural state had circumvented its protective abilities.
Kid Arachnid kept up a running monologue to entertain the customers and staff as Seven helped the hammock woman down to the ground and removed the webbing covering her mouth (accompanied by a dirty look by both females at an unrepentant Kid). Seven then started to cage the sleeping ferrets in a dog cage belonging to the owner as Bubbles and Cadet talked with the manager, Herman.
Herman was enthusiastic with his thanks then began to complain that it had been one hell of a day, “First little miss goody too righteous from that fancy academy outside of town complains about the other customers and then this happens.” That led Bubbles to ask what had happened, wondering if the two events were somehow connected.
Herman explained that a girl had been banned for life only a short time before they arrived after throwing a huge tantrum when she insisted that all of his other customers were disrespecting her veganism by ordering their coffees with cream. She left after throwing her coffee on the floor and headed off in the direction of the zoo. Minutes later the ferrets had crashed through the back wall into the kitchen forcing them to climb onto the tables.
“What did she look like?” asked Cadet. Herman went on to describe her. “White kid, about 16 with white dyed dreadlocks halfway down her back, tanned but the tan’s fake, obviously from overuse of a tanning bed despite being too young to use one, the skin round her eyes are paler like she used UV glasses on her face when she tans…“
Seven and Colin looked at each other as they realised there was only one white girl in the school with dreadlocks, though admittedly not white hair. Seven realised that she was also the girl from last night. Bubbles confirmed her name, Cloud MacGuire.
Colin knew of Cloud but didn’t actually know her. As far as he knew, she was an annoying if average student from a well-off family. She appeared to have never met an activist cause she didn’t like, but she quickly wore out her welcome with the various after school groups thanks to her zero-tolerance personality, selfish streak, and tendency to fixate on the “big picture” of any cause while ignoring underlying causes, context, or the needs of people more directly involved. The general impression others had of her was of a spoiled kid who wanted to feel like a persecuted hero.
She was always trying too hard to be part of whatever she imagined the in-crowd to be and was always full of complaints, about absolutely everything. Interestingly she thought when the other kids at school jokingly called her a diva that they were complimenting her, as though she was the social influencer equivalent of a pop diva…
Cadet shot a glance at Seven, “Something’s happened to this Cloud girl, right? She surely didn’t have these powers before. Is there any way you can work out what’s gone down?”
Seven shrugged, “If we find her, yes I should be able to figure it out. She never displayed any mystical ability before or I would have noticed so my guess is that she’s using some sort of artefact.”
With that, she looked around and realised that the café had computers. ”Is it OK to use..?” and gestured towards the screens. Herman nodded as he started to tidy up.
While Seven and Cadet tried to find out more about Cloud, Cadet asked Kid Arachnid to stop chatting up the locals and whispered that he would like him to use one of the other computers to send a message back to the school. A summary of what had happened so far so they could then decide who to notify further or what action to take. Meanwhile, an injured but still defiant Bubbles stood guard just in case.
A search online for Cloud only revealed her blog and a social media presence filled with photos of herself and rants about the various causes she’d championed. Her blog mentioned “recently discovering a horrifying family shame.” She hinted in it that her grandfather had apparently been a superhero in the 50s and had been part of a Government team that had taken part in efforts to put down protests. Along with “rededicating herself to setting the world right and empowering those most in need!” and “overturning the tyranny perpetuated by her ‘fascist’ grandfather” The real treasure was Cloud’s FaceWall, to which she had been posting recent photos of a weird-looking red-veined stone and several recent updates on her scheme to “liberate the animal world from human tyranny”.
There was no more to learn here so they followed the trail out the side door towards the zoo, ignoring the constant chatter from the pigeons who while still demanding food had realised that Kid Arachnid in particular was a danger to them. They hurried off towards the zoo as Seven explained to the others what she’d experienced the night before, the girl and the tall, thin man with sunglasses. Was this somehow connected? Seven was convinced it had to be.
This was the first time that Colin had visited the Wessex Zoo and he was surprised by what he saw; The main gates were smaller than he’d expected and the sign above them indicated that the zoo had been built in the 1850s and was privately owned. The gates were wide open and there was no one around, not visitors or any of the staff even in the ticket office. Looking inside, it was clear that the zoo was old, built when animals were captured for entertainment value and the original animal enclosures reflected that philosophy.
In recent years, the zoo had made serious efforts to modernise its approach and make sure their exhibits were now part of a worldwide conservation effort. Some work had apparently already been done to extend the minimalist cages using caged walkways above the ground so the animals could have more space for moving around. Several cages had also been knocked together to increase the space as well as keep the animals entertained and less stressed but that had been at the cost of reducing the number of animals on display which had a knock-on effect on the number of visitors. That it was an inner-city zoo meant that the ability to expand the amount of available land was not a realistic option and the zoo had been considering either closing down or trying to raise the funds to move out of the city altogether. Meanwhile, it seemed no matter what they did, the zoo seemed to attract public protests and controversy.
As the four of them approached the entrance, their ears were assaulted once more by the constant and ferocious hypersonic barking (so hard and so frequent that a couple of the dogs had begun to develop a kennel cough). The pack of six dogs, including a guide dog and a puppy still with their leads and harnesses attached, had apparently pulled away from their owners who now lay on the ground unconscious and now seemed to be barking at something hidden within the zoo itself. Even the flocks of ever hungry, noisy and now talkative pigeons were noticeable by their absence.
As they approached the scared, snarling dogs turned on them. Cadet immediately tossed a couple of flash bombs at them. That startled them but failed to stop the largest of the dogs, an Alsatian from attacking. Kid snagged it mid-leap with a strand of webbing and flung it straight into a lamppost, stunning it even as Seven again unleashed her mystical shackles on their voice boxes, rendering them silent. They quickly rounded them up, grabbed their leads and harnesses and succeeded in tying the now scared but silent pack to the lamppost.
With the dogs now silenced and the entrance devoid of visitors, they noticed a sign on the ticket office stating that the Lion Enclosure in ‘Big Cat Territory’ was currently still open but most of the pride were away ‘participating’ in a conservation breeding programme in Rotterdam. Only a single lion called Clarence remained in Wessex due to its age, while the rest of the pride was overseas. That’s when they heard a roar and the surrounding landscape altered. Three lions were stalking Cadet as he apparently found he was on his own…
No longer could he see the toilet block opposite the Monkey House and he was no longer standing on a concrete footpath with the others – instead, he appeared to have been transported to an African savannah as again he heard the low growls of three lions hunting for their dinner, him apparently.
This had to either be an illusion or he’d somehow been transported to the plains of Africa. His bet was on the former as he realised that his footsteps sounded as though he was running on tarmac rather than grass and he could only hear the breathing of a single animal stalking him, or stalking the others?
He pulled out his Escrima sticks, slotted them together and extended them into his staff, which he then used to tap against the ground to maintain the lion’s attention on him. He shouted out in the hope that the others weren’t similarly as disadvantaged as he. “Only one of the lions is real, the one about to attack me. Feel free to help out if you can, this is not a competition!”
He stepped back swirling the Bo staff in readiness for an attack and tripped, over an invisible object on the ground. That’s when he heard it, a child-like voice in his head, <<watch out for the kerb, there’s a litter bin to your left, you’ll need it in a second. Roll towards it, Now!>> He reached out, felt an invisible handle on top of a cylinder which he assumed was the bin and rolled, kicking out with his feet. They made contact with the belly of a large, heavy, pouncing lion and almost risked crumpling him under the weight. He still managed to kick out though and the creature went spiralling off to one side.
Again the voice in his mind, <<Be careful the gift shop is behind you and it has a large, easily broken glass window and a shop full of humans inside. Lift the bin up and throw to your left.>> Cadet did so even though it was away from the lion and was rewarded with a glimpse of it hitting a large gorilla about to attack Seven and Bubbles. It let out a loud, cantankerous scream of rage then vanished, hidden once more by the illusion of savannah. He slipped out a flash bang pellet and threw it between him and what he hoped was the only real lion and tried to ignore the other two leaping at him their maws wide open and full of teeth. It seemed to work as the lions went to bite his arms they evaporated.
<<The lion enclosure’s nearby. Clarence will calm down once he’s back in familiar territory but…>> It paused, << I would suggest if you want the boy human to survive you throw your bolo to your left, towards your nine o’clock and aim low…>>
He pulled out the bolos and swung them round his head before releasing them. They flew straight and vanished into the grass as directed. <<Now, throw another of your delightful flash-bang thingy’s towards Clarence and it will hopefully help herd him back towards its own enclosure in the big cat territory… He doesn’t like thunder and lightning and will seek somewhere he can feel safe.>>
Whatever was ‘talking’ to him in his head was still invisible or in hiding, but he couldn’t help feel it was being truthful and it had definitely been helpful, so far.
The Savannah illusion momentarily parted like a curtain being shredded revealing the others dealing with a lowland gorilla silverback. He had to leave the others to deal with the gorilla at least until he’d removed Clarence as a threat. They passed a snow leopard and its mate unaffected in its cage, then a pair of jaguars. Thankfully, Cloud seemed to have been selective in what animals she’d elected to empower and release rather than power up all the creatures in the zoo, or was her power limited in that way?
Clarence led him straight to an open tunnel leading to his cage. The door was flopping back and forth stopping the lion from entering and he stood there, confused. Cadet used his staff to hold the entrance open as he used a third and final flash bang to drive the now terrified creature inside then he barred the gate using a crowbar that had been abandoned nearby, possibly by whoever had originally smashed open the lock. He then started running back as fast as he could towards the entrance, his teammates and their gorilla opponent.
Five minutes earlier
As Cadet walked in through the entrance and passed the first aid post, gift shop, Monkey House and toilets located on either side. Just beyond the ticket office he suddenly vanished from sight, as did the zoo itself. The background of shops and enclosures was inexplicably replaced by a wide grassy plain, even as a large silverback gorilla rushed towards the rest of them banging his massive fists against his chest and roaring revealing his dagger-like canines. Some idiot had allowed a fully-grown adult male gorilla loose!
The gorilla advanced on them and roared as though challenging them. Kid Arachnid tried to web its eyes but it seemed he was having some performance issues. He muttered, “Damn, my nanites needs more time to recharge. I’m down to relying on my stingers for the moment I’m afraid.”
Again, the gorilla roared a challenge even as he fired. The dart, formed of a chain of nanites, hit between the eyes and seemed to sink deep into the gorilla’s skull before bouncing back out without discharging its blast. It seemed that the gorilla had been altered into some sort of ‘Goo-rilla’ and was now composed of semi-solid organic rubber.
It reached into the ‘grass’ and they heard something snap then he pulled his arm back and a broken direction sign ‘materialised’ in his hand which he threw at them. They were forced to duck as it flew over their heads and shattered into a thousand splinters on the gate. He obviously still retained his impressive strength then.
He rushed at them then stopped and roared before beginning to advance on them slowly roaring another challenge. Then, out of the blue, a large cylindrical litter bin materialised behind the gorilla and slammed into the rear of his head with a massive bang. The bin temporarily distorted his head before bouncing away as he roared in anger and turned to stare behind him, trying to find his attacker. The illusion however held, hiding his attacker from view. He turned and momentarily forgot about the three of them as he searched for whoever had just assaulted him.
Seven had started to recreate the right mental state to try to mystically shackle the beast only for her mental state to be interrupted by a quiet child-like voice speaking in their heads, <<Sit down, don’t act as though you pose any sort of threat to him. He’s confused and scared. Someone forced him out of his cage and then forced him to come to the gate. The dog’s barking was hurting his ears and now he’s feeling lost and confused after Clarence changed what you’re all seeing. Most of his aggression extends from a need to defend his territory. He thinks you are threatening him and is responding in the only way he knows…>>
Who? What?
<<Later, I need to help your friend deal with Clarence.>>
Both Seven and Bubbles immediately sat down on the ground and hunched over to make themselves seem as small as possible. Kid Arachnid initially stood his ground but was quickly pulled down to the ground by an angry Bubbles who hissed at him to “not be a fool!”
His aggressive stance though had antagonised the silverback who looked ready to attack the Kid. He was about to rush them again when Cadet’s bolos suddenly materialised behind him and wrapped themselves round the gorilla’s legs causing him to tumble forward. The bolos then bounced free and fell to the ground. The silverback turned round again and roared.
Then the voice again, << Oh and Malik likes balls…>>
He likes balls..? Would hardened bubbles work instead? Bubbles immediately manifested half dozen solid bubbles and allowed Seven to manifest a wind to cause them to drift back through the air towards the far end of the park hoping to distract the silverback until they could identify his “territory”.
On seeing the glittering bubbles floating past, Malik tried to grab at the shiny baubles just out of reach and began to trot back towards the rematerialising animal enclosures, following them. They passed the Marsupial Enclosure and almost walked right passed a side road that went by the meerkats and lemur islands to the primate area. Behind them Cadet came into view and for a moment it looked as though he planned to catch them up but instead he stopped off at the gift shop and toilets and seemed to be evacuating the visitors and staff sheltering inside, presumably advising them to get to safety.
No longer lost or threatened, Malik was enjoying chasing the bubbles, his claws tapping at the underside of the wind-blown baubles as he almost skipped back towards his enclosure.
Pity there was an over-sized bearded dragon breaking free of the Reptile House and threatening to block their way. From the pet farm next to them, a small, spiky creature suddenly appeared under the fence and raised its little spines in defiance.
<<Glad to see you’ve survived so far, the human female – she calls herself Diva Gaea now, is at the aquarium but she’s enlarged Kaiju here and I’m sorry but I’ve no idea how to stop her. I’m Alice by the way and yes I’m a hedgehog.>>
It paused for a second and wrinkled its pointed little nose at Bubbles, <<Thank you, I think I’m cute too. I’m a lover not a fighter though, bubba. You haven’t got any juicy slugs or a snail or two going spare by any chance? I’m a bit peckish… I think it’s due to my psychic link with Godzilla there, I think she’s feeling peckish too.>>
Cadet could see the others slowly following a large Silverback through the zoo. He picked up his bolos and then tried to usher the visitors and staff out of their hidey-holes and told them to get to safety. He then started to run after his team. His team? Now that was something he never expected he would ever say.
He smiled but that smile didn’t last – as he came running round the corner of one of the enclosures he heard the silverback growling and found himself looking at a pet bearded dragon made ginormous. It was swatting at and trying to eat a hot dog stand. In his head, he could hear a now familiar voice, <<She is normally quite friendly but the forced growth has left her with a monster-sized hunger.>>
Behind him, Cadet heard what sounded like coughs and a series of thuds. He spun round and found himself facing a large kangaroo, shadowboxing with its paws in his direction. From its pouch, he could hear several voices crying and screaming for help. It seemed this ‘scrappy-doo’ was somehow able to absorb or imprison people and looking at its dancing paws it was in the mood for a fight.
Bubbles gently picked up shy little Alice in her uninjured arm and placed her back behind the fence of the pet farm and its relative safety even as Kaiju tried to eat the oversized hot dog sign on the hut. As the roof collapsed in, two young female staff members came running out to discover a T. rex-sized threat snapping at them. Again the four of them heard Alice in their minds, << It seems Kaiju’s transformation and resulting hunger have left her feeling cantankerous and she has no problem taking a bite out of people.>>
The silverback suddenly challenged the dragon with a roar and beating of its chest. Kaiju switched from trying to take a bite out of the hot dog staff and instead tried to eat Malik. Seven immediately raised a mystical shield over the silverback and Kaiju’s teeth slammed into it – and crashed through. It caught her off-guard though and instead of biting the gorilla in two, she knocked him down with her snout. The silverback grabbed at its nostrils and clung on as Kid Arachnid again tried to bind the bearded dragon’s mouth shut using webbing but he still hadn’t recovered enough to generate more than a single strand.
Behind them, Cadet found himself having to take on the kangaroo alone. It was like participating in a bare-knuckle boxing match as the kangaroo bounced around him. He was however, taken by surprise when it suddenly balanced on its tail and brought its oversized feet into play sending him flying into the back of Kid Arachnid. He landed hard. The Kid managed to stay standing, just, but Cadet landed badly and was forced to flip himself back onto his feet. He quickly drew his grapnel and fired it, not at the agitated creature but round the lighting post to the side of it. The kangaroo was powerful and a lot stronger than him, especially when it brought its feet into play and as for its claws… No, he needed to end this quickly and decisively and without going ‘mano a mano’ with the scrappy brawler. Instead, as soon as the cable attached itself he pulled the cable taut, ran round the other side of her before heading round behind the post as fast as he could before wrapping the cable round and hitting rewind. Caught unexpectedly the kangaroo was suddenly pulled off its feet and slammed hard into the post whereupon the cable tightened then stopped rewinding. The feisty animal was still trying to box and kick out at him so he gave up on his plan to completely bind it and instead put his rebreather back in and risked getting up close and personal before breaking a sleep pellet just beneath its nose. He was starting to run low on sleep pellets he realised. Now that it was unconscious, he took the opportunity to wind the remaining cable around it to secure it, tying its legs together and its arms and tail to its sides as quickly as he could. He was convinced the marsupial would wake up soon and he didn’t want to use any more of his now limited supply of sleeping pellets if he didn’t have to. He looked into the creature’s pouch and saw several people trapped inside, he just didn’t know how to free them and restore them to their original size. He’d have to ask Seven if she could try to release the prisoners in the pouch.
Meanwhile, back at the main event, Bubbles was trying unsuccessfully to levitate Malik in a bubble off the dragon’s nose. Unfortunately, Malik was determined to re-enact King Kong Vs Godzilla and was holding his own as the dragon’s teeth seemed incapable of tearing through Malik’s gooey body. Then Kaiju shook itself free and the silverback went flying violently off only to sink into a cushion of oversized bubbles and be quickly flown away before they burst dropping him into a nearby island enclosure. Bubbles had to hope she had either found his pen by serendipity or that any current occupants would be able to co-exist with the silverback until they could resolve this.
Seven was focusing on animating the hot dog stand and whizzing it in front of Kaiju, opening and closing the various doors and hatches so that the cooking odours could waft out and causing the food trays to empty out on the pathway for the beast to feed on it.
Kid Arachnid used the distraction to shepherd the two van-staff off to safety behind a toilet block while doing the worse Zorro (or was it Manuel from Faulty Towers?) impression Cadet had ever heard, “Senoritas, I will be your hero tonight and por favor, it will be my pleasure to escort two such beautiful ladies to safety…” Cadet couldn’t help smiling, he hoped getting him out of the action for a bit would help regenerate his nanite capacity. He’d used up so much of his webbing on those damned pigeons that he needed a bit of time to recover. It also wouldn’t do any harm to keep an eye behind them to try and head off any further trouble coming up from the rear. He almost hoped it would be those bloody dogs so he could justify feeding them to Kaiju.
He turned back, was glad to see that Kaiju appeared to have forgotten everything, and was occupied eating the spilled burgers and hot dogs that Seven had cast out of the van which was leading it over towards an empty play area. Bubbles was apparently trying to mentally engage with Alice though all he could ‘hear’ were Alice’s replies.
Bubbles seemed to be asking her If she could tell Kaiju that they were friendly and eager to find her more to eat. Alice’s reply filled their minds, <<Sure, but you’ll need more than a few burgers and hot dogs to satisfy its hunger.>> A pause then, <<Sorry but to her, you look like nice juicy bugs, especially the boy and Seven in their dark beetle-like costumes. Did their designers not consider how they might look to large hungry lizards? Short-sightedness I tell you, you should always consider the unlikely and impossible in your designs.>>
Cadet considered using sleep-gas on the over-sized bearded dragon, though he would need Bubbles to provide a head-bubble for the beast so that the gas was concentrated and not dispersed in the air. He rejected it for the moment as a creature that large would require all of his remaining pellets and even then there was no guarantee it would be sufficient or that the ‘helmet’ would be able to stay on long enough. No, let’s wait and see how this plays out, he thought. Thankfully there was an empty fillet-o-fish stand down by the aquarium that they could raid next before they had to consider how else to feed an over-sized bearded dragon that looked as though it had followed him back from Zorandar.
Bubbles was still in psychic contact with Alice, <<Alice sweetie, have you seen some sort of weird red veined stone around at all, near this Diva Gaea maybe?>>
<<She has a strange stone with her that appears to be tapping into Diva Gaea’s subconscious desire to “empower and liberate” enslaved animals. Interestingly, she no longer thinks of herself as Cloud and is addressing herself in the third party for some reason. Anyway, she is generating a wave of magical energy that grants superpowers to certain animals in her vicinity. She appears to be restricting it in some way, inhibiting it, as it wants to alter every animal and beast throughout the city but she’s stopping it. She is convinced she’s the only person who really feels deeply about the causes she chases, and considers criticism — even from the voice in her head to be an attack on her judgement. Even with that she’s being corrupted by the stone and it’s only a matter of time before she gives in and becomes a vessel for whatever she is communicating with and powering her.>>
Cadet walked over and couldn’t resist tickling the little creature behind the ear, “So, which of them created you, the girl or the stone? Or are you supposed to be a threat too?”
<<Ah, I’m what’s left behind when Pandora’s box is opened. I’m the wish of the little, scared little girl inside her that really doesn’t know what to do for the best. I’m her Jiminy Cricket, created subconsciously but then abandoned and ignored by her conscious self with its egotistical, arrogant “I know everything” personality. You know, I’d like very much to become a writer, but I know that if I help you stop the chaos I will likely revert to being just an ordinary, dull-witted (if lovable) hedgehog. Will you still visit me Bubba and bring me juicy worms to eat?>>
Bubbles nodded, but Cadet was hesitant, was the little creature taking them for a ride?
<<Can you trust me? Only you can decide that! I sense Diva is close to the aquarium and is slowly losing the battle with the stone. It wants to convert all the animals and force them to attack humans and Diva is resisting, but is tempted by the opportunity to remake everything… Move quickly, she’s found something that disgusts her and she is about to attack some humans as a result. The stone is winning.>>
Cadet looked at the others now gathering back together, “How do we break the stone’s hold over Cloud? Could it be as simple as taking it away from her?”
<<She has no powers of her own but she has begun to form a bond with the stone that in time will transcend space itself. Beware, the stone is a corrupter and none of you would be immune to its influence…>>
The kid pulled up his full facemask to reveal his mouth. He then placed a plucked blade of grass between his teeth, “Looks like it’s time for one last showdown — one final battle between hope…and despair! You with me, partners?” With that he spat out the blade of grass, smiled, pulled his mask down over his chin and started to walk towards the fish van.
Bubbles asked Alice if she would like to come with them to see what happens, and maybe to help?
<<Sure, at least I’ll be with people who if you succeed will remember the real me in my final moments as a sentient being… Oh, I do so wish I could hold a pen so I could leave my final thoughts behind for posterity. Ah, well.>>
Seven made a wave of her hand and suddenly the light trail they had been following previously flared up once more, confirming the girl they were looking for was inside the entrance to the aquarium. The team followed the golden trail with cautious haste, massaging bruises and recovering as best they could – Bubbles nursed Alice safely in the crook of her good arm until they got to the van then she put her down on the grass outside.
The others stood back to give Seven’s second sight a chance to gain some deeper understanding of the mysterious red stone, its location and effects. She confirmed its presence inside and that it was immensely powerful. Seven realised that the artefact indeed tapped into Cloud’s subconscious desire to “empower” enslaved animals, generating a wave of magical energy that granted superpowers to animals wherever she went. With the power unleashed, the gem had begun corrupting the already selfish student.
She whispered what she had found out, which merely confirmed what Alice had already told them minutes before. Behind them, Kaiju had finished its snack of burgers and hot dogs and was again seeking larger sustenance, possibly them. They couldn’t risk staying outside any longer. It was time to confront Diva Gaea. They advanced through the double doors into the foyer slightly spreading out, Cadet and the Kid on the flanks, Seven central and with Bubble a little behind her and off to one side.
Standing central to them amidst a pack of visitors, several in full scream, was a girl with a dark artificial tan, her hair almost pure white and made up in dreadlocks, the back of one of her hands had been dyed with an elaborate henna pattern.
She appeared to be holding a heart-shaped rock, reddish brown, with blood-red crystal veins that to Seven’s mystical sight pulsed regularly with dark mystical energy. She was using it to animate a couple of faux fur coats and leather jackets so they were acting as though they were several animals conjoined at the tails trying to attack their wearers like some sort of reverse kitsune with multiple snarling, biting, heads.
Gaea laughed, claiming this was just punishment for their ‘culturally appropriating’ another species skins even if they weren’t real furs – exhibiting clueless indifference to the irony of her statement whilst wearing her hair in dreadlocks as a fashion statement. Then as they watched, the roots of her dreadlocks, which had still been black a second before turned silver and then white as though bleached of vitality.
Kid Arachnid fired off a short stream of webbing at the animated jackets and coats and pinned them to the wall as their owners quickly clambered free. As agreed, the others left it to Seven to address Diva Gaea (she being best-placed to understand how another magic-user might feel).
“Cloud, Cloud! If you are in there somewhere try to save yourself! Distorting and distressing the animals is not a way to free them. Destroying life is not the way to save it. Be admired and reject the demon-offer!”
Cloud’s eyes turned to fury as she screamed back, spittle dripping from her lip as she spoke, “What would you know about distressed animals? That so-called sanctuary, they’re deciding there to put down animals because they were too expensive to heal! Or the way they have imprisoned animals here, often without companionship of their own kind to entertain bourgeois families with their snotty-nsed kids!” She pointed at the people trying to sneak behind Bubbles and Cadet and get away.
Unfortunately, going through the doors wouldn’t exactly be a safe option with Kaiju waiting outside. Instead, the two of them ushered the crowd inside the aquarium and then closed in on Diva.
Suddenly out of the darkness opposite, a hammerhead shark swam through the air, its teeth like blades ready to take a bite out of them. Seven was caught by surprise and its teeth caught on her cloak and ripped part of it even as it tried to bite her arm. When that missed it swam at Cadet and slammed him into the air, its sandpaper-like skin rubbing as it swam past, leaving bloody abrasions on the back of his hands. The smell of blood seemed to excite it as Diva laughed, thinking she had caught them off-guard. She was right; the last thing they had expected was an air-breathing, floating sky-shark to attack them, though in fairness they should have been prepared for anything.
It went past ready for another swim-by attack when a strand of webbing hit its underbelly and it found itself being hauled backwards towards a giant air bubble which seemed to absorb it but negated its ability to swim free. Then the bubble was sent flying through the double doors into the open air and it found itself looking into the hungry eyes of an enormous bearded dragon.
“Thank you, Alice, you called it at the right moment” shouted Bubbles as she allowed the bubble to rise just high enough to tantalise and follow, but sufficiently high that it wouldn’t become lunch anytime soon. Bubbles had asked Alice to get the dragon to perceive the air-shark as promised food and it seemed to have worked.
Caught by surprise at the sudden removal of her shark bodyguard, Cadet and the Kid immediately attacked Diva from opposite directions, though avoiding actual physical contact with her. They needed her to gesture with the stone, using it as a mystical focal point for her desires. Angry at the perceived threat from the two of them she pointed the stone at Cadet and… Seven snatched it away levitating it up and out of her hand.
Diva snarled and tried to jump up and grab it even as Kid fired a stinger into her neck and it discharged, knocking her unconscious. With the pulsing, prize floating in the air, Seven was suddenly filled with the desire to possess it for herself, to right all the wrongs in the world and…
She stopped and flew it outside so fast it smashed through the glass and lay on the grass before a little hedgehog that was busy digging up the ground in search of juicy earthworms. Alice as they had grown to know her was no more. Nearby a bearded dragon was shrinking back to its normal size and a bubble was holding a suffocating hammerhead shark that was dying out of the water. Together they managed to navigate the dying shark back into the aquarium and into its tank, seemingly none the worse for its adventures. Cadet was worried about the people inside the kangaroo’s pouch and asked Seven if she could try to release the prisoners. They hurried back to the angry and yet also frightened captive kangaroo but thankfully discovered that when the spell wore off it had liberated the captives from the pouch… They just couldn’t remember how exactly.
Breathing a deep sigh of relief, he and Seven immediately returned to the heart-shaped stone only to find Bubbles holding a very docile Alice on top of her splint and crying softly to herself.
He left Seven to examine the stone and immediately rounded up one of the zookeepers so he could relieve his grapnel from the captive kangaroo. As he did so, he noticed that Kid Arachnid had started to grandstand before a gathered audience of rescued visitors and staff. He hurried over and whispered that the Police were on their way. Did he really want to be around to explain why, without HCP licences they had elected to deal with the situation themselves, rather than call for assistance? If nothing else it would lead to Mr Summers having to explain the law concerning unlicensed heroes getting involved in public incidents; a speech Cadet could now recite from memory.
Kid stopped mid-proclamation, thanked the bemused and the grateful for their praise at his and the team’s efforts to rescue them and quickly headed back at a trot with Cadet to the aquarium passing Bubbles who’d just returned a no longer sentient Alice to the pet farm.
Seven looked at the rock lying on the ground. This was an extremely powerful artefact and such power always comes with a price as it can overwhelm a user’s mind and turn their interests and whims into overwhelming needs. Looking at the unconscious Cloud inside the aquarium foyer, she knew that she would be like an addict undergoing a cold turkey for a while. Power was addictive and the desire could persist for days, weeks, or months afterwards.
That left her to decide what to do. The other were now back and cadet was urging them to grab the stone and get away before the Constabulary arrived and started asking them awkward questions such as demanding that they produce their HCP licences.
Seven picked up the rock with her cloak: “This is dangerous and I think it needs to be examined by someone who understands the risks it may pose. I want to take this to Professor Eldrich, if no one has any objections?”
Cadet nodded his agreement. The other two had absolutely no desire to hold the thing and agreed to meet back at the school where Colin would accept responsibility for today’s action and give Summers a debrief. He did wonder if Doctor Collins had already left or would she be available to heal Bubbles’s arm? The alternative was trusting Kenneth St. Germain, the student Meta-healer ‘Mundunugu’, to repair the bone correctly. That option was likely to be painful for both of them as Kenneth absorbed the injury
Seven flew off with the stone after retrieving the others clothes from her portable ‘white hole’. The other three went hunting for a place where they could safely change back into civvies before heading back to the school – likely for a lecture and a bollocking, it wouldn’t actually matter that they’d done good today. Bubble’s main thoughts were of little Alice who’s biggest wish was once more reduced to finding the biggest, juiciest worm in the zoo!
Thirty minutes later, Seven arrived at the entrance to Eldrich’s tenement and waited for Sallah to open the door. The door opened to reveal an elderly, distracted Egyptian male. “As-Salaamu Alaykum. The master has not returned yet Seven, can I be of assistance?”
“Wa ʿAlaykumu s-Salām to you Sallah, thank you, but I think I need to do some research for myself. May I go through to the library?”
Sallah was more than a manservant to the Master Mage and it was obvious that he was distracted, worried about his friend and as a result not focusing on the current situation. He gestured her inside and failed to notice that the inexperienced apprentice was carrying an admittedly inert object of dark magic passed Eldrich’s protective wards and into his library.
Seven walked through the library doors, letting Sallah get back to his business of trying to identify where Eldrich had gone, and placed the Heartstone on one of the shelves intending to do some research on it. As soon as she let go of the stone, a mental cloud fell over her mind and she immediately forgot all about it. Her thoughts now blank, she found herself wondering “What was it that Master Eldrich was facing off-world and could she help in some way?” She wandered off to find Sallah and offer her help, ignoring the now pulsing blood-red stone on one of the bookshelves.
In a dimension far, far away
A young-looking woman dressed in expensive silks sat on a very ornate throne staring into the flames of a lit brazier. The woman was cute but not exactly beautiful, with a heart-shaped face framed by long, silky black hair. She resembled the girl next door but only if you ignored the cruel twist to her lips and hardness of her eyes or the three mystical flames floated above and around her head like a crown.
In the braziers flames in front of her the outline of a man came into view. He had a thin, cruel face – one totally bereft of eyes, instead the blind sockets were covered with cauls of skin.
The woman nodded acknowledgement of her ethereal visitor and spoke first, <<Bargainer, have you completed your mission?>>
His smile matched hers in cruelty as he replied through the flames, “I have my lady, the child in her naivety has carried the Heartstone across the threshold of the Nexus and placed it in the blasphemer’s library, inside the buildings’ protective wards. As you requested the key is now in place. I claim my task complete and respectfully request you now release me so I can be about my master’s own business, dark lady. As promised the pathway for your servant is in place whenever you are ready.”
The lady nodded her approval and dismissed the face in the flames with a regal wave of her hand. The elements were now all in place, she just had to arrange for her ascension to a higher state of being at the unwilling hands of her greatest enemy and then… the Omniverse itself would be hers to command.
Growing up Meta, UK-Style! 