She found Roland sitting on the roof of his apartment building. He was staring glumly into the street below. This was going to be a difficult conversation for both of them.
"Roland?" Jessica asked as she stepped out of the shadows.
"Hi," he replied without turning, "You come to get your stuff?"
"I... I came to apologize..."
"That can't be easy for you."
He turned and gazed at her through narrowed eyes. She didn't come in costume, instead opting for a civilian ensemble of which he could see sneakers, jeans and a leather jacket. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Even under the yellow streetlights, he could see she'd been crying.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes... Yes..." she sighed, "Roland... I... I'm sorry I accused you of plotting something against me... I know I should have trusted you, but... But I'm so used to things... Going wrong..."
He nodded and sighed.
"...Just when they're going right. I know what you mean."
"Roland... I..." Jessica began, "I don't know how to tell you this... I... I wasn't affected by the enchantment."
Grey nodded. Jessica read the expression on his face. He'd assumed as much.
"So, you knew?"
"Something like that," he said somberly, "When I drank the cure, I wasn't nearly as smitten with you as I had been. I'd been wondering what it would be like to suddenly have no feelings for you... It turned out that wasn't the case."
Jessica's voice caught in her throat. He still had feelings for her. There was a chance that...
Her hopes were dashed the moment she read his expression again. Despite the revelation that he still had feelings for her, it wasn't enough to repair their situation.
"Jessica, I'm sorry," he sighed, "I love you, but it's too dangerous for both of us. I'm too vulnerable... You're too important. It made me unimaginably happy... To be cared for by somebody like you... But..."
Suddenly feeling very tired, Roland sat down next to a vent and put his back against it. Jessica walked over and sat next to him. She thought she'd feel worse about this, but there was something comforting in knowing he was hurt as well.
"It's smarter for the two of us if we just let this go," he whispered.
"I know... I know..." she sighed and rested her head on his shoulder, "And... And we can't speak to each other again... It'll lead right back to... You know."
"Yes. Yes I do. It leads right back to this... Or... What the Menders warned me about..."
"It's not right."
She felt like crying, but her head hurt too much. Roland reached over and hugged her.
"Maybe you'll find somebody who can stand up to the monstrous horde, somebody who you can see as a peer and not as... Well, however you see me..."
"I see you as an extraordinary normal guy," she replied, "Even if you are a little pudgy..."
"Heh... Well... I'm glad to have been there for you the times you needed somebody. I'm sorry we couldn't make it work out."
"We could... We could try."
"We have tried. They come after me... They came after me without even knowing anything about me... Just that I had something to do with you."
Jessica sighed and gave Roland a hug.
"I wish I could give you something," she murmured into his belly, "Something to remember me by."
"I have a good memory," he replied and started to get up, picking her up with him, "You've given me plenty of those... And now I can remember them more clearly, instead of through a rose-colored lens."
She kissed him. It was supposed to be a quick peck on the lips, but she couldn't stop there. She wrapped her arms about his shoulders and pulled him into an embrace they held for several minutes until they were left gasping. Still, they held each other, knowing this would be the last time they would be so close.
Finally, she felt the tears streaming down her face. She pulled away and cleared her eyes. Looking back to her friend, she could see him doing the same.
"Goodbye, my dear friend," he finally groaned.
"Goodbye," she replied and walked back to the roof stairwell access.
Roland watched her go. She was the closest he'd ever come to a relationship. Many people fantasized about being able to be with somebody so fantastic, so amazing, so important. Few understood the cost associated. Few accepted the danger involved.
"Damn it," he grumbled as he realized what he'd lost, "What the Hell do I do now?"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
St. Martial was like Las Vegas and Atlantic City rolled into one, only with more sin from the former and more salt water from the latter. There was always something crooked and underhanded going on in the Casino-laden island, and one of those schemes had brought Operative Taylor to this run-down warehouse.
For once, it was a simple, straightforward plot. Somebody had smuggled a nuclear weapon into the Isles, and he'd been on their trail for the past few weeks. Likely, it was salesmen and terrorists, all plotting something that the United States Central Intelligence Agency and Britain's Secret Intelligence Service were waiting anxiously to have a heart attack over.
Of course, Daniel figured it was time to settle the crap in his backyard. He'd gone through his career as an Arbiter turning a blind eye to the nightmarish happenings in his home. He should have been enforcing law and order with a firm hand, as he'd been trained to do, but eventually he just found himself ushering depraved maniacs and self-absorbed lunatics as they wreaked further havoc on his fellow citizens.
His father would not have been proud. His mother was mentally anguished to the point of hysteria... When Daniel found she was in Haven House, he almost blew Phipps away. Apolis took care of the situation and got her out of there, but he never said where the poor woman had been sent. Daniel was certain she'd met her end shortly thereafter, if she hadn't been killed outright by Recluse's devious little minion.
In the end, Taylor had come to a decision. He was going to police his Isles, his home, even if it killed him. Five times since his last conversation with his friend, Null, where he'd voiced his intention to "retire," he'd been attacked five times by death squads. Fortunately, they were the ones that still wanted to prove themselves, and had vastly underestimated their prey. Unfortunately, his apartment was destroyed and nobody in Port Oakes was letting him rent anymore.
What was unsettling was the fact that Arachnos still gave him a paycheck. Taylor was certain his expenses were being tracked, but nobody was attacking the various hotel rooms he was staying in.
Of course, if he were to analyze the situation more cynically, the attacks really stopped when he took up this investigation. So long as what he was doing was providing a clear benefit for Arachnos, Daniel figured they'd leave him alone.
He didn't dwell on the notion on this day, though. He had to prepare his assault. Already, he knew the salesmen, ambitious thugs from the Frosts and Marcones, were securing the warehouse so they would be safe when they sold the doomsday weapon to whoever the buyers were. With any luck, Taylor would be subduing representatives from the Nemesis Army, Council, Malta Group... It could be anybody.
He scoped the warehouse all day. The locals avoided it, even the punk kids who usually got into anywhere adults weren't. There was nothing supernatural about that. With Daniel's scanners, he was able to determine that there was quite a bit of noise being generated by the moving bodies inside. Though the most daring kids would probably try to peek, there was a good chance that the doors were securely fastened and any other holes were plugged by heavy objects or welded shut. For a deal like this, it would make sense if the salesmen were particularly paranoid.
Night fell and Daniel kept his stakeout. Something felt odd about the situation. Nobody was showing up and the windows weren't lighting up. He didn't figure his quarry had access to night vision goggles, but since they were able to steal a nuclear weapon, perhaps it wasn't too far-fetched to believe that they had access to military equipment. Daniel mentally altered his plans with that thought. Hopefully, they didn't have a suit of powered armor, though he still felt the Pentagon was keeping that technology in the D.C. area in case the violence in Paragon and the Isles spilled in their direction.
As midnight approached, Daniel figured it was time to act. His cameras indicated nobody had come to or from the warehouse, and the thermographics were still clearly indicating people in the building.
He carefully climbed onto the roof and made his way to the windows as quietly as possible. He could see that there were clusters of Family members dotted throughout the building, possibly itching for a fight. Audio wasn't picking up anything, though.
He reached the window and eased it open. There was a slight creak, but he didn't seem to disturb any of the groups. Gripping one of the suspension cables, he climbed down to the catwalk and started scanning with night vision.
The lights came on suddenly and the night vision cut out, switching to normal instead of blinding Daniel. He looked about and checked the locations of the Family members waiting in ambush, only to find that it wasn't the Family.
It was still an ambush, though.
Arachnos soldiers, Wolf Spiders, mostly, but a few Crabs mixed among them, too, turned and sighted in their weapons on him. Daniel took note of how some of them wavered. Rookies mostly, but there were a lot of them.
"Are you surprised?" he heard a loud, gutteral voice call out, "Arbiter Taylor?"
He turned to the center of the warehouse. Standing there proudly, like he was some sort of diabolical genius, was Operative Fulkerson, the man he'd shot repeatedly in Warburg on that fateful mission that had cost him his Arbiter status. The man who had dove into an obvious trap, and probably would have had irrevocable personal injury if Daniel hadn't sent him to the infirmary so violently.
Though he couldn't deny that he enjoyed blasting a hole in the thug's chest.
"On your rotting corpse," the big man hollered triumphantly, "I'll ride my way to success!"
Daniel nodded, unslung his assault rifle and started firing at the nearest group of Wolf Spiders. Several fell, bleeding, and died. They didn't teleport away or anything.
The safeties were off. It was do or die time. Daniel had to kill every man in the building or it was all over.
He figured he'd save Fulkerson for last.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
The soldiers were inexperienced shock troops, barely fit for serving in Arachnos' listening posts dotted throughout Kings Row and Overbrook. Most were only armed with pistols, others with assault rifles. Fulkerson didn't have the clout he thought he had.
A couple grenades, venom and explosive both, followed up with a spray of assault rifle fire cut down the clusters of Wolf Spiders before Taylor would disappear into the shadows and move on to the next group. Group by group, he took them down, making each soldier realize the error of toadying to a thug like Operative Fulkerson. He made their trips to the Arachnos Reclaimators quick, efficient and as painless as possible. Not all of them made it, unfortunately, but Daniel was past caring.
A few Crab Spider soldiers rounded out the ranks, but even they weren't experienced enough to handle a warrior trained to be a Bane Spider... Much less a former Arbiter. These soldiers, Daniel took care of personally. He crushed one's head under the spiked end of his Nullifier Mace, another got blasted through an upstairs window by the toxic energy spray of the weapon's gemmed tip. The last Daniel worked over slowly, by crushing each of his arms before sweeping his legs out from underneath him at the knees (breaking one of his kneecaps in the process). The soldier wasn't done screaming by the time he was staring down the barrel of the renegade soldier's gun. One squeeze of the trigger and it was over.
"Fulkerson!" Operative Taylor shouted, "Show yourself!"
---------
Shadeheart pressed the button on the Ballista's collar, sending him to Agincourt's Reclaimation facility. There was a time when she would have preferred to kill the thug, but after recent events and revelations, she didn't have the heart. Longbow troops could be hypocritical opportunists, but not all of them were. At least this one didn't have a group hiding in the shadows to ambush her when she struck. He didn't give her any of the trite crap about "doing this for freedom." He just fought her, and put up a damn good fight.
"They need people like you," she whispered as the toxins on her blades sapped the strength from him, "So you go back to them, try to fix them..."
He smiled as he faded away in a red haze. It didn't look defiant or like a promise of future retribution. She couldn't feel anything from a Ballista's mind, but she liked to think she knew enough about human behavior to figure that his smile meant he understood.
"Well done," she heard Null call out from the shadows.
Null. She didn't know why the peculiar thing had befriended Daniel. She didn't know why he had such a pivotal position in Arachnos as an Exterminator (a special brand of Bane Spider that few even knew existed). She didn't know how the man had such a peculiar insight into just about everything going on, but she did know one thing.
Daos had put a hit on her Daniel. Like some sort of assassin's guild, they were sending his best friends to put him down. She'd received the order from the smirking Nocturne. She didn't know where Null had received the order, but she knew why the man was here.
"I won't let you do it," she croaked.
"I and my friends are merely here, taking a stroll through picturesque Saint Martial," came the calm reply, "Besides... It's not like you're really in any condition to stop me. Not after that fight. Thank you for getting rid of Ballista Hector, by the way. He wasn't something I'd taken into consideration for this plan and would only have complicated matters."
"And what's your plan for me?" Shadeheart hissed.
One of the men to Null's side pulled a pistol and fired. She felt the projectile strike her in the abdomen and Shadeheart doubled over in pain. She grasped at the wound... She'd been shot before and her specialized uniform had always resisted the impact. The bloody hand she brought up to the light of the streetlamp, however, indicated something was very wrong.
"Wait..." she whispered, "This... This isn't..."
She slumped to the ground and Null chuckled. He nodded and two of the soldiers with him stepped over to drag the body into the dark. As a Crab Spider Longfang was hurtling through an upper window to fall two stories to the pavement, Null and his troops had receded into the alley from which they came. The Exterminator chuckled as he watched the groaning man fumble for his manual Reclaimator switch.
----------
"It's over," Fulkerson announced as he stepped into the light.
He'd been hiding from the fight. He'd been watching as the troops he'd finagled into his control battled a vastly superior opponent and were unceremoniously destroyed. Like a coward, he had tried to get others to wage his war.
"Finally learned that bravado won't get you everywhere, huh?" Taylor growled as he stepped toward his enemy, waving the Nullifier Mace from hand to hand, "Of course, now you've embraced cowardice..."
"Cowardice... I prefer to think of it as tactical awareness. I led these men, and if they had taken you down, I would have succeeded in leading them to victory!"
"You led many of these men to their demise. The rest, to an inglorious defeat."
"I prefer to think of it as... Getting revenge for your brutal, inhuman slaughter of loyal Arachnos soldiers."
The cybernetic "legs" on Fulkerson's back waved agitatedly. Their tips glowed in a similar fashion to how the Nullifier Mace did. Taylor leveled his weapon, twisted it, and fired. Streams of toxic energy lanced out at the Operative and collided with Fulkerson.
Despite his rage, Fulkerson was still an average Crab Spider soldier. He had cybernetics, mutagenic chemicals, and Gods knew what else in his system. Still, none of this was able to help his withstanding the energy blast that struck him.
Three of the cybernetic "Crab Spider" legs were decimated by the blast. His armor was punctured and his helmet was clipped. The useless items fell away, and Fulkerson stared angrily at Taylor with his human eyes.
"I knew you didn't need the visor to tell you I was the enemy," Taylor grumbled as he tossed his assault rifle aside, "And I don't need your legs lancing cheap energy blasts at me. Let's settle this like men, Fulkerson. My fists versus your fists."
He turned the Nullifier Mace to the floor and activated it. A stream of energy burned a hole into the concrete. Fulkerson stripped off scorched pieces of armor and tested the remaining functioning attack leg. When the Nullifier was done firing, Daniel raised it upright and dropped the weapon, handle-first, into the hole it had just scorched into the floor. The blades on the weapon's head stuck up into the air, the red gem glowed dangerously.
"Alright," Fulkerson grunted, "I'm gonna kick your puny ***. I might not kill ya... Daos will get the pleasure of doing that himself. Hell, the Arbiters need a good kick in the *** to show 'em what happens when they fail."
"Shut up and fight..."
They closed with a fury. Fulkerson tried to tackle his target, but Taylor sidestepped and kicked him in the hip. They were still wearing enough armor to cushion the blows, so the best he did was change the bigger man's direction. Fulkerson swung the cybernetic leg about to try to lacerate the smaller man, but the swing was avoided.
The brute followed up his attempt with a punch to Taylor's face, which connected. The smaller man fell away, his cheek reeling from the contact. When the big man tried to follow up, however, his fist was batted away and he received a similar blow.
They continued to trade blows. The big man tried to corner Taylor and wrap him up in a bear hug. For his successful efforts, he received three hard forehead smashes to the nose. Dropping his foe, Fulkerson felt a slight case of delirium as his legs were swept out from underneath him.
The big man rolled away as a Daniel's heel came crashing down on the floor. The cybernetic spiderleg lashed out again, this time lacerating the front plate of the rogue Bane Spider's armor, and the smaller man fell away.
Laughing, Fulkerson pushed himself off the floor. Daniel was crawling away backwards toward the center of the room again. The big man slowly strode toward him, firing the leg at random intervals. The beams missed repeatedly, however. They lacked a targeting system and couldn't lock on the fleeing prey.
"I think we're done here," the large brute said between hoarse chuckles, "You ain't got no guns anymore, but I still have this bad baby..."
The spiderleg fired again, and a bolt scored the ground next to Daniel's leg.
"All I need to do, is practice a little... And I'll damn-near kill ya. You're finished, little man, and I'm gonna make my career with your demise!"
"You haven't beaten me yet," Daniel growled as he scrabbled toward his assault rifle.
Fulkerson lunged forward and kicked the weapon aside. It clattered across the floor and settled next to some crates. Daniel rolled up to his feet and launched himself at the leering man. The cybernetic leg aimed down to fire, but the small man pushed it back. The mechanisms driving the limb groaned and the weapon fired futilely, at one point scoring a hit on Fulkerson's own arm as he reached up to pry the small man away.
As the big man shouted in pain, Taylor took a step back and reached his arms around his enemy's neck. Stepping forward again, he drove his foot into the plate that protected the Crab Spider's ankle. He then lifted his other leg and drove it into the other leg's knee, causing the big man to buckle to the floor. With a desperate shout, Taylor wrenched the big man around and slammed his face into the floor...
...Or he would have. With a sickening wet sound, Fulkerson's face struck the upright end of the Nullifier Mace still jammed into the concrete. The razor-sharp blades lacerated his face and punctured portions of his skull. As the big man gurgled in surprise, the red gem glowed brighter.
Daniel rolled away as the toxic energy flash-fried his enemy's face. There wasn't even time for Fulkerson to scream or thrash in agony. When the smoke cleared, his body lied limply on the floor, his face still skewered by the energy weapon's blades.
Taylor didn't waste any time. He rolled the corpse off his weapon and pulled it out of the floor. He then retrieved his assault rifle and made for the exit. Once outside, he would find some place with clothes, change his outfit and disappear from Arachnos forever.
"Where do you think you're going?" Exterminator Null asked as he ran out the door, "And why, of all places, would you run out the front? You should have sneaked out one of the windows, tried to find a secret tunnel, or, at the very least, you should have blasted a hole in the wall as a distraction!"
"I'm leaving, Null," Taylor said quietly, "I'm done with all of this."
"You know there's a warrant out for you, right? Sands either can't save you anymore or isn't, and Daos wants your blood."
"Shadeheart has first dibs," he growled, "After all..."
"She wasn't going to do what needed to be done," Null sighed and gestured.
Two soldiers came out of the dark alley. They dragged between them the purple-uniformed Night Widow. She had red dripping from her abdomen.
"I do, however," the Exterminator finished, "Now, we can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard, painful way. As your friend... I'm giving you the chance to make the decision."
Daniel swung his assault rifle around with a yell.
"So be it," Null nodded and the soldiers he brought with him, the soldiers who already had the entrance surrounded before Taylor left the building, opened fire.
Daniel dropped the rifle when the first bullet struck him in the forearm. Another slammed into his shoulder and another in his thigh. After that, it was like he was being pelted all over his body. He felt one slam into his head and he collapsed to the ground.
Not everything went dark like he expected. He watched Null's boots step toward him. He couldn't hear what the man was saying, just a light muffle. The boot kicked him in the face and that was when everything went black.
((Exterminator Null FINALLY used with permission from DeviousMe/@Acid Zero. This was actually more fun to write than I had been dreading it would be. I was worried it would feel like a chore.))
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
"Good morning, sleepy-head!"
Daniel awoke to a dark room with blue lightning. As his blurred vision cleared, he was able to pick out details, and what he saw was most certainly unusual. It was most certainly a chamber of Arachnos design, but something about the blue lighting...
"We're off the grid, so you don't need to worry about what you say," he heard Null's voice from behind him, "If you're particularly upset with me, I would understand."
Taylor rolled over to prop himself on his elbow and get a better look at his prior assailant. He'd seen Null without his helmet before. Not without his armor, though.
At least, most of his armor. From the waist up, Null had removed the plating to expose his unusual blue skin. It was obvious he was some brand of reptile-like creature now, but Daniel couldn't even begin to fathom what kind.
"I'm an extraterrestrial, of course," his friend explained, "I'm sure we've been over this..."
"And your association with Arachnos?"
"Arachnos has an inordinate amount of resources for such a poorly managed organization. It makes acquiring resources from under their noses an extremely simple matter, which I'm sure you already knew."
Daniel thought of how he was able to pay off the Disruptor crews with only a few hundred dollars and nodded. His armor, his rifle and ammunition, and eventually his Nullifier Mace... They were all technically stolen equipment, but nobody had ever come after him for them.
"I have needs of the things I can acquire from Arachnos," Null concluded calmly, "And I get a free backstage pass at one of the movers-and-shakers in the world to watch how things unfold. It's not an entirely unenviable position."
"And the more distasteful parts?" the former Arbiter asked as he rubbed his chest where he remembered getting shot.
"Ah, well, I treat those moments like a rare treat. You see... There's a risk in sending somebody's best friend to kill them..."
The door to the chamber opened and Shadeheart's voluptuous form walked in. She saw Daniel on the operating table and smiled warmly. Even in the blue lighting, he could see tears causing her eyes to glitter.
"I'm glad you're alright," she explained as she walked over and rested a hand on his shoulder, "I don't know what I would have done if you had been hurt."
Taylor sat up. There was a dull ache throughout his body that he was mindful of, but otherwise, he was quite fine. Shadeheart leaned in close and planted a kiss on his lips. One of her tears fell on his cheek and he reached up to embrace her.
"...I am a great many things, Daniel," Null continued, "I like to put 'unpredictable' at the top of that list. In Arachnos, all ties are expected to be severed at a moment's notice. Apparently, they believe everybody can be swayed with money or power. They never understand what a higher purpose truly is."
"Recluse just wants to conquer the world," Daniel sighed, "He feels that's all the higher purpose the rest of us need."
"And such small-minded thinking will get him nowhere! Look at Nemesis! He's already hard at work to conquer multiple Earths across dimensions! He's got outposts in the Shadow Shard! If he ever needs, he pits whole species against each other in total all-out war! Recluse makes himself stronger and starts bludgeoning things. He hires a super-powered renegade to do what he's never been able to himself. Of course somebody like you, somebody with vision, would feel disenfranchised by that."
"I just... I always thought the trouble in the Isles was because Arachnos was overwhelmed..." Daniel sighed, "Now... They actually WANT things this way..."
"It's easier to oppress the people if they're already at each other's throats. The most unified front they ever dealt with was Scrapyard's miner strike, and look how that turned out. If somebody had helped that great man, if somebody had stood with those men who had finally learned the value of hard work, I imagine these islands would have broken out in a civil war that would be continuing to this day."
"More than likely, the U.S. would have sent aid that would have escalated to Martial Law," Daniel said thoughtfully, "In a few short years, Martial Law would turn into annexation, leading to becoming yet another island-based commonwealth like Puerto Rico. It would make all these territorial disputes we've been having with Longbow moot... And would probably elevate Arachnos to 'criminal organization' status in world politics."
"You would think the Warburg situation would cause a similar situation," Null chuckled, "And I'm glad my little performance hasn't done any damage to your mental faculties."
"Warburg's considered a 'handled situation.' The missiles fired haven't caused any lasting damage to any large region, and they've always been in the control of people considered 'reliable,' though how a super-powered criminal can be considered reliable is an unsettling concept. Anyway... Thanks for not killing me."
"Your death has been recorded in the official logs," Null explained, "You were recorded as killing your opponent, Operative Fulkerson, then Miss Shadeheart here in an attempt to cover your tracks as you began work on an assassination plot against Arbiter Daos. I was introduced to the plan and I did my 'civic duty' by putting down a dangerous, threatening element in the Isles."
"I'm sure you'll put in to receive a medal that will be reduced to a pat on the back," Daniel chuckled, then rubbed his ribs from the ache.
"And I'm sure that will be reduced to a reprimand for not anticipating your behavior earlier... To be upgraded to a warrant for my arrest for allowing a threat to Lord Recluse to persist because of my emotional attachments..."
The two shared a laugh, but Shadeheart was not amused. Her and her lover's lives were now turned upside down, and they didn't know who to blame for it.
"Arbiter Daos, of course," Null explained, "He's been looking to get at Sands for a long time and he never really cared for Daniel's approach to how society works in this nation."
"How do we fight that, though?" she asked, worry creeping into her voice.
"We don't," Daniel replied somberly, "We don't need to, anyway. As far as Arachnos knows, we're dead. We can do whatever we wish."
"Well..." Shadeheart bit her lower lip and sat down on the operating table next to her lover, "What do you want to do?"
Daniel thought for a moment. Null stood and lumbered out of the chamber to let them have some privacy. When he finally came to a decision, the former Arachnos agent turned to the only woman he had ever had the chance to love and gazed into her eyes.
"I want to know your name."
She looked at him incredulously. She couldn't believe that in all this time that they'd known each other, he'd never learned her real name. Of course, she was a Night Widow. Anything she'd told him before, he'd have been right to dismiss as a lie.
Now, however... They were free. She could tell him the truth. She didn't feel any reason not to.
"It's Candace, Daniel. Candace Lawrence."
"Lovely," he croaked before leaning in for another kiss.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arbiter Apolis stalked past Rein and plunked his security code into the door. His Arachnos Class "C" assault rifle was gripped tightly in his other hand and the safety was off.
"What're you doing, Appy?" the other asked.
"I'm going to go let Daos know how I feel about his politics..."
"Uh-huh... And what do you think is going to happen to you after that?"
"I don't care!" Apolis shouted, "That ******* keeps pushing us around because he thinks he's in control! If he keeps this crap up, he'll be losing that control quick! This quick!"
The enraged man pointed his rifle to the sky and squeezed off a burst. Rein still watched him calmly until the weapon was lowered.
"First off, you're not going to kill Daos. Simply put, you won't do enough to him before the reclaimator takes him to a secure location. Then the Arbiter Drones will get at ya, and we both know what that'll do to you."
Apolis paced a couple steps back and forth in front of his associate.
"Second, do you really think Taylor's dead? You really think that Null guy finished him off? Come on, man! We saw both of their careers! Honestly, there's something creepy about Null. Creepy enough that I think he'd twist things around and keep Danny-boy alive to stick in Daos's craw."
"I... I guess..."
"I know it's been getting unbearable. I know we're chafing under Daos... But it can't be like this forever. Sands is already working on his plans... I'm sure we figure in somewhere. You just play your part, alright? Let it go for now... I'm sure we'll see our friend again."
"Rein... You're a good friend," Apolis sighed and switched the safety on his rifle, "You're right. I'll return to my post..."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The operation was a success," Weaver-1 said over the intercom, "Whatever debt I owed you, Ernest, it's paid. Don't ever bother me again."
The big, armored form walked up to the body lashed to the plate on the wall. As he yanked the lashes off, Silver Mantis's sleek form stepped whisper quietly behind him before snaking her arms around his blaster arm.
"Are you sure this was a good investment?" she asked as they looked over their latest toy.
"Yes," Black Scorpion replied quietly, "I need to start looking outside my normal scope. There are many things in this world I don't understand... I need to use people who've dealt with them. I need soldiers like this..."
The cybernetic hulk dropped to the floor, landing in a kneeling position before the two Arachnos leaders. Black Scorpion figured it was an appropriate introduction.
"Operative Fulkerson," he explained, "I've turned considerable resources toward restoring you."
The head raised up to gaze at the broken man's benefactor. A pair of milky, dead eyes looked over the respirator covering the lower half of his face into the big, armored man's red glowing one.
"I owe you my life, my lord," Fulkerson lowered his head, "Use me as you will."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Kipland walked into the lobby of the Grey's Army base and looked at the couch. He saw Roland watching television with the catgirl Snuggle Purr. She was sitting on the other end of the couch and he could see her tail swishing agitatedly.
"You two doing alright?" he asked and Roland nodded.
"Randy and the big robot are out in the back chambers," the brown-furred girl said simply.
"Thanks," Kip nodded to her.
Normally, Snuggle Purr pounced on people, hugged them tightly (which was a little uncomfortable considering her prodigious bustline), or said suggestive things. Lately, however, she'd been hanging out more often with Matt McGinty and Roland, and they were apparently having a calming effect on her general attitude.
Kip made his way to the back of the base. He saw Sheldon hard at work with a couple of the Ryats and Dale Simms. Simms was nodding to what the inventor was saying, but the young man was tapping his foot with impatience.
He resumed his trek to the base's rear and found Randall and the large android, Ryat99, standing next to the kitchen/microbrewery. They were discussing some of the latest work Randall had been making for expanding the base.
"I'm telling you," Ryat99 was apparently repeating himself, "You need to ask the city planning board. Something is back there that we haven't been told about."
"What's the problem?" Kip asked.
"I got a permit to expand the base..." Randy started.
"Yeah, I know, you got that permit over a year ago..."
"Right, well, I've been using it. Now, we've got some space over there that we can make use of, but Ninety-nine here has been telling Sam, Dustin and the big robots to hold off..."
"Androids," Ryat99 reminded his employer, "We're androids, sir. Robots don't have minds, despite what Asimov wrote. Once sentience is determined, the term is shifted to 'android.'"
"Not in all works of science fiction," Kip murmured, "Well, why're you stopping?"
"That wall over there..." the big machine jerked one of its triple-jointed thumbs over to the end of the corridor, "It's not sewer construction..."
"So?" Randy asked.
"...And the wall sounds oddly hollow when I strike it. I think there's something back there. Something... Unexpected..."
"I already told you, Ninety-nine, I asked the city planning board. They said there's nothing back there."
"Then we need to have something set up for security," the machine finally folded his arms over his chest and glowered at the big man, "Because if there's something back there that the city doesn't know about, it's probably a terrorist cell."
"Oh, you..." Randy bit off the end of the phrase.
Insulting the android wouldn't work. The Ryats were notorious for simply deflecting the words by arguing semantics.
"It's a good idea, Randy," Kip finally interjected, "We can finally use some of those turrets we've got in storage from the BWO base."
Grey grumbled, then walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. When he came back with a six-pack of beer, the other two just shook their heads.
------------
It took a few hours to set up and install the two working turrets. The rest were corroded from sea salt and simply unusable. Sheldon took the broken weapons and started disassembling them for base components. Dale and Ryat10 helped install the defenses while Ryat99 and Sam Bibbins, who had been found bouncing off the ropes in the BWO ring, set to work planning the most efficient way to take down the strange wall.
Once the weapons were set, they stepped back to allow for a firing test. Dale and Ryat10 plotted points as directed by Ryat99 and further weakened stress points in the wall with short bursts of chaingun fire. They weren't able to crumble it, however, and shut down the weapons so Sam, Randy and the big android could get to work finishing the job.
"Just so I've got this right," Dale asked, "If something comes out of there, we turn these on and they go ahead and blaze away?"
"We'll be alright," Randy grunted as he reared back one of his his great, stony paws for a strike, "Even Sam's got somethin' from his Carnival days..."
"Sir, please don't remind me," the (almost as) big man said quietly as he drew back his sledgehammer.
"It's just better to avoid getting shot," Ryat99 said simply as he pressed his three-fingered hands to the wall and started pumping his high-powered coolant into the seams of the stone blocks, "Even if you can resist bullets."
"Enough people shooting will take even Statesman down, eventually," Sam sighed as he gripped his hammer tightly for the work to come.
With that, they set to work. Randy slammed his fist clean through the wall as Sam's sledgehammer bashed its way through. Ryat99 followed up his freezing the wall with strikes. In a few moments, the wall crumbled inward...
...Into darkness.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
It was a base alright, just not that of one that belonged to a criminal organization. Flashlights revealed elaborately carved stone walls, spires, pillars and arches. Runes, calligraphy and markings of indiscernible origin were carved into all of it. Randall, Ryat99 and Ryat66 spent a day placing lights at strategic points so they could examine the chambers more easily.
The central room, the one they'd broken into, had two rings in its center, one on the floor, another on the ceiling. They curved stone spikes looked like teeth for a mouth that would never close. In the center of the maw was a strange energy. Once the eyes adjusted to the darkness, a soft glow could finally be discerned. When they placed the lights, the glow brightened slightly, always a little above the ambient illumination.
"That can't be good," Ryat99 observed, "There must be some form of mystical energy at play."
"I already called Cory to get over here with Mike," Kipland explained as he grasped one of the spires, "Huh. I don't feel anything from this..."
The southernmost chamber was mostly a narrow corridor riddled with strange carved shapes. Charlene, Randall's wife, pointed out that the carvings were hands, and while they had been treated to look ancient, they actually were quite recent.
"It's in the little details," she explained as she brushed a little dust off a corner, "Ancient structures are usually more rounded, more worn... This stuff... This stuff feels moderately fresh. I would say this was all carved within... Twenty years, thirty, tops."
At the end of the corridor, they found a strange altar. There were four crystal balls, one at each corner of the squarish stone slab, and a central, larger crystal ball, its interior swirling with purple mist. Kipland explained that there was a presence in the area.
Torches on the back wall flared to life suddenly and Cory walked into the chamber. He was obviously entranced by the discovery, and had many questions for Kip and Randy. However, the big man pointed at the wall and told him to deal with what was obviously an escalating situation.
"Yes, yes..." Cory examined the chamber and found an old mat for kneeling before the altar, "Ah... Please, leave the chamber..."
They headed to the northern room from there. The corridor leading to it had a small meditation chamber that was dominated by a stone head, with its mouth serving as the doorway. Again, torches flared to life and Randall grumped in reaction.
"That's getting weird. Why didn't they do that when we put up the lights?"
Kip shook his head. He wasn't liking it either.
"I don't know Randy, but I'm getting that old bad feeling."
They continued on to the northern chamber. It was carved stone, like the rest of the newly discovered warren, its surface also carved in intricate markings. The center of the chamber was dominated by another great stone hand, this one rising from the floor to grip a dome in the ceiling. Under the hand were three pedestals, each one holding a large tome. Kipland approached these and arched his eyebrow at them.
"I never heard of any books like these before," he muttered as he looked them over, "I don't recognize any of these markings..."
"The Tome of Three Eyes," Randall said and screwed up his face, "But why do I know that?"
"Why do we know that?" Kipland added, "I can read this easily..."
He grabbed the first book and pulled it off the pedestal. He started heading back down the corridor to take it to Simmons.
"Maybe Cory can help explain this..."
Randall nodded and turned his attention to inspecting the rest of the chamber. There wasn't much more to find, however. There were crystals that glowed faintly in one of the back corner, but not much else except a big flat floor. Smiling, the big man realized he'd found a better place to throw all of the Brutal Warriors Order's junk.
In the southern chamber, things were proceeding at a surprising pace. Cortland had found a few notes on enchantments to call through the crystal ball. It was like a telephone, and the ball was keyed to various phrases to call various individuals. The first enchantment called to a dark place, and Cory was unable to converse with anybody. The second didn't seem to cause a change in the orb from the purple smoke and the young warlock was left wondering if he'd done something wrong.
"Who are you?" he heard as he reviewed the note.
The demon-blooded wizard blinked in surprise and looked up at the sphere. Inside it, a creature that looked vaguely Arabian, aside from its bright red skin, stared out at him. A pair of gold-coated ram horns jutted from its forehead and curled around the sides of its head. It narrowed its golden eyes and a hand started stroking its goatee as it grew agitated.
"My apologies!" Cory finally gasped, "I just never expected to encounter a real D'Jinn in my lifetime!"
"Then I shall forgive your behavior as a symptom of your exasperation," the entity replied as it visibly calmed and a hint of amusement entered its voice, "Though, I must say, I am quite surprised as well. Where is Cullen Bran Jorro? Where is the Blue Druid?"
"Cullen Bran Jorro? I'm afraid... I'm afraid I've never even heard of this man, or the moniker of 'Blue Druid.'"
The D'Jinn blinked and nodded. He could hear that the wizard was telling him the truth.
"I'm Cortland Simmons, of the Simmons lineage, leading back to a tribal family called..."
"Ah... The Shrak'mi clan... I remember your story. It is good to see that such a thorn in the side of the infernal depths continues to thrive to this day."
"Yes, well, we are not without our challenges..." Cory smiled and nodded to the D'Jinn.
"I am Koro Al'Rom. I believe your kind would call me a scholar or a merchant... Perhaps both. I had been working with Cullen Jorro in his efforts as the Blue Druid to help protect a region he called 'Kings Row.'"
"Yes," Cory rubbed his chin and tried to wrack his brain for information, "Unfortunately, I don't remember anything about a Blue Druid in Kings Row. I suppose I could talk with Azuria about this. She's an authority on magically-inspired heroes throughout the city."
"I suppose I could explain him to you as well, but..." Koro stopped and seemed to look past Cory, "Goodness, what have you got there? You don't know where you are or what you're doing, and you immediately commence with looting?"
"I'm not looting anything," Kipland barked back, "I just wanted Cory to see this book and tell me what he can about it."
"I can see your aura, young man, and I can see you are a powerful, capable young man. However, you misunderstand me. You see, I wasn't calling you a looter from my point of view..."
The torches flickered and dimmed. There was a low rumble that came from the central chamber.
"...I was calling you one from the Refuge's point of view. Cortland of the Shrak'mi, stranger... By removing that book from its pedestal, you have activated the Refuge's defenses. Cullen recognized he had a powerful relic in that and its sister tomes. He purchased a powerful trap from me... One you are about to have to deal with personally. I am sorry, Cortland... If you cannot survive this battle, I am afraid we will not be able to continue our conversation."
"Can I put the tome back and it will shut down the defense?" Kip asked.
"I don't know. It was meant to deal with thieves who were on the run..."
Koro stroked his chin.
"I suppose it could work... The defenses do bring the object back to its rightful place and dissipate afterward... The problem, young mortal, is that the defenses are now between you and the pedestal..."
From the central chamber, the rumbling sound had turned to a loud keening. Ryat66 turned to the point in the center of the maw and saw a tear opening in the fabric of space.
"Portal detected," he shouted through the communication channel, "I think we're about to have some company!"
"Randy!" Charlene shouted as a black limb emerged from the portal.
The creature was humanoid, and exceptionally slender. It reminded Charlene of the stick figures her son used to draw when he was a toddler. It turned its faceless head toward her, and she could distinctly hear a sniffing sound.
"What a peculiar creature," she could hear Sol'Ra T'Cha gasp in her mind, "I don't think it's friendly, though."
"I agree," she muttered before joining the small android's side, "Sixty-six, I believe we have a fight on our hands..."
"Yes ma'am!"
The android saluted and armor plates started emerging from his normal civilian-mode frame. When they were done in just a few seconds, he looked like a tiny walking tank.
"Ready for combat, ma'am!"
Back in the crystal ball chamber, Koro Al'Rom raised a wine goblet to his lips, took a sip, then gestured with it toward Cory and Kipland.
"Good luck," he sighed, and the crystal ball shifted back to purple glowing smoke.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
The shadow creatures weren't strong, especially not against the bright energy attacks Charlene and Ryat66 employed against them. The stick figures shattered and vanished as they were struck, and when they got too close, they struck with attacks that were barely powerful enough to count as punches or kicks.
However, there were a lot of them. They seemed to just pour from the rift, which was now looking like a red crack in the middle of the air. It was getting bigger, too, but it seemed somehow stable. Simmons and Durj arrived in the central chamber as the top-most point of the rift touched the ceiling.
"That's not good, Kipland," Cory pointed it out, "Those creatures are just scouts. There will be more... Bigger... Tougher..."
"Then we'll drive them back..." the shorter young man grunted as he lunged into the fray.
"Kip!" the sorcerer shouted, "Just take the book back to the pedestal! That's all we need to do at this point! They're just here to protect the book and keep it from being stolen!"
Kipland slammed one of his legs through the abdomen of a stick-figure scout. The creature collapsed and crumpled before dissipating into a smoke that wafted back through the rift. Cory narrowed his eyes at this and watched as Ryat66 and Charlene eliminated their assailants. Similar wafts of formless smoke made its way back toward the rift.
"If you don't hurry, Kipland, we will have far too many foes to deal with!"
A larger specimen of the strange shadow creatures leaped through the rift as it widened to accommodate types that would match athletic males. It was like a human male body, but devoid of any features. It didn't even have a face.
A flood of scouts and more of the larger warrior types pushed their way out of the rift. Charlene and Ryat66 couldn't wipe them out fast enough and the chainguns built into the entrance to the chamber revved up. The shadow creatures were susceptible to the kinetic impact, though not nearly as much as the energy blasts of Charlene and Ryat66.
Kip saw that Cory was right at that moment. The shadow creatures were starting to flood their way through the halls and corridors of Randall's base. Some poured into the motor pool, where they found an irritated Mattock McGinty who was pleased to find something that would distract him from the irritation his bike repairs were putting him through. Next door to that chamber, in the storage and machinists shop, they ran into Dale Simms, who blasted them away with his heavily modified sonic emitters. They vaulted into the laboratory, where Sheldon and his pet, Felix, ejected them with a powerful application of force.
In the lounge, Roland and Snuggle Purr found themselves ambushed by the little monsters. Before the portly hunter felt he had to use an explosive to get them off, a series of spikes skewered the shadows beanpiling him and stapled them to the wall. The spiky catgirl battled her way to his side as he pulled the pieces of his collapsible compound bow from his jacket and assembled it. By the time he cranked the drawstring taught, a group of four warrior types barreled into the lounge. This made Snuggle giggle a little. She could have taken six by herself. With Roland, she could probably have taken sixteen.
In the northern warrens of the base, Raging James and Draven Erickson contended with what scouts and warriors made their way to them. James could already imagine the streets above as Police Drones frantically scoured the pavement for an entrance to the location where somebody was using an illegal power combination. Just to mess with them further, he slammed a shadow creature against the ceiling. Hopefully, a drone would hear the thump.
"You got a real problem with how things are run in this city, huh?" Jared asked his friend.
"I need a vacation," James grunted as he bodyslammed one of the bigger shadow men to the mat, "From my vacation..."
"You call what Cedric and Matt do to us a vacation?"
"Well, it's better than getting shot at just because I have super powers..."
Again in the old mystical base of the Blue Druid, Kipland found himself cut off from the north chambers. The shadow men were flooding the chamber, and no amount of fire or energy bombardment was pushing them back into the rift that was now wide enough to let a large truck through.
The orange glowing portal seemed stable, though. It wasn't growing anymore and the strange cracks it left in the air around it had faded. Even larger examples of the warriors stepped through, two at a time. They were as big as Sam Bibbins, but still featureless. They took more than a few blasts to knock down, and what blasts were hitting them weren't hitting anything else.
A loud, thunderous crash at the northern corridor signaled Randall's arrival. The big man let loose a loud bellow and charged through the little creatures.
Kipland, seeing an opportunity, called for the old man, "Randall! Catch!"
He threw the tome over the heads of the shadow men. The big man caught it and looked at it with a perturbed expression. As he did so, many of the smaller shadow creatures wailed on his thighs and back with about as much effect as cotton balls against a mountain.
"Take it back to where you found it!" Cory shouted, "We're cut off! It may be our only chance to finish this!"
"Alright, alright..." the big man grunted as he turned and palmed one of the head of one of taller shadow men into the wall as he worked his way back north.
Another larger shadow creature pushed its way through the rift. As its head cleared the breach, Charlene ran up and delivered a punch square to its jawline. The shadow hulk rolled back into the rift and didn't re-emerge. The one that followed it, however, looked back as if it was concerned for a friend.
"They have personality," Cory explained as he burned more into the strange smoke that they reverted into, "They think, they feel... But I think they can't be actually harmed on this plane... You might have actually hurt one, Missus Grey, because it hadn't crossed the threshold."
"Oh..." she replied as she formed three energy spheres that scattered out and exploded into three different groups, "Should I be concerned?"
"Well... These things aren't evil," the wizard explained, "They're just doing a job they've been hired for."
"I see..."
Charlene deflected another of the human-sized creatures before jumping up and slamming into its shoulders with a double hammerfist. It crumpled to the floor and Ryat66 shot over her head to take down two creatures that were about to bound on top of her while she recovered.
There was a loud keening, suddenly, and the shadows all seemed to stop. They looked to each other, then what ones were in the central chamber of the Blue Druid's base looked to the rift. It had shifted from its original orange-red color and was now a bluish white. The shadows turned to the heroes and resumed fighting.
"I think they would prefer to go down fighting," Cory explained as he hacked one aside with an ice sword.
"Cool, I was getting worried I'd have to apologize for hurt feelings," Kip barked as he side-kicked another shadow through the rift.
The fight really had only taken twenty minutes. When it was over, the last of the shadows had been sent through the rift and the blue energy field rapidly sealed itself afterward. While the other heroes recovered, Cory returned to the crystal ball to communicate with Koro again.
"You survived!" the D'Jinn chortled through the crystal ball, "Excellent! Excellent! I had a feeling you were in powerful company. Of course, Cullen's deal with the Hands of Penumbra wasn't a particularly expensive one... They're not the most lethal of interdimensional mercenaries, but they're dogged!"
"That was an incredible ordeal, nonetheless," the sorcerer rasped, "Koro... These must be important relics, these Tomes of the Three Eyes... And... I believe that it is a good thing we were the first to find them."
"Oh? What makes you say that, young Shrak'mi?"
"Because... Well... Tell me, Koro Al'Rom... What do you know of Oranbega and its inhabitants?"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
"Thank you for coming, Azuria," Cory explained as he led her down the corridors of the base.
"This... Is not what I had in mind," the older woman replied in surprise as she looked about the wood-paneled walls and pillars, "I expected cold steel and a rigidly defined structure to all of this. The psychological report of your boss, Mister Grey, shows he's an unimaginative sort..."
"Oh, he is. Much of the base's current design comes from others. Randall helped with the construction, though, to make sure everything is solid."
He led her to the chambers of the fallen hero, The Blue Druid, Cullen Bran Joro. She explained that the man had called himself a much simpler name when a civilian, Connor Jordan. He had been a kind man, though passionate. He was the sort that would rescue a kitten from a tree while throwing lightning at a group of thugs.
Apparently, during the first Rikti Invasion, he had brought down a couple ships by summoning a massive lightning storm. The ships resisted at first, but the lightning strikes grew in intensity and frequency, and there was nothing for the ships to fire upon. The summoner of the inclement weather had simply vanished. Once the ships had fallen and collided to the earth just outside Kings Row, the clouds dissipated, but the Blue Druid didn't return.
"I figured he may have fled to recuperate," the sorceress sighed, "But I suppose that was just wishful thinking."
"It sounds like he engaged in a form of blood magic to boost his weather control powers," Cory replied, "It would enable him to use his spirit to strengthen the spells. The resulting symbiosis between him and the magic was probably more than his body could take."
"Indeed."
They passed a young man with white hair and a black beard and Cory tapped his shoulder. He rose from his chair and gave a light bow to Azuria.
"This is Michael White..." Cory replied, "He used to go under the moniker 'Project Whirlwind' before he and his friends eliminated a corporate conglomerate."
"We didn't eliminate it," Michael replied with a disappointed sigh, "But we did weaken it to the point that it's not an everpresent threat."
"You know, your name is the same as the Back Alley Brawler's?" Azuria asked.
"An unfortunate coincidence," the magician replied with a sheepish grin, "They're not terribly uncommon names, after all."
"Come along, Michael," Cory clapped the younger man on the shoulder and led the way into the Blue Druid's Refuge, "We'll have a look at what these 'Tomes of the Three Eyes' have to say."
So long as the books weren't removed from their pedestals, the defenses wouldn't be activated. Azuria clucked her tongue at that. It left her worried that the artifacts might be truly dangerous, that Cullen Bran Joro felt he was the only one who could be trusted to protect them.
"I don't know if these are the doomsday device you fear," Cortland replied to her concerns as he read the middle book, "But there is a problem... These words, these symbols... These are definitely spellbooks, but where most are designed to befuddle the minds of those who try to steal their secrets, these are exceptionally easy to read. The symbols are ancient, twisted and alien, but I can read it as easily as if I were reading a children's book."
"This is crazy," Michael breathed, "The things in here... I never imagined... So much power could act through one person..."
"Magic is capable of a great many things," Azuria cautioned as she walked over and gently pulled the young man away from the third book, "But you need to work your way to such things. You can't just jump headlong into it, or you'll risk drowning your self in the power."
"I know... I know..." the man continued breathing hard, like he had just finished jogging, "I just never... I never... Imagined..."
Cory closed his book and walked over to help comfort his friend. He also took the moment to gaze into the younger man's eyes and get a gauge for how he was feeling. A spark of electricity arced inside Michael's right pupil. He'd memorized something.
"I hope you don't intend to try anything foolish," the dark-skinned sorcerer warned, "In mystical arts, a man must be wary when his reach extends beyond his grasp."
"I know, Cory... I just... I know a way to use my own lightning storms better. Maybe then... Maybe then I won't lose somebody when on a mission... I can use the storm to hold the enemy at bay."
Cory nodded. Michael had been at the fateful mission in which their friend, Psycho13, had been kidnapped by the sadistic Silver Mantis. They didn't learn until much later what she had put the young man through. While they were still looking for what kind of emotional damage and psychological trauma the incident had caused the regenerator, they hadn't considered how it had made the others involved with that mission feel.
"That wasn't your fault," Cory gave his friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder, "You all did what you could. Levi says he wouldn't change what he did, that if things still turned out the same, he would do it all over again."
"Well... I'm trying to make sure it never turns out like that again..."
"The first two tomes seem to be about improving the self," Azuria explained as she glanced over them, "The last one is new forms of magic. Methods for casting spells we haven't even considered yet."
"And I think we've found what the Oranbegans have been looking for all this time," Cory added, "With these tomes, they'd be able to turn their demonic wizards into a force that would be nigh unstoppable. They would be able to launch an offensive against Arachnos' Mu sorcerers, they'd be able to topple this city's heroes... They could usher in a whole new world-spanning mystical war..."
"Worse, Cortland, they would be able to wage the war through dimensions!" Azuria sighed and folded her arms over her chest, "Michael wasn't reading for even half a minute and he's already changed."
"I don't think any of us got away from that unscathed," Cory agreed, "Heh... Maybe the boost in power will help you keep a hold of magic artifacts from here on out."
Azuria rolled her eyes and smirked at the wizard. Her smile faded quickly, however, and she turned back to the books.
"We need to find a way to protect these. I will consult with MAGI and Gregor. You talk to that D'Jinni, Koro Al'Rom, and see what he has to say. Cortland... This is a serious endeavor. Do you believe your group is up to this?"
Cory looked to Michael and smiled. The former Brutal Warriors weren't the only ones who'd been learning during the course of these months. They all had been gaining valuable insights from the suddenly education-minded heavy-hitters of the group.
"Yes, ma'am," he answered, "I believe this group is up to it."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
For anybody who's been following my work, this thread is essentially done.
You will be able to find the story continuing in one-shots that I will try to point you in the direction of from this thread.
First off is Grey's Army: Back in Action. Found here: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=240530
To summarize, it's been a long time since I wrote anything for Grey's Army. That's not to say they weren't doing anything. I've still been playing, they've still been active. However, nothing they've been doing until recently has been all that noteworthy (at least, in the City of Heroes setting).
Back in Action will be providing summaries to place the characters in their positions as Going Rogue began. It will explain what they've been up to and what they'll be doing next.
Hopefully, I won't lose interest through this method as I did the Chronicle method. It's hard to indicate that things are happening simultaneously in a Chronicle, but with "standalone" stories, I hope this will be easier. I have many characters, each doing their own things. Now, I should be able to talk about them all.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Cory explained the enchantment to the stunned Roland. It was a minor charm, one of the first aspiring magicians learn. For a brief moment, the object of your affection was smitten with you. Usually, the effect didn't last long enough for any social or emotional damage to occur.
It was considered a largely harmless spell. Repeated castings normally didn't have a cumulative effect (unless there was already some form of attraction between the two) and it wasn't strong enough an effect to cause a person to act outside their normal behavior. Because of this whimsical nature, it was given what was considered a humorous name at the time. Cupid's Arrow, a name for a spell that was a far cry from the capabilities of its namesake.
What was never tried before, however, was "cursing" an object with it. Repeated applications throughout a day over the course of a few years... Without the subject ever knowing it... Cory was astounded at Roland's stable mental state.
"You would have fallen in love with her all over again each time you sat down on this sofa," he explained, "And the longer you sat on it, the tighter the hold on you... Thank goodness whoever enchanted it didn't know what they were doing... It would have been like wrapping you in hair-thick thread... And it unraveled every time you left the source... But repeated sittings, extended sittings... It's like a cocoon in places..."
"That's what you see on me?" the portly man asked, his emotions starting show as a form of deep irritation, "Great. Fantastic. I'm mystically intoxicated."
"It's not so simple Roland but..." the sorcerer paused to consider the analogy, "Actually... That is rather astute..."
"Can you pull the enchantment out of the sofa? Maybe I can get off of this gradually before telling Jessica... Maybe... Maybe if I do it that way, I'll be able to tell if the emotions I have for her are real."
"I'll see what I can do, my friend. Cupid's Arrow is rather finely intertwined within the rest of the enchantment. I don't know if I can remove it without... Well... If this doesn't work, you'll see what happens for yourself."
Simmons set to work and Grey got himself a glass of milk. When he returned to the living room, he sat down heavily in a recliner and sighed.
How badly had this curse affected him? Was it because of the couch that he was made vulnerable to the affections of that half-succubus, Rose? Wait...
"She said she didn't need to sit on my magic couch to get her to like me," he growled, "Damn... She knew..."
"Who did?" Cory asked, "Ms. Liberty?"
"No. The succubus who tried to kill me. She mentioned my couch. I thought it was odd at the time, but I forgot about it. Cory... Do you think this affected Jessica, too?"
"It's hard to say," the wizard replied as he traced his fingers over the fibers of the sofa, "Somebody like her... She's touched by fate. She's not supposed to succumb to simple magic like this."
"But if she was?"
"Then she would have been as affected as you. What's worse, if you don't know it's happening and it's happening so often... There's a chance you would have thought it was real emotional development... You would have-uh-oh!"
There was a spark at the tips of Cory's fingers and he backed away. The couch started to disintegrate immediately, starting with the point where light had sparked. Cory bit off a curse as the fibers of the sofa seemed to unravel and crumble. In moments, the furniture looked rotten and torn, with bits of wood and cotton fluff poking through it.
"Damn," Roland muttered, "That was... Unfortunate. It was a really comfy couch, you know?"
"I can enchant your next one," Simmons sighed, "I slipped while I was tracing the enchantment, and the thread of energy snapped, tearing the rest of the magic apart violently. The result, as you can see, is a rapidly decaying piece of furniture as the magic that was protecting it from entropy withers and fades."
"Nester told me about that fight between Aaron and the Carnies. Told me how that place basically became a massive morgue..."
"Not a morgue... I don't think there's an adequate term for what that building became when those protection enchantments were shattered and destroyed."
The door opened then and Jessica walked in. The smile on her face gave way to stunned shock as she noticed the state of what was once the best feature of Roland's apartment.
"What happened to your couch?" she asked, half-bewildered and half-amused.
"There was an enchantment that had to be removed," Cory explained, "And... I made an error..."
"I guess so," she laughed, "I don't believe we've met..."
"Not directly, ma'am, no. I'm Cortland Simmons, wizard, magician, enchanter... I'm loathe to use my more proper term, warlock, as it's simply applied to me because of my demonic heritage."
"Well, you're not the first good person I've met who's associated with demons," she said sweetly, "And I remember Roland mentioning you once or twice. Uh... What... What enchantment had to be removed from the couch? We already knew it was made more comfortable..."
"There was..." Roland frowned a little, "Jessica... There was a spell on it we didn't know about..."
"What?" she asked, sensing the dread in his voice but not placing its proper context, "Is something wrong?"
"Jessica... God, I don't know how to say this... Jess... The enchantment Cory needed to remove was... A charm spell..."
"A charm spell?"
"It... It makes people fall in love..."
"I know what they do."
Ms. Liberty's voice had taken on a cold edge. Normally, people didn't pick up on it. Roland and Cory, however, were very attentive individuals. Cory started backing away to get out of her line of sight. Roland just frowned as he braced for what he was afraid would come next.
His fears turned out to be well-founded.
"You... You were using magic on me!?"
It was amazing how quickly Jessica went from amused to enraged.
"I wasn't..." Grey replied calmly, "Not intentionally..."
"I can't believe this! Who put you up to it? Nemesis? The Circle? DeVore!?"
"I don't talk to any of those people..."
"Oh, shut up!"
Ms. Liberty was livid. As soon as Roland had informed her in the slightest way that their love was somehow false, she had it in her head that this was another scheme to get at her. It didn't help that Round had already warned her of plots against her. Now she was thinking he was trying to pull something similar on her.
"I should have known! I should have known, as soon as I felt comfortable, something like this was going to happen!"
"Jessica, I'm-."
"I don't want to hear it, Roland!"
"Now, hang on," Cory had heard enough and raised his hand in a calming motion, "I've known this young man a long time, and I know he has a good soul. Ma'am, if you're concerned about some form of foul play at work, I can assure you, Roland would never be a perpetrator..."
"How can I believe that? How can I believe you? I don't know you! You're his friend! For all I know, you're in on it!"
"Yeah," Roland almost shouted as he jumped from his chair, incensed, "Because this plan has been going so well! I knew I hit the jackpot the moment Dominatrix stomped on my throat! Squads of Arachnos soldiers attacking me in the streets, assassins coming to kill me in my own apartment... Yeah, I've been enjoying our time together, Jessica!"
"Oh, don't you start trying to pull that crap on me now! I know how this goes, Roland! You suffer a little for me to see so you can just... Can just..."
"Roland..." Cory's voice was barely a whisper, "Ma'am..."
"Get out," the portly man said quietly, "You're really this quick to think that of me... Get out."
"Oh, I'm leaving. I'm going to M.A.G.I., I'm seeing Azuria, and I'm getting this [fricking] hex taken off!"
She stormed out of the apartment and Cory was left slack-jawed. He'd expected some form of negative reaction, but he didn't expect it to be this extreme.
"Come on, Cory," Roland grunted as he grabbed his jacket, "Let's get over to M.A.G.I. and get this [stuff] taken off of me, too."
----------
It took Ms. Liberty a while to get to the M.A.G.I. office. It was surprising, considering the fact that she was in Atlas Park when she found out she needed to go there. However, when she was just about to walk into the city hall, she got a call from Mynx. It turned out there was a warehouse full of Arachnos soldiers and she and Infernal were pinned down.
It had taken her three hours to get there, help kick the crap out of the soldiers, and get back to city hall. Mynx had wondered why she looked so angry and determined during the fight, and the most Jessica was able to say was that she had some personal issues she was trying to work out.
Unfortunately, all the leaping across town and fighting had eaten into her time. She had to hope nobody noticed her as she arrived. Fortunately, it had been a slow time for new heroes and a lot of the older ones had better things to do elsewhere. She made her way to the M.A.G.I. offices without incident, casually saluting to the Freedom Corps trainers as she passed.
"I don't know, Az..." she muttered after a few minutes of sitting in a chair while the witch prepared some hocus-pocus she was working on before the heroine had arrived, "I mean... I thought I was supposed to be immune to this sort of thing! Grandpa told me so!"
"You do know how you sounded just now, right?" Azuria asked as she finished mixing a tea and walked over to hand a cup to the distraught heroine.
"I know, I know..." Jessica sighed and took a sip, "This is nice."
"Good... So, what are you going to do now? This Roland fellow was pretty distressed himself when he and Mister Simmons arrived earlier for the same cure."
"What?" Ms. Liberty almost shouted.
Did they have the cure all to themselves now? What were they going to-?
"Yeah, he was affected, too," Azuria replied, unaware of the heroine's concerns, "So he wanted to get rid of the mystically altered emotions."
"He was... He was affected, too? Oh... So... How was he when he got here?"
----
"He was pretty broken up..."
Roland and Cory had walked into the M.A.G.I. office, Roland more marching as he tried to force his resolve. He could hear Cory pleading with him to consider the ramifications of this course of action, that he should still try the gradual approach. He didn't want to hear it, though. His rational senses had taken control again, and he knew that if he were to get rid of these "inebriated feelings," he would need to burn them out.
"Please, Roland... Consider the ramifications..."
"Which are?"
"Everything you've felt thus far, for this girl, will be stripped away..."
"Sounds good to me."
Cory shook his head.
"It's not. Believe me. I've seen the research on it..."
"Cory... She..." the portly man's eyes misted slightly and he looked away, "She jumped at the chance that something was wrong. That I did this to her on purpose... She doesn't trust me, after all I've suffered because of her... After the things I've done to help her... I'm just another plot to her."
"She was upset, Roland! You implied that the emotions she was feeling weren't real!"
"They're not!"
"Gentlemen," Azuria interrupted them, "Mister Grey... Cortland has been in communication with me since... Well, since the discovery... I have the cure prepared..."
"Good. Let's get this over with."
"Roland, please..."
----
"...He took the cure and the two left," the witch finished her story, "I figured you would be over shortly afterward, so I set to making another."
"Oh... I didn't know you would have more than one..."
"Ms. Liberty... This is actually a fairly common enchantment. Regardless of its strength or influence, it can still be remedied easily."
The heroine finished the tea and sighed.
"Well... That's good to know. I just wish... I don't know how I feel about this, Azuria. I mean... I like him, you know? I think I really do love him. He's the kind of guy every girl wishes they could fall in love with... He's attentive, reliable... Friendly, in his own way..."
Azuria was staring at her. The witch's face was a mask of concern.
"I just... I think I want to hold off on taking this cure until after I've had another chance to talk to Roland... Find out how we really feel..."
"I think you're past the point of reconsidering," Azuria's voice croaked.
"No, I don't think so," Ms. Liberty set the cup and saucer aside and straightened out her uniform, "I'm going to find Roland and straighten this out... Then I'll come back and tell you if I need to take your cure. So, you keep the incense and scrolls handy, I'll be back short-."
"You don't understand, Jessica!" Azuria almost shouted, "You just drank the cure!"
----
"...And on Roland... It had a more decisive effect..."
"Well, it's done," Cory sighed as his friend finished the drink, "How do you feel?"
Roland looked at his hands first. He looked at the palms and the backs of his hands. His expression was stony.
"I feel like the color's been drained out of life," he replied calmly, "But... I feel better."
"Of course you would," his dark-skinned friend said sadly, "You're back to as you should be... Much quicker than you should be..."
"What do you mean?"
"Roland," Azuria stepped in to explain, "Had you taken the gradual route, you would have suffered for a few months from a broken heart, certainly a heart that didn't need to be broken if not for this mystical influence, but you would have gotten better and you would have been more in touch with your emotions... This cure, though... It cleansed your soul much more rapidly. Your grasp of your emotions... It's back to a point before this enchantment started influencing you."
"That's good, then," the younger Grey brother said curtly, "I've been wanting to get back to seeing things clearly."
"There's no point in telling you why this was the wrong way," Cory sighed and clapped his friend on the shoulder, "You'll be alright, in the end... I hope... If anybody could be, it would be you."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Core."
----
"...They left after that."
"So..." Ms. Liberty stared, horrified, at Azuria, "So... His love for me..."
"Whatever the enchantment made him feel is no longer there, and he's looking through his history as if it never were. He probably thinks a lot of his decisions have been foolish."
"And my... M-... My love for him?"
"I think... I think you were right earlier. The spell didn't affect you..."
"Azuria!"
"Yes... It's real."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.