2.
Sonya awoke from her dream with a start and a small yelp of alarm. It took several seconds for her heart to stop pounding and her breathing to return to a less-than-emergency rate, and by that time, she had focused her eyes on the dull metal around her.
Memory flooded in as the dream faded, and she let out a ragged breath of relief. She was in the girl's washroom in her school, having taken a brief moment in the sealed commodes to catch an entirely unsanctioned catnap during afternoon break. That she had gone out like a light was surprising, even given the long hours she was staying up to complete her final assignment for the Tenth Grade. She normally only took a few minutes of closed-eye time before feeling better, but she could see by the dimness of the room that someone had turned the lights out. Only the windows let the diffused grey of daylight into the bathroom, and that meant she had been in here alot longer than normal.
Snatching out her cellphone, she flipped it open to check the time, only to find it's display blank and not even a glimmer of lights under the keypad. She had been meaning to recharge it before coming to school today, but had decided there was enough charge left to make missing the school bus a far more immediate danger. Now, she had little choice but to leave the room and suffer the gossip that would undoubtably follow when a teacher or hall guard saw her slinking in the corridors long after break had ended.
Gathering her things, she moved to the door of the restroom, and noticed how quiet it was. Her small noises were the only ones she could hear, and the air conditioning seemed to be going full blast, as she could actually see her breath.
But then she realized she didn't hear the noise of the air system running, and that brought back the fear that had fled with the dream.
Not knowing what else she could do, Sonya opened the door as quietly as she could and looked out. The school corridor beyond was in deep shadows as well, the lights having been turned off there as well. But she could see a low mist that seemed to hover only a few inches above the floor, and several large unmoving objects had been left in the hallway. The cold was even more intense here, and she actually felt a light breeze as it rushed into the warmer bathroom beyond her.
Truely alarmed now, and feeling like a small mouse in a strange house, Sonya edged out into the hallway as quietly as she could, and moved up to one of the objects. It took only a moment for her mind to accept that she was looking at one of her classmates, one of the gangboys who had delighted in showing off his fake Warriors' tatoos and gold chains to the wannabe-ganggirls.
He was frozen solid.
Sonya would have screamed then, had she not been grabbed from behind and an iron-strong hand clamped on her mouth. She felt another body press into her back, and saw the barrel of some kind of rifle point past her waist, down the corridor.
"Do as I say if you want to live." a voice hissed behind her ear, barely loud enough for her to make out. The urgency and resolve behind it was anything but soft, however.
Not understanding what was happening, but knowing the other person could already make her do anything they wanted, Sonya only nodded her head. The voice continued with the same hushed determination.
"Make a noise and we're both going to be in serious trouble." it said, giving her mouth a brief shake as it did so, "You were smart to hide this long, but it won't save you now. You're being hunted, and if she finds you, I won't be able to stop her from doing that to you" Sonya knew the voice meant the frozen form of the boy by the way she was turned to stare at his still form. "You understand? Keep quiet?"
Nodding again, Sonya found the hand removed and the body behind her gone. She sagged to her knees, but was careful even in her confusion to avoid more than a ragged sob of relief. Turning her head, she saw a woman standing behind her, dressed in black combat clothing and holding an assault rifle in a practiced grip that seemed both unaffected by the weight of the gun and as steady as a table. Ammunition and equipment pouches hung on belts across her waist and chest, and a black headband held back a short collection of white hair from a face that held no sympathy for the huddled girl before her.
She knew that the history teachers taught students that superheroes hadn't always been in the world, but that was something she couldn't imagine. From the time she was old enough to read the daily newspaper, they had been a part of Sonya's world, and it had been a game between her and her friends as they grew up to pick which one would be their own role model.
"Vigilantess!" Sonya gasped softly, not believing one of her own secret heroines was standing before her. When the other woman didn't reply or give any indication she had heard, Sonya asked slightly louder "What....what are you doing here?"
"Keep quiet!" Vigilantess hissed again, gesturing urgently with a single slicing motion. As she looked about, appearing to be deciding which way to leave, she said "Frostheart is here. She wants you. I'm here to make sure she doesn't get you."
Confused by the unfamiliar name and beginning to remember the fear she had been shocked out of, Sonya began to question what Vigilantess meant, but the woman-warrior held up a hand which brooked no reply "We need to get out of here. Which way?"
Sonya pointed to the staircase to the right, knowing there was an emergency fire door at the bottom, and Vigilantess took her arm firmly as they moved towards it. They had taken only a few steps when she heard the sound of wind, and a gust of ice seemed to blow up from the stairwell.
Cursing, Vigilantess hauled Sonya away at a run in the other direction, reaching the corner of the hallway and turning into the next corridor before Sonya could see what was coming up the stairwell.
<To be Continued>
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
3.
Vigilantess had Sonya's arm in an iron grip as they reached the ground floor and swung out of the stairwell into the main hallway. They had used another set of stairs far from the one where she had seen the ice wind come out of, but it seemed the heroine wasn't convinced they had eluded whatever was loose in the large school building, and wasn't interested in trying the main entrance to the school for fear it would be the obvious way to watch for anyone attempting to escape.
Like themselves.
Gasping in cold air, Sonya lost her footing on the ice-coated floor as Vigilantess released her to check the set of fire doors at the back of the stairs, and landed on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. When Vigilantess saw the welded seams across the door's frame, she turned to Sonya and said "I know Astoria isn't the cleanest part of the city, but this is overkill."
"Drug dealers...two weeks ago...got in..." Sonya gasped out as she looked at the fused doors "Principle Edwards...thought it was safer...than chains."
"Yeah. I bet he greased some palms with the Fire Chief, too." Vigilantess didn't grasp Sonya's arm again, but instead moved out into the hallway with her rifle ready. "Let's go!"
Getting unsteadily to her feet, Sonya realized she was more tired than she should have been. Her legs shook visibly as she followed Vigilantess through the fog-wrapped corridor, and twice she fell trying to step over the books and other personal items that littered the floor. Obviously some of the other students and teachers had been warned something bad was happening and left in haste. Now that she thought of it, she had only seen a half dozen frozen people since they had started their passage throught the ice-rimmed nightmare that had been her school this morning.
Looking down at her after her third fall, Vigilantess half-crouched and said in a low gowl "Keep moving!"
"This can't be happening!" Sonya suddenly burst out, almost forgetting to keep her own voice just above a whisper as the full measure of the situation suddenly threatened to overwhelm her "Even Glacier Lord doesn't have the power to freeze an entire building! It can't be real! It just can't!"
Vigilantess knelt down to look straight into Sonya's wide eyes and said in a voice as cold as the air around them "Take a look around you. Feel it! " she pressed one of Sonya's hands to the ice-covered floor "This is real, and if you don't keep moving, you're not going to have time to start believing before she finds you and there is another frozen monument in the hallway!"
Releasing her hand, Vigilantess stood and quickly moved away. Stumbling on the slick floor, Sonya stood and followed the other woman to a door almost at the end of the corridor. As Sonya began to shiver in the cold, she watched the heroine pry open the locked door that was labelled 'Faculty Lounge', and sweep the empty room beyond with her weapon before moving towards one of the sealed windows on the other wall. Putting her weapon down next to her knee, Vigilantess withdrew something from one of her waist pouches and began to feel around the frame of the window.
Sonya sat on the floor by the door as Vigilantess worked, and soon the window came completely out of the mount it had sat in for untold years. As she put the glass and metal structure on the floor of the lounge, the black-clad woman peered out past the plants that had grown over this part of the ground beyond the window ledge, nodded once as she drew a long combat knife, and began to clear a hole through the foliage.
Then Sonya felt the air grow colder, and glanced back into the hallway to see a line of frost advancing along the walls and ceiling from the direction they had come. Vigilantess was at her side at almost the same time, and said "She's coming! Get through the window, and get outside!"
"But she'll just..." Sonya began before the stronger woman all but propelled her out the open window.
"Find someplace outside to hide!" Vigilantess raised her rifle and aimed it back into the hallway as she pulled open the grenade launcher under its barrel. "She can't see you if you stay near anything warm! Go, Go!! "
Even as the rifle's loud blasts rang in her ears, it was the note of desperation in the older warrior's voice that had Sonya up and scrambling out into the dim daylight beyond the window. Then she was outside, rain falling on her in the much warmer June air and running among the sparce trees that surrounded Hawklane Highschool, trying not to think what might be happening behind her, or what might happen to her if she turned to find out.
She stopped only long enough to remember that a warm place might keep her safe, that she had to hide there. But even in Astoria, June was a warm month, and everywhere seemed equally warm. How much warmer of a place did she need to hide? Her mind almost locked up in panicked indecision before she realized what she needed.
Someplace as warm as a human body.
Quickly, Sonya ran to the metal grates over the underground steam pipelines that fed both the school's winter heating systems and hot water pipes, and after stepping onto them, felt the almost-scolding heat rising from below. She whispered a quick thanks for the School Board's decision to leave the line on year-round rather than spend some of the school's funds to replace the old, stuck valve.
Crouching on the grates, Sonya heard more gunfire, and the rain's hiss as it hit the pipes below her. Then she glanced through the hedges that formed a living fence around the grounds of the school, and saw the flashing lights of police vehicles near the entrance. When even a single Officer failed to appear as the gunfire and heavier sounds of some sort of explosions continued from the school, Sonya knew they had no intention of doing so.
Someone had ordered them not to interfere, and in Astoria, everyone knew the Police did what they were told to.
Then the sounds of gunfire stopped and Sonya froze. One minute went by, then two.
And then she saw a swirling cloud of ice and wind emerge from the front entrance of the school, within which was the figure of a woman dressed in flowing white robes. She did not walk, but instead seemed to glide inches off of the ground. But it was neither this nor her pale skin and uncaring stare that truely sent chills through Sonya.
It was the pair of bat-like wings of ice that flared into existance for a moment at her back and then dissolved in the rain as the woman swept her gaze about her.
Sonya concentrated all her will not to run screaming as the woman's eyes turned towards her and seemed to stare into her own. Terror locked her limbs, and thought stopped as she waited for her skin to freeze and the cold to swallow her, but the pale woman's eyes continued past her without reaction. A few moments later, the ice cloud and woman inside it appeared to be caught by an unseen wind, and both vanished as Sonya watched.
Mind-numbing fear kept her motionless on the grates, shaking slightly as the rain continued to soak into her clothes and the darkness beyond remained still. Then she slowly curled into a tight ball, and began to softly cry.
< to be continued >
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
4.
The man sat in darkness, lit by a single candle on the floor in front of him. That he wore only a loincloth and a wooden mask did not bother him in the least, despite the chill that filled the room. That chill, in the beginning of June, was in fact what pleased him most. That they were closer to their goal than ever before could no longer be denied, even by those who doubted his methods. Pulling in a long breath, he closed his eyes and smiled as the cold penetrated his lungs, causing a tremor of shivering to shake his frame.
Then the temperature dropped fractionally lower, and he knew he was no longer alone. He quickly opened his eyes and focused on the flame. The only door to the room had not opened, but that did not surprise him. He knew the one who stood behind him did not like to use them, and that she would as soon have touched the symbol he had painted on that particular door as grasped a red hot coal.
Her words, however were not what he had expected.
"She has escaped."
Only the concentration he held on the flame before him kept the man from turning to face the woman. This was as much to his own benefit as hers, as he knew there were limits to how far an ungifted human like himself could push such beings, and he didn't trust his voice would have remained as calm without it.
"Explain." he said with only a slight tightening of his eyes betraying the anger that surged at her words.
"The girl managed to evade me. I could not find her." The face of the pale woman was without expression as she added "She had assistance. Of one you know."
The woman reached past his shoulder and opened her hand. A silver rifle shell fell from it to emit a clear, ringing tone as it struck the floor, its sides flashing as it caught the light of the candle. The man knew this was as much another attempt to make him look away from the flame as to provide information, but he had no need to look at the shell. He was very familiar with these particular bullets.
"Vigilantess was there?"
"Yesss." There was no mistaking the hate in the woman's voice now, and he understood why. She and Vigilantess had met twice before, and this had been the third time the heroine had come out of their confrontations the victor.
"Frostheart, you are going to have to accept that she is simply too well equipped to deal with you." he didn't add his own suspicions that his agent had let her disdain for Humans undermine the plan. Instead, he said "You should have called in the Police to distract her once you knew she was involved. They were there precisely to provide you with additional support should unexpected events occur."
Frostheart did not answer, but remained motionless behind him. Sighing, he continued "So you do not know where the girl is?"
"She is not where I may see." she answered "And the World does not speak of her."
He grunted before he said "This world probably wouldn't speak to your kind anyway, even if it did know something. Very well. I have no further need of you this night. Return to your realm until the sun rises again. I will have need of you then."
Frostheart sketched a small bow before her shape blurred into a million ice flakes, and then vanished completely. The man did not immediately look away from the candle, knowing the games these creatures loved to play on those who dared to command them, hoping to turn the tables through laziness on the part of the summoner. However, when three minutes had passed without further sign, he carefully closed his eyes and let out a long breath of relief as the mental barriers he had been keeping in place fell away at last.
It was too bad Frostheart hadn't managed to eliminate the girl this first time, but there would be another chance once she entered a part of the City where the iceling could find her, and the protection of Vigilantess would be stripped away soon enough, if the news he was receiving from his other agents was true.
Vigilantess... he thought as he extended his arms to either side in a stretch that painfully unknotted muscles that had been locked in position for hours. What an interesting twist of fate that she, of all the 'heroes' of this City, has ended up in my affairs again. I'll have to make sure this is the last time.
He bent and, lifting the mask slightly, blew out the candle.
------------------------------------------------
Sonya watched the silent statues of lions as she walked nervously between them. The entrance to Moth Cemetery was far more sinister in the quickly-falling darkness of evening than it had been on her school trip here two years ago, in the daylight, and she could not help but expect them to come alive at any moment and leap upon her.
Given the last few hours, she supposed that wasn't so far-fetched. When Vigilantess had found her curled up on the steam grate half an hour after Frostheart had left, the older woman hadn't given Sonya time to even ask what had happened back in the school. She had all but picked her up by her shirt collar and pushed her towards one of the back arches in the school ground's wall.
Barely keeping her feet moving ahead of the insistent hand on her back, Sonya had led both of them out onto Gabriel Avenue, and into the Municipal Building parking lot. There, she had been guided to a dull grey minivan that was clearly more military vehicle than recreation tool, and had been pushed inside when Vigilantess had opened the side door.
For almost two hours, they had sat in the high-tech van, with the only conversation being the cell phone call Vigilantess had reluctantly allowed Sonya to make to her mother assuring her that Sonya was unhurt and being looked after by the heroine. She had just gotten her mother to agree to stay with their relatives in Atlas Park for a week or so when Vigilantess had abruptly grabbed the phone from Sonya and smashed it with the shoulder brace of her rifle. Outside, a Police vehicle had passed by without slowing, and Vigilantess had signaled Sonya to keep quiet.
When the sun had begun to set, and most of the vehicles had left the lot, the gunwoman had led her out of the van again and out onto the street. The walk to the entrance of the cemetery hadn't been a long one, but enough of the woman's obvious caution had infected Sonya that she didn't dare to question where they were going until they had crossed the stone bridge and double-row of stone lions that marked the way into the graveyard.
Moth Cemetery? Sonya finally asked in a half-whisper. Vigilantess stride didnt slow, but she did glance backwards at the words.
This place is protected. They cant find you as long as were in here was all she said as they passed into a long stone tunnel and into the cemetery grounds.
As they passed the quiet and still monuments on either side, Sonya found the stillness odd, given the noise of the City she had grown used to over time. Now muted to near-silence, it was as if she had stepped from the City into another world. She also discovered the increasing darkness was lit somewhat by the nearby office buildings that overlooked the huge graveyard, providing enough light that she had little trouble seeing around her as they walked the stone path that wound ahead of them. One building in the distance towered over all of them, a massive construction that seemed to climb into the sky, but one without many windows at all to illuminate its surfaces. The dark shape loomed over the graveyard like a guard, or a huge giant looking over the results of his handiwork.
Barca Correctional Facility Vigilantess said as she saw what Sonya was staring at. Half the reasons Moth has a regular influx of new residents are in there.
I thought it was a rehabilitation center. Sonya couldnt help feeling a little resentful that the other woman seemed to know more about this part of the City than she did, and her voice carried a small note of indignation as she said Reverend Rockage says its a place where real help is being given to criminals in reforming
Girl, if there is a black heart to Astoria, Id lay even money its there. Vigilantess said with a snarl You stay away from there if ever you can! That place is a disaster waiting to happen, and you dont want to be anywhere near it when it goes!
They walked on in silence for a time after that. Sonya was confused about Vigilantess reaction to the prison and angry that the heroine kept acting as though she had some authority over Sonya. She was also quickly loosing what little infatuation remained from her old adulation of the warrior, and a simmering resentment was quickly replacing it. Thoughts of simply walking away from the heroine began to quickly sweep away the memory of Frostheart, and her distraction was so great that she failed to notice the terrain and crypts around her.
Until she saw the huge shape to her right, and stopped cold, all thoughts of asserting herself or turning back fleeing like pigeons before a hungry cat. All she could do was stare at the shadow-shape she knew so well, its silhouette against the hazy sky as unmistakable as any photograph. Even when Vigilantess called her name and started back towards her, she could only look at the man-made mountain of stone and walls that lay a short distance away.
The great, haunted castle from her dreams now stood before her, and in her shocked, tired mind, Sonya thought she heard a very quiet, sinister voice say the words she had feared hearing each time the dream had reached this terrible fortress.
Weve been expecting you. Come inside and rest. Forever.
<To Be Continued>
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
5.
"Feeling better?"
Vigilantess' calm voice cut through the mind-numbing fear that had gripped Sonya on seeing the looming nightmare-castle and hearing the ghostly voice that called from within it. She had only wanted to run then, to do whatever was possible to get away from the apparition before her. She vaguely remembered Vigilantess guiding her headlong flight with an iron grip on Sonyas arm, but could not recall the terrain they had passed through before she collapsed from exhaustion.
Looking up from where she lay, Sonya saw a roof above her that seemed like natural rock. Around her, block walls and stone doors seemed to emerge from the rock around where she sat, on a perfectly smooth floor of tiled stonework. The only light was cast by a pair of fluorescent hand lanterns set on opposite sides of the passageway they were in, and she could see by that light the shadows of several statues, all thankfully human.
Are you feeling better, Sonya Rabinowitz? Vigilantess asked again, sounding out each word as though talking to someone hard of hearing.
Yes, Sonya answered, feeling the weakness in her body as she tried to sit up and failed. Where are we?
The Crypt of Heroes. You didnt seem in much shape to go far, and this where I wanted to come anyway. the warrior woman raised an eyebrow as she saw a look of fear come back into Sonyas face What?
A crypt ?? Sonya tried to get up again, fright lending her strength enough to prop herself on one arm You brought me to a tomb to get away from
from
When Sonya could not finish, Vigilantess gave a small smile as she said If youre worried about disturbing the dead, I wouldnt. Those in here devoted their lives and ultimately gave them up for those exactly like you. They would no more turn their backs on your need in death than in life.
Startled and comforted by the confidence in the heroines voice, Sonya positioned herself so she was propped up against one wall. Glancing around, she finally said I guess.
Bending to squat beside the girl, Vigilantess looked into her eyes and said What happened? Why did you start running like that? What did you see?
The castle! Sonyas voice climbed in pitch as the image of it came back to her mind, Its there! Its real !
Castle? the woman seemed confused, and then understanding settled on her face. You mean the Crypt of the Unforgotten, dont you?
Sonya frowned. Unforgotten?
Vigilantess nodded as she said Its where the Seventy-First New York were buried after the First World War. American volunteer soldiers who went to fight in World War One before the U.S. got involved, back in 1915. During the Second Battle of Ypres, all five thousand were caught by a gas attack, and died because their commander hadnt bothered to order gas masks for his men. Rumor has it the Crypt was built on an old burial mound that was used during the Revolutionary War, but that all the markers were lost before they went to work on it. To honor both of the fallen armies buried there, they named it the Crypt of the Unforgotten.
Sonya blinked as she fought down the fear and swallowed I remember
hearing about them in school. But Ive never been that far into Moth before. She paused a moment before saying in a quiet voice I thought
when I saw it
that it spoke to me.
The other woman grasped her arms tightly in both hands and looked directly at her. Spoke to you?
At her nod, the gunwoman turned to one side, as though she could see the huge construct through the rock between them. Sonya asked That was just my imagination
right? Just
nerves?
Instead of answering, the other woman released her and went to the small backpack she had brought with them. Rummaging inside, Vigilantess said Back during the Long Night, a lot of people got it into their heads that the trouble was coming from the Crypt. It got so bad that, by the time Vambrace and his crew closed the real gateway, vandals had caused a lot of damage to it. The foundation that maintains the Crypt built walls and a reflection moat around it after that to keep that from happening again.
The interesting thing is that the walls are built like they were intended as much to keep things inside from getting out as anything outside getting in. Ive never given it much thought, but
As her voice trailed off, Vigilantess turned back to Sonya and seemed to come to some sort of decision. Before the girl even knew what was happening, the heroine slapped something soft on her arm. Jumping slightly at the lightning-quick move, Sonya half-jumped away and gave a small cry of surprise. What are you doing ?!
Sorry about that. The woman stood in the semi-darkness and gathered up one of the lanterns. But I need to go back into the city to make some arrangements, and I cant take you with me. You need to stay here, and I dont want you getting into any more trouble. Besides, you need sleep.
Sonya realized that she was very, very tired. Her strength was draining away like water on a street grate, and she had no time to think why before she dropped into a dreamless sleep. While she slept, Vigilantess reached to the second lamp and switched it off, giving the unmoving form of the girl a last look before she left the underground crypt
___________________________________
Sonya awoke in a strange bed, its covers tangled about her feet. Squinting in the daylight sifting through the blinds of the large window that took up part of the opposite wall, she saw Vigilantess sitting at the table next to the window, one finger parting the blinds enough to peer outside.
Sitting up, Sonya could not stop a wide yawn from escaping her, and Vigilantess let the blind fall back into place as she looked over at her. Good to see you up. I was afraid Id overdone it.
Blinking in confusion, Sonya remembered the slap Vigilantess had given her, and rubbing that arm asked You drugged me?
Dermal sedative. The woman said in a matter-of-fact tone. I keep a few in case I need them. Last night, I thought it would be easier if you got some rest while I was finding this place for us. You didnt seem ready to sleep, so I gave you a little help.
What makes you think
Sonya said in anger before half-tumbling from the bed as she fought to escape the blankets. Before she could continue, Vigilantess picked up a shopping bag half-filled with clothes and threw it at her. She barely caught the bag and fumbled it twice before gripping it firmly to her chest.
Lets get something straight right now. Vigilantess voice was a low menace, the kind Sonya could imagine a villain might hear from her right before she took them down I am the one who knows what kind of things are trying to find you, and what they will do to you if they succeed. I am also the only one in this room who has any experience in avoiding them or, if it comes to it, fighting them.
That means, as long as I am guarding you, - I - make the decisions for both of us. I wont have you making a mistake that will likely get us both killed because you didnt know better, so when I tell you to do something, you need to do it right away and without question. Your life depends on it. Understood?
Intimidated by the determination in Vigilantess eyes and the suggestion that this was not an issue open for discussion, Sonya nodded.
Good. The woman waved at the bag Find some different clothes in there, and get changed. We need to go meet someone, and I dont want you recognizable to people you know if we happen to pass them.
Walking into the small bathroom, Sonya asked Where are we going?
Theres a guy I know up on First Street that keeps things for me. Well only be about an hour or so. Oh yes. Vigilantess sought out the pocket of her combat pants and pulled something from them. She tossed it into the bag from across the room, something Sonya would have found unbelievable if she wasnt familiar with the heroines uncanny aim. Put that on as well.
Fishing the small object from the bag, Sonya saw it was a small, teardrop-shaped emerald on a silver chain. Fingering the gleaming gem, she looked back at the woman Its beautiful.
Vigilantess smiled grimly as she said Its not for show. That will keep you from being tracked once we leave here. Its something I got when I was in Africa once, and youll be wise not to take it off anywhere else if you dont want something very nasty and very bad showing up.
Looking at the small necklace in a new light, Sonya knew she had little doubt that Vigilantess was right about how little she knew about the danger she was in. She had never heard of a gem keeping people from finding you, or ice ladies who froze entire schools and disappeared into thin air, so how could she know what was safe and what would likely be her last mistake?
Then she remembered Vigilantess hadnt said people would find her. She had only said some thing .
Deciding she really didnt like the sound of that, she started selecting clothing from the bag, and refused to think what else might be looking for her.
<To be Continued>
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
6.
The daylight and shadows flickered onto Sonya as the heavy van rode between the high buildings that made up much of Astoria, making her glad she had decided to wear dark sunglasses along with the black tee shirt and khaki pants she had pulled from the bag Vigilantess had given her. The open window let in some air, and she relaxed to enjoy it while she could, allowing her memory to call up all the times her mother had taken her down this same road when they had moved from Brickstown, carrying all of their worldly possessions in the back seat in a series of trips made necessary by the lack of money for movers who would operate in this part of the city.
That thought brought the memory of how her mother was now miles away, and that she was now alone apart from the woman who had appointed herself her guardian. Knowing such a display would not sit well with driver of the van, Sonya bit back tears and kept her voice as steady as possible as she turned to her and asked "So this guy we're going to see is a friend of yours?"
"I didn't say he was a friend." Vigilantess kept her eyes on the road in front of them as it turned to the left, her hands easily moving the vehicle into the merging traffic with a proficiency that spoke of years in more desperate driving conditions "He and I have mutual interests, though, so he helps me out with things I need."
"Oh. So he's a storekeeper?" Sonya shivered slightly as they passed Moth Cemetery, not wanting to remember the previous night. "I didn't know Heroines went shopping."
"Not exactly. It's complicated." Vigilantess decelerated as they left the expressway and Sonya saw there was some sort of rally going on near the far end of the road ahead. Police had erected barricades and blocked off the street, and she could see a crowd of people beyond moving towards a point out of sight.
Turning off into a parking lot next to a row of stores, Vigilantess parked the van and turned the engine off before looking at Sonya and saying "Stay here. I'll only be a few minutes, so don't touch anything in here while I'm gone. Just look out the window or something."
As the woman closed the van door, walked around the corner and out of her sight, Sonya crossed her arms and sat back in the seat. Knowing the park behind the van blocked her view of the cemetery, she nonetheless resolutely decided to look anywhere else and to let the breeze coming through the half-open window be the only thing on her mind. She could hear some of the rally going on somewhere beyond the row of shops, but wasn't interested in whatever was going on there. She was disappointed Vigilantess hadn't taken her with her, and couldn't help feeling ambivalent that her dependence on the heroine made doing anything but sitting in the vehicle unthinkable.
Then the wind shifted for a moment, and Sonya heard a voice carried on it from the rally that she recognized. Sitting up straight, she strained to listen, but did not hear the voice again until a few minutes more.
It's him!! she thought excitedly as she opened the door and lept out. With only the thought that this was the one person other than Vigilantess who could help her, she began to walk quickly through the back alleyway between the shops, towards the sounds of the crowd and voices raised in solidarity.
_____________________________
"Here it dis." the small man said as he placed the golden box onto the store counter and looked up at Vigilantess, his heavy accent almost hiding the traces of his unease. "Dis is wat youze wanted, eh?"
Taking the box in her hands, Vigilantess opened the top and saw a single golden rifle shell sitting in the silk interior. Glancing at the man, she said "You sure, Ralphie? This isn't another 'budget deal' like the Congo jig?"
"Nah, Nah...dis is special!" Ralphie scratched his black beard as he lowered his voice and said "From da tomb o' Tutan Munhattun. I gots it on good authoridy it's legit!"
"Tutan who?" the woman shook her head "Nevermind. I don't want to know."
Turning the box to examine the intricate symbols on the bullet, she raised one eyebrow as she glanced over at him "I don't suppose you've tried to probe it?"
Ralphie looked shocked and a bit frightened as he said "Whadda youze think I am...stupid? I saids it was special! I don't wanna blow my place ta da moon try'n ta poke it!"
Nodding in satisfaction, Vigilantess closed the box and slid it into her pocket as she slid a small card across the counter to him. "This should cover the bill. Don't bother with change."
"Lady, dats not even funny." Ralphie took the card and examined it before he looked back at her and said sadly "So dis is it?"
The woman looked out at the street before saying "It could be. I want to be ready in case. I have a job right now, but once that's done..."
The silence stretched for a few moments before Ralphie looked down at his feet and said "I guess youze godda do whatze youze godda do. Just thought youze might wanna think abouts wad I said last time."
"I have." Vigilantess turned and strode to the door, saying as she opened it "And you're right. I have to do what I have to."
______________________________________
The crowd gathered in the large courtyard in front of the WTDX radio station office building was large, and Sonya could see that the police were not attempting to do more than contain the mob as it continued to grow. She saw at least half a dozen faces she knew, but hoped the sunglasses would keep her own identity from being as obvious as she watched the event from the mouth of the alleyway.
There, on the top of the steps leading up to the entrance to the building, a small podium had been set up, along with a pair of microphones. Draped over the front of the podium was a white cloth with the emblem of the Church of the Unified Creed, the church Sonya had joined a little over two years ago. Flanking the podium were men in impeccible business suits and identical sunglasses that made each seem only a variation of the one to either side.
Standing at the podium was Reverend Judas Rockage, the leader of the Church in Astoria and the man who had rescued Sonya from the lonely existence of being the new child in the school's social strata. She remembered his encouragement and patient explanations of how drug use was not the amazing experience her friends at the time had told her, and how he had shown her the darkness of the world around her. His love for her was what had given Sonya the strength to refuse the calls of her classmates when they tried to mix a new drug in the girls restroom of the school, and that had ended up causing an explosion that crippled all of them for life.
In the year since that, she had grown closer to him than to anyone else besides her mother, and as she listened to him speak before the crowd, her hand reached into her pocket to touch the small object he had given all of the Faithful to remember their special understanding.
"This land was made to be the land of Free Men, the Land of Equality, where all Men were treated equally under the Law." the Reverand's voice cried out over the crowd "Here, in Astoria, we have seen what happens when that guiding rule is broken. Corruption. Murder. Gangs. Crime and injustice on such a scale that no one is truly safe anywhere! Injustice, most of all!
"Our forefathers laid down a system whose foundations were that all Men were equal, and injustice would be punished equally among all men because of this. Yet, how can all men be equal when one man walks through the refuse on the streets, and another flies across the skies, above it all? When one man falls from a third story window to his death, and another leaps from the top of Toffet Tower knowing he cannot be hurt by such an insignificant fall?
"Metahumans were never meant to be part of the American Dream, and continue to be beyond its safeguards! When was Statesman ever made an officer of the Law? Yet, he and the other Metas continue to operate in our City, in our Nation, as no police officer could dream of doing, and the American system is impotent to call them to task for it! How can it, when its most sacred foundations were built without considerations that one day, one man could kill another simply by thinking it? How can an ordinary man think he will be treated equally by a system that allows such a man to walk freely because it cannot be proved that he did anything physically to cause that murder?
"Many Americans trust these 'Superheroes' more than their own law enforcement, and continue to look to them to solve their problems rather than working to solve them themselves! When the Rikti came and burned our City, our military was all but helpless, our leaders unable to decide what to do. Our dependence on Metas had left us unprepared for such a massive disaster, unable to do anything but pray that the Metas would save us again! Our spiritual decline had gone so far that our fragmented Humanity could only pray, not to God, but to our superpowered kin to save us.
"How long then, can it be before we set aside that which God has said in favor of what our Superheroes decree? How long before we surrender our destiny and spiritual strength to those who are not Human?"
The Reverend paused as he looked over the crowd, the cries of agreement and an occasional shout of "Amen!" punctuating the angry voices of those before him. Then he continued in a calm voice "Man was created in God's image. All men were created Equal. Yet, if men are not equal to Meta-men, in whose image were...?"
Before Sonya could hear more of the Reverend's speech, she was spun around by an arm grasping her shoulder. Pushed back the way she had come, she half-stumbled past trashcans and dumpsters at a run, barely keeping her feet until she was thrown up against the side of the wall near the van. Vigilantess pressed close, her eyes burning with anger and rage " What in the name of Thunder did you think you were doing?? I told you to stay in the van!!"
"That's Reverend Rockage!" Sonya half-screamed, twisting to get free of the heroine and return to the crowd "He knows me! He'll help us! He can make it stop!!"
"Make it stop?" Vigilantess savagely gripped Sonya's head and twisted it to stare around the corner and back towards the crowd and the podium. Reaching down, she unclipped a pair of miniature binoculars from her belt and forced them onto Sonya's eyes. " Make it stop?? Look to his left, girl! Look real good!"
Sonya tried to steady the bioculars before seeing that they were computer-stabilized, and saw Reverend Rockage standing, continuing to speak. To his left, almost hidden behind one of the men, she saw...
"No." her voice was small, and she went still as her mind reeled with what she was seeing "No, it's..."
It was a woman, dressed in business attire like the men, and holding a small clipboard. She was not wearing sunglasses, however, and despite the normal skin and hair, Sonya couldn't deny who she was seeing.
It was Frostheart.
"It's Rockage who sent Frostheart after you!" Vigilantess hissed as she continued to force Sonya to see what she did not want to see "He's the one who wants you dead!"
< to be continued >
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
7.
The sun was beginning to reach the horizon as the armored van ran down the roads, the red-tinged light casting luminescent shafts throughout the city and across its path. Within, a silent Vigilantess grimly kept her attention on the road and the discreet sensor that she had had installed years before to look for the kind of pursuit she feared was all too possible.
In the passenger seat next to her, Sonya Rabinowitz was a soul in turmoil. In less than twenty four hours, her world had completely upturned and, of the two people she trusted most in the world, one was now far away in another part of the huge city, and the other had been exposed as a man who wanted her captured or killed. Her mind flew from disbelief at what she had seen and its implications to anguish at how he had betrayed her trust, to questioning of how long he had misled her, to denial that he could do such a thing, and then back again to disbelief of the image of the disguised Frostheart standing beside him, acting as his assistant.
Wrapped within her wildly oscillating emotions, Sonya did not react to the passing streets, or even to a quick near-collision with The Iron Wall as the super-tough crimefighter pursued a group of small-time gangers trying to escape on their Freakshow-enhanced motorcycles. After the group had disappeared down an intersecting street and she had finished uttering a curse, Vigilantess gave a brief look towards the girl, and concern briefly passed across her face before she turned back to navigating the increasingly-darkening street ahead. She knew it had been a risk coming so close to the rally, but there had been no other choice. The special item she had gone there to pick up would only be potent for another two hours unless mated to a matching shell casing Vigilantess would be receiving from a courier when they returned to their motel room.
By the time she pulled into the parking lot of the Toffet EZ-Rest Motel and stopped in the middle of the wide area, the sun was down and the streetlamps were coming on around them. Setting the parking brake, Vigilantess turned to Sonya and gauged the way the girl continued to stare straight ahead. With an audible sigh, she said "Sonya, I've never been good with people. I knew Rockage was the man hunting you, and that he was your...confidant. Leader...whatever. I just didn't know...how to tell you. No real time to figure it out either.
"I didn't want you to get anywhere near that crowd, but I had to go. This was too important. I thought you'd be okay in the van, but I was wrong. I didn't count on...well, do you understand? I didn't set this up. And...I was afraid he'd see you back there."
When Sonya didn't react, Vigilantess gave another sigh and opened her door. She was about to step out when Sonya said in a small voice "He said he loved me. He...how...how could he...lie like that? I..."
Vigilantess reached a hand over to give the girl's hands a reassuring squeeze, but stopped short when she noticed Sonya was tracing the outline of a small object in her hands as she spoke. With the light of the lot not falling directly on it, she could not make out what it was and said "What is that?"
Sonya's hands lifted in a disinterested way, exposing the small wooden replica of an African tribal mask. "Spirit-key. Reverend Rockage gives them out to everyone in the Church to remind us that.."
Before she could finish or Vigilantess' shock abate enough for her act, the sensor in the console began a shrill pulsing tone that rose quickly in pitch. Vigilantess quickly punched Sonya's door open and cried "Jump!!!" as she dove out the opposite door.
Impelled by the urgency in the superheroine's voice, Sonya's daze gave way to instant action and she leapt from the van just before there was a loud crunching sound immediately behind her. Sonya was thrown forward by a blast of hot air, and saw a brief lick of flame shoot past her before she landed hard on the asphalt ground, skidding a few feet before ending up on her side. The pain of the slide across the ground banished the last of her confusion as she saw that the van had been crushed under a massive chunk of ice.
Stunned by the blast of the impact, Sonya could only watch as the robed figure of Frostheart descended from the sky and softly landed on a parked tractor-trailer yards away. Briefly regarding her before turning to where Vigilantess was getting to her feet, the white-robed woman said in a cold voice "You will not come between my prey and I again, gunslinger. This is your end. "
"She isn't for you, and I'm not about to let you get away this time." Vigilantess said, her hands a quick series of blurs as she plucked a pair of grenades from her belt and threw them at the other woman. Sonya watched them arc in, knowing they were too slow as Frostheart gave a throwing motion and a jagged volley of ice sped at unbelievable speed towards Vigilantess.
She blinked when she saw what happened next. The ice-blast reached the heroine...and simply disappeared, leaving Vigilantess unaffected. The twin grenades reached their target a split-second later and burst, flinging a dozen net-like filaments across Frostheart and imprisoning her.
While Frostheart struggled to break free and Sonya managed to sit up, Vigilantess dove into the wreckage of the van and came free with her assault rifle. Before she could do anything more, a streak of blue rammed into Frostheart, rocking her back in her restraining fibers. The blur resolved into the caped form of Speedray, who turned to Sonya and said with a broad grin, "Hi there! Don't worry, this won't take long. Why don't you just sit there and watch how superheroes do this?"
Behind the blue-costumed hero, Frostheart turned back towards Speedray with a face twisted by rage and Vigilantess shouted "Stan! No! Get out of here!"
Frostheart suddenly gave an inhuman howl of anger, her form expanding and changing in an instant as it shredded the binding webs. Where a white-robed woman had stood now towered a frost-covered thing with icicle wings and huge taloned hands. The face was now a thing from the deepest depths of the underworld and Speedray's face registered complete shock as he turned and saw what had appeared behind him. He had no chance to escape before one of the huge claws came down and crushed him into the ground with a bone-crushing impact that actually lifted Sonya and flung her back down painfully. The hero did not rise again when the winged horror turned back to her old nemesis.
As Vigilantess unleashed a burst of rifle shells into Frostheart, the huge daemon leapt high into the air, the bullets either chipping off flakes of ice or missing altogether. Landing next to the riflewoman, Frostheart gave Vigilantess a backhanded blow that knocked her sprawling into a nearby car, the rifle crashing into the window and disappearing inside. "I have been fooled long enough!" the ice-thing said as it advanced on the rising woman "I will simply rend you limb from limb! Nothing will save you from that!"
Then a wail of sirens and flashing lights appeared around the corner of the lot, and Sonya saw a trio of Police squadcars speed into the lot. Pinning Vigilantess to the ground with one hand, Frostheart turned to look at the arriving vehicles with what seemed a curious expression. That look changed when the vehicles stopped and men began positioning themselves behind opening doors with sidearms leveled at her.
Sonya looked around, desperate to find something that she could do to either help or escape with. She saw then that a single object lay nearby, a gold box that appeared to have been thrown out of the vehicle with her. Scrambling on her hands and knees, she grabbed it up and opened it, seeing a large golden bullet with odd markings around its outside. She was so transfixed by it that she missed what had to have been the Police demanding Frostheart to surrender, and only looked away from the box when the daemon gave another roar, and a long cone of ice swept out of her fanged mouth to engulf the line of Police vehicles and officers, freezing them in place as their weapons fired.
Then Frostheart turned back to the woman under her claws and the mouth turned up in a grin of pure malice as her hand flexed downward, bringing a cry of pain from Vigilantess. "Now I repay all the failures by your hand, with mine. Die, insolent mortal!!"
As Frostheart brought the fist holding Vigilantess up and brought back her other to deliver a killing strike of talons, Sonya acted. Without thinking about what she was doing, only knowing she was about to lose the last person she might trust, she grabbed the golden bullet from its box and, with a cry of denial and anguish, threw it at the hulking ice-behemoth. The shell, the symbols on its outer covering glowing a pale blue, struck the creature on the right leg just as it began to turn towards her.
With a flash of brilliant orange flame, the shell exploded in a globe of hot fire that instantly consumed the being it had struck, leaving only an after-image on Sonya's eyes as it and Frostheart vanished from sight, leaving Vigilantess to drop in a limp fall to the ground below.
Hurrying over to her, Sonya shouted "Vigilantess!". Unsteady as her legs were, she reached the heroine as the other was rolling onto her knees. When Vigilantess groaned in a pain-filled voice "Rifle!", Sonya quickly reached into the smashed car and pulled the gun out of the vehicle.
She began turning towards the motel, but Vigilantess gasped and said "No time! Get...away! Before...Police...." and Sonya understood. She didn't know how she understood, but she did. She knew Vigilantess had selected this motel because it was close to the Astoria Police Headquarters building, believing that, corrupt as they were, the Police would still protect their own territory from an overt attack, as had happened. Now, though, she also knew that same proximity meant they had only minutes before they were swarmed by officers who would want to put them someplace impossible to escape. Someplace Reverend Rockage would have no trouble finding them in.
Grabbing Vigilantess under one arm, Sonya staggered with the other woman out of the parking lot and into the night-cloaked streets as the sounds of sirens seemed to come from everywhere. Carrying the rifle in her other hand, she guided the half-conscious woman as they fled down an alley directly behind the Police building, the many windows just above their heads giving the only light as they stepped over trash that hadn't been removed for weeks.
Coming to the end of the passage, Sonya saw a single patrol car rush past without stopping, its siren shrieking and lights blazing. Behind them, other vehicles with flashing lights were arriving where the frozen line of their comrades still stood, and Sonya knew they had to move away or be caught. Taking a quick breath, she gripped both the rifle and the arm she held and rushed across the street, seeing the headlights of approaching cars but knowing they were still too far to see her clearly.
For another minute, they ran, Vigilantess' breathing sounding ragged and pained, Sonya's mind discovering more knowledge she could not explain having. Then they crashed through a chain fence gate and into a concrete space under an overpass road that was filled with debris and a number of old shipping containers. The few lights she saw told her that at least one or two were inhabited, but the one Vigilantess angled them into remained dark as they stumbled within.
Collapsing against the far wall, Vigilantess accepted the rifle from Sonya and aimed it out the doorway they had entered from. Unable to do more than sit on her knees, waiting to see if they had been followed, Sonya closed her eyes and listened to the sirens continue to sound outside.
<To be continued>
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
8.
Sonya blinked, forcing sleep to move away from her thoughts and concentrating on the weight of the assault rifle in her hands. She knew it had been an act of desperation for Vigilantess to trust her with the weapon, and she was determined not to give the heroine reason to regret that decision.
In the darkness, she felt the selector switch with her thumb, making sure again that it was set to single-fire, and then took a quick glance out of the open doorway of the shipping container they had claimed as their hiding place. A pair of police officers had come through the refuse-strewn area an hour ago, returning to their squad car only after a shouted exchange with someone else and a single gunshot. Their laughter had been all Sonya had needed to hear to make her grateful for Vigilantess' quick lesson in gunmanship, but they had driven off without checking any more containers.
Seeing nothing outside, she turned and regarded Vigilantess as she fitfully slept on the plastic sheet they had found rolled up inside the container. The heroine's breathing was labored, and it seemed likely more than one rib had been broken by Frostheart before they had escaped hours before. That Vigilantess hadn't slept for almost two days had made the situation even more complicated, and when it seemed they would have to remain hidden at least until daybreak, Sonya had been forced to accept the job of watching over Vigilantess as the other all but collapsed into rest.
While she watched, she heard Vigilantess voice murmur in the dark. Concerned that she might be trying to ask Sonya for something, the girl knelt near her, and used her free hand to balance as she leaned forward. Unexpectedly, her hand brushed one of the pouches on Vigilantess' utility belt, and a red-hued light suddenly sprang from it to blind her in impossible brilliance. At the same time, the ground under her feet became liquid, and she fell backwards in surprise and into a light-filled infinity.
______________________________________________
When she could see again, Sonya gasped as she saw that she was hovering over a huge, shadowed city that seemed to have been built inside a massive underground cavern. The stone buildings sported glassless windows and open doors that gaped only darkness, and a silence that seemed like a thing itself hung over every street and archway.
Or rather, she tried to gasp at the sight, but found she could not. It was as if she no longer had lungs, and when she brought up her hand to feel her face, she saw that the hand which came to her face was as insubstantial as mist. A thought came into her mind that this was not wrong, that she was merely a ghost now, a spectator to what was happening around her, and the calm acceptance of this would have seen strange to her, were she entirely herself. Yet here, she sensed she was not altogether herself, and that, too did not cause her to panic as it should have. Instead, she turned her gaze back to the city below her, and placidly forgot that anything else was wrong as she did so.
Across many of the buildings and streets were symbols and markings she could not identify, but that disoriented her when she looked at them too hard. Crystals and pedestals seemed to have been erected in places of importance, and as she floated to drift only a few yards above one vacant street, Sonya saw that these, too, were dark and lifeless. All seemed quiet and unmoving, a cityscape of places once holding people, now abandoned and only dimly lit by subterranean mosses.
Then sound did reach her. Voices. The voices of two men echoed in the vast space, coming closer as she looked in that direction. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but the tone of one seemed in awe, while the other was cold and grim. As she floated above the buildings, she heard a cry from one of the men, and the sounds of a struggle. Before she could move closer, the light came again and she fell downwards out of sight and sound.
When she stopped, it was above the front of a house in Kings Row, in the open night. By the light of the porch light, she saw a woman holding a man who had collapsed in her arms, the trail of blood in the street only reinforcing the sudden knowledge that this was the man who had cried out in the underground city.
As the woman cradled the still form in her hands, Sonya saw that she had been crying for a very long time, but no one had come out of the surrounding homes to comfort her. No police officers had been called by those who heard the woman, and Sonya knew enough about her own part of the city to recognize the signs that this was a gang-ruled part of the City. Now, the woman seemed to have no more tears to shed, and simply rocked with the body of the dead man clutched in a grip that spoke of deep love, now just as deep a sorrow.
Then a person did come. The man wore a business suit and seemed as out of place in the street as Sonya would have been in City Hall. He walked with no apparent fear of attack, however, and stepped up to the porch. Wordlessly, he held up a sealed envelope towards the grieving woman, who seemed oblivious to the world around her. When the businessman dropped the envelope onto the porch and walked away, the other woman finally seemed to understand that someone was there and looked up. Sonya gasped in shock as she realized she was looking at Vigilantess, much younger and with an expression of sorrow that she could never have imagined on the stern heroine she knew.
After another blaze of red light and falling, Sonya saw she was now in a circular room made of stone. Blazing torches lit the hallways leading into it, and several statues and pillars filled various recesses in the curving walls. In the center of the room stood an altar with a sash of red cloth placed upon it, and Sonya saw Vigilantess, robed as the other dozen figures in the room, standing with her back to that stone table, facing the lone man who approached her. The old man's eyes blazed with eldritch light, and he held a silk-wrapped object on a cushion of velvet.
Reaching Vigilantess, he threw back the wrapping and revealed a knife-shaped shard of blackened wood sitting upon the cushion. Vigilantess took this from the man, her eyes seeming vacant and without emotion as she turned the sharpened end towards herself and took it in both hands. Before Sonya could cry out, or rush forwards to stop what she saw happening, the light blazed again, and the world spun away.
Her vision cleared to see the Vigilantess she knew, but not as she knew her. There was a coldness even beyond that she had come to accept as the heroine's face to the world, a set expression of ice-cold determination. When she raised the large revolver and pointed it at a man just coming out of a New Ages To Come bookstore, her face was as blank as a storefront mannequin. The gunshot was immediately followed by another glaring of the red light, and another dislocation in time.
In succession, Sonya witnessed the heroine as she strode through one scene after another, each one an act of assassination targeting a single man or woman. Sometimes, there would be others in the way, and Vigilantess cut them down without remorse or hesitation, the determination and coldness evident on her face as she strode past the falling bodies.
Then the light came again, sweeping her away into a different world altogether.
________________________
Sonya was standing in the same forest that she remembered from her reoccurring dream. She was no longer floating, and for the first time, Sonya realized she felt herself breathing. Staring around, she saw that the forest was not in night, as in her dreams, but in full daylight. Birds flew from branch to branch, and a squirrel hopped into the path before her to briefly scrutinize her before leaping on its way. If she hadn't been here so many times before, she might have mistaken it for a vision of Eden.
The change in the dream was so great that she did not, at first, register that she was not alone. The stone gazebo had not been part of her dream before, and it was not until the woman seated within it stood up that Sonya realized it and the woman were there.
Clothed in flowing green robes trimmed with intertwining symbols of leaves, the woman gazed at Sonya with a smile of affection as she said "Welcome, Sonya Rabinowitz. I've been expecting you to find your way here sooner or later."
Gulping back her surprise and confusion, Sonya tried to keep her equilibrium and realized abruptly that she did not have the rifle. Either she had dropped it during her travel to this place, or...
"Yes, this is not your 'real world', child." the woman said with an accent Sonya could not place, "This is more of a meeting of minds. A sharing of spirits, if you will."
"Um....then....I'm not really here?" Sonya asked tentatively, "If that's true, then where did you come from? You're, like, my conscience or something?"
The other woman laughed lightly, a sound that almost made Sonya relax because it sounded like her mother's laugh. Then she said "Oh, no! Not even close to that! I'm as real as you, just a tad more experienced in this sort of thing. Don't worry...you'll get better at it as we go."
"Wait a minute!" Sonya exclaimed, waving her hands in front of her "Time out! Who are you anyway, and why should I even keep talking to you instead of lighting out of here with whatever these feet here can give me?"
The woman tilted her head as she thought. Then a moment later, she said "I suppose that's a fair question. Very well. I am Anamoris, former Lady of Oranbega and Sorceress of the Glade. And you will continue to converse with me because if you leave here without my help, you will be back to swimming through Vigilantess' spirit like I found you until either you happen to find your way out, or you drown like the very bad swimmer you are, in her memories."
<To Be Continued>
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
I apologize for not being able to post to this story in a few weeks, but I have been sick and involved in unforseen comittments. I should be able to post the next installment in a day or so, and get back up to speed shortly after.
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
Well, things didn't go as planned, and I ended up with alot more RL commitments than I'd forseen. However, I've finally gotten back to the word processor, and will keep posting this story for those who wish to keep reading it.
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
9.
The Reverend Judas Kenneth Rockage was a troubled man this day.
Standing at the sliding glass door that opened onto the balcony of his penthouse on the top of Astoria's most prestigious hotel, he held a half-full glass of brandy and watched the clouds pass above Paragon City without really seeing them. It had been two weeks since Frostheart had disappeared following the incident with the Police, and the fact that neither the troublesome Vigilantess or the girl she had protected from him had appeared since that time made it almost certain Frostheart had taken them to whatever level of the underworld her kind came from. In the time since, his followers had grown exponentially, spreading his message of the dangers of those who would call themselves Heroes to the edges of Astoria and even making inroads into Talos Island and Founder's Falls. It would only be a matter of days before he was ready to finally set his master plan into motion, and receive the power promised to him when he first came to this ignorant city.
Yet, he could not shake the feeling that something was amiss. He knew the foolish Circle of Thorns still sought to reinforce their defenses against him, not realizing that they sat in the very jaws of the beast they thought to repel. While they had succeeded in delaying him to this point, he would soon have more than enough to sweep their pitiful spells aside, and with so much of their attention devoted to shoring up their strongpoints, they would never see his attack coming until it was much too late.
As the minutes passed and he continued to find no fault in his plans, Rockage began to suspect he was simply nervous that, with everything coming to a final conclusion, he would be cheated somehow at the last moment. Still, the feeling would not leave....
"Sir, it's time.", one of the two bodyguards flanking the elevator said, pulling him from his preocupation.
Nodding once to him, Rockage put the drink down on a nearby bookshelf and strode to the door, straightening his white robes as he did so. "So it is, James. Let us go meet the Faithful, and light the fire that will cleanse this City."
______________________________________________
"When Oranbega first began to lose the war with the Mu, it was expected that every magic-using citizen would step forward to extinguish the upstarts. None of my countrymen could conceive that there might be someone among them who did not share their desire for the knowledge and power in the Mu lands."
Anamoris' words came as she and Sonya climbed a small hill into a sunlit field of wildflowers, and the smaller girl found again that she could actually get tired in whatever world they were in. This was the fourth time since the ancient sorceress had guided Sonya to a homeless shelter where Vigilantess could heal properly that she had sneaked back into the part of Vigilantess' mind where Anamoris dwelt. Each time, it had become a little easier, and Anamoris had shown Sonya how to avoid what had happened the first time she had come.
She had also cautioned Sonya that doing so more than a half-dozen times would risk her own spirit becoming trapped in the gem that Vigilantess kept in a belt pouch. While the older woman had begun the lessons on Oranbega's tragic history on their first meeting, Sonya had found herself compelled to ask each time she returned for more about the ancient city-state that had so long ago been buried along with their ambition.
It was still hard for her to accept she was talking to a woman who not only was supposedly there at the time, but also a powerful sorceress.
Reaching the top, Anamoris waited for Sonya to gain her side before gesturing towards a stone bench that stood to one side. Sitting on one side, she continued as Sonya took the other. "I was a caretaker of the city gardens, a lifegiver. I cared not at all about far lands or subduing rebellious tribes. Even when the Mu came to our gates, I did not concern myself with them. It was not until the Great Conclave cast the Sundering that I realized how desperate the situation was, and by that time, it was far too late to stop what followed.
"I and my countrymen were cast into spirits, our city fell into the depths of the Earth, and the Mu met their own destiny long before your ancestors thought to raise stones to build their homes, or tame wood for tools. But the Art we mastered continued, a life of its own seeking a home. It found many though the eons since, but only when the Circle came into being did it finally find those willing to bring back the lost city and those who once walked its streets."
Looking at Sonya, Anamoris let a small smile reach her lips as she said "Imagine the surprise of those Circle adepts when they realized the thorn they had given to a distraught woman seeking only vengence contained the spirit of a gardener."
Sonya could not help but give a small giggle and quickly brought her hand up in surprise. For a moment, she had forgotten what had drawn her to this place today. Vigilantess had woken for the first time, and it seemed the care of the old priest that ran the Shelter of the Last Home had finally brought the woman warrior back from whatever injuries she had suffered at the hands of Frostheart. That had, in turn, reminded Sonya of what she had seen in Vigilantess' memories, and so troubled her that she had risked returning once again when the heroine had drifted to sleep. She had to know the answer to a terrible question, one that was even more difficult because Anamoris sounded so much like she cared about Sonya.
Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Sonya asked "But I saw her after..the ceremony. Did you...cause that?"
"The killings?" Anamoris' face fell as she said "Sonya, you must understand. She had lost the person she most cared for in this world to a cabal of men and women who used him to plunder Oranbega, and she all but sold her soul to gain the power to hunt them down. I had no desire to supplant another person's spirit, and because of that, we ended up two spirits in one body. It took many months for her and I to even speak to one another, let alone for her to listen to what I had to say.
"No, I did not cause her to extract her vengence. But in the end, it is possible I did help her regain her sanity. It remains to be seen if that was a good thing in the greater scheme of things."
Sonya stared at the other woman in disbelief. "How can you say that?"
Anamoris looked away from Sonya as she said "The last of the cabal that raided Oranbega escaped Vigilantess because I intervened. Alerted to his danger, he has since taken precautions and gained allies to protect himself against her. With the knowlege gained from the dark vaults of my ancient home, it may well be that one day soon we will wish she had killed him before I stopped her."
When Anamoris looked back, she smiled and said, "But that is tomorrow's worry. I have some more stories to tell you of my life, and I think you will find them very enjoyable...."
<To Be Continued>
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
10.
Most of the pedestrians on Third Street were long-time residents of Paragon City, and had long ago learned how to survive in an urban metropolis where superhumans regularly utilized supertechnology or the long-lost mystical arts to work their will, or enforce the laws upon their own kind. It wasn't something taught in any school, though there had been many attempts to include such subjects in the Public School system for years. Rather, it came from word of mouth and hard experience from those fortunate enough to survive a close encounter with forces the human frame had never been designed to cope with.
So when the massive bulk of the Butane Baron came hurling out of the front display glass of Howard's Pawn Shop, it did not take the appearance of The Iron Wall leaping after the villian to push every bystander into finding the nearest cover or running for their lives. They were veteran pedestrians at this sort of thing and had practiced this all of their lives. The Wall didn't even give them a second glance as he landed next to the bruised form rising to its knees in the street, his spandex suit stretching to absorb the strain on oversized muscles as the shock of the impact shook nearby trash cans.
"Give it up, Baron!", the Wall's deep voice boomed as he raised his fist in a classic haymaker preparation "This robbery is now officially over!"
"Hah!", the Butane Baron scowled up at the Wall with a leering grin, ignoring the small gouts of flame that licked his hands from the smashed flamethrowers worked into his wristguards. He spat at the boots of the hero as he said "I didn't become the foremost expert in pyrodynamics by folding up at the first hit by an oversized oaf who couldn't understand my work if he had fifty years and a hundred physics teachers spoon-feeding him!"
Even as the Wall tried to deliver his blow, a wall of searing heat sprung up around the Baron, the superheated air blowing the hero from his feet and back into the ruined front steps of the shop. The villian stood and brought up his hand as the Wall used his Wushu training to leap back onto his feet, a jet of blue flame engulfing the costumed crimefighter and flowing into the shop beyond to fill it with a sea of fire.
It wasn't until the flaming fist of the Wall found the Baron's stomach that the stream of plasma ceased from the small tube in the villian's hand, leaving the criminal doubled over and lying all but senseless in the street.
With the flaming store behind him, the Wall quickly beat out the small fires on his suit and cape, and reached down to carry the beaten villian back to the Zig for the fourth time. "You gotta learn. When someone tells you crime doesn't pay, they mean it lit..."
The Wall stopped with the Baron halfway off the ground, looking beyond him. The civilians who should have run from the battle site were still there. They stood in a loose crowd half-encircling him, and weren't moving away. Confused, the Wall frowned and said "Don't you people know you need to give a man room to work? Get clear before someone gets hurt!"
Then he saw their faces. They weren't the curious but naive faces of onlookers to a spectacle they didn't understand was potentially lethal. They were the grim faces of a lynch mob, and the Wall could see all carried some form of make-shift weapons. Lead pipes, bricks, stones, and a few knives of different sizes all were illuminated by the leaping flames behind him. The half-conscious Baron saw them too, and seemed more stunned by the sight than the blow that had ended his fight.
As they began to close in, the Wall looked from the Baron to the crowd, unsure suddenly what was happening. He was a Hero of the City, protecting these people. They always cheered him when he hauled the villians away, always told him what a great job he was doing. This had to be some kind of misunderstanding....they had to have mistaken him for a villian! Yes, that was it! "Hey, I'm one of the Good Guys! I'm The Iron Wall! Maybe you've seen my picture in the newspaper..."
He was still speaking when the firelight caught and reflected off of the guns that raised to point at him.
_________________________________________
"I still don't see what you want me to do."
Peter Reggar, Borough President of Astoria, had lost count of the the times he had used the line when talking to prospective voters, business leaders, Party representatives, and anyone else who questioned why his district of the city failed to attract the kind of trade that would let it become the shining beacon of urban excellence people who didn't live here felt it should be. This was the first time he had said it to a religious leader, and it was such a novelty that he couldn't resist smiling a little as he completed the rest of his old line. "I don't make the laws, the Mayor and City Council do. You'll have to take it up with them."
Sitting across from him, the Reverend Rockage folded his hands in a picture of spiritual patience and said "Yet, you wish it were otherwise, don't you Peter? Ever since the day the Mayor sent Statesman to your office, you know you've wanted to remind them that this is your part of the city, and running that ordinance about guards at Barca without consulting you was a serious slap in the face."
Reggar's hands had frozen on the glass half-lifted to his lips, and the smile vanished as quickly as it had come. His wine forgotten, he fixed the other man with an unblinking stare of venom. "You didn't have to bring that up. I didn't get where I am by forgetting when someone strong-arms me. Of course I want to put Statesman and his ilk in their place....teach them about serving city leaders instead of acting like they own everything...but I don't have a leg to stand on. The Mayor still calls the shots, and the so-called 'Heroes' are still seen as Heaven's gift to Mankind over in Atlas Park."
"What if I could give you that leg?" Rockage reached into the small briefcase sitting on the floor next to his chair and withdrew a thick stack of pages. "What if you had something that the Mayor couldn't ignore?"
Reggar put down his glass, leaning forward slightly as he tried to see what was on the papers Rockage was holding. The print on it was far too small to make out, but it appeared to be a list of some sort. "What could you possibly have there that would do that?"
Tapping the papers on the desk to straighten them, Rockage then offered them to the politician. "This is a signed petition by almost every single person of legal age in Astoria, supporting the establishment of Astoria as a Hero-free area of the City, with supporting testimonials by home and business owners on the cost of damages inflicted by said Heroes over the last two years. It further states the Public's confidence that the Borough President be made the only political authority recognized in this district so as to avoid the bias perceived in the other echelons of the City organization."
Shock and disbelief were plain on Reggar's face as he accepted the documents and began to look through them. As the minutes passed and his face passed into concentrated thought, he asked, "How..did you get this?"
Rockage sat back, his face now the one smiling slightly. "Many in your district have heard the truth of my message, and are very eager for someone to take the lead in showing the Nation that we do not have to be second citizens to the superpowered individuals who have taken it upon themselves to dictate our fate. I merely indicated I though you were such a man, and asked them to sign their affirmation. As you can see, they were quite persuasive in getting their neighbors to agree as well."
Dropping the papers on the small table between them, Reggar stood and walked to the large window overlooking the courtyard of the Municipal Building five stories below. Staring at the small figures walking there, he said, "What you are proposing is very close to civil rebellion. I hate the metas as much as you do, you know that. But if the Mayor gets the Governor to think that way, we'll have the National Guard in here to make everyone toe the line. I could present a dozen petitions, it wouldn't matter a damn."
"Actually, I took the liberty of having one of my faithful who is a legal professional examine the original form of the charter establishing Paragon City, and it seems that there is an obscure section that dealt with the possibility of the Mayors rewriting the laws to extend their time in office to a lifetime position. That section made it clear that the various districts could assert autonoumous governance in the event the Mayor was given a 'no-confidence' vote by nine-tenths of the residents in a special petition. I'm quite certain, should we present this document package as just such a petition when you make your announcement, it will produce gridlock in the State legal system and make the deployment of force to Astoria very difficult to justify."
Reggar turned to stare at the minister. "My...announcement?"
When Rockage failed to answer, the Borough President again returned to his seat and picked up his glass. Looking at it, he said, "Look, even if we did this, it would only be a few days before the supers decide to take matters into their own hands. Statesman would be right back in here, hauling me off to the Zig, trial or no. And how long before the people started forgetting how bad things are under the metas without them around? Then they'd start looking for the next big fish to fry for their troubles!"
Rockage nodded slowly and said, "Well, it would only have to be for three or four days. Time enough to prove that we stood against them. After that, it won't matter what they do. With the people of Astoria supporting you, they will have to accept that you acted as per the will of the People to stop riots in your part of Paragon. When those riots fail to stop, the metas won't be able to resist coming to the rescue, and it will all be caught on camera as they disregard the legal wishes of the citizens of Astoria. You end up on the moral high ground to both the voters of Astoria and the other district officials of the City, get to thumb your nose at the Mayor, and do it all without Statesman or his minions being able to lift a finger against you."
Reggar's eyebrows raised. "What riots?"
The minister's smile had not faded, but it now became more calculating. "Why, the ones that are even now starting. I do believe they could turn quite violent against any meta found in Astoria, so you really will be only acting to restore order and save lives."
At the last points, Reggar finally finished his drink in a single flip of his hand. Placing the empty glass on the table once more, he grinned a predator's smile. "Okay, Reverend. You always gave me support when I was running, and I don't forget stuff like that either. Sounds like you have this all planned out, and I like it. I think it's time I made an announcement."
_________________________________________________
On televisions across Paragon City, the image of Peter Reggar looked out, a practiced expression of defiance and resignation etched on his face as he continued his message.
"...and as of six-o'clock this evening, in response to the demands of the citizens of my district and to provide for the safety of the Public, I hearby declare Astoria off-limits to any person or persons demonstrating metahuman abilities, on pain of immediate arrest and seizure. All registered Heroes are hereby ordered to leave this district by order of the civil authority now in effect, until such time as the acting President of Astoria decides to lift this order. Further, pursuant to documents filed a few minutes ago with the State and City District Attorney's offices, Astoria hereby enacts its right to remove itself from the jurisdiction of Paragon City and is henseforth an independent township for those who wish to free themselves from contact with metahumans or those with extrahuman abilities...."
<To be Continued>
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
11.
In the hours following the televised announcement of Borough President Reggar, Astoria became a place of mixed celebration and violence. The more raucous residents hosted impromptu parties in the streets, the booming bass of their stereo systems shaking nearby houses and the fires set in various garbage cans lighting the night as alcohol ran as freely as the gossip and laughing.
Others, more determined and hateful, set about in packs to roam the streets. They were disorganized, poorly equipped, and generally only interested in revenge for some slight or other, or causing mayhem. These groups prowled the streets in search of any superpowered person who may not have gotten the message to leave Astoria, and the fact that certain individuals invariably joined these mobs who were armed with weapons far too advanced for their income only emboldened them instead of making them pause.
Most of the city's Heroes didn't have to be told to leave. Many saw themselves as servants of the Law, and willingly left Astoria until the courts could decide the matter of its ban on their kind. Others, utterly disgusted with the people who had cast out their champions, left in anger. Still others, unwilling to provide what they saw as aggravation to a bad situation, left to preserve order in a part of the city that they were certain had made a mistake. Statesman himself flew as far as the almost-completed War Wall gateway, and could only stare at the crowd that gathered below him to cry out their anger and demands. When he turned his back and flew away, the cheers of the people behind him were the last things he would ever hear from the living in that part of the city.
The next day, the Mayor of Paragon City declared that Astoria was now considered a seperate entity from the City, and until such time as the succession of the borough from the municipal government was judged illegal by the courts, all agreements between the City and various utility companies would no longer include that area. Power, water, and even commerical shipping ceased between the two urban areas, and the residents of Astoria found their electricity and running water sharply reduced as the emergency generators and pumps within the borough kicked in to replace what Paragon City had removed. Stores that failed to shutter their windows before this happened were quickly looted of every item, while the Police became more brutal in enforcing their own version of the Law in what was now their own kingdom.
By the second day, the riots and looting had died away except in the lowest-income area of Astoria. Exhausted and tired, many residents returned to what normal life they had left, walking the streets to their place of employment or seeking new jobs within the borough if they didn't already work within its confines. Traffic within the borough started to move again, with various companies setting up trade with each other, and others determined to take advantage of the new independence of their brough to renegotiate contracts with outside companies. On the surface, life seemed to settle back into a version of normality.
Thus it was that Sonya Rabinowitz managed to walk the streets in relative safety, her thick sunglasses and bags of groceries from the nearby food store drawing only a cursory glance from the handful of Police officers who stood along the street watching the passing pedestrians with the stance of implied hostility to any who might consider breaking the peaceful morning with more violence.
She made her way down Twelfth Street, and turned into the entrance to the Shelter of the Last Home, a former Bendelbeck's department store that had since been occupied by several church-based charity organizations who cared for the homeless in this part of the city. Sparing a single glance towards the dozing security guard at the front desk, she passed the half-dozen people sitting in the front room of the shelter as she went through the doorway into the back area of the building.
Here, too, were more homeless, but of a different calibur. Resting on cots or just huddled on the floor, mixed in with the less-fortunate they once flew or lept over were a dozen superheroes who had been too badly beaten, injured, or traumatized to leave Astoria. Captain Jackhammer lay against the wall, his closed eyes twitching in his sleep as the muscles below his two days of beard bunched and unclenched. Boltmaiden rocked back and forth, her broken arm held in front of her torn costume by what remained of her cape. Even the Iron Wall, possibly the strongest Hero who had worked Astoria's streets, seemed dazed as he nursed a bottle of water at a table that seemed too small for his frame. The bruises and blaster burns he had suffered the first night of the riots had begun to fade thanks to his superhuman biology, but he was still quiet and withdrawn, completely opposite to his nature before the night he had seen the Butane Baron torn from his grip and killed in front of his eyes.
Sonya did not like what she saw in the broken, dispirited men and women who seemed too stunned to even speak to each other. She knew the televised sermons Reverend Rockage had begun broadcasting just after the first announcement by the President of Astoria had been seen on the single television in the room, with the same anti-metahuman messages that had driven all of them from public view repeated time and again. It would be inhuman of them not to have been affected by that, but it was clear that quite a few of those in the room had begun to question if he was right, and that was something Sonya couldn't stand to see.
Quickly stepping into a small back room, she dropped the two bags she was carrying into one of the chairs and sat in the other. From the bed that was the only other piece of furniture in the room, Vigilantess raised her head to look at her. "Trouble...again?"
At the still-weak voice of her protector, Sonya gave a quick shake of the head. "Not like that. The Police are keeping their hands to themselves today, and it's almost normal out there. You wouldn't really know anything had happened, except that the streetlights are the only thing that seems to always have electricity, and the staff at St. Elegius have put out a sign saying that any Heroes brought to them will have to accept autodoc care because none of the doctors want to see them."
"Then....what's...wrong?"
Sonya looked back over her shoulder towards the outer room. "Them. They seem...I don't know....smaller than they should. Like they are missing something."
Vigilantess smiled grimly, drawing labored breaths as she said "They just...had the world...pulled out from under...them. You should know...how that can...gut-punch you, girl."
The woman's words caused a flare of irritation in Sonya, something she never would have experienced a few weeks ago, and she shook her head in fustration as she stood. "But..they're supposed to be....I don't know....better than this! Superhuman! Able to take the worst that can come at them and....well...."
When Sonya found herself at a loss for words, she looked back at the other room, searching for what it was that was gnawing at her heart. She couldn't put a finger on it, but she knew it wasn't going to let her rest until she had identified why she felt so...
Angry.
With that thought, her eyes widened in comprehension. Yes, she was angry. She was angry because those in the other room were not the people she had seen all her life, men and women who embodied the light of Justice and Order and would never, ever, give up. She was angry, not at them she realized, but at the shattered illusion she had crafted of them as immortal beings more than human and without the flaws that every person who had walked the Earth since its foundation carried.
And with that realization, the anger and fustration drained out of her, replaced with a determination that she would accept the truth before her, and not cling to a wounded image. To her visions of those she thought she knew. She looked back at Vigilantess to see the woman was still smiling.
"Don't make the same mistake...the people following Rockage are making. Don't start believing his hype." the Heroine sat up, but then gave a little cough, grimaced in pain, and settled back onto the bed. "Heroes are just...people who got a chance...to make a difference. We're just....equipped a bit better than...most to do that...for good or ill. Inside, we're...only human."
Sonya nodded. Only a week ago...two?...she knew she would have been unable to look on the woman lying in front of her with anything but unmitigated awe, and even speaking to her would have been unthinkable. The events that had ripped her from her normal life had changed that, though,...and her. She had seen Vigilantess' past and her own troubles had seemed pale by comparison. In the same way she had seen that past, Sonya had spent days listening to a long-dead sorceress speak of her own tragic life, of the many ways of a world gone for eons, and the magic lost with the sunken city of Oranbega.
She had had to carry the helpless Heroine to the shelter they were now in, guard her against the roving gangs that sought anyone to rob in the night, and held the weapon of that woman warrior in her own hands doing it. Her own hand had helped the priest who ran the shelter remove the bandages from Vigilantess when they had brought her to this worn-out bed, and she had been the one to care for the healing warrioress ever since. How could she not understand just how human her heroes were?
With that thought, she saw the truth of what Rockage wanted. He was using the meta-human words as a tool, fanning the flames of racial paranoia to bring about the situation he desired. But his broadcasts had changed since Astoria's seperation, the word 'Hero' replacing 'metahuman' so slowly that Sonya hadn't noticed until now. Boltmaiden was proof of the effect...she had no superpowers, only a crossbow and a demanding martial-arts background. Yet, she had been attacked just as savagely as any Super, and she was far from the exception.
Rockage didn't want meta-humans removed...he wanted Heroes removed. He wanted anyone who stood for anything trampled down or removed from his path, wether they were superpowered or just ordinary people who had put on a costume and declared their willingness to stand for the ideal of a better world. More, he wanted them destroyed, their spirits crushed. He wanted them to believe what he was telling the rest of the world they were. Because once they believed, they would break, and the rest of humanity would leave them broken, convinced of the inhumanity of those they once called their Heroes.
Sonya had stood immobile as these thoughts ran through her mind, and her hands had clenched into small fists. Finally she said in a small but even voice, "Everyone can make a difference. If they believe in themselves."
"If it bothers you so much, why don't...you go tell them that." the Heroine said, a strange look in her eyes.
The young woman looked over at Vigilantess and after a moment nodded. The girl she had been desperately wanted her Heroes to remember what they stood for, and the woman she felt she was becoming knew that Rockage could only hold power over them as long as they let him do so. If her voice could undo some of what Rockage had done, then she had to try...she had to make the difference.
_________________________
With her back straight, but her eyes and voice filled with compassion and pleading, Sonya stood for the next hour speaking to those who had long given hope to her, and returned it to them. In her, they saw a small light in the darkness that had enveloped their minds, and words to bring back the courage that confusion and pain had dulled. Even those who had never been Heroes within the shelter stirred and came to listen to her, and the Reverend Micheal Ceras, manager and caretaker of the Shelter of the Last Home smiled for the first time in many years as he saw the life her words brought out in everyone who heard them. Indeed, he himself suddenly felt younger and his spirit lifted as he listened to the young woman. Two of the shelter's most veteran residents he would have sworn could not walk rose to their feet and stood watching her, and he almost swore to Saint Patrick that the wilted flowers in his office seemed vibrant and full of color again.
It was almost like magic, he reflected.
Then, just as the hands on the old grandfather clock in the corner reached noon, a dull rumbling filled the air, and all of the power throughout the building cut out. He glanced out of the two large display windows at the front of the store, and saw the daylight fading quickly to twilight. A gust of wind swept past outside, and when it had passed, nothing moved within the shelter or outside it.
Those outside Astoria would much later name this day, though it would ever remain unrecognized or documented in the City archives, so painful and horrible in memory that committing it to record seemed less preferrable to somehow leaving the slate blank. As though, by doing so, hope might remain that it had not happened or it could be undone. But those who chose to remember whispered the name every year.
Nightfall.
<To be Continued>
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
12.
Reverend Rockage stepped out of his sedan and strightened his suit as the four bodyguards took up position to his sides. His other companions, all senior members of his congregation, looked as unconcerned as the guards. All of them were dressed as though they were attending a business conference. In a way, Rockage thought that was a truth, though he doubted those he would meet on the way would agree with that.
He stared for a moment through his tinted sunglasses up at the imposing walls of the Barca Correctional Facility, and marveled that the small investment he had made a few years ago could have expanded so much as to give him the latitude for what he was about to do. It was clear the popular myth that Astoria was the precinct where the PPD sent its most incompetent and corrupt Officers was more true that even he had suspected, and he knew very well the things that went on inside this building would have made even the most talkitive gossipers hesitate to speak of them, had news made it past its concrete and glass walls. Shaking his head slightly at how easily the PPD had played into his hands, Rockage finally began walking, his companions following in easy strides.
Upon reaching the doors at the front of the building, they were met by a uniformed woman whose cold stare could have done the departed Frostheart proud. She stepped close to Rockage and extended her hand. "Reverend. I take it the usual arrangements?"
When the Reverend shook her hand, he carefully ensured the small credit card he had brought with him was in his own. It disappeared as soon as her hand dropped back with a well-practiced ease. "Yes, Warden Joss." he said as they all walked into the building. "I assume the next group in the rotation is the Congo Dozen?"
"Yeah, though I don't know why you'd even want to bother with those witchdoctors." Joss said with a wrinkle of her nose that said volumes of her opinion of the inmates he had come to 'help' with. "Last time we had counelors in to see that bunch, I was sure we were going to see how many ended up with their heads on those necklaces. Took my boys a good two hours to beat them up enough to get them back into their cells."
"I have a theory on that, which I'm confident will change everything." Rockage said as they reached the elevators at the far side of the lobby."I want to see them all at once, in the same room."
The disbelief and shock on Warden Joss' face were perhaps the first time she had ever worn them in the long years at the prison, and Rockage could only smile as she sputtered "Y-you can't be serious! Those guys are certifiable! That's why they're here! All twelve of them?? They'll skin you alive before I could even get to a monitor to watch!"
The elevator doors opened, and Rockage's entourage walked into the waiting lift without reaction to the exchange between their leader and the Warden. "I don't think so. My bodyguards are all more than capable of handling things." he said, pointing to the large cases each of them carried. It was not normally allowed that visitors could carry anything into the facility, but the arrangement between Rockage and the Warden's superiors had been clear that he was to be given a completely free hand in his efforts to reform the prisoners.
Blowing out a fustrated breath, the Warden looked with resigned disbelief at Rockage as he got onto the elevator, and said "I've got it on the lobby tapes that I warned you this was a bad idea, so don't have any of your goons come down on me when they can't stop you from being on the lunch menu tomorrow."
Rockage's smile was the picture of patience as the doors closed. When she was certain the elevator was on its way, the Warden strode back towards her office, saying under her breath "Stupid preacher. At least I won't be seeing him around here anymore."
________________________________________
The room where the twelve figures awaited him was well-lit, but completely bare of either a window to escape from or furniture to lift as weapons. That didn't surprise Rockage, as he knew they were at least fifty feet underground and the only way out for most who came to the prison was up the elevator he had come down. Indeed, that pleased him, as it would make his own task easier in a way the Warden could never understand.
Entering, he saw the dozen men were sitting in a circle near the center of the room. Each wore only a bright orange loincloth they had fashioned from the prison clothes issued to them, and a small necklace with stones strung through the thread. All were bald men of obvious African origin, and the ritual scars they wore attested that it was not from the 'civilized' areas of the Dark Continent that they had come. All stared at him wordlessly as his followers surrounded them and the Reverend closed the door behind them.
When he spoke, it was not in English, but a tongue that only a few from a remote valley in the faraway continent would have known. "I bring you greetings, from your brothers in the world outside and in the name of the Sleeper. The time has come."
Several of the sitting men looked at each other before the largest of them turned to Rockage and replied in the same language "I greet you in the name of the Sleeper. If you are truely of the Banished, then show us the sign."
With a small motion of his hand, Rockage did as they asked. He also added an additional sign that caused the large man's eyes to widen as he spoke to the Reverend. "You claim Great Toku as your patron, ju-shaman? How is this possible, for a man not of the Land?"
Rockage's own face betrayed only stern reproach as he replied "The Old Ones are tired of waiting for those of the Land to accomplish the task set before them. They have come to those of this place, and given unto me the mission you could not fulfill. It is from their commands I speak, and you would do well to know me as Gimatiki."
This was a great blow to the large man. He had been Gimatiki when they had set out for the distant shores of America to find the place where their dreams told them the Sleeper was held, and for this pale stranger to say that he was no longer the Returner of the Ways....
Rockage did not give the reeling men on the floor time to question what they had heard. He motioned towards his followers, and they quickly set their containers on the floor and opened them. Inside were bone necklaces, beaded clothing, paints and various weapons made from animal parts. "Behold! I bring to you the tools to finally fulfill your vows and return the Banished to their rightful place!"
Looking from Rockage to the objects in the baggage and then back to him, the large man said "It cannot be. We did not find the place where this might be done before the mighty ones of this land imprisoned us here. It would be folly to enact the ritual before the proper ground is discovered! We would only anger the Spirits by striking when we did not know where to strike."
"You need not fret like an old woman.", Rockage pointed to their feet. "You stand upon the place this very instant. Were you to have your tools, you would have seen this already, but there is no need. I am Gimatiki, and this I say in the name of the Spirit of Death...the place is here, and the time is now. Your brothers even now assemble outside these walls at my command. They have all come from the Far Land to take this place and enact our destiny. I also say this as Gimatiki....
"Fulfill your vows to those banished, and awake the Sleeper, or suffer the fate of others who have sought the aid of the Spirits and reneged on their pact."
The large man swallowed visibly, and Rockage knew all of them would do as he instructed. Indeed, it was barely three seconds before the big man motioned to the others, and all of them began to sort through the items in the containers.
Looking up at the clock above the door, he smiled again. It would not be long at all before the final steps would be complete. Even now, his other followers were dealing with the few Circle of Thorns who might perceive what he was about to do in time to affect the outcome. Those still guarding Moth Cemetery would be the first to witness their failure, and he knew they stood no chance against what was about to happen. Their own books, obtained so long ago, had told Rockage that.
The clock read 11:30 in the morning when the circle of men began their ritual.
____________________________________________
In the Supervisor's Office, Warden Joss could not believe what had happened in the last twenty-five minutes. She was on the phone line to President Reggar, trying to keep her voice level and mopping at a cut above her swollen left eye. "No, sir. We have it under control. We don't need more cops from outside on this."
"What happened, Warden?" Reggar asked, his own voice clearly showing the stress he was feeling. To Joss, though, it seemed much higher than the news she had delivered to him should have caused. "I thought that facility was the most secure place this side of the Zig!"
"It is, sir. We don't know how it happened, but just about the time we lost the video feed from the room where Reverend Rockage was holding his little therapy session, every door in the building unlocked itself, including the prisoners' cell doors." Joss looked from one monitor to the other, each a scene of anarchy as prisoners ran from one monitor to the next, some with items they had somehow set on fire. On the monitor showing the elevator access on all six levels, angry prisoners were still trying to pry open the reinforced doors to get into the only way out of their subterranean jail. "It was just luck that one of the guards down there alerted us in time to get to the control room before the inmates could break in. It was a fight getting out after resealing the cells that hadn't openned yet and demolishing the controls, but we sealed the elevators behind us, so they aren't getting out of there any time soon."
"But Rockage! He's still down there?!"
Joss frowned at the rage she now heard from the President of Astoria, and could only say "Yes sir, he is." In the background, she could now hear a second voice coming from another speaker somewhere in Reggar's room, and although she could not make out what was being said, she knew by it's tone that it was at the end of what was probably a recorded message.
"No. NO!! He decieved us. He decieved -me-!" Reggar's voice had suddenly changed to a high-pitched scream, "And we were fools to listen to him!!"
Under her feet, the floor began to shake and Joss had to steady herself with the edge of her table as she listened to President Reggar continue to scream. A deep rumbling filled the room, and the monitors all went blank in quick succession.
In the confusion between the cries around her and Reggar's wailing on the phone, Warden Joss had a wild thought that it was just her luck that the first earthquake to hit Paragon City since Faultline had cracked Overbrook would happen right as her lunch break was due to start. Before she could wonder why that thought had come to her at a time like this, a blackness darker than night swallowed her and blossomed outwards from the Barca Correctional Facility, spreading like the dark shockwave of an unworldly explosion.
Where the wave passed, animals and people were swept into instant nothingness. Trees were converted into withered sticks, and the very ground turned a dull grey as all life within it was eliminated with the swiftness of a descending blade. Even the daylight was cast out, a cloud of darkness flying upwards in all directions, sending the whole of the landscape into dimmer and dimmer light as the wave continued outwards.
It was only the quick thinking of the guards at the barracaded gateway to the rest of the city that prevented a greater disaster from unfolding. Crying urgent warnings into their radios, they swifly ran past the reinforced blast doors with the few civilians who they could get through in time. Then the great doors slammed shut, and the experimental generators built into the structures around them cycled up in a sequence that had not been planned to occur for weeks to come.
All around Astoria, the half-completed 'War Walls' suddenly burst into life. Curtains of blue energy lept skywards, dwarfing most of the buildings and forming a cage around the recently-seperated part of the City. Intended to protect those within from the threat of alien invasion from without, they now did the opposite.
Where the wave crashed upon the War Wall fields, it broke and folded back upon itself like the waves on a sea striking the shore. The fields, never tested until this moment, flickered and in places bulged under the strain of the strikes, but held true as the wave faded back the way it had come. In its wake, Astoria lay lifeless and blackened, its streets barely visible by the still-lit streetlights, and the air as still as death.
And yet, it was not so. For there were those who were untouched by the wave hearlding what others would later call Nightfall. Those were men with animal bone necklaces, who had painted themselves in patterns perscribed by the powers they had envoked this day, and who now found a glowing, ever-changing symbol upon their chests. These men had planned many years for this day, and now looked at the bones of the urban landscape around them with joy and anticipation.
They were not through with Astoria.
<To Be Continued>
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
13.
It had happened as suddenly as a tsunami sweeping across a beach. The sudden darkness and utter silence outside, and the feeling that the world had died, the utter conviction that something -wrong- had happened suddenly. Everyone had felt it, and it had ruthlessly crushed thought and speech at the same moment the strange wind blew past the building where they had stood, sat, or lain. More, each was filled with the sensation that something monstrous and hungry was reaching for them, that to move was to betray their presence and invite the attention of what had happened outside.
Sonya could see these thoughts on the faces of all around her, as she felt them herself. Her terror was something that paralysed her every muscle and kept her eyes fixed on the darkened and still street outside the windows of the shelter. Even breathing had become a risk she took only with the most silent and shallow gasps of air. Yet from someplace inside that she could never name, her concern for her companion suddenly welled up within her, and she found she could turn her head to look towards the back room where they had stayed for the past days.
Vigilantess stood unsteadily at the doorway, hanging onto the frame with hands that shook. Her face was a grim mask of effort that conveyed to Sonya how much this cost the wounded woman, but also shone with determination and resolve that told Sonya that, if this was truely the end of the world, one of them at least would go down with a gun in her hand, fighting.
And with that thought, she found the oppressive fear faded. With a start, she realized the same conviction to never surrender had somehow grown within her, that it had been there when she had begun speaking to those within the shelter. Now, it bloomed to full life, driving the terror back and leaving her free to think clearly again.
"No." she said, her voice seeming to boom out in the silence with its clear denial. The others in the room all started and looked at her in astonishment as she turned to face them.
"No." she said again, becoming steadier as she continued, "This isn't the end."
As though the sound of her voice had somehow been a counteragent to the mindless fear gripping them, they began to speak all at once. The exclaimations of surprise and confusion mingled with shouted questions, the small gathering room disolving into chaos.
"What just happened?!?"
"Why is it dark outside?? It's friggin' high noon!!"
"It done be a nuke! They've a-nuked us!!!"
"I can see lights outside! The streetlights are on! That must mean everything's okay! They woudn't be on if things were bad, right??"
"Has anyone tried the radio?? Turn on the radio!!"
"Radio's ON, you dudhead! We never turn it off!! Do you hear anything?!?"
"You must have broke it!! Give it to me!!"
In the middle of the room, Sonya looked about in bewilderment as the pent-up emotions of the people around her continued to surge and turn, angry voices joining the fearful in a chorus of shouts that caused her to hold her hands to her ears and sink to her knees. The thoughts which had been so clear a moment before were now jumbled as those around her assaulted her with their voices, each trying to be heard over the last.
"STOP!!!"
The voices stilled as though a hammer had come down upon their owners. All within the room had turned to face Sonya, and it was only after she saw this that she realized the shouted command had been her own. Half-unbelieving, she slowly rose again, her hands falling to her sides as she slowly turned, looking from one questioning face to the next. She took a steadying breath, gathered her thoughts around the first thing to come to her mind, and then pointed out the windows.
"We don't know what has happened out there, but that won't matter if we tear ourselves apart with fear in here. Fear and panic. Those are the things attacking us....we can't let them win." Sonya gave a glance to Vigilantess and continued. "I won't let them win."
When the heroine gave a small nod, Sonya looked towards the costumed figures in the crowd around her. "You are more than this! Didn't I say that, this hour past? Didn't I tell you how important you are to people like me? You need to be more than this! You are our heroes, and I think we need you now more than ever. Will you help us? Will you stand and be who you know you are?"
The silence that followed her words was almost as total as that which had followed the strange wind. It was half a dozen heartbeats before The Iron Wall stepped towards her, his face set in a strange mixture of determination and eagerness. "I'll go and see what's out there. If there's anything that can take me out, I haven't found it yet! You got yourself a Hero, girl!"
Soon, all of the men and women wearing clothing showing emblems and bright colors had also stepped forward, silently adding their support to what the Wall had declared. They were joined by those in darker colors, or with no identifiable emblem, but none could mistake that these, too, were kindred spirits who had long fought the Good Fight in their own ways. In front of them, the shelter's normal population looked upon them with undisguised hope and awe, as though suddenly realizing how many of those they had known for years as their champions stood before them in the flesh.
As the Wall and his companions moved towards the doors at the front of the building discussing how to divide the city between them, Sonya felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Reverend Ceras smiling at her. "I dinna know how ya did tha', young woman, bu' ya did what I thought was an impossibility there. I'm thinking ya got an angel lookin' over ya."
She could only smile back at the old priest's words as she looked outside again to see the Heroes split up and, each in their own way, dart off into the darkness to discover what had befallen the world outside.
_____________________________________________
For his own part, Reverend Rockage was jubilant. He had walked from the empty halls of the Barca Correctional Facility alongside the African shamen who now called him Gimatiki, and they had been joined by the hundreds of others from the Dark Continent or from those of his own followers he had judged suitable for the task ahead. They stood among the empty, wind-swept streets of Astoria, their bone necklaces rattling, and knew victory was finally at hand.
He had divided the mob and organized them by rank, each group led by a senior shaman, and sent them throughout the city to seek the tools they would need. His own senior council would begin the work with the limited resources they had already, but he knew they would not make much progress without the secret caches of mystic artifacts the fools of the Circle of Thorns had stored away for this very day.
That they never considered that they might all die too quickly to use or destroy them was good fortune indeed, he thought gladly as his group moved through the gates of Moth Cemetery and into the lines of crypts beyond.
In minutes, he had begun to select sites where the ritual teams would begin their work, and had each marked with a stone bearing the mystic symbol representing one of the Great Spirits the Banished called allies. He then selected a final location, and the men with him formed a circle around the stone he placed on the ground.
Chanting and waving their hands in prescribed patterns, they began to draw forth the energies that would start to open the doorway between this world and another. His own robes fell to the ground as he donned the ceremonial garb of the Gimatiki, the supreme shaman of the Banished, and began his own part in the ritual. A glowing, greenish haze took shape above the stone in front of them, and quickly resolved itself into a swirling ball. One of the wooden masks that had been placed beside the rock by those encircling it rose to the glowing globe, and seemed to merge with it.
The spirit now residing within the mask peered at them from the eye holes of the mask, tendrels of magical vapour trailing behind it as it floated about their perimeter. It watched as they began the ritual again, another sphere of mystic energy forming above the stone.
They had summoned ten of the spirits when a sound caused Rockage to pause and turn. Coming across the graveyard towards him was one of the shaman he had dispatched to oversee the recovery efforts in the city, his lesser mystics following behind. Drawing up to Rockage, he gave the required ritual bow and hand gesture and then said "Gimatiki, there are survivors."
Rockage straightened slightly in disbelief, but covered the full extent of his shock before the others could notice. In a level voice that did not betray his concern he said, "Some of the Circle were able to escape the Cleansing?"
The other shook his head and said, "No, Great One. They were taken unawares as we planned. All of the sites have given up their prizes without protest. It was at the farthest reaches of the search that we discovered those who had not been removed."
"Then they are simple civilians. They cannot threaten what is to be. Simply capture them and release their spirits to join the rest."
"No, Great One." The shaman seemed reluctant to say what they had found, and kept looking away from him. "Not civilians."
Rockage was growing irritated. He had work to complete before the Final Door could be opened, and he had no time for these games. He thundered "What did you find that could cause you to continue to delay me in the completion of the Opening!?"
The other man finally looked Rockage in the eyes, and said "Heroes."
Rockage took a single step backwards, his carefully set plans suddenly shaken to their foundations. There were to be no Heroes of any kind in Astoria at this stage, either driven out by their own people or wiped away with the Cleansing. None could now enter Astoria past the skyshield, and his warriors were even now ensuring none could enter through the closed gates of the War Wall. How could they be here?!
The shaman seemed to take heart from Rockage's reaction and added,"They push back against our spells with mighty strength! Our ju-shamen hold back their advance for now, but it is only a matter of time before they learn..."
"Recall the hunters!" Rockage roared, interrupting the men behind him in their summoning. The half-formed spirit in front of them gave an angry wail as it disappeared, but he did not notice as he said "We will begin the ritual at once! Break the chains of the Sleeper, and they will be as twigs underneath the heels of the ox freed from the harness!"
Spinning around to face the circle of men and spirits, he told them. "They say each of these Heroes is as an army unto themselves. Let us then give them an army to face!"
<To Be Continued>
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
14.
Once again, The Iron Wall jumped past a group of half-dressed crazies brandishing bone axes and clubs, seeing them only in the instant that it took for him to pass from one alley to the next. They hadn’t seen him until that moment, and he didn’t give them a chance to react.
Crouching for a split-second to brace himself, he leapt upwards in a jump that took him onto the roof of the three-story apartment building and landed as quietly as his four-hundred-pound mass would allow. Craning his head near the edge, he heard the crowd shouting angry curses as they tried to find which way he had gone. He would have laughed at the idea of himself being afraid of such losers only half an hour ago.
He wasn’t laughing now. He’d seen the Yellow Viper hit by one of those bone-clubs and seen the life drained from the novice Hero in less than a second. The withered body that hit the ground was all the warning he needed that this was a very dangerous group he and the other scouts had found, much more of a threat than the Hellions he had cut his teeth on as a young crime fighter.
Still, they were only dangerous in packs like the one he had just eluded, the life-draining ability only seemed around when a large group was with some sort of leader. He’d brained at least five smaller groups with nothing more than a scuff on his boot shine to show for all the fancy lightshow those groups had thrown at him. With the numbers being what they were, he figured they could be beaten easily if the leader was put down fast.
The real problem, he knew, was if these freaks got to the shelter before he and the others warned them what was out here. The Wall didn’t think Vigilantess would let anything get past the front door, but that gun she carried around only had so many bullets. And if that kid she had brought with her got hurt….
The Wall jumped again, as high and as far as he could, heading for the shelter.
_____________________________________________
It was only thirty minutes later that the other surviving scouts returned to the shelter with similar stories of odd, half-dressed people roaming the city in packs, all wielding varying degrees of magic unlike any the assembled Heroes had ever seen. Vigilantess had the most experience in such things, but she could only say that such powers had been heard of but not seen in the remotest regions of Africa, and she had never encountered it before. Further questions had been cut short when one of the missing scouts, a young heroine named Firechalk, had come running up to the front door of the building. Clearly visible only a short pace behind her had been one of the large packs the Wall had learned to be wary of.
There hadn’t been any need to discuss what had to be done. Within a minute, the assembled Heroes had burst from the shelter and decimated the crowd, starting with the gap-toothed old man who had tried to hack the exhausted Firechalk with his glowing bone-axe.
As he carried the shaking girl into the building, the Wall met Vigilantess’ eye as she watched from the worn chair where she had seen the fighting taking place, helpless to do more than cover the entrance with a braced rifle. In a grim voice, he said “Some got away.”
With an equally solemn nod, she turned to look at where Sonya sat with several of the normal people in the room and gestured for her to come over to the chair. Excusing herself and giving the terrified women a reassuring grip before joining her companion, the young woman sat on the floor next to the Heroine as the Wall met Reverand Ceras and passed the dazed girl to him.
“You’re going to have to carry this for me, girl.” Vigilantess said as she began unstrapping the ammunition belt from her shoulder “I’m going to have enough trouble keeping up without it, and you’ve already shown me you listened good when I told you which end was the dangerous one.”
“Huh??”, Sonya blinked in surprise and almost stood up too quickly as the rifle and belt were held out to her. Reflexively, she took both and then started to give them back. “Hey! These aren’t mine! You’re the Heroine here! And, what do you mean ’keep up’?”
The other woman didn’t take the items back and a hard light came into her eyes as she met Sonya’s stare. “Don’t pull that dumb-girl act on me. You’re too smart not to know exactly what’s going to have to happen now. Our location has been compromised. They’ll come back as soon as they have enough to take on what we just threw at them…which happens to be everything we have. If we’re still here when that goes down, every normal person in this room is going to die. We have to move, and there’s only one place we can go.”
Sonya nodded as she reluctantly put on the belt as she had seen Vigilantess wear it for so long. “Yeah, I guess. But it’s just not right! You’re supposed to have this!”
A smile broke the stern face of her companion as Vigilantess said “You’ve been carrying it for a good bit of time lately, so I don’t see anyone else I’d rather have it. Besides, I’ve still got my hold-out gun in my boot, and a few surprises in my main belt. Don’t worry, girl, I can take care of myself right enough. But I can’t use that worth beans at the moment while still keeping pace, so it’s going to be up to you to watch over everyone I can’t when we go out those doors.”
Something about those words sent a chill down Sonya’s back and she looked towards the front of the building. She could see the Wall and several other Heroes talking and making plans out on the street while Captain Jackhammer and Willowspear started getting the inhabitants of the shelter ready to leave. Reaching down, she helped Vigilantess to her feet, and gave the pained woman the walking stick someone had found for her just before the confrontation. “We won the battle. Why would they come back?”
A clipped laugh escaped Vigilantess’ clenched teeth as she sought to find her balance, and it was only when she started walking towards the front doors that she said “Battle? That was just a skirmish. The battle’s yet to come, and it’ll come alright! They didn’t do all this just to make us uncomfortable. That African magic I heard of? It was supposed to be connected to the end of the world, and used by those who hate life like you hate mosquitoes!
“They’ll come at us because we’re still alive and not part of their cult. Unless we want to give them what they want, we have to get out of here fast!”
___________________________________________
The passage through the silent, streetlamp-lit streets was a march of the dispossessed. The twenty-seven normal men, women, and children moved through the city they had grown up in or lived in for many years, now horribly changed and bereft of life, with the hurried pace of those who desperately want to reach safety but know that every step could lead them further into harm. Around them, the Heroes they had come to hope in again soared or leapt, or ran at dizzying speeds, guarding them from the danger all knew was stalking them. Familiar landmarks came and went, old stores and restaurants frequented only days ago passed with only a glimpse to note if each would disgorge a gang of bone-carrying death dealers upon them.
It was halfway towards the gate in the War Walls that led out of Astoria and to Paragon City that they found what they had dreaded. There, where Eighth Street and Parson Avenue met outside a small park, the gathered mobs of the Banished unleashed their rage in a wave of bone-clad bodies and insane yells that froze every normal human who heard them. The Heroes who stood to meet that tide charged back, their own battle cries and shouts of defiance drowning out the crazed voices of the rabble they crashed into. Eldritch bone and spell met super-enhanced flesh and metal, the booming of blows and the cries of the injured merging into the cacophony of battle as each side sought to force the other to give way.
From his place deep in Moth Cemetery, the former Reverend Rockage heard the clash but did not react visibly to his lieutenants as they told him the battle was going badly, that the Heroes had far too much power for the gathered Banished to defeat them. Most of all, that once the Heroes had reached the gate and passed their charges through to safety, that they would come here and all would be lost. He knew their confidence in his leadership had been shaken badly when the Cleansing had not just killed the strongest, the ones who could resist, but even those who had been intended to be the new amusements for their dark masters. More, that some of those strongest had escaped so powerful a spell was inconceivable to the leaders he had gathered, let alone to the hundreds of living followers who they had shielded from the spell only by great effort. If he had still been in his role as Reverend Rockage and not Gimatiki, this latest vocal questioning of his leadership would have led him to consider if those around him might not decide to offer him up as a sacrifice to appease their overlords for the loss of their expected prizes.
He did not react, because he was already beyond such things, and had known the attack would fail from the moment it had been ordered by himself. It was just for this reason that he now dared what no other had for centuries, and the smallness of his followers’ faith ignited only anger in him. The candles, set in exactly the pattern set forth in the book he had so carefully studied flickered as a swirling breeze swept around him, and he lifted his arms high in the air as he called out in joy and rage. Saying the word long hidden by those dead thousands of years, he undid the last of the bindings on the entity his true master had commanded they free, and called forth the doom of life on this world.
As the ground and headstones shook around them and the dark clouds began to turn in a whirlpool of night blackness above them, a groan deep and powerful escaped from the earth. In front of them, the reflection pool surrounding the huge edifice that was the Crypt of the Unforgotten fell away, draining into the rent earth beneath it as the entire complex, a structure as large as a small fortress, twisted with a rumble of grinding rock. Turning slowly as if it were the valve on a pipe, the stone structure rotated until it was completely reversed from its former facing.
Then, the doors spaced around the crypt’s sides flew open with a howl of escaping wind, and it was only when the figures started marching from those doors that Rockage lowered his hands and turned towards his fellows. Across each cheek, a small, ever-changing symbol glowed and an infernal light seemed to glow within his eyes as he regarded the men stepping back from him.
Raising his hand to them, he said “It is done! He walks the Bridge of Worlds, and comes to those who have severed his bonds! The Sleeper is free, and all of this world will know his darkness as the last thing they will see! To your knees, and pray Lughebu finds your disbelief amusing and does not send you to join them! Behold his legions, sent in confirmation of his satisfaction of our success! Cry his name, as all upon this world will!
“Hail Lughebu! The Dark One comes as you command, and death comes to this world!”
< To Be Continued >
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
15.
The battle between the refugee Heroes and the mystically-empowered mob was going better than Willowspear had dared hope when she first saw the hundreds of half-clad people charging at them. Only the knowledge that the normal people behind her would stand no chance at all had propelled her forwards with the others to meet the assault, thinking that this might be her last battle but determined to go out as she had lived; fighting to the last. Surprisingly though, only a few of the crowd held weapons that could actually threaten the kind of superhuman power that stopped their attack cold, and none of her fellows had given those with them a chance to land a blow. Already, the mob was beginning to fragment and flee back into the depths of Astoria, and she cast her mystical javelin at yet another of the strangely-tattooed shaman that seemed to be the leaders of the crowd. He went to his knees as the shaft phased through him and took his physical strength with it, and crumpled to the street even before the enchanted spear returned to her hand.
It was when she looked towards the street ahead of them that Willowspear understood that her premonition that this might be her last battle was both truer than she could have guessed, and might not be true at all. “To the front! Behold! Our foe has truly come!” she called out to the Heroes around her.
From her place beside Vigilantess, Sonya saw what Willowspear had noticed, and her blood went cold. Approaching in lock-step were rows and columns of what could only be called an army of the undead. Half-decomposed bodies walked with only bits of clothing and equipment still clinging to them, but walk they did despite the obvious truth that none of them could be alive. Some wore uniforms and carried weapons dating to the First World War, while others wore even older period clothing. Some, though, wore the unmistakable costumes of superpowered men and women, and although Sonya could not tell how she knew, she was certain these were those Villians put in unmarked graves within Moth Cemetery by the 1960-era vigilante known as the Burialist.
And they were led by a figure she had never wanted to see again. Sonya sucked in a startled breath at the change in the former Reverend Rockage as he strode with a confidence that told her more than the artifacts he wore that she was looking at the person both the zombie army and the mob that was regrouping around them called their leader.
Unsure what the new arrivals were capable of, the Heroes drew into a tight circle around the refugees as the army split and surrounded them outside of striking distance. Waiting for the attack to come, all were surprised when the undead around them came to a sudden halt as the two encircling arms of their formation met, completely cutting off any escape, and then stood facing them without motion. Sonya saw Rockage step forwards and heard him as he called out to the refugees.
“You have truly surprised me with your tenacity in getting this far, but as you can see, this is the end.” He said as he lifted both arms to either side of them “These are the servants of Lughebu, and they will not be as easy as my minions to force from their ground. You may not go forward, and your way back is blocked. There is only the way of the Banished to all sides, and if you will not join us alive, then you will join us dead.”
“Never!” the Iron Wall said as he raised one huge fist to shake at Rockage. “No bunch o’ rejects from a bad fright show are gonna scare us into being one o’ your toads. You just come on, and let’s see who goes down!”
Despite his words, Sonya could see he was sweating under his mask, his eyes twitching from side to side as he looked for, and failed to find, a way out of their situation. Looking around, she saw the others were the same, each seeming to sense the level of danger around them was more than they could possibly defeat, and it was finally to her mentor that she looked for a last hope of escape.
Vigilantess was looking at Rockage with a stare that reminded Sonya of the memories she had seen of the warrioress when she had entered the other’s mind, of the days Vigilantess had cut a swath of vengeance across anyone who had come between her and those who had been responsible for the death of her beloved. It was without looking at Sonya that she grasped the arm not carrying the rifle and said “You stay here and be ready to put a bullet in that creep’s head if he tries anything.”
Before Sonya could protest, the Heroine was limping out of the ring of defenders towards Rockage, leaning heavily on the walking stick as she moved to stand in front of him. Looking him in the eye, she spat at his feet and said “You cheap scumbucket. I guess using Phillip wasn’t enough for you, eh? No, you had to go and grab every single corpse in Moth. What’s it going to be this time? Going to burn them all into cinders once they’d pounded us to death?”
Rockage smiled a deaths-head grin as he folded his arms in front of him. “Vigilantess! I might have guessed you’d be in this crowd. You never did know when to drop that idiotic crusade of yours. But you won’t succeed in what you are attempting here…these have no mind to understand that you are trying to get them to turn on me. And my more human-like followers know I am the Gimatiki, that to disobey me is to seal their fate with our Masters. I –do- appreciate you coming to talk with me, though…if only for old times’ sake. It will make killing you so much more satisfying.”
Gripping the end of her walking stick in a white-knuckled hand, she shook her head and snorted. “Oh, I’d like to see –you- try to kill me. You’ve been trying to do that to a young, inexperienced girl for a while now, but your goons haven’t been up to the task, have they? -Them-, I worried about. You won’t even make me breath hard.”
“Ahhh…you must mean Sonya Robinowitz.” Rockage tilted his head to one side as he looked beyond her. “Why, yes…I think I see her there! You have no idea how disappointed I was when you kept her from me, but I wasn’t trying to kill her. Her family owes a debt to the Banished that must be paid, and now I see you’ve delivered her right to me. I was rather hoping she was one of those in your little rag-tag bunch. I’m glad to see I was right! I’ll be able to settle an old debt and see you in the grave on the same day!”
Vigilantess’ eyes tightened as she balanced on her good leg, deciding that she could get to the hold-out gun in the boot any time she wanted to. With a contemptuous laugh, she said “Well then, why don’t you come on and do it? You seem to be good at getting other people to do your work for you. Let’s see you do something for yourself.”
At that moment, there was a deep booming from the sky above them, and she joined the other refugees in looking towards its source. There, the dark clouds had begun to swirl as though in an inverted whirlpool, and a dark hole was opening in the middle of that storm. To either side of it, crimson bolts of lightning arced down to strike at Astoria, and a wind began to kick up the dust and debris around them. With a dawning horror replacing her cold resolve, she looked back at Rockage, who was now smiling a little less than he had.
“You see?” Rockage said in a low voice. “Even I am a tool for others, a means to an end. The Dark One comes to the world at my Master’s bidding, and you know as well as I that it means the end to daylight and the world as you know it.”
“That’s…not possible!” she took a step backwards before she realized her bad leg could not handle such a movement, and almost toppled to the ground before she could right herself. She all but screamed at him, the words seeming to come from another within her. “They sealed him away!! None could find him again!!”
“Yet the way to do so was there all along.” He laughed as he said “I suppose one of those Arch-mages who participated when Oranbega helped push him out of this world wanted a little leverage against those who would threaten him, and copied the unbinding method to his spellbook so he wouldn’t forget. The book your dear beloved unwittingly brought back from the buried vaults that day. The fool all but gave me a blueprint for dooming this world, and delivering a feast to my Master such as he has never had!”
At those words, Vigilantess’ hand flew to her boot, only to grasp empty air. The gun was gone! Looking around in a rage-fueled panic, she finally looked at Rockage and snarled “Filthy murderer! You killed Phillip, and now you’re trying to kill everyone?? Well you can start with me! Come on!! I’ve got one good leg, but that’s more than you are worth! Get your own hands dirty, if you think you can take me!!”
“Oh, I don’t think so. You see, I know about the unique enchantment that the thorn you accepted placed on you.” Rockage’s smile grew wide again. “I’m not going to lay hands on you just to have my magic turn in against me. Being immune to magic in any form may make you reckless, but I happen to know what it would do to me if the spells around me came into contact with you. In fact, I’m willing to bet you already figured out that none of my undead can touch you without the same effect. Why do you think I relied on Frostheart to deal with you all those years? Her magic nature was the only one I had ever found to match your un-magic….and you had to go and banish her. Such a waste of talent.
“However, I wouldn’t be a proper Gimatiki if I didn’t have someone to take her place.”
Rockage turned so that Vigilantess could see the figure that had been standing unseen behind him. The person was a shorter man in the tattered remains of a business suit that would have fit into the era of bootleggers and Capone, and he smoked a cigar that curled smoke about his glasses as he gazed over at her. That he showed far more sentience than those behind him could not disguise the fact that he, too, was one of those brought back from the dead.
“Hiya, Miss Vigilantess! I seen you been keeping good care of my relation there! Glad ta meet ya!” the man bowed and tipped his moth-eaten hat as he said “You can call me ‘Spanky’, and I thank ya kindly for delivering to me what’s mine!”
With that, he produced Vigilantess’ missing hold-out pistol from his jacket, and fired three shots.
<To be Continued>
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
16.
The undead hand of Spanky Rabinowitz dropped the empty handgun by the slumped form of Vigilantess as he walked with Rockage towards the waiting group of refugees, his hand producing a cigar and lighter from the folds of his coat. “Let’s all just take a step back from the young woman, shall we?” he asked the assembled Heroes and civilians “After all, no sense you getting hurt trying to get in the way of family ties.”
When the group failed to move, he turned to Rockage and lit the cigar. “I dunno. I guess Heroes are a bit less reasonable than in my day. Maybe your boyos can clear out the trash, and I can collect what we both need to settle up our debts?”
However, Rockage was backing away suddenly, his face no longer a study in confident triumph but dawning fear. Quickly turning back to where the group of refugees huddled, Spanky’s cigar dropped from his mouth as his dead jaw fell open at the sight before him.
All he could say was “Tarnation!”
__________________________________________________
Sonya saw the walking cadaver that called itself her great-great-grandfather draw Vigilantess’ pistol from his jacket, and the three flashes from its muzzle. She saw the heroine fly backwards as the bullets struck her, seeming to meet no defenses Sonya could see. She saw the way the woman-warrior fell to the pavement, and knew only the most serious blow could cause such collapse from her.
Then something broke inside her, a small barrier that had been in place since the day of her birth, and she saw nothing as she dropped to her knees, oblivious to anything but the knowledge and recognition that came flooding into her.
Sonya’s mind reeled under the impact of so much knowledge suddenly thrust upon her. She knew the shock of seeing her guardian struck down had been the trigger for the flood, but although that scene played over and over in her mind, it became a background image as another series of memories burst onto her.
She saw all of the dreams she had experienced of Anamoris’ garden, long before she had met the ancient sorceress, each merging with the one before it until they seemed one unified memory. Each, she now realized, had been slightly different in ways that she hadn’t noticed before, such as a squirrel family in a tree, or a new bush growing to the side of the path. Now, they all crowded together and flowed into the times she had spent with Anamoris talking within Vigilantess’ mind.
Those blurred as well into a constant fast-forward replaying of conversations, and Sonya heard the words of the sorceress as they became one mass soundtrack of overlapping voices. Out of this stream of words and gestures came lessons and knowledge that connected the new information flowing from behind the broken wall in her mind with what she had heard from Anamoris about the days when magic had ruled the world as technology did in Sonya’s. In seconds, Sonya understood not only how to use magic, but how to find the secret within her that contained an inheritance beyond her imagining. Suddenly, she knew why Rockage had been so driven to capture her. She knew why Vigilantess had been tasked with protecting her. Most of all, she knew why Anamoris had hidden her lessons on magic and its use so deeply that only an event so traumatic could have unleashed them.
And with that last knowledge, came the power.
With a cry of mingled loss and relief, Sonya Rabinowitz thrust her hand skyward, and called the power of Earth itself into play.
Around the refugees, the ground suddenly buckled and cracked, the ranks of undead and Banished shamen disappearing into the yawning depths of the deep pits that appeared under them as they sought belatedly to pull back. Lightning speared down from the spinning clouds, unerringly striking those who attempted to hastily bring magic into play, and the entire section of ground where the refugees stood lurched upwards and separated itself from the surface of the planet. A glowing sphere of soft light surrounded the group as the island on which they floated began to slowly move towards the gate out of Astoria.
However, it was Sonya who most of the assembled refugees stared at. She floated just above them, arms spread to either side, an aura of unmistakable power visible around her. Her gaze travelled from left to right, seeming to bring new bolts of lightning wherever she saw an enemy, and all within the floating sphere of magic could feel the titanic forces surging around them. The Heroes within knew instinctively that the barrier between the outside world and themselves was beyond even their ability to breach, and could only watch alongside the civilians with them as wave after wave of undead charged to attack it.
Every attack failed, the assaults meeting tornadoes that appeared from thin air or barrages of lightning that were far more powerful than any magic-using human had ever conjured in modern times. Those undead who reached the wall of energy surrounding them were repelled and thrown backwards with small tendrils of smoke flowing in their wake. Energies of spells thrown by the Banished cascaded off the barrier as flashes of light, no more effective than the undead horde in penetrating what seemed an invunerable shield against them. All the while, the floating island continued its steady progress towards the gate that was their only hope of escape.
Sonya glanced down at Vigilantess, lying in the arms of a civilian woman who was trying to treat the gunshot wounds. She knew now that powerful enchantments surrounded the warrioress, magic that would allow no other magic to affect her, and that even Sonya's immense power could not be used to heal her. With a grinding of her teeth and tears that refused to stay away, she told Vigilantess "You aren't done here! He's still out there, the man you swore to take down. Don't you dare die!"
They were barely twenty meters from the gate when she felt a change in the world around her. The very air seemed to close in about them, and the dim light began to fade as the wind began rushing in a new direction. Glancing up, Sonya saw the hole that had been growing in the sky was no longer empty. There, two massive forms were beginning to take shape, things that seemed to be taking the form of smoke-black wings. The thing onto which they were attached was still within the void, but she could see one taloned hand grasping forward as though trying to gain purchase and pull what was still hidden into view.
With this, the tide of battle turned abruptly. Shadows formed from the sky and charged at the floating island, their strikes rending the shield and allowing quick strikes at those within before it reformed. Several Heroes took wounds before anyone could react, and those struck fell to their knees in agony. It was only a thought for Sonya to heal them, but the attacks were becoming stronger, and she realized they were not actual creatures that were attacking, but the will of the monstrous thing that was pushing into their world. That thing was death incarnate, it's one purpose to end all life, and it was determined to strike at the one person who represented everything it hated.
Her.
With a cry of mixed terror and determination, she summoned every part of the power she had come into, and threw the very thing it hated in its path. Against the power of death, she used life.
Seeds almost rendered sterile by the onslaught of the Banished suddenly burst into full life, shooting huge vines and trees of impossible size skyward in explosive waves of dirt that propelled those Banished unfortunate enough to be above them into walls and debris with bone-cracking force. The branches reached towards the hole in the sky, and the hand that had been groping from within suddenly began to move backwards as the unseen force the trees were generating pushed it away. Lifeless birds suddenly beat their wings again, lifting to the sky in flocks that formed into large clouds of bodies, flinging themselves in the hundreds at the form above them. On the ground, animals that had been as decimated as the human population rose again to charge at the forces of the Banished in frenzied rage. In seconds, the battle within Astoria became a whirlwind of chaos and fighting.
But Sonya realized it was not enough. As each wall of trees and plantlife was raised against the thing above, its wraithlike will reached out to extinguish it. Each bird striking it fell lifeless again to the ground, and all the power she sent to push it back into the prison it had occupied for so long could only slow it. She raised another phalanx of trees, and again they died after pushing back for only a moment. It was a force of nature, and she saw that even her immense power would not hold against it directly for long.
That was when Vigilantess reached into the pouch at her belt and brought out the gem she had warned Sonya about so many days ago. Cradling it in one blood-stained hand, she gave a small smile as she pushed off the woman tending her and half-crawled, half-rolled to the edge of the barrier. Sonya, caught in her own struggle, only saw what was happening the instant before Vigilantess flung herself through the barrier and down to the ground below.
Light flared from below them, a bright beacon that outlined the shadowed buildings and clouds in stark blue-white contrast, and which forced the wraiths to retreat back to the void high above. The source of that light rose until it was in front of them, and Sonya saw the ghostly form of Anamoris hanging next to her barrier, the robes of the sorceress flowing in the wind as she nodded to her.
"Well done, long-descended daughter. Your lessons have been truely learned, and not without worth." Anamoris raised her hand to indicate Astoria behind her "Behold the prison. Behold the thing that must be imprisoned. You cannot prevail against it, but you can stop it from gaining this world. That which I gave you, now give unto me."
"No! You'll..." Sonya had almost said 'die', but she realized that it was already so. Anamoris had died many centuries ago, and even the knowledge and power Sonya held could not change that after so long. No matter how much she wanted to keep Anamoris beside her, to ask her so many questions now that she knew the link between them, and to learn the answers to why so much had happened, there was simply no way it could be so. In the eyes of the ancient sorceress who had so long ago been the start of Sonya's family line, the younger woman saw acceptance of this and a decision that would brook no argument.
With a half-sob, Sonya extended her hand past the barrier and touched the fingers of the ghost before her, a spark passing between them. In the next instant, the barrier and the island on which they floated ceased to exist as the magic that held both in place disappeared. All upon it fell slowly to the ground below, where they landed as though only having dropped a few inches instead of meters. Next to them, the gate leading out of Astoria began to open as those within saw the assembled Heroes and refugees and sought to give aid to them.
Looking up, Sonya and those on the ground saw Anamoris rise up to the hole in the sky, her form lost in the brilliance of the light surrounding her. Lines of arcane force spread out from her to touch the struggling warwalls, each suddenly glowing with runes and patterns of force before the fields they generated redoubled and became firm. In the next moment, Anamoris was joined by three other lights that appeared next to her, and a chime rang out across the landscape. The four lights came together and entered the void, the thing beyond being pushed back until there was a clap of thunder and the hole abruptly closed, leaving only a mass of clouds that began to descend to the city below. In minutes, Astoria would become blanketed in those clouds, casting the dead city into an endless gloom that would not end, even in full daylight.
But Sonya could only stare upwards as she and the others were surrounded by armed soldiers from the gate and hurried to the other side. The last thing she saw before the massive gates closed behind them was a single pinpoint of light, fading into nothingness where the great hole in the sky had been.
________________________________________________
In the days to follow, the City would gaze upon lost Astoria and hear the accounts of the few survivors. It would decide that there was nothing left to save, there where the Banished now ruled a dead kingdom and where only the emergency generators kept the streetlights on, fed somehow by forces no one dared to investigate. They would raze the road leading to that forsaken place and seal the gate to it with mystic spells to ensure only those from the outside with the proper clearance could enter that dread place. Soon, Astoria would only be known to most as Dark Astoria, a place where the world had ended one dark day and to be avoided as anything other than a lesson in how selfishness and unquestioning devotion to a single, deceptive voice could lead to damnation. Soon, it would be all but forgotten by most within Paragon City, a painful chapter in the history of a city soon faced with more pressing matters.
But the story of Astoria was not done.
<To Be Continued>
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
17.
She sat upon a rock, watching them walk across the field that seperated the farthest road of Talos Island from the gate behind her. It was clear they were new to this area, and probably hadn't gotten their new security clearances more than few days ago.
The two Heroes walked with the characteristic confidence that all of them aquired after they had put enough Hellions or Circle of Thorns into the Zig, and had come to feel that they were finally getting a good idea how things worked, but now that confidence was shaken. She could see that they kept giving the War Wall dominating the skyline ahead of them a nervous glance, as though expecting something to come jumping through it. They were still too far away for her to hear what they were saying, but she pretty well knew what it would be.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" one would say, "We could stick to Talos for a while 'till we get a better feel for that place."
"No way! This is our chance to prove we can take on anything them Freedom Force guys can!" the other would reply, his voice full of false bravado, "Once we've come back with a few of those Banished masks as proof, we'll be -real- Heroes!"
"Maybe we should get some more people for this, then." the first would say after another look at the blank buildings just visible behind the shimmering fields of energy, "Backup, you know? It's supposed to be haunted by ghosts, and neither one of us has gone up against those yet."
"I ain't scared of no ghosts!" the second would scoff, "And how is anyone we get on the radio going to treat us when they find out we ain't been in there before we called for help? Heronet would be full of people calling us out. Besides, I hear the mediports work just fine in that hospital in there...just that everything is on automatic 'cause they can't find anyone who'll stay on the staff there."
And so it would go, one trying to talk sense into the other until they either turned around or went through to what awaited beyond. They had no real idea what they were walking into, and it was doubtful anyone had told them that even being dead would not mean that you couldn't be hurt.
Sonya Rabinowitz adjusted the sunglasses she wore as she waited for them to cross the distance between them, and glanced up to make sure of the time. It was important to make sure you had the time to get in and out before sunset in this part of the City, and that in turn made her think of what lay behind her. She had returned to Astoria half a dozen times in the years since the day her life had changed irrovocably, and even she didn't know everything that was going on within the dead ruins of her former home. What she did know came from the accounts of those who went in and returned to tell the tale, and that which she could discover by accompanying expeditions of new Heroes into the area.
After the Fall and the rebinding of the monstrous entity that they called 'the Sleeper', the Banished Pantheon had largely fragmented into a dozen sub-tribes, all working to undo the new mystic wards and bring it back to this world. But each tribe worked as hard to impede the others as to accomplish the deed, and the net result was a lack of cooperation that had largely kept them from making much progress on the task. At the same time, the Circle of Thorns had groups of their own followers working to strengthen the bonds, knowing that the entity within would seek out their Order for special punishment if it broke free. The mystic tug-of-war had gone on for years now, with neither side seeming to gain ground.
Sonya knew better, though. There was one among the Banished who had the knowledge to do it, and there was no doubt he would find a way to do so again. She had hunted for Rockage every time she had returned to Astoria, even on the expedition lead by the Freedom Phalanx that had built a new southern War Wall when the old had been damaged by a unique set of accidents. No trace had ever come to her, and all she had was a certainty that bordered on premonition that he was doing what he had done before...planning and waiting to strike. When he did, Sonya knew he would be sure of his success. There would be no ancient sorceress to reseal the passage this time.
Thinking back on that day, Sonya closed her eyes and thought about what it had cost her. The transference of her magical power to Anamoris had done more than given the ghost a chance to reseal the breach between worlds. It had also taken the knowledge that gave access to that power with it, and it had been a long struggle to regain even the shadow of the talent she had had that day. Even with MAGI's resources, Sonya found she could only manage a fraction of what most full-blown mages could do. That was still quite above what most 'normals' could do, of course, and she had found other ways to compensate for what others might consider a handicap in the magical arena.
Sonya owed that to her mentor, the woman who had meant so much to her for the short time they had spent together. It had only been after the shock had worn away that she had come to understand how much she valued what Vigilantess had shown her could be done if you had the heart to never give up, to keep fighting to the end with the weapons you had to use. Sonya thought she understood now how her mentor had breached her own protection to use the gem she had carried to free Anamoris from the thorn within, even though that had meant her own death. But Vigilantess had done it anyway, and given the world another chance to live.
Sonya opened her eyes and saw the two Heroes just ten paces away. She kept the assault rifle balanced on the rock next to her with her left hand as she used the other to tip the bill of her military-style cap at them and said "Howdy, guys. Going into the Dark?"
The larger of the two, a real tank of a man wearing a blue and white jumpsuit with a hammer embroidered on the chest looked to his companion before nodding and saying "Yeah. You gonna try to talk us outta it?"
Smiling, she shook her head. "Nope. But something tells me you haven't been in there before. Could be you might be interested in some help?"
The second, a thin man wearing some sort of environmental suit that only left his mouth and eyes visible took a step forwards at this, and before the other could stop him said excitedly "Yes! We'd be glad for some! Were you looking to form a team?"
"Well, not really. But I try to be around when anyone goes in there for the first time." Jumping down to the ground, she slung her rifle on her shoulder and brushed off some pebbles from her camouflaged pants. "That place doesn't need any more ghosts, after all."
"You've been in there before?" the thin man asked, his hands seeming to glow a slight green as his mood lifted.
"Once or twice." Sonya adjusted her tactical belt before she turned and began walking towards the nearby gate. "Let's get moving. You wouldn't want to be here at night. "
As they approached the gate, she gazed up at the immense structure of the War Walls, knowing these particular structures were unique in all of the City. These walls would never age, would never fracture from normal stress, and would never run out of power. They were the most important walls in the world, and one of the greatest secrets within MAGI.
Anamoris had done more than seal the breach between walls. She had changed the War Walls around Astoria, enchanting them with the power Sonya had so briefly directed. The sorceress had known the Banished would eventually undo her work again, and had prepared for it without them being the wiser. While they worked to undo one prison, they were unaware that success would only unleash their monster into a second, far stronger cage, one that encompassed all of Astoria. One where the only things alive for it to vent its rage on would be the very ones who had set it free. The mayors of Paragon City and the highest officers of MAGI were the only ones who knew of this last secret, and it set them against any attempt to reclaim Astoria.
Until that day, Sonya would continue to lead new Heroes into Dark Astoria, helping them fight the horrors within while hunting for the one man who had cost so many so much.
"I'm Cobalt Smithy" the tank-man said, gesturing behind him to his companion. "That's Radarian."
Sonya smiled again as she unslung her rifle, clicking a fresh magazine in place before she said "You can call me Nightbreaker."
Together, they walked past the Police guards and into the darkness that waited beyond.
THE END
.
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.
1.
"You don't have to fear."
Sonya Rabinowitz knew she was dreaming. The dream had come many times before in her sixteen years of life, and she had become familiar with its progression. In fact, the scene before her was the reason she knew she was dreaming...she had been here over and over, the frequency increasing these last years, until she was as familiar with it as her room at home.
She walked though a forest, seemingly at night. Around her, the great trees grew above the smaller grasses and plantlife, blocking the sky and enclosing the path she tread on in a shadow. That Sonya could see well enough to note the small animals that paced her on either side of the path within that gloom was another testiment to the unreal quality of the world she was in. She knew she had to continue down the path ahead, as she had before countless times, and at the end, through the dark opening between two massive trees that the path passed into, she would see the great haunted castle that was always locked to her.
So many, many times. She was tired of it, and just wanted to wake up.
"You don't have to fear."
The voice was something new. She had never heard the calm, masculine voice in her other dreams, and looking for its source as she walked, she saw there were people as well as animals walking beside her in the forest. Despite appearing only as shadows moving among the others, she felt she knew them.
"All beginnings come from endings."
Sonya couldn't see the speaker, and she realized it was as if the trees themselves were speaking. She was about to turn and leave the path to check this when a feminine voice replaced the first, seeming to come from just over her shoulder.
"The world is life, and life gives the world purpose to be."
Still walking forwards, she began to feel a dread about what lay beyond the portal of tree limbs and leaves before her. Always, it had been the castle, but now she felt it would not be, and that made her panic. Desperately, Sonya tried to turn away, to run back the up the path to where she could awake rather than face what she otherwise would, but found that she could not. She could stop, standing on the path before the omnious arcway ahead, but she could not move a centimeter backwards.
"While life endures, there is hope."
Knowing, but not knowing how she did, that the only way from the dream was through the living archway, she stepped forwards. Instantly, she came out of the forest to see a wide plain streatching out far below her to the horizon. The sun was a dim presence behind dark clouds that overshadowed the wide expanse, and from those clouds a dull rumble of continuous thunder seemed to threaten to pour forth at any moment.
As she watched from the cliff where the forest trail ended, Sonya saw two great armies charging at each other on that desolate landscape. On her side of the plains were arrayed a vast line of heroes. She knew them as everyone who grew up in Paragon City did, and the greatest among them were names of almost legendary scale.
Manticore.
Sister Psych.
Statesman.
Then she saw that the line was not just of heroes, but of those she knew to be the worst of Humanity's lot. Lord Recluse, Ghost Widow, and even the evil alien Rikti, who had devestated much of the city less than a year ago, were among the crowd, villians who preyed on those with less power than themselves and whom the heroes of the City did constant and sometimes obsessive combat with. Yet here they were, charging across the plain as one massive, unstoppable force.
When she saw the other army charging across the plain from the other side to meet them, she knew true fear then. They were undead nightmares from every bad movie she had ever seen, shambling corpses brandishing weapons and screaming spirits who seemed to fly over the heads of their earth-bound kin. Seeing the speed with which they ran, Sonya found the laughs she had given to each of the zombie movies her classmates had forced her to watch die in her throat. These were an army as vast as that of the living beings rushing to meet them, and their hatred for the living host arrayed against them was almost a physical thing that she could feel constricting the breath from her lungs.
And she knew, with the power of every Hero and Villian in the world placed firmly in their path, the end was not in doubt.
"You don't have to fear...."
The dead would stand truimphant over them all.
"...until the world ends."
When the lines met with a crash of flung power and hurled blows, a blackness consumed her vision, and she fell into the soul-crushing terror that filled her.
<To be continued>
Those who think Truth is relative haven't had a Tank land on their car.