The Pitch
Dr. Proxy slid a thin black laptop and a thick silver cylindar out of the bag, laying them on the table in front of him. He rubbed his hands together, glancing at FD and Soft.
"Ok. Well, here's the deal. I want to take over the world. I've started with you guys as the core of a group to help me achieve this goal. I've extended my being far into the future, of this reality and others, in order to collect the information I need to take control."
"Why would I want to make you ruler of the world?" FD leaned back in the chair glaring. "I ain't serving nobody." Dr. Proxy laughed.
"I don't want to rule the world. I want to take control for a short period. Control all political and economic institutions. Once I've verified that the goal has been reached, I intend to move on to other things. I'm not here to provide guidance. I don't mean to gratify my ego by bending others to my will..."
"Then why bother?"
"Why do people bother to climb mountains? To see if it can be done. And as a stepping stone to other goals."
"How you gonna take over the world with 4 people? Where's your army?" Proxy laughed.
"Brute force is the weakest form of control. We don't need an army. But I need your talents in the right places and times in order to guide the process. If it works, I will be in complete control. And nobody will realize it. Or care if they do."
"This sounds stupid. Why am I going along with this?"
Dr. Proxy booted the computer and turned the screen to face FD. It was black for a moment and then a cartoon view of a car in a driveway appeared. It was a big blocky open-topped convertible with ridiculously oversized tires. A pixelated cartoon FD walked into view and hopped into the car smiling. There was a pause and then 3 long-legged beauty queens in bikinis and sashes appeared and hopped into the car as well. The cartoon FD smiled and the car started bouncing in place, the shocks pumping it up and down.
FD mumbled something incoherent, rubbing his jaw. Recursive groaned as the beauty queen in the passenger seat leaned down, her head disappearing from view. She reappeared a moment later holding a long white object, maybe a foot long relative to the size of the things on screen. The Cartoon FD took it and placed it to his lips as a dark haired beauty queen in the back leaned forward and lit the other end. Smoke gushed out of the huge joint as the car started bouncing again and the beauty queens smiled, their diamond tiaras sparkling.
"Awwww....maaaaan......"
The car started rolling forward, smoke gushing out of the joint and the tailpipe of the convertible. Strange people on the street cheered as it rolled by--a man in armor with a flaming skull for a head, a purple skinned blond in a long coat, strange armored freaks and skeletal creatures. Suddenly the car turned off the road and broke through a wooden fence. It rolled into a public park, running over picnic groups--blood spurting, limbs flying...
"Daaaamn, crap...it's sooo beautiful...that's the good life." FD turned the laptop around back towards Proxy, rubbing his eyes. "Stop it man I'm gonna cry.."
Proxy laughed and closed the screen. "You on board then?"
"Yeah, yeah..whatever."
"Me now now meeee!" Soft wriggled in her seat tapping her fingers frenetically on the table. "What is good good for meee?"
Proxy reached over and took Soft's left hand, pulling her arm forward and palm up on the table. "Stay still now." He then took the metal tube and unscrewed the top. He slowly placed the opening of the container on the middle of Soft's palm. There was a moment of silence, then a small white mouse gingerly slipped out of the tube, crawling on to Soft's wrist.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMeeee OOOOOOOOOOOHooooooooooohhhhhhhhh--oooooohh--OOOOOOOOOOOhh!!!!"
Soft's whole body quivered, the skin rippling as the little rodent crept up her forearm, licking the exposed areas of green skin. FD laughed.
"That's what she wants?!?"
"Yes indeed, now Soft if you would just hand the little mouse over fo.." With lightning speed Soft scooped up the mouse and shoved it whole inside her mouth. "No no no I'm not gonna take it away from you. Here look."
The doctor took a large plastic box out of the duffel and placed it on the table. He unscrewed a circular lid off of the top. "See? It's her house." Soft regurgitated the mouse and put it on top of the box. It crawled inside and went to a small square object in the corner. Recursive leaned forward, trying to make it out. The mouse began pushing small buttons on the object. A halting rendition of Mary Had a Little Lamb buzzed out of a speaker built into the base of the cage. Soft clutched the container, pressing her face against the side.
"OOOOooh....oooooooh.....ooooooh........."
Dr. Proxy smiled and lifted the bag, sliding away from the table. He started walking back towards the portal. Recursive rose and walked after him.
"What about me?"
"Hmmmmm?"
"What are you going to offer to get my help? What's the thing I want that's gonna make me help you?" Dr. Proxy laughed.
"Actually, I don't know. The immediate problem is keeping you alive. That's what the portal is for."
FD and Recursive followed him to the portal. He flipped some switches at the base of the platform and power began to hum inside the metal ring. He looked at them.
"So FD and Soft have both attacked Bulb, as well as a couple of heroes you encountered, correct?"
"Yes."
"So his power has increased considerably. In order to compensate, I am sending you to an alternate reality.."
"To run away?"
"Sadly no. He will follow you there immediately. Travel between dimensions is actually easier for the creature than physical movement in this world. He will locate you almost immediately."
"That sounds like a great plan then..."
"However, when he manifests in that reality he will be disoriented. I have here a list of things you have to do." He handed Recursive a folded sheet of paper. "By doing these things, you will blend with the other reality and temporarily throw him off. You need to do the list and it will lead you to a heavy hitter I have lined up to assist you."
Recursive looked over the list in disbelief. "Are you serious?"
"Yes! It's very important you do those things. Once you reach the contact, she will help you deal with Bulb."
She turned to FD. "You can't come with me can you?"
"No baby, sorry. I can't leave the city right now. But I got something for you." FD slid a dark, folded piece of parchment out of his pocket. He opened it up and set it flat on the platform. There was a circular diagram on the surface. He took a knife out of another pocket and sliced an opening in the surface of his right palm. He clenched his fist over the parchement, drops of blood dripping on to the surface, sparking as they hit the diagram which lit up with green fire. He pulled his fist back and grunted.
"YOU B*** A**** M********* G******* C********** DIE DIE DIE DIE!!!" He suddenly droped down, hurling his fist into the diagram. Recursive winced as she anticipated him punching through the platform, but instead his fist stopped on the symbol with a loud peal of thunder, the flames blinding for a moment. Then he stood up holding the parchment, which appeared to be blank once again. He folded it up and handed it to Recursive.
"Take this with you. Always keep it on you."
"What is it?"
"Jessica."
"You're giving me your loopy live-in spook girlfriend?" He laughed.
"No moron she ain't my girlfriend. And she's only like that when she's near me. If she appears and I'm not there, she's bad news man, you gotta be careful. She'll back you up if that [censored] Bulb shows up. But then you gotta tell her that FD promised to help you. You're under my protection--you gotta make that clear."
Recursive slid the paper into her pocket. "Thanks mang."
"No problemo."
She looked at Proxy and sighed. "I guess I'll get this over with." Proxy smiled and pressed some buttons on the side of the portal. A curtain of energy shimmered in the center. "Assuming I don't get killed, how am I gonna make it back here?"
"Don't worry, I'll be in touch. Good Luck!" She stepped through, every molecule of her body jerking out of place, exploding. The chaos of her sensations breaking through like a tongue touching a bug zapper.
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
Recursive staggered a bit as she felt her feet press against solid ground. She looked down at her clothing, now changed to a suede jacket and jeans. She shifted slightly on leather wedge-heeled boots. The air was cooler than it had been, maybe Autumn now in this reality. The wind picked up as pedestrians brushed past her and she began walking with the flow of traffic. The plate glass windows of upscale store fronts flanked her on either side of the street. She dug inside the purse that had appeared at her hip, shifting the strap on her shoulder. She pulled out Proxy's list and looked at the first direction.
1. Don't panic. Bulb is 5 feet behind you. Keep walking until you reach the coffee shop on the right. Enter, get in line, and then order a drink. There is money in the purse. Don't look back.
She clutched the purse strap reflexively, struggling to keep her movements in time with the shoppers around her. There was a footstep behind her. A hollow, thud on the pavement, almost like someone wearing heavy clogs. She took a breath and continued moving, glancing at the storefronts on her right. The coffee shop came up on the right and she ducked in. There was a couple in line at the counter, waiting to place their order. She stepped up behind them, looking furtively back towards the door.
Bulb was standing outside the window, strange lights swimming in the glassy form of its head. People passed by without even looking at it. It pulled a blade out of a suit pocket and dragged the tip slowly over the surface of the glass producing a high pitched squeel. The people at the nearest table didn't even look, continuing their chit chat in between the jabs at their cheesecake. Recursive looked around the room. Was she the only one that could see him?
The clerk called her to the counter. She order a latte and stood there, tapping the counter as they brewed it. When she payed and turned to leave, it was in the shop. Standing in the corner, with a pistol in its gloved hand. She sipped the drink and casually walked to the door, noticing that its outline blurred a bit as she did so. She glanced at the list.
2. Pick up stack of clothing, carry it to the next block and deposit it in the large charity collection box at the edge of the parking lot.
There was a small pile of shirts and jeans on the ground outside the coffee shop. Shifting the drink and map to one hand she scooped them up and started to cross the street. She was jarred a bit as Bulb rushed past her, knocking her to the side and sloshing the coffee. She watched as it ran to a woman partway down the next block and it grabbed her shoulder, spinning her around. The woman yelled and looked around, apparently unable to see what had touched her. As Recursive approached she was still outraged and disoriented. Bulb's body momentarily dissolved and shifted away like smoke on the wind.
"What the hell was that? Did anyone see anything?" She looked at Recursive. "Did you see what pushed me?"
"Sorry ma'am, no I didn't."
Recursive made it to the next street and waited for the traffic to clear. The light changed and she started to cross when there was a resistance at her right arm. Her heart pounded as she realized it was Bulb's gloved fingers pinching the fabric, but she held her composure and casually broke away, walking the to metal collection box on the other side at the edge of a gas station parking lot. She shoved the clothes inside and sipped the coffee as she looked at the list.
3. Hopscotch
There were no hopscotch markings in the immediate area. Tingles of panic flickered through he as she clutched the list and wondered where to go. Without even making a conscious decision she kept walking straight. She sipped the rest of the coffee, watching the reactions of people on the street. Hushed, confused reactions to something behind her. She stopped for a second, tossing the coffee container into a trash can, when a heavy hand gripped her shoulder and restrained her from proceeding.
He had her. For the moment, he was just holding her there. It occurred to Recursive that Bulb may still be unclear on her identity. It may have been waiting for some reaction, some desperate motion that would signal that he had the right target. She shifted awkwardly and felt around her various pockets for FD's folded up paper. She felt a tinge of relief to locate it in her left back pocket, although it didn't seem to be helping her much at the moment.
"Whoaaaa!! Dude what is that?!"
"Like cool man!"
Two adolescent boys stood in front of her. One had a puffy jacket with an oversized fur-lined hood. The greenish surface was covered with stylized aliens and skulls. His baggy pants were a loud contrasting orange as were the shoes. The other kids was more rock and roll, with a plain black t-shirt and jeans, biker boots and black painted fingernails prominent as he puffed a cigarette. His hair was a deflated black mohawk that covered half of his head.
"Is that thing supposed to be a robot or something? Without glancing back, Recursive smiled wanly and tried to satisfy their curiosity.
"Ummm...uh it's kinda like..um performance art." The boy in the hood grinned widely and looked at the other.
"Dude you know what that is? I bet you man it's a Resident! Dude its a new Resident, it's gotta be!"
"Wha--? No.."
"Yeah dude.."
"Wha?"
"Dude yeah seriously...
"No...wha?"
"Yeah dude..forreal..
"Like the Residents haven't put out an album in like 5 years dude!"
"Hell yeah bro totally!"
The kid in the hood got closer to Bulb. Recursive felt the weight of the hand begin to lighten.
"Dude is that like plastic or glass? Is it heavy to wear dude?"
"It's gotta be. Plus the mic in there and stuff.."
"Oh crap dude like can I get your autograph too?"
"Oh hell yeah me too dude.."
The two began writhing and patting themselves down in a frantic search for pen and paper.
"WHOOA!! DUUUUUDE CHECKIT MAN CHECK IT OUT LIKE DDDDAAAAAAAAAMMNN MAN!!!!"
"HOLY crap..wha...like the dude is blowing away man.."
"LIKE HE'S LIKE A HUMAN BONG HIT DUDE CHECK IT OUT!!"
Recursive couldn't help but turn to look as the boys gaping in near religious frenzy. Bulb's form was disintegrating, the sillhouette drifting away like smoke. The idiots had somehow warded it off, made the thing lose cohesion.
"Wow...I'll never doubt the power of belief again..."
"Hey babe can you hook us up with some tickets?"
"Yeah please! That would be so cool..maybe backstage passes.."
"Um you know, this is part of a contest. He's gonna show up again. The first 5 people that can find him walking around this area in 3 different locations get to go on tour with the band!"
"Wha??"
"For real??"
"Yes! Now hurry now, he's probably gonna show up again several blocks south of here. Keep your eyes out for him!"
"Right on! Let's go dude!"
The two ran off and Recursive continued walking. Soon a park came into view on the right. Children were playing on either side of the fence. She stopped by a little girl and leaned down to question her.
"Honey, do you know where I can play hopscotch?" The girl mumbled something and pointed farther off down the street. "Thanks sweetie."
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
Hopscotch? O.o
City of Heroes taught me that when the world is burning, you don't just stand by and watch, you grab a fire extinguisher and do whatever you can to stop it-even if it's not much at all. Sign the petition to keep City of Heroes alive HERE.
@MissKyo, Leader of the Teamsters coalition on Protector
Pursuit (part 2)
The faded outline of the hopscotch diagram stretched over four sections of pavement. Bulb stood near the middle, on the left side of a horizontal pair of squares. The street was quiet for the moment, but children were gathering on the other side of the fence.
"Lady, who is that man?"
"He looks scarey..."
Recursive forced a smile and tried to shoo them away but more kept coming, attracted by the commotion.
"It's nothing kids, just somebody playing a joke on me ok?"
"But he looks mean is he a bad man?" In the distance a parent was starting to look for their child. Recursive leaned forward and whispered to the nearest kids.
"Listen, I'm going to try to make him go away..but I need your help. Can somebody find me a flat stone? Or something like a beanbag or hacky sack?" The children moved away from the fence, scrambling to find something. A small boy quickly returned with a large flat stone.
"Okay, I'm gonna play now. After I get to the other side, you guys go back to your parents."
"Oookay."
Recursive gritted her teeth and lifted the stone. She took aim and tossed it towards the square occupied by Bulb. It skidded slightly on the pavement but stayed inside the box. Then she took a deep breath and began hopping across the diagram. Soon she was at the double squares, hopping to the right and avoiding the section occupied by Bulb. It lashed out blindly as she bounced past, slicing a hole in the shoulder of her jacket, though the blade missed her flesh. She bounced through to the end, waving to the children.
"See guys? I made it! Go on now! Go play!"
There was a rasping metallic shriek behind her. The children all screamed in horror and ran towards their parents as the creature began shifting in space and breaking up the pavement squares with tendrils of darkness, the first manifestation of the power it had stolen from FD. Recursive kept walking, her hands shaking slightly as she looked at the list. There was only one more item.
4. Jump rope.
She could feel her skin start to crawl as she saw three adolescent girls up ahead skipping rope. How was she going to comply with the list and not put the girls in danger? She was getting close now. She ventured a glace over her shoulder and Bulb was following again, slowly at a distance. Then she was there. She gulped.
"Um hi girls. How's it going?"
"Ummm fiiine."
"I love jump rope. Do you mind if jump in for a sec?"
The girls shrugged and looked at one another.
"It's ok I guess."
"Umm sure jump in."
The girls laughed as Recursive hopped over the rope, bending down as she bounced to allow the rope to swing over her head. They spun it faster, trying to trip her up, but she kept skipping in time despite the wobble from the wedge heels of the boots. They were giggling and shouting, "faster, faster!", when the rope began to slow.
"Who's the weirdo?"
"Eww I don't like you..go away you creep!"
Without thinking or saying anything Recursive ran. She jumped over the rope and was sprinting down the street. Away from the children and away from the killer, in the vague hope that somehow...things would work out. She would be safe. The kids would be safe. The thing would follow her but she'd get away. Something or someone would show up and handle it. Then she stopped at the corner of the block.
There was a bloodcurdling scream. She looked back, pressing her fingers against her cheeks.
It was killing a girl. It had stabbed her in the back. There was blood on her shirt. Blood on the pavement. The other two had been knocked down, they were motionless. The thing raised an arm. A wave of darkness gushed out, ripping through the fence. More screams as a man was tossed from a picnic table. People running as a swing set was unearthed and tossed through the air, the legs of the thing striking a woman as she ran for cover.
Guilt. Fear. Cowardice. Horror. Recursive's legs moved mechanically, carrying her around the corner where she fell to the gound and started to retch, heaving blindly against the fence. She felt something in her shift. She thought of Callie Green...could see though her eyes as she stood outside of her school. Afraid of bullies waiting for her inside. Then there were other voices in her head. Screaming. They told her to move. She wiped her mouth on the sleeve of the jacket and looked up.
On the other side of a narrow alley she faced a large brick building. A metal door had a large capital "D" inscribed on the surface. It glittered slightly in the overcast shadow of the building. Along the side of the letter there were scratches, as if someone had keyed the door methodically over and over again. Taken together, the marks extended the D into a P. Proxy? She staggered up, blood ringing in her ears as she wrenched the door open and slid herself inside.
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
Recursive slammed her face into somebody's hard shoulder. She leaned back against the tech-looking metal wall of the corridor, rubbing her nose to the rhythm of the loud dance music pulsing in the background. The man she hit didn't even turn. He was tall and athletically built, encased from head to toe in some sort of flexible blue body armor that resembled a cross between a wetsuit and an insect carapace. The ensemble included angular eye coverings and an array of spikey protrusions that formed a crest over the forehead. He was debating something with another man who was also armored.
The second guy had a large cybernetic arm, his left, with an oversized hand that was projecting a holograph of technical schematics over the open palm. He had a metal chestplate and shoulder pads. A large belt with various tools and hi-tech looking gadgets. He wore a helmet with glowing sensor arrays that covered the upper half of his head, including his eyes. He broke off his conversation with the first gentleman and addressed her.
"Everything all right miss?"
Recursive coughed and straightened herself. "Uh...um..no...." The man in blue looked at her with obvious annoyance.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"There's a thing...a creature outside...it stabbed a child."
The man with the robotic arm gestured, flagging her to continue. "Someone with a knife? That's all? Is there anything else?"
"It killed a little girl!"
"With a knife...just a knife?"
"It's some sort of alien...being. It stabbed the girls and then ripped the playground apart with tendrils of dark energy..."
"Right on." The second man punched some buttons on the chest plate. Lights on various parts of his armor began to flicker. "We got this one."
"Like hell you do." The man in blue tapped the crest on his head armor. He spoke into a hidden microphone. "Squad assemble at Founders entrance. Hurry, we got a live one!"
The two pushed past Recursive and bolted out the door. A moment later there was a hammering of footsteps as a menagerie of costumed people turned the corner into the hallway and sprinted her way. There were capes and shields and oversized fantasy weapons. Skull masks and berets and auras of flame and energy circling fists, smoldering in eyes. They were almost all men, a couple provocatively clothed women popping out of the mass of frenzied movement. Recursive shrank back against the wall to avoid the stampede, pointing to the door as the glared at her and then passed by.
After the initial rush a few more filtered by. A blue skinned mystic, laughing as he bounced against the walls and ceiling, floating drunkenly through the air. An archer with a blue energy bow hopping along as he tried to pull his pants up while wielding the cumbersome weapon. Someone tapped her on the shoulder.
"Are you a friend of Dr. Proxy, miss?" It was a large, but otherwise normal looking man in a business suit. He smiled, adjusting his sunglasses.
"Yes..." He gestured down the hall.
"I'm with the club here. I've been instructed to direct you--go down the hall and turn left. Walk straight to the large service elevator and take it to the main dance floor. Just go on in and you will meet your contact there."
"Thank you."
"My pleasure."
She did as he instructed and emerged into a loud, brightly lit space with more costumed hero types milling about. She attracted a couple of inquiring stares upon entry but was soon after ignored. Everyone was drinking and most of the people were gathered around small tables in discussion rather than dancing. She looked at empty cages hanging overhead. There was a bar off to the right where a massive solitary figure in a black cloak and cape was drinking. The other people in the club gave the figure wide berth. Recursive sighed and shuffled forward sluggishly, unclear on how to proceed.
A woman at a distant table stood up and waved. She was beautiful in a severe way, very pale skin with jet black eyes and hair, the latter cut in a sharp wedge that didn't reach collar length. She was slim but curvacious and was wearing
some sort of latex outfit that followed her figure tightly and flashed a lot of cleavage. It was black and shiny with elaborate stripes and shapes in the construction. It suggested fetish more than super powers, which made the woman stand out even further. She approached, slapping the large dark figure on the back as she walked by. He laughed and grumbled something that sounded like gravel shifting.
"Mere! Mere mal Faire! Over here babe!"
Recursive gestured to herself. "Me? Are you talking to me?"
The woman's eyes narrowed as she got close. She frowned slightly. "Oh...you aren't Mere."
"No. I don't know who that is, sorry."
"But Proxy sent you?" The woman looked Recursive up and down. She fingered the jacket, scrutinizing the vomit residue on the sleeve.
"Um..yeah I guess. Following his instructions led me here..."
"Well you made it to the right place. I was supposed to meet 'someone' here. I was thinking it would be Mere. Have you met Mere?"
Recusive had a strange feeling of familiarity looking into the woman's eyes. "No..but...do I know you? Have we met?"
The woman laughed.
"We have and we haven't met. You see, I'm the 'you' of this dimension." She reached took Recursive's hand and shook it, smiling broadly. "But you can call me Love Tap."
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
Love Tap surveyed the room, smiling. Her curves glistened as she shifted in the latex. They were the center of attention, people staring and whispering as they sized up the two women. The expressions of the bar patrons ranged from curiosity to outright lust and hostility. Recursive shifted self-consciously, using her power to remove the stain from the jacket and tidy her general appearance.
"What's going on? What is the deal here?"
"The deal...is that I'm a criminal. And they aren't. They are wondering if you are a new target for them to hunt down."
"Oh..."
She took Recursive by the hand and began leading her out of the bar area. A drunk in black and green spandex lunged forward trying to grab Love Tap by the waist. She slid a chair in his path with her foot and he toppled over it, mumbling.
"You see, in this reality people with super powers aren't allowed to go rogue, criminal or not. You're only choice is to work for the government. If you are here, in Paragon, you can earn brownie points by hunting down anyone not working for the law. Otherwise, you get shipped overseas for service in the military."
"Are there that many people with super powers here?"
"No. Not any more. The majority are normal humans enhanced with tech or magical gadgets. The ones like me are a dieing breed."
Recursive stopped abruptly. "Did Proxy tell you why I'm here?"
"No, not really. Just that someone was coming and I needed to look after them."
"I'm being hunted by some sort of creature, from another dimension, It's very powerful...maybe we should stay..there are lots of people here...maybe they could help deal with it."
Love Tap put an arm around her shoulder and began ushering her out of the club, turning down a side corridor that lead to a smaller elevator. "I can't hang out here darling. I was in the middle of something when I came to meet you. It's very important that I get back. I can deal with your problem."
The elevator to them to a sublevel with a kitchen and several storage areas. They passed two walk-in refrigerators then pushed through a doorway that led outside. Recursive squinted in the bright light of day, shielding her eyes as she looked around the parking lot they'd entered. It was definitely a different part of the city than before. Love Tap unlocked the doors to a small green hybrid sedan.
"Let's go."
Climbing into the car, Recursive stumbled and fell face first on to the leather upholstry. Love Tap laughed.
"Watch that first step dear."
The interior of the vehicle was completely different. It was a large cargo van, like a Dodge. Something a tradesman would use to transport lumber and equipment.
"What is this?"
"Sort of a pocket dimension. Like the dance club. The interior of the van connects with the exterior of several other vehicles. Helps me get around unnoticed."
Recursive looked into the back of the vehicle. There were rings and hooks welded to the floors, walls, and ceiling of the van. And assortment of robes, cables, and retraints dangled in different places. Different sections of the space were padded with a matlike material. She turned back, reaching for her seat belt as Love Tap studied her reaction closely.
"What exactly do you use this vehicle for Love?"
"I'm a kidnapper." She smiled a bit as Recursive nodded stiffly. "And an entertainer."
The van rolled out of the parking lot and slid into the flow of traffic. Recursive found herself scanning the faces on the street searching reflexively for Bulb. She looked back at Love Tap.
"Are you a heavy-hitter? Proxy described you as a heavy-hitter."
"Yeah. I can take a beating. And give one."
"Is that how you've avoided arrest or whatever? By beating down the heroes?" Love Tap sighed and shook her head.
"No. Kind of the opposite. I act weak. Flirt with the men. Keep them thinking of me as a sex object and not a real threat. And I keep a low profile. It's mostly about discrete lawbreaking with me these days."
The van was stopped at a red light. When the cross traffic cleared, she gestured at the signal and the light changed to green. Some cars in the opposing lane squealed to a stop as the van rolled through the intersection. People on either side shouted obscenities in anger and confusion. Love Tap flipped them off as the vehicle picked up speed. Recursive watched the woman's grip tighten on the wheel, some tinge of repressed rage floating to the surface. Love Tap looked at her, her eyes lit up for a moment with sparks of plasma swirling in the pupils.
"Yeah I'm a heavy hitter. In the old days I could've torn up half of this damn city. And I would'nt have been alone. But now there's too many damn vultures. The nature of the game has changed. And you do you're best to keep up with it, unless you feel like checking out early."
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
Love Tap parked outside a large brownstone with elaborate brick inlays and fancy stone decorative motifs adorning the entryway. She gestured as they climbed out of the vehicle.
"I own the two on either side as well. All three in a row."
"Are they connected somehow?"
"Yeah there's a tunnel underground. And they're pretty close together anyway, sometimes I just jump from one roof to another if I don't feel like going downstairs."
She opened the door and they shuffled in. Recursive was surprised to see that the place was dark and almost bare of furnishings. She noticed a small red light omving in the corner of an adjacent room. There was another one in the corner--wall and ceiling mounted cameras. They tracked the motion of the women moving down the central hallway.
"Is somebody watching us? Or are the cameras controlled by a computer or something?"
"I'm watching us. Those are my eyes. There are about a hundred of them spread through these three buildings and I can see through all of them."
There was a large oak staircase in the back of the building. As they climbed the stairs the place began to display more furnishings. Tables, chairs...sometimes a bed peeking through an open doorway. Love Tap displayed no interest in giving a tour, moving single mindedly towards a destination upstairs.
On the third floor, Recursive could see a light coming from a room off to the left. She followed Love into the room and grunted, her face feeling hot as she saw the occupant. There was a woman laying on a low, round padded table.
She was completely naked except for black spiked heels and an assortment of ropes and tethers that bound her tightly. Her arms were folded and tied behind her back. Her legs were bound together with the upper and lower part of the leg tied in a bent position. She had a thick leather collar around her neck and a ball gag inserted in her mouth. Leather blinders covered her eyes and a pair of large padded headphones covered her ears completely. They were connected to a small mp3 player off to the side and a soundtrack of sexual sounds was faintly audible in the room.
The woman was beautiful, her long blond hair spilling over the surface of the table. Tied there naked for display, the supple fullness of her figure drew Recursive's eyes. Love Tap glanced at her sidelong as she pressed the woman's body, checking the circulation in areas that had gone pink from the binding.
"Ummm, part of your kidnapping gig I guess?"
"Yeah. A villain hired me to snatch her up. The guy's an assassin and she's made a career out of getting in his way. So he hired me to deliver his arch enemy."
Recursive shifted uncomfortably. "What is he gonna do with her?" Love Tap laughed.
"More of what I did with her this morning I'd assume."
"There's more to this right? There's something you're not telling me..."
Love Tap's eyes narrowed slightly. "Yes." She turned to towards the back wall of the room and a small LED clock lit up. "It's almost five. Damn."
She went to the table and knelt down beside the blond, loosening the bindings on her arms and sliding off the headphones and blinders. She unsnapped the gag and the woman licked her lips.
"Love?"
"Yes dear, it's me."
"What's going on?" The blond noticed Recursive and blushed deeply. Love Tap slipped the restraints off her legs, rubbing her hands up and down the thighs.
"I'm sorry sweetie. This is my cousin from out of town. Something came up and she had to be here."
"Where is.." The woman glanced at Recursive. "Where is he?"
"He's three hours late honey. I'm sorry, we can't wait any longer."
"Did you hear anything? Is he in trouble?"
"I don't know. Haven't heard." Love Tap pulled a box out from under the table. She started helping her captive into a green and blue spandex uniform, rubbing the woman's shoulders as she slipped into the outfit.
Recursive raised her hand. The gaglines on the woman's face faded away. Her eyes widened as she slipped her arms into the sleeves of the uniform. She blushed again.
"Thank you. The soreness is completely gone."
"My pleas..." Recursive felt a chill in her spine, the nape of her neck prickling. "Love...I think he's here."
"What's here?" The blond hero slipped on her gloves and then pulled a metal tube out of the box. She pressed a stud on her belt and power flowed into the tube as it extended into a long staff.
Love Tap looked up towards the ceiling concentrating. "Your friend wear a grey suit? Has a weird glassy looking head?"
"Yes."
"He's in the other house. He's looking for us." She stood up and started attaching the remaining armor components on to the hero's uniform.
"Is there trouble? Who is coming? I'll stay and help you fight it off."
"No dear, you need to go. You need to find your boyfriend, he probably needs your help more than we do. And we can't be seen together anyway. Go on or I'll beat you up for real."
The woman nodded and then embraced Love Tap, kissing her on the lips. She stepped away and nodded at Recursive before leaving the room and exiting through a window in the back. Love Tap listlessly slid the various bindings into the box and set it on the ground, shoving it back under the table with her foot.
"I'm sorry about this Love...really bad timing.."
"Nope. It's cool. I've got a bad feeling that...our mutual friend may be dead." She looked away for a moment, rubbing her eyes. "He's not the kind to no-show without sending word. At least this is a distraction." She raised her fists and crossed her forearms in front of her body. Arcs of electricity began to ripple over the latex. Recusive could feel a pressure in the air as random shocks flickered on the metal surfaces throughout the room.
"I guess now we'll find out what your freak is made of. He's out there standing in the hall."
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
"Recursive stay behind me." Love Tap slid her right foot slightly back, flexing her fists forward slightly, arms bent in a guard position. Bulb entered the room, the glassy head swirling with dark energy and flashes of imagery. It raised its arms unceremoniously, unloading the rounds of two pistols on the woman in front of it. The bullets were stopped in small explosions of energy as they met the surface of Love Tap's body. They hissed as they dropped half melted on to the floor. Even as the shots were still ringing in the room, Bulb dropped the pistols and opened his palms, firing twin bursts of concussive force the drove his target a few inches back across the floor but otherwise did nothing to break her stace.
Love Tap suddenly burst forward in a blur of motion, launching a savage blow to the creature's head. It shifted out of the way at the last possible moment but her punch clipped the side, chipping the glassy surface which leaked a greyish smoke into the room. She followed up with a barrage of punches but the thing dodged her attacks, bobbing back and forth with unnerving speed. She snarled and landed a punch on Bulb's chest, but as the force drove it back the body flipped, bringing a kick up into her jaw. Love Tap shook her head, current flaring and pulsing around her body.
Recursive watched the fight from the next room, peaking around the door way. Bulb hadn't seemed to have noticed her at all. The thought occurred to her that maybe, in this reality, Love Tap appeared identical to her. And then the chilling thought ensued: perhaps Dr. Proxy intended for the creature to kill her double in this world in order to get it off of her trail. She watched Bulb pulled two knives out of its sleeves. Love Tap drew her guard in tight, jabbing out with her hands quickly to parry the blades, but her speed wasn't enough. A thrust caught the side of her face, narrowly missing an eye. Suddenly she sank in her stance and there was a burst of electricity all around her. The there was a woosh of air as she sucked in the ambient power around her, a long dark arc of smoke rushing out of Bulb and flowing into her. The cut closed and disappeared, but soon there were more on her arms and torso.
Recursive bit her lip and reached out, her power manifesting around Love Tap in a purplish corona of light. In a renewed burst of speed she caught one of Bulb's wrists, yanking it low. She deflected the other thrust with her other elbow, crossing the creature's arms and trapping them in a bundle as she yanked them dowm and rammed the top of her head into the glassy area, opening up another crack. She jerked her torso straight, wrenching and breaking Bulb's arms as brought her right forearm up underneath them, while yanking the wrists down with her left armpit.
"Time to end this now [censored]! No more squirming!" Love tap lifted and opened the palm of her right hand. There was an intense humming--suddenly the floor was vibrating underneath their feat. Knick knacks and books began to slide of shelves all over the house as unseen power generators shook the foundation as it churned to life. There was a burning smell then a crack of lightning as arcs of hissing white plasma shot out of the wall sockets and collected in her hand.
"Now you die!" She brought her burning palm down in and overhead arc towards the creature's head. At the last moment, she caught Bulb's shoulder instead, burning through the suit coat and ripping the left arm completely off. A cloud of smoke shot out of the opening, temporarily blinding Recursive. As she wiped the weird soot out of her eyes, she caught a glimpse of Love Tap swinging the lightning hand again but missing the creature. She tried to grab him with her other arm but he suddenly disappeared, re-emerging several feet away in the corner of the room. Before Love Tap could pursue, tendrils of darkness shot out of the hole in the suit, washing over her and driving her back towards the far side of the room.
Love Tap grunted as a pit of tentacles surrounded and bound her, shadowy snakes of smokey energy pulling her down towards the floor, fighting her arms as she struggled to keep her hands up. She growled and broke away with bursts of plasma from her aura, but the tentacles immediately reappeared each time. Bulb suddenly rushed towards her, it's remaining gloved fist low, as if about to throw an uppercut or body blow. It was an oddly telegraphed move. Love Tap wrenched her arms up and then dropped her right forearm on Bulb's rising wrist, her left hand sought his in preparation for a wrist lock or arm bar.
"GGggaaaahhh Unngghhh!" Her eyes widened. Recursive gasped as a large spike projected from the blocked fist into Love Tap's abdomen. She pushed against Bulb's arm, energy flaring and crackling around the wound, but she was clearly weakened. She gasped and coughed, flecks of blood spattering her lips. "Unnngh ...he's...killing me
Rec.."
Recursive stepped into the room, her arms stretched out. Her vision pulsed red for a moment as a portion of her life force was projected towards her double. Love Tap suddenly surged, yanking the spike from her body as the wound closed up. She kicked Bulb square in the chest, ripping through the clutching dark energy and driving him back a couple feet. Then the thing turned, for the first time, towards Recursive. An eye appeared briefly in the glassy dome, a laughing skull for a fragment of a second. She had been recognized.
Love Tap grabbed at the suit coat, trying to wrench it towards her but it wasn't enough. The creature turned, angling the gaping hole where it's left arm had been. When it faced Recursive, there was an instant of silence, then a dark tentacle erupted. It shot across the room at her, a heartbeat away from snapping her neck like a twig.
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
The events that followed were a jumble, the sequence confused and displaced like a puzzle ripped apart and thrown into the air. Something exploded at her hip and sent her sprawling to the ground. A noose had been around her neck, lifting her up and choking the life out of her. Love Tap screaming. The flash of light, which she first took as a concussion from her head hitting the floor. Bulb's tentacle of darkness exploding in front of her, ripping away as she was thrown to the floor. Dizzily crawling to her knees amidst sparks and greenish yellow flames. Coughing as the air thickened, shifting shadowy figures flowing over the walls and floor.
Recursive shook her head and looked up. FD's paper was in the air, spinning like a top. Burning, the surface dissolving in flame but leaving a ring of symbols floating in the center of the room. Smoke began rising from the floor beneath it, flowing and taking shape. The form of a large humanoid figure hovering there, it's flesh bluish ash and darkness. It flexed and unfolded, vaguely like a woman. Vaguely like an insect, as well, or some form of armored aquatic creature. Angular, platelike shards circled its body, like disconnected teeth from a buzzsaw. Various arms would take form out of the center mass, moving and tracing symbols in the air before dissolving out of view. Three vertically stacked angular green eyes opened on the figures head and looked at Bulb. The room erupted with the sound of several booming voices calling out in inhuman languages that Recursive was unable to comprehend.
"Oh my god...Jessica?"
Bulb took a step back from Love Tap and fired a spike of darkness at the creature. The energy flowed into it, making no discernable impact. There was a stange grating cacaphony of sound for a moment, Then a glowing mouth appeared on the creature's face and it spoke again in the voice Recursive had heard it use back at the hotel.
"Fool. You think you can steal power from my dark servant and wield it against me? I'll dig it out of your flesh."
The tendrils holding Love Tap melted away as their mass began the shift towards, Bulb. Figures began to rise out of the floor. Skeletons and corpses, a menagerie of undead creatures in various states of decay clawing their way up through the shadows on the ground. Bulb moved but was too slow to avoid their grasp. Boney hands seized its legs, starting to yank on the bottom of the suit coat. It flexed its arms and emitted a cluster of spikes in all directions, but the animated corpses continued undeterred. Greyish energy began to bleed out of it as they began to rip though the surface of the suit.
Bulb's remaining arm suddenly swung forward in a wide arc. Love Tap lunged forward and caught the sleeve at the very last moment. A large grey spike flew through the air and passed through Recursive's hair, barely missing her face as it impaled the oak doorframe behind her. Love Tap brought both fists down on Bulb's head, her power crackling through the air and then exploding as it collided with the glassy substance. The head shattered, breaking and dissolving--the body going limp and immediately falling into the mass of animated dead beneath. There was a grating hiss and a loud metallic shriek, then Recursive's stalker was gone.
There was an awkward moment of silence as the two women faced the dark demonic entity, corpses and shadows wandering aimlessly through the room. The creature lifted a long, six fingered hand that held one of Bulb's shoes. The black leather disintegrated, the air shimmering and glowing for a moment as it passed. The six eyes flickered a moment, the color changing slightly before they turned to Recursive.
"My sacrifice. There must be payment for summoning me here. You will pay."
Recursive shrank back against the wall as the dead mob slowly turned towards her. The light around her dimmed and the shadows thickened as the eyes stared at her.
"Wait! FD! FD sent you here to protect us! He told me to tell you this."
The creature made a grinding sound that resembled a human cough. It turned towards Love Tap. It gestured and a column of darkness shot across the room and seized her, lifting her up off the ground, the darkness swirling around Love Tap's body as she struggled to break free.
"Then this one."
"WHAT THE HELL?!?!" Love Tap wrestled with shadowy tendrils were circling towards her head. "Stop!"
"Wait! Please..we are the same. He promised to protect us!"
The creature groaned. Love Tap was dropped to the floor as the cadavers and shadows began to recede, flowing back into the thing's aura. It regarded Recursive once again.
"The things I do for that child." It suddenly shrank to human size and appeared directly in front of Recursive, it's face close to hers. "But my patience isn't infinite. I will call upon you sometime for a service. Until then, farewell." It lifted its six hands palm up and began to fade from view.
"Wait!" The eyes remained, blazing red as Recursive spoke. "I'm sorry, please I need your help. That thing you just fought..it will return, having stolen even more power. I don't know how to defeat it. Can you help me?"
The eyes turned yellow-green and grew larger. They continued to expand, flowing together and filling the room until Recursive and Love Tap were blinded by the light and could see nothing else. A voice whispered.
"Seek spiritual arbitration. Journey to the 2nd gateway of the dead. Eye of Purgatory." There was a moment of weightlessness, the room felt like it was spinning as they flailed around trying to find the ground. Laughter echoed in the room, a score of different voices responding to their disorientation. The creature called out one last time.
"Swim little fishies! Swim!"
Then it was gone, and Recursive found herself back on the floor a few feet away from Love Tap. It was quiet once more in the building.
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
...that was...weird as hell. O.o
City of Heroes taught me that when the world is burning, you don't just stand by and watch, you grab a fire extinguisher and do whatever you can to stop it-even if it's not much at all. Sign the petition to keep City of Heroes alive HERE.
@MissKyo, Leader of the Teamsters coalition on Protector
Love Tap pushed through the bushes, pulling on the side of her dress to keep the fabric from catching on the low lying branches and spikey weeds along the dirt path. She beckoned, her diamond bracelet sparkling in the dim light. She held the flowers high in her other hand, trying to keep them neat as they worked their way through the roughage.
"It's over here Rec. There's a little dirt path leading off this way."
"I see it, coming."
Recursive stared at Love Tap's funeral outfit, feeling even more out of place in her jeans and tshirt. She held her own bundle of flowers close to her chest as they circled the overgrown outskirts of the graveyard. Finally, they reached a small clearing that someone had actually bothered to weed. The grave was in the center.The was a small, plain grey headstone.
Frank Haller
1975-2009
RIP
"Is this actually in the graveyard?" Recursive could see a row of headstones off in the distance, but nothing close by.
"Yes. Eventually they'll expand in this direction and place others around it. I had to pay a hefty bribe to have him placed here, even this far out. Between that and getting his body for a normal burial, I'm broke. It wiped out all my finances."
"Because he was a criminal?"
"Yeah. They like to incinerate dead supervillains and place the ashes in a vault where they won't be retrieved. Frank was a normal human, so I was eventually able to acquire the body. And there really isn't anyone around now that would go to the trouble of raising him."
"He died--"
"The day I met with you. At the club. They caught him and beat him to death. He didn't even make it to prison."
Love Tap kneeled on the ground in front of the gravestone. She slid off her bracelet and placed it on top of the marker. Then she pealed off her long satin gloves and draped them on top of it as well. She poked a hole in the ground at the left side of the grave with three fingers, and then planted her bundle of lilacs in it. She did the same on the other side then reached up and took Recursive's bundle as well.
"Thanks." She worked the stems of the other lilacs into the hole. She sat there for a moment staring at the stone, and then leaned forward, resting her arms and face on the top. She was sobbing quietly, mumbling something Recursive couldn't hear.
Recursive looked down at her, eyes beginning to water, strong emotions suddenly flooding her thoughts. It was as if she were looking down at her self, grieving there at the edge of the grave. And she could suddenly picture the man's face, smiling. Joking with her. And there was suddenly this hole in her life, this profound pain of absence where she would never be able to go back to something she had been or loved. A part of her life had ended, the door had swung shut.
"Love..." Recursive dropped to her knees and started raking the ground with her fingers.
"Love help me dig him out. I can fix this." She pushed and gouged the soil desperately. "Help me.."
Love Tap rubbed her eyes and looked back. "Recursive?"
"I can do this. Help me get him out. I can bring him back."
"No.."
Recursive shoved Love Tap, knocking her off of the headstone. "Help me! I can fix this! Damn you, I can bring him back!"
"Rec this isn't you. Stop.."
"Help me!" Tears streamed down her face as she tore at the ground. Love took her by the wrist, blocking her free hand as she swung her fist at Love Tap's jaw.
"Stop babe. These aren't your thoughts. They're mine."
"Let me go! I can bring him back."
"Stop Rec. Think! You don't even know him. You've never met him. This is my pain. My grief bleeding into you. It happens sometimes when alternate versions of a person come in contact."
Recursive shuddered trying to control the raging emotions. "Why don't you want him back?"
"There's no world for him to come back to. It's over."
"He's better dead?"
"He knew the end was coming darling..." Love Tap's head drooped for a moment as she sobbed. "He wouldn't change who he was. He didn't want it to end differently.."
Recursive rubbed her eyes and looked at the headstone. "His lover..the blonde..she won't come here will she?"
"No."
"He loved her."
"Yes, but he knew that she could never change. The same way he couldn't."
"Nobody will come here."
"Probably not."
"Nobody will remember him."
"I doubt they will."
Love Tap stood up and pulled some tissues out of her purse. She handed a few to Recursive. They both wiped their faces and brushed the dirt from their clothing. Recursive shook her head, her thoughts sluggish as if waking from a dream. Love Tap smiled.
"I'm sorry I brought you here. I didn't realize you would be influenced so strongly. But thanks, you made it a little easier for me."
"I'm becoming more like you. Feeling your emotions. Also...my clothes are starting to get tighter."
"Yes. You already look like my sister. Another few days, we'll look like twins. If proxy doesn't get us out of here soon, we'll be physically identical."
"Us?"
"Yes, I'm leaving with you. There's nothing here for me anymore. The only outcome is to end up like Frank. My death wouldn't make any difference."
"Do you think it will back where I'm from? Do you think any of ours will?"
Love Tap's eyes darkened as she smiled knowingly. "My gut feeling is yes. And you're intuition says the same doesn't it?"
"It does.
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
Several more days passed before they had word from Proxy--a note that was taped to Love Tap's windshield. It had a date, time, and coordinates--nothing else. They still had one day to kill. Love Tap made some sandwiches and led Recursive to the top of the building for an impromptu picnic. She spread a blanket out in the center next to a wooden chest left sitting there in the center of the flat rooftop.
"I'm donating the building to the community college. Seems like they would get the best use out of it for dorms or something."
"Are you bringing anything special with you?"
"Not really, just some clothing. This outfit." She was wearing the latex ensemble from the first day she met Recursive in the club.
"It will be a hit, I'm sure."
"You should try it on sometime. It would be a perfect fit now."
Recursive looked at her bust, the length of her legs. She was now indistinguishable from Love Tap except for the length of her hair and more modest clothing.
Love Tap smiled. "Actually I have something even better." She flipped open the box and pulled some items of clothing. Recursive groaned as she saw them, obviously pieces to some sort of superhero uniform complete with a pair of black stiletto boots.
"Proxy has brought other alternates to this world. You're the fifth I've met. The second one was Fin de Siecle. She was a technological savant. This is a suit she made."
"And I take it you want me to try it on..."
"Yes dear. It's time you got to be a little more self reliant. There isn't always going to be a super villain or some demonic creature around to save your [censored]. You're way too squishy for my taste, the suit will help."
Recursive looked around. "You want me to put it on here?"
Love Tap laughed. "Yes, there's nothing I haven't seen before."
"We're on a rooftop!"
"Haha don't be such a wuss. Go on!."
Recursive grunted and slid off the tshirt she'd borrowed from Love Tap.
"Bra too. You won't need it, there's support built in."
"Fine.."
The top slid on, snug but comfortable. It appeared to be perfectly tailored to her current proportions. The sleeves extended to her wrists but the torso left her midriff exposed. Once it was on, the fabric seemed to mold even more to her figure, shaping not only her bust but reinforcing her arm and shoulder joints. She felt stronger. She kicked off her shoes and slid out of the jeans she was wearing. The outfit's deep burgundy pants were slick and stretchy, like spandax molding to her figure. She ran her hands over her thighs, blushing as Love Tap laughed.
"Put the boots on."
"Great.."
Recursive slipped into the boots, shifting awkwardly on the four inch heals.
"You're gonna need some practice on those, but it looks hot."
"This is supposed to help me stay alive?"
"THAT is supposed to help you get some attention. If you don't like it, concentrate on your feet."
Recursive focused on the sensation in her feet. Suddenly the heels were shrinking. The soles of the boots flattened a bit and a platform thickened at the bottom, replacing the heels.
"Interesting."
"Now put the belt on."
Love Tap got up and handed a purple ring of flat metal to Recursive. It opened in the front when she took it, responding to contact with her hands. She manuevered it behind her back, opening it wider and snapping it around her waist. The ring closed, appearing once more as a contiguous piece of metal. Suddenly there were swirling patterns of energy visible in the pants and three glowing concentric circles appeared in the center of the top.
"Wow. What does it do?"
"Well..." Love Tap grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her up in the air over her head.
"WHOA! Hey!!" Recursive flailed as she was carried to the edge of the roof. "HEY STOP!"
Love Tap laughed and threw her over the edge. Recursive shouted as she sailed away from the building, the ground rushing up to meet her. She rolled forward and brought her legs beneath her as the sidewalk neared.
She sank into a crouch as the boots hit the pavement but the shock was negligible, the suit having absorbed the majority of the impact. She looked at the crack that had opened up in the pavement, then looked up Love Tap.
"[censored]!!!"
"HAHAHA come back up. Come on jump back up here."
Recursive looked around self consciously, then took a breath and crouched before kicking up. The suit amplified her effort, propelling her higher as if weightless. The arc was a bit low and she fell short of clearing the top, scrambling to grab the edge of the rooftop. Love Tap caught her wrist and lifted her the rest of the way.
"Not bad. It'll get easier as you get used to the suit. It responds to your thoughts."
"What else can it do?"
"Well jumping, running...I think it's a little better than kevlar, at least the parts that are covered. I'm sure you can lift more weight..not sure of the exact parameters. Never used or tested it myself."
Recursive crouched down and took a sip from her water bottle. "That was something Dr. Proxy would do. Throw somebody into a situation without warning."
"He doesn't view things from the same perspective."
"He doesn't seem to care about the well-being of others, beyond their usefulness to his goals."
Recursive laughed and knelt down, scraping a line on the rooftop with her finger. "See this line? This line is the energy of your being extending forward through time, through multiple lives and incarnations. If I intersect it at some point.." She cratched another line across the first. "This point of intersection is a person, an identity like you or me."
"Ok.."
"Now if you follow this line that intersects, it crosses other timelines." She drew more vertical lines that crossed over the horizontal line. Then more intersecting horizontal lines until the scratches began to resemble a grid. "The connection of all these energies and timelines and identities is part of an extended network of being. It's like a woven tapestry moving forward in space and time, contantly fraying and growing, the energy moving from one point of intersection to the next."
She pointed to one of the intersections. "You and I see this. One life. A person. The good doctor views the structure as a whole. The interconnection of these patterns. This perspective makes it difficult for him to relate to morality, mortality. Typical afflictions of the human condition. He doesn't even view his own well being as having any great significance. He's died probably a thousand times in the course of his projects."
"But what is his ultimate goal? Is it something in which we should be blindly participating?"
Love Tap shrugged. "We proceed blindly no matter what. What did he TELL you his plan was?"
"To take over the world."
"Good. When we've finished with yours, we'll come back and do the same with this one."
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
"You think she made it?" FD watched Dr. Proxy make adjustments on the new portal. This one had a larger ring that lay flat on the ground, like a transporter pad from Star Trek.
"I hope so. I would imagine."
"But you got no idea.."
"Well I received notice to bring something through. I can't really imagine what else it would be." He glanced up as a robotic arm carried parts across a track over their heads. The warehouse had become a completely different environment during the week of Recursive's absence. There were interior walls and elevated walkways leading to a variety of workrooms and living areas. "We could certainly use her talents. I doubt I would have let Bulb kill her off."
There were footsteps on the plank behind the platform. Soft Assassin climbed up the steps and joined them on the platform. She waved the armored claws of her right hand, staring intently at the tips. FD turned to her.
"Whattup. What's wrong Soft?"
"Mmm here here here lookie look look."
"What I don't see nothin."
She held the tips of her fingers closer to his face. There were glistening flecks of red moisture barely visible on the background of latex.
"Blood?"
"Mmm yes think I think mmm yes yes."
"Did you kill someone?"
"Yes yes yes."
There was an awkward pause. FD shrugged. Dr. Proxy continued working on the transporter.
"Is good thing or bad thing or good thing?"
"I dunno depends.."
"What depends on what what what?"
"I dunno man...ask Recursive when she gets back."
"Magic fancy girl come yes come yes?"
"Yeah. Any minute now maybe."
"Ooooooooooo..."
Proxy turned back for a moment to look at Soft. "Soft did you complete your mission?"
"Yes yes mmmm object retrieved object yes yes."
"Did you survive?"
"Mmmm yes yes..."
"Then it's all good. Don't worry about the blood. There's nothing to worry about."
A pulsing tone began to resonate out of one of Proxy's pockets. He withdrew a small device and tapped a couple buttons on its screen. "They're coming through, everyone back up."
"They?"
"Back up. All the way down the steps." Proxy stepped over a small barrier into a control booth to the side. The interior of the ring lit up with golden particles that began to float up into the air. Two wavy dark sillhouettes began to coalesce in the air over the pad, like inky columns or smoke. The ring roared, the metal plates vibrating and rubbing together violently. Proxy, worked his control console feverishly, his hands a blur as he changed variables and adjusted for fluctuating energy levels. FD could hear him laughing maniacally over the din.
"What the hell is going on?!"
"More power coming through than I expected. Don't piss yourself just yet..."
There was an explosion of sorts, wind and snakey tendrils of light blowing past them. FD threw up his forearm, deflecting one of the ring plates as it spiraled towards his head.
"Geeze.."
Recursive and Love Tap stood side by side on the platform, taking in their surroundings. Their outfits shined in the afterglow of the explosion, a corona of light giving them an unearthly sense of stature. Proxy nodded his head mumbling to himself. Soft looked back and forth at the two women in a strange birdlike crouch, her fingers tapping the metal railing frenetically. FD stood motionless, his jaw agape as he ogled them.
"Uh...damn man..um think you got the wrong girls dude..uh..wow.."
"Nope. I remember now. She returned with her alternate reality double. That's good...good.." Proxy rubbed his jaw, considering the possibilities.
Recursive glanced at Love Tap then stepped forward towards FD and Soft. "It's me." She blushed slightly at the look on FD's face. "I changed physically over there. And I got this suit." She folded her arms self consciously.
"Daaaaaamn you got older...and hotter too wow." Love Tap came up behind Recursive and leaned on her shoulder.
"Hi. I'm Love Tap. You must be FD. Nice to meet you."
"Oh hey. What's happening."
"Your um...demon?...friend saved our lives on the other side."
"Yeah thanks man. The note really came through when I need it."
FD waved his hand. "No problem. We missed you and your high maintenance. Glad it worked out."
Love Tap smiled and walked to Soft, her heels clicking on the metal ramp.
"Hi are you Soft Assassin?"
"Yes mm yes yes." Love Tap rubbed the spikey clumps of hair on top of Soft's head.
"I heard you had pretty hair." She took Soft's left arm and ran her finger along the latex surfaces, smiling. "Nice costume. I might have to get something like this made for me."
FD's brows were raised high above his sunglasses, his mouth agape. If possible his complexion had gone a shade even palers than it had been before. Recursive steeled herself and glared at him.
"Shut up. Just shut up."
"Is this for real man?!? Am I dreaming this [censored]?"
"Get a grip dude don't get all sleazeball on me. I'm still... um 16...I think I'm still 16!"
"That one over there can't be 16 man, hell no that bish is 16."
"No she's not 16 but she's into girls, so there ha ha!"
"OOOhhh shizz! Forreal?! Ah man...that's still hot though.."
Dr. Proxy stepped out of the control booth and waved to Love Tap.
"Hello dear, long time no see." She nodded.
"It has been. Thanks for shifting me over. This looks like a much better place to be." She looked around the warehouse, then smiled at Soft. "Lots of possibility here."
Proxy smiled broadly and began ushering them all down the ramp towards a nearby passage way. "Yes indeed, yes indeed. Let's all go to the breakroom and relax a bit before we figure out what happens next."
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
Dr. Proxy's research vault was a tiny room, the walls lined with plastic rectagular bins. There was a small round table in the center with a step ladder to the side. A single bulb dangled overhead. FD and Recursive lingered near the doorway as Proxy searched the right side of the room.
"This is pretty...low tech compared to what you've done with the other areas." Proxy ran his hand along the fronts of the bins, as if reading labels in braille.
"Yes, well it doesn't need to be complicated. Simple actually helps me get the information I need. Less distracting. You said spiritual arbitration, 2nd gateway of the dead, eye of purgatory..."
"Yeah that's what FD's..friend...said. That and something about swimming."
"You better take that stuff seriously. That chick never lies if she mentioned something its gonna happen.."
There was a tinkle of salsa music. FD pulled out his cell phone, scowling as he read the number on the screen.
"Who is it?"
"Listen for yourself." He put the phone on speaker and set it on the table. "Hello, this is FD."
A woman's low sultry voice emanated from the phone. "Hellloooooo lover I'm waiting for you. Waiting to make all your naughty fantasies come true. Your dream girl is here and I'm waiting for your....call....dial 1-800-.....um....
Recursive siffled a laugh and whispered. "Who is that?" FD motioned for her to wait and gestured at the phone.
"Umm ..uh.. find sexy singles in your area today...uh...spice up your love life with these erotic massage oils...mmm mmmm mmmm have you always wanted more size? A more fulfilling love life? With the vacupump 3000 you can achieve the ...um...mmm....strippograms...hot girls available in your area...great for birthdays, bachelor parties....um mmm mmmm....
"Soft. Hey Softy I'm kinda in the middle of something here babe..."
There was a moment of silence. "MMmm mmmm sorry so sorry mmmmm busy busy hunka man yes yes?"
"No problem Soft. I'll talk to you later."
"yes yes goodbye yes yes."
FD hung up and slid the phone back in his pocket.
"That was Soft?!" Recursive laughed as FD's brows wrinkled together over the top of his sunglasses.
"Yeah. EVERY day now. It's her."
"BUt how did she sound like that?"
Proxy turned back for a moment, looking at her over his shoulder. "I gave her an enhancement to help her develop normal human speech patterns. The voice you heard is actually close to what Christine sounded like when she was alive. At the moment, she can simulate that type of speech when she reads something. Eventually I hope she will be able to express herself that way all the time." He knelt down and started examining the bottom row of bins.
"Christine? Who was that?"
"Soft, the creature which is essentially a highly evolved colony of spores, killed a researcher and absorbed her memories. The researcher's name was Christine."
FD jabbed his finger into Recursive's shoulder. "And don't ask her about it! You get that crazy bish upset and she'll go ape **** on you again! And hey..." FD crossed his arms. "Did you tell her to DRINK TEQUILA?!?! I came in one day and she gulped down five whole bottles! It was friggin horrible man she reeked for days..what the hell?!?
Recursive blushed and shrugged. "Umm...."
"Here we go." Dr. Proxy pulled out a bin and set it on the table. He held up a sticky note, reading it as the others examined the contents of the bin: a bottle of pills, several large fragments of bone, a small scroll and a ziploc bag full of ash.
Proxy finished reading the note. "Ah..ok."
"Well?"
He looked at Recursive. "When was the last time you slept?"
She shrugged. "I don't sleep. I woke up from the coma...then...I've been awake since."
He lifted the bin. "Well, the last place you need to confront Bulb is in your dreams. You're gonna have to take a nap darling."
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
"Do I REALLY need to be in this thing? This is a joke right? RIGHT??"
Recursive wriggled in the plush gold casket, the others snickering and looming over her. Proxy suddenly rose up and appeared to the right, rubbing the dust from the ceremonial bones from his hands.
"Uncomfortable?"
"It's a coffin. I'm alive. Why would I be comfortable in here?" Proxy shrugged.
"Following the general symbolism of the ritual as closely as possible is going to give you the best chance for success. The casket has a compartment underneath for the bones and I was able to inscribe to all the necessary symbols on the outside. You want to be rid of Bulb right?"
"Yes..."
Love Tap came into view in the corner down by her feet.
"Don't worry hon. I won't let them bury you alive."
"Bah it ain't nothin..I been buried lots of times.." FD stepped in front of her, bumping the casket slightly while waving the beer in his hand. "Anyway, you could just do your thing right? Reverse time..make the dirt fly back up in the air, lift the box up, that'd be funny as hell, haha.."
Love Tap pushed him out of the way. "We won't bury you. We're not even going to close the lid."
Proxy appeared again at Recursive's shoulder. He handed her 2 pills and a glass of water. She propped herself up and took the pills.
"I guess I should get this over with.."
"Yes it would be prudent. The longer we wait, the more likely it is he shows up here."
"Good luck babe!"
Recursive put the pills in her mouth and then accepted the glass of water, washing them down with a couple gulps. She handed the glass back and reclined, staring glumly at Love Tap. Proxy reached over and opened her right palm, placing a clump of ash inside.
"How long do you think it will take for those pills to work?"
"Hard to say. I don't think it will be long."
The casket shifted again slightly as something bumped it.
"I remember this one time..man. I got wasted out of my skull and then I got in a fight and these jerks shot me a bunch of times. And I stumbled outside and passed out. So then I guess they were worried about the cops finding the body or somethin..so they took me to the damn graveyard and the bastards buried me. So I wake up, hours later in the dark and man am I pissed so I blast my way outta the hole and there are all these friggin weirdos standing around hahaha. Man they like were..what you call them..LIVE ACTION ROLE PLAYERS...and they got like pasty makeup on and fake fangs man! Forreal! And these chicks look up at me like I'm their dark lord from beyond the..."
Darkness.
A void with no sensation. Slowly the feeling creeps back into her fingertips and she's falling.
Flailing frantically against nothing out of pure instinct. A feeling. A sound. A pressure.
Something is rising up beneath her.
Then.
Impact. Cutting like a knife into unseen water. Kicking and twisting and wrenching her arms to the surface. She breaks through, graping for breath and then the words of the patron appear in her thoughts.
"Swim little fishies! Swim!"
Recursive spun around in the water she still could not see. Her eyes caught a pinpoint of light in the distance and she made for it. Stroking and kicking desperately to reach that one beacon of illumination. Her limbs felt heavy, and her shoulders ached, the air burning in her lungs every time she twisted her head to breath. She paused, looking up. The light was land. An island with something in the foreground. A grey figure..something still like a statue. Some structure in the background behind it.
An impact disturbed the water somewhere to the rear. There was a noise, the echo of distant laughter. It was there behind her. It had finally caught up with her.
Recursive lurched forward, the fear surging like a charge through her body. Her arms and legs pulsed with agony as she willed them to move. The sounds of splashing grew louder. It was close. She didn't know if she could reach the land in time. Suddenly her fingers clawed through sand. She drew her legs beneath her and kicked against the bottom, staggering up out of the water and crashing forward into the white beach as the weight of her fatigue yanked her down. She gave a spasming cough as something grabbed her ankle from behind. She kicked weakly and managed to break loose, flopping over on to her back. Bulb was crawling up on to the beach towards her. As she slid on her back, trying to put more distance between them, it shook it's right arm, a long thin dagger sliding out of the sleeve into its gloved hand.
A laughing deathless skull appeared in its glassy visage. It lunged forward, it's free hand darting forth and grabbing her other ankle, yanking her screaming towards the water and it's blade.
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
Cease.
The message came to Recursive not as sound. Not even as a word in her head. Something was expressing a concept directly to her mind, the specific language manifesting itself like bubbles on the surface of a pond. Bulb froze for a moment, a wave of distortion rippling through it's body, lights flashing like a swarm of fireflies in the shell of its head. Recursive pulled away, scrambling up the sand and turning to look behind her.
It wasn't a statue she had seen earlier. A woman stood on the beach. She was completely monochromatic--grey skin, long white hair that cascaded down over her shoulders. She had small horns protruding from her forehead, white eyes with no discernable pupils. She wore pieces of armor that darkened in Recursive's view even as the hair and eyes began to glow brighter. Her ornately plated boots reached her thighs,the shiny leather of her ebony bodice accentuating the curves of her hips and torso. She smiled slightly, the fluted curves and spikes of her shoulder pads and gauntlets turning and twisting slowly at the edge of her sillhouette. Recursive's eyes widened as she spotted the same woman farther down on the beach. Sitting on the edge of the stone structure. Visible in evey area of the horizon she looked. There was even one standing out in the water.
Something flashed in her peripheral vision. Bulb had a pistol now, a snub-nosed revolver opposite the dagger hand. It swung up, slowly with the pace of a dream, moving past Recursive and taking aim at the grey woman. The muzzle flashed. Once. Then two more times. There was no sound. Smoke rose languidly from the barrel, like milk poured into oil. The bullets left no mark. They didn't even seem to reach the target, simply fading, only the small bursts of orange flame indicating that anything had happened at all.
The woman turned her gaze on Bulb, golden fire rising in her eyes. They shot forth rays of copper light that struck Bulb in the chest and engulfed the thing's entire body. Bulb spasmed and then started to dissolve, it's form melting away and becoming indistinct, shrinking slightly as well until it became a glowing cloud of smoke shaped vaguely like a human being, roughly the size of Recursive.
Rise.
Recursive got to her feet, noticing that the fatigue and soreness from the water had left her. The figure pointed back towards the water. The darkness rolled back, exposing an ocean floor littered with skeletal remains of humans and other creatures. Some of the remains were scattered and broken vestiges of conflicts. Others were unclear. One skeleton stood upright in the sand, leaning back as if looking up into the sky. Another was curled up in the image of slumber.
The first test is the will to survive.
The woman turned back inland, and without taking a step the three of them were suddenly standing before the stone edifice. Recursive couldn't place exactly what the architecture was supposed to be. At first she took it for a large stone tomb, but then she could see stairways and openings to other areas. Almost like the exterior of an ancient temple. The woman was everywhere now, at least six more visible looking down at them from the roof of the structure. On closer inspection it seemed that there wasn't even uniformity to building materials. The wall in front of them was carved from marble. Elsewhere there was sandstone, clay, brick, and even poured concrete. There were gothic arches, Grecian columns, and Asian burial mounds all visible on the rising landmass further inland. The place was elaborately adorned with statuary, but every time Recursive settled her gaze on one, it turned into another manifestation of the grey woman.
Recursive's vision blurred and again they were moving, walls and entryways bleeding past as they were shifted elsewhere in the complex. The dizzying panorama ended in a small vaulted chamber with two prominant archways before them, a large stone fountain to the rear. The archway to the right was filled with shifting points of light and warping lines of color and form. Some sort of otherworldly abyss that made Recursive dizzy as she tried to make sense of it visually. The indistinct mass that was now Bulb's body "walked" over to archway and passed into it, being absorbed into the swirling confusion.
The archway to the left lit up, exposing a simple stone stairway that curved downwards out of sight. The apparent guardian of the place looked at Recursive, her thoughts flowing between them.
Before the arbitration you must enter this space of reflection. Consider what you are willing to sacrifice to achieve resolution.
She smiled slightly again, pointing towards the steps.
On impulse, and for reasons she never understood later, Recursive reached out to touch the woman's face. "You were alive once? Like me?" Her hand passed through, feeling nothing, and she found herself on the top of the stairway. She glanced back, but there was only a curtain of darkness behind her.
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
The stairway led Recursive to a overblown theatrical La La Land, the Wizard of Oz drained of color and little people but abstract and stagey in much the same way. An enormous paper moon hung in the sky overhead, slowly making its way across a grey wash of space twinkling with gaudy rhinestone stars. The landscape was a rolling tableau that lead off to a bright horizon line to the right, darkness to the left. Along the way were rectangular depressions in the ground, precisely formed like perfectly cut slices from a layer cake. She stepped off the stairway and walked to the edge of the nearest one to take better look.
"Oh hey there Missy! Watch your step there!" A middle aged man sat in the bottom of the hole, slicking back his greased hair with a comb. He was simply dressed in fades blue jeans, tennis shoes and a white tshirt. He nodded to her as he finished with the comb, rising to his feet and sliding it into his back pocket.
"Oh..hi. Who are you?"
"I'm you, hahaha. And me. Both of us really."
"What? What do you mean?"
"Hold on a minute babe."
He went to the side of the hole and leaned against the side, his head and shoulders clearing the edge. A short distance away there was another hole. He stared at it for a moment listening, then there was a sound...a baby beginning to cry. In another hole further down a woman stood up, strings of pearls around neck contrasting with the slick, shoulder length black hair that cascaded over the straps of her evening dress. She waved.
"I've got this one Frankie."
"You sure doll?"
"Yes, it's my pleasure."
The woman hoisted herself out of her space and walked to the source of the crying, lowering herself gently into the nearby pit. A moment later she reappeared, smiling with an infant nestled over her shoulder. Recursive's face went a little slack as she watched the woman and child.
"Are these pits...are they supposed to be graves?"
"Yeah. We've all passed on. All of us much sooner than we deserved to, if you ask me, especially the kids. So much wasted potential. We are so happy to have you. We all feel blessed, really. It's really a pleasure to meet you."
"Me? I don't understand....what is this place supposed to be?"
The man shrugged. "Conceptual space. You know...a visual metaphor. I'm not good at explaining this stuff. Look over there, up on that hill."
To the right the ground rose up into a small hill. There was an open grave at the summit and a teenage girl stood next to it. She was thin and pale, shifting nervously and playing with the necklace of beads she wore. Recursive recognized the striped top she wore as something Mrs. Greene had tried to make her wear that first week after emerging from the coma.
"Is that..."
"Callie Greene. She's been waiting to talk to you. Go on up she can explain it better."
Recursive made her way to the hill, passing people of different ages, ethnicities and genders that waved to her from their symbolic grave sites, their clothing and manner of speech calling out from different eras of history. She reached the top of the hill and stood next to Callie. She stopped playing with the beads and looked up.
"Callie?"
"Oh hi! You look great! I really like your super suit, it's so cool..and sexy.."
"Callie...are you dead?"
"No. My body is alive. We are all in it. All of these people together make up who you are. We are all alive in you. That's why you can understand things so quickly. That's why you have powers and talents and knowledge of so many things."
"Who are they?"
"They call themselves the unfortunates. We are all different incarnations of the same person, passed down over time. We all died in tragic ways..we weren't able to fulfill our potential in life. We weren't able to use our gifts..."
"But Callie your still alive! Your parents are grieving for you..your not living your own life."
"If this hadn't happened, I would be dead within two years. A brain tumor."
Recursive took a step back and looked her up and down, frowning. "You're just a child."
Callie smiled. "You don't understand. Through you, we are all alive. More alive than we were in our own times. It's a wonderful opportunity to be something incredible, to shape events...help people..."
"Help people? But Callie, what am I doing? These people I'm with...they're killers. They're criminals.And I don't have any sense of what I am or what I'm suppposed to do. I'm just being dragged along with them."
"You are the conscience of the group. They need you, in ways they don't realize themselves. Even Proxy doesn't understand."
Callie pointed in the distance towards the glowing section of the horizon. "That way is towards the future. We extend beyond the present towards both the past and the future. I've talked to a girl that is close to the horizon line there. She says the line moves and the future shifts and changes. And sometimes there's a future where everything ends and nothing continues. When you came into being, that outcome was pushed further away. These people you are with will help you stop the end of the world. Everything hangs on you being one of them."
Recursive heard a noise behind her. She turned and a door had appeared on the hill behind her. She looked at Callie, suddenly conscious of time passing.
"I was supposed to have considered what I would sacrifice for this arbitration."
"Nothing. Proxy didn't steal anything from this creature. It's merely a parasite that followed him back from its world. It's a liar and a thief. We won't let it take anything from us."
"But what's going to happen? How do I resolve this?"
"We've been thinking about it. There's nothing you can do. Don't worry about it...I know that's hard to take."
Recursive laughed. "But how am I going to get rid of this thing?"
"You won't do anything. It will fall to me."
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
lol Im going to assume this is slan :P I just jumped on this forum and noticed the post. Sorry too long didnt read all of it but just seeing FD in it made me laugh.
Keepin it Real in Paragon
The Realest/Scarlet Storm/Arctic SS/Realistic...
-PvPer of Blacklisted/Reasons to Hate/Protector Server
Recursive stepped through the doorway, entering a small chamber with slick reflective walls. The entrance closed behind her and everything faded to darkness except a small wedge shaped beacon of light overhead. A dark shape like a clockhand began moving from left to right. It stopped, with an audible ping as an orange glyph lit up for a moment. Recursive slid further into her corner of the space as she heard doors slide open. Something entered in the darkness, she heard it step into the corner opposite hers. Then the unseen doors rustled as they slid shut and the arm of the beacon began moving again. If the thing were some sort of elevator, Recursive could sense no physical motion in any direction. Everything was still and quiet though she could feel the other occupant's presence in the far corner. And as the clockhand moved all the way to the other side, she felt a pressure. The air was thick on all sides, pressing in on her like the bottom of the sea.
The floor jerked hard beneath her and she almost lost her balance. There was a loud crack, followed by a ripping sound, and the walls of the elevator collapsed out, toppling away from her, sliding across the ground and then falling into an abyss. Recursive gasped at her surroundings. She and Bulb stood on a precipice, like the top most point of an immense needle of rock. There was a square landing where the elevator had stopped, then on one side there was a short flight of steps that led to an even smaller outcropping that held a card table and two folding chairs. Beyond that, on all sides, was a sheer drop.
The vertiginous view over the side showed rolling clouds of red vapor hundreds of feet below, the maelstrom punctuated by fire and intermittant discharges of lightning. Her hair whipped in the wind, as she looked up in the sky at alien stars flickering in the distance.
Bulb, now looking more or less like a featureless grey mannequin, took the lead and descended the stair way to the second platform and took a seat in one of the flimsy folding chairs. Recursive stared at it for a moment, marveling at the lengths she'd taken to be rid of this bizarre creature. She glanced again into the depths at the side of the landing, musing over the symbolism of the venue. What was the statement? Were there dire consequences for failing to achieve resolution at this point? She looked again at Bulb sunk into the cheap chair against the backdrop of endless night and stars. Was this a comment on mortal concerns in the face of a deeper, utimate reality?
She pictured FD, as he would look standing there at the edge of oblivion. In her imagination her turned to face her, hands on his hips, scowling. He threw his hands in the air in a "what now?" gesture. Stop smoking crack bish, get this crap over with...
"I hope you know what you're doing Callie."
Recursive made her way down the steps and took the seat opposite Bulb. It had no had no eyes, or mouth, but she could tell by the angle of its head that she had its attention. She laid her left hand palm up on the table in front of her left shoulder. A light began to build in the palm, swirling with shadows and strands of light. Recursive's whole body began to shiver and tremble slightly, shrinking and changing color until she was no more. Callie sat there, slightly hunched over staring into the small globe of energy. She looked at Bulb.
"Give me your gun. I'll give you this for your gun."
The thing sat motionless for a long moment. Then it lifted its left hand. It waved it back and forth as a grey mass began to take shape in the palm. The angles and curves lengthened and hardened until it became a shiny, snub-nosed revolver. Bulb laid it on the table. Callie laid the ball of energy on the table and took the gun in her right hand, cradling it in her hands and holding it flat against her chest.
Bulb scooped up the ball of energy and absorbed it into its body. It convulsed violently, rocking its torso back and forth and almost upsetting the card table. It's surface expanded and contracted, hardening in some areas and becoming soft like flesh in others. It formed eyes, a mouth, a noise, a mass of hair on top of its head. Callie watched wide-eyed as the thing took on the appearance of Recursive. Her face, hair, figure..even the uniform from the alternate reality. It's face squirmed, the eyes moving independently of each other as it tried to approximate human physiology. It managed to focus its gaze on the hands, the outward shape of Recursive's fingers, bending and waving them frenetically then running them over the surface of the card table. It became still for a moment, suddenly focusing its blank idiotic gaze on Callie as if it had forgotten she still existed. The new Recursive's lips trembled as it stared.
"Wa...wha ..hu..hu..wha...wha......"
It ran its fingers over its lips, feeling the vibration. Suddenly it giggled, it's eyes bulging, the pupils dilated like saucers.
"Ha....ha......ha....ha....
Suddenly Bulb stood up, planting its hands on the card table, leaning forward, the black hair spilling into its face.
"Hahahahahahahahahahaha"
It got closer, thrusting its face directly in the vicinity of Callie's, the lips drawn back in a sneer. The eyes quivering and bulging.
"AH HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
Callie flinched slightly,just for a moment. Then she placed the barrel of the gun directly against the simulacra's forehead and pulled the trigger, firing a single round into the false Recursive's skull. The face shattered, viscous grey liquid splattering out the other side. There was an inhuman wail that fractured and multiplied like hundreds of glassed breaking at once. The thing clawed at the hole where it's face had been and staggered back blindly.
Callie sprang to her feet and clutched it, the life force flowing back into her body as Bulb crumbled and deflated like a baloon caked over with dried up mud. Slowly, Recursive returned to being, looking at the cast off skin of something that had tried to become her. The remains turned to ash in her hands and were carried away by the wind.
Recursive picked the revolver up off the table. It remained solid, presumably because Bulb had given it away. She turned it over in her hands, examining it from all sides. Then on a whim, she tossed it over the side, sending it spinning into the churning gasses below. As she watched it fall, her eyelids began to grow heavy, the sensation so intense that she could no longer keep them open. Her body straightened, falling backwards as her feet lifted up off the ground. She heard the faint voices in the room, felt the plush surface of the casket beneath her. She caught one last glimpse of the stars shimmering in the distance and felt an odd pang of melancholy as the dream world came to an end.
"Goodbye Bulb. Goodbye Callie."
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
"Wow. Great shindig he's got going on here." Love Tap pushed one of the oak double doors shut behind her, adjusting the lace sleeve of her violet and and black cocktail dress with her other hand. "I got like an army of gangbangers out there drooling over me. Where are all the cute girls?"
Recursive smiled from her perch on the staircase. She hadn't dressed up for the occassion, just an ordinary pair of jeans and a tshirt.
"Well, I think maybe he wanted to show us off. You and me. Even Soft...what did you do to her?"
"Haha. Nice eh? It's a new upgrade. I'm about to transfer sensory information from my body to hers. Muscle memory, tactile information, even some sympathetic nervous system kinda stuff..like eye dilation. Blushing."
"Yeah she's still green but she actually looks like a real woman...I mean, you know, a human woman." She reflexively looked around to see if Jessica was in the area. "Did you dye her hair?."
"Well sorta. She can ingest dye and distribute it to specific parts of her body. Once we got the hair the right consistency, the color wasn't an issue."
Love Tap strolled into the center of the lobby, looking around. "Where's Proxy?"
"He's in the kitchen. That's where he wants us all to meet him. A toast or celebration or something..."
"Aren't you happy?"
"I guess." Recursive shrugged.
Voices became audible outside the mansion doors. They swung open violently and FD stood there cradling Soft in his arms, her slinky black dress barely covering her assets. A hot pink stiletto dangled precariously from her left foot. The other foot was bare.
"Ouch ouch hurt ouch hurt ouch ouch."
"OK SOMEONE CHECK THIS CRAZY ***** OUT SHE STEPPED ON SOMETHIN."
Love Tap ran her fingers over the bottom of Soft's foot. "Um, here it's..." She pulled something off of Soft's skin and held it in her palm scrutinizing it. "It's a small rock or um..maybe a dried up bean or something. You gotta have beans everywhere, huh tacoboy?"
FD laughed and tried to dislodge Soft, who clung to his chest like a monkey the moment he started to put her down. "Hey you know you should eat more beans ya know? Then you poo poo more and maybe ya won't be so full of crap. And by the way, yeah you made soft all hot but now she a complete wuss man, like can't even get a little pebble in her shoe?What the hell?"
"Meh, she'll be fine. She's new to this, just need to make some adjustments..."
FD managed to dislodge Soft so that she merely stood next to him, clinging to his left arm.
"Thank you thank hunka hunka man thank my hero my hero mmmm mmmmmm mmmmmm."
FD wiped his eyes with the back of his free hand, then brushed the wrinkles out of his silk dress shirt, checking his watch and other assorted pieces of bling. Recursive smiled.
"Don't worry, you still look pimp."
"Hey I got an image to uphold. Now what's going on? Proxy wants us for a toast or something?"
"Yeah, I believe he's in the kitchen."
___________________________
"What the hell man?!? What is that thing?" In the center of the kitchen area, tables had been pushed out of the way to make room for a large, upright rectangular object that was covered by a huge tarp. Proxy stood at a counter off to one side holding two bottle of wine. As they filtered in, he handed one to Recursive.
"What the hell did you put in my kitchen?" Proxy smiled.
"That my friend is a work of art to commemorate the defeat of Bulb, the victory of our dear Recursive, and the coming together of this group as a team. We will accomplish great things in the future."
"So what is it? Who put it here?"
"I commissioned little Toobit to craft it and place it here."
"Haha that punk robot kid? He did this?"
"Yes he did. Go ahead and take a look."
FD looked at the others for a moment, gauging their expressions in an effort to prepare himself for the unveiling. Then he grunted and took hold of the tarp and ripped it away. The women laughed as the object was revealed: a life-size replica of a porta-potty made out of sand.
"What?!? WHAT?!? That ******* put a crapper in my kitchen???"
Proxy raised his hand. "No. No. Not a crapper. Read the description."
There on the front of the door was an inscription in large block letters:
MEXICAN SPACE SHUTTLE
The room erupted with laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHA, OOOOH YOU A******S! I HATE YOU ******* HAHAHAHA I HOPE YOU ALL DIE IN A FIRE HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA RACIST BASTARDS!!! I'M GONNA DROP THE SPACE SHUTTLE'S PAYLOAD ON YOUR HEADS JERKS HAHAHA."
After several minutes, Proxy was able to get them calmed down enough to listen again. He took Recursive, the wine still in her hand, and positioned her in front of the sculpture. She looked at him.
"Really?"
"It's tradition.."
She broke the bottle over the space shuttle, laughing, and as the stain of the alcohol spread over the sand they could hear Toobit's faint, childlike voice humming fiesta music from the inside.
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
Thank you everyone that followed this story. It wasn't really conceived as a story with a definite end, more as the start to an ongoing episodic thing. More like a comic book. My intention was to use the incident with Bulb as an arc that would bring in the other characters, and hopefully reveal some interesting information about those characters in the process.
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
<applauds>
That was an extremely interesting story, FD. You have a talent for coming up with unusual characters and situations!
City of Heroes taught me that when the world is burning, you don't just stand by and watch, you grab a fire extinguisher and do whatever you can to stop it-even if it's not much at all. Sign the petition to keep City of Heroes alive HERE.
@MissKyo, Leader of the Teamsters coalition on Protector
Thanks Kyo! I really appreciate that you stuck with it to the end with my slow and sometimes intermittant pace of writing. A lot of the imagery from this story are things I picture in my head. I feel comfortable with the dialogue, but I think a lot of the imagery gets a bit half-baked when I try to put it down on a page.
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
Toobit? LOL.