Can't wait for the last two cards!!!
Slapstick
The joker vaulted out of card with an explosion of laughter and confetti. He spun through the air and landed precariously on the edge of one of the diamond cards. As he wiggled back and forth to regain his balance, his fool's sceptre lashed forward and caught an ice blast that was flying towards Mogo, sending it ricocheting back towards the blaster and catching another man square in the chest. The thug was knocked roughly to his back and slid across the floor as the joker finally fell off his perch and landed on his head. He imediately sprang back up again and started cartwheeling towards Mogo's assailants.
He slipped on a paper bag, just in time to avoid a bolt of force projected from a thug's outstretched hand. He jumped to his feet and arched his back to stretch out a kink, right as knives whizzed by either side of his torso. He blushed, covering his mouth in embarrassment as his pants fell around his ankles. He knelt down to grab them with his free hand, as a large chunk of pavement thrown by the largest thug sailed overhead. He laughed and pranced his way towards them, waving his belled hat and club in a jaunty manner while the crazies glared at him with impotent rage and disbelief.
The joker swayed slightly, smiling as the largest attacker's dark, blocky arm swung past.
Mogo rubbed his jaw.
"Granite armor. Geeze no wonder..."
A blade wielding figure behind the joker, maybe a former Tsoo warrior, moved into position for a thrust. As the blade shot towards the fool's neck, he dipped forward. The weapon pierced empty air above as the joker's foot shot up and thrust into the man's jaw, knocking him back and off his feet. The energy blaster came in for an uppercut, which caught the joker square on his outstretched jaw. But the fool's entire body went with the motion and brought his feet in contact with the blaster's chest, knocking the wind out of him and dropping him to one knee.
As the thugs regrouped for another attack, the joker took his scepter and in a wide arcing motion...beat his own head with it. Upon impact, his whole body began to shudder and shake. As the motion reached the bells on his cap and his feet, deafening sonic vibrations began to fill the courtyard. Mogo sat on the ground and covered his ears as the ground around them began to crack and then liquify. The smaller thugs were thrown around like ragdolls, people further away clutching their ears and stumbling dizzily if they were not already incapacitated. The joker clapped his hands over his head and the vibrations stopped as he wavered there, hand over his mouth while his whole head began to turn green with simulated nausea.
"GET THAT ONE!" A man on the outskirts of the fight staggered to his feet and pointed at Mogo. "He's the one! Get him!"The Granite armor warrior turned away from the fool and looked for the magician. He was unaffected by the vibrations, pylons of earth rising up from beneath the ground and stabilizing his enormous bulk. He began wading through the bodies and remaining card soldiers, raising his huge stone fists as he made his way to squash Mogo to a pulp. The joker waved his scepter and the belled peaks on the end elongated and shot out, wrapping around the stone man's neck as the joker struggled in vain to halt his forward motion.
The figure was close now. Looming over the still huddled magician.
"Aw crap.."
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
Awww crap indeed!!!
What a marvelous visual this created!
Mogo stared up at the shape rising over him. For a moment everything seemed still, in the clarity of impending death the courtyard took on a crisp, cold quality. As if they were just beneath the surface of a frozen lake. He thumbed the card in his hand growing heavy under the weight of inevitability. He looked at the symbol on the front shaking his head slightly.
"I guess it's come down to this once again."
There was something in his head---not even a voice, just a thought that did not belong to him.
The pleasure is to play, it makes no difference what you say.
Mogo nodded and flipped the Ace of Spades face up on the ground. The symbol burst up from the ground, swallowing the magician in inky darkness before the brute's massive arm could reach its target. Then it began to spin like a top, stirring a powerful current of wind around its axis. The men in the courtyard were shifted roughly by the gale, and the ones imprisoned and restrained by the card soldier were suddenly set free, as all the cards from Mogo's deck were sucked into the expanding vortex save for the Joker who stood impassively on the sidelines unaffected by the wind.
The granite armor thug held his ground against the force, but flailed in vain against the darkness, unable to connect with anything beneath its surface and repelled from entering any further. When the final card flew was swallowed up, the motion stopped and things were still again for a second. Just a brief second when Mogo's enemies could feel their hearts pounding. Feel a tinge of fear nagging at their spirits as they gaped at the column of night.
An immense roar resonated in the courtyard, shaking glass free from the broken windows overhead. The pavement vibrated beneath their feet, then an immense scaley tongue emerged from the black, whipping around and burning with hellish green flame before being sucked back in and reapperaring inside the maw of a giant armored skull. The thing's dead dead eyes gleamed as it came forth, slashing the iron tuskes of the helmet bolted to its surface. The armor plates screamed and hissed from the friction as it rose over the terrified men.
One clawed gauntlet pounded the earth, plowing through the concrete as a second burst through the side of the nearest building, eventually finding purchase as the thing pushed and lifted itself up over the conflict, the top of its spiked form a good three stories tall. It roared again, flames pouring from its eyes, chains pounding on the surface of its demonic breast plate as the sadistic inhuman eyes turned towards the diminuitive stone figure below.
The brute threw up his hands in panic as an enormous iron claw effortlessly scooped him up, lifting high in the air before slamming him down into the pavement below. The tremor
from impact knocked the others to the ground as well before their paniced legs could carry them to safety. The stoneman screamed, large chunks of his armor breaking away as his horror would no longer permit him to control his powers. The deathbeast raised its fist
and slammed it down on him, again and again, the ground cracking and crumbling from its fury.
It slammmed the ground
It broke stone.
It broke flesh.
The eyes were burning.
It's breath was acid.
The Fist rose again, the shadow of pain in the sky, plummeting like a comet to hammer them into oblivion again.
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
o.O
@tiggy
Beware the attack cat
Oh hell YAH!!
Interlude
Mogo took his fingers off the man's neck and stood up.
"He's gone. Anyone else?"
The joker looked dejectedly over the courtyard and pointed his wand towards a body on the outskirts. The other men lay on their backs on the pavement, eyes closed, mouths twisting and mumbling in horror. Every twenty seconds or so they all jerked en masse, arms and legs jerking upward, flipping like fish rocked by an unseen impact.
"I guess we were lucky. The stone guy took the brunt of it." Unlike the others, the dead brute lay in a depression of cracked concrete--actual physical evidence of his encounter with the death beast, although Mogo knew it was the fear that had stopped his heart.
"Go around and use your wand. Try to keep anyone else from slipping into cardiac arrest. I need some time. Hopefully not long but I can't release them yet."
The joker nodded and bonked the nearest man on the head with his scepter. The thug immediately started mumbling to himself.
"...huh..what...he did....what...what" With you mom? Ha ha ha ...that's cold..ha ha ha...cold one...."
The joker turned to Mogo, his pale clown face blurring, his body fading and becoming wispy like an apparition.
"Mogo I was wondering if you can put in a word for me...with the people upstairs..."
"Ray, you know they keep me in the dark just as much as you guys."
"Yeah I know, but I thought you could mention it to Fibbs."
"Sure I'll be talking to him shortly. I will."
"You know...I just think...I'd really like to move on..."
"Well then go Ray. You're not a prisoner. None of you are. Just take off, a heart will move up to take your place."
"It can't be that simple."
"I think it is. It's not about me or anyone else forgiving you. It's about you forgiving yourself."
"I just can't. I just feel like..I dunno...I guess I'm waiting for a sign that the time is
right."
Mogo smiled and put his hand on the joker's shoulder.
"I know what you mean Ray. I'll talk to Fibbs. Hopefully something will change for you soon."
He adjusted his hat and began walking towards the alley on the far side of the courtyard. The joker turned and watched him go.
"Is it in there?"
"Yeah I can feel it. Something's in there."
"What do you think it is?"
"No idea."
"What are you going to do?"
"Try to stay sane."
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
Yeah, I'm becoming quite attached to Mogo. 
Encounter
The short alley led to a second courtyard filled with a debris. Mogo waded in, pushing towards a large heap of trash bags and discarded clothing. He stopped when the garbage reached his knees, looking over the strange mound. Bag after bag of items. Filled, tied and piled in a heap, one amazingly devoid of rotting food stench. There was a pallor, but not the sort of thing you'd expect from a trash heap. More like the scent of mildew and age and stagnancy.
He reached up his sleeve and withdrew a bouquet of roses. He held it aloft and the petals burst into flame.
"Come out! Now, or I torch it all!"
There was a moment of silence, then a faint rustling near the center of the mound. Someone slowly emerged, a dark thin shape hunched over slightly in an oversized blue hoodie. Mogo felt a slight chill in his innards. It moved sort of like a human being. It was trying.
The was a voice. It mumbled something incoherently, without inflection or obvious sound of gender.
"What? What did you say?"
"didn't do nothing wrong..."
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
The opening of the hoodie turned slightly towards Mogo, briefly flashing an eye from within. Too big. Too oddly placed for a human head.
"Where is your office police officer?"
"Answer my questions. Who are you?"
"I did nothing why are you asking me have an axe to grind.."
Mogo dipped his torch towards the mound of refuse. The figure turned a bit more, one of it's arms flapping up in a vague gesture of alarm or supplication.
"You don't want me burning this do you? You don't want me exposing what's hidden underneath?"
"It is my home I am home less less home..."
"What's your name?"
"I am homeless lost my way hit the street no roof over my head.."
Mogo reached inside his vest and pulled out a small glass globe shining with white light. He held it close to his mouth, mumbling some arcane phrases over its surface, then he crushed the thing in his hand. For a moment, the space was flooded with a pure white brilliance as Mogo winced and looked away to protect his eyes. The strange figure stood there motionless, apparently oblivious to the spell. It failed to show even a faint response to the flash.
Mogo rubbed his jaw. Any kind of demonic entity would've experienced intense pain from the spell. Anything mystical in origin would've had its nature revealed. He wasn't sure that his magic would shed any light on this bizarre entity.
"Do you have an axe to grind do you have a bone to pick.." The thing gestured limply
towards the other courtyard back the way Mogo had come. "Bones to pick." There was an odd feeling of motion in the mound. Mogo wavered a bit, slightly off balance. Had the figure gotten bigger? Had the debris shifted? He took a couple steps back.
The thing was looking at him full on. The glowing oversized eyes floating over a shell of darkness , the mouth moving silently and out of pace with its words. It seemed to grow in his field of perception. Things in the courtyard where becoming too big and too small. Mogo looked at the flowers in his hand burning. What were they? He'd lost the word.
"Are you charging me with a crime officer charge me with a crime charge me with crime"
"What? What are you asking me?"
"Can you give me a hand with something?"
"What? Do you need help?"
"A hand with something can you give me a hand with something with something?"
"Help you with what?"
"A hand with something....a hand"
Mogo wrenched himself away. He turned back towards the alley breaking through the lines of vertigo twisting his vision. He shook his sleeves as he stumbled through the refuse, dropping colored eggs out of his coat the hit the ground and broke open, obscuring his departure with prismatic smoke.
The ground seemed more solid when he reached the alley, his pace steadying. He adjusted his outfit and proceeded forward. His motions became stiff, his arms moving stiffly from the shoulders. His legs stiff, marching like a tin man. He shrank, his coat changing color, his skin turning to wood. Mr.Fibbs turned the corner and hurried to one of the dead bodies that Mogo had spotted earlier. Only this time, he touched it and the illusion faded revealing the daper magician sprawled out on the pavement.
Mogo's spirit left the dummy and jumped back into its own flesh, which jerked to life as he scrambled to sit up. Mr. Fibbs wavered and sank to his little puppet knees.
"Here Fibbs, quickly." Mogo unrolled a large sheet of vellum underneath him. Fibbs leaned forward and vomited out a jet of black ink on to the page, forming a series of strange characters and abstract angular shapes.
Mogo took Fibbs and set him on his lap as he looked over the markings.
"Thanks buddy. If I had gone in there in person I think I would've been charmed."
"I could feel the creature's influence myself. Somehow bending reality."
"Have you ever seen marks like this?"
"No. A couple parts look somewhat familiar, but overall it's alien to me."
Mogo removed his hat and rubbed his head.
"I'm out of my depth."
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
Things get stranger and stranger!
*laughs* Loved the vomiting the print onto the page.
Just caught up (again) and...wow Each chapter just gets better !
Old debt
The hideout was situated in a fashionable French Bistro in an upscale neighborhood in Founders Falls. Mogo Looked at the menu in the window. He'd actually read some good reviews about the food. They'd done a good job setting up shop there, it certainly wasn't easy to find.
He walked in and made his way immediately back towards the kitchen. There were frenzied footsteps following after him.
"Excuse me! Excuse me sir! You..you can't just walk in here. Do you have a reservation?" The maitre d clutched Mogo's jacket sleave trying to stop him. A thin, nervous looking middle aged man in a black suit. "I'm sorry, we're very exclusive. We don't just let people wander into our kitchen without an appointment."
"Are you in on this?"
The man smoothed the arm of his suit coat. "In on what sir?"
"Nevermind." Mogo extended the taser in his hand and shocked the maitre d's midsection, causing the man to spasm and fall in the space between tow tables. Mogo wasted no time and slid into the kitchen before any of the clientele had time to take notice. Once in the kitchen he nodded to the big beefy chefs hovering over steaming pans, but they shrugged and went about their business without concern.
There was a passage way in the back lined with metal freezer doors. He'd studied the architectural plans to the building. He knew it shouldn't be there. He walked along the way until he came to the fourth freezer entrance.
"This is the one." He grabbed the lever on the face of the door and pulled it open. Inside was an elevator. He slide the metal gate open and stepped inside, taking a deep breath and pressing the down button. "Here goes nothing."
When the elevator stopped, the space was extremely dark. He could hear things moving. By the various clicks and sliding metallic noises, he imagined that there were quite a few guns being pointed at his face. There was a voice in the background. He winced and threw his forearm over his eyes as the room filled with light. When he was acclimated enough, he peered over his sleeve and saw six large, rough looking men sitting at three different tables. They were all armed with pistols and machine guns. And they were all dead. Dessicated corpses given the semblance of life. Watching him with the empty holes in their skulls.
Then she appeared in a doorway on the other side of the room. Marianne, his old lover. She was beautiful in a silver cocktail dress, her copper colored tresses spilling over her bare shoulders. The sensuous curves. The pale skin. The sprightly blue eyes. And in his mystic vision: a withered corpse. Ashen flesh hanging off it in strips. The collar bones poking through the skin on the right hand side. Feral green light pouring out of the sunken eyes. His former friend and lover, now a lich in the service of his enemy. He shook his head slightly, trying to blind himself to the truth and see the illusion once more. The girl of his memories.
She gave him that look. The one he'd always gotten when she'd gone against his wishes. As if he were simply a child that did not--could not undertand her. She crossed the room to him, beckoning him out of the elavator shaft. There was smoke, darkness stirring at her feet.
"Well? Have you finally lost your mind? Are you stupid?" He laughed sheepishly, looking at his shoes.
"Hello M. Part of you...you've never looked more beautiful..."
She sighed and fingered a loose button on his coat. "Where's your back up? There must be a plan. If you wanted to commit suicide...you didn't need to come here and involve me."
"Nope no backup. No fighting. I'm not here for that. I'm here to call in a favor."
"A favor? What kind of favor are you looking for? You want someone dead or something?"
"Yeah. I do."
Her eyes narrowed, trying intently to read the expression on his face. "Oh..." She looked around uncertainly. Suddenly that loose button snapped off in her fingers. "Oh..I'm sorry."
He closed her fingers over it. "It's alright. Keep it." Marrianne's eyes rolled back in her head and she started mumbling. Mogo knew she was communicating with her master.
"He's ...intrigued. He will honor his word. But first I need to take the hat and the coat." Mogo handed them over, sliding them on to her arm. "Where is Fibbs? And the case with the others?"
"They wouldn't come. They didn't want to be here. And I didn't want to involve them."
"I see. Well come with me. I'll take you to him."
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
YAY! YAY! YAY! A new chapter! w00t!
*rubs hands together, excitedly waiting for the next part*
UHOH never a good thing when favors are called in......
*waits greedily for more*
@tiggy
Beware the attack cat
Monkey Trick
They rode the elevator further underground. Marianne stood near a glowing control panel that hadn't been visible to Mogo the first time. She tapped her foot and stared at the doors impatiently.
"Stop looking at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like I'm this little lost waif that somehow slipped through your fingers and didn't get saved. You always have that look about you."
"Well...."
She glared at him. "Why can you never get it? He didn't take my free will. This IS my free will. His view of the world is my view of the world. I joined with him to become greater, to become more."
Mogo lost himself for a moment snarling. "And look what it cost you!"
"It cost me death, it cost me part of my existence in this world while giving me new life in another. And with him I can chart a new course for my existence. I don't have to be part of that endless chain of life and death that you think is so important. So natural and right."
Mogo shrugged. "I can't help being who I am."
The elevator came to a halt. She smiled wanly and gestured. "Straight down the hall through the double doors. He's waiting for you."
"Thanks M." Mogo started out and as he passed, she caught the sleeve of his shirt and made him pause.
"Why don't you just go? Whatever it is you're here for...it's not..you."
Mogo smiled and slid away. "I'm sorry M. It's just something I have to do."
.....
He sat down at the near end of the table. The other side was obscured by a curtain of darkness. A wall of inky black that was so dense it seemed to have physical mass and presence. There was a couple moments of silence, then the Caretaker's hand emerged, laying down a blank domino on the table in front of void. Mogo was acquainted with that hand. He looked at all the spikes and amulets and mystic artifacts hammered into the burned inky flesh. The hand was human in shape. Beyond that it was a strange, mutilated un-living object. More blank dominoes appeared in front of him. Gradually Mogo could see more of the figure--the other hand, arms, part of the chest.
[Never expected to see you here]. The thoughts popped like bubbles in Mogo's head.
"That makes two of us."
The hands added another blank tile to the group and then paused. [What is it you want me to do for you?]
Mogo reached into his sleeve and pulled out the roll of vellum with Fibbs' markings on it. He tossed it down to the section of the table in front of his rival's collection of tiles.
"This. I don't know what it is. I want you to kill it. Destroy it. Whatever it takes to get rid of it and make sure it doesn't come back."
The Caretaker gestured and the roll unfurled and floated off the table, the mystic markings glowing as they stretched out in the air between them.
[Hmmmmmm. As usual, you fail to see the depth of the issue.] He gestured again, rotating his hands. The writing stretched and lengthened in space, twisting as it it were being turned on a lathe. As the Caretaker moved his hands, the marks assumed different shapes and configurations, shifting from a tangle of random marks to a coil of symbols, almost like mystical dna.
"Do you know what it is?"
[Maybe. It's not from this space-time continuum.]
"Will you be able to destroy it ?"
[Yes.]
"It's powers of manipulation and control are..potent. Will you be able to handle it without..."
[Ha ha ha ha. Your concern is touching. But don't assume that I have your weakness. I am beyond you and I am beyond this entity.]
"Alright then. Just wanted to make sure."
The Caretake gestured and the markings where sucking into his hand, throwing off a burst of light before flowing into the palm out of sight. Mogo shifted slightly in his seat.
"Well I guess we're done..."
[Wait. Why aren't you having your associates handle this. You can't manage it--why are you calling in this favor? There are specialists in your circle that can handle it.]
"I want to make sure it's done. Done thoroughly."
[You are protecting someone.]
"Yes. something like that."
The Caretaker scooped up a handful of tiles and extended his closed fist in the direction of Mogo.
[Do you know the monkey trick?"]
"Err..which?"
[When you are trying to capture a monkey in the wild. There's a technique. You dig a hole in a rock face. Just big enough for a monkey's hand. Then you put candy in there. When the monkey takes the candy..suddenly their hand is too big to slide back out of the opening. They could let go of the candy and just slide back out. But they don't. Their desire for the candy traps them.]
The caretaker opened his hand and let the dominos clatter to the tabletop. [You taking possession of this situation is the same. To me its just the way of the natural world. To people that buy into your morality...it's a good metaphor for corruption. And you know the consequences for corruption.]
"Yes. I'll lose my powers once I stray from the path. I'll stop being Mogo. You know that. Are you...trying to talk me out of it?"
[Mmmm. It benefits me to have you out of the game, certainly. But I value a certain...shape to workings of our destinies. You were significant to me at one time. You saved my life when I was foolish, even as you opposed me after I found the true way. My path to greatness. It seems a pity to see you fade into nothingness over such a small thing. Still...I will honor my debt and this thing will be done tonight.]
"Thank you. I hope it offers no difficulty. I don't expect that we will meet again."
[I would think not. Maybe there is more to this than meets the eye. Maybe I am being played. But I will destroy your enemy and clear the area. And then someday maybe the underlying pattern will be clear.]
Mogo smiled and got up to leave. "Very good then. For once I'm looking forward to seeing the results of your handiwork."
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
awww but I LIKE Mogo.....
@tiggy
Beware the attack cat
Sorry people, I don't want to bum you out. The events of this story are a prelude to another I've already thought out. So regardless of what happens to the character in this installment, it doesn't ultimately mean the end of Mogo.
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
Aftermath
Mogo circled through the courtyard one last time, then sat down on a bench and placed Fibbs on his knee.
"Well, this place is completely changed." He looked at a some dour, middle aged women walking along the wall on the other side. Just gawking at things. Touching the brick to make sure it was real. Everything smelled like smoke. You would think that the block was burning, but there was only a couple charred sections of pavement that showed any sign of fire damage. Fibbs chattered a bit before he spoke.
"The place has been cleared and purified. This is how it was back in the beginning." Mogo watched the locals filter in and out.
"No sign of crazies."
"It appears your enemy has kept his word."
Mogo watched the locals come and go. They were mystified by the change.
"Weird these people....they knew something was going on here the whole time. But they did nothing about it. We heard nothing till the body parts started showing up. And the incident with Tommy."
"Who would they tell? And what would they say?"
"Yeah I guess."
"The universe is vast and beyond the comprehension of mortals. Faced with mysteries beyond their life circumstances humans generally shut down. They refuse to acknowledge the things that don't make sense."
"Well..at least they seem happy to have things back the way they were."
"Yes."
Mogo shifted a bit and looked up into the sky. Dark, cloudy, a hint of red in the distance from the factories in the industrial park. He removed his tophat and set it on the bench next to him.
"Well I guess it's time we talked about it."
"Yes, it's time."
"I guess I broke the guidelines you gave me...back when I became Mogo.
"Yes."
"So I will lose my powers. The ones I was given when I accepted the role."
"Yes."
Mogo rubbed his face. He grunted a bit. He was tired. He hadn't realized how exhausted he was until that moment.
"Well I'm sorry old chum. I never meant to let you down." Fibbs laughed and chattered his teeth.
"You didn't let us down."
"I broke the rules. I didn't uphold the moral pledge. I can't be Mogo anymore because of it...I don't understand..."
Fibbs turned his wooden head to face him.
"This moment was foretold. We knew this would happen before we even gave you the powers. I lied to you. We aren't taking the gifts back because you broke our rules. We are taking them because you've outgrown them. We just needed a defining point to make the transition. We gave you the rules so that you would break them at this point in time and it would be the signal that it's the moment to move on."
"Move on? From being Mogo? Why do I need to stop?"
"No. You are Mogo. We didn't make you Mogo, you did. We just set your foot on the path. It's now time for you to go out in the world and be Mogo on your own terms."
Mogo laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "But I have no powers."
"Your powers are out there. Waiting for you to claim them. They will come to you--maybe sooner then you will wish."
"And what happens to all of this? You. The cards. The hat, the rabbits, everything?"
"You mean you haven't already figured that out?
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
I am both happy and sad!!!
Ooohhh... does it end here? *very very sad face*
No, it's not over. And I think you'll like the where the next story picks up.
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
Quote:
*squeeeeeee* I was prepared to be SO SADZ!!! Now I iz SO HAPPIEZ!!! |
Originally Posted by FrozenDeath
No, it's not over. And I think you'll like the where the next story picks up.
|
Mogo's Parting Gift
"You mean it's all taken care of...all gone?" Patti Cullen leaned stiffly against the frame of the doorway as she looked at him, a mix of emotions filtering through her facial expression.
"Oh come on now sit." Mogo gestured towards the chair and she grunted, sinking into it. "Yes the thing that threatened Tommy is gone. It's been wiped out of existence." Tommy raised his fists in victory.
"Yes! See mom? I told you he'd do it. I knew you could do it Mr. Mogo!" He danced around the room excitedly. His mother seemed less pleased. She was trying to put on a good show, but something was obviously bothering her.
"So no more worry about break-ins and..." She glanced around the walls of the shabby apartment distractedly. "And people coming after Tommy.."
"Well...certainly not from the thing he saw in the window. He's clear of that. But, you know, there's always..you always have to be on your guard. You know it's just life in general." He looked at Tommy. "Isn't that right Tommy? Be prepared right? Just like the boy scouts say."
"Yes sir Mr. Mogo." Patti leaned forward in her chair.
"Umm Mr. Mogo...Thank you so much for saving Tommy and getting rid of that thing. I know you did a great job..a wonderful thing for this neighborhood. My neighbors have told me how much things have changed already. But I was wondering...can the golem stay with us? I just feel so much safer with something around to watch over us.."
Mogo sat down on a footrest and slid the tophat off his head as he ran the fingers of his free hand through his wavy black hair. "I'm sorry ma'am that's not really possible."
"Well...I'm sorry to...could you come by and check us Mr. Mogo. It would mean so much to us..especially Tommy." Tommy's eyes were wide with anticipation. Mogo smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Tommy...Patti...I'm sorry. I'm really sorry but I can't so that. You see, I'm not going to be around here any more myself." He winced as he saw their sadness. Their disappointment. Tommy ran over and grasped the sleeve of his coat.
"Why Mr. Mogo?! Are you going away? Are you going somewhere for good?!?"
Mogo nodded wanly. "In a way Tommy. I'm giving up the gig. I'm ...you know I'm kind of tired of doing magic. I'm going to go into business." The Cullens gaped at each other in disbelief.
"You're giving up magic?!?! But who's going to protect people? Who's going to help people like me and my mom?"
"You really want to know?"
"Yes sir!"
"You are Tommy." Mogo stood up. He tossed the hat in the air and it started spinning and glowing like little points of light. Like fireflies spinning around in a globe of light. He took his jacket off and fed it into the ball as well. It was sucked in and converted to glowing embers that merged with the rest.
"Take it Tommy."
"But I can't do magic. I don't know how to do magic."
"It's only magic for me son. It will be something else for you."
Tommy looked at his mother. She was rubbing her face. Pale. Overwhelmed by this turn of events.
"Mom can I?"
"Baby, nobody has ever given you much of anything in your life. If you want it, go ahead and take it."
Tommy licked his lips and reached up into the ball of energy. As his hands touched the edges it began to shrink and coalesce into a shape. The light faded. It turned grey. Metallic. It became an object just a bit larger than his head. He turned it around in his hands.
"It's a helmet!"
"Put it on Tommy."
The boy slid the helmet over his head.
[PRIMARY SYSTEMS ENGAGE. FORTIFICATION MODE ACTIVATED.]
Chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-
Mogo and Mrs. Cullen watched as armored plates began to expand and lock into place over the surface of Tommy's body. The helmet became more ornate, articulated like a robotic version of a human face, the eyes glowing with blue energy. Motors whirring, energy surging as the boy lifted his arms, looking at the oversized armored gauntlets and all the glowing lights and strange devices built into the surface of the metal skin. His voice was deep and robotic as he spoke.
"OH MY GOD AWESOOOOOOMMEEEE!!!!"
Mogo laughed and touched the helmet right in the middle of the forehead.
"Power down mode." Suddenly the helmet and all the plates and devices shrinked and folded up, disappearing until the only thing remaining was a thin metal bracelet circling Tommy's right wrist.
"AWWWWWWWWWWW!"
"It's ok Tommy. This is power down mode. This is how you do it when you're at school or eating dinner ar at any time you're not using the power--which should be most of the time. When you want the armor to come back you just command it in your head."
"Oh ok Mr. Mogo."
"There are some things you need to know ok?"
"Yes sir."
"To use this armor, you have to do good. You have to do good in school. You have to help and take care of your mother. If you aren't behaving well, the armor won't help you. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir."
"The armor is very powerful. It will train you. It will help you and advise you when it can, just like how Mr. Fibbs helped me and gave me good advice. You need to listen to it. As you get better and get more skill, it will share more power with you. But in the beginning it will only give you what it thinks you can handle."
"Ok Mr. Mogo. Can i go look at it in the mirror?"
"Hahaha yeah Tommy. Go ahead."
The boy ran off. They could hear the armor activating down the hallway. Mogo smiled and got up to leave.
"So will we see you again Mr. Mogo?"
"I don't know ma'am. Maybe. I hope so but I can't promise anything. But if you'll excuse me I have an appointment downtown. I'm in a bit of a rush."
"Oh ok..well thank you so much.."
He smiled and shook her hand. Then he nodded and slipped into the hallway. She heard him hurry to the door and exit, slamming it shut behind him. Patti started to move stiffly after Tommy to see what he was doing with this new...toy? Tool? Superpower? It had all happened so quickly. She hadn't really thought about what really just happened. Her little boy had just left the ranks of the mere mortal. Was he better? Or worse off. She kicked something as she started down the hall.
A little dark disk. "Oh my.." It was Mogo's golem, shrunken back down to it's original size. Grunting, she managed to scoop it up off the floor and she shambled to the front door.
"Mr. Mogo! Wait!"
She opened the door and stepped out on the porch. Mogo wasn't there, but there was a man standing out front on the sidewalk. She recoiled a bit. Just some guy. Smoking. He was wearing a sweatjacket with the hood pulled up over his head. Jeans and faded tennis shoes. She thought of the crazy men that had come to her house. But she steeled her nerves and pushed the fear aside. She couldn't live in fear like that. It wasn't good for her or Tommy.
"Hey. Hey there, did you happen to see a guy leave this apartment just now?" The man turned to look at her. Salt and pepper hair. Glasses. Looking at her sharply with squinty eyes, maybe even a bit bloodshot. He took a drag, and smiled as he exhaled.
"Was he a tall, good looking fancy guy. Dressed kind of like a magician or somethin?"
"Yeah that's him." The guy took another drag.
"You wouldn't believe me...."
"Try me. I've seen a lot of weird stuff in this neighborhood." The guy gestured in the air with the hand holding the cigarette.
"Well, this guy came out of the house. He ran into the middle of the street and this horse came out of the sky. It's hooves were on fire and it had big angel wings. He hopped on and the thing flew back up into the clouds."
"Oh..I see.."
He took another drag, then tapped ashes on to the sidewalk. "Weird huh?"
"Yes..well...yes." She looked up and down the street then started to turn to go back into the apartment. "Thanks."
The man smiled and bowed slightly. "Au revoir mademoiselle." He flicked the cigarette butt into the street and started off down the sidewalk. Head bowed slightly in the hood and hands in his pockets.
Blacklisted
"I'AM SATANS FAVORITE CHILD!!"
*standing ovation*
FD, I have SO very much enjoyed this story. I'm really sorry to see it end. *sighs* But thank you very much for sharing it!
That was better than most of M. Night Shyamalan's recent work.
"Goodbye, Jean-Luc. I'm gonna miss you... you had such potential. But then again, all good things must come to an end..." -- Q