The Crystal Hall RDF feed

Re: Dullahan: Strange beginnings.

Shadow Amber — 2013-06-18T18:34:53-00:00

Part Two

July 19th 2007 9:00 pm local time
Madison, Wisconsin
Supercon

Sam Reed

Mom dropped us off about a block away from Supercon so we could put our costumes on and arrive in style rather than be seen being dropped off by my mom. We didn't even ask, she just did it. Another thing that makes her cool.

Maddie slipped off her shirt and short to reveal a bright blue skintight body suit that hugged her every curve. Dan elbowed me in the ribs to keep me from staring as she strapped on the orange power armor that was her actual costume. "Watch it, just because we're friends doesn't mean I won't clock you for ogling my sister."

Dan had put on a totally stylish black hakama trimmed with gold and a matching sword and scabbard covered in spiraling runes. He gave me a smile to show he was joking before helping me strap on my own armor.

I had put together a slightly modified HAYABUSA armor set out of the custom kits. The helmet, chestpiece, legs, and forearms retained their Samurai aesthetic, but I had replaced the right shoulder pauldron with the Scout variant and the left one with a set of overlapping triangular plates. The whole armor had been painted a metallic black and trimmed with silver. I strapped one of the combat knives to each forearm and clipped my now-black Nerf gun to my back.

I turned back to Maddie. "Well? How do I look?"
She flashed me a brilliant smile before donning her own helmet, I could just barely make out her eyes through the green visor. Dan whistled. "Damn, you two look like you could take on an army in those suits."

"You don't look too back yourself Mr. Samurai." I replied.

"Still," he added. "You haven't seen the final touches yet." He tapped a silver pendant around his neck and it flared slightly, sending a wave of soft light through his hair. Instantly, it straightened, forming three razor-sharp spikes that stuck out of his head. Another wave of light etched an intricate tattoo along his right arm, the ink glowing in the streetlight. "Abracadabra."

"Holy crap! How did you do that?" exclaimed Maddie. Her cheery voice sounding strange coming out of the bounty hunter's armor.

"Magic," he whispered conspiratorially. "That Jim guy is a real wizard, he sold me this charm when I said I wanted styling gel for this anime hair. I've gotta admit, its way easier than spending thirty minutes on my hair every day for a whole week."

"Cool." Inwardly I was worried. What if someone sees Dan use the charm at the convention? I quickly squashed that thought, Dan would know better than to use the charm in public.

We made quite the impression when we arrived, the two armored legends flanking a mysterious Samurai. Dan had that shark smile of his going on. You know, that friendly, yet feral smile some people have? Anyway, it was awesome with his costume. We even posed for a couple people who wanted to take pictures.

Our first stop was to enter in the costume contest that would take place at 9:45. It only took a couple minutes and then we set out for the market area to purchase Pocky and other such convention essentials. I noticed lots of other people with costumes as well. Some of them, like the guy dressed as Seto Kaiba and the Sephiroth with a Cabbage Patch Kid skewered on his sword were absolutely amazing.

Others, such as the box robot, overweight Wolverine and the horribly inaccurate Tomahawk costumes were less fantastic. I swear, how hard is it to remember that Wolverine has three claws?

Eventually we made our way back to the costume contest room and waited in line for the judging. Some lady in a really good Wicked Witch costume was giving Dan the stink eye and the guy dressed as Kaiba was giving her a disapproving look. The Sephiroth guy had stuck several more stuffed dolls with his absurdly long blade and was idly braiding their hair.

"Sam Reed." When they called my name I stepped forwards onto the stage, dart gun held loosely in my hands. I posed heroically, turned about for the judges and stepped off the stage. Maddie went next, flicking on the LEDs on her arm cannon. She repeated the process and somersaulted offstage to wild applause. Dan went after her, giving the crowd his most winning smile and performing some fancy sword spinning.

"Showoff." Maddie muttered.

Suddenly there was a flash of light and Dan was lifted into the air, an orb of crackling blue energy surrounding him. "Danny!" Maddie screamed.
____________________________________

July 19th 2007 10:09 pm local time
Madison, Wisconsin
Supercon

The League: Alpha Team
Changeling swore as the glowing sphere lifted the boy into the air. People were panicking, running out the doors into the lobby, causing more panic. He grabbed a card from his hand and threw it at the back of the retreating Wicked Witch of the West, it stuck to her robes without her noticing it. Next, he flipped a card face-up on his duel disk, feeding it with magical power. A circle of runes formed under the energy sphere, freezing it in place. He activated the next two cards, a shimmering shield of white light surrounded the circle before the whole lightshow was sucked into a strange device.

<[Pistachio]: Scat Cat, grab the IDMT and get it to Bravo site! Masamune, grab the friend, I'll get the sister!>

The Sephiroth cosplayer nodded and struck the armored boy at a joint in his armor. He fell limp and Masamune scooped him up and carried him away. An arm reached out of thin air and seized the strange device and vanished again. Changeling tapped his last card, there was a flash of light and the boy's sister was tied up in a burlap sack. He quickly scooped up the sack and followed his teammate out the door.
____________________________________

July 19th 2007 10:09 pm local time
Madison, Wisconsin
Somewhere

Sam Reed

I groaned and opened my eyes as someone poked me gently on the nose. "Nngh... go 'way mom, don't wanna hafta to school."

The person poking me was not my mother. There was a panther was inches from my face, prodding me with a tongue depressor. "Oh good, you're awake." It meowed happily, hopping off the bed and bounding out the door. "Hey! He's awake!"

A minute later it returned with a silver-haired dude and the Kaiba cosplayer from the convention. Kaiba frowned at the now-bipedal jungle cat. "Cheshire, I told you not to scare the kid and I find him whiter than the sheets!"

The cat-person, Cheshire, gave him a smile that was a little too big for his face. The name seemed fitting. "What happened? Where am I? Who're you?" I stammered, trying not to freak out.

Cheshire opened his mouth but the silver haired guy gave him a look before answering me. "Relax, you're safe here. Your friend was the victim of a magic spell that went haywire, we managed to contain the event and brought the three of you here. We are the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a paranormal hero team that's very good at our job. I am Tao, this is Changeling, and you've obviously met Cheshire already."

Changeling snapped his fingers and transformed into a man with a large screw in his head and a stitched-together lab coat. He pressed his hand against my forehead and stuck a lollypop in my mouth. "All better now, be sure to brush your teeth after eating that."

Tao helped me out of bed. "Your friend Dan is still unconscious, his sister is with him now. Follow me."

He led me down the hall to another room. Maddie was standing outside. "Sam!" she cried, throwing herself into my arms. "Are you okay?"

I shrugged. "I'll be fine, how's Dan?"

Tao opened the door and I gasped. Dan's hair had grown, his face was softer, and he was very obviously female. He wore a form-fitting black leather tunic and matching breeches. A thin gauntlet encased his right arm, stretching to his elbow. His tattoo had shifted to the left arm and now resembled a tracery of black ivy. Black wasn't supposed to glow like that.

Changeling entered and ran his hand over Dan's body. "Yup, he'll look like this from now on, not a bad improvement, but he'll draw some stares for sure."

I turned to Tao. "What will we do when he wakes up? He can't go to school looking like that, someone'll kill him for sure!"

Changeling tousled my hair fondly. "Don't worry about, we can try some things and if that doesn't work there are always alternatives." He pulled a yugioh card out of his coat and handed it to Cheshire. "This card is linked to its twin, I stuck it on Miriam Baker's costume when everyone was panicking and screaming. Hunt her down and bring her back alive and conscious." Cheshire nodded and faded away, leaving only a wide smile floating in mid-air.

"You two should sit down," said Tao quietly. "We have a lot to talk about while we wait for the cat to finish playing with his food."

Re: What the Hek?!

Caliban — 2013-06-18T14:05:01-00:00

Riley struggled free of my embrace (hey, these things can happen in the heat of the moment) and pushed himself to his feet. He was a bit unsteady but otherwise unhurt. He looked at Ben and shook his head ruefully.

"Damn Grimm, glad you showed up when you did. I thought my luck had finally run out."

"Holy crap Ben, how'd you do that?" I exclaimed.

Riley and I look at each other. "You know Ben?" We said simultaneously. Then we gave each other identical annoyed looks.

Ben rolled his eyes. "If you two are done having a moment, I could use a hand here. This kid is heavy." Even at normal size, Brad was still a bundle of muscles, although he looked a bit different than he had at school. In spite of the red scars that criss-crossed his skin, his muscles looked less cut. Smoother, more like a gymnast than a bodybuilder.

Riley and I hurried over and lifted Brad up off the floor and onto one of the undamaged beds. I noticed that Ben kept one hand on Brad's shoulder as we moved him.

"Seriously though, why are you here Ben? Not that I mind the save."

"I was just here to pick up AJ, he needs a ride home."

"He's one of your proteges then? I thought he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but he handled himself pretty well. Saved my butt anyway."

"Eh, not exactly. He's in the outreach program I run, I'm just doing a favor for his mother."

"I'm also standing right here. What the hell just happened? How do you two know each other?" I was really feeling like I'd missed a conversation somewhere.

"Riley O'Shaughnessy and I used to work together, years ago. Before I retired and started the gym."

Riley raised an eyebrow and grinned. "He doesn't know what you used to do?"

"Shut up Riley. Can you get someone in here to take care of this kid? I need to get AJ home."

"That might be a problem. I hit him with enough tranq darts to literally kill an elephant and he barely noticed. The taser gun just pissed him off. I know you're retired, but I think your services may be needed until we can get one of the local hero groups in here."

Ben hesitated, then grimaced and looked at me. "AJ, can I trust you to keep a secret? This isn't something I ask lightly, but it could cause problems for me if this gets out."

I shrugged, trying to act as unphased by all this as they apparently were. "I guess. What secret am I supposed to be keeping? You two having some sort of secret relationship, Brad here hulking out and trying to kill me for a second time in one day, or you having some sort of super sleeper hold that works on giant musclebeasts?"

"I'm dead serious AJ. Can I trust you?"

I looked at him and realized he wasn't joking around with me like he usually does. I swallowed and nodded slowly. "Yeah. You can trust me."

"Good boy." He reached into a large pocket on his jacket and produces a cloth mask that he pulled on over his head - kinda like a Spiderman mask, but this one was black with a large "Ø" symbol in white that covered his otherwise featureless face.

He took his hand off of Brad as he shrugged out of his jacket and turned it inside out. Brad immediately started making noises and twitching like he was in pain as his muscles began to swell again. Ben quickly put the jacket back on (now black like his mask - with a "Øg" on the left breast of the jacket) and slipped on some thin black gloves. Then he grabbed Brad's shoulder again. Brad immediately went still and his muscles stopped swelling.

"Are you serious? You're serious. This is seriously happening." OK, I probably should have seen this coming, but sometimes I'm a little slow on the update.

Riley laughed. "Kid, let me introduce you to Null G."

"Wow, you're Null G? Wait, who is Null G? I've never heard of a Null G."

"Smart-ass. I retired before you were born."

"Don't worry about it kid, he never carried much weight, so there's almost nothing to remember."

"Laugh it up Lucky Charms."

"That was never my code name!" said Riley in mock outrage.

"Nah, that's just what we called you when you weren't around."

"I'm shocked and appalled that you would stoop to using such base ethnic stereotypes for humor. Racist."

"Sure you are. Now get someone in here to take this boy off my hands. I can't keep his power nulled forever, and this ain't something he can just sleep off. From how hard it is to keep him nulled, I'd say his power is running out of control. It's gonna eat him alive from the inside if we don't find a way to stop it."

Riley said, "The hospital sounded the alarm, but with the storm damage from last night a lot of the local heroes are still out helping clean up the aftermath and doing search and rescue. Plus, another big storm is forming and supposed to hit soon, so they are kinda pressed for time."

"Perhaps I can be of some assistance then."

I looked past "Null G" and Riley and saw an older guy with an impressive mane of white hair wearing a doctors white lab coat and carrying an old fashioned black doctor's bag. He strode confidently into the wrecked ER, accompanied by more security personnel and hospital staff.

Riley looked surprised. "Can you? You're not one of the resident doctors."

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Dr. Anthrocyte. I study both baseline and paranormal physiology, and I specialize in treating exotic pathologies and conditions. I'm visiting the hospital on another matter, but thought I'd see if I could be of service here."

"Hey, are you that devisor who's supposed to help Tommy with his bone cancer?"

He raised one eyebrow and looked at me speculatively as he gave a small bow. "I see my reputation precedes me. Yes, I will be administering an experimental treatment to a young man with late stage bone cancer tomorrow. But the immediate issue is this young man here." He nodded towards Brad's unconscious form. "I can hardly treat my patient if the hospital is being torn apart, now can I?"

At that moment we heard the wail of approaching sirens. Seems like the police were finally arriving.

Dr. Anthrocyte continued, "If I can analyze a sample of his blood, perhaps I will be able to work up something to halt or reverse the metamorphosis his power seems to be forcing on him."

Riley shrugged "Fine by me, but I'm not the one in charge of that stuff."

"I believe this could still be classified as an emergency situation, don't you agree?"

Null G nodded. "I'm gonna say yes. Pretty sure he's gonna hulk out again or worse if I stop nulling his power."

"Excellent. Emergency care greatly simplifies the paperwork I have to fill out."

It wasn't quite that simple, but after Riley dragged over a hospital administrator and got some paperwork signed "to cover all our butts", we moved out. Two orderlies moving the bed with Brad in it, Null G with his hand on Brad's shoulder, Dr. Anthrocyte, Riley, and a couple of police officers. I kept my mouth shut and was able to tag along without anyone saying anything.

As they wheeled Brad's bed out of the ER we passed by the elevators and I caught a glimpse of a Melvin standing the elevator just as the elevator doors shut. He had a pissed off look on his face and was kinda staring off into space like he was thinking hard about something. I don't think he saw me, but I was so surprised that I stopped in the hallway for a moment and Riley had to grab my shoulder to get me moving again.

What the hell was Melvin doing here? Unfortunately I didn't have time to think about as our procession didn't stop or slow down until Brad was in a private room - one on the first floor and without any patients in the adjacent rooms and a police guard outside the door.

Once they had Brad settled in, Dr. Anthrocyte pulled something that looked like a cross between an over sized syringe and cordless drill out of his bag and took a blood sample. The devise gave an ominous hum as he used it.

I thought he would send it somewhere else to be analyzed, but he instead pulled small centrifuge and several test tubes out of his bag and set it up on small table. Once he got the centrifuge going, he pulled a techy looking cube and set it beside the centrifuge. (Yes, "techy" - it was a metal cube covered in seemingly pointless lines with little lenses and slots dotting the surface, like something out of a sci-fi illustration.)

Noticing us staring at him he smiled and explained "A few devises of my own design. They allow for a more rapid and precise analysis than the hospital lab could provide."

"What's up with that syringe? Looks more like a power tool than any syringe I've ever seen." asked Riley.

"Ah, this syringe is rather unique - the needle is adamantium, the barrel is reinforced with a small but powerful force field, and a motorized plunger. I could take a sample from a mutant with steel skin and molten iron for blood with this baby. It's also self sterilizing." said Dr. Anthrocyte proudly.

"No kidding. Sounds like you could also kill someone with it." Riley said, looking at the syringe warily.

"Yes, well if you make your equipment robust enough to treat the more extreme physiologies it tends to be dangerous for anyone with a baseline physique. There are built-in sensors to detect the toughness of the tissue and calibrate its force accordingly though."

The centrifuge stopped and he transferred the test tubes into slots on the tech cube and hit a button.

"OK, while we are waiting on that, let me get a look at you young man." He said to me.

"Me? What for?" I asked a little nervously.

"Too make sure you don't have any injuries from the incident in the ER. Mostly a precaution, but I can also fill out a medical report for the police to save you the trouble of being readmitted to the hospital. Now take your shirt off and tell me if you have any unusual aches or pains."

He pulled out an old-fashioned looking stethoscope and looked at me expectantly.

I glanced at Null G where he stood by Brad's bed. He shrugged and nodded. I sighed and pulled off my hoodie and shirt. I gave a start as Dr. Anthrocyte put the stethoscope on my chest and listened. Those things are cold!

"I feel fine. My arms hurt a little where he punched me, but that's about it." I showed my forearms to him, which were already forming livid bruises in the shape of Brad's over sized fist from where I'd block a punch.

"Hmm...you're lucky that is all you have. No fractures or breaks that I can see. Unusually thick bone structure. You are literally big boned." Dr. Anthrocyte said as he ran some sort of scanner over my arms.

"Yeah, it runs in my family. My dad was the same way. Sometimes people think I'm a short Samoan instead of Greek."

While Dr. Anthrocyte was examining me, Riley and Null G were talking in low tones with Riley occasionally glancing at me over his shoulder. With his mask on I couldn't actually see where Null G was looking, but somehow I was knew he was looking at me as well. I wasn't sure what they were talking about, but it I had a sinking feeling that I wasn't going to like it.

I didn't have long to worry about it because a few minutes later the door opened and I saw a familiar face. It was Detective Destang and he didn't look happy. He stepped inside and shut the door beside him, the just stared at me silently for a moment.

Dr. Anthrocyte said, "Excuse me, I'm conducting an examination here and I have another patient in the bed. Whatever questions you have will have to wait."

Detective Destang said, "I don't think so. I got pulled out of a sound sleep and told there was an emergency involving a metahuman at the ER here. Imagine my surprise when I find out that Mr. Bouropoulos, who I interviewed less than twelve hours ago, is involved with this incident as well, and that it involves another boy with whom he had a fight with at school earlier today."

Dr. Anthrocyte huffed in annoyance but didn't stop Destang from asking his questions.

"Hey, I was just waiting for a ride when they brought him in the ER and he went berserk. I'm an innocent bystander."

"I can vouch for that, he didn't do anything to the other boy. If anything, more people would have been hurt if he wasn't there, including me." said Riley.

"So you say. What exactly did you do during this incident Mr. Bouropoulos?"

"Not much really. Like I said, I was waiting for my ride home when they brought in Brad here. He was strapped down on a gurney and then he just started freaking out. Kept screaming about how everything hurt as his muscles swelled up and split through his skin. Looked really gross."

"Just the facts please."

"Right...well then he took a swing at a doctor. I was close enough to grab the doctor and pull him out of the way, then Riley here hit him with tranq darts while they evacuated the other patients from the ER. I recognized Brad so I tried to talk to him and keep him distracted so he wouldn't attack anyone else. He took a swing at me and missed, then knocked me down the hallway. I was able to pick myself up in time to see him about to hit Riley and was able to do a flying tackle and knock Riley out of the way. That's when Null G showed up and subdued him."

I decided not to mention the disembodied arms I'd seen. If Riley was a retired superhero, which is sounded like from the way he talked to Null G, they might have been his power and since he was out of costume I didn't want to give away his identity. How many people could there be with a power like that?

Riley backed up my version of events and didn't mention anything about the disembodied arms either.

Detective Destang looked like he'd bitten into something unpleasant but turned his attention to Null G. "So how did you get involved with this? And are you really Null G? He's been retired for nearly 20 years now."

"Yeah, I'm Null G. I can show you my MID if you want. I was nearby in my civilian identity when I heard the ruckus. Retired or not, I couldn't stand by and let people get hurt if I could stop him."

"And you just happened to have your costume with you?"

"I always have at least my mask with me. I'll help if I'm needed, but I value my privacy."

"And what are you doing now?"

"I'm keeping his power nulled to the point where the tranquilizers can keep him unconscious. If I stop he's going wake up and go berserk again."

"I see. Do I need to get a Metahuman Restraint Unit in here to take him into custody?"

At that moment the tech cube gave a beep and an indicator light came on.

Dr. Anthrocyte smiled and said, "Hold that thought, the initial analysis just finished."

He hit a button on the cube and pulled out a smartphone. "I had the cube send the analysis to my phone. I can email it to you for your report if you wish."

Detective Destang nodded. "You do that. Can you give me an overview in English as well?"

"Certainly. His blood carries chemical markers consistent with those found in mutants with high levels of regeneration or with biological based shapeshifting. He also has quite a cocktail of drugs in his system. Looks like THC, most likely from marijuana, what would be a lethal concentration of the tranquilizer he was shot with if he had a baseline physiology, a mixture of artificial testosterone and other androgens, and an unidentified substance."

"Unidentified?"

"Further analysis is required, but perhaps I can speed it up a bit." With that Dr. Anthrocyte hit a few buttons on the side of the tech cube and a 3D image of a molecule appeared in the air above the cube. Dr. Anthrocyte studied it intently as he sent a few commands from his phone, causing the image to rotate and magnify.

"Well...that's not something you see everyday."

"OK, pretend you are the only person in the room who knows what the hell we are looking at and explain it to me in small words." Detective Destang said dryly.

"Oh, yes. Well, it's a very complex organic molecule. Almost certainly devisor created, as the proteins are folded in a way that would not occur naturally and should not be stable. Basically, this molecule shouldn't be possible to create and it should break down almost at once even if you found a way to create it. Yet it is stable and present in his blood in significant quantities. It will take some time to determine exactly what it does, but my initial impression is that it acts as a catalyst to cause changes in the chemical messengers in the blood. Long story short, it seems to recreate the blood chemistry present in a mutant at the moment they manifest."

"Are you sure?"

"No, at this point I'm not sure of anything. But this my particular area of expertise, so I tend to trust my initial impressions. I believe that this drug could cause a latent mutant to manifest. It will take me a few days of additional analysis and tests to confirm it."

"Holy shit." said Detective Destang.

Null G said, "So is there anything you can do for him now? I can't keep his power nulled indefinitely. It's takes a serious effort and I'm starting to get tired."

"Hmm...well, I do have a treatment designed specifically for regenerators and shapeshifters. It's a little extreme and I would need consent from a parent or guardian."

"Why, what does it do?"

"Basically I inject them with a drug that causes the their metabolism and immune system to go into overdrive, rapidly flushing out any foreign substances. It would be lethal for a baseline, but someone with sufficient regenerative abilities can handle it easily. It tends to be messy, so we would need to make some preparations."

"Messy how, exactly?"

"Runny nose, excessive sweating, uncontrollable urination, diarrhea, projectile vomiting. That kind of messy."

"That's...Yeah, that's pretty messy." Detective Destang looked a little queasy.

"Indeed. It is not something I use lightly."

"If I can get ahold of someone who can sign a consent form for you, how soon could you give him the treatment?"

"Immediately, I have a dose in my bag. We'd just need to lay down plastic sheeting and clear everyone else out of the room."

Riley had been listening to the conversation and took a step back from the table the black leather bag was sitting on, looking alarmed. "You have anything in there that isn't potentially lethal?"

"I think I might have a bottle of aspirin." said Dr. Anthrocyte, grinning.

Detective Destang shook his head. "Alright, let me make a few phone calls. I'll have more questions for you once we know the boy isn't going to blow up on us or anything."

I was on my way back from a trip to the bathroom when Brad's father arrived. He was a tall man, well built with an expensive haircut, wearing expensively casual clothes. He did not look happy and immediately started talking to Detective Destang out in the hallway. I took the opportunity to eavesdrop. What can I say, I was curious about the father of Brad the Beast.

"Alright officer, what has my boy done this time? You wouldn't tell me over the phone and I had to leave a rather exclusive party to come here."

"Well sir, there was a metahuman incident that your son was involved in."

"How involved?"

"Well, he was brought in because he was acting erratically. Then he appears to have manifest paranormal abilities and went berserk in the ER. No one else was seriously injured and we were able to subdue him. He's currently in a private room receiving treatment."

"God damn him. I told him to stay out of trouble or else. He's going to lose his driving privileges for this stunt."

"Sir? You don't see surprised by this."

"Just tell me how much I need to pay where I need to sign so I can take my son home."

"It's not quite that simple. Are you saying he already had abilities before this incident?"

Brad's father frowned. "Yes, didn't you check his MID?"

"Er, no. Most of his clothing and possessions were destroyed in the incident."

"Alright. He manifested two years ago. Weak shapeshifting and regeneration. He had control problems and mood swings early on, but he's been on a drug program to help keep him stable. Still, it was enough for him to be disqualified from the football team. It hit him pretty hard. Since then he's been sullen and rebellious."

"Hmm...well that would have been good to know earlier. Still, there's something you should know. It seems he was exposed to an unknown drug that has caused his power to go out of control. We have someone suppressing his power for now, but we need your permission to treat him for the drug. That is the reason I called you down here, we need consent papers signed in order to administer the treatment."

"What? Is this treatment dangerous?"

"Not treating him is definitely dangerous. The doctor can go over the exact risks with you, but I wanted you to be prepared for it."

Brad's father and the detective went inside the room and talked to Dr. Anthrocyte. Things happened pretty quickly after that. Dr. Anthrocyte had himself and Null G suited up in hazmat suits and then everyone else (and all extra furniture) was cleared out of the room. Soon after I saw hospital staff carrying a lot of plastic sheeting into the room. Apparently the doctor had not been joking about how messy it was.

Riley looked at me and said, "C'mon kid I'll treat you to a meal in our fabulous hospital cafeteria. It's the finest 24 hour dining establishment in any hospital."

"You sure? Shouldn't we wait here?" My stomach chose that moment to growl. Now that I thought about it, I was actually pretty hungry.

"I'm sure. I don't know about you, but I'm not in any hurry to listen to him violently evacuate from all his bodily orifices at once. Besides, I owe you one for that save in the ER."

"Hey I'm not gonna turn down free food."

Dullahan: Strange beginnings.

Shadow Amber — 2013-06-17T16:15:22-00:00

Part One

July 18 2007 12:33 pm local time
Madison, Wisconsin
Westgate Mall

Sam Reed

"Whoa... this is awesome." Dan was gazing in awe at the endless wonder that was Wizstick's Costume Shop. Shelves of costumes from every genre stretched ahead of us, from simple pirate outfits to over-the-top anime costumes. "Maddie, how did you find this place? It's amazing!"

Dan is my best friend in the whole world; I met him and his sister Maddie in third grade when we got in a fight over which Pokemon was the coolest. There is no doubt in my mind that nothing can top Gyarados in terms of pure badassery, but Dan seriously thinks that Charizard is better in every way. It is definitely the coolest of the Kanto starters, but Gyarados has that distinct appeal of evolving from a common goldfish. Imagine my disappointment when Mom told me Splashy wasn't going to turn into a giant sea serpent.

"Doug was ranting on about H1 and the 'Mutant Menace' last week and he brought up this costume shop that 'Promoted the toleration of filth such as Tomahawk and Draconix' I'm surprised somebody didn't deck him for that." Said Maddie, rolling her eyes.

Maddie and I have been going steady for several weeks now. I finally managed to work up the courage to ask her out after I heard Doug bragging to his pals that she was going to his next conquest. Learning that someone intends to 'conquer' the girl of your dreams can really give you that desperate determination typically found in high school drama movies. Anyways, I really love Maddie, she's sweet and kind and loves me for who I am. It's so sappy I get butterflies just thinking about her.

"I'm surprised nobody threw him out a window." The broad-shouldered man sitting behind the counter chuckled. "My name's Jim, how can I help you three today?"

"We need some costumes for Supercon this weekend." Said Dan eagerly, his eyes roving across the aisles, searching for that perfect costume. "I was looking for something swordsman-y with a dash of mystical."

"I think I can handle that." Said Jim lightly. "And what about you two?"

"Ooo... That one, the Metroid armor." Exclaimed Maddie, practically drooling over the detailed replica of Samus Aran's Varia suit. "It's perfect."

"One item #4087-P, it will be waiting at the checkout counter." Said Jim, scanning the display stand with a price-checker.

"How much Halo gear do you have?" I asked, my mind shifting between 'they'll have everything!' and 'don't get your hopes up, there won't be enough for your costume.'
Jim found my question very amusing. "How much do we have?" he snorted, leading us down the third aisle. "We have all of it!"

There it was, a glorious wall Halo-themed costumes. UNSC Marine fatigues, ODST body armor, Covenant Elite combat harnesses, and set in the center was a stunning assortment of MJOLNIR mark VI armor permutations of every variant. "So... many... awsomes..."

"Well." Said Jim, turning to Dan. "This could take a while, so why don't you follow me to the custom costume area and I can set you up with your mystic swordsman outfit."

*****

I was being so indecisive about my purchases, Dan and Maddie had to pretty much drag me to the checkout desk. Jim seemed to be enjoying the whole spectacle, I guess he doesn't get many customers. In the end, I left the store with a custom set of MJOLNIR armor, a bunch of fancy magnetic weapon clips so I could carry my entire Nerf gun collection if necessary, several cans of paint for my personal color scheme, and a totally badass set of fake combat knives. The grand total was over 400 dollars, but I was super excited about it and didn't really have much else to spend it on.

Maddie had thrown her Varia suit in my shopping cart and Dan had his costume in a single bag, ahh... the benefits of having a cloth costume rather than a 20 pound suit of unfiltered coolness. Have I mentioned that this is really exciting? I thought so.

We stashed our wondrous loot in the car and went to meet my mom at the food court. My mom's pretty cool, she's always willing to drive us almost anywhere we want at a moment's notice. Last summer, we were sitting around bored (not mention sweaty) and wishfully brought up going to the Wisconsin Dells. Five minutes later the four of us are piling into the car with our swim gear and beach towels. Dan and Maddie always think it's weird that my mom's still single with her looks and personality.

Me? Not so much, I know exactly why Mom never remarried: she's a witch.

I didn't know my family had magic until I accidentally enchanted the cookies I was making for my first grade class party. Mom didn't even bat an eye when she saw the glowing blue chocolate chips. She just sat me down, told me I was magic and said we'd have to eat this batch all by ourselves. Sadly, this mean I couldn't make cookies myself until I learned how to not saturate the dough with enough raw Essence to wake the dead.

So yeah, keeping me safe and protecting the family magic is way ahead of meeting a guy on Mom's list of priorities.

She looked up as we approached her table with our greasy mall food. "So, did you kids find what you were looking for?"

We nodded excitedly as we ate, never a good idea to slowly eat anything from the food court, even the McDonalds puts extra grease on their burgers. "We managed to find everything at one shop," I said in between mouthfuls of barely edible pizza. "We're going to have the best costumes at the convention."

"Hey, do you think anybody there will be a mutant?" asked Dan.

"Dan, what makes you say that?" asked Maddie.
"Hey, if I was one of those mutants who looked like Draconix, I'd go to every convention in the state, just for a chance to have nobody treat you like a freak."

"That's a very astute thing to say, Dan." Said Mom over her 'spaghetti'. "But if you do meet a real mutant, please don't out them in front of everybody."

"We wouldn't do that!" said Maddie, shocked.

"I wouldn't be surprised if somebody there is dressed up as their superhero identity. Or their supervillain identity." I said.

"Didn't Batman and Robin do that in a Halloween episode once?"

We had been talking for several minutes when I noticed a familiar-and unfriendly-face looking in our direction. Doug Waltson. Jock, bigot, racist, and my least favorite person in the entire school. Every time he opens his fat mouth I just want to hex him into a slug. Thankfully, Mom taught me a variety of ways to restrain myself. She also taught me several excellent hexes for petty revenge. The insect attraction hex is probably my favorite, it does exactly what it sounds like.

"It's Doug." I whispered to Maddie. "We should probably leave."

Maddie nodded and we got up and left for the car. Predictably, we were too late. Doug and his friends caught up with us just a few steps away from the door. So close, yet so far.

"Hey baby, how about you ditch these losers and come see a movie with me?" Smooth Doug, real charming.

I got right in Doug's face before anybody else could. "Quit hitting on my girlfriend Doug."

"Hey, I figure, why should she date a dork like you when she could get with a real man?"

I snorted, raw magic coursing through my veins, waiting for one final twitch of my finger to unleash a swarm of flies and cockroaches on this colossal jackass. "Real men don't hit on other people's girlfriends. Back off."

He shoved me. Hard. "Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?"

I staggered backwards, Maddie catching my arm to prevent me from falling over.

There was a ringing slap as Mom's hand came into play. "Mr. Waltson, while I approve of my children fighting their own battles, I will not allow you to assault my child. Now leave before I call your parents."

Doug gulped and beat a hasty retreat from the terrifying prospect of facing his mother when he returned home. Mom gave me a once-over to make sure I was okay before we left.

"That was very brave of you Sam," she said to me after we dropped Dan and Maddie off at their house. "But you should have left that one to Maddie, it would have cemented the fact that she was going steady with you."

"But I'm her boyfriend, I'm supposed to be the one defending our relationship and confronting jerks like Doug." I protested.

"That wouldn't stop Maddie from punching his lights out if he gave her an excuse," Mom chuckled. "She's not one to conform to stereotypes Sam, and neither should you." She gave me one of those you know exactly what I'm talking about looks mothers have.

"Mom I don't want to talk about it right now." I grumbled as we pulled into the driveway. "This isn't exactly and easy thing to tell Dan."

"He'll find out eventually Sam. I'll be easier to hear it from you than from someone like Doug."

I closed my statement with a definitive grunt and climbed the stairs to my room. Well, it's not exactly a room. With only two people in the house we have lots of space so a few years ago, we knocked down the wall between my room and the other guest room. My bedroom half has a bed and dresser and all that sleeping stuff in it but my den half is like my private batcave-level funzone.

I've got a huge 90" plasma TV with a big ol' cable box and surroundsound speakers for maximum entertainment, my Xbox 360, my PlayStation 2, my Gamecube, a massive cabinet of games and movies, and a big table for tabletop games. I used to have a big toy collection, but we gave most those away, so I only have my favorites left. And now I had the final pieces for my costume. Actually, most of my costume was the stuff I bought from Wizstick's today, but now it was complete. I indulged in a little maniacal laughter as I unboxed my purchases.

No, I'm not going to tell you what I got yet, it's a secret. To everybody.
____________________________________

July 19th 2007 9:18 pm local time
Madison, Wisconsin
Supercon

The League: Alpha Team

A slight figure perched catlike on the edge of the tall building, a tight black bodysuit covering him from head to toe, the reflective faceplate moving as he scanned the crowd far below. He set two fingers against his ear as he spoke into his radio. <[Scat Cat]: Scat Cat here, everything looks clear from up here.> He giggled slightly.

A calm, yet exasperated voice answered back over the comm. <[Masamune]: Scat Cat, try to maintain a professional attitude while we're on a job.>

A cheerful voice reprimanded him. <[Pistachio]: Relax, O fearless leader. You wanted him to be the one playing batman, so you can't blame him for acting goofy.>

<[Masamune]: Not the point Pistachio, Command sent us to find the new Nexus and escort them back to base. We cannot afford to screw this up.>

<[Command]: Technically Masamune, we sent you to pick up a newly manifested mutant who requires special transport to base. Now if we knew exactly where a powerful mutant would manifest, then we would be obligated to inform the MCO and be shut away where we could 'assist' in finding any and all manifested mutants.>

<[Power Roc]: Yes, that would be like stealing forty cakes. And that's terrible>

<[Scat Cat]: Indeed. So, do you see anything?>

<[Power Roc]: I see my lab, and my girlfriend bringing me a bowl of oatmeal.>

<[Scat Cat]: I wasn't asking you, bird-brain.>

<[Masamune]: I'm hanging out in the lobby, everything looks clear.>

<[Pistachio]: There's one kid entering the costume contest with an illusion charm to touch up his appearance. Just some crazy anime hair and a really nice tattoo on his arm.>

<[Scat Cat]: Character or original design?>

<[Pistachio]: Definitely original, the kid's got talent.>

<[Masamune]: He made the illusion?>

<[Pistachio]: Pfht, not likely. Kid's baseline, but the charm's got his astral signature all over it. Muramasa, can we get a list of all the known charm makers in the area?>

<[Muramasa]: Dane county has two: James Garfield and Miriam Baker. Both of them are highly recommended for magical charms.>

<[Pistachio]: They wouldn't happen to be rivals, would they?>

<[Muramasa]: This does not bode well but yes, they are. Why do you ask?>

<[Pistachio]: Because the witchy lady next to me is giving our friend the evil eye something awful.>

<[Muramasa]: To quote everyone in the history of the world, I hate it when I'm right>

<[Scat Cat]: So you think Ms. Baker is going to sabotage the kid's charm to ruin with her rival's business? Magical tampering is an excellent factor for a Batson Event, this could be our Nexus.>

<[Masamune]: Sounds like it. Pistachio, keep an eye on him and be ready to contain the fallout. Scat Cat, prep for emergency extraction. Be ready to fall back to our safe zone.>

<[Scat Cat]: Warming up our getaway car, figuratively speaking.>

<[Pistachio]: Setting up containment charms. The IDMT is good for 20 minutes, more than enough time for me to get back to Bravo site.>

<[Command]: Oracle has confirmed that our Nexus is indeed Daniel Paulson, attending Supercon with his sister Madeline Paulson and his friend Sam Reed. Reed is a mage with minor training and Madeline is baseline with a confirmed Meta-gene complex. Be sure to grab them as well if things go south.>

<[Pistachio]: I see them, one custom Halo armor and Samus Aran. Masamune, I'll need backup.>

<[Masamune]: Understood Command, moving to assist Pistachio with extraction.>

<[Command]: Good luck Alpha Team, Command out.>

Re: Parable

dpragan — 2013-06-17T03:02:26-00:00

With a quick look at the adults going on about biology, Alexa slowly moved her finger toward the part of the web that the fly had just buzzed through, instead of breaking and reforming like it did with the fly it stretch and glowed; meanwhile the light at the end of the "web" stopped flickering and dimmed and Alexa felt a tickle along the back of her neck.

Emboldened, Alexa waved moved her finger farther catching several more of the threads, like the first they stretched without breaking

"I was thinking of using a point five millimeter layer of alveoli tissue, but-" Janice's laptop beeped and Alexa heard some furious typing, "EM spike? Alexa...why is your finger glowing?"

"Huh?" Alexa turned to look at Janice who was staring at Alexa then, then back at her finger and then back again to Janice, "You can see them?"

"Them?" Janice asked, clearly confused.

"Speed-lines..." Alexa answered in a near-whisper, she found herself unable to look up, she knew how her dad worried about the hallucinations she had off and on since she...he was eight.

"What was that?" Dr Bellows.

"S-sp-sp..." Alexa tried to say again louder but her voice failed her, the last time she talked about them she was put on anti-depressants, she did not want to be put on those again.

"Speed-lines." Corbin supplied, the tone of her father's voice wasn't like she expected it to be, instead of disappointment it was...awe? Alexa looked up, her father was looking at her hand with the same look as Janice and Dr. Bellows where.

"I take it that 'speed-lines' is a term with a 'history' between you two?" Dr. Bellows postulated and gave a sidelong glance towards Alexa's father.

Corbin let out a sigh and held the bridge of his nose, "Shortly after Rose died, Alex claimed to be seeing spider webs and lines that reminded him of manga-speed-lines...no one else could seem them and the psychiatrist he was seeing to help him deal with Rose's death put him on anti-depressants for two year until he stopped seeing them."

Dr Bellows turned his attention to Alexa, "So the last time you saw these lines was five years ago?"

"Actually," Alexa admitted, "I never stopped seeing them...I just hated the way the drugs made me feel so I told lies in order to make them believe I was cured..."

"I begin to see why you have such a dim view of my profession," Dr Bellows concluded.

"Up close I can see threads" Janice observed, startling Alexa in the process, when did she sneak up next to her? "They seem to vanish a few inches from your finger though," Janice then looked up into the startled face of Alexa, "How far can you see them?"

Alexa was in shock, for once, people believed her when she said that she was seeing something not normal.

"Alexa?"

"Huh? Oh!" Alexa snapped out of her daze, "Most of them kind of get confused in the various tangles and patterns but this one goes to that light over there."

Alexa demonstrated by tugging the spider web with her other finger and the flight flickered in time to her tugs, well up to the third tug which caused the line to snap and the florescent light to flare and go out.

"Oops!" Alexa winched then goggled as several rainbow-colored cartoon spiders fell out of the light and began to crab-scuttle like a chicken with its head cut off, "Umm did you see that?"

"If you mean the six color changing spiders," Janice blanched, "If I say 'yes' I'm not going to be put on anti-hallucinatory drugs am I?"

"Unless we are all hallucinating the same thing," Dr. Bellows observed patting down his jacket for his pipe, "Then what we are seeing is real."

"Hobgoblins," Corbin explained, "They are called hobgoblins, basically semi-aware knots of magic, usually they appear when some of the more powerful magical effects misfire or...we need to neutralize them quickly before they cause problems!"

Alexa watched her father grab a broom and started going after one of the spiders that was making a bee-line for Janice's computers, spurred to action by her dad, Alexa and Janice tried to intercept two more of the cartoonish arachnids, Janice missed hers while Alexa managed to stomp on one them with an audible pop and rainbow-colored cloud of dust, shortly followed by Janice finishing hers off after her third try.

Dr Bellows was having less luck at capturing the two that where headed for the breaker box, one of them managed to get inside and disappeared in a flash of multi-colored electoral bolts as the muzak in the front of the shop squealed and shut went silent; he managed to swat the second one, sending it sailing into the wall by the door where it "poofed" into a cloud much like the others.

Meanwhile Janice managed to stomp on the last one while Alexa's father managed to nail the one a few inches from Janice's expensive computer.

"Sorry!" Alexa cringed now that the excitement was over.

"Discoveries like this are to be expected at your age," Dr. Bellows consoled then turned to Alexa's dad, "You called them hobgoblins?"

"How could I have missed that all these years," Corbin massaged the bridge of his nose and muttered to himself, "I must have been blind."

"To be fair," Dr. Bellows pointed out, "You both had just lost someone dear to you, not the best time to be making observations and decisions."

"But I work in the field!" Corbin snapped, "I should have seen it! I should have told that psychiatrist to take a jump into the Missouri River!"

"A field that only has dubious interaction with science," Dr. Bellows again pointed out, "What's done is done; don't dwell on how you missed helping Alex in the past, concentrate on how you can help the Alexa of now."

Alex watched the byplay with a growing suspicion; after all, Dr. Corbin Underwood was one of the few scientists actively trying to quantify magic as part of quantum physics.

"Alex, you are not seeing speed-lines," Corbin announced looking into his new daughter's eyes, "They are called Ley-lines, sometimes dragon-lines. They are lines of the Earth's magnetic field and often they are also the lines which magic follows as well."

"I understand that mage-sight is a rather rare ability," Dr Bellows observed, "Rarer than an active meta-gene."

"The meta-gene's a genetic switch located in the X gene, while mage-sight's a recessive gene located on chromosome 15," Dr. Corbin added, "At least that is what one of my few colleges was hypothesizing , I need to get back to her on that."

Alexa just stood there in shock, he...she wasn't crazy; she had been seeing something real the whole time. It was a weird feeling of...vindication?

Alexa felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Janice with a finger over her mouth, she pointed with her head to a small office. Alexa followed the older girl into the office and watched as Janice closed the door behind her.

"Those two might be at it for a while," Janice chuckled, "I figured you might want to take this time to get back into your clothes."

"Thanks!" Alexa blushed, suddenly remembering her current outfit.

"Still..." Janice mused tapping her lip with her forefinger, "I might want to take a closer look at several different chromosome 15's. So, you constantly see ley-lines?"

"No," Alexa corrected as she shimmied out of the Gigeresque skinsuit, "Usually when I'm surprised or if I drink a lot of energy drinks. Most of the time I don't see them unless they gather into large strands."

Janice continued to tap her lips as she pondered what she had witnessed, usually mages tended to be wary of scientific scrutiny, understandable, since most "real scientist" she had come across seemed more interested in the "politically correct" theories that true scientific endeavor; those that didn't quickly found themselves marginalized in peer-review publications and unable to obtain funds for research. The current "politically correct" theory on magic was some sort of psychic ability similar to devisors, or as scientist label them; Schimmelhorn engineers.

Even Dr. Underwood's stance that magic might more accurately be a branch of Quantum Physics was only grudgingly tolerated and only because he had the backing of the Arkham Research Consortium and its peer-review publications. Janice only knew that much because she had done some research on Dr. Underwood after Dr. Bellows called her last night, and she had to admit that she had a better understanding of it after reading Dr. Underwood's stuff than she did some of the competing theories, She hadn't researched it enough to start making her own gadgeteer leaps of logic, but she now felt the pathway should she pursue it.

"That bitch!" Janice suddenly spat, startling Alexa as she was pulling on the sleeve of her leotard, one problem she had been having for some time, suddenly made sense, "Hekate, better pray I never see you again."

"Huh?" Alexa was flummoxed at Janice's sudden reaction
.
"Did I say that out loud?" Janice reddened with embarrassment, "It's not you, I just figured out what some sophomore...I guess she's a junior now, did to me during her freshman year...here's a bit of changeling advice, girls can be ruthless to other girls, especially if 'said girl' is prettier than they are."

Alex finished pulling her shirt over her head and shrugged, "They never really gave me a second look anyway."

"That is going to change 'Lexi'" Janice shook her head and handed Alexa her pants, "Before you where mostly invisible to their radar unless you messed up and talked to them, now you are a red-alert threat to most girls. You're going to need some Bitch-fu lessons before the beginning of the school year."

Alex paled at the thought, she had remembered seeing some catfights during his freshman year, they where nasty.

"Come on, I think I have an idea for your bed," Janice shepherded Alexa back to the studio, "Just need to run the idea past your father first."

Re: The Joy of Plans

A-Eadie — 2013-06-16T13:38:01-00:00

Late afternoon, the Misfits sat down to eat before going to Hawthorne. Caroline and Nietche dug into their meal, while the rest picked at their food and Katherine ate like one of the condemned.

"Why there?" Katherine shuddered. "Why did we get one of the worst detentions here? I'd rather get stuck in the sewers."

"Nah." Nietche shook his head and spoke with the voice of experience. "The sewers smell horrible, and most of the stuff down there will try and kill you."

"And Hawthorne doesn't?" She glared at him.

"Only some of the stuff at Hawthorne smells and only some will try and kill you." He waved it off.

"Gee, thanks." She grumped.

"Ahem." Caroline got the team's attention. "There are some things to know before we start. First, do not under any circumstances go into the 3rd basement bathroom. Carmilla is the ONLY one who can go in safely."

"Didn't you go in there?" Melissa asked.

"Yes, and I will cripple anyone that tries to make me go in there again." Caroline replied. "It was very unpleasant."

"Very unpleasant?" Melissa raised an eyebrow.

"Fubar blanked my memories of it. And I thank him for it."

The rest of Team Misfit eyed each other and nodded.

"What . . ." Timothy cleared his throat. "What's next?"

"Don't go in Carmilla's room. You might end up in her harem, and I don't feel like sharing." Caroline said blandly.

"You're not serious." Melissa made a face.

"Does that mean we're your harem?" Neitche grinned.

"I'm half serious." Caroline ignored Neitche. "But seriously, don't go in."

"Why me?" Katherine moaned, putting her face in her hands.

"Oh, it's not so bad. The people there are pretty cool." Nietche told her.

"The only other things are that if you are cleaning Fubar's pool, keep an eye on him that he doesn't splatter you, and treat everyone there with respect." Caroline looked each of them in the eye. "I am serious. These people have some real issues, and a good percentage of them are dying while the staff does their best to find a cure, and most of the rest are quite disabled."

"I'm not hungry anymore." Katherine pushed her plate away, stood up and left.

"What's her problem?" Melissa asked, watching her go.

"Aside from her parents giving her horror stories about the place, she is a hair away from having to live there." Caroline shook her head.

"What? Why?" Aby asked.

"Do you remember that generator she took with on the trip?" Caroline asked. "If she doesn't get a big charge of electricity every 8-10 hours she goes into a kind of shock, and could slip into a coma if left long enough."

"That seems like something that /would/ put her in Hawthorne." Timothy frowned.

"Her parents sponsor a kid every year, so they pulled some strings." Caroline shrugged. "If something happens though, she'll end up there no matter what."

"Ouch." He shivered.

"We'll be ok, right? Right?" Aby asked.

"Just be yourself and you'll be fine." Caroline gave her a smile.

*

"Good evening, ma'am." Caroline said politely to the House Mother as the group approached their detention. "We're ready to start."

"Good evening child." Mrs. Cantrell gave her a nod, and a cold look when she spotted Nietche. "Now YOU had better be on your best behavior. Or else."

"Aren't I always?" He grinned unrepentantly.

She glared at him. "You will be scrubbing the toilets. Hop to it."

"Sure." He walked inside, whistling.

Mrs. Cantrell watched him and shook her head. "Ah well. At least that will keep him out of trouble. You." She pointed to Katherine.

"Me?" The blond energizer flinched.

"Go help Static Girl with whatever she needs, since you don't have a problem with electricity. You help Fire Lad." She said to Aby.

"O okay." Aby gulped and went with Katherine into the building.

"You can mop the floors." She told Melissa and turned to the other two thoughtfully.

"I can do whatever you need, ma'am." Timothy said respectfully.

"Then you can help Louis." She nodded.

"Fubar." Caroline explained to him and turned to Mrs. Cantrell. "And me?"

She sighed. "Why don't you help Frizzle? She's on the second floor."

"Is there anything I need to know?" Caroline asked.

"The poor dear slowly disintegrates anything she touches, nonliving things only, which is a small mercy, but is more than a little hard on clothes. She hasn't left her room in weeks, since she accidentally left herself naked in the middle of Crystal Hall. Clean up the dust, please, and let us know if any of the floor panels need replacing."

"Got it." Caroline nodded, walking inside.

*

Aby took a deep breath and knocked on the door labeled 'Fire Lad'.

"Who is it?" An oddly crackling, wheezy voice asked.

"Uh, detention cleaning and stuff?" Aby said back.

There was a pause. "You in proper gear?"

"Proper gear?" Aby asked, confused.

There was a grumble. "The fireproof stuff in the closet across the hall." He sighed like a teakettle hissing.

"Oh, um, I am already fireproof and stuff." Aby told him, "And so are my clothes."

"No kidding?" The voice sounded intrigued. "Come on in then."

Aby opened the door cautiously and blinked at the room. Everything inside was either made of ceramic or high temperature resistant metal, and nothing flammable was present . . . except for a large box of coal and charcoal . . . and there was a fine layer of soot over everything.

"What're you, part dragon?" The voice had a teasing quality to it that took the sting out of the words.

"Kinda." Aby stepped inside and tried to see where 'Fire Lad' was. "At least my GSD says so."

"Nice." The voice now seemed to come from a large fireplace built into a wall . . . that had an odd looking fire in it, mostly a deep red, but with two bright blue spots halfway up, next to each other. Slightly inside the fireplace was a clunky suit of armor with pipes going in and out and a small pile of coal in the torso.

"Where . . ." Aby trailed off as the fire reached out an 'arm' into the suit of armor to 'jump' from the fireplace to the suit.

"Let me get the boiler going and I'll shake your hand." The voice now came from the armor, as the flame started extending up and around the torso, and the blue spots moved to the 'helmet' on top.

"Are you . . . how do . . ." Aby stammered.

"There's a couple mutants that can turn into living flame and back . . . I just can't figure out the 'back' part." Fire Lad said as he lurched to his feet.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Aby winced.

"Don't." Fire Lad said sharply. "Some of us are all 'pity me woe is me' but I'm not. I got a bad deal, but I'm gonna do the best I can with what I have. So don't pity me."

"Sor ack." Aby took a deep breath and held out her hand. "I'm Aby, or Crimson Drake."

The armor clumsily grasped the outstretched limb and lifted it up and down. "Nice to meet you." Fire Lad had a hint of approval in his voice. "Since you're here as a punishment, here's what you're going to do. Sweep up everywhere and scrub off the soot. Leave the computer alone, it's a custom job. The cleaning stuff is in the closet in the hall, and if you need help with heavy lifting, we'll get someone."

"Exemplar 6." Aby gave him a smile as she stepped back out of the room.

*

Melissa wrung the mop out into the bucket and looked at the pail of dirty water. "Might as well, eh." She leaned the mop against the wall to mark where she left off and headed to the nearest toilet.

"Hey, you're not dumping that there, are you?" A girl demanded.

Melissa turned to see a girl covered in black scales. "I believe I am, yes." She replied cautiously. The girl was curiously 'dead' to her psychic senses.

"All waste has to go to the third basement bathroom." The girl smiled.

"Or I could dump it here and not confront unspeakable horrors." Melissa proceeded to dump the bucket in the toilet and flush, then refilled the bucket in the sink.

"Fuck, you've heard about it. That's no fun." The girl turned and walked out.

"Your 'fun' puts people in the hospital!" Melissa yelled after her.

"Yeah, I know." The girl laughed. "That's why it's fun."

"What a freak." She muttered, and froze at the sight that greeted her when she turned around.

Timothy walked into the washroom, trying not to touch anything . . . or open his mouth . . . or inhale through his nose as he went to the shower and turned it on.

Nietche poked his head out of a bathroom and waved a sledgehammer in the air angrily. "Dammit Gravel, if you pull this crap on me ONE MORE TIME I'm going to shove this thing sideways!"

A human shaped pile of small stones laughed as it shuffled down the hall away from him.

Re: Songs of the Compass Roses

Insane Hiker — 2013-06-16T04:50:04-00:00

One Wild Weekend Notes - Part 4

Disencanta - a mystic device that causes timed enchantments to discharge prematurely.

Lantern of Bishamon - a Japanese paper lantern with the kanji 毘沙門 on the front. If you place a candle made using a piece of your target (such as a hair or fingernail), it illuminates the site of their most recent misdeeds.

Crafted Changeling (addendum)

Toggle Spoiler

Anointed Deep Ones
An anointed deep one refers to any of eastern court decent who receives the blessing of Cthulhu before they fully succumbs to the transformation into a deep one; this blessing means that they will complete the transformation without losing sentience the first of which was Dagon.

Xuè-jīn Mùshī - WIZ-5 equivalent (Imbued)
The Priest of Blood-Stained Gold is the title of the chief warlock of the Zhāoshāng de Yōuhuàn the group that founded the San Francisco chapter house of the Grand Hall of Sinister Wisdom in the mid Fifties after the Los Angeles Chapter House fell apart figuratively with the 'disappearance' of its founder Lord Ataxia, and then literally when the Kern County Earthquake disrupted the spell that held it together.

The priest of their cult or Xuè-jīn Mùshī, is only chosen when after his predecessor is retired when he is no longer seen as useful. When a Xuè-jīn Mùshī is retired the Demon Lord takes his power back turning the old priest into a pile of bones and gold dust, the members of the cult then use his remains to perform a bone-reading to determine the identity of his replacement.

Zhāoshāng de Yōuhuàn
The Merchants of Suffering are a cult centering around the Demon Lord of the Hell of Blood-stained Gold, lead by their high-priest the Xuè-jīn Mùshī they seek to gain wealth harvested by the pain and suffering of mankind. Of course this means the racketeering, extortion, as well as the trafficking of weapons, narcotics and even people.

Although they make extensive use dark magic to maintain their dominance the Merchants of Suffering are not above using more mundane means and have deeply entrenched themselves in the Chinese Underworld as one of the corner stones of the Triad. Their influence has grown over the years and has infiltrated deeply into the Ruling Party in China and into several facets of the Underworld on the Western United States including the San Francisco chapter of the Grand Hall of Sinister Wisdom.

Situated in the ruins of Old San Francisco buried under China Town this site acts as the hub for most of the Dark Magic Activity on the Western Seaboard. It is also fairly inclusive in that unless one swears their eternal allegiance to their patron the Demon Lord of the Hell of Bloody Gold, they can only access the meager outer archives, however they are not above seeing to the needs of those who are not a part of their cult for the right price.

Re: Songs of the Compass Roses

Insane Hiker — 2013-06-16T04:38:41-00:00

Part 6

Saturday April 21th, 2007
Storage Facility
Grand Hall of Sinister Wisdom - New York Chapter House
New York City, New York
12:47 AM EDT

Just an hour ago when Greygus arrived with his assistance Quinn Mayer sighed in relief, Scratch had just sent a few select members of her Sweeper organization to assist in the move, which was being coordinated by Shuffle himself. Overall, it was one of the better case scenarios that Quinn could hope for, Greygus was well known as a fairly laid back agent who resorted to violence only when it was necessary and made it a point to avoid needless bloodshed like the plague. As for Shuffle while it was true that he was the leader of Erzabet Scratch's private army, he was also a strict professional; what mattered was finesse and the result he wanted his squads to operate like a scalpel not a chainsaw.

Indeed Quinn's men were working like a well-oiled machine since they didn't have to worry for their lives, they began handing off the crates to Greygus who inspected the contents according to a manifest for that vault, which was full of drawings that were so realistic they looked like the works of Raphael himself- who knows they might have been. Which was good since all each sheet in the manifest had other than the drawings, were the names and a list of precautions to take with the items in question. One thing was for sure the Obsidian Circle did not want to risk anyone outside themselves in knowing what any of this stuff could do; of course that suited Quinn just fine, after all he felt that if he did know he'd never be able to sleep soundly again.

"What the heck are these things?" Taylor Brenson asked as he picked up a flat broach shaped like a bird with a man's head.

"Those are Bak-Ba and you had better hope that you never find out what they do." Greygus said in a nonchalant manner causing Taylor to carefully said the vaguely Egyptian piece of jewelry back in the box.

The better part of an hour passed as Greygus inspected each crate and Shuffle's team moved them into a box that was assumed to either be a wormhole to another dimension or to a portal to a warehouse owned by Erzabet Scratch. Either way that box was likely something that Quinn would never want to go near.

Everything was going along well until Greygus inspected one crate, "What the heck?" Quinn looked and recognized this as the crate that Taylor dropped yesterday; he knew that they were going to be in for hell if the doofus broke anything.

Instead of yelling at anyone, Greygus picked up one of the two crowns from the crate, pulled blunt knife from his belt that Quinn recognized as a disencanta and touched it to the crown. The crown instantly faded leaving behind a plain looking rounded stone; Greygus did this again to the other crown and yielded the same result.

"Is there a problem Greygus?" Shuffle asked as he approached the ancient operative of the Obsidian Circle.

"You bet there's a problem," Greygus said in obvious concern. "The two Royal Atlantian Diadems that Madam Eventide placed in Black Vault Four have been stolen."

"Are you sure that it's theft," Quinn said as he approached the two super-villains hoping to use Greygus's known laid back nature and Shuffle's professionalism to avert a very fatal encounter with The Obsidian Circle itself. "Maybe she just misplaced them."

"No those are two things that Madam Eventide would never take any chances with," Greygus explained with absolute certainty. "There are only seven of Royal Atlantian Diadems in existence, and those two were the only unclaimed crowns that the Obsidian Circle had in its possession."

"Mister Mayer," Shuffle said as he firmly assumed command of the situation. "Please bring all of your staff here, I wish to question them individually."

"Everyone is here if you want to talk to them, well everyone except Greg Paulson he was feeling really sick; heck our lookout called from Manhattan General a little while ago, they say that it doesn't look good." Quinn said as he explained the situation. "That is the problem with this place, so many of the practitioners insist on putting their own security spells up; and most of those who do never come by to perform maintenance. Last year one kid was moping near Troll Bride's vault and then was turned into a silhouette on the wall by a mystic discharge to us a week to scrub the residue off of the wall."

"Don't worry Erzabet Scratch, will see to his quick recovery so that he can join the rest of your men when I question them." Shuffle said as he got back to supervising the move.

"Whoa, there's no need for your boss to take the time out to come here all the way from Dallas on our account." Quinn said more than a little shocked at how the events were snowballing out of control.

"Mister Mayer I assure you that it will take no time at all for Erzabet Scratch to see to this matter," Shuffle began to explain. "She is already in New York itself to see to other matters."

That last statement made Quinn and all of his men very nervous, was Erzabet here to take over the New York Chapter House as she had the ones in New Orleans and Chicago? Even they had heard how messy that last one was. Several nervous hours went by for Quinn and his men as they continued their earlier work of shipping the contents of the opened Dark Vaults to their new location, wherever the hell that was.

The tension in the air finally came to a head when Erzabet Scratch herself floated in around two-thirty in the morning, Quinn had seen photos of her before but they failed to do justice how unnerving she was in person- or whatever the hell she was.

Her cloak draped over her in deceptively thin shifting layers gave the affect that she was shrouded in a mixture of smoke and darkness, nothing could be seen under her hood besides a pair of curling horns that jutted out of the hood and her own glowing crimson eyes. In one of her clawed hands, she clutched a bag made out of black sackcloth, which had a disturbingly familiar heft to it.

"I apologize for taking so long gentlemen," Scratch said in an eerie echoing yet melodic voice that chilled Quinn to the bone. "The amount of memory charms that I needed to cast at Manhattan General took me longer than anticipated, however I believe that I have an answer to our mystery."

Quinn and his men froze in horror as Erzabet Scratch removed the severed head of Greg Paulson from her bag clutching it in her firm grip, "Do not feel alarmed Mister Mayer, this is not your employee but rather a crafted changeling of him that was checked into Manhattan General in his stead. You can get the materials to create them cheap at any goblin market since the Unseelie no longer make use of them, and I will show you why."

"You see the reason that the Unseelie no longer use crafted changelings is a simple one, because a piece of the changeling's body can be used for spells as an adequate substitute for a piece of an ordinary person. Unfortunately since the process that grows them is magic in nature they are not viable enough to handle the entropic nature of curses; however other kinds of spells such as tracking spells work just fine."

Erzabet returned the conjured changeling's head to the sack and with a slight gesture made it disappear while producing a white Japanese paper lantern, with the kanji 毘沙門 on the front in red, in its place. "This is a Lantern of Bishamon I used a piece of the changeling to make the candle inside, and once I light it will illuminate the most recent locations of his treachery."

WIth a subtle gesture of her left hand, the lantern was lit, and sure enough, the crate with the advanced illusion stones that Greygus had set aside earlier glowed an angry crimson. However, this was not the only place in the room that was showing red; the door to Black Vault Eleven and an all too familiar area in front of it were as well.

"Ooo, someone is obviously tired of breathing if they decided to steal out of that Vault." Greygus said as he looked up from his own work. "Erzabet can you be a dear and prepare a tharmatergical dousing spell, I'm sure that Quinn has a few maps that you could use to pinpoint our sticky-fingered Darwin Award Nominee."

"There is no need," Shuffle explained as he approached his employer. "I have a photographic memory, and recognize that face. The exact same time that I disembarked our flight from Austin this afternoon at JFK International Airport, Greg Paulson was at Gate 7 boarding Flight 17 bound for Boston."

Erzabet Scratch's crimson eyes flared like blazing coals beneath her hood as she connected the dots on just what that information implied. "Greygus please finish your work here I shall contact the others with what we know, while we have no firm proof at the moment we shall have to prepare for the most obvious scenario. It appears that The Necromancer and his Children of the Night have just issued a declaration of war against the Obsidian Circle, and if this proves to be true then he must be taught the consequences of his actions."

Hall of Echoes
Celephaïs, Ooth-Nargai, The Dreamlands
?
POV: Bea Carson, Rose of the East

I had just finished viewing the orb containing on the History of the Mesopian Refuge and it took me a little while to take it all in. While it was true that I knew most of the story already, what I knew was so clinical, it was like there was a degree of detachment; these spheres of knowledge let whoever was learning from them delve far more closely into events. I was able to swim among the merfolk of the Refuge's markets and take in the sights, smells, sounds and tastes of a part of my heritage that no longer existed.

I was able to watch as my grandparents met for the very first time in the waters where the Persian Gulf met the Indian Ocean. I already knew how beautiful Grandmother Tiamat was she had even showed me herself as a mermaid during one of my visits, however my grandfather the late Triton King Apsu was pretty gifted in the looks department himself. I had giggled at the time over how many of the available teachers at Whateley would likely be trying to gain his attention if he were still around, granted if he were still around he wouldn't be single.

Also while Apsu was handsome in his own right, my uncle Qingu was in another league entirely, somehow I didn't think that all those mermaid princesses were merely resigning themselves to a political marriage and a chance to bring their bear a Triton into their bloodline. I mean Kingu was a freaking Adonis, and trust me as a girl who saw everything that Aphrodite did during Ancient Greece; I knew both what Adonis looked like as well as what he was like as a person. There was a reason that Aphrodite and Persephone both desired his company, heck even Athena and Artemis were tempted to give up their vows of chastity.

Part of me actually cursed myself for being his niece; still I was getting a cool aunt like Sorcha out of this- as well as Evania, which was a little disturbing then again given the lifespans of merfolk she was probably going to wait a few years before the ceremony. 'Note to self, when you rescue Kingu do not keep photos of him at Whateley, otherwise the girls on campus will never leave you alone.'

"Learning about your family young one?" Greyback asked as he padded over to me, it was weird now that I think about it but I don't even think that I have seen the old wolf take human form before. Come to think of it why does he even look so old in the first place, he's the same age as Mrs. Redstag and the two are both Sidhe?

"Yeah, I learned a lot about my grandparents and my uncle, not to mention the fact that one of the mermaids that Utu's djinn violated was my uncle's fiancé; no wonder Apsu had to handle the diplomacy himself." I said as that scenario left a gross taste in my mouth. "It didn't say what happened to her though, but something tells me that I need to hear it even though I won't like the answer."

"You are correct on that account child," Greyback said with a heavy sigh. "Do you remember what the mermaid's name was?"

"Yeah I found out that her name was Heda," I replied easy enough despite the fact that the orb did not cover the war between the Mesopian Refuge and Utu's own City of Brass."

"Child none of the denizens of the Mesopian Refuge made it to the safety of the refuges in the Faerie Lands or the Jade Heavens." Greyback said as he bowed his head at that sad truth, "The only inhabitants of the Mesopian Refuge that were unaffected when Dagon used Apsu's remains to cast his dark curse were your mother Thaletté and your uncle Kingu. As for your grandmother Queen Tiamat, the reason she was remained unaffected was not only because she was not truly a mermaid, but also because she was also well beyond the power of the curse."

"Heda as with all of the other merfolk of the refuge were twisted by the curse into the first Deep Ones, and to add insult to injury Dagon took the creature Heda became as his mate." Greyback took a moment to pause before he finished his explanation-

"Who is now known as Mother Hydra," I guessed although I wanted to throw up a little in my mouth at saying that. "Am I right?"

"Unfortunately, Dagon likely counts her as the trophy of his victory," Greyback said as he averted his eyes. "The sight of what Heda, the mermaid Kingu had intended to declare his first queen, had transformed into was what drove Kingu to attack the djinn early. By the time Tiamat had returned with the first wave of reinforcements from dragons of the Western Jade Heavens and the djinn of the House of the Blazing Disc Kingu had just fallen in battle, it shall be your task to save him from the results of his folly."

"And then the two of us break Dagon's curse and everything is fine." I said repeating what I knew so far."

"No child, you see any spell that has ever been successfully cast may cast again. Besides there is one more condition for the curse to be broken, the one who wields its power must also perish. In order for all of the merfolk of the Eastern court and those share their bloodlines to truly be free- Dagon must die, still I have seen that this will soon come to pass. It is your duty to free Kingu and make certain that the two of you cast the counter-spell before another of the Anointed Deep Ones takes his place!"

"Anointed Deep Ones?" I asked already knowing that I wouldn't like the answer- no matter how it was phrased.

"Deep One's who were blessed by the high priest of Cthulhu before they were fully changed, and thus maintain their mind rather than just being a bestial thrall." Greyback elaborated on his statement. "They usually used to be the high priests in Dagon's cult, if Dagon dies the anointed will battle each other to the death to take his place. If the curse remains intact when the final anointed takes Dagon's place, then this abomination will become the curse's new anchor. But enough about that for now child, I have a favor to ask of you."

"Yes Greyback, what is it?" I asked curious about what the old sidhe spirit wanted.

"Look in my bag over there for a small white box," Greyback stated, not having any reason to do otherwise, I did as he asked and got the box out. "Good now you'll find four earplugs inside, give one pair to Faolan this evening and make sure that the two off you wear them to bed. Hold onto the box and it will travel with you into the waking world; oh and for good measure make sure that you do not let it leave your person- this is important."

"Alright," I said staring at the small box. "Just one question, why is it white, is it because wolves are colorblind?"

"No, it was just cheaper that way." Greyback said in a nonchalant manner that made me feel more than a little foolish for asking in the first place.

Poe Cottage
Whateley Academy, New Hampshire
6:00 AM EST
POV: Randi Bridges, Rose of the West

I got up to my alarm which was also causing Candace to stir in the top bunk, my week of combat evaluations by Itou and Tolman were over and I'd managed to pass. Granted I tied in my match against Jobe and lost against Nightbane but still I don't think that I did too badly. Okay I still had Morrigan's evening training but the only real problem I had during the rest my Freshman year was the Combat Final in Arena 99 which could be against anyone in the school- well except the seniors or Tennyo.

At the very least I could enjoy the weekend, which was making me nervous for a different reason- it was going to be my first date- my first real date with a girl. Okay granted that it shouldn't be that scary anymore given that I was also a member of the fairer sex now and had been for months, but still it was my first real date and knew firsthand how hot Candace was. I wish I knew why she was so focused on me though, heck, she started hitting on me the moment we met back in New York at the award banquet- granted I gave her a good scare when she met me out of costume for the first time.

Okay so I'm not bad in the looks department either (at least outside of exemplar mega-babe territory) even before I got the faerie glamour (glad that I can turn that to mute), still maybe I could get the answer out of her about why she was so insistent on dating me ever since we met. I headed to the shower with my bathrobe and morning kit and noticed I had beaten the line and that there was still an unoccupied stall. I got in and let the shower work its magic, well without turning on the special settings that is the last time I did that it made my legs feel like they were made of pudding.

Still after making an extra-special effort to get myself ready I stepped out of the shower to find Ayla and Alex ogling via the vanity mirror as usual. I shook my head at the sight honestly I know that there were a lot of hot girls in here, and that most almost all of them like girls as well- but the novelty of seeing other girls naked had worn off after about a month.

What can I say between being able to see a good looking girl in the mirror anytime that I wanted and having a roommate who slept naked, the thrill was mostly neutralized- granted waking up to said roommate in the above condition cuddling with me got one hell of a reaction out of me. Okay I was a wolf at the time but I still like human girls even when I'm a lupa. (It's a legitimate term look it up, I refuse to refer to myself in canine form by the b-word.)

By the time I had returned to our room Candace was already getting dressed, "Geez Randi, took a little long in the shower today; were you trying out the special settings on the shower head?" Candace asked with a sly smile on her face.

"No," I blushed at the memory of the one time that I gave into that particular temptation. "I just wanted to do a good job with my hair for our date that's all."

"Well thank you for going to the extra effort on my account." Candace said as she sauntered over to me and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. "I'll pick up breakfast from Crystal Hall so all you have to do is get ready and go to the bus stop in front of Shuster."

"I know where it is Candace," I said blushing red once again. "Just let me get ready." I put on my collar and hit the gem that I put casual clothing inside which given the school's dress code I hadn't used in a while. The magic in the jewel activated instantly as I changed into the outfit that I set place inside it earlier this week, nothing overly fancy just a nice forest green blouse, a calf-length gray skirt, black leather shoes, and a charcoal beret to hide my ears. Now that I was fully dressed I applied something of my own invention, at first glance it looks like a couple of red beads connected by some elastic, however whenever its tied around something- like say my tail it creates an aura of unimportance making the object unperceivable that is unless you knew it was there.

After I finished preparing, I headed down to the bus, granted I knew that we likely weren't going to be the only ones headed to Boston today but at least none of the Kimbas were allowed there anymore.

Morrison Family Home
Arlington Heights, Illinois
7:00 AM CDT
POV: Chandra Defrank

Today was the big day after all, I didn't want to psych myself out after all if Vernon actually kept up he'd know that today wasn't just any Volleyball match. No this was our half of the State Semi-Finals- this was the last game our team had last year while Candace was team captain and I intended win it this time so that we could all show Candace the championship trophy when she came home for Summer Vacation.

"Are you really sure that you don't have any special advice for today Chandra?" Marlina asked obviously a little nervous today.

"Just give a hundred and ten percent like you've been doing and remember what we were working on during practice and you'll do fine." I said as I patted the seventh grader on the back. "Just remember this is a team effort, as long as everyone does their best and works together everything will be fine- and try not to focus on the ice cream."

"You and your ice cream captain." Marlina giggled while we climbed into the the van so that her dad could drop us off at school, granted it was a little uncomfortable in the back what with the temporary seat and all.

"That is right the ice cream is my precious- gollum- gollum," I said with a weird look on my face causing her to laugh at the silliness of it, which was good- the worst thing possible for a player was to over think or dwell on a game before they got there. Still I had something else to be nervous about, this van was not meant to ferry or than two passengers.

Okay I knew from experience that the inside of this van was filthy it was normally used to haul gardening equipment after all. I was glad that I packed two changes of clothes for today and a couple of trash bags because I soon as I got home I was washing what I was wearing- twice. I hope I had time to clean up before the bus picked us up for Moline, because I did not want to show up for the game smelling like fertilizer and looking like I went five rounds with the flower bed.

Ledoux Residence
Boulder City, Nevada
6:14 AM MDT
POV: Paul Ledoux

I could hear my heart hammering inside of my chest as I worked my way around the house, granted mother had left five minutes ago but there always a chance that she could come back at any time. I believe that I set a world record for fastest complete shower, before I made a mad dash back to my bedroom. This would be cutting it close, I needed to get dressed and get out the door and around the corner before she came back. After I got my clothes on I grabbed the bag that I had thrown together the other night and put in my stuff from the bathroom, nothing big just my hairbrush, toothbrush, toothpaste and deodorant.

I took a deep breath and peeked my head out the front door, fortunately mom's car was nowhere in sight. It was now or never I locked the door on my way out- no reason to make her any more pissed at me than she already was and calmly made my way to the corner where Danny's bro and the guys would be waiting. I almost had a heart attack when I saw a Civic rounding the corner- however I was in luck it was a white not yellow like mom's car. I made my way further and further and could almost hear the Mission Impossible theme playing in my head as I did so, 'Cool it Paul- Ethan Hunt you are not!'

After what seemed like forever from my perspective, I rounded the corner to fin everyone waiting in Danny's brother Matt in his Hummer. "See bro," Danny laughed as I opened the back door. "I told you that Paul would show; now you have to own up."

"Forget it Danny," Matt shot back while I was buckling up in the back seat. "I'm not sneaking you into the Spearmint Rhino Danny!"

"Ah come on," Danny all but whined. "Why not?"

"That's because if the bouncers didn't kill me mom would!" Matt shot Danny a withering look. "Paul is your mom really okay with you going to Vegas for the day?"

"No but something weird has been going on lately," I said after tossing my tote-bag in the back. "She's been acting weirder than usual and I need to get out of the house to think."

"Alright, I understand." Matt said as he started up the Hummer. "We've all been there at one point or another, and as long as you're willing to deal with the consequences when you get back I'll let you tag along with us."

"Thanks," I said as we hit the road. I already knew that I was in hot water but what the hell- Las Vegas here we come. I mean you only live once right, I mean I was already in trouble with mother; how much more trouble can I really get into at this point?

Berlin Train Station
Berlin, New Hampshire
8:32 AM EDT
POV: Bea Carson, Rose of the East

The train was about to arrive and Pendragon was busy laying down the ground rules for those of us who were here. As predicted, there were several students along on this trip. Granted this was hardly surprising given the rumors flying around school that this might be the last trip to Boston that any student from Whateley would ever be taking.

"Now remember on this trip we have several rules to try and keep from having another incident like the last Boston Brawl," Pendragon began to explain as he stood side-by-side with other juniors and seniors- many of them in the Cape Squad. "The first rule we will be traveling in groups using the buddy system, everyone is to travel in groups of at least two each at all times."

"Also every group will be accompanied by a junior or senior level student who will act as chaperones. If any student intentional separates from their chaperone they will be subject to a week's detention, you must also clear where you are going with your chaperone beforehand; so no traveling on impulse. I know that this might seem unfair to the lot of you but understand that we are doing this to for your own safety, the Children of the Night have been targeting one group of student's in particular in Boston and they might try to take unrelated students hostage to gain access to them."

As he began to wrap up his speech the train to Boston pulled into the station, "Now everyone received an envelope this morning before we left the Academy, inside are the name of your buddy if you are not traveling in a prearranged group and your designated chaperone if you do not already know them."

All around everyone began to open their envelopes, fortunately I had already looked at mine and knew that I would be traveling with Heartbreaker and Gloriana today- I also knew what was about to happen next. One by one, the sheets that the others pulled from their envelopes went up in smoke thanks to a spell of Ms Grimes from the Mystic Arts Department- and the fact that it was printed on flash paper.

"Well, ready to go?" I asked Heartbreaker after I guided my chair over to her.

"As long as you remember to keep your promise," Heartbreaker said as tough as she could although I could tell that underneath the facade that it was merely concern for her friend Jello.

"I plan on it," I explained as we made our way to Gloriana. "I only hope that my uncle can help me gain a better insight into my powers."

"I didn't know that Miss Carson had any brothers that were still around." Heartbreaker said with an ounce of curiosity.

"Not on her side of the family," I said a little more cautious with the details given Heartbreaker's career plans. "The more aquatic side, he's in a bit of a bad situation right now that he needs me to bail him out of."

"Not gonna tell me everything eh? Good your learning." She smiled as we got in line to board the train with our escort.

"Yes Eve," Glory said as she turned to us with a knowing smile of her own. "She's learning that you're not really as much of a bad girl as you make yourself out to be.

POV: Randi Bridges, Rose of the West

Candace and I boarded the train with Saladin, thankful that we were getting a fellow Posie as our escort who wouldn't spread around the fact that our day-trip together was an actual date. Still I looked around to take a few peeks at the other students, interesting Aries was escorting sis and her friends; at least Heather would be in good hands today. Solange was nowhere in sight- not surprising there was no way anyone in Admin would let the Little Witch trio within a hundred miles of Boston unless they were flying over it while bound for a different destination.

Hmm Stonebear was escorting Crux and Strato, and Firecat was doing the same thing for Draco and Asklepian- honestly, if I didn't know it was her I wouldn't have seen through the illusion. Deuce and Palleon had Stormwolf with them looks like they wouldn't be up to anything, that guy didn't just have a stick up his butt- he had a freaking sequoia. Hmm, curious Astio and Lamia were walking with Nephandus; I didn't know that Admin trusted Astio enough to be an escort.

Finally, we were aboard the train, I took the moment to stretch out while Jane hopped from my shoulder to perch on the overhead rack. I wonder why trains aren't more popular these days, I mean you can use them to get around easy without being molested by the TSA and bring you own food aboard not to mention that you have a lot more room and there is less chance of being near a baby whose upset due to the change in air pressure. It was a crying shame that the train station back home shuttered after The War because a lot of folks could have used it to relieve the congestion along I-20 and I-30 from the morning commute to Dallas or Fort Worth.

"So have you young ladies decided how you will be spending your day in Boston?" Saladin asked as well mannered as always, you had to admire the guy. It took guts to come out of the closet like he did- especially when it would earn him a death sentence in his homeland and eternal damnation in his religion (of which he was a devout follower).

"We'll be doing some window shopping in Downtown Crossing, you might be asked to carry a few things while we're in the area itself." Candace said with an impish grin on her face. "But don't worry Randi's purse will take over after we're out of the shopping district. Then we're going to see a movie over at the Boston Commons 19."

"Let me guess, is it In the Land of Women?" I said citing the name of a recently released romantic comedy, yet another part of being a young lady that I had yet to adjust to enjoying.

"Nope, Disturbia," Candace said honestly surprising me. "I know how much you like Hitchcock movies Randi and I heard that it was someone trying to draw inspiration from Rear Window something I remember watching with my grandparents."

"Yeah it was one of his best films; almost every critic alive recognizes it as a masterpiece, and for once their right." I said anxious to hear more about the day that she had planned for us.

"It's decent enough; I saw it last week with my boyfriend in Berlin." Saladin said to the two of us. "Disturbia that is I don't think that I have ever seen Rear Window."

"Remind us to loan it to you sometime," Candace said as she went back to itinerary. "After that we're going to have a late lunch/early dinner before coming home- Saladin do you mind if I tell you I want to keep that destination a surprise for later."

"Certainly, you can tell me when we're out shopping while Randi is using a changing room." Saladin said as I stared out to window to enjoy the scenery.

"Say can we stop by the Holocaust Memorial on our way to Downtown Crossing?" I asked while taking in the New England scenery that I hadn't gotten to see too much of in my time up here.

"Randi, isn't that a little insensitive?" Candace asked while eying Saladin, "Sayyid is taking time out of his Saturday to help us, and you want to bring up a matter of Middle Eastern tensions!"

"There were more groups persecuted their than just the Jewish people Candace," I said as I made eye contact with my date and roommate and whispered, "Including one group that all three of us have in common. Besides remember when we met Doctor Quasimodo in New York, his second wife died during the Kristallnacht riot and I want to pay my respects."

Hidden Cave - Hesperus Peak
La Plata Mountains, Colorado
7:12 AM MDT
POV: Zhen-yu Chen, Rose of the North

It was finally time to make my move; I was finally going to get out of this damned cave for a while to be around ordinary people for a while. I had finally learn enough from Master Wujing's lessons to keep a human form going for a good long while, and with whatever clothes I planned on to boot. If only Kelsey knew that martial arts and transformations weren't the only thing that I had learned.

Part of my meditation training had been about opening up my perceptions, and in doing so I had discovered something that I had been completely unaware of before now, one of the walls of this cave was an illusion- nothing more than a trick of perception deceiving you into seeing something that wasn't really there at all. Man was Kelsey sneaky, the exit to this place had been staring me right in the face ever since I had arrived I had just been unable to see it.

I packed a few supplies in one of the bags that Kelsey had left laying around and transformed. After a minute I had assumed my old form dressed in weather-beaten clothing like I had been back-packing cross country, an important and necessary disguise that I would have to maintain for a few hours until I arrived at my intended destination. Once I had everything together I let go of my transformation, it was still early in the day and my normal form was better for handling rugged terrain, especially given the amount of walking that I'd need to do before I could hit the interstate and catch a ride.

I hoped that I had been discrete enough in asking about the surrounding area; at least I knew that Denver was out of my reach for the time being unless I learned how to fly given that it was on the other side of the Continental Divide. Still the city of Durango was close enough and anything that dared to call itself a city had to have something in the form of nightlife, especially when it was out in the boonies like this so that folks could let off a little steam. I mean everyone back home knew that if you didn't at least provide for people to have a way to do that legally they'd find their own ways, there was a reason that Seattle had the reputation that it did.

Carefully I made my way southward, not directly south given that there was the rest of the La Plata mountain range in my way. I began to make my steady decent now that I was finally in the open air. I already knew that I was beginning to make my way west instead of south; however none of that would matter once I was out of the mountains and into the woods of San Juan National Forest I just had to start going south again until I hit Interstate 160. I knew that there was a dirt road that Kelsey and I had took on our way here that would shave several hours off of my trip, but once I hit the freeway it would be a lot smoother sailing.

Yeah, enough training for now and enough of that damned cave. I stopped and clenched my fist to the sky while I screamed at the top of my draconic lungs, "Mark my words world, 'Tonight I'm going into the big city to party like an ordinary teenage girl and nothing is going to stop me from doing so and enjoying myself!"

Man did it feel good to get that out of my system, seriously who needs mystic places of healing just getting outside to vent and work off my frustrations was enough. Okay I wish I was out partying with my friends back in Seattle, but that couldn't be helped I mean here I was climbing down a mountain about to go forty miles cross country just to get to the nearest city in Colorado. They were back at home in Seattle over a thousand miles across three states in another time zone, plus they haven't even seen me in months, I had just turned into a pen pal from out of nowhere to people I had known my whole life.

I stopped again to shake those thoughts out of my head, "No you mustn't think that Zhen-yu, you will see them again; maybe not for a while but you will see them and when you see them you can share this whole experience with them while they tell you what the rest of the school year was like."

That hit another sore spot, the school year was almost over, and you had lost so much of it there was no way to play catch-up. Forget the graduation trip along Route 66, you're going to be held back playing catch up as a freshman while they've become Sophomores. No, I need to put the future on the back burner for a while and take it as it comes, I need to live in the here and now. I did my best to stop dwelling on the past as I continued my trek toward the interstate and the city of Durango.

South Middle School - Front Lawn
Arlington Heights, Illinois
7:45 PM CDT
POV: Chandra Defrank

"Cutting it a little close as usual Ms Defrank," Coach Mulhulland said as she stared at her watch from outside the full-sized passenger van that our team used to get to games. "I wish that our team captain would show a little more punctuality."

"Sorry Coach," I said as I boarded the van and headed to an empty seat in the back. "I just don't want to show up smelling like I got in a fight with the Home Depot's gardening department."

"Yes Coach," Marlina said with a hint of embarrassment. "Chandra can't help it the cargo seat in my dad's van is a rough ride, and the back often smells like fertilizer."

"Okay team," the Coach barked as she started the van, "Today's one for the record books, so I want to see everyone bring their A Game out there! So when you hit the court today I want to see you play to win, do you hear me ladies- to win. Let's put a trophy in that case that doesn't say third place state on it!"

"Yes ma'am!" We all shouted in unison as we hit the road, it was at least a three-hour drive between Arlington Heights and Moline.

Drucker Residence
Round Rock, Texas
8:37 AM CDT
POV: Joan Drucker

Wearily I opened my eyes to find two things, Mallory drools in her sleep and late night Chinese gives Erika dragon breath. "Geez I hope we have enough Scope," I muttered to myself as I got up not that General Tsou hadn't achieved victory over me last night as we were watching The Breakfast Club.

Speaking of breakfast, I thought to myself as I went into the kitchen to get started on mine and found Nicole drinking a very large cup of coffee with enough creamer in it to kick it into latte territory (without the steamed milk though). Out of curiosity, I took a peak at her laptop and saw that she was reading a few articles via EBSCOhost, probably for her report.

"Hey, looks like you girls had quite the party last night," Nicole smiled as she took another sip from her large steaming mug.

"Yeah, not that I haven't been to slumber parties before," I said as I went to pour myself a bowl of raisin bran, "Just none of them here." I opened the fridge and rooted around for a minute to find two things, we were out of strawberries and someone drank the last of the whole milk. What a wonderful start of the day, I resigned myself to mom's one-percent- thank goodness, she wasn't buying skim anymore and filled my bowl.

As I sat down at the table, I turned to look at Nicole and asked, "Do you have any coffee left?"

"Not until after you're out of middle school sprout," Nichole said as she finished off her cup and went for a refill. "Too much caffeine when you're young stunts your growth; you don't want your mom to be stealing your clothes forever do you?"

"Not gonna happen," I said as I gave her as dark a look as I could through my bleary eyes. "Now gimme!"

"Sorry last cup and the beans are going in the liquor cabinet." Nicole said as she swirled her cup in hand for emphasis. "Just go back to sleep when you finish breakfast, you're still young enough not to know what a luxury good it is yet."

"Can't you just magic yourself a full night's sleep whenever you want to?" I asked resigned to the fact that once again the brewed bean of adulthood had eluded my grasp.

Nicole laughed and shook her head, "Nope, it doesn't work like that; now eat your breakfast and go back to sleep, you had a long night and you've likely got another one ahead of you tonight."

"Yeah don't remind me," I said after swallowing another spoonful of cereal.

"Don't worry I'll help with the prep work, just don't bother me afterwards; this paper is a third of my final grade." Nichole said with a weighted emphasis while I kept chewing my bran flakes.

Throne of Sanguine Opulence
Grand Hall of Sinister Wisdom - San Francisco Chapter House
San Francisco, California
6:47 AM PDT

"Your eminence," a man said as he burst into the room and immediately dropped to his knees. "I bring you news of great importance!"

"As it must be for you to not only ignore protocol, but also interrupt my meditations when the sun has barely risen upon this land of barbarians and mongrels." A man in dark red robes trimmed with golden embroidery proclaimed as he glared at the man with a look of pure contempt. "Now tell me your news, and then I shall decide by its importance whether or not your impertinence has made your life forfeit."

"Yes great Xuè-jīn Mùshī," the nameless man said not moving an inch or raising his head. "The Yáo Xīyì that was stolen from us by the barbarian sorceress child who dares lay claim to the title of the Wayfarer has revealed herself; she is currently in Southern Colorado. Would I have your permission to contact mercenary's in the area to see to it that our property is returned to us?"

"We are the Zhāoshāng de Yōuhuàn, what need have we of mercenary's when we can utilize our own assets!" The current Xuè-jīn Mùshī shouted in outrage as the room around he glowed red with his anger.

"We have no assets in Colorado sir," the nameless man began to explain while simultaneously pleading for his life. "We cannot reach further east without drawing ourselves into conflict with Lord Khamsin who we have confirmed is a newly revitalized Lord Ataxia; furthermore it is too close to the territory of Erzabet Scratch."

"Yes I recall the condition of the last spy that we sent into her territory; Scratch returned him to us by way of FedEx, and the rather small package was sent cash on delivery." Xuè-jīn Mùshī said now far calmer as the truth of the situation was now evident. "Very well, put out a contract to all available mercenary's in the area but be discrete on the details otherwise they might be tempted to keep our property for themselves."

"At once your eminence," The nameless sycophant rapidly left the room leaving behind the Xuè-jīn Mùshī who smiled in the dimly lit room, confident that unlike his predecessor he could hold onto this source of wealth and power.

Re: A Boy and His Dog

landing — 2013-06-06T00:07:39-00:00

This is a fan fiction, the Whateleyverse and all canon characters are the property of their respective writers. If you find your life being depicted in this story you it is purely accidental and you have a hell of a lot more to worry about than suing me. No canon characters have been hurt in the writing of this story...yet.

Many thanks to GinnCaster5 for the editing help, without Ginn this story would probably be unreadable. Thanks also to Sleethr and Beyogi for their read through.

Chapter 13

"All right, we have been at this for an hour; it's time to take a break from the girl zone and shop somewhere manly, or at least neutral."

"Well, I don't think there is a hardware store in the mall, so how does Barnes and Nobles sound?" asked Brook, trying not to laugh at my pleading tone.

"Oh! I want to get a book too. I just borrowed the first Twilight book from a friend, and I want to get the second one," said Kelly.

"You just had to go and turn a trip to a bookstore into a girly thing, didn't you?"

We split up when we got to the bookstore, Kelly to find her sparkly vampire fiction and Brook to look in the thriller section. She liked books with lots of action and explosions. I wandered around the store, since my taste in books was rather eclectic. I never really settled down on any one genre of books to like, so one day I might be reading a fantasy book and the next day a western or a history book; it really just depended on what I was in the mood for. I don't know if it was just chance wonderings or if my subconscious had been doing some sneaky piloting on its own, but I ended up in a section devoted to the entertainment world. I thumbed through a few books on Hollywood celebrities and one book on the topic of reality television and what it meant, which as far as I was concerned should read something about it being one of the first signs of the apocalypse, when my eyes caught on something.

'Legend of the Lampposts, the story of the first mutant rock band and their rise and fall'. I excitedly pulled out the book to see that, yes, it was what I had thought it was about. On the cover was a picture of four people, three men and a woman, all striking poses while wearing clothes that could only have been cool in the eighties. Center of the lot was a younger Kent, or I guess it was Deathknell, with the way he was dressed up, hand raised as if ready to play on the guitar he held in the other.

I flipped the cover open and glanced through the table of contents to try and get a feel for what the book would be like. It had a number of chapters starting with 'Mystery, where did they come from?' and going on down through things like 'Pranks, or Villainy?', 'The English tour', and 'The Lampposts hear the Deathknell of the band'. This seemed to be what I had been looking for without even thinking of it, a perspective on Kent that wasn't from either him or my mom.

I closed the book with a snap and went to see if the other two had found what they wanted yet. Brook ended up finding me at the same time I found her. She had a stack of about seven thick paperbacks, most of them with authors name's printed in raised letters just that little bit larger than the actual title itself, and inevitably, one of the books had the silhouette of a fighter jet on it.

Brook grinned a little sheepishly at me. "It's hard to just get one; they're like potato chips."

I just rolled my eyes, well used to her excessive purchase of novels. It took us a bit of searching, but eventually we found Kelly curled up in a short comfy chair, her nose buried in a thick black and red book. I leaned in close to her and whispered in my best Transylvanian accent, "I vant to suck you blood!"

She rolled her eyes and closed the book, unaffected by my attempt at scaring her. "It's not that kind of vampire book. It's all about love, not scary monsters."

"What's good about a book about vampires if they aren't out stalking the night looking for victims to drain of blood?" I asked.

"Well, there are also werewolves," put in Brook.

"And do they stalk the night looking for victims to maul?"

"Nooo... but they do go around without shirts on a lot."

"Because they lost it while hunting down human prey, right?"

"I'm afraid not."

I sighed with mock disappointment. "Books just aren't what they used to be."

"Enough you two! This is not the comedy hour!" said Kelly, smiling. "Besides, I think you should try reading these, Eden. From the way you were watching those two guys show off their muscles, you might like the books."

"I wasn't...I... what are you talking about?!"

"What?" asked Brook, raising a surprised eyebrow.

"Yeah, Eden was totally checking out these two hot guys when we were in Macy's."

"Were you?" asked Brook.

"Of course I wasn't! I don't like guys! This is just stupid!" I replied hotly.

"Calm down Eden, Kelly is just teasing you. You don't have to get so upset."

I glared at the two of them, "It's not funny! How would you like to be in my shoes and someone teasing you about liking girls?"

They had the decency to look slightly ashamed of themselves. "Sorry Adam, I shouldn't have said that. I know how hard all of this is for you," said Kelly, actual tears of remorse starting to form in her eyes.

My anger left me, and it was my turn to feel slightly ashamed; they were just teasing me, I didn't need to react so strongly. I knew I liked women, the reaction I had in the Watchers' shower room this morning proved that.

"It's all right, don't worry about it," I said, bending down to give my sister a quick hug. "Let's go buy our books, then I guess it's time for my haircut," I said the last bit with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. I just knew it was going to be another chance for the two of them to play dress-up with me being the live doll.

As we were waiting our turn in line, I noticed one of those conspiracy type tabloids, all exclamation mark and people looking shocked because apparently they had Bigfoot's baby through artificial insemination by space men. What got my attention on this one were the big bold words reading, 'EXPOSAY OF SECRET SUPERHERO SCHOOL!!!' Maybe there was more truth to these things than I thought, after all, I was going to private school for mutants. I picked up the tabloid and flipped through the thin, cheaply made paper.

'Dr. Amazing, Man Mountain, Galaxy Girl have demon love child!!!'

'Secret bastard child vows revenge on all Goodkinds, takes over Marvel!!!'

'Demon defeated by school girls of pure faith!!!'

'Man in the moon watching us!!!'

I had to snicker at some of the headlines; yeah they got lucky with the 'superhero' school thing; everything else was just too ridiculous to be real. Looks like MIB was wrong after all.

We had spent enough time in the bookstore that we needed to hurry along in order to make my appointment with the haircutter, excuse me, stylist. It wasn't without trepidation that I presented myself to the woman at the front desk. "I have a 6:00 appointment..."

"Are you Eden or Anne?"

"Eden..."

"Alright dearie, you're going to be with Marina; she'll be with you in just a moment. Take a seat over there," she said, gesturing to a row of black padded chairs.

"We really haven't talked about it yet, but what kind of haircut do you want, Eden?" asked Brook, turning slightly in her chair to face me.

"I was thinking of getting it cut short; I don't want to mess with it all the time," I said, trying to sound firm.

That immediately set of a flurry of protests from them.

"But you have such beautiful hair..."

"You can't do that..."

"Oh come on guys," I tried, "Maybe y'all like having long hair, but it's nothing but a bother to me."

Of course that wasn't the end of it; they kept on thinking up reasons why I shouldn't chop my hair off, and I kind of tuned them out and just sat staring into the distance. I noticed a tall woman glancing at me in a curious way. I briefly made eye contact, and it seemed to me she made a decision. She went over to the check-in booth and spoke to the receptionist I had talked to upon arriving. They exchanged a few quiet words, then the woman started towards us.

"Hi, Eden? I'm Sophie. I switched with Marina so I'm going to be your stylist today. Why don't you come with me, and I'll get you shampooed."

The three of us started to get up, but Sophie waved my two companions back. "Just Eden; we have a customer's only policy for the back room."

I shrugged at them, then followed the large woman through a pair of doors to a room with reclining chairs and sinks lining the walls, each separated from the others by walls that came out a short ways to each side. Sophie led me to a chair down at the end of the room opposite from where everyone else was. I got in the chair, and she turned the water on.

"How does it feel? To hot? To cold?"

"It's a little cold."

She adjusted the temperature some and started lathering up my hair with a shampoo that had a faint floral scent. I noticed her hands were a bit on the large side, but I guess when you used them to work on hair all day they can get a little muscular. "So, were those your friends who were with you?" Sophie asked.

"Uh, yeah, the older one is Brook, my best friend, and the smaller is my sister Kelly."

"It's nice that you get along with your sister; I haven't seen my sister in years. We had a fight and haven't talked since."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said. I was lucky that my sister had been so accepting of what happened to me; it could have been a lot worse.

"Oh, it's okay dear. I was always closest to my Gran anyway. Now she was a character. She used to work in a circus as a palm reader and fortune teller."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, and the thing is she wasn't just some scam artist; she really did have a gift. It was amazing the things she could know about a person just from looking," said Sophie as she massaged my scalp in a way that really felt good.

"Hmm..."

She must have found my tone less than convinced because she continued. "Don't believe me? The thing is, I inherited some of her gift too. Not as strong as her, mind you, but I can still tell things about some people. For instance, I can tell that you don't like being a girl, you consider yourself male on the inside."

"What? How did you!" I would have shot up in the chair, but she held me down with one of her hands on my shoulder. Luckily it was covered with a towel, so she didn't get any suds on my shirt.

"Calm down, I'm not making any judgments; the truth is that I'm the same way, though in the opposite direction."

"You want to be a guy?" I asked.

"No, like I said I'm the same but in the opposite direction," she took in my confusion. "I was born Michael."

"Oh," I took a second look at her. There were subtle signs but it wasn't as obvious as I had been led to believe it would be. I had never really meet anyone like him, uh, her before. I was in Texas after all; you just didn't seem to run into people that were different in that way very often unless you were in Austin or somewhere like that, or maybe it was just that they didn't advertise it as much. I would never have known about Sophie if she hadn't said anything. Considering my own situation, I probably needed to reevaluate some of my long-held beliefs on the subject.

"I thought you might like to have someone to talk about it with; it's not easy growing up wanting to be the opposite sex in these parts."

"But I didn't!" I blurted out. "I am a guy!"

"Yes I know. It's what's on the inside that really matters, not what you are born as."

"No, I mean I really am a guy," I said, until I noticed Sophie's confusion then added, "Well, I was until yesterday at least."

She still seemed confused, though she went back to washing my hair. "My gift has always let me know when someone is in the LGBT community. If you're dressing up as a girl for some kind of dare it shouldn't have reacted..."

I sighed, and then made a decision. She already knew something strange was happening, so it probably wouldn't hurt to let her in on a little more; besides, she had already trusted me with her secret. "Yesterday I was kidnapped by some kind of evil demonic cult, and they used some kind of magic on me to change me into a girl." She looked a little dubious, "No really, I'm not making this up. My name was Adam."

"Well, I must say, that wasn't what I was expecting. I know some girls that would have loved to be in your shoes in that case. Something like this wasted on someone who didn't want it," she sighed, then seemed to consider what she had said. "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. I'm sure you wish it would have happened to someone else, too."

I grimaced, "I'm pretty sure what happened was an accident. What they were aiming to turn me into probably had more tentacles than comes standard on most people."

Sophie concentrated on rinsing out my hair for a moment before she started talking again. "I started realizing that my gender was wrong when I was fairly young; it was a horrible feeling not being in the body you are supposed to be in. I don't know if it is worse for you, since it's all suddenly thrust upon you, or better since you got to at least grow up as who you were supposed to be," she shook her head as if she were shaking off the question. "But that doesn't really matter. I try to give some support to the young LGBT people I spot, kind of lend an ear for anything they want to talk about. So what's on your mind?"

I wasn't really sure if I wanted to pour my feelings out to a complete stranger, even if she did have the same kind of problem I did, so I stuck with an issue that seemed safe enough. "My sister and Brook want me to keep my hair long; they keep blithering on about it being too nice to cut short, but I don't like it. I don't want to deal with long hair, and I don't like the reminder of what happened!"

Sophie turned off the water and patted down my hair before having me follow her to one of the barber chairs along the wall in the same room where Kelly and Brook waited. Along with all the other paraphernalia of a stylist, there was also a row of pictures, mostly of smiling happy people, but there was also a picture of an older woman dressed up in an elaborate costume with a stern and mysterious air, though the twinkle in her eye belied that somewhat. Sophie put the plastic sheet around me to catch the falling hair and started talking again. "If you want it short, we can cut it short. Don't let your loved ones pressure you into something you don't want to do. They might have the best of intentions, but it's still you that has to live with it."

I was relieved to finally have some support against the onslaught of feminization that had been after me all day. Of course, it was then that Kelly and Brook came over to hover in the background.

"You don't have a rule against us being here too, do you?" asked Brook, a hint of confrontation in her voice.

"No, it's fine dear," answered Sophie, smiling unconcernedly at the two of them before turning her concentration back to me.

"You're not still thinking of cutting all your hair off are you Eden?" Kelly asked nervously.

"Well, yeah, I was."

"You can't do that Eden! You have such pretty hair! You could model for those hair care commercials it's so nice. Ms. Sophie you tell her!" said Kelly.

"Actually I don't see anything wrong with short hair if that is what Eden wants. It will look just as pretty short as it does long."

Kelly gave the hair stylist a betrayed look for siding with the enemy. "Mom will be upset with you if you do it Eden."

"No she won't, you pest, and even if she was it's not her decision. I'm the one that has to live with it," I said, repeating what Sophie had just told me.

"You're going to have to deal with a lot of shit from other people if you cut it too short, girls especially," chimed in Brook.

I gave Sophie an inquiring glance, wondering if what Brook said was true.

She frowned, "Yes, there are some people who might make nasty comments if it is boyishly short, but most of those people aren't worth paying attention too."

Man, I really didn't want to get hassled, not when I'm going to a new school where I knew nobody and had no one for backup.

Kelly must have sensed my wavering and pounced on the moment. "Look, Eden, why don't you get it cut a few inches below your shoulders and see how you like it. You can always get it cut again if it's too much bother," she said in wheedling tones.

"Uh..." I said.

"If you don't want it so short that you get remarks, we can go a little bit longer without going as far as your sister wants to do. Trust me, the hair will grow back if you ever want to change your mind. We could do it at about ear level. There are plenty of people who get it cut that short so almost no one should say anything," said Sophie.

I looked at the determined set of my sister's face and realized that if I didn't give in some, I would never hear the end of it. And when I say never hear the end of it in combination with my sister, I mean really never hear the end of it. I still to this day have her complaining about the time I cut off all of her Barbie's hair when she was five and I was eight. Come to think of it, I wondered if her insistence on me not cutting off my hair wasn't some kind of payback for that very event.

"Okay, I'll go with it being at about my jaw line, but I want your promise Kelly that you won't nag me about it, or I'm getting a buzz cut!"

Of course Kelly having gotten her way, or at least her way to some degree, was all sweetness and light from there on. She even helped Sophie pick out a style that they said would be easy to maintain.

As we were leaving, after paying the incredibly high bill by my mind, Sophie stopped me to give me a card with her number scrawled on it. She said I could call her anytime that I needed to talk with someone.

I was fairly tired at this point, and even though Kelly and Brook looked like they might have wanted to continue the shopping spree, they agreed to call it quits for the time being. Brook's car was loaded down with shopping bags and looking at it all, I got a little nervous, we had bought a lot of clothes; I hoped my folks wouldn't blow a gasket.

It felt good to have the back of my neck bare again; all that hair had been annoying, not so much for anything it felt like, but because it had been yet another reminder of what had happened. The haircut I had gotten didn't turn out being that bad, I thought. Looking in the car mirror, I had to smile some; it looked nice. The wavy, almost metallic appearing, copper hair looked good the way it was. Okay, I still looked like a pretty girl, but at least the look was more me in some strange way.

The drive home was uneventful. Brook and Kelly chatted away, with me staying mostly quiet. Occasionally, Brook would crank up the radio on a song she liked and even sing along with it, despite my wishes. She was my best friend, and it was probably disloyal to say it, but she couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, not even one of giant ones you got at the hardware store. Kelly, of course, complained about the unfairness of her favorite band, The Brass Monkeys, never being on the radio. I kept my mouth shut and counted my blessings.

The roads were pretty clear, so we got home without much delay. When we pulled up in the driveway, I saw that dad's car was there. Sometimes he had to stay late for work, but I guess what with everything that had been happening, he had rescheduled any late meetings he might have had. I was grateful when I was able to put down the load of shopping bags we hauled from Brook's car. Who knew clothes could be so heavy? I have to admit, I was a little disgruntled with the fact that Brook was having no trouble; I had never noticed before how strong she was. It must have been all the sports she played.

"Eden," said my dad, rising from the chair where he had been watching the evening news and giving me a hug. "How are you doing?"

"Okay, I guess," I said, brushing a stray lock of hair out of my eyes.

"Did you leave any clothes left at the mall? I'm not going to get a call from my bank telling me my credit card has been maxed out, am I?" he said.

"Uh, well, I tried not to..."

"It's okay Eden, I'm just teasing you. I have been through enough of your mother's and sister's shopping trips to know what to expect."

"Let me see how your hair looks," said my mother, who was also on her feet. She turned me so that I was facing her and then stood back. "You look beautiful! I had been afraid you would chop it all off. I must say, your stylist did a good job."

I found myself blushing, it wasn't like I ever got called beautiful before. "Uh, I'm starving; didn't you say that Ms. Aldridge said it was alright if Brook went out to eat with us?" I said, changing the topic.

"Yes, she did; I was thinking we would do something simple and go to Anthony's Dinner. I'm sure you're tired and wouldn't want to do anything more formal," said my mom.

"Why don't we get you changed, Eden," said Brook after giving my sister a look as if she were trying to convey some message.

Oh, just great; they probably had plans to play dress-up with me some more, I thought. "Haven't I changed enough today? What's wrong with what I have on?"

"Come on Eden, you have better clothes to wear now than that getup you went to the mall in," she said, picking up a load of my new clothes and heading upstairs. I groaned, but decided to follow her.

It didn't take as long as I might have feared; Brook already had an idea of what I should put on and quickly rummaged through the bags pulling them out. She dressed me in a light blue top that had a few buttons between my, uh, well, you know those things, and a pair of dark, distressed blue jeans. While the top fit loose enough, the jeans were so tight that when I tried them on at the mall, I was sure we had gotten the wrong size.

"You look great Eden!" said Brook staring at me in a strange fashion, as if searching for something.

"Am I wearing something wrong?" I asked, looking down at myself.

"No, why do you ask that?"

"You were staring at me funny; I thought my fly was unzipped or something."

"No, no, you're fine, I was just..." she seemed to hesitate. "It's nothing; why don't we hurry up so we can get to dinner."

I shrugged my shoulders, Brook would say what was on her mind eventually. I had learned from long experience that I couldn't drag it out of her before she was ready.

When we got back downstairs, it was to find my parents and sister in a heated conversation that broke off when we entered.

"Eden," said my dad, turning towards me and Brook. "Your sister was just telling me that she has some homework she needs to do before tomorrow and she needs help with it, so it's just going to be the three of us going tonight."

"Uh, Dad, I need your help with the project to," put in Kelly quickly.

"Isn't it something that can wait until we get back?"

"No, I really need your help."

Dad looked a little irritated, though it almost seemed like it was because he couldn't go with us rather than because of Kelly forgetting she had homework. That didn't make much sense since me and Brook had gone places by ourselves and with other friends plenty of times before. I started to feel resentful, was it just because I had turned into a girl that he was acting this way?

"Is there a problem with just me and Brook going? We have been plenty of times before."

Dad ran his hand through his hair, a sure sign that he was frustrated. "He did say they would..." he muttered to himself.

"What?" I asked just catching the words.

"I want you to go straight to Anthony's and back, no going anywhere else. Do you understand?" he said in a louder voice.

"Yeah...sure," I was a little indignant, I had always thought that dad didn't have a single patriarchal bone in his body, but he would never have acted this way before.

"Great, come on Eden, I'm looking forward to one of Anthony's monster burgers," said Brook, hurrying me out the door.

As we climbed into Ms. Aldridge's car, I sighed it had been a tiring day. But that was okay; all that was left was a nice, easy dinner, and then I would finally be able to call it quits for the evening. My stomach rumbled. And one of Anthony's monster burgers sounded good to me too.

*****

Harrison couldn't contain his glee. The freak was going back out with one of its friends. He had thought the opportunity passed when they didn't have the trap ready earlier. Damn Hanson brothers not being in place when the time came, but this time they would be ready. The boss had seen to it that the cops would take a long time to show up if they were called, which if they did things right wouldn't happen. Strike hard and fast, that's what they had to do. They even got the extra bonus of taking the freak's little friend. He licked his lips at that thought. Yes, this was going to be a good night.

Re: Songs of the Compass Roses

Insane Hiker — 2013-06-05T13:25:49-00:00

One Wild Weekend Notes - Part 3

Zūn zhě - Chinese for "venerable one", a proper way to address a Buddhist monk.

UED - Unmanned Explosive Device basically any explosive that does not have to be manually triggered; includes land mines, naval mines and certain types of IEDs.

Re: Songs of the Compass Roses

Insane Hiker — 2013-06-02T00:06:21-00:00

Part 5

Elton and Madeline Garrett Middle School - Lunch Room
Boulder City, Nevada
12:32 PM MDT
POV: Paul Ledoux

"It's official; I'm banned from boxing and quitting the gym." I said as I poked at my lunch while my friends stood by in shock. "My mother got the news about what happened yesterday and gave me the ultimatum, I'm through."

"What are you serious?" Danny said shocked, "Just like that, Paul what's wrong with you- couch says you're one of the best that he's ever seen."

"Really Paul," Steve spoke up in clear concern. "You almost placed top in state last year during the Silver Gloves, this year you could go all the way. Really your mother is over reacting over nothing more than a tiny scratch."

"It's not just the scratch," I said as I absent mindedly stroked the weird scratch that I had received from yesterday's beating-"

?
?
?

I suddenly found myself in a strange place, I could see outlines that resembled people but blurry and indistinct, like I was watching everything through several pairs of fogged up glasses. No matter how hard I strained my ears I could barely make out what anyone was saying, such as the voice of a woman that was nearby one, "...o ...v... m... ...k ...y ...b... y... ...s!"

'That's weird,' I thought to myself. 'I know that I've heard that voice before but where was it?'

Elton and Madeline Garrett Middle School - Lunch Room
Boulder City, Nevada
12:41 PM MDT
POV: Paul Ledoux

Just as suddenly as the vision had come to me it had faded away leaving me sitting in the lunchroom with my friends more than a little confused. What the hell was that about, and why did that lady sound so familiar just who was she?

As I came back to reality, Walt was pointing at me with a determined look in his eye, "Listen Paul, your mother's all the family that you've got; I get that but you can't let her run your life. You've worked too hard at this just to give it up over something that isn't even your fault

"Walt's right Paul, listen I may not be the smartest guy around, but I know when someone is making a bone-headed decision (mostly from experience)." Danny said backing Walt up. "I'll tell you what we'll be waiting around the corner from your neighborhood at six tomorrow morning, come see the fight with us this weekend maybe take in a couple of shows and give the old lady a chance to cool down. Just remember we'll only be sticking around until a quarter-past till we leave, remember you're a teenager now it's time that you remind your mom that you're cordless; sides from what my uncle told me a little rebellion at this age is healthy."

Hidden Cave - Hesperus Peak
La Plata Mountains, Colorado
1:02 PM MDT
POV: Zhen-yu Chen, Rose of the North

"Alright that is enough for the meditation drills today," Sha Wujing said aloud as he dispelled the barrier of freezing ice that had stood between the outside world and me.

As the ice vanished I fell backwards my arms still pointing over-head with my palms braced upwards, as I'd needed them to be constantly channeling volcanic heat to combat the deep chill of Antarctic winter that Sha was sending down the narrow ice chimney.

"You know it is perfectly alright to put your arms down now." Sha explained a mild tone of concern peppering his voice.

"I can't," I said with a weary tone. "I think they're stuck that way!"

"Ah, I think I have a solution for that," The Sand Priest said as he came closer. "Please role over onto your back."

I wanted to argue with the monk but frankly, I was too tired and not sure that I would win either. It took a little effort and I wanted to take a nap, but I managed to comply with his request. Soon he had his hands on me, now I didn't want to admit it but my time as the guest of the Zhāoshāng de Yōuhuàn had given me a- mild aversion to the- um well- opposite gender.

Okay I'm not a lesbian or anything like that, it's just that my- handlers while I was being forced to create gemstones night and day were all middle-aged men. Any time someone hit me with that damned frost whip it was a man holding the lash's handle, anytime I had that thin rice gruel shoved in my face it was a man doing it. Of course there was also the fact that I was kidnapped at the orders of their now deceased Xuè-jīn Mùshī, who threatened to kill my parents if I wasn't fully obedient to him even after he took my name; I still count the day that Kelsey reduced the avaricious infernal bastard to a pill of bones as a fond memory.

"You are tensing up even more child," Sha Wujing explained as he began to work over my back muscles with firm yet subtle manipulations of his hands. He must be a lot stronger than he looked because the last time that I needed to get a knot out of my back Kelsey had to use my hammer on me- scuffed the poor thing up something awful.

"I can't help it zūn zhě," I explained remembering my manners. Well that and the fact that if my mother ever heard that I addressed a divine arhat with anything less than the respect he deserved, then near impenetrable dragon hide or not she'd manage to tan it. "The circumstances of my incarceration by those who worshiped the Demon Lord Bloody Gold have left scars upon my soul; one's that I am afraid will never heal."

"Do not be so quick to make such an assessment child," the Sand Hermit said with a solemn expression on his face. "In time with the right kind of help the pain of such scars will go away, whether they are those inflicted upon us, or those we inflict upon ourselves."

"But they never go away completely, do they?" I asked morosely as I notice what he did not say to me.

"No child nor should they," Sha Wujing said with a heavy sigh. "Our experiences help shape who we are and how we perceive the world around us; however it is up to us to choose what that final shape will be for once you let someone else be the sculptor you begin to lose control over your life. Now let us put what you've learned into practice, try transforming again."

Laird Hall
Whateley Academy, New Hampshire
3:31 PM EDT
POV: Randi Bridges, Rose of the West

I sat along the sidelines with butterflies desperately trying to flee my stomach, this was where I would put the skills that Morrigan and Anu both had been teaching me to their final test. My skill with knives or with a saber soon I was going to show off what I knew; other than the fact that I felt like I was going to hurl.

"First match Faolan, Nightbane, please approach the mat." Tolman-sensei called out I sighed in resignation, this was going to be a tough match, although by no means an impossible one. On the one hand, everyone around Poe knew that Nightbane was Reverend Englund's personal protégé a demon hunter in training to take on things that went bump in the night and the leader of his secret team of monster hunters here on campus. On the other hand said team of monster hunters kept their status hidden from most students on campus by surrounding themselves with members who made them look like a joke, this lead to them being dubbed the Goobers after the first and worst mimic that Hanna Barbera tried to make along the formula of their hit Scooby-Doo. by the other students.

To go along with this facade Nightbane put on an act like she was an just another bleach-bottle blonde air-headed Buffy-wannabe, the only reason that folks in Poe knew the truth was that Englund was obsessed with offing Carmilla and had actually been indirectly responsible for what had happened last Halloween as a result. At least those in Poe knew it but since almost everyone else on campus knew Poe was crazy town. That meant that conspiracy theorists was part of the package deal; granted that I hadn't helped the situation sometimes talking to Jane aloud instead of in my head when she was half-way across campus and I was just getting the hang of our link.

But enough with the wandering thoughts, I was on the mat and so was my opponent trying to appear as vapid as she could holding a reinforced practice boken, as I held the saber equivalent that Tolman had given me for the day. "Bow," Sara and I faced each other and did so. "Ready," Nightbane and I both took our stances with our chosen practice weapons. "Begin!"

I kept my distance and began to circle; I knew some of Nightbane's style but not enough to be confident in making the first move. She was an Exemplar and I only had her level of strength when I shifted, while that wasn't forbidden in this match I wanted to save that card until I needed to play it- thankfully I had eaten a big lunch just in case. Nightbane began to close in on me with a steady pace while keeping up a relaxed guard; although I could tell from my training with Morrigan that this was as big a lie as Nightbane's airhead bleach-bottle blonde persona. No, she was ready to put up just enough of a show to do the job- unfortunately for her this little wolf is more bite than bark.

Soon as she was within range Nightbane took a strong overhead swing at me, I blocked it using the flat of my blade and my right shoulder as a lever. She almost immediately she tried to use her strength to press me to my knees, and from her perspective it must have looked like it was working- at least until I pressed forward and nailed her in the nose with the butt of my practice sword.

On reflex Nightbane recoiled and grabbed her nose, were she not an exemplar this would be a TKO, it was time for me to press my attack. As fast as I could I took my distance again and began to hit my selected targets, her floating ribs, and joints; I tried to hit as many as I could before she recovered, but still recover she did. Nightbane blocked my swing at her shoulder and it was obvious that she was pissed- good I know from experience that a pissed fighter is a sloppy fighter.

She began to press me on the offensive striking hard with her blade; I used my own to intercept it out of apparent desperation, as if I was sloppily parrying it with my own. This made me move further and further back on the mat as her blows began to grow bolder and bolder eventually I reached my target. When she came at me with another over-head strike, I dodged to my left- spun on my heel and while she was temporarily off-balance nailed her across her scapulas. This was risky because she had two courses of action, she could step outside of the mats in which case I win by ring out, or she'd fall to her knees and go on the defensive until she could regain the upper hand- she chose the latter option then while still crouched somehow spun to face me.

Crud she was starting to drop her airhead act, this meant that she'd step-up her game, in which case I had to get serious and bring out all the stops. I shifted into my werewolf form while Nightbane turned her tuck rolled to give what would have simulated a stab to the solarplex. That would end the match for me so I bunny-hopped backward, in that moment Nightbane used her other foot to roll further forward and connect with her previous attack.

"Match call," Tolman-sensei called out as Nightbane got to her feet. "The Winner is Nightbane."

Oh well I lost, no big deal at least I had shown what I knew, I bowed to Nightbane and then again to Tolman-sensei before I returned to the sidelines. My stress at these combat evaluations began to fade; now all I had left was the Combat Final at the end of the semester.

Feeling better already Randi, I heard Jane through our link as I settled in to observe the rest of the matches for the class as the clock on the wall ticked away towards the weekend. The minutes just seemed to tick away as I sat in observation of the classes regular students trying to get the gist of their styles, after all I had no idea just who I'd be facing in the combat finals.

Class was almost over when I heard Ito-sensei call out, "Faolan," I stood up slowly my only thought was that I was going to receive my cumulative evaluation on the last few days. That was when he called out, "Chaka." I froze as I turned to see Toni Chandler hop to her feet with as I could swear that I saw her smile like a shark as she did so.

Academy Grounds Southeast of The Quad
Whateley Academy, New Hampshire
4:42 PM EDT
POV: Bea Carson, Rose of the East

Okay I admit that I was more than a little nervous as I guided my wheelchair up to where the two Masterminds said they wanted to meet me. I admit that I knew that these two weren't really as bad as they made themselves out to be but I still needed to be on my guard the last thing that I wanted to be was used as some super villain hopeful's tool. My wheelchair briefly caught on a rock so I had to back up to maneuver around it, ugh I wish the that Doctor Tenant would give his approval for to use Lofstrand crutches already so that I could get out of this chair already; hover or wheelchair mode I don't care I just wanted some added mobility.

I briefly stared at the amber flag that waved in the late day breeze, not that it mattered although the armor that was part of my costume let me swim through the air in my mermaid form I was forbidden to do so outside until I passed the flight class. Still I would be glad when I was allowed to do so, I could almost imagine this coming fall swimming through the air amidst the late autumn breezes when I wasn't walking the grounds as another normal student.

Come to think of it Shelly's new body was going to be ready in June so we'd be student's together, I wonder what my sister was like. Would she like having me as a younger sister- gaah so many questions, focus Bea that will come up when it comes up for now you have a couple of aspiring super-villainesses to talk to, "Hello, the Headmistress said that you wished to speak with me about the trip to Boston tomorrow."

"Geez, listen to her The Headmistress said, why don't you just call her mom?" This girl who looked like she was made out of that strawberry gelatin that they serve in Crystal Hall during lunch on Tuesday.

"I do," I said just a little embarrassed that someone pointed this out. "Just not when it's school related, I don't want to get any special treatment."

"You have a member of Venus Inc. and one of the top members of the Cape Squad looking after you on a shopping trip and you don't want special treatment!" The gelatin girl said as she was so peeved that she began to lose cohesion.

"Jello calm down," Heartbreaker said to her friend while trying to maintain her own composure. "Remember we're here to try and negotiate a favor for a favor, there's no reason to get hot under the collar."

"Sorry Eve but you know how I feel about entitlement." Jello said as she began to cool down and collect herself. "I'm sorry for blowing my stack at you Miss Carson."

"No offense taken Jello," I replied glad to avoid a fight. "I really just want people to see me for me not for being my mother's daughter. Besides this is birthday shopping for someone else, Evania one of the mermaids who were here a few weeks ago is turning thirteen next week and I wanted to get her a birthday present. Preferably something that she could use here since Mrs. Redstag is trying to arrange for her to become a student ambassador for the merfolk, the thing is I don't have too much expereince shopping for another person so I need a little help to pick something out."

"What I thought that you saw and heard everything Cytherea did growing up?" Heartbreaker asked out of curiosity.

"That girl has never shopped for another person in her life!" I said as I shook in anger at yet another unpleasant memory of life according to Victoria Donovan. "Anytime that she needed to get a present for another person- the help were the ones picking things out while she tried things on."

"Ugh figured as much," Heartbreaker said shaking her head. "Am I grateful that she never tried out for Venus Inc, speaking of which Poise wanted me to extend an invitation to you whenever you get your land legs; she thinks that you have a sort of timeless beauty to you."

"Thanks I guess," I said more than a little flattered that the school's fashion club decided to rush men. "I'll try to live up to your expectations, the truth is no one wants me to get out of this chair more than I do; still I will drop you a line to audition as soon as I am physically able to."

"Actually what I want to know is if you'll try and use your healing abilities to help Jello here?" Heartbreaker came out and said as I was about to head to the Library to return a few books. "You see she's got a problem with her BIT and given that we've tried devises and hypnotism, I thought that a session with a healer might do some good, especially since you have a way to boost your abilities."

"No," I said with some difficulty.

"No, what do you mean no, it's not even that big of a request?" Jello said understandably upset.

"I mean that I won't attempt it right now, at least not until I have a better grip on my powers; I might even wind up doing more harm than good." I said detailing the reasons behind my refusal. "I promise that as soon as I feel more confident in my abilities that I will see what I can do, but until then it is better safe than sorry for me to avoid experimenting with my abilities like that."

"I understand but remember," Heartbreaker said satisfied with the reasons behind my refusal. "I expect you to honor your promise to help Jello."

"I will see what I can do when I've sufficiently tested my ability to the limits." I reinforced my earlier promise, I might not be bound by my promises as a faerie would be but I still hated the thought of breaking them.

Drucker Residence
Round Rock, Texas
5:04 PM CDT
POV: Joan Drucker

I was just about to finish my homework when the doorbell rang, I looked at my alarm clock and noted. "Only a little after five, must be Miss Snyder."

I went downstairs to answer the front door, remotely activating the Passive Identity Verification Scanner (PIVS) on the front porch. It was one of my dad's inventions, it uses a passive low-energy scanner to verify the identity of anyone within sensor range, it then matches that data with the files that our faction of the Grand Hall of Sinister Wisdom has gleaned from various sources for matches. That and thanks to a few arcano-tech upgrades in recent years it is even able to peek through glamours and shifting talents.

"Who is it?" I asked as a matter of formality as I checked the confirmed identity on our security panel.

"This is Nicole Snyder, your parents asked me to help you keep an eye on your house this weekend." I heard from the other side of the door, "May I come inside?"

I checked the screen on our security panel, sure enough it registered her as who she said she was; even verified her status as a demi-succubus. "Alright, I'm opening the door!" I placed my hand on the biometric palm scanner on the wall that undid the triple deadbolt on our reinforced faux-wood door.

I opened the door to see a young woman who looked like she used to be the girl next-door type. She had wavy shoulder-length dirty-blonde hair and a few freckles along her cheeks, a slim figure and was tastefully dressed; in all Nicole Snyder was obviously the type of girl who showed a mature beauty. She walked in and closed the door behind her then turned and offered me the hand that wasn't holding a suitcase, "Hello you must be Joan, I have to say you look so much like your mother it's scary."

"I know she's always raiding my closet too." I said as I rolled my eyes, "I can't wait till I grow up a little more so that she can't do that anymore."

"When that happens I could imagine that you'd be one of the few girls in the world who'd be giving your mom your hand-me-downs." Nichole quickly quipped, "So your mom told me that you'd be having a lot of your first's this weekend, first slumber party and first house party."

"Yeah," I said as I shuffled my right foot. "I just wish the second was my idea; Elinore Jaffee heard about mom and dad going out of town this weekend and strong-armed me because she can't throw one at her family estate since her dads going to be courting campaign contributors."

"Why didn't you say no?" Nichole asked obviously curious about the entire set of circumstances.

"She's the queen bee of the school, its social suicide to do that!" I said as I tried to give the circumstances for the situation I was facing. "If I don't manifest and get sent to Whateley I need to leave my options open. You know, you really don't look like a succubus."

"Demi-succubus," Nichole smiled before her wings, horns and tail appeared; all of which were relatively small. "And to tell you the truth, unless we want to we don't have to transform into drop-dead gorgeous bombshells when we get turned; fortunately I was actually rather comfortable with what I looked like when I did. Well aside from slimming down a little, I look mostly like I used to be before I became what I now am. So when do your friends get here?"

"In a couple of hours," I said before asking. "Why?"

"Cause I'm ordering Chinese, can you call them an ask if they want anything?" Nichole explained as she withdrew her diabolic features and pulled out her cellphone.

"I thought that pizza was traditional for slumber parties?" I asked somewhat confused by her choice.

"Yeah but it's also one of the main staples for a teenage house party," She said with a hint of embarrassment that let me know that she was speaking from experience. "And trust me on this one you really don't want to gorge yourself on pizza two days in a row. Besides you don't want to fill up on pizza, your mom told me that she stocked up on supplies for chocolate fondue."

Ah, that explains it; I remembered having that from a wedding I attended not too long ago. We were going to have a sugar buzz keeping us going tonight; just one decision remained for the slumber party- romantic comedy or scary movie.

Morrison Family Home
Arlington Heights, Illinois
3:37 PM CDT
POV: Chandra Defrank

"Sorry I missed out on practice yesterday Chandra," Marlina said as we walked up to the front gate.

"Hey we understand you grandmother was sick, and you wanted to look after her so that your parents didn't have to take time out from their jobs." I replied as I punched in the code to the security door next to the front gate. "Besides I think Erica was stoked to get in some more practice than usual."

"Is she still mad about me getting on the main team and her being the alternate?" Marlina asked once again concerned with being the cause of friction among the team.

"Marlina I told you before," I said as I put my hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "There is no shame in being good at what you do, when the two of you tried out for the team we gave both of you a fair chance; Erica was just expecting preferential treatment because her sister was the Captain when she was on the team."

I took my hands off her shoulders and we continued on the way to the house. "Of course some of it may be Stephanie expecting Erica to maintain her legacy, don't get me wrong Stephanie was a good team captain but she had a major streak of narcissism; besides most of us will be at Rolling Meadows or Prospect this fall and then she won't be the alternate anymore."

"Yeah but then the two of us will be competing to see whose going to be captain next year," Marlina complained as she kicked a stray twig off of the walkway.

"Yes but remember that is going to be Marcy's decision to make and no one else's." I reminded her as we walked in the front door, "Just remember to do your best tomorrow, and whatever the future brings just handle it as it comes."

"I will captain," Marlina said with a salute as she headed to her bedroom while I did the same.

I sat down at the computer to get started on my homework, briefly turning to the poster of Jackie Joyner-Kersee that my dad sent me for my fourteenth birthday. Another year without seeing him in person, when was the army going to let him come home? "Well wish us luck tomorrow Jackie." I said just as I did the day before a every match since I got it, then set out to finish my homework so that I'd have one less thing on my mind.

Crystal Hall
Whateley Academy, New Hampshire
7:16 PM EDT
POV: Randi Brides, Rose of the West

"I can't believe that you passed out standing up in the middle of Laird," Erza could barely constrain her laughter while I tried to make myself as small as I possibly could out of reflex. "I thought that said you were prepared for your combat evaluation today?"

"I was prepared for a combat evaluation today," I grumbled in embarrassment. "I had already lost a match against Nightbane and was winding down for the weekend when I thought I heard that sadistic Miyagi-clone say that he wanted me to fight Chaka out of the blue. It would have been okay if I was prepared- and possibly didn't wake up this morning screaming from a nightmare about this."

"You had a dream about Chaka last night," Jamal said with a raised eyebrow. "Please don't spare the details-OW!"

"Jamal think with the head on your shoulders," Renee said after she smacked him. "She said nightmare not dream, so do us a favor and reign in your teenage hormones."

"Easier said than done Renee," Eddie said chuckling under his breath. "At this age controlling that is about as easy as controlling a caffeinated squirrel."

"Oh you heard about that incident," Buck chimed in looking up from- whatever the hell he was tinkering with at the lunch table. "Yeah funny story, one of Aquerna's fuzzy friends got into the coffee pot in the devisor lab today, it broke through three reinforced steel plates on his way out and no one has seen the little guy since then. Everyone in the workshop is taking bets on what happened; the two major contenders are he's either five states away by now or that he's gone quantum."

"I'd say that you're exaggerating Buck but I've heard stories about the rocket fuel that you people down in The Workshop call coffee," Kerry said while looking up from her lunch. "I wouldn't be surprised if the outside world classifies it as a controlled substance. Anyway Randi what happened when you woke up?"

"Itou congratulated me for taking one of the best courses of action for a fight that he's seen in a while- avoiding it entirely, although I think that he might have been laughing at me behind my back." I said poking at my dinner.

"No Randi he wasn't," Jane said emerging from her own dinner bowl. "But Tolman was having a good laugh at Itou's expense; especially since he was just calling you up to have Ms Chandler show you some new saber forms and have a look at your weapons."

"And that makes it better how?" I asked my familiar, as I looked the storm crow right in the eyes.

"Well think of the amount of teasing Ms Chandler will be enduring, here she is giving her fellow students nightmares, and making them faint over the thought of fighting her." Jane said while looking back, "Her friends on the Kimbas are having a lark over that up on the third floor at the moment."

'That's all I need,' I sent her way over our link as I slumped even further into my seat. 'The Last True Queen of the Western Court thinking that the Western Maiden is so much of a cowardly that she passes out at the concept of fighting the Queen's roommate.'

Yes it sounds that you are truly distressed over this possibility, Jane quipped back. May haps I should ask Candace to do something special during your date tomorrow to cheer you up- or maybe something special tonight to get your mind off Nicole Reilly.

"Jane!" I recoiled and was likely blushing beet red at the implications of what my familiar just suggested, the memory of waking up with my sky-clad roommate cuddling up against my lupine form yesterday still fresh on my mind.

"Care to share the conversation with the rest of us Randi," Renee said as she produced a dark chocolate mini-bar from her purse.

"Let's just say that she's her mother's daughter and leave it at that." I replied doing my best to end the conversation then and there.

Westerlo Mortar Range
Westerlo, New York
8:24 PM EDT

"Now ladies and gentlemen of the United States Military, as you know we at Axcel Incorporated are not a weapons manufacturer; however what I have invited you here to demonstrate is not a weapon to take the life of enemy combatants." Alana Metzer proclaimed to the assembled military brass from her podium. "What I have brought you here for the demonstration of a tool to protect the lives of our soldiers and the civilians that they have come to defend."

"As everyone who has sent our brave men and women into hostile territory is well aware the most deadly adversary that they have to confront is not enemy soldiers, but an invention that has plagued the lives of countless souls since its debut during The Great War- unmanned explosives." The current civilian guise of Erzebet Scratch stated in a grim tone, for this invention was a strike against a monstrosity that dealt the blow that first shattered her life. While it was true that Scratch's mother was taken from due to the actions of a mob led by a religious zealot in what was now the city of Flower Mound; her father's life was claimed by a landmine during the closing days of World War I.

"While the Improvised Explosive Devices that are being employed by the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Insurgents in Iraq are of a far different beast than those of the landmines that are too often employed by actual governments; they are just as fatal to those trying to bring peace to those lands, sometimes more-so."

"This is where Axcel Incorporated's current creation the Spoilsport comes into play," With that a remote controlled drone shaped like a miniature flying saucer with a five-foot diameter began to hover off of the ground. "Just to be clear the name is not an acronym, the development team behind the project wanted to call it the Party-Pooper but Marketing turned shot that idea down, something about it being too scatological." That comment drew a few immature chuckled from some of the enlisted men doing security and one or two of the brass.

"Anyway the when the Spoilsport is deployed it can be guided remotely from a range of six-hundred yards away while hovering at five to seven feet off the ground." The drone in question began to hover forward at a rate of about ten miles-per-hour before slowing to about three miles-per-hour once it was three-hundred yards away. "The Spoilsport works using a passive geological sensor to survey the surface strata, once it encounters a large enough anomaly however it switches from passive to active scanning."

"Once it has found an anomaly large enough to conceal a form of UED or IED, it fires out a dart the size of a ballpoint pen. This carries a specially measured amount of a chemical we at Axcel have patented called Split-Nitro and a device slaved to the signal relay within the Spoilsport." Alana said was she held up a dart that was made purposefully transparent, "This is a demo-dart that operates on the same frequency as the ones the drone is currently deploying against the simulated UEDs and IEDs that your technicians buried hours ago. Do not worry just as those UED's out there are filled with flash powder, and all that this demo-dart contains is food-coloring."

Alana set the demo-dart in a penholder where it could easily be observed and walked away, "The Spoilsport has a twenty-five dart capacity and can be reloaded in the field by an auto-feeder in the top-which can only be opened when the Spoilsport is not being deployed. Once all anomalies in range are darted or it runs out of darts, the Spoilsport returns to its deployment pad for docking; the control box on the deployment pad will indicate which with a simple LED indicator."

The Spoilsport soon returned to its deployment pad as indicated as its controller Walter Drucker checked the indicators. Once he was satisfied that all of the simulated-UEDs had been tagged he gave Alana Metzer a thumbs-up.

Seeing her agent and employee's confirmation on the go ahead Alana continued her speech. "At which time the operator will send the detonation code to the darts." Which Walter did at that moment triggering a group of explosions that were more flash than bang further down the field while the demo-dart still in the penholder showed the blue and red dyes mix to get an ordinary purple, "Thus clearing the way for a convoy of vehicles to move safely along the road. The Spoilsport itself has a five-hour operating capacity when active, and can be recharged by either plugging its dock into a base-camps generator or making use of the solar panels on top of the Spoilsport itself while in the field. Now if you have any further questions I'll take them in the tent where we have arranged for some refreshments while the cleanup is underway."

While Alana Metzer directed the VIPs to the tent, Walter gave began directing his field techs to store the Spoilsport test-type for transport back to the facility in Round Rock. Once he was satisfied that it was safely prepared for transport they saw him walk over to the security officer, who they knew as his wife Alice, obviously making plans for the evening since they were in the city that never sleeps. If only they knew that their plans included more than dinner and taking in a show, fortunately these field techs were unaware of the flip-side of Axcel and the company's true history.

Powers Testing Lab K - Whateley Tunnels
Whateley Academy, New Hamshire
8:57 PM EDT
POV: Bea Carson, Rose of the East

I quieted my voice as the radio on the other side of the room began to smoke. "Well done Beatrice," Sorcha said as she walked up to me. "Your aim and control is improving more and more every day, eventually you'll be able dent metal with sustained note out of the water."

"Thanks Sorcha, and thanks again for helping me train." I replied as I smiled at the older mermaid princess.

"Think nothing of it Bea," Sorcha said as she ruffled my hair. "So where are these friends that you say wanted to meet me?"

"In the next room," I explained as I maneuvered my non-motorized wheelchair from Doyle out of the practice room and towards the observation room. "Anna couldn't be in here since her spirit boosts her sense of hearing."

"Yeah I could imagine that could be painful when you're dealing with ultrasonic notes that you can hear." Sorcha winced as she followed me out.

"Are you sure that you don't mind doing this?" I asked not wanting to offend someone who was potentially going to be family.

"Why would I mind, its fun to meet new people; especially when they're not trying to impress my dad or impress my sisters." Sorcha said as she rolled her eyes.

"I thought that there wasn't that much competition for guys in the refuges?" I said remembering the gender disparity.

"Oh there's a competition all right," Sorcha chuckled. "They compete to show that they would be better choice to father my sisters' and their companions' offspring. Personally I'm glad that I don't have to put up with that anymore, I swear if I hear one more traditional love sonnet I'm going to scream."

We entered the observation room as my friends stood, while Sorcha sat down and transformed into her natural form her tail displaying her burnt orange tail and tangerine fins that complimented her coral skin. Following her lead I did the same showing my indigo tail, royal purple fins and periwinkle skin.

"Whoa," Ree said as she took everything in, while Anna just stared in silent wonder. "This is so cool, and you're really a princess?"

"Sometimes I wish that I wasn't but yes I am." Sorcha replied welcoming the fact that the attention was merely that of genuine curiosity and admiration rather than those of someone who wanted something of her.

"Why don't you like being a princess?" Anna asked as she finally found the courage to speak up.

"Because everyone wants me for my station and my birthright rather than of me as a person," Sorcha sighed, "Take it from me miss, being the real thing is a lot different than what you might read in a storybook; remember they call it Romanization for a reason the reality is far different."

When she said it like that it made me wonder about how my uncle Qingu would feel about this when I rescued him; here I was being used to rope him into a political marriage with six princesses, one of whom was physically younger than I was. It was really something to think about for the future.

Unregistered RV
Outside Rachel, Nevada
9:37 PM MDT

The Syndicate agent looked at the door as the final two players in this affair entered the motor home, "It's about time, I thought by your reputation that you were usually more punctual."

"Do not begin to lecture me," Professor Id stated as he sat down causing the RV to rock as it settled to accommodate his bulk. "I am here because Dominus requested my expertise to create something for him and my associate Slither here to retrieve it."

"Yes," the Syndicate Agent explained as he turned over a series of folders to everyone present. "Now Slither you need to infiltrate the Groom Lake Military Facility and retrieve the items that are being studied there at 1000 hours. You will need to do this then and no later because they will be moved to a secure storage vault at that point until they are turned over to a representative of the Justice Battalion at 1900 hours."

"No sweat," Slither said with a stretch. "I've infiltrated that base before to acquire items and information for clients before."

"Good now remember when you acquire the articles you are to substitute our forgeries and make your way undetected to the rendezvous with Slyde at the enclosed coordinates by 1200 hours. She is then to assemble the package with what Professor Id has provided us and then make her way with the now ready package to the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas; you are to look for a courier matching the description in your folder."

"Understood," the newest criminal to go by that moniker explained. "You can trust me do what you pay me for."

"Just remember you are not to put these on yourself," Professor Id explained as he opened the briefcase. "These bracers are made from a material that will molecularly bond with the skin and then seal shut; the only way to get them off afterwards will require surgery."

"Don't worry, there's no way I'm putting those things on." Slyde explained as she shut the briefcase and took it. "Having things like this in the long term only make you a target."

"You are a very wise woman Slyde," Professor Id stated as he got up. "Now if you would please wire the other half of my fee into my account."

The agent in question pressed a few keys on his laptop afterwards Id's phone rang. "Very good your payment has been received, now if you excuse me now that our business is concluded I need to go outside to dissolve this quick clone."

"Very well," The Syndicate Agent replied as Professor Id's quick clone left the RV, before staring at the objective of this operation. "In a week the Captain Cosmos's Zodiac Gems will be sold to the highest bidder."

Ledoux Residence
Boulder City, Nevada
9:54 PM MDT
POV: Paul Ledoux

"M-m-mom," I said as I struggled to get the words to get the words out, I knew that this wasn't going to end well but I still had to try. "Do I r-really have to give up boxing?"

She shot me a glare as she set down her glass of wine that made me feel like an insect. "Paul Jacob Ledoux," she snarled in a tone that I had never heard before, great my full name I was in for a world of trouble now. "Are you questioning your mother's good judgment?" Mother asked as she set down her glass of wine.

"Let me ask you, who decided to waste away her youth raising you when she could have just as easily let the state deal with you?" Mother asked as she got up for her seat at the kitchen's bar.

"Who took care of you all these years?" Mother began to slowly walk towards me.

"Who sacrificed her dreams to give you a decent home and see that you got into a nice school?" I backpedaled as she stepped closer.

"Who let you stay here when you decided to let the entire neighborhood of your deviant tendencies?" I tripped over the ottoman before I fell against the wall.

"And you dare to want to keep hanging out with those delinquents who encouraged this sort of behavior in the first place!" Mother stood over me with more hellfire in her eyes and brimstone in her voice than a southern evangelist.

"B-b-but I thought that it couldn't hurt to ask." I tried to say as meekly as I could.

"That is your problem child," Mother said as she drew back her right hand. "Thinking is obviously not your strong suit." Then she slapped me as hard as she could across the face, I could feel as that wristwatch that she never seemed to take off connected with that weird new scratch on my fa-

?
?
?

Once again I was seeing what felt like the world through super-fogged lenses, and barely hearing just what was said aloud.

"N... ...m...r ...h... ...u a...v... ...n ...e ...k... t... ...r...e t... ...o...r ...i... ...n ...e...a," A male voice that I recognized as hearing somewhere before said to a figure in front of him, "...h... i... ...l...e ...n...h t... ...t... f...h... o...i... t... ...e...f... t... ...h...l l... ...n...g... ...o ...u...l ...u... n...d.... ...m...b... ...e... ...h... w...c... ...i... y... ...t ...l ...m...; ...t ...l... h... ...o... p...n... ...n ...e ...s... ...r... y...r ...o...g... s... ...n... l... ...r ...e...l... r...g...e ...u- ...o... ...o."

"...n...r...d ...r ...r...p," A woman, different from the one in the vision that I heard earlier today said in a professional tone. Wait a minute- I know that voice! "...s... r...e...r ...o... m... ...o...w ...h...g... w... ...u... e... ...f ...h... ...a...g...n."

Ledoux Residence
Boulder City, Nevada
10:07 PM MDT
POV: Paul Ledoux

Just like this afternoon the odd moment was over and I felt my cheek begin to sting as my mother was shaking with fury cradling her now sore wrist as she shouted, "Go to your room child, you are grounded until I say otherwise, you are not to leave this house unless I say so is that clear!"

"Yes mother," I responded on reflex as I went up to my room. Yet something about that moment stuck in my mind, while I knew that I had heard the man's voice before somewhere the other woman's voice in that conversation I knew without a doubt was my mothers.

Something was going on and my gut told me that she was involved in it, I took one look at the poster on my wall and for once decided that I was going to defy my mother for the first time ever. With my door shut, I unpacked my empty gym bag, and began to pack some changes of clothing as quietly as I could; okay Danny invite accepted, I guess that I'm going to Sin City after all.