October 24, 2016- Added Crack of the Bat to Fictionpress.com
October 24, 2016- Added Drop Time to Wattpad.com
June 28, 2016- Chapter 6 of Young Strangers
He rested on the cushion. Things were going as well as he expected. His minions had gathered the materials he had demanded of them. He had allowed them personal freedom until he needed extra hands to put things together.
He worked his claws as he sniffed the air. His tail twitched around him as he considered the next parts of his plan.
He needed to install the dishes that would form the wall of his planned habitat. They had to cover all of Marlowe. He had to reach all of the city with the signal.
Then he needed to arrange for power to reach the dishes so they would transmit the signal. Using the wiring of the target buildings should be enough for that part of the job.
He would have to set up his protective devices to keep the humans from destroying his equipment. He figured one of his exotic weapons could protect the dishes from counterattack.
He would have to use a wall of gun barrels to keep people out of his city. No one could be allowed to get in the way of his land grab.
The Strangers would be forced out with everyone else, so he didn't have to worry about their heroics trying to take the city back.
The main problem was camouflaging the dishes so no one could attack them from a distance. Anyone with the right equipment would note the signal and realize what was going on. He had to make sure they couldn't bomb the area.
He might need to take hostages to work on his inventions so he could fortify his planned nation state.
He knew that other villains had tried to do things on a big scale. They had always lost. His conclusions led him to think he could do better with better planning and more defensive machinery.
Taking on someone like the Leaguer required a minimum amount of effort if you were entrenching an area instead of running every time he showed up.
And the Leaguer was one of the biggest guns out there, ranging over the whole world when he had too. It was prudent to run when he arrived unless you had a counter to his armor.
He called up his plans and schematics to check them one more time. You could never plan enough in his opinion.
Once he was ready, he didn't want any enemies able to stop him from setting up his utopia. His people would be able to run things as they were meant to instead of cowering in the shadows.
He planned to expand the Minnesota area until he could invite everyone from across the Midwest to his community. Then he would ensure their loyalty and arm them to fight the human oppression.
He would teach the humans what it meant to make a genius and make that genius hate you.
Everything looked ready to proceed. He needed to call in work crews to start putting the first dish in place. Once he was done with that one, he could put the second in and line it up with the first. Then the third would form up his triangle. Then he could go on to the next step of his plan.
He reached out with his mind. His ears twitched as he searched for his followers. He touched their minds with his own. They snapped to attention. He selected a scout team to inspect the area. They would form the warning line when the rest of his people went about their business.
He gave them their orders and they began moving out.
Humans could not be allowed to interfere in these early stages. His people could not hope to stand up to the oppressors.
And he didn't want to risk his plans before he got rid of the Strangers. Their powers would change the odds once they got involved in things.
Once his watchers were in place, his mechanics and movers would start on the dish. He would need to rig up a crane to lift the pieces to the roof so they could put the thing together. They would have to wire the antenna to the building's electrical wiring.
He sent the signal for his army of engineers to report to the target location. Their natural stealth would help them in their work. Once they had begun, they would have to work under cover of night until they were done with the extensive setup.
A second set of engineers would start on the next dish when the first was almost done.
He would move his first set of engineers to the third target once the second dish neared completion. Testing the signal could be done in brief bursts. Then he could drive the humans from his planned kingdom.
The scouts reported that all was clear. They were alert and ready to attack anyone who might discover the secret temple.
He sent in the first group of engineers. They would have to figure out how to get the parts to the roof and put everything together for him.
That might take most of the night. He couldn't do anything but add manpower, but felt that was too risky. If his minions were spotted, his plans would be threatened. It was better to be slow and cautious.
His minions knew how to carry out the missions he demanded of them. His connection told him that. He might as well wait until they had some progress to report.
That was the hardest part. He didn't like the waiting. He settled on his cushion. He didn't like it, but he had to put up with it.
The engineers were tiny by any standard. The task was monumental. It would take time to get it done.
He looked around his lair. He needed something to occupy his time while he waited. He couldn't look over the shoulders of his faithful all the time.
And checking constantly just made him look unworthy of being the leader.
He looked at the face of a salvaged wall clock. He decided to check in when the next hour was gone. That should be enough that he didn't look stupid in front of his minions.
He didn't want them to start fighting his control when he didn't have anything for them to do that was dangerous. He expected them to start fighting him if his war kicked off before he got the first parts of his plans in place.
After he had control of the city, they were as expendable as anything else he wanted to use up.
He didn't plan to just throw them away. They were his cousins. But killing the humans made a certain amount of loss acceptable.
He could live with that.
The engineers reported rigging a crane system to lift the parts to the roof of the target building. They could start assembling things at any time. There was some worry that the day would allow their operation to be discovered.
He assented to their concerns and told them to conceal their crane as best they could instead of tearing it down. The parts could be concealed nearby until the night fell. They should rotate a watch until the sun went down and they could get back to work.
It was the best use of their time that he could come up with instead of allowing them free time and having to order them back to the work area when he needed them to get to work.
He had time, but he didn't want to waste it if he didn't need to do that.
He made a cursory check of his other operations and saw they were going as well as could be expected. The weapons would have to be shipped to the prescribed areas as soon as his dishes issued the signal.
He would need roving anti-aircraft weapons to make sure his boosters were protected from air bombing. He checked his inventory and saw that all of his machinists were working on ground based guns and shields. He broke off a unit and implanted the diagram of missile defenses. They started work on the parts for it.
They would be behind on the construction timetable, but they should be ready when he started moving his defenses in place. The first few days would be full of humans leaving. Then they would start looking for causes. He had no doubt someone would notice his buildup.
He needed to be ready to fight off Leaguer and others who might want to stop him. The Strangers would also want to stop him and he was sure he could handle their powers with his preparations. Other heroes and groups might want to interfere but he felt they were too far away to stop him before he made more general preparations against their powers.
He had files he had compiled from news services. He felt he had a grasp on what his enemies were capable of doing. He had invented devices to deal with them. And he had numbers on his side.
The only one who might be able to match him in that regard was Super Squirrel. The rodent hero had to die first.
Only his ability with squirrels matched the mastermind's control of other rodents. With him gone, his personal assistants could be added to the army of rats and mice already assembled.
That would make the takeover easier and allow for a faster response time for emergencies.
Alice the Owl would have to go too. She was a symbol of everything he feared. And with those two out of the way, the Strangers would be short two of the members who could directly oppose him.
June 27, 2016- Chapter 5 of Young Strangers
Lars Drogan paused, listening to the air. His strange eyes scanned the night around him. What had made that sound?
He moved carefully to his left. The wild lands around Marlowe had grown strange. He had no desire to meet something out hunting. It was better to avoid trouble than defend yourself in the first place.
The noise echoed again. He looked up in the night sky. Something rode on giant wings up there.
He decided to use the trees as cover. The beast hadn't seen him yet from all indications. He could avoid an attack on his person with the right amount of stealth.
He moved away from the potential confrontation as quietly as he could. Birds had excellent eyesight. He thought they homed in on moving targets like heat seeking missiles. Slow and steady was the answer to this problem.
Lars watched the sky as he hopped to the next tree he wanted to use for cover. He hunkered down, glad to be wearing his practice clothes. If he had to fight, the gi he wore was the thing to fight in.
Too bad it was white and shone slightly under the Minnesota stars.
The winged creature almost hit a tree as it looped around in the air. He moved as the thing ducked and wove around the natural barrier.
"Watch what you're doing, doofus." Lars paused at the female voice on the ground with him. "I don't want to scrape you up to take you back to your parents."
Lars peeked from behind his tree. It never occurred to him that the thing in the sky might be intelligent. Its flight was tremendously erratic in his opinion.
A girl stood in a clearing. She wore a headphone and mike on her head. She looked up in the sky. He recognized her as the jogger he had seen much earlier in the day.
Should he approach and find out what was going on? Should he circle around and go home without becoming involved? He was curious, but knew that could cause him problems if indulged.
He debated silently on the best course of action before deciding that he was in no danger. There was no need to skulk. He was going home and minding his business.
He should be able to stand up to a girl with a weird dye job.
"Hello." Lars thought that was the best approach as he stepped from his cover. The winged creature above did a barrel roll before straightening up and heading upwards into the night sky.
"Oh!" The girl turned to face him. For a moment, it looked like her eyes were glowing in the dark. The small spots disappeared as she completed her turn. "Hi. You're the karate guy that was out here earlier."
"I never left." Lars placed his hands behind his back. "You're the jogger I saw. What's going on?"
"My friend and I are doing some science stuff." She waved a hand at him like a crossing guard. "Nothing to see. Move along."
"Really?" Lars smiled. He looked up in the sky. He could see the silhouette of a winged figure still heading straight up. "I think your friend is having trouble."
"Here, hold this." She handed him the headset. "See if you can talk him down."
Lars watched as she ran into the trees. He pulled the earpiece and microphone to his head. He pressed the send button.
"Hello. This is Lars."
"Where's Beth?" The voice on the other end sounded scared across the static.
"I don't know." Lars looked up in the sky. "She handed me the radio and said to start talking. So I am talking. What would you like to talk about?"
"I would like to talk about getting the steering back under control." The pilot sounded really scared now. "Any suggestions, Lars?"
"Take deep breaths." Lars echoed the advice to show him what he meant. "You have to level out. You are almost invisible from the ground."
"Deep breaths." The pilot started huffing away on the radio.
"Too fast." Lars shook his head. "Breath in, count to three slowly, breathe out. Can you do that? Count three hippopotamus, then release. Count three, and breath in."
"Okay." The pilot started breathing calmly. "Okay. I got it."
Something huge with giant wings exploded from the trees. Lars paused as it rushed into the air. It seemed to be headed for his charge.
"I need you to keep breathing." Lars grimaced. "There is a winged creature ascending behind you. Look down. Do you see it?"
"Yeah." The pilot seemed to be smiling from the tone in his voice. "It's Beth. She's trying to climb up to rescue me. I'm going to try to alter course to meet her."
"All right." Lars frowned. He named his dragon Beth? Who did that?
The winged creatures danced in the air for what seemed like minutes. Then the dragon grabbed the smaller flier out of the air with a giant paw. It glided down toward the ground, vanishing into the trees.
Lars pulled the headphone away and started toward where the two had landed in the trees. There might be something he could do for them. His long legs carried him in bounds instead of running steps. He reached a clearing with a hole torn in the canopy above in a minute. He paused to take in the situation.
A slight boy in leather armor held a helmet in one hand while he inspected the wings he wore under his arms. He shook his head.
"Hello." Lars held out the radio set. "I see things worked out for the best."
"Lars?" The boy smiled. "Thanks for your help. I'm Jimmy Harmon."
"It is a pleasure to meet you." Lars smiled. "I see things went better than I expected they would."
"Not as good as I wanted." Jimmy shook his head. "Are you green?"
"I have a skin condition." Lars shrugged. "Nothing I can do about it."
"What went wrong, Jimmy?" The girl appeared out of the darkness. "You were doing okay, but not great, before you started having problems."
"I think one of the controls stuck." Jimmy shrugged. "I was flying. It was great."
"I saw." She smiled slightly. "Thanks for the help, Kermit."
"You're welcome." Lars nodded. "That giant monster. What was that?"
"It's my secret." The girl smiled. "And I don't want to share it with anyone yet."
"I understand." Lars nodded. People were entitled to keep things to themselves.
"I have to go." Jimmy looked down at his gear. "Mom and Dad will kill me when they find out I snuck out to test this rig."
"Thanks again." The girl smiled as she took the helmet from the boy. "It was a pleasure to meet you."
"I'm Lars Drogan." He bowed as he had been taught. "The pleasure was mine."
"My name is Beth." She gestured for Jimmy to proceed. "See you around."
Lars watched as they entered the trees. He made a note of the direction and thought it copied the earlier one the girl had been jogging when he had first seen her. He found it odd that they only made a passing note of his skin condition, but didn't ask him questions about his background.
The boy who had stopped to talk to him had been the same way.
Two experiences like that might mean anything. The reason he liked to practice in the wooded areas around Marlowe was to avoid any comment from people who might see him. If the worse from these two encounters was to be called Kermit, he could live with that. He had helped someone in need. That felt good.
He smiled. He liked the inner fire that such a thing stoked. He wondered if he was feeling too much pride.
One question did bother him.
Where had that dragon come from to save the boy? Where had it gone? Why was it named the same as the girl? And why didn't she want to talk about it?
He had a feeling that he already knew the answer but was too blind to see it. He needed to get some rest. Maybe it would come to him in the morning.
Lars jogged toward Lake Marlowe in the distance. The water called for him. He didn't have time for a swim. The brothers were lenient with him, but he still had to return to his room to sleep and help with chores in the morning.
They were the only other people that treated his condition as unnoteworthy. He appreciated that since encountering people outside the walls. Pointing fingers and laughter were what he expected from people who met him.
Now he had met three people in one day that didn't care what he looked like other than cursory interest.
Lars paused at the shore of the lake. He looked at the water rippling across the surface. This was where the mighty Zornwill had started his rampage. Further down the shore was where he had been found and taken in by the brothers.
He studied the ripples for some clue to what his purpose in life should be. It said nothing back to him.
June 26, 2016- Chapter 4 of Young Strangers
Mark Whittaker sniffed the air as he walked through the trees. He wasn't sure where he was, but he knew he could find his way home when he wanted to go there. He covered miles on foot and being able to get home was something he had learned years before when he was still in middle school.
Mark paused when he saw a green boy sitting under a tree. He looked up at the twilight sky. He had time to satisfy his curiosity. He walked over and sat down in front of the green kid.
Mark waited. He was stout despite his constant walks, with brown hair pushed back from a sloping forehead and long nose. Brown and gold eyes inspected the other boy.
"Can I help you?" The green boy opened his eyes to stare at his visitor. His face divided into dark and light green patches with a pale green color at the base of his neck. He didn't have hair as far as Mark could tell. Fingers and toes had webbing between the digits to help with swimming.
"I was wondering why you were sitting out here." Mark checked his position. He didn't want to cause trouble, or appear to be a threat.
"I am meditating." The green boy's eyes seemed to look to either side, rather than straight forward. "I find it helps me clear my mind."
"Why out here?" Mark looked around. "Wouldn't a temple be better?"
"Meditation can be done anywhere." The green boy smiled. "It's an activity that requires nothing but a small space to sit and think."
"I guess I can see that." Mark shrugged. "The woods can be a great place to meditate I suppose."
"Exactly." The green boy nodded. "What else do you need?"
"I don't know." The bigger boy conceded. "Mostly, I was just curious. I saw you sitting here, and decided to stop. I suppose I should be turning around and heading home."
"I should also head home." The green boy stood up smoothly. He was taller than Mark expected. Most of his height was in his legs. "I have exams in the morning."
"I'll see you around." Mark stood, brushing off his pants. He waved as he turned to retrace his footprints.
The green boy hopped away among the trees. Maybe he was heading for a local pond.
Mark sniffed the air as he walked. His own scent stood out to him like road signs. He headed for his own side of town.
Marlowe had grown some in the last year since the monster attack from the lake. Some of the new residents were there to check the water purity. Alchemo had dumped toxic sludge in the water which had mutated a turtle into a monster, and probably changed some of the residents also.
The company denied any involvement despite being caught in using kids as guinea pigs for super soldier drugs. Some kind of shadow vigilante had provided proof in the way of stolen documents to the government regulators.
It stood to reason that they had been caught doing one thing, and done the same to the lake.
Mark knew he wasn't a normal kid. He was stronger and tougher than he looked, he could smell things well enough to track down the source, and he could operate at night better than he could in the daytime.
He was almost a human badger. He supposed he was the only one who had made the connection. He didn't plan to share it with anybody.
Some people thought the government liked to experiment on strange people. He didn't know about that. He didn't want a company like Alchemo deciding they needed a human digger and becoming their first choice.
He liked being a slacker too much for that.
He didn't know what he was going to do once he was out of high school, but sports was out. He could never pass the League's tests for superhuman abilities. He knew that deep down one blood test would out him as a superhuman trying to play against normal athletes.
And he wasn't sure what would happen if he used his full strength without meaning too. He might hurt people by accident.
Maybe he could find a job as a construction worker, or in a factory somewhere. He needed the money if he wanted to move out and live on his own.
Using his ability seemed to be the best way to do that. He couldn't imagine a job where having a great sniffer could earn him some money.
He wondered if the green boy had a job. Maybe he could ask the next time they met. He doubted master of meditation was a viable source of income.
Maybe he could use his obvious swimming abilities to search waterways for things. That should earn some bucks if the demand was high enough. That wouldn't help Mark since he could barely swim.
Maybe he could use his sniffer to find things for people. The police used cadaver dogs all the time. He might not be able to match up with their capabilities, but he was almost as good, and almost as smart.
Maybe he could ask a policeman. He mulled it over as he made his way across town. Someone would have to know if there was a job in something like that.
Maybe he could use the Internet at school to find out something about it. How much could he charge for something like that? He needed enough to get a place of his own.
He thought about it, and realized he would need a steady income. How often was a search dog needed by the police? He didn't want to move out, only to have to move back in because he didn't make enough money to stay out.
That would be humiliating as far as he was concerned. He wanted to have a place of his own. Once he had it, he didn't want to give it up.
Maybe he should ask the green boy if he wanted to go in with him. They could be a specialized rescue team for the city. He knew they had heroes on the payroll in case there was another monster attack.
Two more consultants should be okay to add to the payroll.
He looked up at the sky. It was too late to track back to the forest and find the green guy. He would have to do it tomorrow. Just because he had an idea didn't mean he could get the other guy to be his partner.
Heroes for hire seemed the best way to go with this. Maybe there were others who were looking for something to do. Powers were great, but normal work seemed boring when you could do other things with your abilities.
Maybe that was why costumed villains showed up. What else could they do if they just wanted fast money without working for it? Robbing a bank was low risk for some of them.
Mark thought he could break into some of the banks in town, but why bother? It would just bring down trouble on his head. He would have to look over his shoulder until the statue of limitations ran out. And he didn't want to hurt anyone, and he would have to do that to stay out of jail.
Finding a legitimate way to use what talents he had seemed to be the best way to do things.
He needed to talk to someone who knew more about this than he did. He frowned as he considered who he knew that fit the bill. He shook his head. He could only think of the Internet as someone who could show him how to set up a business.
Maybe he could ask the group the city used for emergencies. Maybe they knew someone he could call and try to set up his venture.
They might be able to give him some kind of reference if he made a good impression.
Proving his talent was a given. What could he look for that was fast and easy to show he could do it? Dirty socks seemed to be the easiest thing in his mind.
Mark paused when he had reached his street. He looked up in the sky. He had been wandering around for hours. Hopefully he had beaten his mom home. Otherwise, he would get an earful about responsibility and laziness.
He really needed to move out so she couldn't harangue him any more.
He didn't need her constant harping about the future. He knew he had to be responsible for himself. He walked toward his house. He needed a job.
Wandering around town was fun, but it wasn't making him any money to support himself. He needed dollars coming in so he could get away from his mom once and for all.
Living on the street wasn't an option as far as that went. He needed a real home so she couldn't try to lord her house over his head.
Maybe he should have asked the green guy if he needed a roommate who could learn how to meditate. That would have solved one problem.
Getting a good job and moving out seemed to be the best way to solve things as far as he was concerned.
And not giving his mom the address would secure some kind of peace of mind. He might even be able to buy his own computer when he had enough money stored away.
It would beat having to go to the library when he needed to look things up.
He let himself in and looked around. One sniff of the air told him he was alone. He wondered how much time he had before his mom came home to make him miserable. He decided the best thing to do was grab a sandwich and head to his room. If his mom thought he was asleep, she usually left him alone.
It didn't always work. Sometimes she woke him up to give him a lecture about some part of the house he hadn't picked up while she slaved away all day.
The area in question was usually some place he hadn't used all day like the living room.
Mark raided the fridge long enough to grab a sandwich. He wrapped it in a paper towel so he wouldn't leave bread crumbs everywhere. He grabbed a can of soda from the pantry. He retreated to his room.
He ate with his lights out, sitting by the window. He finished the can and debated getting another one. He decided it was better to stick to his room.
There would be less trouble if he wasn't caught in the kitchen with drink in hand.
He watched as his mom's car rolled down the street and pulled into the driveway. He placed his paper towel and empty can in the trashcan under his desk. He would have to get rid of the trash before she lectured him about that too. He listened as she came in the house and bustled around. Light played under his door, but she didn't open it to check on him. Then silence settled on the house again.
Mark waited until he was sure she was asleep. He turned on the lamp on his desk and pulled out a comic book he had hidden under the desk. His mom didn't have time for frivolities, and neither did he as far as she was concerned.
When he had his own place, he would have all the frivolities he wanted.
He smiled at the thought of comic books to the ceiling. He would love something like that. He wouldn't have to hide them in his own place.
He hid his comic book under his desk. He didn't want his mom to find it. He would never hear the end of it. Every time she had something to lecture him about the comic book would be the first thing brought to demonstrate why he wasn't good enough.
He cut off the lamp.
June 21, 2016- Added School Spirit to the Contents page.
June 20, 2016- Posted Mysticism to Archive of Our Own
June 20, 2016- Epilogue of School Spirit
He sat on the floor of his prison, examining what little he had left.
His one previous defeat had never seemed as total as this one. The humans had advanced far enough to hurt him it seemed.
He thought of the protector and growled. Those champions always stood in his way. And one of them had helped the humans trap him this time. He knew that. He could feel the touch in the events that had happened.
He should have done something more permanent that dropping his antenna on the meddler.
He should have reduced the protector to scattered pieces across the tree of everything. That would have stopped his interference. His successor would have been picked too late to interfere in the subsequent taking of Earth and its surrounding cosmology.
Then he could have expanded across sideways realms until he had a foothold everywhere.
What could he do now? He was stuck in a cage that slowly drained his strength. He couldn't make a throne from his rock floor. He would be drained and burned away long before he could successfully escape his cell.
He couldn't reach his disciples to demand their assistance. Any mental probe he used drained his strength further.
He didn't like being alone for the first time in a millennium. His pawns had always been there in his mind as he monitored their progress. Now even that was cut from him.
At least he had a puzzle to keep him busy until he expired.
The human magician used a device to escape the cage and return to Earth. The device became ash after the spell was activated. He had caught some of the molecules before they became inert dust, as well as the spell used before it burned away completely.
He examined the spell now that he had nothing better to do. It was a standard extradimensional door channeled through a device. If he tried to use the spell for himself now, he might kill himself.
The energy used to bend time and space would go into the cage to strengthen it and disrupt the door enough that he would die from casting the spell, or be cut in half if the cage disrupted the spell while he was trying to use it.
He didn't know if either was better than being locked away for another millennium while humans forgot him altogether.
He turned his attention to the device. Maybe he could do something with that.
He took the memory of what he had seen from his mind and hung it on the air in front of him. He compared the molecules that he had to what he remembered. He could perhaps build one of the things, but it would take years.
He looked around the empty space he floated in. He didn't have anything else to think about at the moment.
He fitted the molecules he had into the picture of what he remembered. They were scattered across the tiny construct. He would have to make more of the molecules to fit.
Where could he get the raw ingredients?
He could scrape them from his island. He would have to change them to fit what he needed, but that would only take a small part of his reserve every time he used it.
He made calculations in his head. He could do small transformations against the drain for a while, but eventually he would run out of power before he could get the device back together.
He needed a way to breach his cage enough to get power to use. He cast about for a solution to his problem.
He spotted his old throne floating in the void. He calculated distances. Maybe he had enough pull to use that to open a hole in his cage. Did he dare try it?
He had nothing to lose. If the plan worked, he would have a way to regain his strength. If it didn't, he was free of his cage permanently.
He extended his will through the cage wall. Energy drained from him as he called his throne to him. The piece of rock floated toward his island. He let go of it as the trajectory carried the stone chair toward the wall. Parts of him vanished under the strain but he watched as the escape device hit the island. He pulled himself forward on legs that were becoming stumps as the chair partially penetrated the screen around the island. He slipped one hand through a crack before he lost awareness.
He didn't know how long he was asleep. Time had no meaning in his oubliette. He might have been laying there centuries. That didn't matter. What mattered was the crack in the screen that his hand was keeping open so that he could get some of the energy feeding into the screen from the network he had set up to increase his power.
He smiled with too many teeth. He had taken the risk and it had worked out to his advantage. Now he had the next task to do so he could make his escape and punish those that stood in his way.
It had taken him many human lifetimes to manage his first escape attempt. He could do it again with the help of the magician's device. It didn't matter how long it took to rebuild the thing. It was an exit that led to his enemy's stronghold. It would give him the element of surprise and allow him to destroy one of those who were capable of putting him back in his box.
It would be worth all the trouble he was going through to wipe the smug smile off the magician's face.
He examined the floating memory. He judged that he could assemble the molecules from his island and put it back together as long as he had a steady infusion of energy from the human side of things.
It would just take a large amount of time as he created the molecule and slid it into place. The destructive spell had rendered the material to an almost unreadable mess. Only the perfect recall of his memory allowed him the chance to pursue this option to bypass the security on his extradimensional prison.
Trying to follow the trail of energy that fed him back to its source would cause various spells to try to annihilate him. And he wasn't sure he could heal all the damage that his body would suffer.
Bypassing all of that with the magician's own spell appealed more to him than tempting possible extinction by magic.
He dug some of the rock out of his prison. He concentrated on making molecules and fitting them into place.
He nodded when the transformation worked as smoothly as he thought it would. He noted the loss of energy he had to fight to overcome. That would wear him down if he let it.
Now that he had a food source he could work on his problem without worrying about burning out his body. He had time and patience. The problem would be solved no matter how long it took.
He continued to fit similar molecules together until he had a basic shape. He compared that with his memory. He needed to push the things together and link them up more than he had. Now that was the beginning of a rectangle.
Other elements were needed to be fitted into his puzzle. He worked on their basic nature until he had matches for what he remembered.
That took a little longer than he liked but he fitted in the screen on the top of the box. Then he started working on the innards which were a little more complicated than he liked.
He had to get everything just right, or the device wouldn't echo what it did earlier. If he made one mistake, years would be added on to his sentence as he tried to figure out the problem.
He had the patience, but he didn't want to waste the energy.
He checked what he had. It looked and felt almost the same. All he needed were the silicon and copper that went inside the thing.
He made those piece by piece, checking the setup as he went. He smiled as he inserted them into the phone and hooked everything together. A small battery went in last so he could charge the phone up.
He copied the magician's teleport spell on the phone so he could use it to escape. It looked like he had succeeded in engineering an escape that wasn't dependent on his human pawns.
How many of them were left alive after all this time? He hadn't been able to watch any of them, or their descendants. He hoped they still worshiped him on Earth.
He charged the phone up so he could dial out. All he needed was a number he could reach from his prison. Who could he call to help him escape?
How long had making this device taken him in Earth time? Who did he have to call?
He decided to dial the number for the magician's friend. He remembered the number from when they had clashed. That would put him in the enemy's watchtower at his weakest, but with so much time passing, would they remember him?
He pushed the virtual buttons on the screen with a fingertip. This should give him a good chance at killing his primary enemies before they even knew he was coming.
UNABLE TO CONNECT ran across the top of the screen.
June 11, 2016- Chapter 5 of School Spirit
Jeff Ashcroft punched a faceless woman in the head. He waited for her to try to recover before he glued her to a car on the sidewalk with a quick gesture of his hand. He looked around as he moved down the street.
He didn't have the ability to free Father's mooks. His speciality was making sure they couldn't hurt anybody while others removed the psychic hooks that had been put in their brains.
The attack had affected most of lower Manhattan from the looks of things. He wished he had a head count of the population transformed. That would give him a rough estimate of how many people he had left to subdue.
At least he wasn't on his own. His team, and the Magistracy, were out in force with the police and fire fighters not caught in the blast. They were rounding up the faceless people as fast as possible.
At least Father was somewhere he couldn't do anything else like this for a long time. His cell in the other place should hold him until his power and the worship of his followers wore off. Then he could try to get back to reality without any might at all.
Jeff wasn't convinced that he couldn't escape before that happened. The Chemist was good, but everybody missed something. The magician was sure he hadn't left any holes, but Jeff didn't believe that.
Father would get free eventually. He would want a rematch. The personality that he had displayed demanded it.
Jeff was ready for it despite being unable to hurt the thing with his imaginary pistols. He would have to keep working on that.
He wanted to be able to do more than put easily healed holes in his enemy.
A group of faceless civilians came at him with clubs and knives in hand. He supposed he should be happy none of them had a handgun. He smiled as he walked forward to meet them. Twin guns appeared as he took aim with his fingers. He blasted goop at them to hold them down for someone else to take them away when the emergency was over.
They might be hanging around for hours before the Saint could come around to exorcize them.
That wasn't Jeff's problem. The Watcher had his eyes on the sky directing traffic. He would be the one directing people to pick up the faceless crowd off the street.
The agent kept moving down the street. He had three more blocks to walk before turning right and heading down another five blocks before he had to make another right turn.
Walking a circuit lured the faceless people out of the buildings. It made them easy targets for him. If they had stayed inside, he would have to spend time to hunt them down. Their rage made them sitting ducks, and that was the best type of duck of them all.
He paused at the corner to look both ways. Nothing moved as he looked around. Where was the rest of his targets?
He needed a phone. Maybe he had taken all the ducks in his area. He might need to move to another hunting ground. The Watcher would know.
"Hey, Pointer!" Poster Girl descended from the sky. "They're going to try to use the Saint's mojo to cover this part of the city. It should get rid of any faceless guys we've missed and part of the magic network set up to feed Father."
"That's good." Jeff flexed his hands as he kept an eye on the block. "That'll let us close this operation down sooner than I thought."
"That's even better." Poster Girl started floating upwards. "I'm missing the diner."
"Give me a lift back to the command van." Jeff held out a hand. "I don't see anything moving out here."
"Sure." She grabbed him under his arms and took to the air. She hummed to herself as she flew across the city blocks like a rocket. She slowed down to come down to a gentle landing without too much effort.
"Thanks." Jeff made sure he could walk before he tried to take a step. Falling down in front of the contingent they had mobilized would be extremely embarrassing.
"No problem." She smiled. "I have to raid the buffet before it shuts down."
"Leave some for the rest of us." Jeff watched her go with a shake of his head. She could pack in the food.
Jeff looked around until he saw the Watcher standing by the Chemist and the Saint. A bandaged bum stood in the background watching things.
Jeff walked around the trio so he could confront the protector of the universe. He wanted some answers, and the bandaged man seemed to know everything.
"So." Pointer didn't know if his imaginary guns would do anything against the bulkier man, but he was willing to find out. "How long have you known about this invasion thing?"
"A while." The protector of the universe stood with his hands in his pockets. "The hope was that Larry Elbe would give up before things went south."
"Didn't work out for you, did it?" Jeff glared at the glowing eyes that seemed to burn through the wrappings.
"There's a ton of rules that keeps me from dropping every nut I come across." The protector of the universe shrugged. "The powers that be don't like to execute people before they actually do something wrong. They're inflexible on that kind of stuff."
"So you can't stop a monster invasion before it invades." Jeff considered that. "That's stupid."
"The rules are not meant to be broken." The protector shrugged again. "It supposedly causes too many troubles down the line."
"How do you get anything done?" The agent remembered the assault on Kansas. The protector had played a small part in the resolution of that mess.
"Mostly through hard work and some careful application of brute force." The bandaged man raised a hand. A spark of light joined with the Chemist's floating signs. The Saint raised his hands and began to lecture in Latin. Lines of power flowed from his feet like rivulets of milk.
Jeff covered his face with a forearm to protect his eyes. Beams of white light reached out like lightning. A phantom wave of screaming reached his ears.
"It looks like the job is done, Tex." The protector of the universe smiled. "It's time for me to move on to the next trouble spot."
"Do a better job." Jeff frowned at the mummy walking away. "I get tired of bailing you out."
"It's a good thing it doesn't matter what you think." The bandaged man waved as he walked into an alley at the next corner of the building behind their exorcism setup.
Jeff turned his attention back to the glow surrounding everything. There was nothing he could do against the protector of the universe. He had to get back to doing stuff against transformed civilians.
Shooting innocent minions was one of his specialities.
"It looks like things are going to be okay." Aaron Stark smiled under his helmet. "The eyes are tracking the wave across the island."
"So we win." Jeff smiled. "I like that."
"All we have to do is clean up any of the cultists supporting Father, and we're done." Stark kept an eye on his feeds. "We still haven't found Elbe."
"We will." Jeff visualized his target wandering loose in the country, cut off from support. "He's on his own now. We just have to figure out where he's going to go now that he has no way to clear his master from his jail."
"Do you have any idea where that could be?" The Watcher turned his helmeted gaze on his opposite number.
"Something will come to me." The gunslinger smiled. "Then we can just go pick him up."
"What did you get out of Buddy?" The Watcher turned his gaze to where he had last seen the protector of the universe. "Still can't track him."
"Nothing." Jeff shook his head. "Larry Elbe is small fry to our friend. Finding him is up to us."
"All right." The Watcher nodded. "We've been looking for him for months. What's a few more days?"
"How long do you think cleaning up will take?" Jeff had immobilized more than a few of the faceless zombies. He doubted they would be able to stand up to the wave coming down on them.
"It depends on how many are left over once the Saint's healing aura hits them." The Watcher gestured vaguely at the white wave spreading out.
"We'll have to sweep the buildings and work out way down to the river." Jeff didn't like that, but it had to be done. The offices could potentially block the exorcism wave.
"We'll get the Pee Dee to coordinate with us." The other team leader nodded. "They already have a cordon at the edges of the area."
"At least we know we're hurting him now." Jeff nodded. "The Chemist used his own power against him, and this will turn his feeding off if we disrupt enough of his network. He might starve to death over there."
"At the very least, it keeps him from coming back since every new follower will keep him locked up." The Watcher looked around. "I hate magic."
"You, and me both, brother." Jeff smiled. "Let me get my guys together. We'll get started clearing the buildings. It's going to be a long night."
June 6, 2016- Chapter 4 of School Spirit
The Chemist stood at the edge of the desolate island. Reilly picked a place that fitted the bill of uninhabited, away from civilization, and devoid of magical energy with his usual skill.
Now it was up to him to close the box on their enemy and get rid of him before he escaped Pointer and the Replacement. The members of the School seemed to be holding their own at the moment. He had to use that borrowed time wisely.
The first thing he needed to do was block Father from leaving the island under his own power. That would keep him in place until the rest of the work was done.
The Chemist ignored the blasts of power as he took out a small pocket knife. He used to inscribe his first spell. He carved the syllables as carefully as he could with the knife, signing it when he was done. The ground glowed at his feet as the spell went to work.
That should help Pointer and the Replacement.
Now he had to close the island. That should be easier to do. All he had to do was draw a line around the edge of the whole island.
That part may be easier said than done.
The Chemist wrote an anchor for his spell, and linked it to the first one. He drew a circle around the assemblage. He fashioned a staff from a piece of rock laying around so he could stick the knife to one end. He set the blade into the ground and pulled it behind him as he walked.
The work went fast with the first spell feeding the second to ease the containment line drawing. He paused when he reached the battle. Pointer and the Replacement were holding Father in place with their powers, but they weren't really hurting him. He needed to get by the battlefield without being noticed.
If Father saw what he was doing, he would just run away and amass more power by draining innocents. Keeping him on the island was paramount. He needed a distraction to get by and complete his spell.
An explosion ripped a hole through Father, almost splitting him in half.
The Chemist ran. He dragged the knife behind him as he sprinted across the battlefield. He reached the other side and kept going. No blasts of energy struck him in the back. Pointer's weapon had covered his action completely.
He tried to catch his breath as he worked his way back to his starting point. He connected the end of his line to the bubble. The line glowed as the spell activated.
A dome of light appeared for a second around the island. Father would have to beat them, and then batter down the spell. Since it ran on stolen power from him, that might take him a long time.
Now the Chemist had to send the demon back to his prison. That would be a little bit harder to do.
At least with a circle in place, he had a designated target area.
He carved another long sentence next to the bubble holding the first two spells. He drew another bubble around that. Then he hooked the bubbles together with a line. He smiled as the spell began to work to shift them to where Father should be incarcerated.
The sky changed to a sheet of rainbow light. The island floated in a dark space with similar islands floating around it. One had a throne built out of the stone as it floated by the island.
The shield glowed against the alien atmosphere. The Chemist realized that the energy from Earth still leaked to the prison for Father. His spell gathered it up to hold the shield in place. He had inadvertently set things up to use the very energy the godling had used to help his escape to keep him trapped.
How did they escape was the key question now. They were trapped in the bubble with Father. No way would he allow them to return to Earth while he remained in his cage.
So how did he get himself and the two agents from the School out of this mess.
The crackle of gunfire and energy burning the air told him that Pointer was still doing what he did. A lot of villains hated the gunman for his bad attitude and tendency to shoot first. Now he was buying time for the magician to figure out a solution.
What would Silver do? The grouchy old man would shoot a bolt of lightning with enough juice to power Paris at night into their problem. He didn't have the base for that kind of direct assault.
He needed something a little more subtle.
Maybe he could call for help.
He pulled Pointer's phone from his pocket. He dialed the number for the Tower, boosting the signal with his magic and hooking it to the energy beam coming in from the real world.
"Talk to me." Reilly answered on the first ring. "I don't have a visual."
"I need you to put some music on, Kevin." The Chemist smiled. He had a chance for a rescuing them from their predicament. "Maybe something with a trumpet. I need you to put it through the phone if you don't mind."
"Hold on." Reilly started typing on the Bridge keyboard where he sat. "I'll put on Coltrane, or Monk."
The Chemist smiled as the music started from the phone's speaker.
He made an adjustment to the phone with his fingertip. The screen glowed as it hooked up to the bubble around them. He smiled at the portable door. Now he had to get the three of them out of there before Father figured out what he was doing.
The demon definitely couldn't get the phone. He would be able to get back to Earth and leave them stranded in his prison.
"Replacement!" The Chemist didn't know how good the man in black's hearing was, but they were on a small floating island in a sky of rainbow colors. How loud did he have to shout?
The agent appeared out of the air, his speed resembling teleportation. He looked at the magician with dead eyes behind the cowl concealing his face.
"I need you to get the Pointer so we can go." The Chemist smiled. "I have a solution."
The Replacement vanished as quickly as he arrived. There was a noise like a steam whistle, then the sound of an impact. He reappeared with Pointer in hand.
"Time for you to go." The Chemist pointed the phone's screen at them. The agents streamed into the phone in ribbons of substance as they flattened out to make the transition.
The music still played, but he heard the arrival at the other end. Reilly and Pointer exchanged words about their ancestors from what he could tell.
A fireball missed him as he moved down the inside of the screen. The energy dissipated on contact with the shell around the island.
"You caused this." Father held on to his human shape, but things weren't going well in that direction from the looks of it. "I want to be free again. It's time for you to make that happen."
"I don't think so." The Chemist reversed the phone in his hand. "The Earth doesn't have a place for you anymore. It's time for you to settle down and just accept that."
"Why should I?" Father stepped forward with a rising hand with two many fingers. "I still have a way to escape."
"No." The Chemist pressed the picture button. He slid into the phone, dropping it to the rock island's surface.
"Kill the music, Reilly!" The Chemist dropped to the floor of the Tower's Bridge. "Hurry!"
Reilly reached over and thumbed a button. The music instantly died.
"What did you do?" Pointer didn't bother to help him off his stomach. "Where's my phone?"
"I sacrificed it for the greater good." The Chemist smiled. "Unless Father was able to stop it from coming apart when I triggered my spell, it's a million bits that can't be used ever again."
"Are you sure about that?" Pointer frowned at his colleague. "Are you willing to bet your life on it?"
"It wasn't a perfect plan, but the alternative was him killing us and keeping the Replacement busy for the next thousand years." The Chemist picked himself up. "It had to be done to save our lives."
"Are you sure he won't be able to escape?" Pointer's frown deepened at the thought of a reprieve, instead of a total victory.
"His magic is powering the cage." The Chemist shrugged. "The life force he had been using to breach his wall is now also feeding into the cage. If he does escape, it won't be any time soon."
"So we won for right now." The Pointer didn't smile at that thought. "You owe me a phone."
The Chemist looked at his face to see if he was joking. He smiled at the knowledge he wasn't.
"I'll have one sent to your office." The magician nodded. "I'll get Maker to whip one up for you as soon as things are back to normal."
"Right." Pointer nodded. "We have to get back to New York. The others might still be having problems with the crowd."
"We'll use the Step." The Chemist led the way to the pad. "Reilly will put us down in Manhattan in a second."
"All right." Pointer flexed his hands. "Let's get this over with as fast as possible."
The three stepped on the pad. Reilly fed in the end point. They became energy waves beaming to the network of satellites the Magistracy used. They became solid on a rooftop in Manhattan a few seconds later.
"Let's split up and help with damage control." Pointer headed for the roof access door. "Things should be easy with the source back in his cell."
"The people he used should be coming back to themselves." The Chemist looked out over the skyline.
"That makes it easier for us." Pointer used his gun on the door and descended into the building.
March 27, 2016- Loaded Traces of Smoke to the Contents page.
March 14, 2016- Loaded Clash of the Titans to the Contents page.
February 7, 2016- Loaded Allied Forces to Archive of Our Own
January 31, 2016- Loaded Three Swords Bust a Dam at Fictionpress.com
January 31, 2016- Moved 2015 links to their own page.
January 19, 2016- Added Link to Bandit's Bedlam to Contents page.
January 19, 2016- Loaded Dead Heroes to the Contents page.
January 19, 2016-Loaded Terror in Tokyo to Fictionpress.com
January 4, 2016- Loaded Starman: Beginnings and Endings at Archive of Our Own
Link to 2015