Feel the Burn *HF*
By Blackfire
This one is way old. Siryn is Blackfire's old name, so I'm told.
Blackness creeping in
I lay down my burden to rest
Red sun of desire
In this deadly test
I look at you
Sparkling glass in hand
The dandelions have changed from suns to moons
We're as helpless as Adam
How false it all seems now
As shattered as our different dreams
And I just don't see how
We can wait until the mourning
I am not a poet
Only a recorder
I have nothing to lose and I know it
But it only makes me bolder
Drunk on the visions
Drunk on the pain
That we continuously live in
Every single day
I look at you
Sparkling glass in hand
The dandelions have changed from suns to moons
We're as helpless as Adam
How brutal it all seems now
As shattered as our different dreams
And I just don't see how
We can wait until the mourning
Snakes intertwined
On a stormy grave
You think everything is fine
Until it is just too late
Siryn sat back and calmly sipped on her wine. At least, she was trying to
appear calm in front of Ryan. She didn’t want him to see how frightened she
really was. The dread has been mounting up inside of her since she had walked
into the room. Now she felt like she was about to explode with it.
“Are you enjoying yourself?” the Red King asked her.
“Of course,” Siryn replied with a nod and a fake smile.
“There is no need to be afraid,” Ryan told her with a charming smile. “I would
not have invited you here if I planned to harm you.”
“What do you mean?” Siryn asked as she took another gulp of the wine.
“Well,” Ryan said, leaning back in his chair with a satisfied look, “if I was
planning on killing you, I would not have brought you to my own home. It is not
my way. Besides, why would I harm such a beautiful lady?” Siryn smiled and
tried to relax a little. He was right, he was probably not going to hurt her,
but she still felt very suspicious. What could a millionaire like Ryan possibly
want with someone like her? He obviously wanted something. And a man like Ryan
always got what he wanted.
*
ShockWave waited impatiently for Siryn to return. She tapped her foot on the
floor. Outburst was pacing back and forth.
“She’ll be fine,” Nate said again for the fifth time.
“Y’know, that’s only the one hundredth time you’ve said that!” Outburst said,
her dazzling green eyes glaring at Nate.
“And I meant it every time,” Nate replied. “My sister is tough.”
“And so is Ryan,” ShockWave said.
“She told us to give her 45 minutes,” Nate said.
“Yeah, so she has about 5 minutes left!” Outburst answered. “It shouldn’t be
taking her this long!”
“Ryan told her not to bring anyone else,” ShockWave warned. “If we go in there
before we are supposed to, we could endanger her even more.”
“She’ll be fine,” Nate said again. Outburst threw her hands up in the air in
anger. Suddenly, Siryn herself walked out of the huge mansion that Ryan called
home.
“About time!!” Outburst cried.
“Sorry,” Siryn said, smiling. “Didn’t mean to take so long.”
“You’re alive, that’s all that I care about,” said ShockWave. Siryn climbed
into the car and sat beside Nate. ShockWave was driving and Outburst was in the
front with her.
“Well, what did he want??” Outburst said.
“That’s the weird part,” Siryn said, “he didn’t seem to want anything.”
“Yeah, right,” Nate said with a disbelieving look. “You know Ryan always wants
something.”
“That’s what I thought too,” Siryn said with a concerned look.
“I’ve got a real bad feeling about this,” Outburst said.
“You’re not the only one,” ShockWave answered.
“Well, why worry about it?” Siryn asked.
“Because Ryan doesn’t invite people over to his house to make friends. If Ryan
wants friends, he can BUY friends,” Outburst said. Nate snickered.
“We’ll just have to watch our backs,” Siryn told them as they pulled into the
driveway.
*
Siryn hated lying to her friends, but she feared for their safety. What Ryan
had told her bothered her quite a bit, but she had swore not to tell anyone.
And she was afraid of Ryan. He had power… probably more power than she even
knew. She sat in her room and tried to get her thoughts to focus. It was a type
of meditation that Gomurr was trying to teach her, but she was horrible at it.
Her mind always wanted to wander.
HeySirynWhatchaDoin’??” Morph asked as he ran into her room. Siryn jumped, her
concentration broken.
“MORPH!! Now I’m gonna have to start all over!”
“Oops..well…oops,” Morph said. “Sorry, I had too much sugar.”
“You always have had too much sugar,” Siryn answered. She pulled her hair back
into a ponytail and walked out of her room with Morph.
“Hey Morph, have you seen Bastion latley?” Siryn asked, trying not to sound
anxious.
“Uhm…” Morph said, studying the ceiling, “No…haven’t seen Havok around lately
either. Hey! There’s a bug on the ceiling!” Siryn looked up to where Morph was
pointing and noticed the bug too.
“Yuck,” she mumbled, trying not to show how much Morph’s comment had disturbed
her.
“I’m gonna get it!” Morph cried, running into the kitchen for some bug spray.
Siryn made sure that he was out of sight and then walked over to Bastion’s door.
She studied it carefully, but saw nothing unusual. Her eyes nervously scanned
around her to make sure that no one was watching what she was doing. There was
no one in sight. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door.
The room looked normal enough. The bed was made and the dressers were clean.
But, that was not very unusual. Bastion was a fairly neat person. Siryn walked
over to the bed and studied it. Nothing was really out of place. “I’m worrying
over nothing,” she thought to herself. “Bastion will probably be back any minute
and if he sees me in his room, he’s gonna be pissed!” But something inside told
her to look around more. Something did not seem right in her mind. She walked
over to the dresser and noticed that Bastion’s clock had stopped. It was stuck
on midnight. “I don’t remember the power ever going out,” she mumbled to
herself. There were several pictures on his mirror and a few sheets of music on
his dresser. Siryn glanced at the pictures quickly and her eyes fell on one. She
gasped in shock. It was a picture of two snakes intertwined. She remembered the
last words that Ryan had spoken to her before she left.
“There are snakes intertwined over a stormy grave.”
*
Siryn rushed out of Bastions room, her heart in her throat. What did it mean??
Was Bastion in some kind of trouble?? Then she remembered Morph’s carefree
comment. “No… haven’t seen Havok around lately either.” She ran to Havok’s door
and opened it without even thinking. “I have to figure out what’s going on!” she
thought. She pulled herself into the room and gasped in surprise.
“Excuse me, don’t you ever knock?” Havok asked, as he rushed to cover up what he
was doing. He glared up at her and then shoved her out of the room.
“Some people!” he said.
“You could have locked the door,” Siryn said, trying in vain to defend herself.
“Yeah, whatever, but this is MY room,” Havok said, his icy blue eyes flashing
with anger. Siryn had no argument for that.
“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I know you hate being disturbed when you’re doing that.”
“Damn straight!” Havok said. “Now, may I help you with something?”
“Nah,” Siryn said. “I was just… looking for something.”
“Like what?” Havok asked.
“Like… Bastion,” Siryn said, trying hard not to meet eyes with Havok because he
would have been able to tell that she was lying.
“Uh….huh,” Havok said slowly. “And you thought, “hey, since Bastion is ALWAYS
in Havok’s room, why not check there?”” Siryn winced from the obvious sarcasm.
“Havok,” she began in a whiney voice.
“I don’t wanna hear it!” he snapped, holding up his hand to silence her.
“But I…”
“You’d better tell me what’s going on right now!” he said, folding his arms and
looking away angrily. Siryn sighed in annoyance.
“You really should look your door,” she said again.
“Well you should knock!” he replied. “You made me mess up!”
“Well…can I see it?” Siryn asked hopefully.
“NO!” Havok said, obviously disgusted with the idea.
“Oh, I’m sure it looks fine!” Siryn said, as she peered down to look.
“My…God,” she whispered.
*
“And that’s all she told us,” ShockWave finished. She was sitting next to
Gomurr and drinking tea. The wizard had his long hair tied back and his beard
braided as always. ShockWave always came to him when she needed to think…or
talk.
“Hmmm,” Gomurr said, staring off into space and thinking.
“It just doesn’t seem like Ryan,” ShockWave murmured, looking over at her
friend.
“Yes, you are right about that,” Gomurr said, stroking his beard. “Not like Ryan
at all.”
“I don’t suppose you have any ideas?” ShockWave asked.
“Let me just do some research,” Gomurr said with a smile.
“You and your “research”,” ShcokWave said with a wave of her hand. She stood up
as Avalon and Outburst walked into the room. They were obviously arguing about
something.
“It’s not true!” Outburst pouted.
“Yes it is!” Avalon exclaimed. “I saw them go!”
“What’s going on?” ShockWave asked, glancing at Avalon questioningly.
“Well…” Avalon began, “it seems as though Outburst’s GOOD friends, Monet, Marvel
Girl, and Rogue left to go to the mall and they did NOT invite her!”
“I can’t believe it!” Outburst cried. “Siryn’s gonna be mad too, y’know. And
wipe that smirk off of your face, Av!” Avalon snickered and ducked a punch that
Outburst threw at him.
“Well, about this morning,” ShockWave said, looking at Outburst as all three of
them left Gomurr’s room. “Gomurr said that he would look into it.”
“I suppose that’s supposed to reassure us,” Outburst said.
“I don’t suppose you suppose that you can put suppose in a sentence anymore that
you did,” Avalon answered. He ducked again as Outburst swung at him. ShockWave
was silent as Avalon and Outburst got into a name-calling match. She knew that
something wasn’t quite right, she could feel it deep down inside of her. She
wished that Marvel Girl was there to help her out, but she was away. She could
feel an evil presence unlike any other she had ever felt. And she had a knot of
dread in her stomach that would not go away.
“Hiya!!” Morph cried, running up to the group. “I think I’m gonna file a missing
person report on Bastion! I haven’t seen his pink hide in a few days.”
“Hey! You’re right!” Outburst said.
“No, he told me that he was going to Florida for a few days,” Avalon spoke up.
“I guess he needed a vacation or something.”
“To what?” Morph asked. “Get a tan?” Outburst snickered and walked into the
kitchen to get a soda.
*
It was dark. Much too dark. And there was a deadly silence in the air. He was
hungry again. More hungry than before. And he knew that he would have to feed
soon. He was always one who loved to toy with his food before he devoured it.
He enjoyed the fear in the eyes of the prey. In fact, fear was one of the
things that made him stronger. But he hated waiting. Soon he would have to take
his next victim. He sat in the shadows and watched and waited…. the hunter
hunting his prey.
*
Siryn stared at the drawing of two snakes entangled on Havok’s lap. She grew
cold with fear.
“What! Is it THAT bad?” Havok asked. Siryn looked up at him.
“Why did you draw that?” she asked, trying to remain calm.
“Well, it was the weirdest thing actually,” Havok said, sitting down on his bed.
“I had this really insane dream and I saw these two snakes….over this grave.
Anyway, I thought it looked pretty cool, so I tried to draw it. But I screwed it
up, I think. They don’t look real enough.”
“No,” Siryn said, “they look great. It’s just weird.”
“Why is it weird?” Havok asked.
“Well…” Siryn said.
“If you don’t tell me I’m gonna kill you with my number two pencil,” Havok
warned. “I know something weird is going on here and I want to know what!”
“Okay fine,” Siryn said, eyeing the pencil that Havok had in his hand, “just put
the pencil down and follow me.” Havok shrugged and tossed the pencil over his
head.
*
SuperGrover!!! woke up in a cold sweat. He had just had another nightmare. “I
don’t understand it,” he said to himself, “I NEVER get nightmares.” But he had
felt so helpless in the dream. And he couldn’t shake the feeling that something
was horribly wrong. He knew that he had to get help. And fast.
*
“See?” Siryn said, pointing to the picture in Bastion’s room. “It’s almost just
like the one you drew.” Havok picked the picture up and compared it to his
drawing.
“Actually, Siryn, it’s JUST like the one I drew.”
“See??” Siryn gasped. “Weird!”
“Yeah, it’s weird, but what does it mean?” The Black War Lord asked, studying
both pictures that they had placed side by side.
“I don’t know,” Siryn whispered with a frown.
“Sharon, you and I have been friends for a long time, right?” Havok asked,
studying Siryn’s face.
“Yeah, you could say that,” Siryn answered suspiciously.
“So don’t know think I can tell when you’re keeping something from me?”
“Geeze, Mike, why would I keep something from you?”
“That’s what I want to know,” Havok said, crossing his arms.
“It’s really not that big of a deal,” Siryn said with a shrug, “You know me, I
always make things worse than they are.”
Havok did know her, and he knew that what she had just said was not true. In
fact, it was almost the opposite. Siryn had the habit of acting like something
wasn’t a problem when it really was. He didn’t know if she did it because she
wanted to ignore it so that maybe it would go away or if she did it because she
was trying to look on the bright side of things. But either way, it annoyed him
sometimes. He needed honest and straight answers.
“If it’s not a big deal then you should have no problem with telling me,” he
said with a smile.
“Fine…” Siryn said with a sigh, “meet me at the coffee house in an hour.”
“I’ll be there,” Havok said.
* * *
SuperGrover!!! Got dressed quickly. The dream had disturbed him more than he
cared to admit. He decided to go visit an old friend to ease his burning mind.
He was looking over his shoulder as he was walking, to make sure that he wasn’t
being followed, so he actually ran into the person he was seeking.
“Ouch!” Gomurr said with a smile, “why don’t you watch where you’re going!”
“Why don’t you shut up, old man,” SuperGrover!!! answered. “Actually I was just
coming to talk to you.”
“Me?” Gomurr asked, “Well that’s weird because I was just going to look for
you!” The wizards green eyes seem to twinkle, revealing his good nature.
SuperGrover!!! could tell that Gomurr thought that something was wrong to, and
it made him even more uneasy.
“What’s on your mind, old friend?” the blue skinned man asked.
“It has to do with something ShockWave told me,” Gomurr said, as they both sat
down on a couch.
“ShockWave?” SuperGrover!!! asked.
“Yes,” Gomurr answered, “something that she told me about Siryn going to visit
Ryan?” SuperGrover!!! knew that Siryn was the BHC Rook, and close to many of the
Hellions as well.
“What could Ryan Jensen possibly want with her?” he asked.
“That’s what concerns me,” Gomurr said, stroking his beard. “He didn’t seem to
want anything from Siryn at all, or so ShockWave said.”
“Really?” SuperGrover!!! mused. This was very interesting to him, but he didn’t
see what the big fuss was. Ryan was a ladies man, maybe he was just trying to
get on the BHC’s good side. But then again, why would he want to do that?
“Have you talked to Siryn?” SuperGrover!!! asked.
“No, which is also strange,” Gomurr continued. “Normally she would have come to
me as soon as anything weird like this happens. She tells me almost everything.
But. . . she seems to almost be avoiding me.” SuperGrover!!! could tell that the
wizard was extremely worried and this caused him to feel even more uneasy. He
decided not to worry his friend with his dream right now.
“Would you like for me to talk to her?” SuperGrover!!! asked.
“Well, I don’t want to force her. . . but if you think you can, feel free.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” SuperGrover!!! promised.
* * *
The creature watched the red headed woman and the blonde man as they
walked to the coffee house. It felt a hunger unlike any it had ever felt
before. But it had to choose it’s victims carefully. Very carefully. And it
had to wait to find the perfect time to strike. It stared at the girl’s
neck…could almost taste her blood. But he didn’t attack. He waited. Besides…he
wanted to see more fear. He could feed off of the fear until he actually got the
blood. The creature licked it’s lips and faded back into the shadows.
* * *
Avalon awoke with a jolt. Damn, I didn’t even know I fell asleep, he thought.
He was on the couch and the television was still on. He watched it for a few
minutes while he tried to figure out what was making his heart beat so fast.
Something was definitely wrong here. His blue eyes scanned the room for signs
of anyone else. There were things scattered all over the floor, obvious signs of
a struggle. He stood up in his shock. How could I have slept through this? He
though. Normally even a very small noise would instantly wake him. His mind felt
very cloudy. In fact, he couldn’t even remember what he was doing before he fell
asleep. He couldn’t even remember if there was anyone else in the room. He
looked back at the television. The weather channel was on, predicting a huge
storm. He frowned and tried in vain to remember what he had been doing before
he fell asleep.
“Avalon, what happened in here?” Marvel Girl asked, walking into the room. Her
long blonde hair was pulled back into a pony tail and she wore a navy shirt that
went well with her blue eyes. “Oh my God! Is that blood?”
“What?” Avalon asked. Then he noticed that Marvel Girl was staring at his arm.
He looked down and saw a huge gash. . . and what appeared to be teeth marks. The
blood was flowing down his arm and onto the couch. The strange part was that he
didn’t feel a thing.
“Just stay calm!” Marvel Girl said as she felt her heart race.
“Calm?” Avalon asked, noticing how his speaking was slurred. “I feel
great…neverbetter.” Marvel Girl just stared at him, not sure what to say.
“You mean you don’t feel that?”
“It feels GOOD, baby!” Avalon said with a grin.
“Uhm…I’m going to get you some help,” Marvel Girl said, using her telepathic
power to alert the doctor.
“He’s acting like he’s drunk or something,” Marvel Girl said as she stood beside
Dr. Zhang, the BHC’s doctor.
“So I noticed,” Dr. Zhang said as she used her stethoscope to listen To Avalon’s
heart beat.
“YOU CAN CHECK OUT ANY TIME YOU LIKE….,” Avalon sang off key, “BUT YOU CAN
NEEEEEEVER LEAVE!” Dr. Zhang glared up at him. She was actually more irritated
by the fact that Marvel Girl wasn’t leaving than Avalon’s singing. She would
have really liked a more thorough inspection of Avalon’s body.
“Good God, he’s off-key,” Outburst said, coming into the room.
“Tell me about it,” said Marvel Girl, glad for her company. Marvel Girl was a
member of the Hellions, but she was staying with the BHC for a few days as a
favor to Silver, who needed her telepathic and telekinetic powers to help them
try to figure out why several members of the BHC kept having horrible
nightmares where they woke up screaming. Outburst had come along also to “keep
MG outta trouble”. Actually she had come to make sure that it wasn’t a trap.
Outburst had never been a very trusting person, and she wasn’t sure that she
would trust anyone from the BHC even if she was. She knew that there was always
a power play between the Hellions and the BHC so she came to back Marvel Girl up
if it was a trap or if things got nasty. Dr. Zhang was checking Avalon’s
pulse when Monet walked into the infirmary.
“Hello Dr. Zhang,” she said, nodding at the doctor. The doctor returned the nod
with a grim smile, anger that yet another person had decided to join.
“I AM IRON MAN!!!!!” Avalon screamed. Monet raised her eyebrows and then turned
her attention to Marvel Girl and Outburst.
“Marvel Girl. . . Outburst, I have come to you with a message from King
Silver,” Monet said. They both looked at her, allowing her to continue.
“He says now that Nate has returned to the BHC, your services won’t be needed
and you can return to the Hellions.” Monet smiled at them, “he also says that he
is very grateful for your help and to let him know when the favor can be
returned.”
“Sounds like a polite way of saying…see ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya,” Outburst
said. Marvel Girl shrugged.
“Hey, at least we can sleep in our own beds again,” she said as they both walked
out of the room.
“You’ve got that right!” Outburst agreed. Dr. Zhang was trying not to show how
extremely pleased she was that the two women were gone.
“Well,” Monet said, “I guess I’ll send Nate in here to try and probe Avalon’s
mind so that we can see what’s up.” Dr. Zhang bowed her head in agreement and
Monet left the room.
“WASTING AWAY AGAIN IN MARGARITAVILLE,” Avalon sang happily. Dr. Zhang moved
closer to him.
“How are you feeling,” she asked.
“Oh, I feel reeeeeeaaal good, doc,” Avalon said, almost falling off of the
examining bench.
“How would you like to feel even better?” Dr. Zhang asked with a smile.
“You da doctor!” Avalon said, waving his arms around. Dr. Zhang smiled and put
her hand on his leg. Behind her she heard someone clear their throat. She
swerved around to find herself face-to-face with Nate.
“Really, doctor,” he said, shaking his head sadly. “Taking advantage of poor
Avalon like that.”
“I can find nothing wrong with him, “Dr. Zhang said, trying to change the
subject. “Besides the obvious bite on his arm. It looks like he was bitten by a
very large animal.” Dr. Zhang turned back to Avalon. “Do you remember what bit
you?”
“It was a one eyed, long nosed, big purple people eater!” Avalon exclaimed. Dr.
Zhang and Nate exchanged a look.
“Well, if there’s nothing wrong with him physically,” Nate said. “Then it must
be mentally.”
“Obviously,” Dr. Zhang agreed.
“DON’T CRY FOR ME, ARGENTINA!” Avalon sang.
“Now that is really some awful singing,” Nate said.
“He’s doing it on purpose,” Dr. Zhang said.
“Well, doctor, thank you but I’ll take it from here,” Nate said, taking Avalon
by the arm. “Just put a report on ShockWave’s desk of Avalon’s condition so we
can make sure we didn’t miss anything.” Dr. Zhang sighed and nodded. It was
going to be a long night.
* *
“Why did you choose the coffee house anyway,” Havok asked. “We both hate
coffee.”
“Because it was the first thing I thought of,” Siryn said as she sipped her hot
chocolate.
“Hmph. . . whatever,” Havok said.
“Well I didn’t want to say anything where I thought the others could hear,”
Siryn added.
“Wait a minute, I thought you said it was no big deal,” Havok said.
“It isn’t.”
“Then why are we keeping it a secret?” Havok asked with a smug smile.
“Because I don’t want to worry the others. And you’re determined to find out
what it is anyway, so I might as well tell you,” Siryn answered with a glare.
“And I just burnt my tongue!” she finished. Havok tried not to laugh at her.
“You shouldn’t drink it so fast. Anyway, so what’s up with the snakes?”
“Well, okay,” Siryn said. “It all started when I had this really really bad
nightmare.”
“Okay, tell me about the nightmare,” Havok said.
“I would if you would stop interrupting!” Siryn exclaimed. They stared at each
other for a minute in silence and then Havok shrugged with an apologetic grin.
“So, as I was saying, I had this nightmare. And in it something was trying to
get me. I could feel it’s eyes watching me wherever I went. You know that
feeling you get when you’re being watched?” Havok nodded, not daring to say
anything. “Well I had that feeling in the dream and. . . I have that feeling
now.
“Being watched by what?” Havok asked, not able to help himself.
“I’m not sure,” Siryn admitted. “But then the next day, I got an invitation to
join Ryan Jensen for dinner. . . “
“The Red King!”
“The one and only. . . now, listen to this. Obviously a man like Ryan wouldn’t
invite someone like me to his mansion without wanting something. . . but he
didn’t ask for anything. He said some pretty weird things too.”
“Weird?” Havok asked.
“Well. . . yeah. And the last thing he said to me before I left was: “snakes
intertwined on a stormy grave. You think everything is fine until it’s just too
late.” Havok frowned.
“Sharon, I think Ryan is fucking with your head.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too,” Siryn said. “That’s why I was saying it was
no big deal. You agree with that, right?” Siryn wanted desperately for someone
to tell her that she had nothing to worry about, that every thing was fine.
“But, the question is, why would he do that?” Havok asked, taking a sip of his
hot chocolate.
“I don’t know, maybe he’s bored,” Siryn suggested with a shrug.
“Maybe. . .” Havok said, “but the Hellions and the BHC seem to be on pretty good
terms. I just saw Marvel Girl and Outburst today. I don’t know why he would want
to try and screw with you like that.”
“Maybe it’s a power play and he wants me to come to him for help,” Siryn said.
“Maybe. . .” Havok said again. “The thing is, we just don’t know yet. I’ll be
thinking about it, and you tell me if anything else weird happens or if Ryan
contacts you again in any way, okay?” Siryn smiled, feeling a little better.
“Okay,” she agreed.
“And Sharon?”
“Yeah?”
“Everything is going to be fine.”
“Yeah, Mike, I know. I know.”
* *
Bastion awoke with a buzzing in his head. He couldn’t understand what had
happened to him. His whole body hurt and for the first time he felt weak. . .
almost like his life was draining away. He decided to try and figure out where
he was as he let his eyes adjust to the dark. Suddenly he could feel another
presence in the room. One that didn’t seem human. Blood red eyes that almost
seemed to glow glared at him from the inky darkness.
“You’re awake,” said a voice that sounded like gravel.
“Who the hell are you?!” Bastion asked. He hated this. . . feeling vunerable.
He hated it!
“Good choice of words,” the creature said as it moved closer. Then suddenly
Bastion’s eyes completely adjusted to the light and he saw what was before him.
He couldn’t control the scream that rose in his throat as the creature grabbed
him by the neck and began to drain him. He wanted to die. . . craved it
actually. Any death would be better than this pain that seemed never ending. He
screamed again as the pain engulfed him and then his whole world went black.
* *
Morph walked into Siryn’s room. “She’s not the only one who can play detective,”
he thought to himself as he peered under her bed. He knew it! She DID take the
chips! He grabbed them out from under her bed and as he was standing back up,
clutching the chips protectively, he noticed a note on Siryn’s bed. He knew that
he shouldn’t read it, it was none of his business, but he couldn’t help it.
Morph was just a curious guy by nature.
“So sue me, Si,” he said as he picked up the note and opened it. There was a
crushed dandelion in it. He sniffed it without thinking and the powerful aroma
overtook him. He sneezed several times and then heard footsteps coming his way.
With a gasp, he threw himself in the Black Rook’s closet to hide, still
clutching the flower. For some reason, he really liked the way it smelled.
ShockWave walked into Siryn’s room.
“That’s funny,” she said. “I could’ve swore I heard something.” Morph grinned,
glad that he wasn’t going to be discovered. He yelped when the closet door was
suddenly opened.
“A-hah! Just as I suspected!” ShockWave said. “Greg, you can come out of the
closet now,” she added with a grin.
“Very funny,” Morph said, as he grumbled.
“May I ask what you were doing in Siryn’s room?” ShockWave asked. Morph thought
about the flower, tucked away safely in his pocket. There was no way he would
give it up now. Besides, Siryn would never even miss it. She didn’t even know it
was there.
“CHIPS!” he shouted, running past ShockWave. “SIRYN STOLE THE CHIPS!!”
ShockWave shook her head as she made a mental note to tell Siryn to lock her
door from now on.
* *
The man walked with a bounce in his step. He always did. He wore a purple,
spandex-like suit and his skin was green. It’s safe to say that Impossible Man
is pretty easy to pick out in a crowd.
“Excuse me! Excuse me!” he shouted. Siryn and Havok turned around, shocked to
see a green man running toward them on their way back to the BHC mansion.
“Yeah, I’m talking to YOU, girly-girl!” Impossible Man said, pointing at Siryn.
“What can I do for you, Impy?” Siryn asked, trying to hide her smile. Havok, on
the other hand, was not amused. He glared at the green man from behind Siryn.
“I have an important message for you, my little raggamuffin!” Impossible Man
said. Then he cleared his throat. “The Red King, Ryan, would like for you to
join him at dinner tomorrow night! Isn’t that exciting! I know I’m excited!”
“What for?” Havok asked, still glaring at Impossible Man.
“What do you care, Blondey, you’re not invited!” With that, Impossible Man
stuck his tongue out at Havok and yelled, “NAGA NOOTCH!” Then he disappeared,
teleporting away.
“Well. . . that was. . . different,” Siryn said, “most people just would have
called and asked me to come to dinner, not send a green-skinned maniac.” Havok
was still frowning, obviously not happy with what had just happened.
“Hey, Mike, what should I do?” Siryn asked.
“I’m not gonna tell you what to do,” Havok answered.
“Yeah you are, you’re bossy like that,” Siryn said with a smile. Havok smiled
back and Siryn was glad he has stopped glaring. Something about the way he was
looking at Impossible Man gave her a chill.
“I would go,” Havok said. “And then tell me what Ryan says and we can figure
out what exactly he wants.”
“Okay, good plan,” Siryn agreed.
“But for right now let’s both just try and get some sleep,” Havok said as the
walked into the BHC mansion.
“Will do,” Siryn answered.
* *
Before she went to her room, Siryn checked her voice-mail. She had a message
from Nate, asking her to play basketball and a message from SuperGrover!!!
“Hey, Irish, I’d really like to talk to you if you have time. I’ll be around
your place at around noon tomorrow. I hope you’re there!” Siryn wondered what
‘Grover could possibly want to talk about. Maybe he just wants to chat, he
thought. But something in SuperGrover’s voice made her highly doubt that.
“Well, we’ll see,” she decided as she went to her room to change. She smelled
the faint scent of dandelions as she walked into her room. That’s odd. . . she
thought. Right before she drifted off to sleep she could have sworn she saw
eyes. Blood red eyes.
Storm! woke up with a headache. She sighed as she sat up in bed, rubbing her
temples. She wondered what time it was and glanced over at her alarm clock. It
said 8:32 a.m. Strange. . . she thought. My alarm should have woken me up at
8:00. She dismissed the thought from her mind as she reached over to turn on
her light. It certainly is dark outside, she thought. She hit play on her c.d.
player and heard Tina Turner singing Private Dancer.
“You don’t look at their faces
And you don’t ask their names”
Storm! swayed with the music as she walked to open her blinds. Her eyes widened
with shock as she stared out the window. The sun. . . it was dark red. . .
blood red. She had never seen anything like it before. She closed her eyes as a
chill went up her spine. She wasn’t sure what it meant, but she knew it was
something bad. And yet she couldn’t stop looking at the sun. In the back of her
mind she was aware of the song still playing.
“You don’t look at them as human
You don’t look at them at all
You keep your mind on the money
Keeping your eyes on the wall.”
* *
SuperGrover awoke from another nightmare. Shaking his head to clear it, he was
aware that he was shaking violently. Still trembling, he reached for his light
switch so that he could totally awaken. He felt a jolt go through him when he
saw his walls. They were splattered with blood. And in the middle of it were
words, written in blood. SuperGrover squinted so that he could read the
child-like scrawl. It said “The blackness is creeping in”. SuperGrover jumped
to his feet and ran to his window. He flung the curtains back, revealing the
blood red sun. Bowing his head he whispered, “I might be too late. God have
mercy on their souls.” Then he went to his closet, removing his flowing cape
and wrist-gauntlets.
* *
“Wakey Wakey,” Nate said, turning on Avalon’s light. Avalon shielded his eyes
from the sudden brightness with a groan.
“Now, don’t be like that,” Nate said, “You had all night to sleep. And we’ve got
work to do. Now, do you feel like singing me a few lines of Hotel California?”
Avalon glared up at him.
“Nate, what the hell. . . will you get out of my room?”
“Hmmm. . . not at all like yesterday, I see,” Nate answered, sitting on the
edge of Avalon’s bed.
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Avalon said with a yawn.
“Why don’t you take a look at your arm,” Nate suggested. Avalon shrugged and
pulled up his sleeve, revealing perfectly smooth skin.
“What!?” Nate exclaimed. “Where are the bite marks? What did you do with them?!”
“Excuse me?” Avalon asked. “Nate, I think you’re the one who’s not mentally
sound here. You want me to call the doctor?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Nate said. “You mean you don’t remember bleeding
all over the place with a huge gash on your arm while singing 70’s songs TOTALLY
off-key?”
“Uhm. . .” Avalon replied. “First of all, I don’t sing off-key. I can sing quite
well. Are you sure you didn’t just have a weird dream?” Nate stood up from the
bed, totally confused. And for some reason, his head was pounding like it did
when he used his telepathic abilities at full-force.
“Do you have any advil?” Nate asked, almost overcome by the pain.
“Why?” Avalon asked with a grin. “Gotta headache?”
“Yeah. . .” Nate mumbled. Then a dizzy feeling overtook him and his vision got
blurry. He fell to the ground, feeling dazed. Avalon laughed out loud, standing
over him. Nate blinked hard up at him to try and get his vision to return to
normal.
“What’s going on here?” he asked in a weak voice. Avalon’s eyes glew blood red
in reply and Nate felt his world fade.
* *
Siryn walked to breakfast, trying not to bump into anything. She had a headache
that she couldn’t get rid of and it was frustrating her. She sat at her usual
place at the table and noticed that several people were missing.
“ShockWave, where is everybody?” she asked, noticing ShockWave looking around
also.
“I don’t know,” ShockWave answered. “This is really weird.” Monet frowned.
“Looks like we’re missing Nate, Avalon, and Morph, among a few other people,”
she said.
“Do you think they could be sleeping in?” Siryn asked. She noticed that Storm!
was sitting silently in the corner, which was not like her at all.
“Storm!, are you okay?” Siryn asked, feeling concerned.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just have a headache,” Storm! answered with a small smile.
“God, me too,” Monet admitted.
“I have a headache also,” ShockWave said.
“So do I!” Siryn added. “That’s very strange!” She stood up from the table and
decided to go to Morph’s room to see if he was in there. She knocked lightly on
the door and it opened. She remembered walking in on Havok yesterday, so she
called out softly.
“Greg?”
“Uhhhh…yeah?” came a muffled reply.
“Can I come in?” Siryn asked.
“Yeah, sure,” Morph answered. She walked in and cut on the lamp beside his bed.
“Hey, are you okay?” she asked him softly.
“I don’t feel so good,” he admitted. Siryn studied his face carefully. He looked
awful! he was extremely pale and looked like he was sweating.
“What hurts?” she asked. “Do you want me to call Dr. Zhang?”
“NO!” Morph answered quickly. “I think it’ll pass in a few minutes. I just feel.
. . I don’t know. . .drained.” Siryn put her hand on his forehead. He didn’t
feel like he had a fever. She decided if it didn’t go away by that afternoon she
would call the doctor, regardless of what Morph said. She wasn’t taking any
chances.
“Okay. . . I have to go and talk to ‘Grover,” Siryn told him. “I’ll come back to
check on you in a little while.”
“Okay,” Morph said weakly.
“Get some rest,” Siryn said as she cut off his lamp and left the room. Next she
decided to check on her brother. She knocked on the door loudly.
“Oh Natey-Poo!” she called in a teasing voice. There came no reply so she opened
the door. She sighed. His room was a mess like it always was. Clothes and c.d.s
were scattered all over the floor and his bed was unmade. She shook her head, he
would never clean it, she was sure. Siryn noticed a jacket on Nate’s bed that
she had never seen him wear before. Hmmm, she thought. He probably won’t mind if
I borrow it! What are brother’s for? She pulled it from the bed and tried it on.
It fit pretty well, it was only a little big, but she liked it that way. She
smiled as she walked out of his room and put her hands in the pockets of the
jacket. Her smile faded as she realized that there was something in the pockets
of the jacket. Her face drained of color as she pulled out a small picture of
two snakes intertwined that matched the one in Bastion’s room.
* *
Gomurr awoke knowing that someone else was in his room. He could feel their
presence and smell them as well.
“You might as well come out,” he said, instantly awake. “I know you’re there.
You can’t fool this old wizard.” He saw something move in the shadows and he
focused his eyes there. A beautiful young woman walked out with long blonde hair
and blue eyes.
“Who are you and what are you doing in my room?” the wizard asked. Her
appearance could not deceive him. He could feel the evilness surrounding the
woman. She smelled of fire and destruction.
“I am Byron, goddess of hell,” the woman said with a flashy smile. “And I
believe that you have something that I want.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Gomurr said stiffly, but his heart had
skipped a beat.
“I would not have come here if it wasn’t important, old man,” Byron said.
“I realize that,” Gomurr answered. “But you aren’t getting it, so leave.”
“You know I can’t do that,” Byron said. “I have to get it, for your own good as
well as mine.”
“What do you need it for?” Gomurr asked angrily.
“He has escaped again.” Byron said evenly.
“No!” Gomurr cried, showing his disgust. “You told me that the last time was the
last!”
“I don’t know how he did it, but I need the stone,” Byron said. “If not, your
people are doomed as well as I.”
“I don’t have it,” Gomurr admitted.
“Who does then?” Byron asked.
“I don’t know,” Gomurr said softly. Byron’s eyes flashed.
“What do you mean you don’t know!” she cried, striking him in the jaw. He fell
out of his bed and glared up at her.
“One of my students must have taken it,” he said simply. Byron stared into his
eyes and saw that he was telling the truth.
“I suggest you find it,” she said with a sneer. “Or we are all doomed.” Then she
morphed into a crow and flew out of Gomurr’s open window. Gomurr stared out the
window after her and saw the sun. Of course, how could he be so stupid! He
should have known that even a powerful being like Byron could not keep the
creature at bay for long. And he knew that he had to find the stone no matter
what.
* *
Siryn walked into the lounge at noon and saw that SuperGrover was already
sitting on the couch. He seemed to be deep in thought.
“Hey, ‘Grover,” she said with what she hoped was a carefree smile as she sat
down beside him. “What’s up?”
“Hey, Irish, I’m glad you made it,” SuperGrover answered. Siryn noticed that he
looked very tired. His blue eyes held an almost glazed look from lack of sleep.
“Are you okay?” Siryn asked softly. SuperGrover looked at her for a minute and
then took a deep breath.
“No, actually, I’m not,” he said simply. “I keep having really bad nightmares.”
He didn’t know why he was telling Siryn this when he had kept it from Gomurr,
but it felt good to tell it to someone. He saw a surprised look on Siryn’s face.
“That’s strange,” she said, “I’ve been having nightmares too.”
“Really?” SuperGrover asked, his eyes lighting up. “What about?”
“Well, it feels like someone is watching me. . . and I don’t know, it’s just
really creepy.”
“Mine too. . . it’s like something is watching and waiting to attack,”
SuperGrover said.
“May I ask you something, Irish?” SuperGrover asked suddenly, a very serious
expression on his face.
“Sure, go ahead.” Siryn answered.
“Did you ever see eyes in your dreams?” Siryn thought for a minute and then
answered.
“Actually, yes. And it’s funny that you mentioned it because they were really
weird eyes.”
“Weird in what way?” SuperGrover asked.
“Well, they were red. . . like blood.” SuperGrover nodded solemnly. Siryn was
surprised by his sullen mood. Usually the man was quite charming. Then
SuperGrover stood up from the couch and walked to the window.
“Come here,” he said, beckoning to her. Siryn walked over and stood beside him.
He pulled back the curtains, revealing the sun.
“That color of red?” SuperGrover asked.
“Well. . . yes actually,” Siryn said, squinting up at the sun.
“Tell me, Siryn, do you have a headache?” SuperGrover asked, still looking out
the window.
“Yes I do!” Siryn answered quickly. “And so does everyone else. Grover, what is
going on?”
“I’m not sure exactly,” SuperGrover said. “I need to talk to Gomurr and then I
will get back to you. Will you be here?”
“I’m meeting Ryan for dinner, but I will be here after that,” Siryn answered.
SuperGrover frowned when Ryan’s name was mentioned but he nodded.
“Okay, good. I’ll see you then,” he said and pat her on the back as he walked
out.
* *
Siryn knocked loudly on Havok’s door.
“Are you coming or not?” she asked.
“Hang on,” Havok answered and then he opened the door.
“Okay,” Siryn said. She was dressed in a light blue evening gown with black high
heeled shoes. “Here’s the plan. You drive me over there and then you wait for an
hour. If I’m not back in an hour, you come in after me. Otherwise, you just wait
and I’ll tell you everything he says when I get back.”
“Alright,” Havok said as he opened the car door for her.
“And I mean it, you’d better give me a whole hour!” Siryn warned.
“Okay, okay,” Havok answered. “You want a whole hour, you get a whole hour.” He
pulled up beside Ryan’s mansion and watched as Siryn got out and walked to the
steps, greeted by Impossible Man. This is going to be one boring hour, he
thought. He considered going and getting a beer but then thought better of it. I
can wait, he thought as he turned on the radio.
“Greeting, fair earthling,” Impossible Man said as he met Siryn at the door.
Siryn was not entirely sure why Impossible Man was there, but he was known to be
sneaky, so she was sure he was up to no good.
“And how are you tonight, Impy?” Siryn asked pleasantly.
“Quite well, actually,” Impossible Man said with a grin. “Because I know
something you don’t! Nyah nah nyah nyah!”
“Oh, really now?” Siryn asked. Impossible Man had stopped in the middle of a
hallway and turned to her, his eyes aglow.
“Yeppers. And it has to do with a certain Red King!” he added with a sly smile.
“Well, tell me already!” Siryn said, almost irritated by the fact that
Impossible Man was enjoying seeing her squirm.
“Oh, my dear dear Siryn,” Impossible Man said in a very disappointed voice. “Do
you honestly think that I will tell you for nothing? I am so ashamed!” Siryn
sighed. She really didn’t have time for this. She was extremely stressed out and
it was affecting her. She was worried about all of her friends safety and
Impossible Man’s mind games were just making her more frustrated.
“What do you want?” she asked through clenched teeth.
“Well, I don’t know,” Impossible Man said, pretending to think. “Maybe you
could give me some top secret information on a certain Black Hellfire Club, you
being the Rook and all.”
“Impy,” Siryn said, trying to control her anger.
“Yes my little tea cup?” Siryn reached over and grabbed the green mutant by the
collar.
“Tell me what I want to know. . . or else!” Impossible Man looked down at her
hand and laughed.
“Or else what?” he asked. “You’re gonna hurt me? I know your kind, Siryn. You
don’t hurt people. You’re one of the good guys. You just try to save everyone.”
Siryn let go of Impossible Man.
“You know, I’m Irish,” she told him.
“Yeah and I’m green. What’s the point?” Impossible Man asked, fixing his collar
back.
“Well, I don’t know if you know much about the Irish,” Siryn continued.
“I know they drink a lot,” Impossible Man interrupted.
“Very good,” Siryn said with a forced smile. “But, it looks like someone forgot
to inform you that some Irish people have a very fiery temper.”
“Ooooh, scary!” Impossible Man said. Siryn punched him in the jaw, sending him
reeling backwards. Before he could recover, she slammed her foot into his
stomach.
“Don’t fuck with me, Impy,” she said.
“Uhm, excuse me. . .” Siryn turned around and saw that the young mutant known
as SlashR was standing behind them. He didn’t look pleased.
“What exactly is going on here?” SlashR asked.
“I was just leaving!” Impossible Man said. He saluted SlashR and turned to
Siryn. “That wasn’t very nice! I’ll get you later, though! NAGA NOOCH!” Then,
using his power, the green man teleported from sight. Siryn sighed and turned to
SlashR.
“I’m sorry about that,” she said.
“Never mind it,” SlashR said. “The Red King is waiting for you.”
“Okay,” Siryn said, straightening her dress. “Lead the way.”
? * *
Morph knew something was horribly wrong before he even woke up. The flower had
made him feel totally at peace with himself. But, now he didn’t feel at peace.
He felt tormented. He was extremely tired, yet he couldn’t sleep without being
plagued with nightmares. And he was so drained. It almost felt as though
something was feeding off of his life. He weakly reached over and picked up the
flower. After holding it for a few minutes, he felt a little better and
eventually fell into a fog-like sleep.
? * *
Siryn sat across from the Red King at one of his many dinner tables.
“How are you today, my dear?” he asked with charming smile. He was dressed very
nicely, and Siryn couldn’t help but notice how attractive he was. But that
didn’t change her fear. She might as well be totally honest with herself, she
was quite afraid of Ryan. And with good reason too. Ryan was extremely powerful,
one of the most powerful men in the world. And she owed him. Big time. Being in
debt to someone with that much power was like a weight pressing down on her
chest. She wanted to it to be relieved, but hoped not to be crushed while trying
to do so. She knew that she had to do whatever Ryan wanted her too. And she knew
that she could never ever make him angry at her.
“I’m well, my king. And how are you?” she replied, trying to look extremely
interested.
“I am doing good,” Ryan answered. A servant came out and asked Siryn what she
would like to eat.
“What do you have?” Siryn asked him.
“Anything the lady wishes,” the servant replied with a humble bow. Siryn raised
her eyebrows. She was not used to being treated like this. Her idea of a meal
was a McDonald’s hamburger and fries.
“Well, I’ll take whatever you want to fix me,” she told the servant with a
smile. The servant looked bewildered and turned to the Red King to see what to
do. Ryan glared at him.
“You head her,” he said coldly. The servant bowed again and left. Siryn winced.
She hadn’t meant to get the servant in trouble, but it was obvious from his
expression that he wanted to die. I’ll have to be more careful, she thought.
These people are touché!
“Ryan,” Siryn said softly. “There’s something that I would like to talk to you
about.”
“What’s that?” the Red King asked, sipping on his wine.
“Well, it’s about my debt,” Siryn said.
“Nonsense!” Ryan answered. “This is not the time to talk of such things. I
brought you here to tell you that I believe that someone is going to try to
assassinate someone in the BHC.” Siryn almost spit out her wine.
“What?” she asked. “Who? Why? How do you know this??”
“I can not tell you my sources,” Ryan told her. “But, believe it or not, my
dear, I consider you my friend and I knew that this person is close to you.”
“Who is it?” Siryn asked.
“That I cannot say.” Siryn slammed her fists down on the table, her anger
causing her to forget where she was and who she was talking to. The Red King
raised his eyebrows.
“I didn’t know you had a temper,” he told her.
“Sorry,” she said quickly, trying to fight the urge to wipe the smirk off of
his face. Getting angry won’t help anything, she told herself.
“That’s all I wanted to say to you, Siryn,” Ryan said.
“Okay,” Siryn said, getting up to leave.
“Oh wait. . .” Ryan said, raising his hand up to stop her.
“Yes?” Siryn asked.
“Whatever you do, don’t drink any wine.” Siryn looked confused.
“What? Why?”
“Just trust me on that one, my dear. Good night.”
? * *
Siryn walked to the car rubbing her temples. That had not helped relieve any of
her stress, that was for sure. What Ryan had told her had just confused her
more and made her about ten times as worried as she was before. She suddenly
really wanted to talk to Gomurr. Normally she told him all of her problems, and
she wished that she had done the same with this one. This thing was defiantly
too big to keep to herself. Well, at least I have Havok, Siryn thought. He’s a
good friend, he’ll help me figure some of this crap out. And SuperGrover too.
She made a mental note to tell SuperGrover most of what she knew when she saw
him again. She had the feeling that SuperGrover knew a lot more than he let on.
She opened the door to the car and got in.
“Well, let me tell you, that was REALLY confusing,” she said to Havok.
“Well, hurry up and tell me!” Havok snapped. She looked over at him, surprised
by the angry tone of his voice. He was slumped over in the car seat, glaring
straight ahead.
“Uhm. . . okay,” Siryn said. “You don’t have to snap at me.”
“Fuck off,” Havok told her.
“Geeze,” Siryn said, feeling a little hurt. She almost didn’t want to tell him
now.
“Well, are you going to tell me or not?” Havok said, glaring at her.
“Can’t you even say please?” Siryn asked, starting to get angry herself.
“I don’t have time for this shit,” Havok spat. “Tell me what the hell Ryan said
to you!”
“Mike, have you been drinking?” Siryn asked softly. She had never seen him this
way before. Havok’s eyes snapped.
“No!” he cried, and he was on top of her before she could blink.
“What are you doing?” Siryn gasped, struggling to get him off. Suddenly she felt
his claws around her neck.
“You really are being a bitch, aren’t you?” Havok whispered to her. He was so
close. . . she could smell his breath. . . and there was no trace of alcohol in
it. That fact scared her more than anything else.
“Mike. . . please,” she whimpered. “What has gotten into you?”
“Tell me what Ryan said,” Havok answered. His eyes were glowing red and Siryn
was truly scared that he was about to slit her throat.
“You know I’ll tell you,” she told him, “please stop threatening me.” Havok
pulled his claws away but kept her pinned down.
“So tell me,” he said, his eyes boring into her. She stared at him. She didn’t
even recognize the person who was looking back at her. She felt like she was
about to cry. No, she thought. That won’t do any good, it will probably just
make him more angry.
“Ryan. . .he told me that someone close to me would be assassinated,” Siryn told
him. Havok released her and sat back down in his seat.
“Anything else?” he asked. She noticed that his eyes had gone back to their
original color.
“He told me not to drink the wine,” she added.
“What?” Havok asked, getting angry again. Siryn realized that Havok somehow
thought that she was making fun of his alcohol problem.
“No!” she said quickly. “He really did say that. I don’t know why.” Havok
relaxed back into his seat again.
“And that’s all that happened?” he demanded.
“Well. . . yeah,” Siryn said. She saw no reason for her to mention her debt to
Ryan. Havok was one of her good friends and she wanted to keep it that way, even
if he was being really rude right now.
“You fucking liar!” Havok suddenly yelled, his eyes glowing red again.
“What!?” Siryn asked, moving away from him. Her hand went for the door handle in
case she needed to make a quick getaway.
“I know that Impossible Man said something to you! I saw you talking before you
went inside!”
“Good God, Mike! I just forgot about that! Why are you being so damn mean?”
Siryn didn’t want to admit it, but Havok was really scaring her right now. She
wasn’t sure what he would do next.
“So what did he say?” Havok said, his voice softer and his eyes returning blue.
“He said that he knew something about Ryan, but he wouldn’t tell me unless I
gave him something in return,” Siryn told him.
“And?” Havok seemed completely calm now.
“And I had to hit him,” Siryn said, “He asked for BHC information and I just
wasn’t in the mood for any games. SlashR interrupted us and Impy teleported
away.” Havok nodded.
“Okay,” he said. “I’m sorry I was being such an asshole. I just. . . I really
wanted a drink and it was frustrating me so I took it out on you. I’m really
sorry. Plus, I have a headache.” Siryn looked over at him.
“It’s okay, it’s been a long day,” she told him. She was just so relieved that
he seemed to be back to normal again.
“No, it’s not okay,” Havok said with a determined look.
“Uhm. . . yes it is,” Siryn said with a small laugh.
“No, I had no right to talk to you like that,” Havok told her.
“People have said worse,” Siryn said with a shrug. “I accept your apology.”
“Well, I don’t think an apology is enough,” Havok said.
“Okay. . . you’re right. Buy me a car! Now!” Siryn said, trying to lighten his
mood.
“That’s not exactly what I had in mind,” Havok said. Then Siryn noticed that his
eyes were wandering over her dress.
“What?” she asked. He moved closer to her, until his face was right in front of
hers.
“What can I do to make it up to you?” he asked softly.
“Mike. . .” Siryn said. She didn’t like the way he was looking at her. Suddenly
his lips were on hers and he pulled her closer, pressing her body against his.
“Hey!” Siryn cried, pushing him away. “What is wrong with you?!”
“Nothing,” Havok whispered. “I’ve never felt more alive.”
“Well, I have to get home and check on Morph,” Siryn said, trying to control her
racing heart.
“Morph can wait.”
“Look,” Siryn said, pushing the hair out of her face that had fallen out of
place, “you are obviously very tired and not thinking straight. Why don’t you
take a nap and then we can talk about this?” Havok was silent as he stared
straight ahead.
“You want me to drive?” Siryn asked. “Havok. . . please?” Havok shrugged.
“Nah, I’ll drive,” he said, “Do you want to go get a movie or something? Is
Morph is sick then it will give him something to do.”
“No,” Siryn said, “Ryan said that someone is going to try and assassinate
someone I care about. I want to make sure everyone is okay.” Havok frowned but
nodded.
“Whatever you say, Red.”
“Thank you,” Siryn said, breathing a sigh of relief.
* * *
Somewhere in the shadows the creature threw back his head and laughed.
Everything was going according to plan. Now if he could only find out who had
the stone. . .
? * *
?
SuperGrover could feel that something was wrong as he walked past Morph’s room.
Not only that, but he smelled a very strange smell. He knocked on the young
mutant’s door and then walked in. Morph was tossing in his bed, obviously having
a nightmare. But SuperGrover was not concerned about Morph at the moment. He
sniffed the air again and followed the smell until he realized that it was
coming from something clutched tightly in Morph’s hand. SuperGrover pried
Morph’s hands apart and pulled out the crushed dandelion. He turned it over in
his hand, trying to figure out what was causing it to smell so strongly. And why
he suddenly felt so calm. . . so peaceful. Morph suddenly woke up. He cried out
in shock when he saw the blue man in front of him.
“Oh….SG!!!, you nearly gave me a heart attack!” Morph muttered.
“Sorry,” SuperGrover apologized. “Morph, can you tell me where this flower came
from?” Morph looked shocked, then guilty.
“That’s my flower,” he said. His eyes not meeting SuperGrover’s.
“Uh huh. . . you’re a really bad liar, Morph,” SuperGrover said, seeing right
through him.
“Okay fine,” Morph said sullenly. “I found it on Siryn’s bed when I went in her
room looking for the chips. I liked the way it smelled so I kept it. Is that a
crime?”
“You stole it,” SuperGrover told him.
“Oh yeah, I guess it is a crime when you put it that way,” Morph answered. He
still felt weak, but not as weak as before. He was actually joking around again.
“Well, I’m going to take it. It smells funny,” SuperGrover told him. “I think
there’s some kind of spell on it.”
“Huh? Well.. . hmph,” Morph answered, not bothering to argue with SuperGrover.
“Gomurr should know,” SuperGrover said.
“Yeah, he’d be who I would ask,” Morph agreed with a shrug.
“Morph, I couldn’t help but notice when I came in here that you were having a
nightmare,” SuperGrover said.
“I was?” Morph asked. “I can’t remember. But then again I rarely remember my
dreams.”
“Okay, give me a call if you remember it or if you need me,” SuperGrover said
as he walked out of his room.
“Will do, G,” Morph answered.
? * *
ShockWave sat on her bed, reading her new book. She turned the page, totally
engrossed in the novel. She hardly noticed the slight tap at her door. The
second tap was a little louder. . . more urgent, and she looked up. She
grumbled, not really wanting to be disturbed and popped another advil in her
mouth. Usually painkillers worked like a charm for her but today they didn’t
seem to be working at all.
“Who is it?” she asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice.
“It’s me! Avalon!” came the muffled reply. ShockWave brightened instantly. She
hadn’t really heard from Avalon all day and was glad that he decided to pay her
a visit. She stood up, placing her book on her bed and opened the door.
“Hey, Avalon,” she said with a grin. “How are you? I haven’t seen you all day.”
“I know,” Avalon said as he walked into the room. His eyes quickly scanned her
room and they rested on her book. “What’cha reading, Margaret?”
“Oh,” ShockWave said, moving to put her book back on the shelf, “it’s just some
stupid romance novel.” She blushed, embarrassed at being caught reading
something which she would normally consider very unrealistic.
“You like romance?” Avalon asked with a knowing smile.
“Well. . .” ShockWave said, noticing for the first time how hungry his eyes
seemed to be. “Doesn’t everybody?”
“I know I do. . .” Avalon said, his eyes moving up and down her body
suggestively.
“So. . .uhm. . . where have you been?” ShockWave stammered, trying desperately
to change the subject. Avalon laughed suddenly and she was surprised at how cold
it sounded.
“I just went out for a bite to eat,” he told her, licking his lips. “But I
forgot to get dessert.” ShockWave stared at him in shock. He certainly was
acting weird. Maybe he’s just messing with me, she thought.
“So, what were you planning on having?” she asked him with a small smile.
“Close your eyes and I’ll show you,” Avalon told her.
“No way!” she told him simply. “You’re going to throw a pie in my face or
something.”
“Come on, Margaret. I have a surprise that I made just for you,” Avalon said
with a grin that almost looked like a smirk to ShockWave.
“I’m not quite that stupid,” ShockWave answered with her hands on her hips.
“We only come out at night. . . the days are much too bright,” Avalon said,
moving closer to her. She noticed that his eyes seemed vacant. . . almost
soulless.
“What?” she asked.
“Shhhh,” he whispered, putting a finger to her lips to silence her.
“Listen,” he whispered in her ear. She obeyed him and could hear music softly
playing. She wasn’t sure where it came from and she had to strain to hear the
words.
“Farewell. . . goodnight. . . last one out turn out the lights
and let me be, let me die inside.”
“Who is that?” ShockWave asked him with a frown. For some reason the lyrics to
the song increased the uneasy feeling that she had.
“And we’re all dead, yeah, we’re all dead
inside the future of a shattered past.”
“I love this song,” Avalon told her.
“Yeah, it’s nice,” ShockWave said, trying to smile. But she was about to choke
on the sudden dread that had overtaken her.
“Avalon, why did you come here? What do you want?” she whispered.
“Your soul,” Avalon answered, brushing her hair away from her face.
“What?!” ShockWave asked. Before she could react her pushed her down on the bed
and kissed her passionately. She felt too confused and shocked to fight him off
at first. Then she pushed him away violently.
“What is wrong with you?” she asked.
“Nothing is wrong with him,” came another voice. Avalon turned around and smiled
at the other person who had walked into the room. ShockWave opened her mouth to
yell but before she could her attacker cracked the baseball bat over her head
and she slipped into unconsciousness.
? * *
Nate awoke with a soft groan. His whole body seemed to ache all over and he
wasn’t sure if he could move. It took him a moment to realize that the reason he
couldn’t move had nothing to do with the pain. He was actually chained to the
wall. Great, he thought. Just what I need.
“Hello?” he called out into the darkness that surrounded him.
“Uhm. . . hello,” came a reply. Nate jumped. He was pretty sure he recognized
that voice.
“Bastion?” he asked.
“Nate?” came the muffled reply.
“Yeah, it’s me,” Nate told him. “Where are we? I can’t see a thing.”
“I think we’re in his lair or something,” Bastion told him. Nate noticed how
weak his voice sounded.
“Who’s lair?” he asked. “Hey, are you okay?”
“Shhhh,” Bastion warned. “He’s coming.” Nate saw the blood red eyes and fear
covered his heart in it’s icy cold grip.
“Wh-What are you?” he whispered, barely able to get his word out.
“I am your new master,” the creature told him. And then it reached out with one
of it’s clawed hands and placed it on Nate’s forehead. Nate screamed as his
energy was drained away. Bastion shivered from where he was chained up, knowing
that he was next.
? * *
SuperGrover walked into Gomurr’s meditating room, carrying the crushed dandelion
in his hand. It was strange but he almost wanted to keep the flower all to
himself now. It made him feel like there was nothing to worry about. He shook
the feeling away as he walked into the room.
“Ah, I’ve been expecting you!” came a voice from the ceiling. SuperGrover looked
up to see Gomurr hanging from the ceiling with his eyes shut.
“Hey, Gomurr, what’s up? Practicing to be Batman?” Gomurr chuckled and lowered
himself to the floor.
“No, I was just meditating,” he told his friend.
“Great,” SuperGrover answered, “and you knew I was coming?”
“I know all,” Gomurr said with a twinkle in his eye.
“Oh, yeah, right,” SuperGrover answered. Gomurr threw back his head and laughed.
“I actually just need to talk to you,” Gomurr admitted.
“Yeah, same here,” SuperGrover said. “Can you tell me anything about this?” He
held the flower up in front of Gomurr’s face. Gomurr’s green eyes widened in
shock.
“I would recognize that smell anywhere,” he told SuperGrover. “It’s an ancient
spell that draws energy from whoever touches it.” SuperGrover dropped the flower
on the ground.
“God, I don’t want it then!” he exclaimed. Gomurr glared down at the flower.
“Don’t worry, I’ll dispose of it later,” he told him. He put the flower in a
plastic bag and brushed off his hands.
“Please, sit down and have some tea with me,” Gomurr told him. SuperGrover
obeyed. He was glad he was talking to Gomurr. Maybe the wise wizard would know
what to do.
“Morph had the flower,” SuperGrover explained. “But he stole it from Siryn’s
room.” Gomurr took a sip of tea and sat back in his chair.
“So the flower was meant for Siryn, he mused.
“Right,” SuperGrover said. “And I’m assuming you’ve seen the sun.”
“Yes,” Gomurr said. “I saw it this morning. I also got a visit from Byron.”
“Byron?” SuperGrover asked.
“The Goddess of Hell,” Gomurr added. “She said that we need the Judas Stone in
order to make him go back.” SuperGrover sighed. It was just as he feared.
“Do you know who has the stone?” SuperGrover asked him.
“No, I don’t,” Gomurr answered. “It was stolen from me a few days ago.”
SuperGrover nodded. Of course. It was never easy.
“Did you get to talk to Siryn?” Gomurr asked.
“Yes, I did. She said that she has been having nightmares. And so have I. I
should have known it when I had the first nightmare. I never have them.”
“It’s not your fault,” Gomurr told him soothingly. “We just have to stop this
now before it gets any worse.”
“Siryn also mentioned that she had another date with Ryan,” SuperGrover said.
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Gomurr said. “I just don’t know what Ryan wants yet.”
“We’ll probably find out soon enough,” SuperGrover muttered.
“This has to end now,” Gomurr said, “or I am afraid of what will happen.”
“Yes,” SuperGrover agreed. “Should I go get Siryn now?”
“Yes, maybe she knows more. With the three of us together I’m sure we can sort
this all out and stop him before he hurts someone.” Just as SuperGrover was
standing up, Silver barged into the room. His grayish-silver hair looked like it
needed to be brushed. He had obviously been up very late.
“I’m sorry, Gomurr,” he said. “I don’t mean to interrupt but Monet just told me
that ShockWave, Nate, and Monet are missing and I am very concerned.” Gomurr and
SuperGrover exchanged a look and SuperGrover left quickly.
“Hurry back, ‘Grover,” Gomurr told him. Then he turned to Silver.
“How long have they been missing? “ Gomurr asked the Black King.
“Nate hasn’t been seen since yesterday morning and ShockWave hasn’t been seen
since last night. We just discovered Monet missing.”
“Okay,” Gomurr said.
“I’m going to send out a search party immediately,” Silver told him.
“No. . . wait,” Gomurr told him, putting his hand on his shoulder. “Give me a
day to sort something out with SuperGrover. I think we may know what’s going
on.” Silver raised an eyebrow.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Just trust me for right now,” Gomurr told him. “I will tell you as soon as we
get it all sorted out.” He hated not being able to tell Silver, but he wasn’t
sure who he could and could not trust right now. Plus he knew that telling the
Black King would put his life in danger.
“Okay, just. . . be careful,” Silver said. Gomurr smiled. Silver really was a
good king. He was obviously just concerned about his friend’s well-being.
“I will,” he told him. Silver left the room and Gomurr went to dispose of the
flower. Opening an old book, he flipped through the pages. He stopped suddenly
and felt a shadow pass over him.
“Byron, have you returned?” he asked.
“No, not Byron,” said a male voice.
“Havok, what can I do for you?” Gomurr asked, feeling very uneasy. It was
obvious to him that there was something very wrong with the Black Warlord.
“I want the stone,” Havok told him.
“So do I,” Gomurr responded. Havok lashed out with his claws but Gomurr was
quick. Dodging the claws, he kicked Havok in the stomach. Then Gomurr swerved
around only to find Avalon staring back at him.
“Try using your Martial Arts on me,” he said, his eyes glowing red. Gomurr knew
that Avalon would simply put up a force-field if he tried so he backed away. . .
into Havok, who grabbed him from behind, pinning his arms back.
“You don’t want to do this, Mike,” Gomurr told him. “Fight it! Don’t let him
control you!” If anything, Havok’s grip seemed to tighten.
“Avalon. . . listen to me, you’re just a pawn in his game. Don’t listen to what
he is telling you!” Gomurr told the Black Prince. Avalon just grinned.
“He’s gotta go,” he told Havok. Havok nodded and put his claws up to the
wizard’s neck.
“Don’t kill him,” came a voice from the shadows.
“Master!” Avalon said. Gomurr glared at the demon as he stepped from the
shadows.
“You don’t want me to kill him?” Havok asked.
“No,” the Hellgoat answered with a sinister smile. “I have far worse plans in
store for him.”
? * *
Siryn walked into her room and fell down on her bed. Talk about confusing! She
did not know what had just happened. The sad part was she actually wished Havok
had been drunk. That way she could have an excuse for the way he was acting. And
his eyes. . . she didn't think that she had ever seen them glow like that when
he was using his power. Not that she had watched that closely. . . but still. .
. that was something that she was sure would stick out in her mind. His eyes. .
. she thought. They look like the eyes from my nightmares. I have to talk to
Gomurr. She got up from her bed and looked at herself in her mirror. Man, I look
tired, she thought. That’s when she noticed a box on her dresser. She picked it
up and opened it, almost without thinking. In it was a necklace was part of a
beautiful stone attached to it. The stone almost seemed to glow and when Siryn
picked it up it felt warm. Then she picked up the note that was also in the box.
It read. . .
“Everywhere a Judas. . . as far as you can see.”
It was signed by Ryan Jensen. Siryn recognized the quote from a Tori Amos song,
but she wasn’t sure what it meant. Another riddle, she thought with a frown. She
was sick of riddles. But she really did like the necklace. She put it on and it
shimmered brilliantly. Now Ryan is buying me expensive jewelry, she thought.
What’s up with that? She owed him, not the other way around. She tried not to
think about the Judas quote. A loud knock at the door made her jump.
“Yes?” she called.
“Hey, Irish, can I come in?” SuperGrover asked.
“Of course,” she answered. “It’s unlocked.” He walked in and stopped in his
tracks when he saw what was around her neck.
“Woah. . .girl. . . where’d you get that?” he asked.
“Ryan sent it to me along with a weird quote,” Siryn told him. “I don’t know
what’s going on. Everyone is acting really weird. Havok especially.” SuperGrover
frowned when he heard Havok’s name mentioned. Siryn then remembered that they
did not like each other. In fact, they went out of their way to avoid each
other.
“That’s the Judas Stone,” SuperGrover explained to her.
“What?” Siryn asked.
“The Judas Stone,” he repeated. “And we need it. Can I see it?” Siryn took it
off and handed it to him.
“That must be what the quote meant,” she told him. “It said “everywhere a
Judas. . . as far as you can see.””
“What?” SuperGrover asked, looking up from the necklace.
“Judas was the guy who betrayed Jesus, right?” Siryn asked.
“Yes,” SuperGrover said. Then it all made sense to him and he suddenly felt
sick. “How much have you told Havok?” he asked weakly.
“Well. . . everything,” Siryn answered. “Why. . . shit!” she cried. “Havok is
Judas?”
“Here, let me explain it better,” SuperGrover said. “Have you ever heard of a
demon called the Hellgoat?”
“Yeah, Byron mentioned him before,” Siryn answered.
“You know Byron?”
“Yeah, we’re good friends,” Siryn told him.
“Well, the Judas Stone is what keeps the Hellgoat at bay, otherwise he could
feed off of whomever he wanted,” SuperGrover explained.
“And this is the Judas Stone?” Siryn asked.
“Yes,” SuperGrover answered.
“Well. . . I hate to tell you this, ‘Grover, but half of it is missing. . .”
? * *
Storm! walked into the kitchen to get some more pain killers. She wondered where
everyone was, usually the kitchen was very lively at this time of day. But she
didn’t see anyone. She found some Advil and popped two in her mouth. Then she
started back down the hall to her room. She stopped in front of Avalon’s door
because she could hear voices. . .barely. She couldn’t help it, she was a snoop.
She wanted to know what they were talking about. And to make sure they weren’t
talking bad about Tina Turner. Storm! pressed her ear to the door. She
recognized Avalon’s voice right away because he was the loudest. The other man’s
voice was lower and gruff.
“Siryn knows of the assassination plans,” the other voice said.
“What?” Avalon asked. “How could she know?”
“Ryan told her,” the other voice said. Storm! was shocked beyond belief when she
realized that the other voice belonged to Havok. She felt a lump of fear rise in
her throat. Assassination attempt!
“We have to do it tonight,” Havok said simply. “Otherwise Siryn will figure it
out.”
“Why not just get Siryn next?” Avalon asked.
“Because she is needed,” Havok answered. “But we will get her soon.”
“Good,” Avalon told him. “She is annoying me. She talks too much.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Havok replied.
“It’s settled then,” Avalon said, and Storm! could hear the coldness and pure
hatred in his voice.
“Yes,” Havok agreed. “King Silver dies at midnight.” Storm! shoved herself from
the door and ran to her room, her heart in her throat. They were planning to
kill Silver! And there was no telling who else they had already hurt. She knew
that she hadn’t seen Nate or ShockWave for a while. Storm! felt like she was
going to throw up. I thought they were my friends! We trusted them! And now
they're planning to kill Silver. Storm! had never felt so angry. And she knew
that no matter what, she would try to stop them.
Siryn and SuperGrover started down the hall to meet Gomurr.
“It’s just like Ryan,” SuperGrover said heatedly, “he’s always playing his
stupid games.” He didn’t tell Siryn the rest of what he was thinking. Because
SuperGrover knew that Ryan was a man who thought things out carefully. So, if he
was playing a game, he intended to win.
“You said that someone stole the Judas Stone from Gomurr, right?” Siryn said as
she walked beside the White King.
“Yes,” SuperGrover said, staring straight ahead.
“Well, the only thing I can figure is that Ryan stole the Judas Stone and now
he’s trying to see if we can find it.”
“Maybe,” SuperGrover mused, “but I’m not sure if that’s Ryan’s style.” Siryn
shrugged. She knew what the White King meant though. Ryan was more the type to
let others do the work for him. He probably didn’t steal the stone himself. But,
Siryn was really afraid to ask SuperGrover the question that had been nagging
her since he had explained the quote. She swallowed the lump in her throat and
started to speak again.
“’Grover, what are we going to do about Havok?” she whispered. SuperGrover
turned to her, his eyes glowing their eerie yellow color.
“We have to stop him,” he said simply, and Siryn noticed the coldness that had
seeped into his voice.
“What is it with you two?” she asked without thinking.
“It goes way back. . .” SuperGrover said, “let’s just say we have conflicting
personalities.” Siryn wasn’t so sure that that was the whole story, but she
wasn’t about to push the issue at the moment.
“Is there any way to free him?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” SuperGrover answered, obviously prepared for the question.
“We’re about to go ask Gomurr though, he should know.”
“You and Gomurr are pretty close, aren’t you?” Siryn asked with a smile.
“Yes, he’s like a father to me,” SuperGrover agreed, and Siryn noticed that he
seemed much more happy talking about Gomurr than Havok. The he turned to her.
“What about you, Si?” he asked. “Do you have anyone who’s really close to you?
Like a father?” Siryn bowed her head, feeling slightly lonely at the mention of
family.
“Well, I have Nate,” she answered.
“But he’s your half-brother, correct?” SuperGrover asked. He was asking his
questions very carefully because he could tell by Siryn’s expression that this
was a sensitive subject.
“Yeah,” she said. “And I have a real brother too.”
“You do?” SuperGrover asked, slightly surprised.
“Yeah,” Siryn said. She was about to explain more when Morph suddenly jumped
out in front of them.
“Hey!!!” he cried. “It’s Si and Grovey!” He jumped up in down, grinning from
ear-to-ear.
“Looks like you’re feeling better,” SuperGrover said. Then he explained the
dandelion to both Morph and Siryn.
“You went in my room!” Siryn exclaimed.
“Oh, hush, you do it too!” Morph shot back. Siryn sighed. She was actually just
glad that Morph was okay.
“I did it to protect you!” Morph cried. “I told the flower to take me instead
of you! See? I’m such a pal!”
“Too much coffee, Greg?” Siryn asked with a smile.
“No actually,” Morph said, “I have something even better.” He made a motion
with his arms for them to follow him and Siryn was about to when SuperGrover
held out his hand to stop her.
“We don’t have time,” he told her simply.
“Nonsense!” Morph cried. “There’s always time for WINE!!” He pulled out a
rather large bottle of wine with a bow tied around it. Siryn felt her head
pound.
“Greg, where did you get that?” she asked. SuperGrover noticed her alarm and
took the bottle from Morph.
“You’re too young to have this anyway,” he told Morph when he tried to protest.
Morph glared at SuperGrover and then stuck his tongue out at him.
“Stupid Kings,” he muttered. “Always have to go and spoil the fun.”
“Where did you get the wine?” Siryn asked again, this time with more force.
“Avalon gave it to me,” Morph answered with a smug smile. “What a pal!”
“What’s wrong with it, Siryn?” SuperGrover asked.
“Something Ryan told me,” Siryn answered. “Here, hand me the bottle.”
SuperGrover did so without hesitation. Siryn held the bottle in her hand and
looked at it. It just looked like a normal bottle of red wine to her. She didn’t
know if Ryan was just trying to make her worry or not.
“Ryan told me not to drink the wine,” she told them both.
“Since when do you listen to him?” Morph asked her. Siryn ignored him as she
slammed the bottle into the wall, shattering it into a million pieces. They all
watched as the substance within the bottle literally ate a hole in the wall of
the BHC mansion.
“Wow! I’ll bet that would have burned going down!,” Morph said, still staring.
“We have to go see Gomurr,” SuperGrover said, taking Siryn by the arm.
“Morph?” Siryn asked, beckoning him to join her.
“Okay, I’ll join you in a few, I’ve gotta get something else to drink,” Morph
said, still slightly shaken up by the wine.
“Okay,” Siryn said as she and SuperGrover continued walking.
? * *
“That was disturbing to say the least!” SuperGrover told her. “I can’t wait to
find Gomurr so that we can all put an end to this.”
“Hey, I just thought of something,” Siryn said. “I haven’t seen Nate in like…two
days, I think.”
“He’s been captured,” SuperGrover answered with no expression on his face.
“What!” Siryn cried. “If he’s hurt. . .”
“Just pray that he’s alive,” SuperGrover answered. Siryn honestly felt like she
was going to faint. This was just too much for one day. Demons coming to prey on
the BHC. Wine that could eat through walls. Flowers that drained your energy.
What the fuck? And that wasn’t even including the weird sun, nightmares, and
god-awful headaches that did not seem to go away. Siryn was used to other kinds
of nightmares, but not ones with blood red eyes.
“Havok’s eyes matched the ones in my dream,” she whispered. I’m about to cry,
she thought. I am in the freakin’ BHC and I’m about to cry. Calm down, Sharon,
she told herself. You’ve been through worse than this and survived. It was just
scary! I mean, she could handle psycho serial killers but a demon from hell? She
had no idea how to handle that. The helpless feeling just made her feel more
afraid.
“Almost makes me wish I had stuck with my other job,” she mumbled to herself.
“What?” SuperGrover asked.
“Uh. . . nothing,” Siryn answered. “I really hope that you and Gomurr know what
to do about this because I am completely clueless. I don’t usually go around
trying to keep Hellgoats at bay. Hell, I don’t even like goats!”
“Relax,” SuperGrover said, giving her what he hoped was a confident smile. “We
have it all under control.”
“Why doesn’t that make me feel any better?” Siryn asked.
“Have a little faith,” SuperGrover told her.
“I think luck is what we’ll need,” Siryn answered. “And maybe a miracle or two.”
They both stopped in front of Gomurr’s meditation room and SuperGrover raised
his hand back and knocked lightly on the door. Siryn studied her feet.
SuperGrover made an irritated noise when there was no response and knocked
louder.
“Here, allow me, King,” Siryn said. She swung the door open and walked in,
followed by SuperGrover.
“He can’t say we didn’t knock,” Siryn said with a shrug. Then she stopped
walking, and turned to SuperGrover.
“He’s gone,” she said. “They got him.” SuperGrover scanned the wizards
meditation room. There was an obvious darkness to the room. . .and he noticed
the smell of smoke and fire still in the air.
“Yes,” he agreed, clenching his fists in his rage.
“Well, I’m thinking we’re screwed. Please tell me I’m wrong,” Siryn said.
“Well,” SuperGrover said. “We’ll just have to figure it out between the two of
us.”
“Ah, swell,” Siryn replied.
“We need to go get Morph too before Havok gets him.”
“Hey, ‘Grover?” Siryn said.
“Yes?” SuperGrover asked, turning to her.
“Didn’t Morph say that Avalon gave him the wine?” Siryn said, with one hand on
her temple.
“Yes he did. . . shit,” SuperGrover said.
“ “Everywhere a Judas. . .”” Siryn whispered. “I wonder who else have been
possessed.
“God only knows,” SuperGrover said.
“The Hellgoat probably knows too,” Siryn answered. SuperGrover glared at her and
then turned to the door.
“Anyway, we’ve got to find Morph,” he said.
“How do we know that Morph has not turned too?” Siryn asked.
“I can tell,” SuperGrover answered, “trust me.”
“Okay. . .” Siryn said.
? * *
Storm! knew that she couldn’t do it on her own. There was no way. She was scared
enough as it was. Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking. She tried desperately to
swallow down her fear as she sat in her room. But the worst part was not knowing
who she could trust. In fact, she didn’t even know if she could trust anyone.
She had never felt like that at the BHC before. They had always been like a
family to her. And some of them even more than a family. What she really wanted
to do was crawl in a hole and hide until it just all went away. But she knew
that that wouldn’t happen. And she was a lot stronger than she gave herself
credit for. She shook away her doubts as she loaded a gun. Silver wouldn’t die.
. . even if she had to kill Havok and Avalon. She had never felt so betrayed in
her life. But she replaced her fear with anger. Silver would not die. She was
jolted out of her anger when Morph suddenly barged into her room.
“Morph!?” she asked.
“Storm!, something STRANGE is going on,” Morph said. “I can’t find anyone! God,
I’m glad you’re here! That was getting creepy! Like some sort of horror movie!”
Storm! had never been so glad to see a friendly face in her life. Without
thinking, she hugged Morph and burst into tears.
“Uhhh. . .what? Do I smell bad?” Morph asked, patting her on the back.
“Morph, you’ve got to help me!” Storm! said. Then Morph noticed the loaded gun
on Storm!’s bed.
“Uhm. . .okay. What’s going on?” he asked uncertainly.
“Avalon and Havok are planning on killing Silver tonight,” Storm! sputtered.
“Excuse me?” Morph asked.
“I heard them talking about it. They said that Siryn was next.”
“Next?” Morph asked.
“I don’t know,” Storm! said. “But I trusted them. Especially Avalon. And now I
don’t know what to do.”
“You don’t know what to do?” Morph asked. Then, using his power to morph himself
into the captain of a football team. “I’ll tell ya what you do! You have to get
in there…and give it all you’ve got! You have to put your heart and soul into
it! C’mon, trooper! Say it with me! I will win! I will win!” Then he morphed
back into himself.
“Let’s kick some BOOTY!” he said. Storm! grinned.
“You got it!” she exclaimed, giving Morph a high five.
? * *
Siryn and SuperGrover stood inside of Morph’s room.
“Where do you think he is?” Siryn asked. “I hope nothing has happened to him!”
“Don’t worry about it,” SuperGrover told her. “Let’s just get going.”
“Where are we going to go?” Siryn asked.
“Ryan’s,” SuperGrover answered. “He’s the only one I can think of that might be
able to supply us with some answers.”
“That won’t be necessary, my pretty!” came a voice from behind them. “and your
little red head too!” he exclaimed, pointing to Siryn.
“Impy!” Siryn cried. “What are YOU doing here?”
“I came here to goat…er gloat!” Impossible Man told her.
“Impossible Man. . . what are you talking about?” SuperGrover asked him.
“Oh, nothing my little noochie!” Impossible Man said with a wild grin. “But I
have something you want, Si Si,” he added in a sing-song voice.
“What?” Siryn asked. “Impy, stop playing games.”
“It’s THIS!” Impossible Man cried, pulling a necklace out from under his shirt.
It was black and it shimmered as though it were alive.
“It’s the other half of the Judas Stone!” SuperGrover exclaimed.
“Impy. . . give it here. You don’t realize how important that is,” Siryn said,
holding out her hand.
“No way, you little leprechaun!” Impossible Man yelped, cradling the necklace.
“You punched me, see?” he showed her a bruise on his face. “So you no get me
stone! HAH HAH!”
“Impy. . . ” SuperGrover started.
“Shhhh!! This is between me and Pippi here,” Impossible Mad said, glaring at
Siryn.
“Impy. . . look,” Siryn said, “I’m sorry. . . I just—“
“No, you’re not!” Impossible Man cried, flailing his arms around in the air.
“You’re not sorry! You’re mean and you look just like the Wendy’s girl!” With a
final glare, the green man teleported away.
“Shit!” SuperGrover cried.
“I thought you could control him!” Siryn said. “Isn’t he a Hellion?”
“He’s IMPY,” SuperGrover answered.
“We have to get the stone,” Siryn told him. “We have to find Impy.”
“How do you suggest we do that?” SuperGrover asked.
Siryn held up her finger to silence him.
“I have an idea,” she told him with a gleam in her eye.
? * *
“I’ve never tried to stop an assassination before,” Storm! whispered to Morph.
“Well, me either!” Morph whispered back. “But we’re gonna be heroes, Storm!,
it’ll be great!”
“Yeah, I feel great already,” Storm! replied, rolling her eyes. She had the gun
in her hand and was clutching it fiercely. She hoped Morph wouldn’t notice how
pale she had become. She didn’t like for others to see any weakness in her at
all. She tried so hard to fit in. And she had thought she knew her teammates
really well. Now she had found out that they only cared about power.
“Do you know where everyone else is?” Storm! asked, dreading the answer.
“Well, no,” Morph admitted. “But I did talk to SuperGrover and Siryn before.
Should we get them?”
“We don’t have time,” Storm! answered, checking her watch. “They are going to
try to assassinate him at midnight.”
Morph was actually just as frightened as Storm!. He was not used to having
someone’s life depend on him. Normally, it would be SuperGrover, Bastion,
Gomurr, Havok, or Siryn that would go to rescue the king. Normally he was the
one left behind. He had to admit, he hated that. And here was his chance to
prove to the BHC that he not only belonged, but could kick ass with the best of
them. He had never really been close to Havok or Avalon, but he still couldn’t
understand why they would want to kill Silver.
“Do you think Avalon wants to be King?” Storm! asked, as though reading his
mind.
“Dunno,” Morph replied, smacking his gum loudly. “He is the prince so it’s a
possibility.”
“But where would Havok fit in?” Storm! asked, mostly to herself.
“You know, there is something really weird going on here,” Morph told her. “The
funky headaches, the strange sun, and Avalon put acid in wine, which he tried to
give to me.” Storm! felt her temper flare up.
“Avalon tried to kill you?” she said in a cold voice.
“Yeah, and it seems like more is going on here than meets the eye,” Morph
answered. Storm! nodded. Morph was defiantly right about that.
“But, I see that look in your eye, Stormy,” Morph said, as they waited for
midnight to draw closer.
“What look?” Storm! asked, irritated.
“The cold look. . . the look that says you want to kill someone for betraying
you.” Storm! eyebrows raised. She was surprised that Morph was able to read her
so well. She had always written him off as the fun-loving clown of the BHC. For
the first time she considered that there might be more to him than that.
“I will protect Silver and Nem,” Storm! answered curtly.
“Of course you will,” Morph said steadily. “And I will too. . . but let’s try
NOT to kill Avalon and Havok.” Storm! turned away from him and spoke to the
window.
“You know I wouldn’t kill them unless I had to,” she said softly, hiding the
pain from her eyes.
“Just making sure,” Morph said. “I don’t know you that well, we’re both pretty
new. Just making sure you weren’t gonna gut both of them before I could stop
you.” Storm! turned back to him and smiled.
“Nope,” she said. “Are we ready to go?” Morph stood up and saluted Storm!
“Aye Aye, captian!” he barked.
? * *
“Okay, what’s this great idea?” SuperGrover asked, sitting down beside Siryn as
she picked up the phone beside Morph’s bed.
“Well, first I’m going to try to get Ryan, “ she explained. “And if that
doesn’t work then I think I will ask a certain Hell Goddess to help us out a
little.” SuperGrover sat back and sighed. It felt good not to have to think for
a moment. Surely Siryn could get one of those people, and either would be a huge
help as far as he was concerned. He was also extremely worried about Gomurr. He
knew that the wizard could pretty much take care of himself, but he felt a
special bond with him. And he wasn’t about to let some demon take his friend
away. Plus, he was sure that Bastion had been captured a few days ago. He didn’t
know how much longer his friends could wait.
“Yes, this is Sharon,” Siryn spoke into the phone, “I need to speak to Ryan.”
SuperGrover stared up at the ceiling and tried not to be impatient.
“What do you mean I can’t talk to him?” Siryn asked. “Look, SlashR, this is VERY
important.” SuperGrover could hear SlashR talking back to Siryn on the phone.
“He’s not there?” Siryn asked. “How can he not be there? Can’t you find him? I
don’t suppose Impy is there, is he?” Siryn glared at the phone angrily.
“I’ll tell you what’s going on!” she yelled. “Some stupid demon has escaped and
it’s got several of the members of the BHC…and Impy has the other half of the
stone that we need to make the demon go home!” Siryn sighed and looked over at
SuperGrover.
“Here, let me speak to him,” SuperGrover said, motioning for Siryn to hand him
the phone. Siryn shrugged him away and began listening intently to what SlashR
was telling her.
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” she told SlashR. “I’ve got another idea. But tell
Ryan that the Hellgoat’s not going to stop with the BHC. I’m quite sure that
the Hellions are the next on his list. And if you see Impy tell him that I need
to see him. . .I’ll give him money. . . whatever he wants. Just tell him to find
me. Seriously, Slash, our lives depend on it.” She paused for a minute and then
said “okay, bye. And thanks.”
“Well?” SuperGrover asked as she hung up the phone.
“I think Ryan told him to tell us that he’s gone,” Siryn told him.
“That snake,” SuperGrover spat.
“No,” Siryn said. “I think he just realized that he was too involved. It doesn’t
matter anyway.” She stood up and motioned for SuperGrover to do the same.
“Come on, I have to get something out of my room,” she said. He followed her,
trying hard to think of what they should do next.
“I’ve still got my back up plan,” Siryn told him. “So you can quit thinking. . .
for now anyway.”
“Sorry, Irish,” SuperGrover said. “I just should have told you all of this
sooner. This is way out of hand.”
“It could be worse,” Siryn told him as they walked into her room. “The Hellgoat
could be a clown.” She shuddered. Even a demon was easier to deal with than a
clown. SuperGrover laughed in spite of himself.
“Maybe it is a clown. Have you ever seen “IT”?”
“Uhh. . .no,” Siryn said, looking at him as though he were crazy. “But check
this out, ‘Grover.” He walked over and stood beside her as she pulled a small
contraption out of her drawer. It was circular and blue and almost looked like a
ladies compact. Except for when Siryn opened it, there was a small screen
instead of a mirror and keys where the powder would be.
“What the hell is that?” he asked.
“Have you ever watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?” Siryn asked him. He had to
bite his lip to keep from laughing in her face.
“Maybe once,” he said.
“Don’t lie, you watched all of them,” Siryn said, rolling her eyes. “Well, just
think of this as my Turtle Com.”
“You can’t expect me to take you seriously after you just said that,”
SuperGrover told her.
“Shut up!” Siryn cried, pushing him playfully. Then she opened the small device
and pressed a series of numbers in a row.
“That’s Byron’s code,” she told him. “T.S.S.”
“T.S.S.”? he asked.
“Top Secret Shit,” she answered. Then she pretended to fix her hair as she was
looking into the machine. SuperGrover chuckled.
“Yes?” came a voice from the contraption, obviously female and obviously a
little angry at having been disturbed.
“Byron!” Siryn said, with a smile.
“Oh, hey Blackfire!” Byron said. SuperGrover noticed that her tone had changed.
“I thought you were gonna be your brother,” Byron explained. “He always tries to
trick me into thinking he’s a pizza delivery man. He does this really stupid
voice that is so annoying and then he says--” Siryn cleared her throat to get
Byron attention because it seemed as though she was never going to stop talking.
“What do you want, dear?” Byron asked her.
“I have half of the Judas Stone,” Siryn told her. She heard Byron gasp softly.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“I’m in my room with SuperGrover.”
“I’ll be there in a second,” Byron answered. “Byron—out.” and then the screen
went blank.
“That thing’s pretty cool,” SuperGrover said. “Where did you get it?”
“My brother,” Siryn explained. “He’s always getting stuff like this.” Suddenly
there was a loud crackling sound and the woman known as Byron appeared in a haze
of smoke and fire. Her eyes were glowing red from using her teleportation power.
“Nice,” Siryn said.
“You have the stone?” Byron asked her, getting straight to the point.
“Actually, I have it,” SuperGrover replied, holding up the shining white
necklace. “Or half of it anyway,” he added.
“Where is the other half?” Byron asked as her eyes returned to their normal
color.
“Impy had it,” Siryn told her.
“How did Impossible Man get it?” Byron asked, clenching her fists in
frustration.
“We don’t know,” SuperGrover answered. “But I have a hunch that it has to do
with Ryan.” Byron bit her bottom lip as she tried to concentrate.
“Okay,” she said. “Obviously, we have to find Impossible Man. Then we can save
your friends.”
“Yeah, we know that,” Siryn said. “But we were hoping that you might have some
bright ideas.”
“Me?” Byron asked. “Why don’t you ask Gomurr?”
“He was captured,” SuperGrover said flatly.
“Oh. . .” Byron said. “Well. . .”
“I told you,” Siryn said, looking at SuperGrover, “we’re screwed.”
? * *
“Are you sure this is the best idea?” Storm! hissed at Morph from underneath
Silver’s table.
“I didn’t see you coming up with anything better,” Morph spat back. “Now scoot
over. . . I don’t have enough room!”
“I can’t help it!” Storm! told him. Morph was about to argue more when the
noise of the door creaking silenced them both. They heard the sound of Silver
humming as he sat down in front of them. Storm! gave Morph a “this had better
work” look and then continued listening. They heard the sound of Silver rustling
his papers as he prepared for a long night or work. Storm! was just glad that
she had known that he would be in here tonight. Although she thought this hiding
place was a very bad idea, especially for both of them. Morph was the only one
who could really see what was going on, and besides that, her gun was digging
into her side. Morph had also brought along a gun, which surprised Storm!. The
man wasn’t all that he appeared to be on the surface. Still, she made a mental
note to yell at Morph for picking this hiding place later. She grabbed Morph’s
hand and pressed the button on his glow-in-the-dark watch. 11:58. It was almost
time. Storm! tried to breathe normally but it was almost claustrophobic
underneath the desk. She was trying desperately to calm down when the loud
knock at the door made her jump. Morph jumped too and then turned his face to
glare at her. She glared back. It’s your fault for choosing this hiding place,
she thought. Morph stuck his tongue out at her.
“Sir, could I have a word with you?” came the voice of Avalon. Morph turned
back so that he could peek through the hole and see what was going on. Storm!
squirmed, wishing more than anything that she could see.
“Of course, Avalon,” Silver replied, putting his papers down. “What can I do
for you?”
“It’s about Monet,” Avalon said walking up so that he was in front of Silver’s
desk.
“What about her?” Silver asked, his voice still friendly.
“I think she may have a crush on you, sir,” the Black Prince said, looking
uncomfortable. Silver laughed.
“What makes you say that?” Silver asked. Morph gave Storm! a “what the hell”
look and Storm! shrugged in reply.
“Well, she always talks about you,” Avalon said, his blue eyes boring into
Silver’s gray-blue eyes.
“So?” Silver asked. Storm! noticed that a certain amount of caution had crept
into his voice.
“She does more than talk about you actually,” Havok said, coming into the room
without knocking.
“Hello, Mike,” Silver greeted him, but his voice wasn’t as friendly as it was
before.
“Hi, Jack,” Havok answered with a sneer.
“I don’t see how what your saying is relevant to anything,” Silver said,
glancing from Avalon to Havok with a questioning look in his eyes.
“I’m just saying that we don’t think it’s right for a man of your power to have
a sexual relationship with someone like Monet, who is under your control,” Havok
said with a sneer.
“And she’s so young!” Avalon agreed.
“What!?” Silver cried. “Surely you two don’t really believe. . .”
“I don’t,” Avalon said quickly, “but I think that Havok does.” In reply, Havok
held up his claws.
“I think it’s pretty sick what you’re doing,” Havok told him. Silver reached
for the button to call security but Havok lashed out at his hand before he could
reach it. Silver pulled his hand back, watching the blood trickle down in shock.
“Havok, you hurt him,” Avalon said, looking shocked. Silver turned to Avalon.
“You know that’s MY job,” he added, shooting a stinging electromagnetic blast
at Silver. Silver managed to dodge it, but in doing so, fell to the ground.
“What is wrong with you two?” he asked, still confused. He looked up to two
pairs of blood red eyes and gasped. They’re possessed, he thought. Why didn’t I
see it before? Havok made another lash at Silver which Silver barely dodged.
“Quit doing that!” Havok cried angrily as he shot a bio-electric blast from his
hands. It hit Silver on the shoulder and he fell over with a groan.
“NOW!” Morph cried, jumping out of his hiding place. Storm! jumped out beside
him.
“Begone, foul beasts!” Morph cried, raising his gun in the air. Havok and
Avalon paused and looked up at them.
“What are they doing here?” Avalon asked Havok.
“I don’t know, we’ll just have to kill them,” Havok answered with a sinister
grin. Avalon approached Storm!. Storm! lowered her gun.
“Don’t make me use this,” she said in a shaky voice. Avalon threw back his head
and laughed.
“You aren’t going to shoot me, my dear,” he told her with a cruel sneer. “You
care about Avalon too much.” Storm! realized that she was shaking again as she
stared into Avalon’s glowing eyes. Then the truth hit her. He was right, she
couldn’t shoot him. She would never be able to forgive herself if she killed
him.
“I’ll. . . do. . . it,” she whispered, tears glistening in her eyes.
“No, you won’t,” Avalon told her.
“BUT I WILL!” Morph cried. He screamed a loud Tarzan cry as he pulled the
trigger of his gun. Water erupted from the nozzle, spraying directly on to
Avalon. Avalon screamed in pain as his powers began to short out. He fell to the
ground, unconscious. Storm! stared at him in shock.
“Hey!” Morph cried, pointing to Havok, who had leaped beside Silver and grabbed
him by his collar.
“It doesn’t matter,” Havok told them both. “All my master wants is the king
dead.” He slammed Silver’s head into the desk, rendering him unconscious.
“SILVER!” Storm! cried. Then she pointed the gun at Havok’s arm and fired. The
jolt of it sent her reeling backwards. She heard Havok cry out in pain and
looked up to see that he had dropped Silver. Blood was coming from a bullet hole
in his arm.
“COWABUNGA!!” Morph cried, jumping on Havok’s back. “You’ve been bad, Hav! It’s
way past your bed time!” Morph reached down and covered Havok’s eyes. Havok
growled and tried to shake off the shape-shifting mutant.
“Storm!,” Morph cried, “grab Nem’s 2 x 4!” Storm! searched wildly around for
the large piece of wood that Nem used to hit people over the head with when she
was unhappy with them.
“YEEEEEEOW!!!” Morph cried. Storm! looked up to see Havok throw Morph off of
his back. Morph hit the wall with a thud and a groan.
“What’s going on in here?” SuperGrover cried as he, Siryn, and Byron rushed
into the room.
“Havok!” Siryn cried. “What are you doing?” Havok looked up at the three new
mutants that had joined in to protect King Silver.
“He’s trying to kill Silver!” Storm! yelled. “We have to stop him!”
“Just let me at him,” SuperGrover said, pushing past Siryn and Byron to get to
Havok.
“ ‘Grover, don’t!” Siryn called. “It’s not really him!”
“Yeah, but I will still enjoy kicking his ass,” SuperGrover said.
“Bring it on, Blue Boy,” Havok spat back. The two men were face-to-face, both
eyes burning with equal anger. Byron motioned for Siryn to go see about Silver.
She watched as Storm! crept up behind Havok carrying a large piece of wood. What
a weapon, Byron thought.
“SuperGrover, get out of the way!” Byron yelled as Storm! brought the piece of
wood down on the back of Havok’s head. Havok blinked once and then fell to the
ground. SuperGrover moved out of the way as Byron telekinetically caught Havok
and gently sat him on the ground.
“How is Silver?” Storm! asked Siryn.
“He’s fine,” Siryn answered. “I healed him, but he’s still unconscious. He lost
a lot of blood.”
“He’s alive though,” SuperGrover said.
“Thanks to Storm! and Morph,” Siryn agreed, smiling at them both. Morph beamed
as he got up from where he had fallen. He gave Storm! a high-five.
“Well, now what?” Byron asked.
“Now, I believe you were looking for this man.” They all turned around to see
SlashR and Impossible Man standing in the doorway. Impossible Man had his arms
crossed and was obviously sulking.
“Slash!” Siryn cried. “Thank you SO much!”
“Let me tell you something, missy!” Impossible Man said, shaking his finger in
her face. “I wouldn’t have even come if SlashR hadn’t threatened to lock me up
if I didn’t!”
“Look, Impy, we need to talk,” Siryn said.
“Give me the stone, green one,” Byron said, her eyes glowing.
“No!” SuperGrover interrupted, raising his hand to silence her. “Impossible Man
has to give us the stone. . . we cannot take it from him.”
“Says who?” Morph asked, obviously annoyed.
“Said Gomurr,” SuperGrover told him. They all turned to look at Impossible Man.
“Well, well, well,” he said, freeing himself from SlashR’s grasp. “Look who’s
popular all of the sudden.”
“This is not a game, green one,” Byron told Impossible Man, who was still
glaring at Siryn with is arms crossed.
“Hey, huh uh, no way!” Impossible Man cried. “I see the way you guys are! You
only want to talk to me when I have something that you need. Well, the Impster
don’t play that game! No now, not ever!”
“Impossible Man, that’s not true,” SuperGrover told him. “We made you the
Headmaster of the Hellions. We obviously trust in your abilities.”
“That’s not what I said, G,” Impossible Man responded. Even though he was
arguing, it was obvious that Impossible Man had a lot of respect for
SuperGrover. He refused to look him in the eye as he was talking back.
“I said you always come knockin’ when I have something you want!” Impossible Man
finished.
“Impy, I think you should just give them the stone,” SlashR said. “It’s
obviously very important.”
“What are we talking about?” Storm! asked, feeling confused.
“Havok and Avalon are possessed by a demon known as the Hellgoat,” SuperGrover
quickly explained. “We need a stone called the Judas Stone to force him back
into hell. Siryn has half of it and Impossible Man has the other half.”
“Impy, are you crazy!” Storm! yelped. “Give the people the stone!”
“How long do you think they will be out?” Morph asked, gesturing towards Avalon
and Havok.
“How am I supposed to know that?” Storm! asked.
“I was just asking!” Morph said, making a face behind Storm!’s back. Suddenly
Impossible Man saw Morph and his eyes lit up. He grabbed Siryn by the shoulders
and pulled her face down so that he could whisper in her ear. Siryn looked
momentarily confused for a few minutes and then she slowly smiled. Glancing over
at Morph, she threw back her head and laughed.
“Impy, you’ve got a deal!” she cried, shaking Impossible Man’s hand.
“Then you’ve got yourself a stone, my Sherona!” Impossible Man said with a bow.
And with that, he dropped the other half of the stone into Siryn’s hand.
“Groovy!” SuperGrover cried.
“I don’t even want to know what the deal was,” Morph said fearfully.
“Here, Blackfire, hand the stone to me,” Byron said as she began to
concentrate. Siryn obeyed and Byron placed the two halves of the stone together,
making a perfect oval. The black half contrasted sharply with the white half.
“Now. . .” Byron said. “I will teleport myself, SuperGrover, and Morph to
where the Hellgoat. . . and your friends are.”
“We’re ready when you are!” SuperGrover said.
“Speak for yourself!” Morph gulped. Byron’s eyes glew with intensity as she
teleported them to the Hellgoat’s lair.
? * *
?
“Good thing Byron was here,” Storm! said.
“No kidding,” SlashR answered. “Hell if I know where the Hellgoat’s lair is.”
“Do you think everyone is okay?” Siryn asked, concerned about the safety of her
friends. “Bastion has been gone for a long time. And there’s no telling what the
Hellgoat has been doing to them.”
“Now there’s a comforting thought,” Storm! said with a shudder. “I’m just so
glad I wasn’t caught.”
“Uhm guys,” Impossible Man said quietly. But no one seemed to notice him as they
continued with their conversation.
“What do you think the Hellgoat does to his victims?” SlashR asked, adjusting
his black leather jacket.
“He drains his victims,” Siryn answered softly.
“Drains?” Storm! asked.
“Yeah, like. . . he drains their energy. . . their life. Very slowly,” Siryn
replied.
“Guys? Guys? GUYS!!!” Impossible Man cried, jumping up and down to get their
attention.
“What, Impy?” SlashR asked, obviously irritated.
“Those two funky monkeys are awake!” Impossible Man answered, pointing towards
Havok and Avalon.
“Uh oh,” Storm! said. They all turned around to see Havok and Avalon back on
their feet, their eyes already glowing the blood red color that had haunted
their dreams.
“Try fighting me!” SlashR cried. “I have luck on my side!” Havok swung at him
but SlashR easily dodged his claws.
“Slash, be careful,” Siryn warned. Avalon shot a powerful electromagnetic blast
at her but Impossible Man shoved her out of the way before it could hit either
of them.
“Careful there, Bucky,” he told her. “You were almost kitty litter!”
“Thanks, Impy,” she responded. Storm! was scanning the room for the water gun.
Suddenly, Havok’s claws connected with SlashR’s arm. He looked slightly shocked.
“That’s not supposed to happen,” he said as he dodged Havok’s claws once again.
“Damn good thing I can regenerate!”
“Try not to hurt them,” Siryn told them all.
“Uhm, Si, shouldn’t we be more worried about them hurting us?” Impossible Man
responded. “Havok’s trying to slice and dice us!”
“I know,” Siryn said, gritting her teeth as one of Avalon’s blasts hit her
shoulder. “We just have to give Byron time and hope that they will return back
to normal.”
“Hope?” Storm! asked. “They’d BETTER return to normal!” Havok rushed her and she
kicked him in the stomach without thinking. He fell back with a grunt.
“Hey, lookie here,” Impossible Man called, “You are SOOO annoying!” Using his
power, he morphed into Havok.
“Try fighting me!” he called. “Am I ugly enough for you?” This seemed to make
Havok furious and he jumped to his feet with a low growl. Siryn shot fire at
Avalon, but he simply put up a force field to block it.
“Nah nah naaaaaaaah!” the green Havok taunted, sticking out his tongue and
waving his fingers around.
“I’ve had about enough of this!” Havok sneered as he raised his hands and shot a
bio-electric blast from them, hitting Impossible Man in the leg.
“YEEEEEOWZA!” Impossible Man cried, morphing back into himself. “He wasn’t
supposed to do that! Siryn, make him go away!”
“Mike, you’ve got to fight the Hellgoat,” Siryn yelled, trying to reach her
friend even though it seemed impossible.
“This isn’t working!” Storm! said. Avalon had her cornered and was rubbing his
hands together in delight.
“Leave her alone!” SlashR cried, jumping on Avalon’s back. Avalon fell to the
ground with a sound of surprise.
“Don’t hurt him!” Storm! cried, before she could stop herself. SlashR looked at
her as though she had lost her mind.
“He’s trying to kill you,” he told her.
“But he doesn’t know what he’s doing!” Storm! replied. She couldn’t help the
feeling of relief that flowed through her in spite of the fact that she was
still in danger. It wasn’t really Avalon and Havok who wanted to kill Silver.
She wasn’t betrayed. And she was determined that they were going to be okay.
“Mike, try to fight it,” Siryn said soothingly to the Black Warlord. Havok
stopped for a second and seemed to truly struggle for control. But the demon was
too strong, even for him. Siryn knew that their only chance would be for them to
be distracted until Byron was able to stop the Hellgoat.
? * *
“I REALLY hate teleporting!” Morph informed everyone from where he sat on the
ground.
“God, I agree with that,” SuperGrover said as he waited for the world to stop
spinning.
“I’m sorry,” Byron said without looking at either one of them. “Under the
circumstances it could not be avoided.”
“One thing I don’t understand,” Morph said after he was able to stand up again.
“Is why the Hellgoat hasn’t done this before?”
“The Judas Stone,” Byron explained. “It wanes the Hellgoat’s hunger for human
souls. That’s not to say that he still isn’t able to do harm. It’s just that
without the stone, he has complete control. And demons tend to get reckless with
complete control. I’m not blaming him really. It’s in his nature.”
“I wonder why he went after the BHC first,” SuperGrover said as he walked behind
them. They appeared to be in a cave of some kind. There was a murky smell in the
air and the ground was damp beneath their feet. It was dark enough to blind
them, and Byron had to make her hands glow so that they were able to see.
“This is Raphael’s lair,” Byron told them.
“Raphael?” Morph asked.
“That’s the Hellgoat’s real name,” Byron answered.
“Wasn’t Raphael an angel?” Morph asked. Byron ignored him and continued walking.
SuperGrover was silent, totally absorbed in his own thoughts. They came to what
seemed to be the end of the cave and stopped.
“Well, now what?” Morph asked.
“Shhhh,” SuperGrover hissed. “Listen. . . I hear something.”
? * *
Ryan Jensen sat alone in his bed. Sometimes he felt like a very lonely man. It
seemed like he could have anything and everything he wanted, yet he still felt
empty inside. Contrary to what many people believed, Ryan was not an evil man.
He made a pact with the devil when he was dying so many years ago, and that pact
had given him powers beyond his wildest dreams. . . in return for his soul. Ryan
wondered if he would make the same decision if he had it to do all over again. A
part of him wanted to believe that he wouldn’t. A part of him knew that he
would. In the end, Ryan was left alone with his thoughts. He wasn’t sure if he
really regretted anything he had did, but he knew that he was not evil. And that
was the real reason that he had kept giving Siryn clues. True, he always loved a
good game, but for once, he wanted the good guys to win. And he wanted to show
the Hellgoat that he couldn’t always get his way. Almost like revenge. A small
victory for the Red King, though the Hellgoat did not realize this. He thought
it was all part of the game. Part of Ryan, the only good part that was left, had
wanted Siryn to figure it out. He had wanted her to win. And now as he sat on
his bed, sipping wine, he had a feeling that, for once, he had done something
right. For the first time in many years, Ryan Jensen smiled for real.
? * *
“I didn’t hear anything,” Morph whispered. Byron held up her glowing hands so
that they could better see what was around them. Then, Morph heard it. A very
faint noise coming from a corner of the cave. It sounded like someone was. . .
crying? Yes, he could hear the soft whimpering of a girl coming from the corner
of the cave.
“Over here, Byron,” SuperGrover said. Byron carefully picked her way across the
floor of the cave and allowed the light from her hands to shine into the corner
of the cave. They all looked down at Monet, who was chained to the wall and
sobbing gently, as though all her hope was gone. SuperGrover quickly bent down
beside her and tried to break the chains using his super-strength. But they
would not even bend.
“What are these chains made of?” he gasped as he struggled to bend them.
“We have to wait,” Byron said.
“For what?” Morph asked. He was also bent beside Monet and he waved a hand in
front of her face. She did not respond in the slightest, she just continued to
sob.
“For him,” Byron answered. SuperGrover stood back up as a low growl was heard
from the other side of the cave.
“Who dares disturb me?” the Hellgoat’s low voice snarled.
“I do, Raphael,” Byron answered. “The Goddess of Hell and the White King demand
that you stop this nonsense right now.” Morph stayed knelt down beside Monet,
paralyzed with fear. All he could see was the creature’s awful eyes. The same
eyes that had been following him. . . waiting to kill him in his dreams.
“I have been repressed by you for too long,” the Hellgoat answered, but he did
not venture to go any further.
“No, you are power-hungry,” Byron answered. “We only keep you in control.”
“You cannot stop me, Byron,” the Hellgoat told her.
“We can, and we will,” SuperGrover spoke up. “You made a mistake when you
decided to mess with my friends, Hellgoat. Now, you will go back to Hell where
you belong.”
“And how do you intend to do that, SuperGrover?” the Hellgoat asked.
“With the Judas Stone!” Morph cried.
“What!?!” the Hellgoat roared. “There is no way you could have obtained the
stone!” SuperGrover held the stone up in his hands.
“Then what do you call this?” he asked with a grin. The stone was glowing and
had turned almost red in color.
“Release these people, Raphael,” Byron said. “And leave us.”
“Yeah, go to Hell you big smelly goat!” Morph added. They all felt the
Hellgoat’s eyes scan over them as he considered his choices. Then, after a heavy
silence he spoke again.
“Very well. You humans win. . . this once.” Then he was gone as silently as he
came in.
“Good God, that was scary!” Morph yelled.
“Be quiet,” Byron told him, “we have to get everyone free and out of here. . .
fast!”
“Can you teleport us all out of here?” SuperGrover asked, sounding uncertain.
“I will certainly try,” Byron told him. SuperGrover grabbed the chains that
bound Monet and snapped them easily.
“Now where is everyone else?” he asked.
“I found ShockWave and Nate over here!” Morph called. “And. . . I think this is
Bastion!” SuperGrover picked up Monet and walked over, using Byron’s lighted
hands as light to where Morph was. He quickly freed ShockWave, Nate, and
Bastion.
“But where’s Gomurr?” SuperGrover asked.
“I don’t see him!” Morph replied, obviously upset.
“That’s because I’m over here, silly,” came a weary, but still light-hearted
voice. SuperGrover turned up, towards the sound of Gomurr’s voice.
“He’s on the ceiling!” he told Byron. Then he flew up to the ceiling and
released the wizard.
“How are you?” he asked his friend.
“Well, I was just kidnapped and tortured by a demon with bad breath,” Gomurr
responded. “Needless to say, I’ve had better days.”
“I’m sorry it took us so long to get here,” SuperGrover told him.
“It’s cool, ‘Grove,” Gomurr answered. “There was no doubt in my mind that you
would come.”
? * *
“Don’t let him control you!” Siryn yelled at Havok.
“I’m. . .I can’t get him out!” Havok responded. He had both of his hands on
either side of his head and was obviously fighting an intense battle inside his
head. SlashR was trying desperately to keep Avalon at bay.
“NAGA NOOCH!” Impossible Man cried, tackling Avalon to the ground. “I’ll teach
ya to mess with the Imp-Daddy! I’ll give ya a left! And a right!” He started
punching Avalon before Avalon could react to his violent outburst.
“Impossible Man, don’t hurt him!” Storm! cried.
“Shut up, you big baby!” Impossible Man yelled back. “This guy NEEDS to be hurt.
So cut the “silence the violence” crap.”
“Sharon. . . I don’t want to hurt you. How do I get him out of my head?” Havok
asked, trying hard to concentrate.
“Just hold on,” Siryn told him, putting her hand on his shoulder.
“Man! Byron is taking forever!” SlashR yelled. “We can’t keep this up much
longer!” Havok suddenly grabbed Siryn’s arm and pushed her roughly to the floor.
She fell down in surprise and Havok pulled back his arm, ready to slash into her
with his razor-sharp claws. He stopped himself before he brought his hand down.
“What. . . what am I doing?” he asked. Storm! pulled Impossible Man off of
Avalon angrily.
“That’s quite enough!” she screamed at him.
“Man, you sure are bossy!” Impossible Man sulked. “You remind me of Tony on
“Who’s The Boss”. Wait. . . he wasn’t bossy, was he?” Havok helped Siryn up,
feeling more confused than he had ever felt before.
“Uhm. . . what happened? Sharon, did I hit you?” he asked. It was the one thing
that he had sworn to himself would never happen. He would never get so out of
control that he hurt his friends. He knew that he could never forgive himself if
he had hurt her.
“No,” Siryn answered. “You. . .uhm. . .well. . .” she trailed off, not sure how
to finish her sentence.
“What Si is trying to say is that you were taken over by this evil little
booger of a demon who made you really weird and you were attacking people and
all kinds of crazy crap,” Impossible Man said helpfully, “but you seem to be
doing much better now, so I’ll give you a clean bill of health. Just ask Doctor
Impy!” Avalon groaned and sat up.
“How are you feeling?” Storm! asked as she knelt down beside him.
“I feel really weird,” he told her. “And my face hurts!”
“That’s because Impy punched you,” Storm! explained, glaring at Impy.
“That’s because you were being a butt-munch!” Impossible Man further explained.
Suddenly, there was a loud cracking sound and Byron, SuperGrover, Morph, Monet,
ShockWave, Nate, Bastion, and Gomurr appeared. Byron was unconscious from the
strain of teleporting that many people.
“It looks like Silver’s about to wake up,” SlashR said, who was standing beside
the Black King. SuperGrover instinctively caught Byron before she fell to the
ground.
“Man, that was scary!” Morph told them all.
“Nate!” Siryn cried. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay, sis,” Nate answered. “I just think I need about a 4 day nap.”
“I could go for that too,” Bastion agreed.
“I’ll call Dr Zhang right away!” Storm! said.
“Good idea!” Siryn agreed.
“Hey, Si, what about our deal?” Impossible Man asked with his hands on his
hips. Siryn snickered.
“Okay, Impy,” she said, “go right ahead. I’m sorry, Greg.”
“What?” Morph asked in immediate alarm.
“May I have this dance?” Impossible Man asked, bowing down before Morph. Morph
turned and tried to run away but Impossible Man jumped up with a loud yell and
grabbed Morph. In one quick motion, he was dancing with him across the room.
“Now this is what I call comedy!” Impossible Man told everyone. “No story is
complete unless Impy and Morphy have the last dance!”
THE END!!!