Rabid *HF* Chapter 6
By Gene
"Home again, home again," Mufasa said.
"Everyone have a seat. There is more I want to do before we talk to Grover," Gomurr said.
THe others did as he asked, sitting on the available furniture and the floor. Shaman took the chair behind Gomurr's desk, propping up his broken leg on a stack of books.
"I have a footstool in the corner," Gomurr said.
"I know. I saw it. THis is fine."
"Those books are invaluable, Shaman. Hundreds of years old. Please..."
"I know what they are, I wrote two of them, and those three you took from my library and never gave back. They're very comfortable." Shaman grinned at Gomurr, his blue-green eyes twinkling.
Gomurr sighed. "Alice, Malachi. You two interact with Gene the most. Have you noticed him acting strange?"
"A little bit," Malachi said. "He's kind of serious now. But we don't see him that much. He's down in DC."
"Grover sent him on an extended mission more than a month ago," Alice said. "WE only saw him a few nights a week those first two weeks, then hardly at all since then. Each week he's called to talk a bit, then he comes up to see us here for one day. HE spends the day training, meets with us for dinner, spends part of the evening with us, and is gone firt thing in the morning. Always intent on the mission. It's like Malachi said, he shows part of his charm sometimes, but mostly he's been focussed...cold."
Gomurr nodded. "I haven't interacted with him much. A few e-mails about the direction of the class. The students miss him. He came in to see them a few times, that was all."
Shaman sat silently, stroking his silver-streaked beard. Suddenly, he jerked in the chair, his eyes widening. "Shit."
"What?" the others asked.
"Khalid, go down to the training room. Review Gene's training programs. Don't go in the room to see them, just watch from the booth. Don't let anyone in that room. Get Grover to initiate an override so you can view all the programs."
"I have clearance, I can initiate my own override," Mufasa said.
Shaman waved his hand dismisively. "Gene would have found a way around that ages ago. Only Grover and Nebula have total access. Go do it. I believe there will be more to find."
"Can I go with?" Christian asked.
Mufasa bent down and hugged Christian. "No, I think you'd better stay here. Gomurr needs you, and I have to do something important."
Gomurr nodded. "We need your help, Christian. And Khalid has to do something without you right now."
"Be right back," Mufasa said, teleporting away.
"What do you think he'll find?" Alice asked, looking at SHaman.
Shaman arched an eyebrow and shrugged. "Not sure. Just a hunch. But if he's still training, I bet he's changed his programs to fit his new mission."
"Have you noticed anything else odd about him? Aside from his behavior, any markings? Cuts, bruises? Is he covering anything?"
"He limps," Alice said. "He's been doing it for a while, now. He hurt his leg on his previous mission to Siberia. Says he tore the cartilage again. He doesn't want to get it looked at. Even snapped at me about it. THat can't be it, can it?"
"Is there a scar there?" Shaman asked.
"Not that I could see," Alice responded. He always wears shorts around the house. I didn't see anything. It's his right leg, and it does look swollen, but no scarring. The only scars are on his left leg, from when he had surgery in college."
Gomurr nodded, then went to talk to Shaman. A minute later, he returned to face Alice and the boys.
"We know what we're looking for. Let's go talk to Grover."
***
"I sent Gene to Siberia to investigate a possible Illuminati cell. There were indications that one existed, but it didn't seem large or very powerful yet. I wanted him to check it out and report back about their strength. If he thought it was doable, he could take them out on his own, as long as he was equipped to handle them without relying solely on the ring."
Grover walked from his desk to the credenza to his right. He opened a drawer and pulled out a small cloth bag.
"Gene found the cell and wiped out all of the followers, including the leader, a Brother Kurzin. They had little real power, but did have a few minor books and these opals. There were five, now there are four. Gene told me one was disintegrated by a bullet fired at him by a follower as he fought with Kurzin. The bullet hit him in the leg but didn't penetrate because of his body armor." He handed Gomurr the bag.
"Gomurr, I'm sure you know what these are."
Gomurr opened the bag. "The opals of Luna. Not the most powerful of artifacts, but they do carry a certain potency. THe black opal is missing. It was the key to using their power. The others are halved in power without the black."
"Did he find a chalice there?" Shaman asked.
"Yes, he mentioned something about a chalice with a witch's essence in it. Said he would destroy it. The books he found he gave to our library."
"They're logged in," Alice said. "And they really are no big deal. He has worse at the house."
"There aren't any problematic books or major arcana where Gene was working," Shaman said. "But I'm very familiar with the chalice he found. And the opals. I put them there myself."
"What?" Gomurr asked. "What the hell did you...?"
"The things were stuck a quarter mile deep in the tundra! No one was living out there! It seemed a good place at the time."
Gomurr shook his head. "And he's the Sorceror Supreme. Good thing you're not a doctor, I'd be finding someone's cancerous liver in my dining room and an ebola patient in my front yard."
"Enough. THere isn't time for this. What's the story, Shaman?"
"THe chalice is of minor importance," he said. "I bonded the spirit of a witch woman to the thing, then buried it for what I thought would be forever, or at least close to it. She had to be stopped, but had set things up for herself in the afterlife, so I had to banish her instead. She's live on in the chalice, but would have no access to her power. She'd be very difficult to free, and her original body would have to be recreated. Tough, since I destroyed it."
"Could someone have released her using the opals?" Grover asked.
"No, but they could have tried. Maybe that's what these dumbasses were doing." Shaman said. "She was little more than a drinking glass with feelings,that's it. The power we're dealing with here is the opals."
"I agree," Gomurr nodded. "We need to find the missing one. Christian, sit there on the floor. Malachi, you sit across from him. Shaman..."
"I know what to do. Breakers and insulators, correct?"
"That's right," Gomurr said.
"I thought you were cut off from your power," Alice said.
"I am," said Shaman. "But these boys have plenty. If most mages are a candle, I'm the lights at Yankee Stadium. these two combined are the Sun."
"At least," Gomurr said.
Each mage put his fingers on one boy's temples. Shaman winced as the movement shifted his healing collarbone.
"Now Malachi, I want you to think of the color blue. It's in a circle with a white outline. Blue like a police uniform. Got that?"
"Yeah."
"Now keep that in mind. Now I want you to think of that circle on the floor just in front of you. In your head, I want you to move that circle inside of yourself. What color is it now?"
"Green."
"What kind of green?"
"Like a leaf. Or an emerald."
Shaman smiled. "Good. Concentrate hard on that circle. Have you seen movies in science class where cells divide? You have one cell, and it gets bigger, then suddenly there's two cells?"
"Yeah."
"I want you to do that. Make that circle bigger until it's two circles as big as the one you have now. When they split, I want you to move one into me."
Malachi's brow creased in concentration for a second, then Shaman's eyes cracked open. His eyes were entirely covered in green fire and he was twitching.
"Shaman..." Gomurr began. "Shaman, come back. Bring it under control."
"Did I hurt him? " Malachi asked.
"Don't move, son," Gomurr warned. "Alice, slap him. Not too hard. Just get his attention."
Alice stepped forward and slapped him once, then once again across the face. Shaman twitched again and the fire in his eyes subsided and the normal color returned.
"ARe you okay?" Alice asked.
"Unbelievable!" Shaman said. "And that was less than half of what's in him."
"ARe you ready?" Gomurr asked.
"Yes."
"Good." He turned his head toward Alice, then Grover. "What we're doing is performing a psychic search for Gene, then a scan. We're going to find him, then scan him to possibly analyze what's going on with and in him. If he's possessed, we have to be ready to protect against being scanned and possessed ourselves. Shaman and I are combining our skills with the boys' raw power to find Gene and then insulate and protect ourselves against attack or recoil. The boys themselves aren't in danger at all. They can't even be detected. Let's begin."
For a few minutes, nothing seemed to visibly happen, though Alice and Grover could feel the hair on their arms and the back of their necks rise and tense, as before a thunderstorm. Then suddenly, Gomurr and Shaman released the boys' temples at the same time, and the power in the room ceased.
"We found him," Gomurr said. "Shards of the black opal are imbedded in his right leg near the knee. They've poisoned his whole system. He's been putting up a fight, but the longer they're in there, the more they will corrupt and control him."
"Where is he?" Grover asked.
"South Jersey, outside of Philadelphia. In a blues club or restaurant. The opal still controls him, but the being inside is resting for now. It allows him to do a few things independently, but it's watching him. WE may hear from him again."
"What are the chances of him breaking away from the opal and taking control himself?" Grover asked.
"Slim," Gomurr said. "The opals were made by a goddess long ago. The black opal was used to contain the spirit of a lover she took who was half demon. He was overcome by his evil half and went insane. She stopped him, but wanted to keep him forever, keeping him in an opal as a symbol of his beauty and the beauty of their love. That being is what has taken control of Gene. The power of a goddess and a demon spawn are at work within him. I'm surprised he's held out this long."
Shaman frowned, as did Malachi. "It wasn't that long ago that you were posessed, little man." Shaman said. "He's not the first or last to be taken over a bit, and at least he's putting up a fight. You know this could be a lot worse."
"How much worse?" Alice asked.
"Think about it," Shaman said. "Gene's got the ring. It responds only to him. It can't be taken from him by force and it allows him to do anything. As his knowledge and training increase, so does the potential for the ring. My guess is, he's spent the majority of his time, concentration, and energy keeping that thing from knowing the ring is there or how to use it. Gene has some latent psychic abilities, he's been using them since college to influence card games. But this is far more serious, and the game never ends."
Gomurr nodded. "As soon as that thing finds out about the ring, we might as well pack our bags. It would undoubtedly tap into its full potential, and our lives would be lost."
Grover shook his head. "I wish you'd never given that thing to him, SHaman. It might cost us all everything."
Shaman shook his head gravely. "The true value of that ring is yet to be determined. One day, it will save us."
Mufasa teleported into the room, his face ashen. "You should come with me. You've got to see this." He turned to Christian and Malachi. "You boys stay here."
***
They teleported down to the control booth in the training room. As they appeared, Gomurr took a quick glance at Shaman, his mouth turned in a half-smirk.
"That's cheating, isn't it?"
"What?"
"The healing. You accelerated your healing while bonded to Malachi. Your collarbone is healed and your leg is nearly mended. Your wrist seems better than new. Might as well remove the cast, it's got to itch."
Shaman grumbled. "It's been forever. And this is a crisis situation."
Mufasa glared at them. "You two old farts can gossip later. You have to see this." He tapped at the buttons of the controls.
"Gene typically used three combat programs. One for firearms..."
He tapped a key and the room outside the booth changed to a Disney scene. TEchnicolor cartoon birds flitted from tree to tree singing while deer with huge eyes grazed from a brook. After a second, a parade of shih tzus began to appear from between the trees, yapping and begging."
Shaman turned away in disgust. "Ugh! Enough!"
Gomurr giggled. "Every now and then I add teletubbies to the mix, to keep him on his toes."
Alice glared. "At least you admit it now, you sick little man."
Gomurr coughed and looked out the window.
"Then there's Combat Training One. Nothing too intersting, just robots and such," Mufasa said. He touched a button and the room changed to look like a standard gymnasium. Suddenly, vaguely humanoid machines rose from panels in the ground and walls, their arms ending in buzz saws and flame throwers.
"Combat Two is a bit more romantic, and challenges his skills in a well-rounded manner. Lots of opportunities for archery, hand-to-hand, subterfuge, and firearms. Not quite my taste, but I like it." He touched a button and the scene changed to the interior of a castle or fortress. The walls and floor were stone, and a large staircase ran up the side of the room. Guards were stationed at various points of the room, and screaming could be heard."
"That was the medeival setting. Another has the same castle, but with Nazis."
"How Errol Flynn," Grover said. "Does he wear tights in this one?"
"None of your business," Alice said.
"There are two new programs, added in the past month," Mufasa said. "Both were encoded with a different clearance. I wouldn't have even noticed them without Grover's override. The first is called "Highway" the second is called "City." I'll split the room to display them both, and replay the last minutes of last week's session for you."
Mufasa tapped a few more buttons, and suddenly the left half of the room looked like the Outer Loop of the Washington Beltway. Gene sat in a large SUV, the front fender was dented. TWo cars were crashed behind him. He drove up toward another car, pulled out his handgun and fired. The bullet went through the driver's cel phone and out the far side of the driver's head. Laughing, Gene slammed the SUV into the car and ran it off the road.
On the right side of the room, Gene walked through an office building holding a sword. Office staff ran screaming in all directions and he shot at them with the handgun as he ran. Gene paused at a desk where he saw a woman hiding underneath. He kicked her chair aside and screamed at her to get up. The woman remained under the desk, but began to wet herself. Gene screamed at her again, then began to stab under the desk with sword. The woman screamed and struggled, kicking and wriggling under her desk. Finally, Gene grabbed the edge of the desk with one hand, overturned it, and cut off her head. AS the head rolled away, Gene continued to kick and cut the woman's body, long after it was still.
Alice held her face in her hands, sobbing. The others stared out into the room. Finally, Grover spoke.
"I want him found and taken down immediately. IF you can remove this thing from him, fine. If not, destroy him. I want this threat over with. Gomurr, SHaman, this is your field of expertise. You make the plan. Khalid, you lead the team in the field."
"Understood," Mufasa said.
End Part 6
Gene
Original and Longest-Running Editor
White Bastard/King's Pawn--HellFire Club
Knight of the Long-Necked Bottle
Forbidden by Law to Eat Onion Rings
Selectively Sterile
Wielder of Unbridled Contempt for Humanity